Merrytime vs. Marvel Dis Cruise

[LCPerez]

Hello,

This will be our first time on a Disney Cruise and I can’t seem to decide between a Merrytime Christmas or Marvel themed one. Does anyone have recommendations for either? We have 2 boys ages 4 and 10.

Thank you

 

[Disney mac]

Hello,

This will be our first time on a Disney Cruise and I can’t seem to decide between a Merrytime Christmas or Marvel themed one. Does anyone have recommendations for either? We have 2 boys ages 4 and 10.

Thank you

Do the Marvel or Star Wars, as the Merrytime one is much more expensive because of the time period of the holidays.

 

[owensamo]

We have done a Merrytime cruise over Christmas, and last year we did a November cruise out of NYC last year that was both! 4 sea days, Castaway Cay and WDW for ports. That said - I'd pick one or the other. The cruise seemed over-loaded with things to do - there didn't really seem time to relax that much.

Merrytime cruises have events pretty much throughout the cruise to celebrate the holiday. It's a much more spread out celebration, and easier to avoid pretty much all of it if you want to (other than the decorations, I suppose). Characters are about in their holiday garb, and Santa meets children in the atrium (though the line for that can be looooong!). There are craft events, and holiday cookies and hot cocoa in the atrium, and buttered rum available for purchase in the evenings.

MDAS cruises have a single day dedicated to Marvel. You can't avoid Marvel. It's everywhere. There are 2 (free) ticketed meet and greets - which do "sell" out. There are marvel characters and Disney characters in Marvel garb in set meet-and-greet areas (often with long lines) and a handful of walk-around characters that do ad-hoc photos and autographs - but you may have to follow them around for a bit. There's a special Dr. Strange stage show. And the evening deck show is the best deck show I've seen on a Disney ship. There were sessions to draw marvel characters, and you could check out iPads to read digital comics, and they had trivia sessions and a costume event - honestly, we didn't get to do everything, and it was a full, exhausting, fun day! The best part was the costumes on the guests. We saw everything from themed shirts to cosplay, and all of it very fun to watch!

Putting both of these together is exhausting. Personally, I'd do MDAS again in a heartbeat (or SWDAS). The Merrytime cruise is fun (this was the second we've done, the first actually over Christmas) and the photos and decor was beautiful, but I think the other themed cruises give you one crazy day, then the rest to enjoy your normal vacation.

 

[LCPerez]

We have done a Merrytime cruise over Christmas, and last year we did a November cruise out of NYC last year that was both! 4 sea days, Castaway Cay and WDW for ports. That said - I'd pick one or the other. The cruise seemed over-loaded with things to do - there didn't really seem time to relax that much.

Merrytime cruises have events pretty much throughout the cruise to celebrate the holiday. It's a much more spread out celebration, and easier to avoid pretty much all of it if you want to (other than the decorations, I suppose). Characters are about in their holiday garb, and Santa meets children in the atrium (though the line for that can be looooong!). There are craft events, and holiday cookies and hot cocoa in the atrium, and buttered rum available for purchase in the evenings.

MDAS cruises have a single day dedicated to Marvel. You can't avoid Marvel. It's everywhere. There are 2 (free) ticketed meet and greets - which do "sell" out. There are marvel characters and Disney characters in Marvel garb in set meet-and-greet areas (often with long lines) and a handful of walk-around characters that do ad-hoc photos and autographs - but you may have to follow them around for a bit. There's a special Dr. Strange stage show. And the evening deck show is the best deck show I've seen on a Disney ship. There were sessions to draw marvel characters, and you could check out iPads to read digital comics, and they had trivia sessions and a costume event - honestly, we didn't get to do everything, and it was a full, exhausting, fun day! The best part was the costumes on the guests. We saw everything from themed shirts to cosplay, and all of it very fun to watch!

Putting both of these together is exhausting. Personally, I'd do MDAS again in a heartbeat (or SWDAS). The Merrytime cruise is fun (this was the second we've done, the first actually over Christmas) and the photos and decor was beautiful, but I think the other themed cruises give you one crazy day, then the rest to enjoy your normal vacation.

Thanks so much for the details!

 

[Shanti]

Hello,

This will be our first time on a Disney Cruise and I can’t seem to decide between a Merrytime Christmas or Marvel themed one. Does anyone have recommendations for either? We have 2 boys ages 4 and 10.

Thank you

We really enjoyed our Merrytime cruise. The ship and Castaway Cay are decked out beautifully for the holidays- it feels very special. The gingerbread house building is fun (get tickets asap upon boarding), and you can then keep the gingerbread house in your stateroom. There is a holiday show in the atrium, your child can meet Santa. You can meet the characters in their holiday outfits. It's great.

Do the Marvel or Star Wars, as the Merrytime one is much more expensive because of the time period of the holidays.

That is only true for the few cruises that sail over Christmas Day. The other Merrytime cruises (they run from November through Christmas) have normal pricing.

 

[cadien]

I really like the looks of the Merry Time cruises, but I picked the Marvel theme for our first Disney cruise because I don't know how long they'll keep doing them. Especially since it was the first wave when we booked. Since then, they've added a second year for that and more years for Star Wars, but it seemed like more of an experiment at the time.

 

[Spotthecat]

I have done both in my last two cruises - Merrytime in early December 2017, and this past March a SWDAS. Personally, I LOVED the Christmas=themed cruise, and so did the whole family, but after doing the Star Wars themed one, my kids are totally sold on doing that one again, sigh. I'm sure they would have loved Marvel just as much, except the younger two don't know the characters as much as the 10 year old. While all 3 are nuts about Star Wars.

 

[dcassetta]

Hello,

This will be our first time on a Disney Cruise and I can’t seem to decide between a Merrytime Christmas or Marvel themed one. Does anyone have recommendations for either? We have 2 boys ages 4 and 10.

Thank you

Last fall, there were a couple of Merrytime cruises that were also MDAS. Thanksgiving week was both. But, I'm not sure if any of next fall's cruises are Marvel.

 

[Chirple]

We were also on one of the 7 night NYC cruises that had both Merrytime and MDAS. I loved having both themes during one cruise (have done Merrytime in the past).

Where I think they could have made a change was drop Pirate Night if there are two other themes running at the same time. The first meeting with Santa took place on Pirate Night; and from my standpoint as an observer, it looked out of sync seeing people in pirate gear getting photos done with Santa. Had there been no Pirate Night I think the line to meet Santa during his next M&G would have been shorter (a lot of passengers in holiday-themed clothes).

The MDAS deck party far surpassed the one for Pirate Night.

 

[LCPerez]

Last fall, there were a couple of Merrytime cruises that were also MDAS. Thanksgiving week was both. But, I'm not sure if any of next fall's cruises are Marvel.

That would be perfect but so far I am not seeing any that combines them. I’ll check again.