NO plan - good or bad?

[hsl825]

We (my husband, our two young girls, and I) leave in two weeks for our first cruise ever - a three night on the Dream. With the exception of a dinner reservation at Paolo, I have made absolutely NO plans. This is the exact opposite of how I "attack" our WDW trips at the parks. My thinking is that with a three night cruise, we don't really have a lot of time and we should just enjoy the boat and Castaway Cay. Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I going to kick myself for not having more of an organized itinerary?

Can't wait

 

[AquaDame]

For a three night that sounds perfect! You aren't in Nassau long enough to 'experience' it and Atlantis is spendy!

 

[Davids-Coco]

I don't think it is either good or bad. You might feel better knowing what will be offered by reviewing a few navigators and seeing what kinds of things you may want to do. But that is the beauty, you don't need to plan a lot.

 

[mousemamma]

I think you have a GREAT plan!

 

[nenis]

I think its a great adventure waiting to happen! Have fun!

 

[kcashner]

"Go with the Flow" is a perfect way to cruise...especially on such a short cruise.

 

[pixarmom]

We (my husband, our two young girls, and I) leave in two weeks for our first cruise ever - a three night on the Dream. With the exception of a dinner reservation at Paolo, I have made absolutely NO plans. This is the exact opposite of how I "attack" our WDW trips at the parks. My thinking is that with a three night cruise, we don't really have a lot of time and we should just enjoy the boat and Castaway Cay. Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I going to kick myself for not having more of an organized itinerary?

Can't wait

Our first cruise was a 3-night on the Dream last August. I really missed the opportunity to plan, but there really wasn't much to plan. We decided to stay on the ship in Nassau and then just explore at Castaway Cay. So we didn't book any excursions and I was really happy with that for a first cruise. But there were a couple things I did to prepare:

1) We planned to be up early for breakfast every morning so that we could get an early start in the pools. Our family was alone in the pools and hot tubs both mornings of the cruise and it was wonderful. Our boys were first on the aquaduck the first morning and it was great.

2) We all looked over old navigators to get a sense for the activities on the ship. They boys knew that they wanted to do ghost voyagers and try gaga ball in the Edge and they knew they wanted to do midship detective agency. Our middle son wanted some time to play basketball and our oldest wanted to make flubber at some point. Our youngest wanted to get to Pluto's PJ party. We knew we'd want to see the shows all three nights and that we planned to see the fireworks and the pirate party on pirate night. So it helped to go in with a general idea of some of the things we wanted to do - easier to pull together a plan for the next day when we got the navigators each night.

We had a great time, even though we missed Castaway (Hurricane Irene) and stayed on the ship all three days. It certainly gave us plenty of time to explore the ship!

Have a great trip!

 

[3Mickeys]

We leave next week and we don't have any plans either. I'm sort of nervous about it and sort of enjoying taking it relaxed and laid back. We'll get off in Nassau but don't have plans, same with Key West.
I say enjoy and take it easy.

 

[darkwing818]

We (my husband, our two young girls, and I) leave in two weeks for our first cruise ever - a three night on the Dream. With the exception of a dinner reservation at Paolo, I have made absolutely NO plans.

This exactly what we did on our 1st Disney Cruise (a 7 day Eastern) 10 years ago (before ever checking on Disboards), even down to the Palo dinner reservation. Honestly it's still our favorite DCL cruise. Everything was kind of a suprise & exciting. Our two DDs now 20 & 22 still rave about that 1st cruise.

Plan or no Plan, either way you'll have Great Time. Have Fun

 

[Silver Cinderella]

We (my husband, our two young girls, and I) leave in two weeks for our first cruise ever - a three night on the Dream. With the exception of a dinner reservation at Paolo, I have made absolutely NO plans. This is the exact opposite of how I "attack" our WDW trips at the parks. My thinking is that with a three night cruise, we don't really have a lot of time and we should just enjoy the boat and Castaway Cay. Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I going to kick myself for not having more of an organized itinerary?

