Need advice for our first cruise

[Octoberbride03]

Hi all

My Dh and i decided over the weekend that its time to plan and book our Disney cruise for next year. Neither of us have ever been on a pleasure cruise b4 and I'm looking for advice and suggestions.
We already know we want to do the 7 night Magic cruise. But haven't chosen Eastern or Western Carribean yet. I'd love to hear from those of you who have done 1 or both of these cruises to help us decide.

Also I'm thinking that we will go fairly early in the year but no earlier than Feb. I work at Target and the Holidays mean a lot of working hours for me till the end of Jan and no vacation time allowed till at least mid-Jan. We are thinking of sometime between Feb. and beginning of May.

And how did you book your trip? Did you sue a regular travel agent? Go through Disney or use an internet agency?

Those are questions i have right now. But any advice you could give me would be very helpful.

FYI I do have the DCL brochure with the dates for 2006 and the cruise video already. Dh and I plan on booking a category 11 stateroom when when we book.

TYIA

 

[geffric]

Hi.. well, you can join us on the March 25th 2006 cruise , it is a 7 day western. There is still some room left. I have been on the Eastern twice with DCL. I like it because it has more sea days, so we did lots of relaxing and we like to snorkel at St Johns. We are going on our first western. We are looking forward to going to the different ports.

I book through Dreams ( they sponser this board ) and I use SueEllen. She is really wonderful to work with. I found that DU was cheaper than Disney direct. others on this board use other TAs.

 

[TheWog]

If no kids avoid holiday/vacation times. Less expensive and less children. The Eastern will allow you more time on the ship at sea, because it has one more day at sea and the Western has one more port day. The Western is sometimes known more as a party itinerary because Cozumel and Key West has some great bars. St. Thomas and St. Maarten are very beautiful and have great shopping and beaches. Grand Cayman has Stingray City so you will need to decide what you want out of the itinerary.

 

[mommasita]

Congratulation on your decision!!! It is so much fun to know where you are going isn't it? NOw, you must come here often for so much valuable information. I have done 2 easterns, and 1 western, and personally prefer the eastern with the extra sea day, and the ports. That is not to say that if a western fit in my plans I would not do it, Cause I would if I could!!!

I have booked with DCL directly, and with different travel agents too. People really can not say enough good things about Dreams Unlimited, as you already see.

One tip, find the link on the top of these boards that link you to stateroom reports, so you can have a good idea of where you may want you room. We have done the cat.11 on deck 6, and LOVED it.


So, enjoy your planning, and this is a great bunch of people...

 

[Octoberbride03]

TY for the advice so far. I think choosing between Eastern or Western Carribean may actually be the hardest part of planning. All the ports look like places i would love. And Ty Mommasita for noting the stateroom reports. I've read the category 11 notes and they seem to confirm what i thought in that ppl on deck 2 thought it was too noisy with engines and closer to the top on decks 5 and 6 are quieter. When I'm going to sleep the noise wouldn't matter to me as I'm practically deaf when i sleep anyway, but i woiuld like my Dh to be able to sleep. We still haven't picked a date yet, but I know Easter is April 16th next year so we'll steer clear of the cruise around then. Maybe go after. Dunno.
Anybody else who'd like to chime in? I'd be really grateful for anything you wanna share.

TY

 

[LAMPSKIES]

We've sailed both. WE actually prefer the Eastern even though we have another Western booked for thanksgiving 05. We sailed the first week of Feb. the first time and the ship was 1/2 empty. It was also our least expensive due to the time of year. We got a free upgrade due to the ship being so empty. If you want to price the sailings www.disney.com has a site that allows you yo pick month and type of sailing and give you prices....

 

[myboysmom]

We are going on our first cruise ever. We picked the Western only because that fits into our schedule (we have two boys who will be on Spring Break at that time). Both Eastern and Western look great.

Just look to see which fits your schedule the best and then have fun!

 

[Octoberbride03]

The good news is that both cruises really are workable for us. Our only restrictions schedule wise is that I can't take holiday vacation time from Thanksgiving till mid-Jan. But we wouldn't anyway, cause that's when i make a lot of money at the store. We also don't have kids yet, so no school schedules to follow either. I think that we may ultimately go for the Eastern Carribean and the extra day at sea. BUt as of now we are still undecided.

TY for everything so far

 

[jennat]

I will tell you what i think of Eastern vs Western. Others may disagree. Eastern seams like it is prettier to me...St john looks amazing, more sea days. Western for us is very activity oriented. I don't know where Dis goes for Western. Ochos Rios we have tubed down the rivers, climbed the falls, gone to margaritaville.... Cozumel you can go dune buggying, rent mopeds and go to the beach, Carlos and Charlies (full dock crawl....not me of course)....Grand Cayman the swimming with the stingrays is not to be missed, otherwise, and I know others disagree with me...Cayman is kindof boring for us (unless you scuba)...Here comes the flames!!!
In St Thomas we are doing a daysail...all day with food and alcohol, four other people and whereever you want to go (heaven) and St Martin we are doing Lord Sheffield's pirate ship. Go to the ports of call boards on www.cruisecritic.com and see if anything strikes your fancy. Anyplace will be great!

 

[Octoberbride03]

Back again

I want to thank you all for the links you gave. They have all been very helpful in doing cruise research. My Dh is basically giving me free reign on planning the cruise seeing as how i pretty much know our preferences vacation wise. So right now, we are stil a bit undecided on a date to sail. However, we have decided to do the Western Carribean itinerary. Hopefully we wil go sometime in March or April. I did submit a rate request to DU to give us an idea of how much the whole thing will cost.
We still need to decide if we are actually going to fly down and use the Disney Transfers or fly down ahead of time and book a hotel or possibly just drive all the way down. Each has its own benefits, and its hard to choose between them all. So if you have any suggestions on this part that would help too.


TYVM

 

[TJHutch]

Maureen,
We usually book our cruises while on board Disney, but this time we used Dreams Unlimited on our 4 day surprise cruise for our dd's in Sept.They gave us the best price. We usually cruise in Sept.because it is usually the cheapest time to cruise,but you take a chance with hurricanes but we always get vacation insurance just in case. We are going on the western in Feb.2006.As you can tell we love DCL, and you will too.Good luck and have a good cruise. TJHUTCH

 

[JimMIA]

Whether Disney or any other cruise, you will usually get much better prices through a travel agent or an online site than you will get by booking direct with the cruise line. The reason is that they use cruise brokers and consolidators. When you book with the cruise company itself, it's the same as "rack rate" at a hotel...high.