Sept. 28, 2013 - Fantasy - Western Caribbean

[RobCherX3]

So excited to be going on our first Disney Cruise with you all! We are traveling with my DH & I and our 10 year old triplets (girl, boy, girl). We're from San Diego. Also onboard will be my inlaws, my DH sister, hubby & their 4 kids (9, 7, 6, 4) who are meeting us from Illinois.

I am overwhelmed with all the details of wanting to be in the 'cool kids' club of being in the know onboard...but don't know what I should know/ask about - so any 'tips' of things I should be booking, plan for, etc. is welcome.

QUESTION - are you allowed to pack your own 'floatation' blow-up rafts/tubes to be used at Castaway Cay? I thought it'd save us money to bring our own blow-ups instead of $6 a piece...but don't know if that's allowed.

Thanks!
Cheryl Shields

Running my first Disney half-marathon on Sept 1st!!!
Disney Cruise Sept. 26th!
Family Disney Tinkerbell Run - 5K - Jan. 17th

and was a Disneyland employee in the early 90's

 

[uftw24]

We just booked this cruise this weekend. So excited. Will be myself (36), my wife (turning 35 on first day) and our daughter (will be 4 1/2 by sailing time). I plan on joining the Facebook page as well (Troy).

 

[uftw24]

And we are from the Orlando area.

 

[sgc1107]

So excited to be going on our first Disney Cruise with you all! We are traveling with my DH & I and our 10 year old triplets (girl, boy, girl). We're from San Diego. Also onboard will be my inlaws, my DH sister, hubby & their 4 kids (9, 7, 6, 4) who are meeting us from Illinois.

I am overwhelmed with all the details of wanting to be in the 'cool kids' club of being in the know onboard...but don't know what I should know/ask about - so any 'tips' of things I should be booking, plan for, etc. is welcome.

QUESTION - are you allowed to pack your own 'floatation' blow-up rafts/tubes to be used at Castaway Cay? I thought it'd save us money to bring our own blow-ups instead of $6 a piece...but don't know if that's allowed.

Thanks!
Cheryl Shields

Running my first Disney half-marathon on Sept 1st!!!
Disney Cruise Sept. 26th!
Family Disney Tinkerbell Run - 5K - Jan. 17th

and was a Disneyland employee in the early 90's

Hello & welcome! You've picked a great cruise! Our group is full of helpful & nice veteran and new cruisers! No question is stupid, we've all been in your shoes!

We do have a Facebook page too. The link is back a bit in the posts. I'd post it again but not sure how to get the link from the mobile version. There seems to be more talking going on over there but we do discuss important stuff here as well.

As for the floats I don't think you can, I vaguely remember reading somewhere you can't. People do bring their own beach toys for kids. I may be wrong, you could do a search on disboards.

I highly suggest doing lots of reading on dis (remember to read out thread from page 1 too) there's tons of tips & tricks on here! We're also here to help answer any questions! Again, welcome to the group!

 

[sgc1107]

We just booked this cruise this weekend. So excited. Will be myself (36), my wife (turning 35 on first day) and our daughter (will be 4 1/2 by sailing time). I plan on joining the Facebook page as well (Troy).

Hello & welcome!!!

 

[mordecai]

You can bring some small beach toys (plastic buckets, shovels, etc) but you are not allowed to bring inflatables on board. I've heard of some people that were able to bring them anyway (through ignorance I suppose) but you run the risk of these items being confiscated.

If you're doing all that running, you might want to plan on running the 5k on Castaway Cay. It's free!

 

[momof1gr8girl]

We just booked this yesterday. Spur of the moment decision. I'm so excited. We are going to surprise our daughter who will be turning 13 on 10/1. She thinks we are going to Orlando to tag along on one of my husband's business trips and to celebrate her birthday while we are there. Came here to look for cruising tips and found the meet board.

 

[sgc1107]

We just booked this yesterday. Spur of the moment decision. I'm so excited. We are going to surprise our daughter who will be turning 13 on 10/1. She thinks we are going to Orlando to tag along on one of my husband's business trips and to celebrate her birthday while we are there. Came here to look for cruising tips and found the meet board.

Hello & welcome!!! How exciting! How do you plan to tell her?

 

[momof1gr8girl]

Hello & welcome!!! How exciting! How do you plan to tell her?

Not really sure yet. I know there are character calls that you can set up. We are flying down on Friday so I thought maybe Friday night we could schedule a call and then she would know. I don't know though.

I'm really overwhelmed frankly because I don't know anything about cruising and since this is a surprise I'm trying to hide all my emailing and searching online. Plus she's homeschooled so I can't do it when she is at school. Right now she's unloading the dishwasher so I jumped back on here.

