Newbie to Cruising

[Mommy Poppins]

My DH is currently deployed but "might" be home for a two week leave sometime this summer--no specific dates yet. We know if we just hang out at home, life will go on here (softball, t-ball, swimming, etc.) so I would like for us to get away for at least one of the weeks he is here. It will probably be July or August--which I know is VERY hot in Florida, but then I thought how about a Disney Cruise. When you're out on the ocean, it just doesn't feel as hot & humid, right???? Okay, now we've been to Disney many times--but never cruised. We have 3 kids (ages 9, 6 and 3) and we will be bringing them wih us--they need quality time with Daddy too! Because it will be so warm (and crowded!), we're thinking of just doing the water parks at Disney and maybe going to MK or DS in the evening for may 2 or 3 days. We were just there in December and I am planning to take the just the kids back in December again.

So, after I find out for sure about his leave dates, then I need to figure out what to do next. Is it better to book the land/sea trip or book the cruise and then just book a couple days at Disney. The DCL has availability in the Cat 4 Family room with Verandah? That seems to be the only room to accommodate us--is that a good choice? (Not that it really matters if that is the only room available! LOL) We want to stay at the Beach Club--which matches with the ship room category. The only thing I found while checking is that we can only get the second seating for dinner--and I can't imagine my kids waiting until 8:30 to eat dinner. Any chance earlier dining will open up.

Also, did anyone ever do a vow renewal on board? Our 10th anniversary is in April--which DH will miss of course--but I was thinking of maybe renewing our vows on board.

Please give me whatever tips, help you guys have. I am completely clueless as far as cruising so it's all good info to me!

Thanks!

 

[DrCavin]

Most posts say that you will do better booking the land/cruise yourself. It gives you more flexibility in which hotels you stay at & usually ends up being cheaper. You may also want to do a search on having 5 people in a room. You will definitly save money by booking connecting rooms or rooms across from each other than booking the cat 4.

Remember they will only be doing 3/4 day cruises from PC this summer since the Magic will be on the left coast until September.

 

[alexandrew]

DW and I looked into the vow renewal package onboard....we just thought it was prohibitively expensive.....In our minds, for the cost of this package, we could have booked another 3 day for our family of 4 (using our FL Res discount)