Hello everyone! This is post #1 of a series of Ultimate lists. The boards here have so many wonderful ideas for planning, packing, and enjoying your cruise, that I decided to spend some time making myself a master list. (Okay, I was bored at home with a cold, but so what! Lol). Besides this list, I am working on 2 seprate packing lists, which are almost complete.
This here is the ever-growing Ultimate Tip List. This list is a compilation of past lists of tips, various posted tips, and some of my own. Its always open to new tips! If anyone sees anything that has changed or is not correct, please let me know and I will change it!
Right now, the areas lacking in this list are: Teen and Kid Tips, What you Brought but didnt Use, Excursion Tips and DIS Meet Tips. If you have any of these or any others PM me or post them here and Ill add them on! Happy Cruising!
Oh, on other thing! I believe that the more times its listed the more important it is okay, okay, I just didnt want to edit out double tips maybe later, okay?
Clothing Tips
- Treat your clothing with wash-in sunscreen. It's cheap (under $3 a wash load) and doesn't affect color or feel of the cloth. Works in water (swimming) too. The product is called Sun Guard from Rit.
- Treat several t-shirts (your sun clothes) with RIT Sun guard - prevents a bad sunburn (our kids didn't even tan through their shirts)
- Make sure you leave a set of clothes out for debarking.... people have been known to pack EVERYTHING the night before and leave the ship in their jammies!!!
- If and ONLY IF the weather is not too hot and not too humid - the nights you wear a polo to dinner, the next day you can wear the same shirt (if you didn't get it to pitted/stinky partying the night before). You should be able to pack 3 or 4 less shirts (therefor less stuff in the suitcase).
- I sent all of our clothes out to be pressed on our first night, and for $40 had my clothes ready for the week.
What to Pack
- Save your old socks, underwear, swimsuits, etc and have them make a one-way trip with you.
- By tossing out old clothes you'll have LOTS of room for souvenirs et al when you pack to come home.
- If you bring a lot of clothes that need to be hung in the closet bring extra hangers
- Bring wire hangers to hang your clothes (The wooden one take up a lot of room if you have a lot of hanging clothes and 4 persons in your cabin)
- Bring swimwear in your day bag. One of the best times for an uncrowded swim is in the period of time between embarkation and the safety drill.
- To cut down on clothing, bring a nice pair of black slacks. They go with just about everything, and just change tops each night. Plus you only need one pair of nice black dress sandals to go with them.
- Have your bathing suits with you when you board.
- Bring bathing suit in carry on-- so you don't have to wait for your bags to be delivered to your room!
- 2 swimsuits for each person. You can wear one while drying the other
How to Pack it
- Save the plastic bags that your dry-cleaning comes home in. I have a HUGE garment bag (holds 3 suits and about 20 dresses) and I packed everything in these bags (I doubled and tripled some items in the bags) and I unpacked virtually "wrinkle free" clothes!!!!
- How do you handle bringing on Garment Bags? Should we "check" them or carry on? We've always checked ours with the airline and it goes right to our room with the rest of the luggage
- Pack your clothes that you don't want to iron on hangers and in dry cleaning bags for your suit bag - you won't have nearly as many wrinkles (your drycleaner will give you extra bags if you ask for them)
- Large thick trash bags.. Put the dirty clothes in them when you get ready to go home.. gather up the top and hold tight.. have partner roll or smoosh from the other end to get the air out. The dirties take up much less room and no worry that they will infect your left over clean clothes or new t-shirts. I have not been able to find one of those airless travel bags that are large enough to handle all our laundry..... Also makes room for more stuff!!
We brought but did not use:
- Change & Laundry soap for washing / drying onboard (did not want to sacrifice time / activities for this chore while on vacation
- Clothing steamer (between the dry cleaning bags for our hang-up clothes and the Downy wrinkle release spray we were fine
Laundry Tips
- Collapsible hamper....we found this to be very convenient for putting our dirty clothes in and carrying to the laundry room.
- We like to take a mesh laundry bag (Wal-Mart) and hang it in the closet (loop over the hanger) and put dirty clothes in there, when we pack, all the dirty clothes are together in one suitcase. Unpacking, all the dirty things are ready to be sorted and washed while the clean items are put away
Doing Laundry
- Bring dryer sheets
- There is a change machine in the 2 upstairs laundry rooms. On the 7th floor room you get more time than the 6th floor. Bring our own soap from home pre-measured in Ziploc bags and dryer sheets in another. There are no dryer sheets available on the ship.
- There is no stain remover on the ship, so pack some. People are CUTTHROAT with the washers and dryers and I had to go the two different decks to find availability. It's better if you wash on a Port day, because sea days are killer in the laundry. Guaranteed that the dryer will take 2 cycles.
- You can put more than one cycle worth of money in the dryer. i.e. you could put $2.00 for a load and it would dry for 80 min.
- -do your laundry at the crack of dawn cause their always filled.