 

[disneysailor]

So excited to be going on our first Disney Cruise with you all! We are traveling with my DH & I and our 10 year old triplets (girl, boy, girl). We're from San Diego. Also onboard will be my inlaws, my DH sister, hubby & their 4 kids (9, 7, 6, 4) who are meeting us from Illinois.

I am overwhelmed with all the details of wanting to be in the 'cool kids' club of being in the know onboard...but don't know what I should know/ask about - so any 'tips' of things I should be booking, plan for, etc.

Welcome to all the new cruisers! I think the best advice is the advice that is given so often - don't expect or try to fit everything in! Of course, on the other hand, it's a lot of fun to spend each night with your highlighters selecting some nice activities for the following day. You might even want to bring different color highlighters for adult activities, children's activities, etc. Another thing is to not be too disappointed if you're children want to spend all their time in the kid's clubs or if they want to spend hardly any time at all. We've had it go both ways. No matter what, I'm sure you'll make memories to last a lifetime!

 

[sgc1107]

Not really sure yet. I know there are character calls that you can set up. We are flying down on Friday so I thought maybe Friday night we could schedule a call and then she would know. I don't know though.

I'm really overwhelmed frankly because I don't know anything about cruising and since this is a surprise I'm trying to hide all my emailing and searching online. Plus she's homeschooled so I can't do it when she is at school. Right now she's unloading the dishwasher so I jumped back on here.

I would wait until you pull up to the ship! And make sure your record it! Go to YouTube (if you can find time) and search disney cruise reveal! I love watching the kids reaction!

 

[Shelby109]

I would wait until you pull up to the ship! And make sure your record it! Go to YouTube (if you can find time) and search disney cruise reveal! I love watching the kids reaction!

Fun! Yea, maybe tell her that you are going to do a quick detour to see the Space Shuttle (maybe as part of your homeschool. Curriculum)... And then go to port

 

[mordecai]

Yay! More home schoolers! We have the best "field trips"

There are a bunch of threads that I've collected that have some great tips on cruising for the first time. I can send them to you. The best way tho is to probably ask questions on our Facebook page.

 

[momof1gr8girl]

Yay! More home schoolers! We have the best "field trips"

There are a bunch of threads that I've collected that have some great tips on cruising for the first time. I can send them to you. The best way tho is to probably ask questions on our Facebook page.

FB page?

I can't reveal at the dock because we are taking the bus from the airport to the ship. I wonder if I can cancel that?

 

[sgc1107]

FB page?

I can't reveal at the dock because we are taking the bus from the airport to the ship. I wonder if I can cancel that?

Go back some pages, there's a link to this group on Facebook. I'd post it but I can't get the link from mobile version.

I bet you could cancel the transfers.

 

[Grehg]

Last night we book our spot for this cruise. My wife is a CM and this cruise had a CM discount, which made this nearly last minute vacation option a possibility. Our last cruise was on the Dream during it's inaugural month (WDW Radio cruise 1.0). We are very excited to experience the Fantasy and for a longer period of time, the 4 day cruise went by way too quickly.

My name is Greg (36 turning 37 on Oct 3rd) and my wife is Missy (32). Joining us is our 9 year old son Breyton and 6 year old daughter Marin. I just put in a request to join the Facebook group.

Just finished reading through the entire thread. Got excited about doing the FE, then saw it close as I kept reading.

 

[momof1gr8girl]

Go back some pages, there's a link to this group on Facebook. I'd post it but I can't get the link from mobile version.

I bet you could cancel the transfers.

Found it & requested an add. Thanks.

 

[momof1gr8girl]

How dressy do people really get for dinner on the formal & semi formal nights? Don't want to have to buy a pageant dress.

 

[BajAndy]

Hey, all!! My hubby and I just booked our first cruise with DCL!!! I've been on one cruise before with a different cruise line and this will be my husband's first cruise ever!!! We are so excited!!! Just requested to join the facebook page.

We have two kids which we will not be bringing. I feel bad! But this will be my husband's and my first vacation with just the two of us since our honeymoon 5.5 years ago. So it's much needed and deserved!! I figure, we can "test" the cruise and will know the best things to do with our kids when we book our next (because I'm sure we will do this again!!).

 

[BajAndy]

Hey everyone. We are traveling from the Disney/Kissimmee area day of the cruise and driving down. Does anyone want to car pool with us and split the costs of gas/parking. WARNING it will be a VERY Early Start. Im aiming to get to the port at 10! just because im too excited to wait at home!