Should first DCL cruise be 3 days?

[TheSpooph]

What about a 4-night? Could still be affordable, and offer 2-3 days at WDW before or after. Because the Dream sails 4-nights on a Monday-Friday, schedule, you could fly down to WDW on a Friday, visit the parks Saturday and Sunday, and then board the cruise Monday morning. Flying home Friday would then give you the weekend to recover, unpack, etc.

I think that is definitely a possibility. I’m not sure about the vacation time off for everyone. But everyone has made a good case for why that extra night is worth something.

 

[TheSpooph]

As far as booking another cruise on board--you can book a 'placeholder' for a $250 deposit and decide which cruise to take at a later date. (Helpful when you want to book farther out than Disney has released.) You have 24 mths to the day to sail with that placeholder and if you don't, you'll get your deposit back. The placeholder (or booking a new cruise while on board) gets you 10% off the rate and either $100 (cruise under 7nts) or $200 (cruise 7 or more nts) on board credit. The 7 nt cruises also get you 10% deposit vs. the usual 20%.

Thank you so much for this info. I hadn’t seen it all written out on how rebooking on board really worked. If everyone is having a good time, it sounds like it’s worth it.

Do you need to decide the length or time of you future cruise? And, is it easy to adjust it in the future?

 

[Dug720]

Thank you so much for this info. I hadn’t seen it all written out on how rebooking on board really worked. If everyone is having a good time, it sounds like it’s worth it.

Do you need to decide the length or time of you future cruise? And, is it easy to adjust it in the future?

If you just book a placeholder, it's a flat fee that would be applied to a future cruise deposit when you book.

If you book a specific date, that can be cancelled (as long as you don't book concierge which is non-refundable) or changed. But either way the cruise must be taken by 2 years to the date that the onboard booking is made.

 

[n5749w]

If you just book a placeholder, it's a flat fee that would be applied to a future cruise deposit when you book.

If you book a specific date, that can be cancelled (as long as you don't book concierge which is non-refundable) or changed. But either way the cruise must be taken by 2 years to the date that the onboard booking is made.

This was very helpful! Is there a way to combine the flat rate placeholder and the 10% deposit? For instance, if you know that the future placeholder cruise will be longer than 7 nights? Or is it strictly one or the other?

 

[Dug720]

This was very helpful! Is there a way to combine the flat rate placeholder and the 10% deposit? For instance, if you know that the future placeholder cruise will be longer than 7 nights? Or is it strictly one or the other?

That I do not know. I have only ever booked a specific date. I’ve never bothered with the placeholder.

 

[Mikamarii]

We’ve only done 7 night cruises. Coming from western Canada the travel time to Orlando doesn’t seem worth it to us to only go for a few nights we usually do 7 night cruise and 7-10 nights at WDW either before or after. Of course DVC has helped us to all that. We are hooked on cruising and will likely never do less than 7 nights.

Many things come in to play when deciding on doing 3 or 7 nights. I think good or bad 3 days isn’t enough to decide if one likes it or not. There is so much to do that the 3 day may feel rushed and not as relaxing as a cruise should be. You can’t do it all. It’s designed that way to keep the cruisers spread out across the ship. Even 7 nights has felt to short for us. Our favourite thing about the cruise is that we have lots of time to do family stuff and still have quiet time for the adults away from the kids. The great thing about cruising as you get a mix of both jam packed fun and relaxing time.

We have done 3 Disney cruises. One for our honeymoon, one when kids were 18mth and 3, and one when kids were 3 and 5. We have another booked next year and kids will be 7 and 5. We found that the least enjoyable one was when our youngest was 18mth. She had been a great sleeper but for whatever reason didn’t do well on the cruise. She would wake up screaming in the middle of the night. I’d feel so bad for our neighbours that a few nights I took her to the movie theatre at 2am so she could scream herself to sleep without bothering anyone. Also, our oldest was super pickey eater and made dinners difficult. We rushed through dinners and didn’t get the enjoyable experience. Lastly, at 18 maths she couldn’t go to the kids club. Only the nursery. It gave us a break but there is a limit you can leave them there and costs money.

Our last cruise with kids 3 and 5 was a complete 180. It was amazing. There’s nothing wrong with a 3 day tester but maybe consider if you do plan on going again. Disney cruises are very expensive and if this is a once in a lifetime thing then i would strongly consider 7 nights over 3

 

[Geomom]

This was very helpful! Is there a way to combine the flat rate placeholder and the 10% deposit? For instance, if you know that the future placeholder cruise will be longer than 7 nights? Or is it strictly one or the other?

The future cruise placeholder is $250. When you book an actual cruise within 24 mths, if it is 7 nts or more, your deposit would be 10% minus the $250 you already paid. With a placeholder, you receive all the benefits of booking while on a ship--10% off that cruise, the 10% deposit for cruises of 7 nts or more, and the OBC of either $200 for 7 nt cruise or longer, or $100 for cruises less than 7 nts.

 

[n5749w]

The future cruise placeholder is $250. When you book an actual cruise within 24 mths, if it is 7 nts or more, your deposit would be 10% minus the $250 you already paid. With a placeholder, you receive all the benefits of booking while on a ship--10% off that cruise, the 10% deposit for cruises of 7 nts or more, and the OBC of either $200 for 7 nt cruise or longer, or $100 for cruises less than 7 nts.

Wow! That’s awesome! Thank you! I was trying to figure out what the benefit would be to do either the 10% OR a flat deposit and couldn’t think of a situation when the flat $250 would be a better deal. Being able to take advantage of both is a double deal.

 

[Joe Brig]

3 days is a great first cruise especially for people who may get sea sick as most 3 day cruises don't have a sea day. Since you said everyone has cruised before, then that isn't an issue. However, Disney cruises are built for 3 days. There are 3 main dining areas and 3 Disney shows. More then 3 days then you start to duplicate the dining and they add other non-Disney entertainment. So I would say 3 days is enough to experience the Disney Cruise.