Tipping
- Save the tip $ aside before your trip and had them all labeled and in separate envelopes. It made it so nice at the end of the cruise to just take the $ out of the in-room safe and put them into the little tip envelopes. No standing in line at guest services
- The counselors in the children's programming are not tipped positions, but appreciate a small gift (phone cards)
- You can go to guest services at anytime during your cruise to take care of the tips
- took an envelope full of $1 bills for room service worked out so well - just reached in the drawer by the door and was ready for room service
- go to the bank before your trip and get $2 bills for tips for room service, etc.
Staff Thank-You
- phone cards for extra special people - the staff was so pleased with them - bought a pack at Sam's
- Bring a couple of rolls of the "new" Dollar coins. They were very uncommon when we did this and the crew seemed to like the uniqueness.
- Bring thank you cards for the staff. Coming from a cast member, it's the little things that keep the pixie dust in your heart alive
Food
- Order the 'All Hands on Deck' cheese platter every single night even if you aren't hungry. It is awesome!
- Bring back some fruit from the breakfast buffet and boxes of cereal to snack on.
- Fruit and cookies available at Scoops throughout the day.
- order sandwiches the night before a day on land and put them in your soft-side cooler. Megans Bay in St. Thomas was super expensive for food and wished we had our sandwiches that we had in St. Martin from the boat.
- Bring your own movie / show candy (we love Skittles) and brought a gallon bag full of individual serving bags. We had lots of inquiries about where to get those Skittles from our theatre neighbors!
Drink
- Bring several large-mouth plastic bottles (that will fit into your collapsible cooler) for excursions, or for keeping drinks & water in your stateroom beverage cooler. We kept them full of ice/water from the drink station and made our own ice tea, lemonaid, Tang, and Crystal Lite (all sugar free). You can also fill these easily with Ice, water, etc. from the drink station on Deck 9.
- They quit serving drinks at the eating establishments (except at the bar on the Family Beach) on Castaway Cay when they stop serving food (when the food outlets close at 2:00 P.M.) Make sure you have enough liquids to last the rest of the day unless you want to visit the bars
- Cork screw if you bring wine for the romantic evenings on the verandah
- I have also brought some of my own beverages and mixers and cups w/lids to mix the drinks.
- There is a drink station located aft on deck nine, includes milk, tea, coffee, water, juice and or lemonade
- Bring an extra suitcase filled with bottles of water. You can buy less expensive bottled water at home and, as you drink the water, you are emptying the suitcase for souvenirs to bring home
- Unless you can't live without soda 24/7 DON'T DO THE SODA MUG DEAL. You can get soda for free at every sit-down meal, I always got them at dinner, and even at the sit-down lunch at Tritons. You only need to pay for soda at bars and at poolside really. Besides, when you are swimming and in the sun, it's better to drink juice and water anyway!
- My hubby got a refillable beer mug on our August 16th cruise. They have the mugs right when you board or by the pool. I'm not sure how much he paid for it but he thoroughly enjoyed it! Very easy to refill at the bars by the pool, etc.
Transporting Food & Drink
- bring your own alcohol in a suitcase. Then the suitcase becomes the souvie bag on the way home! Only non breakables in he suitcase though!
- soft sided cooler to bring off the ship for excursions and beaches.
- bring a luggage carrier or something w/wheels for the soft pack cooler.
- Bring an extra suitcase filled with bottles of water. You can buy less expensive bottled water at home and, as you drink the water, you are emptying the suitcase for souvenirs to bring home
- We actually checked our soda and water in w/ our luggage at the terminal. They took it and said it was fine as long as it's packed in a bag that can close shut
Dining
- Skip the lunch buffet at least once, and eat at Tritons/Lumiere's
- If you do not want to get dressed up for your normal dinner seating -- there is always an alternative site available for a served meal in Parrot Cay, Lumiere's, or the Topsider's area (where the afternoon buffet is)."
- On Castaway Cay, we came back from the adult beach to eat at Cookies. All around us people had tropical fruit on their plates. I went back to the buffet and looked and looked, but never found any! Figured they had run out. It turned out there was a fruit stand on the other side of Cookies, closer to the ship. By the time I found it after leaving lunch, I was already stuffed. Don't let it happen to you!
- Order anything you want off the menu's, your servers will be happy to mix and match menu items, even combining veggies from one entre, with maincourse from others. You can also get multiples (more than one appetizer, main course, dessert, etc. so you can sample more things) - Bring an appetite!
Room Service
- Room service is free! You just have to tip!
- My favorite tip was to order room service coffee the night before. It stayed hot in the carafe and I had my coffee ready when I woke up each morning. Yes, it is the little things that make me happy.
- Order a pitcher of lemonade from room service each day and kept it in the fridge
- Order the cheese tray at night (and room service is free, just tip him a couple of dollars when he brings you your tray)
- order sandwiches the night before a day on land and put them in your soft-side cooler. Megans Bay in St. Thomas was super expensive for food and wished we had our sandwiches that we had in St. Martin from the boat.
