? re: full ships

[drnlhome]

I was wondering if I look at, say, Travelocity, and put in my date info. and it comes up with staterooms - does that mean that there is still space available on the ship?

This may seem like a dumb question, since I am hoping the ship won't be stuffed to the gills.

How else can I tell if the ship is full?

Thanks for the help!

 

[hydster]

Well for our sailing last week on the 7 day Eastern Caribbean the DCL website still showed cabins available for our sailing even 4 days before we were to board and yet the cruise was packed to the gills with 977 kids on board and the maximum Capacity is 2400 or (1754 double occupancy) so if you take the 2400 and minus 977 that means that only 1423 were adults (or almost half the ship was kids). If our ship wasn't at capacity it was DARN close!

Heidi

 

[ivanova]

how do you know how many kids will be (or are) onboard??

 

[hydster]

Well after our nightmare Club experience I asked a Lab CM about it and she told me it was 977 give or take a few. (I have no idea what a few is however)

If I had been able to I would have chosen a cruise that had less kids on it but we didn't and couldn't.

Heidi

 

[BuzzBoyMom]

I will tell you we had a "full ship" on our last cruise and it was not terrible. At shows, embarkation and special events you could tell, but otherwise I (surprisingly) didn't mind it. As long as there is a deck chair for me and someone bringing me a drink, I can close my eyes and the world slips away!!!!

 

[Christine]

When I was getting my quotes, I found that if I used some of the travel agent sites (like Travelocity, cruise.com, etc), I would put my dates in and it would *appear* that there was availability. Then I would get all the way to the point of putting in my credit card number and I would get a message that my "trip could not be confirmed." When I called Travelocity or cruise.com, they then told me that there was no availability. It seems that the travel agent websites do not keep up with actual availability. Having said all that, the DCL site is usually a good indicator. Put your dates in there and start requesting quotes for different stateroom categories. You will see very quickly that the ship is full. We tried to get a late July, 4-day sailing and were totally shut out. DCL's site was the only one that seemed "true" to the actual availability.

 

[natdencro]

Capacity is 2,700 guests and almost 1,000 crew.

We have sailed 4 weeks on the Magic, 3 cruises being capacity: Disney is surely a "family" ship, and that's why so many people choose to take their children. We ALWAYS found peace and quiet on board when we wanted it. Yes, the pools were busy, but we CHOSE to cruise on a family ship: how boring it would be without the youngsters. Our children are now grown up, but how we enjoyed watching other families' small children taking in all the sights and sounds of The Magic. If you dont care for young children's noise and enthusiasm, then MAYBE you should vacation elsewhere - away from Disney. Just a thought. Nat

 

[toot2]

We did the 4 day Wonder (Presidents Weekend 2001) and 7 day Western (April 2004).

I'm not sure if the ships were at capacity on our trips but there were some very busy areas, especially the elevators and the kids/family pools.

If you have younger children, you will probably be hanging out in the busier areas, pools, going to the clubs, character appearances, etc.

Our first trip was with a large family group and my 7yr nephew was along. Our second trip was my immediate family of 2 adults/2 teenagers, so we were able to avoid some of the 'kid-congested' areas!

Deck 10 had plenty of room even on on sea days. The adult pool was just that, adults only with an occasional child who didn't stay long.

Enjoy!
Sue

I'm sure my trip would have been very different if I had toddlers in tow! So, your experince can vary depending where your family wants to spend their time.l

 

[DustyLady]

We just got back from the 3-day Wonder. According to the DCL site there were no cabins left. I never would have known this based on the number of times we were almost totally alone on one deck of the ship or another. We were always able to find a deck chair and/or table, Hercules show the 1st night did not fill up and the padded deck 4 chairs were usually empty. The only real crowds were the last night at Shutters (to buy pictures) and the shops. IMO, a full ship is much better than a full capacity crowd at WDW!!

 

[kcashner]

We've sailed on the Magic 10 times...sometimes full, sometimes close, sometimes not at all. The last cruise, a whole area of cabins was closed off for refurbishing...so although the cruise was listed as "full," it was much less than it's nearly 2700 guest capacity.

"Full" is a strange word. There are 800+ cabins available normally. All cabins technically hold at least 3 people. Since we are a 2 person family, selling us a cabin automatically reduces the ship's capacity by 1. Ok, so one person isn't a big deal, but if you repeat this several hundred times, a "full" ship may have 2400 guests on board. Also, when you make a reservation, a spot is automatically reserved for any children in the "age appropriate" kid area. Thus, there are times when I could make a reservation for 2 adults, but not for myself and my child (as her age group is full).

All that said, we've only had one experience when the ship really seemed crowded. That was the maiden voyage, when DCL really hadn't figured out the crowd control issues yet. There are now so many activities, places, etc. for people to be that we can always find a quiet spot when desired. We do like to travel "off season" as the kid older kid population is much less at those times.

 

[2kidsmom]

I was on the 5/1 Eastern. While it was a bit crowded at the pools, I did not feel overrun with kids. We did not have the first problem ANYWHERE. My DD is 6 and DS is 9, although he will be 10 at the end of May so he was allowed with the 10-12. There was never any time that I couldn't find a seat anywhere (even Deck 9 at the Mickey pool). The only time I even bumped into a kid was when they were chasing that danged ping pong ball all over deck 9 in hurricane force winds! And even they were polite with the "excuse me's".

I am sorry that others had a bad experience. There were 12 in my party and all had a GRAND time. This was the first cruise for 6 of them and they were estatic with everything. I have been been before and was worried that I might the "been there, done that" attitude and be a little disappointed, but not so. If anything, it was even more Magical.

We are planning another Disney cruise for September 2005. Wouldn't go any other way. If I can't cruise Disney, then I don't want to cruise at all. I live about an hour from Galveston with about 6 ships there, but I will get to Port Canaveral one way or the other!

Julie

 

[invaderzim]

We have sailed twice -- once on the Wonder in November 2000 and once on the Magic in 2002. The only "problems" I ever encountered with kids and/or teens was in the elevator, and mothers using strollers as battering rams! Seriously, I ran into two mothers who constantly felt that their having a baby stroller gave them the right to "clear the path" for them! It didn't matter whose ankles were in front of them. But that was only 2 families.

The only other "bad" experience was on the elevator. Twice, both on dress-up nights, we ran into the same two little girls (no older than 7 or 8) constantly in the elevators with open plates of food (french fries with ketchup, etc.). Needless to say, we didn't want to get on the elevator with them and our good clothes. Never did see them with any adults!

And my only real "complaint" is that they need supervision in the movie theater. Kids are allowed to run rampant and create a noise level that would never be allowed in a mainstream movie theater.

But as I tell all my friends who can't understand why we would want to sail on a ship "full of kids" -- you really never hardly see them! As previous messages noted, we always found quiet spots on the decks, deck chairs and window seats without any children around! We didn't even see our teenager for most of the cruise because she was so busy with teen activities!