Tell me Not to Worry - we will enjoy the crusie

[LCTsMom]

I'll bite ... who is OP?

Original Poster....the person who started this thread. She's back though, all's well!

 

[Vivianne]

I'll bite ... who is OP?

The original/opening poster. Looks two posts above you.

 

[misseulalie]

Glad to see the OP is back. Sometimes people will post cotroversial threads just to get people fighting. Usually, you don't hear from the OP after the original post.

Don't worry and have fun!!!

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I think what you have is "Buyer's Remorse". Read some trip reports, not only are most of them well written, you'll find the majority had a great time.

I have some things I want to add. The first is the possibility of unreasonable expectations. If no one had any idea what a towel animal was, then they wouldn't be so dissappointed when they don't get one. The same is true for WDW. I always crack up at the ad's of Cinderella hand in hand with a little girl walking up to an almost empty Castle. You really can overbuild your expectations.

The second is my family are avid traveler's. We travel somewhere every month with at least half of those being major trips. We've had some really great trips over the years but we are taking another DCL cruise because it is tied for 1st place (with London) as being one of the best trips of our lives. (Which is why I'm on the Dis boards instead of packing or reading about our San Francisco trip we leave for on Wednesday)

Also, money does play a role in "good" we perceive things to be, but children don't see it that way. Yes, I've had my bad parenting moments and I distinctly remember yelling at my then 5 yrsold DD that we were NOT going back to CB to swim in the pool we were at the MK @#$%! She would have had a better time in the pool then waiting in line at the park. Who hasn't had a kid play more with the box then the present sometimes?

Relax and enjoy those special unplanned moments. The waitress in the Bahamas that dumped a tray full of food will live in infamy with our family and that didn't cost us a thing!

 

[Mickey_loves_Minnie]

Hakuna matata!

 

[pixiemomma]

Avery'sMom we will be on that cruise also. Our older boys are 8 and 6. It will be our second Disney Cruise.

 

[dvcnewgirl]

Well some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope!

We've never had problems with bugs BUT.....we did see a mouse walking down the hall one time! Yeah! I'm serious!!! Mouse walking right down the hall!!!! He was about 5' tall and walking around like he owned the place!

OH you got me.

 

[Disney_Bound2007]

Hello AverysMommy,

The other thing which your question reminded me of was the fact that we did pay a small fortune to Shutters. As I look at my scrapbook I see we spent slightly over $600 (even though we didn't buy the pictures in which my DH had his eyes closed . Actually, I'm surprised I've kept that receipt since my DH and I had a real brouhaha over the amount.
.

Really $600 on pictures! Say it isn't so! EEK!

 

[Junebuggy]

Really $600 on pictures! Say it isn't so! EEK!

I wish it wasn't true, but I'm looking at that receipt . Of course keep in mind that this kind of expense is strictly optional and noone absolutely needs to spend a dime at Shutters.

 

[Disney_Bound2007]

I wish it wasn't true, but I'm looking at that receipt . Of course keep in mind that this kind of expense is strictly optional and noone absolutely needs to spend a dime at Shutters.

I have heard alot about the packages that shutters offer and that is it cheeper to get pictures this way, but I have yet to hear what that prices are???

 

[PrincessMom2002]

Avery'sMom we will be on that cruise also. Our older boys are 8 and 6. It will be our second Disney Cruise.

Hey there! My DS will be 8 as well. Yay! More kids his age to play with! Have you gone to the cruise meet thread yet?

 

[DisneyMom92]

Ok - so I have been wanting to go on a Disney Cruise for 7 years.....been waiting for my kids to get to the perfect age - 5 and 8. We booked the Western 7 day cruise for October 20th 2007 and everyone is very excited.

UNTIL I started reading the DIS boards - now I am really getting worried that I have been caught up in the Marketing.

Here is what I have learned from the boards:

- serious risk of bed bugs and we need to ensure we dont bring our luggage in the house after the cruise

Didn't see any bedbugs on board or back at home. We travel a lot, look for bedbugs everywhere we go. If we see them we have the bed cleaned before we sleep.

