Random questions! Excursions, ship, New Years cruise exc...

[samanthamccarren]

This is the second time I'll be cruising with Disney, well second time cruising at all for that matter. The first cruise was only a 3 night Bahamian on the Dream where we did the Atlantis dolphin swim excursion in Nassau but none in castaway. This second cruise is a 7 night Bahamian cruise where we'll now also be going to Key West, Florida(in addition to Castaway and Nassau again).
So my first question is what are the best excursions in these 3 places or if we should do any(excursion is a must in Bahamas though)??
Second, since we'll be on the ship longer (which will be the Wonder I should add) what are some good activities for those days at sea? (for a 12 year old girl, 19 year old girl, 18 year old boy, and a 47 year old mom).
Third, since we will be on the new Wonder, is the any chance(cruise leaves on Dec. 30th) that this cruise would be canceled?
Fourth, for anyone who has cruised to these places around this time what is the weather like?
Lastly, it will be New Years eve/day during this cruise and DCL website doesn't have a lot of info about this holiday like the others I was wondering what are the festivities that take place, what should we bring for those days and is there still a pirate night?
Thank you to anyone that can help and answer these questions!!!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

This is the second time I'll be cruising with Disney, well second time cruising at all for that matter. The first cruise was only a 3 night Bahamian on the Dream where we did the Atlantis dolphin swim excursion in Nassau but none in castaway. This second cruise is a 7 night Bahamian cruise where we'll now also be going to Key West, Florida(in addition to Castaway and Nassau again).
So my first question is what are the best excursions in these 3 places or if we should do any(excursion is a must in Bahamas though)??
Second, since we'll be on the ship longer (which will be the Wonder I should add) what are some good activities for those days at sea? (for a 12 year old girl, 19 year old girl, 18 year old boy, and a 47 year old mom).
Third, since we will be on the new Wonder, is the any chance(cruise leaves on Dec. 30th) that this cruise would be canceled?
Fourth, for anyone who has cruised to these places around this time what is the weather like?
Lastly, it will be New Years eve/day during this cruise and DCL website doesn't have a lot of info about this holiday like the others I was wondering what are the festivities that take place, what should we bring for those days and is there still a pirate night?
Thank you to anyone that can help and answer these questions!!!

"Best" is in the eye of the beholder. We don't know you party makeup/interests/dislikes, so it would be difficult to tell you what's best for you.

The ship will have lots of kid-specific activities (there are the kid's clubs), as well as family activities for the duration of the cruise. I'd suggest checking past Navigators for an idea of what's been available in the past:
http://disneycruiselineblog.com/personal-navigators/

You can also look to see if any of those past Navigators cover a cruise over New Years Eve for an idea of what generally happens on that day.

Yes, there will be a Pirate night, but the fireworks will typically be on New Years Eve for that cruise.

 

[tink1970]

I'll try to answer as best as I can:

1) If you've never been to Key West you could do an intro to it excursion or just DIY-the tourist area isn't too big and there's a trolley (I believe an older thread explained this better). I don't believe in stepping foot in Nassau so can't help you there. CC is wonderful without an excursion (to me) but I have done the stingray interaction and parasailing (twice)--while both were fun I'm not sure I'd do either again, preferring to just enjoy the island. Other people like to rent floats, bicycles and snorkel gear-not an excursion per se but for those who don't find a hammock and sleep/read their time away (me!).

2) I concur with @PrincessShmoo-there are navigators out there with a lot of information which can give you an idea of activities during the day. When DD and I were sailing the Fantasy for a week when she was 12 or 13, she enjoyed the family crafts and an occasional trivia contest. Most of the time she was off with her Edge friends. There is an 18-20 group which meets and has activities for your DD and DS that age, plus there's the gym, spa, Bingo, etc. Also my experience with teens speaks to the ever so popular "sleeping in."

3) I'll defer to the experts but unless there is something major and extraordinary, can't imagine why they would cancel this cruise.

4) The weather is variable. Bahamian weather is very similar to Floridian so it can be chilly to perfect to warm. I would check the 10 day forecast for Nassau, Key West and the port of departure (? Galveston?) before packing. This year it was lovely at both Nassau and CC (high 70s or low 80s if I remember-my brother from Ohio didn't die of heat and the Florida contingent didn't freeze).

5) We were on the Dream when we ushered in 2016. I honestly can't say it was a big deal but then again I was sick and probably went to bed at 5
I'm pretty sure there were fireworks for NYE but the Pirate night menu and show were on another night.

Hope this helps!

 

[Jkpark]

I was on the Fantasy last New Years. Pirate Night was still Pirate night - just without the fireworks. New Years Eve was a second dressier night. They had hats for each guest and a print per cabin left in your cabin. Up on deck they had noise makers and live music. You could pre-order a bottle of sparkly - but you didn't need to as servers came around and passed out glasses and kept refilling them. They also had trays of appetizers (we had late dinner so we weren't hungry yet - but they looked good). We took our glasses home as souvenirs. The fireworks were great. It will be really hard to top this New Years...

 

[gotomu212]

Are you worried it'll be cancelled due to the dry dock? If so, no I don't think there's any chance the ship won't be up and running at the end of December.

