Never cruised before, what are our chances...

[daisylee]

I just noticed that all the Castaway Club member levels are able to check in WAY before we'll be able to as first time cruisers. SO, what are our chances of getting the Character Breakfast, character meetings, and an early check in/boarding time? What about a reservation at Palo?
Sailing on the Wonder in Sept. 2020

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

I just noticed that all the Castaway Club member levels are able to check in WAY before we'll be able to as first time cruisers. SO, what are our chances of getting the Character Breakfast, character meetings, and an early check in/boarding time? What about a reservation at Palo?
Sailing on the Wonder in Sept. 2020

Getting a character breakfast isn't hard. Book your activities as soon as they become available, and you'll probably be fine.

All character meetings are first come, first served onboard with no reservations, with the exception of Anna & Elsa, & some of the princess meetings. You might or might not be able to get those in advance. If you can't, ask if there is any extra availability at Port Adventures or Guest Services upon boarding.

Dinner at Palo is easy to get. Brunch can be harder, but if you can't book brunch online, just go to dining changes upon boarding to try to schedule it & you very likely might be able to.

The first PAT times might be beyond your reach, but that's no big deal as the groups are called pretty quickly once boarding begins. You don't have to wait until your PAT to show up at the port.

 

[brentm77]

We are able to get brunch reservations at Palo on our very first cruise. If you don't get Palo reservations, check when you board and you shouldn't have an issue since they don't open up all the spots to pre-booking. I don't have experience with the character breakfast.

 

[daisylee]

Getting a character breakfast isn't hard. Book your activities as soon as they become available, and you'll probably be fine.

All character meetings are first come, first served onboard with no reservations, with the exception of Anna & Elsa, & some of the princess meetings. You might or might not be able to get those in advance. If you can't, ask if there is any extra availability at Port Adventures or Guest Services upon boarding.

Dinner at Palo is easy to get. Brunch can be harder, but if you can't book brunch online, just go to dining changes upon boarding to try to schedule it & you very likely might be able to.

The first PAT times might be beyond your reach, but that's no big deal as the groups are called pretty quickly once boarding begins. You don't have to wait until your PAT to show up at the port.

Thank you!!! So many things to think about...

 

[daisylee]

Another question- will we know what the onboard activities are before we are able to do online check-in? Will the kids'/teens' activities be scheduled before we board as well? or do we sign up for those at the Edge/Vibe?

 

[dizneedoll]

We our doing our first cruise Nov 2019. My port arrival time is 12-12:30PM. I don’t know how great this is but I’m happy with it and I also got reservations for the Princess Gathering and Frozen Meet n Greet. I was ready to book the second my time opened and those meet n greets went fast. If you are interested in either, you will have to be quick. Didn’t make Palo since it’s just me and my 13yo.

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

Another question- will we know what the onboard activities are before we are able to do online check-in? Will the kids'/teens' activities be scheduled before we board as well? or do we sign up for those at the Edge/Vibe?

The Edge/Vibe activities don't require a signup (except the Port Adventure on Castaway Cay that is for the Edge/Vibe-ers), so that's not a big deal.

Which onboard activities are you referring to? Spa activities you'll have to sign up for, but the trivia and other 'open' items are exactly that: open. Check out the archived Navigators (daily schedule) on the below website. The DCL blog is a great reference for planning

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/

 

[Junebug1029]

We booked a cruise 4 months out last time (our first one) and we were able to get Palo and all the activities and dining time we wanted (first dining slot). Just keep checking the website and we joined a fb group for that particular sailing. With the fb group, some people gave us a heads up that an activity or dining time was opening up because they didn't want it anymore. Try to not to get too carried away with all the planning, although easier said than done. Regardless, you have a wonderful time.

 

[lklgoodman]

You won't be able to see when most of the activities are being held until you actually get on the ship. If you have a smart phone download the DCL navigator app. Then once you are on the ship you will be able to see on the app the activities for each day(things like character drawings, games, trivia, Anyone Can Cook,movies, and more) the menus for each restaurant for each night are on the app, I think it also has the deck plans, and some other stuff. Our last cruise was about 10 months ago, so I can't remember what all was on it. If you don't have a smartphone or don't want to use it, you can either ask you cabin attendant for a paper copy of the navigator or ask for one at guest service desk. You'll have to ask for one each day, they print each day's the night before, not all at once.

 

[MomOTwins]

It really varies cruise to cruise. On all three cruises we have taken, Palo brunch was sold out before first timers. On our first two cruises there was still character stuff for first timers but on our upcoming Fantasy character breakfast and pre-bookable meet and greets were gone. This was the first cruise we could pick a PAT (other cruises we took the resort bus) and the PATs for first timer started about 11:30 so fairly early.

 

[DisneyConvert]

Disney always holds back some capacity so people who aren't able to book 6 months ahead still have a chance to experience ______.

Same with stuff on ship. As soon as you board, head to Promenade Lounge (or the Dream/Fantasy equivalent, where the dining arrangements are re-made). There will be a number of queues for various requests and this is where to get those Palo resv's.

Port Adventures, will have its own queues and arrangements as well. Not sure about the Character Breakfasts, but in our experience, DCL does a pretty wonderful job at accommodating their guests.

Just ask a Cast Member immediately after you board the ship. The folks in the port won't be able to help you with this kind of thing, but the folks in the Atrium are used to all sorts of questions ("What time is the 3:00 Parade?").

 

[scgustafson]

I just noticed that all the Castaway Club member levels are able to check in WAY before we'll be able to as first time cruisers. SO, what are our chances of getting the Character Breakfast, character meetings, and an early check in/boarding time? What about a reservation at Palo?
Sailing on the Wonder in Sept. 2020

50-50 on each, they will either happen or they won't.

 

[DMLAINI]

What time can you do online check in? I always hear several different times.

 

[Watt-man]

I'm pretty sure it's 120 days early if you're Platinum, 105 if you're gold, 90 if you're silver and 75 if it's your first cruise. This schedule applies to both online check-in as well as booking excursions.

 

[SG131]

For our first cruise on the fantasy I got tickets to all of the meets. The other people at our table did also as well as tickets to the character breakfast (we didn’t try for that). I was online and ready right away and those were the first things I booked. They filled up very very quickly and many people on my cruise FB group didn’t get them. I already knew from FB that Palo brunch was sold out as soon as silver could book so I didn’t even bother trying.

 

[tundra1]

So if you are a first timer, on the 75 day mark, do the reservations open up immediately after midnight, or after another time, such as 7:00am?
Thanks! 🕰

 

[SG131]

So if you are a first timer, on the 75 day mark, do the reservations open up immediately after midnight, or after another time, such as 7:00am?
Thanks! 🕰

Midnight. And sometimes you can get in and do the check in process a few hrs before that.

 

[lklgoodman]

Midnight. And sometimes you can get in and do the check in process a few hrs before that.

And keep in mind it's at midnight Eastern time zone, so if you live in Central time zone it would be 11pm, and Pacific at 9pm.

 

[eMoneyBug]

have fun cruising. if you plan on going to a DVC cruise event, do some research before going on the cruise, so you know the ins and outs of direct vs resale and which resort you want as your home resort.

We love Disney cruises, so much fun!

 

[daisylee]

Which onboard activities are you referring to? Spa activities you'll have to sign up for, but the trivia and other 'open' items are exactly that: open. Check out the archived Navigators (daily schedule) on the below website. The DCL blog is a great reference for planning

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/

The times for meet and greets and character breakfasts. A friend and her daughter are joining us, and I'm sure it would be better if we could coordinate those things. I'm assuming linking our reservations is the only way to insure we both get the same times?