- Lemonaid is no longer FREE with room service
Staying Organized
- The last night of your cruise you pack everything up except what you will need in the morning (clothes and grooming supplies) Your luggage needs to be outside of your door by 11pm with the character tags on it that they will give you on that last day (BTW, big tip....take address lables with your name/address on them and then all you'll have to do is fill in stateroom number and your number of bags--i.e. 1 out of 3, 2 out of 3)
- I found a 'folder' to be helpful to keep papers in that you want to take home with you.
- Use label maker to tag everything that might leave the room... we got a disposable camera back this way..... Make and bring extra labels incase you forget something
- If you're dong Disney excursions sign up online before your cruise (avoid the ressie rush).
In the Room
- Bring an over the door shoe holder for the bathroom to hold all of the toiletries.
- We brought 2 shoe bags-one for shoes and the other for toiletries.
- store all life vest under bed to give more shelf space
When Packing
- Don't bring on so many carry-ons when boarding. We took a bag EACH because we were thinking "what if". They were very much in the way and not-so-fun to carry around until our rooms opened up at 1:15PM. Turns out we should have checked EVERYTHING and just ate, toured the ship, then went to our room
- They are going to take a family picture as soon as you walk on board - if you are each carrying 2 bags or toting a wheelie bag, you are going to look like a family of packhorses. We did.
- Zip lock bags were VERY useful.
- Pack one suitcase full of stuff, then put that suitcase inside another one. Then when you get where you're going, you've got an extra, empty suitcase for all the stuff you know you're gonna buy!
- Pack your small item clothes (underwear, socks, kids clothes, etc.) in ziplock bags, much easier to stay organized especially with a full stateroom
During the Day
- Bring a small memo pad to plan your day - what activities at what times (makes it easier if you have to plan between multiple Navigators - we had 3 kids in different age brackets, plus the adult Navigators to contend with)
- Bring an envelop to keep your Navigators in and organized
Keeping it Neat n Tidy
- Bring a can of air freshener!
- -clothes pins work great to hang things from the back of your chairs on balcony if you have one. Stuff, like car seats can be stored out there, too.
- Store suit cases under the bed (even our two largest 30" Pullman's fit)
- If you have a veranda, bring about 15' of closeline and closepins. there are places high up near the ceiling to tie off the closeline to hang wet items - especially useful after Castaway Key so you wont need to pack wet items (our dried by the time we got back to Port Canaveral)
- Windex wipes to clean your glass on your veranda - the salt spray accumulates and obstructs the view (the 1/4" glass is clear)
- Bring some adhesive/suction hooks to stick to shower tiles & mirrors. With 4 people we quickly ran out of places to hang our many bathing suits where they were outta the way!
Embarkation
- When does Boarding Begin??? Usually around noon - maybe a little earlier or later
- When does Checkin Begin???
- I think the port opens at 10:30 and check in starts the same time
- What do you do after you check in, but before you board? Most people opt to stand in line and wait to board so they get on early. There are seats near TV's playing Disney cartoons if you don't want to wait in line. You can also go out on a deck and see the ship.
- I saw mention of Parrot Cay being open "as you're boarding" for lunch. Is the Topsiders also open? Is it simply a choice of formal/less formal eating that first day? At that time is it still important to wear pants for lunch?--or is it lenient in the diningroom just this particular day? !!!! (Certainly would not want to dress up the first day, if it wasn't necessary!) The same menu is done in both - buffet style. They will try and fill up Parrot Cay first and then Topsiders, but you can go right up - they have never stopped us. I believe they serve lunch until at least 2pm. After that hot dogs, etc. from Plutos is available.
- If you want a Beach Cabana Massage on Castaway Cay go directly to the Vista Spa once you have boarded. The reservations go VERY fast.
- Hit the pool as soon as you get your Palo & Spa ressies done (wear your swimsuit under your boarding clothes) - Our kids loved being the FIRST in the Mickey pool and slide. We ate at Topsiders Buffet after the swim.
Disembarkation
- The last night of your cruise you pack everything up except what you will need in the morning (clothes and grooming supplies) Your luggage needs to be outside of your door by 11pm with the character tags on it that they will give you on that last day (BTW, big tip....take address lables with your name/address on them and then all you'll have to do is fill in stateroom number and your number of bags--i.e. 1 out of 3, 2 out of 3)
- Don't worry about getting to the disembarkation talk, as it will be repeated all evening on your stateroom television.
- Don't worry if you don't make it to the disembarkation talk. Although everyone is told to attend, they rebroadcast it continually on the stateroom televisions for the rest of the day. Do something else while everyone is packed in the theater, and then watch it later, at your convenience
- do not disembark early - that is for people who are rushing to catch a plane or other transportation.
- if you have nothing to rush to, be the last ones off the ship! do not go to breakfast in the restaurant - go to the buffet, pick up a tray and fill it for everyone in your cabin. back at the cabin, take your time, have a nice shower, breakfast on the verandah in port - relax - the cruise is not over yet!
