Honeymoon

[majix]

We are hoping to have our honeymoon (more of a mini-moon) the week after our wedding.

As we are already in Florida we have a few options:

- Five nights all inclusive in the Bahamas
- Disney Dream cruise
- Disney!!!

We're not sure which would be a) least expensive b) most relaxing and c) most FUN!

Please let me know what your thoughts are...

 

[sambycat]

those each sound like great honeymoons. the budget for each will vary wildly, you've got give a little more info as far as length and place of stay etc... i would not go on a 3 night dream cruise, i would find a 4 or a 5. the cruise would be great but out of all the ships, i find the dream to be the most hectic. an all inclusive in the bahamas could be the least expensive overall but i have no experience with that and don't know where you live! i think cruises overall are wonderful vacations, depending on when you are cruising and what type of room affects the price - you might do some research over on the cruise boards! happy planning!

 

[majix]

I can't stop thinking about a Disney Cruise, how far in advance would we need to book?

 

[Disney_Alli]

The cheapest prices for Disney cruises are right when they open up (about 18 month out - we're expecting the release the summer and fall dates for 2016 soon) or within 90 days of the sail date after final payments are due they sometimes offer special rates if the ship isn't selling as well as they'd hoped. If you don't care about price you can generally book at any point in between. Though some holiday cruises do sell out and the Dream generally sails pretty full from what I've read and seen.

 

[majix]

Thanks Alli.

Oh man! We're too late for cheap rates...unless we wait. There is a seven-night cruise that leaves from Port Carneval and goes to the Caribbean that looks amazing too!

 

[Disney_Alli]

There's a thread on the Cruise board that shows opening day prices for all the cruises. You can check out how much it's gone up - or if the price seems reasonable to you just book it and never find out how much it could have cost at if you'd known about early booking.

 

[majix]

Thank you!

 

[elphie101]

You can always combine WDW with a Disney cruise (provided you choose a cruise that leaves from FL of course). We did five days in the parks post-wedding followed by a 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruise and it was the perfect honeymoon for us; I didn't want to do just parks because DH has only ever vacationed at WDW, so I wanted our honeymoon to be a special experience and not yet another WDW vacation.

Cruise prices jump up at the one-year mark, I actually watched our cruise jump a couple hundred dollars while we were still finalizing our honeymoon decision because we passed 365 days from the sailing (which was sad to see!) If you are thinking about cruising and have a very specific timeframe in mind, don't wait for the cheap rates to come out 75 days before the cruise sails, because those aren't always guaranteed and depend on how empty the ship is - I had to go back to work the day after we got home and I didn't want less than a 7-night cruise so we only had one cruise we could take. What season are you taking your honeymoon in? If schools are on break I would not count on a last minute cheap rate, as those cruises tend to be full (we cruised in October aka hurricane season so our ship wasn't as full).

Finally, if you like the idea of a land/sea honeymoon, I highly, HIGHLY recommend you do the cruise after WDW and not the other way around. This is a favorite strategy over on the cruise boards and I'm glad I listened. The cruise itself we found to be far more relaxing and less of a go-go-go pace then the parks, not to mention the food being included making you feel like you don't have to pay for anything. We did do one day at MK on the day we disembarked before our flight, and going from the ship to the parks that day was like a slap back to reality.

TLDR: I highly recommend cruising or if not, a combo WDW/cruise if you have the time

 

[majix]

Ahh thanks so much!

I keep looking. To be honest the best quote we had was for the cruise and you guys are just making it more exciting.

How much are drinks on the ship?? And how are the bars? (Not that I can stay up much past 10pm these days)

 

[Disney_Alli]

The nightclubs are a lot of fun (be sure to go to Match Your Mate the first night, so much fun!) though they do tend to empty out fairly early. We didn't find drink prices to be that bad. Comparable to bar prices in any big city - certainly no more expensive than WDW. A lot of the bar menus have been posted on the cruise board over the years. I bet a Google search could bring them up

 

[TinkLoverSam]

The nightclubs are a lot of fun (be sure to go to Match Your Mate the first night, so much fun!) though they do tend to empty out fairly early. We didn't find drink prices to be that bad. Comparable to bar prices in any big city - certainly no more expensive than WDW. A lot of the bar menus have been posted on the cruise board over the years. I bet a Google search could bring them up

I would encourage you to experience all of the adult only entertainment in the nightclubs. The comedians and other acts are great and start at about 10 or 10:30 so it's not too late to enjoy especially if you have second seating for dinner, you'll need the time to digest dinner anyway.

 

[elphie101]

We actually went to bed around 10:00pm every night after dinner, so we didn't really get to do any of the adult entertainment! (We had planned on Match Your Mate the first night but DH was having a hard time with the ship movement so we retired early, and that kind of started a tradition). We're morning people at home so next time we cruise we intend to try and adjust our body clocks early so that doesn't happen.

In terms of drinks, all I can say is this: $3 mimosas before noon DH is a beer snob but enjoyed the selections on the ship - I tend to lean more towards mixed drinks and there were soooooo many yummy options. I got DH the beer mug since he won't do liquor or wine; for $14.95 he could fill the 20 oz mug for the price of a 16 oz draft, so e earned a few beers during the week long cruise. You don't have to carry the mug around the ship (each bar has beer mug tokens they can give you when you're done drinking in exchange for the dirty glass, that you then turn in when you want a beer) and we can take the mug on future cruises. Disneycruiselineblog.com has some of the bar menus with prices to give you an idea of what you might like and how much it will cost.

 

[majix]

Ahhh thanks! Where is the best place to book? Direct through disney??!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Ahhh thanks! Where is the best place to book? Direct through disney??!

Most people use a travel agent for DCL as there are no discounts but many TAs will give you an on board credit (OBC) which can be used for anything you charge to your room... Including the gratuities.

Dreams Unlimited (the sponsors of the dis) are one popular agency.