Is a 4 day cruise better than no cruise??

[indymom1]

OK here is my question: My DH and my 2 DS's ages 3 and 9 at the time of our trip next year were hoping to do the 7 day Magic Eastern Cruise. California is not an option...the prices are just too expensive Anyway we are now considering the 3 day land 4 day sea the last week of August. I have read several posts about people not liking the four day due to it being too short and others who do not like doing the parks and the cruise in the same trip. Is there anyone out there who prefers to cruise the shorter lengths and why?? Also since the last Disney Cruise we took was 7 days will be dissapointed with 3 less days. Anyone out there that has done the 7 day and then also done the 4 day that can compare their experiences?? Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give

 

[din]

DITTO on your remarks about the California cruise... cost more than airfare for us to fly to Florida, adn we live in California!!!

This may not help you, but IMHO, a trip to DCL and/or WDW is better than no trip!!!

 

[ericamanda01]

We have only taken one cruise and it was the land and sea. It was also our first trip to WDW. I have to say the combination is wonderful. Now I am sure that the 7 day cruise is a dream come true, but we can only afford to do the land and sea or the 7 day cruise with no park visits. Since we live in Oregon we want to make the most of the airfare and enjoy both. Eventually we will do the longer cruise, but for now I think the combo is a great alternative. You can run around the parks until you drop then have a relaxing 4 day cruise. I think it's the best of both worlds.

 

[kcashner]

If cost is the issue....if you can wait till September, the rates come down greatly. Does your 7 year old have any sort of fall break? Even if she is out of school for 2 days for teacher prep or conference days and you add a couple of extra days????? I'd argue that international travel is very educational and just take her out of school, but I'm weird that way.

Any DCL cruise is better than no DCL cruise....and longer is better than shorter.....

 

[castlegazer]

I am opting for the 4 day cruise for several reasons - but first know that I have never cruised for less than seven day and I have never cruised on DCL prior to this. I am thinking that due to the fact that my DS is young - he'll be 2 3/4 - and we have no prior experience with him on a cruise ship that a shorter cruise is better for a first cruise - plus its the only way I can get my husband to say yes to a cruise so soon after a trip to WDW - we went in March and are thinking of cruising in Sept. I am opting for the "4 day cruise is better than no cruise at all" mentality here. I know it will be fast and furious but we will stay in Cocoa Beach afterwards at my condo - which is a luxury we have to extend our vacation beyond the cruise. I am not sure a 4 day cruise alone would be enough for me.

 

[wdwmom2]

A 4 day cruise is better than no cruise at all. We just did the 4 day land/3 day sea in April. It was great!!! But if I had it to do over, I would do the 3 day land/4 day sea. Cruising is out of this world. It was my family's first cruise ever. We chose the 3 days at sea because of this. My next vacation will definately be a 7 day cruise!!1

 

[ivanova]

1. I think a 4 day DCL cruise is better than no DCL cruise at all

2. If you do land & sea, I believe the "land" part is first which IMHO id the best way to do it (frenzied park stuff before relaxing ship stuff).

3. I also second the idea of waiting until Sept 2005 after the Magic returns to FL (and the 7 day rates are lower) and just do the 7 day DCL cruise.

 

[jrabbit]

There's lots of us here that say you MUST go for a 7 night cruise. Just reciently someone posted that they did a 7 nighter because of peoples comments here and that they were disapointed in the cruise and wished that it was shorter. (by far this person is in the minority)

I believe that any cruise is better than no cruise. If you've never been to Nassau, it's a place that CAN be missed and you can spend the day on the ship while most everyone else has gone ashore. However, the Dig at the Atlantis hotel would be a great excursion for your family. It's a huge aquarium (I like it better than any aquarium that Sea WOrld has). Four nights go by fast, but they are a lot of fun - if this is all you can do then go for it.