- when you are ready, you can walk off the boat, no crowds, easily find your luggage and cruise through customs.
- In the morning pack up all the rest in a carry on and take it to breakfast. As you disembark the ship you'll be directed to the luggage holding room where it will all be categorized based on who was on your character tag (Donald, Mickey, Daisy, etc)
Kids, Teens & Babies
- Get a wake-up call everyday. It is Mickey Mouse calling!
- The best time to find characters is during the sail-away celebration, on deck 10.
- pasting a picture on the cabin door so that DD10 can quickly see our cabin and not get lost,
Toddlers/Babies
Kids
- Allow your kids to participate in the kids program at the end of the cruise. They get free t-shirts
Teens
Kids and the Water/Beach
- -bring your own beach toys from Target/Walmart. The kids got so much use out of them even at the pool.
- For those of you traveling with toddlers around the age of 2 who can not go into the pool (and yes they are pretty strict about the non potty trained children in the pool) Bring sand toys, and set up camp by the Goofy pool. There is a railing that separated the pool area from the deck area. Along the railing on deck side are tables and chairs. Using the table, chairs, and railing, create a barrier. Place your child in the middle with sand toys and bucket of water. You can sit around them in the chairs. My son was completely satisfied with this set up and would play for hours.
- Bring your own sandtoys for Castaway Cay!
Adjusting
- We have found some little spray cans of pillow and room scent...... They are by The Healing Garden and can be found at Target/ Walmart. Highly concentrated with a high dollar scent at discount price. ( $4- $6) They are part of a line of bath products. Best choices...... Gingerlily therapy or ZZZZ therapy.... IMHO
- -we kept the light on in the bathroom and shut the door, light came from underneath and worked fine
- Flashlights that only work while you are holding down the button (Walmart has them in cool colors) This solves the problem of the little angels falling asleep with the security flashlight on and going through a set of batteries every other night!
Memories
- Save everything and make a scrapbook!
Charecters
- pillowcases for the characters to sign
- small scrapbook for autographs. I use a small scrapbook instead of an autograph book so that I can have the picture on one side and the autograph on the other. I can also add as many pages as I want.
Gifts/Shopping
- gift basket from the perfect gift - One that includes snacks, juice boxes, sand toys, sunscreen, champagne, beer, etc - so you don't have to pack all of that in your suitcase!
- If you're undecided about that beach towel, or tshirt, or other souvenir... buy it. You'll be mad at yourself later if you don't!
Pictures
- Take pictures of everything, if you don't you will regret it once you get them developed and wish you had a photo of it.
- Underwater camera is fun too! We took it with us to Castaway Cay and to Stingray City (on the Western Cruise).
- Bring extra film, and a waterproof camera. I recommend using disposibles, so you don't have to worry about camera malfunctions. Bring your camera EVERYWHERE!
Shutters
- You don't have to buy the photo package the first few days - wait to see if there will be enough (or any) pictures you want to purchase. If you have young kids and they participate in the activities, there will probably be a lot. If you have older kids, or it is just you and spouse, you may waste your money. Find your pictures each day and group them - they may move them but they won't throw them away. The special posed pictures (with characters, captain or in front of backdrops) aren't part of the package. You buy them separately
- When you see the Shutter's staff, drag (ask them) nicely over to photograph your kids / you, etc. rather that wait from them to ask - you will have a lot more pictures to choose from later
- At Shuttlers, stack the pictures you are considering purchasing together each day so you you don't have to search all the displays repreatedly. Shutters staff will keep the stacks together
For the Kiddos
- We give each kid (got 4) a 24 exposure disposable camera before the trip. Let em take a picture of whatever they want. But once they use it up they are done. They get better with each trip. Plus they have their own memories.
- Crayons, books and plain paper for kids during the down time in the room --- have them make a "picture" scrapbook for when they get back home!
- disposable camera for your child to use
Staying Healthy
- if anyone requires urgent dental treatment while on the Western Cruise, then get a taxi to the Medical Centre when you dock at Cozumel.They were wonderfully efficient and helpful to me when I had dental prob. New clean building , and helpful staff there - specializing in medical and dental probs. (Crew members also attend there if necessary).I was treated within the hour, and was sufficiently happy to partake
Event Tips
- Don't leave "Disney Dreams" early. This is a "must-see" show, but at the end, don't join the people who leave before the final bows. There is still one more surprise to see.
- On 7nt cruise, Who Whats to be a Mouseketeer show, wait to sit down until everyone else is. Pick out an empty row or one that has very few people. When the computer picks seats for the "Hot Seat" it is done randomly. If the seat is empty they go to the next closest one. So....if your row is practically empty you have a better chance.
- Don't show up just-in-time for movies - the Buena Vista Theatre is small and if your party is large, you may not be able to sit together.
- Same goes for the Walt Disney Theatre - find your seats early (at leat 5 minutes before the show) so you will be more successful finding good seating and as a courtesy to others
- f you are a repeat cruiser on DCL, and are invited to the captains cocktail party , then be sure to show up early. We showed up on time and did not have a comfortable place to sit down
Shopping
- If you smoke, buy cigarettes in St. Maarten, about $12.00 per carton.
