Reserving things as a newbie.

[Bootsie13]

Very excited to be going of our first DCL cruise (Fantasy 7day Western Caribbean), lots of questions here! I know we are last to secure reservations for things- will we be able to do Remus and Palo as first timers? What will be left by the time our turn rolls around? Are there any nights that are better to try for?

Also shore excursions- what will sell out? Am trying to decide on excursions for Cozumel, Gand Cayman and Falmouth, but would hate to get our hopes up and not be able to book.

Also looking for any general recommendations for this cruise with kiddos 8 and 5.
Thanks,

 

[JoeFromSeoul]

Both Palo and Remy are likely to be fully booked, but you might be able to snag a reservation on the day you board. Other activities can be hit or miss. If the things you want are fully booked, keep checking. People do cancel. You can also book your own excursions - just do a little research and check reviews before you book.

If you haven't already done so, consider joining the cruise meet discussion for your sailing. Sometimes people will announce an intent to cancel, giving others the chance to jump on a reservation.

Good luck!

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

Beware DCL! It's like those potato chips, you can't just have one!!



Are your kids active? Do they like museums? Do you (as a family) like the beach or the town? Lots of stuff to do from some of the best snorkeling on the planet, pristine beaches, ancient Mayan ruins, fun shopping...lots to do.

 

[BarlowFamily]

Palo and Remy will likely be full will your chance to reserve activities comes. Dinner in Palo on the first night of your cruise might be the easiest to get - be sure to stop in and meet your waiters in MDR and let them know you'll be in Palo. Dinner/brunch reservations will likely be available when you board, check your Navigator on Embarkation Day to see where these can be made and head there first thing when you get on the ship.

On our first cruise, all of the tasting were full when we tried on-line. However, I was able to register for all of them, except one, on Embarkation Day at Guest Services.

I always pick a back-up excursion, just in case and have only had to use my back up once. You can book these things on your own for less money, but with two little ones I totally get the convenience and piece of mind booking through Disney.

My son loved the Kids Clubs, especially the character activities. They don't explicitly say "Mickey will be in the Kids Club for..." but there are some special highlighted activities, or you can ask a Youth Activities Cast Member. He played race cars with Mickey, some outer space thing with stitch, and met a Superhero he still can't name...just characters coming to hang out and have fun. No line for pictures and autographs, just playing and having fun with the kids, the way its supposed to be.

 

[Bootsie13]

Beware DCL! It's like those potato chips, you can't just have one!!



Are your kids active? Do they like museums? Do you (as a family) like the beach or the town? Lots of stuff to do from some of the best snorkeling on the planet, pristine beaches, ancient Mayan ruins, fun shopping...lots to do.

My kids are a interesting mix -daughter 8 is a thrill seeker and very social son 5 more stand-offish and resistant to trying new things. However if you are a college-aged girl with long hair, my son will follow you to the ends of the earth!

Am thinking that the stingray swim would be too much for him. Anybody out there done this with younger kids?

Am thinking beach time will be our friend!

 

[Rob1872]

Sometimes Remy and Palo book up before the Gold CC members can book, sometimes there are Remy and Palo reservations available 2 weeks out from the cruise. You won't know for your cruise until your booking window opens. I stressed out for a few weeks before my window opened because of wanting to try a Palo brunch for the first time (and having read here comments from people who couldn't get a reservation), and every day and every time was available when I booked.

So relax, you are going to have a great cruise no matter what. While some excursions could fill up, the odds are whatever you want to do will still be there. (If it isn't an ultra-specialty thing, then the tour operator will just add more capacity if there is more demand.) Look over the list of shore excursions, and find something that sounds good and is in your budget range. Don't stress about finding the perfect excursion. Besides, my family's perfect excursion isn't necessarily your family's perfect excursion.

 

[g_ppetto]

The Navigator you receive when you check in at the port will have information regarding where to go for dining reservations, tastings, etc. Take a look at some of the Navigators posted online for a similar cruise to get a feel for where the information is located on the Navigator.

We were able to book a Palo brunch on the Fantasy last September after we boarded. On our cruise, there were tables set up outside the Enchanted Garden where you could make reservations. We visited EC first, made the brunch reservation and then went to one of the lounges where we made reservations for tastings.

We enjoyed the brunch and booked a dinner for later in the cruise as we were leaving Palo.

 

[jjb1974]

My son loved the Kids Clubs, especially the character activities. They don't explicitly say "Mickey will be in the Kids Club for..." but there are some special highlighted activities, or you can ask a Youth Activities Cast Member. He played race cars with Mickey, some outer space thing with stitch, and met a Superhero he still can't name...just characters coming to hang out and have fun. No line for pictures and autographs, just playing and having fun with the kids, the way its supposed to be.

I'm a newbie (for June of next year) and this prompted a question: when the characters drop by the Kids Club, are there pictures taken formally/informally and if so, can they be accessed somehow? I'm sure that would be a logistical nightmare and without something like a MagicBand or KTTW card on the child to link that up I'm leaning towards imagining the answer is "No" but if I didn't ask, I'd kick myself.

Separate question: I had Dreams submit a request that I get AP twice for my dining rotation on a 4 night. Has anyone made this request prior to embarkation before and if so, were you successful? I'm prepared to go to Guest Services on embarkation just in case but hoping to avoid that since we're riding Magical Express from the parks and my arrival time is unknown. Just wondering feasibility of getting that changed. We're "main" dining so I already consider myself fortunate, just trying to push the envelope I guess.

Replies appreciated, even the snarky ones!

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

Has anyone made this request prior to embarkation before and if so, were you successful?

Every time I've made a request like this, we got what we asked for. Good request on your part; they won't fulfill a specific rotation request, but they have a few preset rotations that you can pick from like your request

 

[jjb1974]

Every time I've made a request like this, we got what we asked for. Good request on your part; they won't fulfill a specific rotation request, but they have a few preset rotations that you can pick from like your request

Yeah, I did some research and figured asking for the double AP rotation was the best shot, we shall see. Thanks for the fast reply, I appreciate you!

 

[MomOTwins]

I'm a newbie (for June of next year) and this prompted a question: when the characters drop by the Kids Club, are there pictures taken formally/informally and if so, can they be accessed somehow? I'm sure that would be a logistical nightmare and without something like a MagicBand or KTTW card on the child to link that up I'm leaning towards imagining the answer is "No" but if I didn't ask, I'd kick myself.

There are no pictures taken in the kids club by DCL staff. However, there are various periods where the kids club has an "open house" where parents can go in with their kids. We went to a Mickey Mouse dance party there with our son who was 2 years old and therefore too small to for the kids club when it is not in "open house" and there were plenty of parents taking pictures or video.

To OP's question, when we were first timers last year, Palo and Remy were gone, as were all drink tastings, princess meet and greet, and all frozen meet and greets except late morning on Castaway Cay day (which require you to miss beach time and thus are undesirable). There were still plenty of port adventures, and they did have times for the BBB pirate makeovers. I was eventually able to get a frozen meet and greet on the "better" day by stalking the website, but nothing else. We didn't board until late because we had WDW resort-to-port transport that arrives well after general boarding begins, so I didn't try to get a reservation for anything else on board.

The next time we cruised I was silver and availability was much better--I could book almost anything. But my current cruise we have not yet gotten to silver day and the word from my fellow cruises is that a lot is booked up already so I am not getting my hopes up.