3 nights at WDW is not enough - I think that you need at least 5 days there (2 for the Magic Kingdom and 1 each for the Studios, EPCOT and Animal Kingdom). We've always done the cruise in conjunction with visiting the parks. Well there was one time we did a cruise only and it just about killed all of us being that close to WDW and not going there (we live on the west coast)

Our first cruise was a 4 nighter and we've only done 7 nights since then (waaay back then DCL only had 3 and 4 night cruises). And with the exception of that one cruise w/o WDW we've spent at least 6 nights at WDW.

 

[indymom1]

Thanks everyone for your responses so far.

Unfortunately we can not go in September. My older DS is in second grade and pulling him out of school is not an option at this time.

I am sure since we have already done the 7 night Magic that it will be too short but I am not sure whether or not we want to put off cruising again for another year....Plus the additional rumors that the Magic may in fact go back to the West coast for 2006 would leave us out once again.

Ultimately our choices are to either do 10 days of just WDW in late July or do the land/sea in late August. Hopefully some other cruisers will have some additional thoughts and ideas.

Thanks again!!

 

[epjenk]

Well, I have to say we really have enjoyed our shorter cruises with the parks. Our boys (2 1/2 and 4 1/2) really enjoy the activity of the theme parks, and it is great to have the slower pace of the cruise at the end. That said, I wouldn't do the land/sea package- I'd book them seperately. Not only do you save money, you have more flexibility. I was singularly unimpressed with animal kingdom, personally. Hot and not enough to do for the money. The playhouse disney show at MGM was great- but there is not a whole lot else there kids 3 and 7. Because there is a more limited number of attractions smaller kids can do, by going when the park first opens you can easily do magic kingdom in a day- we had ridden every ride in fantasyland by 11 a.m.! My boys love both blizzard beach and typhoon lagoon- much better than animal kingdom or mgm. Probably their favorite next to magic kingdom is Universal Studios. What we love about Universal Studios is that for an extra $15 a person you can get an express plus pass that gets you into the express line on every ride. We did not wait more than 10 minutes for anything in the park. They even have valet parking for an extra $8 over regular parking rates! To me, convenience is worth the price. If we weren't going to have a six month old, we would definately be doing the parks and shorter cruise this year (we are doing the longer repo. instead). You'll have a great time!!

 

[goin2disneyagain]

We just returned from the 7 day Western cruise last month. Although we had a great time we are considering doing the 4 day cruise. I have never been to the Bahamas so that is one reason I would like to try the 4 day cruise. I agree that a 4 day cruise is better than no cruise at all. I would love to do the west coast cruise but the prices are outrageous.

 

[Ker-Bear]

I lived in Orlando for 7 years. The weather in July and August is absolutely brutal. I would never subject my 4 year old to 10 days of theme parks in July. The temp are always in the mid 90's and the humidity is 110%. The three park days are enough to have fun with. I agree with a previous poster that planning the land part on your own is better. My thoughts are a cruise is better for this time of year IMO. hope this helps!

 

[bobbysmom]

We just came off of a 4-day cruise on the Wonder, and we have absolutely no regrets. We chose a four day primarily because we thought that a seven day would be too long for our group. Granted, it would be nice if there was a five day itinerary, but we came away feeling very good about our cruise. We made the decision to stay on the boat while docked at Nassau. DS loved it because when we came out to swim, he had the Mickey Pool all to himself! DD and I did a spa treatment, and we just generally enjoyed to boat while the crowds were gone. We were first off the boat at Castaway Cay - and stayed out until everyone got tired. I would love to do a longer cruise next time - and personally, I would turn around and go back if I could! On a side note, we drove from Indy to Florida, and used our drive back to stop and do some other things.

Best wishes!!

 

[disny4ever]

" Tis better to cruise for 4 days then not to have cruised at all "

I'm not sure who made that quote...but I'm sure someone did

Oh.......It was me !!!!!!!!!