For your kids, only the youngest is considered a kid. The other two would be in the 18-20 group and could do all the adult entertainment/spaces (pool, Palo, nightclubs). They do have open house time in the kids club and I've heard the 1820 group goes in there for video games sometimes.

We've always done Key West on our own and haven't scheduled anything on Castaway. I would schedule something for Nassau though if you plan to get off the ship.

 

[amybethchristiansen]

I don't have too much to add, other than we will be on the cruise too! And I have a 12 year old girl as well. There will still be a pirate night. I don't think we will get off the ship at Key West as we are there for such a short time. It just doesn't seem worth it to me. For Nassau, we are looking into something at Blue Lagoon Island. We will just enjoy Castaway.

 

[samanthamccarren]

I don't have too much to add, other than we will be on the cruise too! And I have a 12 year old girl as well. There will still be a pirate night. I don't think we will get off the ship at Key West as we are there for such a short time. It just doesn't seem worth it to me. For Nassau, we are looking into something at Blue Lagoon Island. We will just enjoy Castaway.

That's very cool you're going on the same one! Maybe they will meet in the tween club. We were just looking at the dolphin swim and day at Blue Lagoon Island as well probably set on that just waiting to book. As for Key West and Castaway we'll probably stick to going off on our own. Thank you for you're reply!

 

[samanthamccarren]

I'll try to answer as best as I can:

1) If you've never been to Key West you could do an intro to it excursion or just DIY-the tourist area isn't too big and there's a trolley (I believe an older thread explained this better). I don't believe in stepping foot in Nassau so can't help you there. CC is wonderful without an excursion (to me) but I have done the stingray interaction and parasailing (twice)--while both were fun I'm not sure I'd do either again, preferring to just enjoy the island. Other people like to rent floats, bicycles and snorkel gear-not an excursion per se but for those who don't find a hammock and sleep/read their time away (me!).

2) I concur with @PrincessShmoo-there are navigators out there with a lot of information which can give you an idea of activities during the day. When DD and I were sailing the Fantasy for a week when she was 12 or 13, she enjoyed the family crafts and an occasional trivia contest. Most of the time she was off with her Edge friends. There is an 18-20 group which meets and has activities for your DD and DS that age, plus there's the gym, spa, Bingo, etc. Also my experience with teens speaks to the ever so popular "sleeping in."

3) I'll defer to the experts but unless there is something major and extraordinary, can't imagine why they would cancel this cruise.

4) The weather is variable. Bahamian weather is very similar to Floridian so it can be chilly to perfect to warm. I would check the 10 day forecast for Nassau, Key West and the port of departure (? Galveston?) before packing. This year it was lovely at both Nassau and CC (high 70s or low 80s if I remember-my brother from Ohio didn't die of heat and the Florida contingent didn't freeze).

5) We were on the Dream when we ushered in 2016. I honestly can't say it was a big deal but then again I was sick and probably went to bed at 5
I'm pretty sure there were fireworks for NYE but the Pirate night menu and show were on another night.

Hope this helps!

This was very helpful and informative thank you!

 

[samanthamccarren]

I was on the Fantasy last New Years. Pirate Night was still Pirate night - just without the fireworks. New Years Eve was a second dressier night. They had hats for each guest and a print per cabin left in your cabin. Up on deck they had noise makers and live music. You could pre-order a bottle of sparkly - but you didn't need to as servers came around and passed out glasses and kept refilling them. They also had trays of appetizers (we had late dinner so we weren't hungry yet - but they looked good). We took our glasses home as souvenirs. The fireworks were great. It will be really hard to top this New Years...

Sad no fireworks on both nights but at least we/ll still get them! This really helped for the NYE night and what I won't have to be bringing (ie the hats and oise makers) from home, thank you! Will the 18,19 year old be able to drink it(mostly to be able to have the glasses)?

 

[amybethchristiansen]

I'm guessing they won't be able to drink it. I'm sure they have a non alcoholic version available. The ship is definitely 21 to drink. I think the glasses are plastic anyway.

 

[Jkpark]

Yes the glasses are plastic but a cute souvenir. They kids had non-alcoholic, but did get a flute.

 

[ahain]

We'll be on the Fantasy Eastern Caribbean that leaves Port Canaveral on December 31. Because NYE is the first night of the cruise, do you think they will still make it a formal night and have fireworks??

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We'll be on the Fantasy Eastern Caribbean that leaves Port Canaveral on December 31. Because NYE is the first night of the cruise, do you think they will still make it a formal night and have fireworks??

They may have the fireworks, but not sure about making it formal night. Or, maybe, they'll delay New Years to the second night (since it's already formal night and a sea day).

 

[MUN]

We were on the Wonder (out of Galveston) last year for the NYE cruise. It was a blast! It was a formal night, with a special menu and a countdown party up on deck with free champagne at midnight. There were also appetizers at the party, but we were stuffed from dinner. Each stateroom received special DCL gifts on NYE. I was a great way to ring in the new year!

On New Years Day we were in Nassau and got to take in the Junkanoo Parade that morning. Wow! What an event! I highly recommend checking out the Junkanoo Parade if you happen to be in Nassau when it is going on.

MUN