- Grand Cayman Shooping: Blue Iguana Souvenir Outlet Blue Iguana Souvenir Outlet is the best place by far...
Excursion Tips
- GRAND CAYMAN: Rackham's...a little way down on the left from the dock...oceanside, the deck overlooks the ocean, the food looks and smells wonderful, and for the beer lovers in your group the stinray city light and dark beers are both wonderful. They also have a great souvenier shop...in fact that is where we got all our soveniers for everyone...better prices than most the other shops in Grand Cayman.
- We did Key West on our own. You can see a lot by walking around, depending on how hot it is. We ended up buying a daily pass for the Bone Island Shuttle ($7 each for all day riding). Not as many stops as the Trolley, but more cost efficient and you get to see more of Key West if you ride the entire circuit. We bought our tickets at the same booth as they sell the trolley tickets near the Key West Aquarium
Swimming/ Beaches
- You won't have to rent floats if you are willing to wait until around Noon on CC - by then enough are discarded laying around and floating "free" in the lagoon for your use (we rented one early, then had so many extra drift by... could not locate the owners so we used them)
- Snorkle early (snorkle first thing) at CC - the bottom gets stirred up bad and visibility becomes very limited
- All 10 of the Disney's snorkel vests we tried leaked badly through the valve - you may want to consider bringing your own if you need to rely on these for bouyancy (Note you must wear one in the CC snorkeling area)
- No floats in the snorkle area (I think a very bad policy) would help prevent the bottom from getting so torn up
Odds n Ends
- In the corridors on the ship, just look at the carpet to find out which way the back or front of the ship is - the anchor on the carpet is two-colored, the red points towards the back of the ship, the blue towards the front.
- Go to at least one program/activity a day. The cruise staff is great, and you get to meet people other then the ones you see at meals.
- Play, or at least attend Jackpot bingo the last night. It's a blast. WARNING WARNING WARNING BINGO IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE, but FUN FUN FUN!!
- Seek out and enjoy the secret deck 7 aft verandah
- If you like the internet, buy the unlimited access, while on board. It is 89.00 but worth it if you on the computer alot
- You can call up to a week before you sail and find out which movies are showing during your cruise. Call 1-888-325-2500, choose the "reservations" option, then ask what movies will be showing.
- ...before we went on our last cruise, we decided which cruise we were going to book while on board. I then went to several on-line travel sites and got quotes for that cruise. When we went to book the cruise on board, we took the quotes. The gal was able to match the cost plus give us the $200 credit
Ready for the next Installment?
Ultimate Packing List: Lite
This here is the ever-growing Ultimate Tip List. This list is a compilation of past lists of tips, various posted tips, and some of my own. Its always open to new tips! If anyone sees anything that has changed or is not correct, please let me know and I will change it!
Right now, the areas lacking in this list are: Teen and Kid Tips, What you Brought but didnt Use, Excursion Tips and DIS Meet Tips. If you have any of these or any others PM me or post them here and Ill add them on! Happy Cruising!
Oh, on other thing! I believe that the more times its listed the more important it is okay, okay, I just didnt want to edit out double tips maybe later, okay?
Clothing Tips
- Treat your clothing with wash-in sunscreen. It's cheap (under $3 a wash load) and doesn't affect color or feel of the cloth. Works in water (swimming) too. The product is called Sun Guard from Rit.
- Treat several t-shirts (your sun clothes) with RIT Sun guard - prevents a bad sunburn (our kids didn't even tan through their shirts)
- Make sure you leave a set of clothes out for debarking.... people have been known to pack EVERYTHING the night before and leave the ship in their jammies!!!
- If and ONLY IF the weather is not too hot and not too humid - the nights you wear a polo to dinner, the next day you can wear the same shirt (if you didn't get it to pitted/stinky partying the night before). You should be able to pack 3 or 4 less shirts (therefor less stuff in the suitcase).
- I sent all of our clothes out to be pressed on our first night, and for $40 had my clothes ready for the week.
What to Pack
- Save your old socks, underwear, swimsuits, etc and have them make a one-way trip with you.
- By tossing out old clothes you'll have LOTS of room for souvenirs et al when you pack to come home.
- If you bring a lot of clothes that need to be hung in the closet bring extra hangers
- Bring wire hangers to hang your clothes (The wooden one take up a lot of room if you have a lot of hanging clothes and 4 persons in your cabin)
- Bring swimwear in your day bag. One of the best times for an uncrowded swim is in the period of time between embarkation and the safety drill.
- To cut down on clothing, bring a nice pair of black slacks. They go with just about everything, and just change tops each night. Plus you only need one pair of nice black dress sandals to go with them.
- Have your bathing suits with you when you board.
- Bring bathing suit in carry on-- so you don't have to wait for your bags to be delivered to your room!