- food is not all that great - best food seems to be with room service (and Palo which I cant take my kids to)

Never had a bad meal on board, some days we liked the food better than others, but that's true in any restaurant. Depends on what you like. They always had a steak on the menu, and my 11DS ordered it almost every night. It was always good, sometimes great. We were never hungry and never got around to eating our boarding gift from our TA because the food was good and plentiful.

- a real mixed bag on the quality of the servers - probably will need to wait for wine, etc

Don't know about this either, as we've only cruised once. Our servers were more quiet than some and I thought they might not be the best, but we ended up loving them, especially our head waiter whom we were led to believe we might never see.

- excursions through Disney are over priced

The only thing I didn't like about the Disney excursions was that everyone met at one place and were herded to the destination by a tour guide. The prices were not out of line and there is a price to pay for safety of knowing that the excursion has been checked out and will be to the standards we have come to expect from Disney.

- pool is very crowded and you can only really use the one with the water slide at off-peak times

Didn't really notice that the pools were any more crowded than any other major hotel pool, perhaps more so than most Disney pools because they are so big, but no more so than other hotel chains we have stayed at. We didn't really use the pools that much anyway, since there was always something more pressing to do.

- my dinner is the late time slot so my kids will probably sleep through most meals

We had the very latest seating on our cruise. We usually eat late at home, but have selected this seating on our next two cruises as well. This seating gave us plenty of time to enjoy the daylight hours both when we were in port and at sea. My kids loved the fact that they got to eat 4 meals a day at sea; the adults usually only 3, but we only eat 2 at home. The kids ate breakfast, lunch, midday snack of chicken strips or pizza, and dinner. DS often ate pizza before bed too, just because he could.

If you have a rough day and want an earlier meal, you can always go to the buffet. The food was always great there.

- the really good kid activities are difficult to get into - there can be long line ups with 30-45 minute waits to do them

Never had a problem here. My kids always got to do what they wanted to do.

- lots of photo ops with characters but again - 45 minute waits to do each one and the Disney photos are very expensive (people say they spend $500-1,000 on pictures)

Saw some longish lines for characters, but nothing that compared to the lines at the parks. I spent $165 on pictures because I wanted to. It would have been just as easy to take my own and not spend. I especialy liked the photo ops on formal night, as well as other nights, with great backdrops and professionals there to take our pictures. Remember, Shutters pictures are professional. To have similar pictures taken at home would require a sitting fee, reservation, 2 or 3 or more hours out of your day, as well as the cost of pictures. I thought the prices were extremely reasonable.

HELP ME to stop worrying - this is a small fortune for us and I need it to be a GREAT time for everyone. I hope I dont get off the cruise and think that I could have better spent my $$ going to WDW....(we have been to WDW 3 times with the kids and absolutely loved it....we are true Disney fans)

I waited all my life to take a cruise. It was something I always wanted to do. We are certified (and certifiable) Disney nuts and my 14DD couldn't imagine spending Spring Break anywhere other than WDW. She went determined that it couldn't be as good as WDW and 11DS worried that he wouldn't find friends there. My sis worried that I would be disappointed because I so looked forward to it.

In the end, 14DD insisted we return next Spring Break (as you can see it is booked) and we are doing the Mexican Reviera cruise in 2008. We all had a great time and agreed that this was the ideal family vacation. Everyone had their own things to do when they wanted to. We could get away from each other when necessary. The kids didn't feel hovered over by the adults. We were excited when we got together over dinner and enjoyed whatever time we spent together.

I hope you have the same result. It is a lot of money to spend. However, when we crunched the numbers, we really didn't spend THAT much more than we do at WDW by the time you figure meals, tickets, rooms and such.

Thanks
Worry Wart!

Good luck!

 

[LCTsMom]

I have heard alot about the packages that shutters offer and that is it cheeper to get pictures this way, but I have yet to hear what that prices are???

Here's a link to a thread about Shutters. Hope it helps.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1194997

 

[3boyswdw]

If the Cruise was as you described, I would not want to go either! Just got off the April 14th Magic! Loved it. Had late seating, it was great, gives you time to do things before dinner. I have never seen kids turned away from activities. We waited only 15 mins max for Characters. Don't worry!!!!