angelsfort
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2026
- Messages
- 1
Hello all!
I am recently engaged and the fiancé' has given me the green light on planning our honeymoon trip - when discussing options, he mentioned that he'd like to do the trip that I've been talking about for YEARS and YEARS (and I mean, ever since he's known me this has been a topic of conversation LOL) for our honeymoon.
He, of course, wants some input but he's okay with me "going crazy" and checking out all possible options! (he's not a "planner" and doesn't have the same drive that I've got when planning things LOL)
Some background on me. I'm a Florida resident, I've been a Walt Disney World annual passholder for many MANY years... I'm definitely a lover of all things Disney and my daughter and I are in the parks as often as we possibly can! I was also a Cast Member (gosh, back in the early 1990's) and absolutely LOVED it. I've been on several Disney cruises out of Port Canaveral (my late husband was a Disney CM and we would book cruises with his Cast discount as often as we could!) but it's been quite a long time since those DCL cruises, he's been gone for over 20 years now.
the plan for my ULTIMATE vacation has always been to fly to Disneyland and spend a week exploring Walts original park, then go over to San Diego cruise port and jump on a Disney Cruise ship for the 2nd portion of the vacation. But while doing my research, I'm seeing that its mostly the Magic and the Wonder sailing from that port - both of which I've sailed on previously, and we actually honeymooned on the Fantasy back in Sept 2011. We were on board the ship on 9/11!!! (thats a story in and of itself, right there!) I'd really like to go for one of the bigger ships and one that is new to me! (sure it's been quite a long time but I'd rather make fresh memories on a new ship with my new husband!)
So the plan is now altering to fly to Disneyland for the first portion of our honeymoon and then fly to another port, to one of the ports that offer 7+ day DCL cruises on the larger ships. (most likely Florida, to cut down on flight costs)
my question for you lovely Disney lovin' folks is this... do you have a favorite ship? What are the restaurants like? I recall that we would rotate through each restaurant throughout the cruise , our wait staff would follow us from location to location... is this still the case? (do any of the restaurants have fun themes that will delight a Disney fan? my favorite from my previous cruises was Animators Palate, where the restaurant started out in black & white and slowly painted itself while you dined... and then after the meal, when dessert was going to be served the servers would all turn their vests inside out to show the colors as well. No matter how many times we ate there, I was giddy each and every time!)
for those that have been cruising with DCL for more than 20 years, what's changed? for better or for worst...
I'm so excited to FINALLY be planning my dream trip and even more excited that I'll get to share it with Chris - he's still fairly new to cruising, and he's only been on Carnival. so I'm very happy to have the opportunity to show him what sailing with DCL is like!
any special tips / tricks that you can offer would also be great (about wedding planning / honeymoon planning / Disney vacation planning... anything!)
and just for fun - let me share some pics of Chris & I - a couple of the two of us on our first cruise together about 15 years ago (LOL early in the cruise and then later after some sun exposure!) and then another of us from this past December
(and finally... a pic of my kiddo, myself and my adopted kiddo from Animal Kingdom last year! Because we are adorable)
thanks so much y'all !
I am recently engaged and the fiancé' has given me the green light on planning our honeymoon trip - when discussing options, he mentioned that he'd like to do the trip that I've been talking about for YEARS and YEARS (and I mean, ever since he's known me this has been a topic of conversation LOL) for our honeymoon.
He, of course, wants some input but he's okay with me "going crazy" and checking out all possible options! (he's not a "planner" and doesn't have the same drive that I've got when planning things LOL)
Some background on me. I'm a Florida resident, I've been a Walt Disney World annual passholder for many MANY years... I'm definitely a lover of all things Disney and my daughter and I are in the parks as often as we possibly can! I was also a Cast Member (gosh, back in the early 1990's) and absolutely LOVED it. I've been on several Disney cruises out of Port Canaveral (my late husband was a Disney CM and we would book cruises with his Cast discount as often as we could!) but it's been quite a long time since those DCL cruises, he's been gone for over 20 years now.
the plan for my ULTIMATE vacation has always been to fly to Disneyland and spend a week exploring Walts original park, then go over to San Diego cruise port and jump on a Disney Cruise ship for the 2nd portion of the vacation. But while doing my research, I'm seeing that its mostly the Magic and the Wonder sailing from that port - both of which I've sailed on previously, and we actually honeymooned on the Fantasy back in Sept 2011. We were on board the ship on 9/11!!! (thats a story in and of itself, right there!) I'd really like to go for one of the bigger ships and one that is new to me! (sure it's been quite a long time but I'd rather make fresh memories on a new ship with my new husband!)
So the plan is now altering to fly to Disneyland for the first portion of our honeymoon and then fly to another port, to one of the ports that offer 7+ day DCL cruises on the larger ships. (most likely Florida, to cut down on flight costs)
my question for you lovely Disney lovin' folks is this... do you have a favorite ship? What are the restaurants like? I recall that we would rotate through each restaurant throughout the cruise , our wait staff would follow us from location to location... is this still the case? (do any of the restaurants have fun themes that will delight a Disney fan? my favorite from my previous cruises was Animators Palate, where the restaurant started out in black & white and slowly painted itself while you dined... and then after the meal, when dessert was going to be served the servers would all turn their vests inside out to show the colors as well. No matter how many times we ate there, I was giddy each and every time!)
for those that have been cruising with DCL for more than 20 years, what's changed? for better or for worst...
I'm so excited to FINALLY be planning my dream trip and even more excited that I'll get to share it with Chris - he's still fairly new to cruising, and he's only been on Carnival. so I'm very happy to have the opportunity to show him what sailing with DCL is like!
any special tips / tricks that you can offer would also be great (about wedding planning / honeymoon planning / Disney vacation planning... anything!)
and just for fun - let me share some pics of Chris & I - a couple of the two of us on our first cruise together about 15 years ago (LOL early in the cruise and then later after some sun exposure!) and then another of us from this past December
(and finally... a pic of my kiddo, myself and my adopted kiddo from Animal Kingdom last year! Because we are adorable)thanks so much y'all !