- 2 swimsuits for each person. You can wear one while drying the other
How to Pack it
- Save the plastic bags that your dry-cleaning comes home in. I have a HUGE garment bag (holds 3 suits and about 20 dresses) and I packed everything in these bags (I doubled and tripled some items in the bags) and I unpacked virtually "wrinkle free" clothes!!!!
- How do you handle bringing on Garment Bags? Should we "check" them or carry on? We've always checked ours with the airline and it goes right to our room with the rest of the luggage
- Pack your clothes that you don't want to iron on hangers and in dry cleaning bags for your suit bag - you won't have nearly as many wrinkles (your drycleaner will give you extra bags if you ask for them)
- Large thick trash bags.. Put the dirty clothes in them when you get ready to go home.. gather up the top and hold tight.. have partner roll or smoosh from the other end to get the air out. The dirties take up much less room and no worry that they will infect your left over clean clothes or new t-shirts. I have not been able to find one of those airless travel bags that are large enough to handle all our laundry..... Also makes room for more stuff!!
We brought but did not use:
- Change & Laundry soap for washing / drying onboard (did not want to sacrifice time / activities for this chore while on vacation
- Clothing steamer (between the dry cleaning bags for our hang-up clothes and the Downy wrinkle release spray we were fine
Laundry Tips
- Collapsible hamper....we found this to be very convenient for putting our dirty clothes in and carrying to the laundry room.
- We like to take a mesh laundry bag (Wal-Mart) and hang it in the closet (loop over the hanger) and put dirty clothes in there, when we pack, all the dirty clothes are together in one suitcase. Unpacking, all the dirty things are ready to be sorted and washed while the clean items are put away
Doing Laundry
- Bring dryer sheets
- There is a change machine in the 2 upstairs laundry rooms. On the 7th floor room you get more time than the 6th floor. Bring our own soap from home pre-measured in Ziploc bags and dryer sheets in another. There are no dryer sheets available on the ship.
- There is no stain remover on the ship, so pack some. People are CUTTHROAT with the washers and dryers and I had to go the two different decks to find availability. It's better if you wash on a Port day, because sea days are killer in the laundry. Guaranteed that the dryer will take 2 cycles.
- You can put more than one cycle worth of money in the dryer. i.e. you could put $2.00 for a load and it would dry for 80 min.
- -do your laundry at the crack of dawn cause their always filled.
Tipping
- Save the tip $ aside before your trip and had them all labeled and in separate envelopes. It made it so nice at the end of the cruise to just take the $ out of the in-room safe and put them into the little tip envelopes. No standing in line at guest services
- The counselors in the children's programming are not tipped positions, but appreciate a small gift (phone cards)
- You can go to guest services at anytime during your cruise to take care of the tips
- took an envelope full of $1 bills for room service worked out so well - just reached in the drawer by the door and was ready for room service
- go to the bank before your trip and get $2 bills for tips for room service, etc.
Staff Thank-You
- phone cards for extra special people - the staff was so pleased with them - bought a pack at Sam's
- Bring a couple of rolls of the "new" Dollar coins. They were very uncommon when we did this and the crew seemed to like the uniqueness.
- Bring thank you cards for the staff. Coming from a cast member, it's the little things that keep the pixie dust in your heart alive
Food
- Order the 'All Hands on Deck' cheese platter every single night even if you aren't hungry. It is awesome!
- Bring back some fruit from the breakfast buffet and boxes of cereal to snack on.
- Fruit and cookies available at Scoops throughout the day.
- order sandwiches the night before a day on land and put them in your soft-side cooler. Megans Bay in St. Thomas was super expensive for food and wished we had our sandwiches that we had in St. Martin from the boat.
- Bring your own movie / show candy (we love Skittles) and brought a gallon bag full of individual serving bags. We had lots of inquiries about where to get those Skittles from our theatre neighbors!
Drink
- Bring several large-mouth plastic bottles (that will fit into your collapsible cooler) for excursions, or for keeping drinks & water in your stateroom beverage cooler. We kept them full of ice/water from the drink station and made our own ice tea, lemonaid, Tang, and Crystal Lite (all sugar free). You can also fill these easily with Ice, water, etc. from the drink station on Deck 9.
- They quit serving drinks at the eating establishments (except at the bar on the Family Beach) on Castaway Cay when they stop serving food (when the food outlets close at 2:00 P.M.) Make sure you have enough liquids to last the rest of the day unless you want to visit the bars
- Cork screw if you bring wine for the romantic evenings on the verandah
- I have also brought some of my own beverages and mixers and cups w/lids to mix the drinks.
- There is a drink station located aft on deck nine, includes milk, tea, coffee, water, juice and or lemonade
- Bring an extra suitcase filled with bottles of water. You can buy less expensive bottled water at home and, as you drink the water, you are emptying the suitcase for souvenirs to bring home
- Unless you can't live without soda 24/7 DON'T DO THE SODA MUG DEAL. You can get soda for free at every sit-down meal, I always got them at dinner, and even at the sit-down lunch at Tritons. You only need to pay for soda at bars and at poolside really. Besides, when you are swimming and in the sun, it's better to drink juice and water anyway!