Can't wait

Don't stress and notice all the great artwork in the stairwells. Lots of people miss that. Have a great time!

 

[MelissaE1]

On our second DCL we found out the morning of the cruise that we were going to be completely rerouted to the Eastern itinerary instead of the Western due to a hurricane. There went all the plans! We just took everything as it came and did whatever we felt like at the moment. It turned out great - probably our most relaxing cruise ever.

ETA: Since this is your first one, there is one thing you'll probably need to make sure you plan for... an onboard deposit for your next one!

 

[Toria]

My family and I took our first cruise last September and I did not plan a thing for us to do. I did not want to confine the family to doing certain activities for our first time out. Shoot, we did not even make it to one show. We just went with it and we had the best time ever. Three days go by so quick, just relax and enjoy.

 

[tarak]

We (my husband, our two young girls, and I) leave in two weeks for our first cruise ever - a three night on the Dream. With the exception of a dinner reservation at Paolo, I have made absolutely NO plans. This is the exact opposite of how I "attack" our WDW trips at the parks. My thinking is that with a three night cruise, we don't really have a lot of time and we should just enjoy the boat and Castaway Cay. Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I going to kick myself for not having more of an organized itinerary?

Can't wait

We're taking our first cruise next January - 4 days on the Dream - and my plan is to not plan. I imagine there will be more than enough to keep us busy, and I can think about possibilities for future trips!

 

[Lainey321]

We (my husband, our two young girls, and I) leave in two weeks for our first cruise ever - a three night on the Dream. With the exception of a dinner reservation at Paolo, I have made absolutely NO plans. This is the exact opposite of how I "attack" our WDW trips at the parks. My thinking is that with a three night cruise, we don't really have a lot of time and we should just enjoy the boat and Castaway Cay. Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I going to kick myself for not having more of an organized itinerary?

Can't wait

My family is going on our first cruise in 2.5 weeks and I am the exact same way as you. I don't have any plans. I found myself stressing about making every decision so i finally just quit. I am going to go with the flow, which is polar opposite of my WDW vacations too

Enjoy!

 

[jpeka65844]

Sounds fine to me. We're setting sail on June 24 and have no plans for excursions or anything whatsoever.

We couldn't get into Palo, not interested in Remy, and are just worried about where we're getting our next fruity adult beverage and dragging that beach chair into the water on CC.

Maybe a mixology class, but that's about it.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

We (my husband, our two young girls, and I) leave in two weeks for our first cruise ever - a three night on the Dream. With the exception of a dinner reservation at Paolo, I have made absolutely NO plans. This is the exact opposite of how I "attack" our WDW trips at the parks. My thinking is that with a three night cruise, we don't really have a lot of time and we should just enjoy the boat and Castaway Cay. Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I going to kick myself for not having more of an organized itinerary?

Can't wait

You did the most important thing with Palo. I think the rest sounds AWESOME!

Have a great time!

 

[DizDays]

You'll be surprised how liberating it is to just give yourself over to the whim of the moment and not worry about plans. Who knows, you just might like it so much, it might change how you plan (or don't) for WDW.

Enjoy every minute!!

 

[ilovetexas]

DVC called me today (I'm not a member) to discuss how they could make my traveling life better. I told them that I'm only interested in the cruises. She was shocked that my kids have never been to WDW. I've read all the posts and listened to all the second by second planning that you wonderfully organized DISers do for a WDW vacation with your little ones. I'm OUT!

I'm amazed by your dedication to your children's vacation but I promise you that you will LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the absolute lack of planning that can result in a wonderful vacation on a cruise ship. Not only are you allowed to sit back and do NOTHING, it's rather expected. Like a PP said, just plan on planning your next cruise.

Enjoy!!

 

[lilbug13]

We did a 7 night MR last year on the Wonder. We had ZERO plans and it was a wonderful trip.

Just relax and enjoy!

 

[hsl825]

for all the great advice! Sounds like I'm on the right track. Now I just have to start packing - these girls just keep growing and I have NO idea if they'll fit into last summer's clothes. Oh well - bathing suits should do just fine.