Questions about Disney Cruise

[SandyinMonterey]

I know there is a specific forum just for DCL but I would really appreciate the opinions and advice from DVC Members. Our last two trips (DL this year and WDW last year) were less than magical. Considering a break from the parks. Would like to hear from fellow DVC Members if they have been on one of the Disney Cruises. How did you like it? What is just as crowded as the parks, especially at the pools (which is very important to our daughter)? Tell me about the food. I'd also appreciate it if someone can inform me on how your points work booking a cruise. Having a hard time getting a grasp of it. Thanks everyone!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Pools on the ships are small, and usually much more crowded than pools at resorts. Some folks take late dining (begins around 8:30) so they can swim during first dining time( begins around 5:45). They say it is not as crowded then. However, if you swim then, you would miss the big shows in the Walt Disney Theater.

Food is subjective, I like DCL's main dining room appetizers and entrees a lot, and I find the buffets good. In general, I do not like their desserts. There are a few exceptions, but usually if I order a dessert it is a Mickey Bar. Room service is OK, I rather eat in a dining room or buffet, or even something from a counter service place on the pool deck.

I like the on board activities, trivia, informative sessions on aspects of Disney in general, games, crafts, cooking demos, on board movies, and just relaxation in general. I like to swim, and the adult pool is often way too crowded, people soup, UGGG. I find that port days are better, because most folks go off for a little bit.

Expensive, but going to Atlantis in Nassau is an excellent water park day, IMO.

Right now, there is an active thread that talks about using points for cruises.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/need-help-from-dvc-experts-re-points-cash-payments.3255277/

Lots of posters there have more experience with booking cruises for points.

 

[disneynutz]

Disney = crowds.

Ships, resorts or parks, Disney spends millions of dollars to keep attendance at it's maximum.

Bill

 

[dwg]

I am going on my 11th cruise through DVC. I actually prefer the cruise to the parks. The crowds on the cruise generally do not bother us. The pool will probably be less crowded on days in port. We really enjoy Castaway Cay as well. You don't mention how old your daughter is, when my son was eligible for the teen club he really enjoyed that. not so much the younger groups. he is an only child. as far as how booking points work I would suggest looking at the points chart on the DVC web site and contacting member services for how your points work. there is a $95 transfer fee when booking the cruise. we just booked August 2016 and needed to borrow from our 2017 use year.

 

[El&Asmom]

We have been on 2 Disney cruises and love them. Our girls were 6,9 and 11 on our last cruise this past October and we went with another family that have 4 girls all between 6 and 10. My kids had a blast. They love the bit of freedom they can have on the ships, (not the 6 year old) and we love that we can take them to the kids club for a couple of hours and have alone time not feeling guilty because we know they are having a blast. The pools are gross imo though the adult pool was never crowded on our sailing and we enjoyed that. The kids were fine with the overcrowded family pools. My big girls loved the Aquaduck and went on it over and over again. Our family LOVES Castaway Cay. I would love to do a double dip there some day. We enjoyed the food but we aren't horribly picky. There are plenty of options. Both cruises we have stayed on ship for the Nassau day as we have no need to go there and enjoy the less crowded ship. The parks are getting too crowded for us with few slow periods anymore. Cruising is a great way to get our Disney fix without going to the crowded parks.

 

[asunutgirl]

We have been on 5 cruises and have our 6th booked for next April. I absolutely love the cruises - as a mom I love being pampered by having our room cleaned daily, my bed turned down and all the cooking done for me. The food is very good and we always find something that we like. DH and DD both have food allergies and the cast members always do an amazing job of taking care of them.

The pool is crowded (as is the spa) so we usually don't go in them. We prefer to ride the Aqua Duck. So much to do and the entertainment is great. I highly recommend you try it!

 

[AnnaS]

Family pool/kiddie pool gets too crowded especially on sea days. We do not have young children so not a problem for us. We still cruise DCL with family, as a couple and with friends. We did our first short one as a couple (in addition to our stay at WDW) last October. We are booked again on our 7th I believe next year. Service is great, food is good and we like that there are no casinos. We don't mind a drink here and there but we found they were a bit pushy with the drinks everywhere we went/sat on the Fantasy. Other than that - we love it. You gotta try it once and see if it's for you. Try a 4 night with a short WDW stay if you are not sure. Just stay on board when it docks in Nassau.

 

[Snurk71]

We've found the service level on the cruises to be the classic Disney service on steroids - it felt that much more to us when we first started cruising. So I think your chance of experiencing/feeling the magic again are pretty high if you try a cruise.

 

[prncssjas]

Dear SandyinMonterey,

I will echo some of the similar sentiments of everyone else. It will depend on your own specific interests and what you look for in a vacation. We just returned from our first Disney Cruise on the Dream (4 nights) and there were pros and cons. I thought the service was terrific and enjoyed having the stateroom cleaned every day (twice a day!). When you're used to "mousekeeping" with DVC points, it was a nice change. However, I have one son, who is 12 and he loves swimming and pool activities. Therefore, our pool experience was not so good. It was literally body to body contact in the pool area. When we stay at the Beach Club or Boardwalk, if it gets too crowded, we can simply move over to the quiet pool. That's not an option on the cruise. This was the biggest negative for us. While heavy crowds are ok, there is really no where to escape (you can't take a walk, drive your car, etc...). And since we have a 12 year old, the more secluded "adults only" area was not always an option.

We did not pay with points--we used cash so I can't help you there. While we are happy to have experienced the cruise and it was a great change, we won't do it every year or often. I love my DVC resorts too much. A split land/sea stay might be a good option if you can swing it. Best of luck!!

 

[ldo]

I would highly suggest AKV @ JAmbo house. Because it is also a hotel, many people are at the parks, as it is their first trip. We have been @ June, Aug, many EAster breaks and Christmas. The Jambo pool is rarely crowded. They also have a great community hall over at Kidani for this age that many do not know about. There animal enrichment activities are good also. We go at peak time and go into the parks with FP+ either in the AM until lunch or later in the afternoon and enjoy the resort the rest of the day.
I say that b/c DCL can be VERy crowded. My kids LOVE DCL--but have never attempted to get into the pools--too crowded. The wait for Aquacoaster can be 45 minutes. But, if your DD can swim in the ocean at the ports and not the pool, DCL is great. Great movie theater, great Broadway quality show almost every night, tons of fun stuff to do on board, very fun dining experience. Each dinner is themed and in a different restaurant with same waiters. The food is very good. Cabins are large for a cruiseship. However, at peak times, the kids clubs can get very crowded and, sadly, my kids felt overwhelmed and got no personal attention. It was disappointing--DD came back and just wanted to go to AKV community hall for a few hours instead. Elaine

 

[smjj]

We lucked out on the cruises due to our kids being all adults. We always used the adults only pool and that was good. The dining room and buffet food is good and the snacks and food on decks is good also. It depends on how picky you are. Castaway Cay is great. Again, we used the adults only beach but they have a very large and nice teens only and family beach with food service located at the beach areas and it is very good also. We tried to get our pictures taken with the characters on several occasions but just did not want to stand in the very long lines so we skipped those. The rooms are always very well maintained and the split bathrooms are very nice and makes getting ready so much easier, enjoy..smjj