- My hubby got a refillable beer mug on our August 16th cruise. They have the mugs right when you board or by the pool. I'm not sure how much he paid for it but he thoroughly enjoyed it! Very easy to refill at the bars by the pool, etc.
Transporting Food & Drink
- bring your own alcohol in a suitcase. Then the suitcase becomes the souvie bag on the way home! Only non breakables in he suitcase though!
- soft sided cooler to bring off the ship for excursions and beaches.
- bring a luggage carrier or something w/wheels for the soft pack cooler.
- Bring an extra suitcase filled with bottles of water. You can buy less expensive bottled water at home and, as you drink the water, you are emptying the suitcase for souvenirs to bring home
- We actually checked our soda and water in w/ our luggage at the terminal. They took it and said it was fine as long as it's packed in a bag that can close shut
Dining
- Skip the lunch buffet at least once, and eat at Tritons/Lumiere's
- If you do not want to get dressed up for your normal dinner seating -- there is always an alternative site available for a served meal in Parrot Cay, Lumiere's, or the Topsider's area (where the afternoon buffet is)."
- On Castaway Cay, we came back from the adult beach to eat at Cookies. All around us people had tropical fruit on their plates. I went back to the buffet and looked and looked, but never found any! Figured they had run out. It turned out there was a fruit stand on the other side of Cookies, closer to the ship. By the time I found it after leaving lunch, I was already stuffed. Don't let it happen to you!
- Order anything you want off the menu's, your servers will be happy to mix and match menu items, even combining veggies from one entre, with maincourse from others. You can also get multiples (more than one appetizer, main course, dessert, etc. so you can sample more things) - Bring an appetite!
Room Service
- Room service is free! You just have to tip!
- My favorite tip was to order room service coffee the night before. It stayed hot in the carafe and I had my coffee ready when I woke up each morning. Yes, it is the little things that make me happy.
- Order a pitcher of lemonade from room service each day and kept it in the fridge
- Order the cheese tray at night (and room service is free, just tip him a couple of dollars when he brings you your tray)
- order sandwiches the night before a day on land and put them in your soft-side cooler. Megans Bay in St. Thomas was super expensive for food and wished we had our sandwiches that we had in St. Martin from the boat.
- Lemonaid is no longer FREE with room service
Staying Organized
- The last night of your cruise you pack everything up except what you will need in the morning (clothes and grooming supplies) Your luggage needs to be outside of your door by 11pm with the character tags on it that they will give you on that last day (BTW, big tip....take address lables with your name/address on them and then all you'll have to do is fill in stateroom number and your number of bags--i.e. 1 out of 3, 2 out of 3)
- I found a 'folder' to be helpful to keep papers in that you want to take home with you.
- Use label maker to tag everything that might leave the room... we got a disposable camera back this way..... Make and bring extra labels incase you forget something
- If you're dong Disney excursions sign up online before your cruise (avoid the ressie rush).
In the Room
- Bring an over the door shoe holder for the bathroom to hold all of the toiletries.
- We brought 2 shoe bags-one for shoes and the other for toiletries.
- store all life vest under bed to give more shelf space
When Packing
- Don't bring on so many carry-ons when boarding. We took a bag EACH because we were thinking "what if". They were very much in the way and not-so-fun to carry around until our rooms opened up at 1:15PM. Turns out we should have checked EVERYTHING and just ate, toured the ship, then went to our room
- They are going to take a family picture as soon as you walk on board - if you are each carrying 2 bags or toting a wheelie bag, you are going to look like a family of packhorses. We did.
- Zip lock bags were VERY useful.
- Pack one suitcase full of stuff, then put that suitcase inside another one. Then when you get where you're going, you've got an extra, empty suitcase for all the stuff you know you're gonna buy!
- Pack your small item clothes (underwear, socks, kids clothes, etc.) in ziplock bags, much easier to stay organized especially with a full stateroom
During the Day
- Bring a small memo pad to plan your day - what activities at what times (makes it easier if you have to plan between multiple Navigators - we had 3 kids in different age brackets, plus the adult Navigators to contend with)
- Bring an envelop to keep your Navigators in and organized
Keeping it Neat n Tidy
- Bring a can of air freshener!
- -clothes pins work great to hang things from the back of your chairs on balcony if you have one. Stuff, like car seats can be stored out there, too.
- Store suit cases under the bed (even our two largest 30" Pullman's fit)
- If you have a veranda, bring about 15' of closeline and closepins. there are places high up near the ceiling to tie off the closeline to hang wet items - especially useful after Castaway Key so you wont need to pack wet items (our dried by the time we got back to Port Canaveral)
- Windex wipes to clean your glass on your veranda - the salt spray accumulates and obstructs the view (the 1/4" glass is clear)
- Bring some adhesive/suction hooks to stick to shower tiles & mirrors. With 4 people we quickly ran out of places to hang our many bathing suits where they were outta the way!