 

[natdencro]

You will have a wonderful time, whichever you choose.I think the cruise will be more relaxing over a 7 day period - if the children like the clubs. DisneyWorld is a fabulous place, but we found our 9 yr old was exausted being at the parks all day. Although he remembers it well, Im not sure children any younger gain as much benefit. The parks are very tiring for little legs, and indeed OLDER legs! Most adults are shattered - especially if they have been coping with tiny folk. That said, the look on their little faces will be priceless - whichever option you take.

Just depends on the childrens ability to cope with the tiring days I guess. Whatever happens, you cant beat a Disney holiday. Nat

 

[RSJC]

we just did a 3-Day and it was great. 4-days would have been better. With kids sometimes 7 days can be alittle much. I would do it.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Originally posted by indymom1
Ultimately our choices are to either do 10 days of just WDW in late July or do the land/sea in late August. Hopefully some other cruisers will have some additional thoughts and ideas.

Like you, we won't take our kids out of school (ingoing 1st and 3rd graders), so we're stuck with either summer or spring break. We opted for spring break, 2005. We also opted for a 7-day cruise because I just feel like any less wouldn't be enough for me FWIW, we haven't cruised before, so take that into account with my thoughts.

If I had to choose between 10-days in July at WDW or land/sea in late August, I'd choose August. Why? Because 10-days in July would be hot, hot, hot... and while late August is also hot, you'd at least have the sea portion to look forward to for some relief from the heat and crowds. Although 10 days at WDW does sound nice because you wouldn't have to rush, could enjoy the pools and other indoor (air-conditioned) activities during the heat of the day, and such.

So maybe it all comes down to the cost... would 10-days at WDW be more, less, or the same as a land/sea option?

Hope this helps.

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

DH and I are nuts for everything Disney - related !!!

Said that, we took a 4 days cruise last Summer (we had done BEFORE that a 7 days cruise) and we enjoyed it VERY MUCH !!

In my humble opinion the 2 ships are slightly different, adults get different activities on days at sea..... and my best friend's kids had the time of their life aboard the Wonder !!!!

We also enjoyed the port of Nassau; may I suggest at least a stroll around the historic City ? it's a short walking, you can stop wherever you like ... my friend's kids LOVED to play "pirates" up and down Fort Charlotte / Fort Fincastle.
We "girls" had a lot of fun at the straw - market; just say "I don't want to buy anything" and the vendors will NOT bother you.
BUT if you are prepared for some fun ...watch out for "good" deals ! Start exploring, then ask : Is this your final price? and walk away (a few steps) .... this way we girls had excellent shopping (usually we got half price on most goods !)

Our friends did early in the morning the Blue lagoon Dolphin encounter : pricey, but they all loved it !!!! and still talk about that adventure !!!

Hope this helps !!!

 

[crisi]

Haven't done the seven day (we have one booked), but we really enjoyed our four day. I'm a little concerned that seven is going to be too long - four seemed perfect - but I'll try seven.

It does get a little exhausting to us to be with our children in such cramped quarters (I can't imagine a long cruise with them in a tiny Carnival stateroom) - even for four days. And four days does decrease the clothing you need to bring - no formal, no semi formal, and a single pair of dark capri's can get you through dinner ever night if you want to pack light unless you are prone to spilling.

I wouldn't choose to do the land sea in combination - at least not for the briefness of a week. Maybe over a twelve day period. Anything short of six or seven days at WDW is not worth the bother to us - and we never go in high season. We just prefer to take a little more time, and its impossible to see enough at a slow pace in just three or four days. Although we were recently looking at just that - to target just one park for the trip and spend a long weekend as part of an extended family vacation.

 

[indymom1]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Everyone has made some very good points both for doing the 4 day and the 7 day. Since the Wonder is our only option for summer 2005 it makes that choice easy. Now we just have to make up our minds to do DW and then cruise or to hold off for the 7 day in 2006. Either way I know that we will have fun. But I do have to say that the fabulous reviews you all have given of the 4 night might just do the trick. Especially since my younger son will have just turned 3 and we are not sure he will be potty trained yet or not...hope but not sure. I also like the idea of not having to lug formal clothes and less clothes in general. Hmmmm...what to do...what to do?