Embarkation
- When does Boarding Begin??? Usually around noon - maybe a little earlier or later
- When does Checkin Begin???
- I think the port opens at 10:30 and check in starts the same time
- What do you do after you check in, but before you board? Most people opt to stand in line and wait to board so they get on early. There are seats near TV's playing Disney cartoons if you don't want to wait in line. You can also go out on a deck and see the ship.
- I saw mention of Parrot Cay being open "as you're boarding" for lunch. Is the Topsiders also open? Is it simply a choice of formal/less formal eating that first day? At that time is it still important to wear pants for lunch?--or is it lenient in the diningroom just this particular day? !!!! (Certainly would not want to dress up the first day, if it wasn't necessary!) The same menu is done in both - buffet style. They will try and fill up Parrot Cay first and then Topsiders, but you can go right up - they have never stopped us. I believe they serve lunch until at least 2pm. After that hot dogs, etc. from Plutos is available.
- If you want a Beach Cabana Massage on Castaway Cay go directly to the Vista Spa once you have boarded. The reservations go VERY fast.
- Hit the pool as soon as you get your Palo & Spa ressies done (wear your swimsuit under your boarding clothes) - Our kids loved being the FIRST in the Mickey pool and slide. We ate at Topsiders Buffet after the swim.
Disembarkation
- The last night of your cruise you pack everything up except what you will need in the morning (clothes and grooming supplies) Your luggage needs to be outside of your door by 11pm with the character tags on it that they will give you on that last day (BTW, big tip....take address lables with your name/address on them and then all you'll have to do is fill in stateroom number and your number of bags--i.e. 1 out of 3, 2 out of 3)
- Don't worry about getting to the disembarkation talk, as it will be repeated all evening on your stateroom television.
- Don't worry if you don't make it to the disembarkation talk. Although everyone is told to attend, they rebroadcast it continually on the stateroom televisions for the rest of the day. Do something else while everyone is packed in the theater, and then watch it later, at your convenience
- do not disembark early - that is for people who are rushing to catch a plane or other transportation.
- if you have nothing to rush to, be the last ones off the ship! do not go to breakfast in the restaurant - go to the buffet, pick up a tray and fill it for everyone in your cabin. back at the cabin, take your time, have a nice shower, breakfast on the verandah in port - relax - the cruise is not over yet!
- when you are ready, you can walk off the boat, no crowds, easily find your luggage and cruise through customs.
- In the morning pack up all the rest in a carry on and take it to breakfast. As you disembark the ship you'll be directed to the luggage holding room where it will all be categorized based on who was on your character tag (Donald, Mickey, Daisy, etc)
Kids, Teens & Babies
- Get a wake-up call everyday. It is Mickey Mouse calling!
- The best time to find characters is during the sail-away celebration, on deck 10.
- pasting a picture on the cabin door so that DD10 can quickly see our cabin and not get lost,
Toddlers/Babies
Kids
- Allow your kids to participate in the kids program at the end of the cruise. They get free t-shirts
Teens
Kids and the Water/Beach
- -bring your own beach toys from Target/Walmart. The kids got so much use out of them even at the pool.
- For those of you traveling with toddlers around the age of 2 who can not go into the pool (and yes they are pretty strict about the non potty trained children in the pool) Bring sand toys, and set up camp by the Goofy pool. There is a railing that separated the pool area from the deck area. Along the railing on deck side are tables and chairs. Using the table, chairs, and railing, create a barrier. Place your child in the middle with sand toys and bucket of water. You can sit around them in the chairs. My son was completely satisfied with this set up and would play for hours.
- Bring your own sandtoys for Castaway Cay!
Adjusting
- We have found some little spray cans of pillow and room scent...... They are by The Healing Garden and can be found at Target/ Walmart. Highly concentrated with a high dollar scent at discount price. ( $4- $6) They are part of a line of bath products. Best choices...... Gingerlily therapy or ZZZZ therapy.... IMHO
- -we kept the light on in the bathroom and shut the door, light came from underneath and worked fine
- Flashlights that only work while you are holding down the button (Walmart has them in cool colors) This solves the problem of the little angels falling asleep with the security flashlight on and going through a set of batteries every other night!
Memories
- Save everything and make a scrapbook!
Charecters
- pillowcases for the characters to sign
- small scrapbook for autographs. I use a small scrapbook instead of an autograph book so that I can have the picture on one side and the autograph on the other. I can also add as many pages as I want.
Gifts/Shopping
- gift basket from the perfect gift - One that includes snacks, juice boxes, sand toys, sunscreen, champagne, beer, etc - so you don't have to pack all of that in your suitcase!
- If you're undecided about that beach towel, or tshirt, or other souvenir... buy it. You'll be mad at yourself later if you don't!
Pictures
- Take pictures of everything, if you don't you will regret it once you get them developed and wish you had a photo of it.
- Underwater camera is fun too! We took it with us to Castaway Cay and to Stingray City (on the Western Cruise).
- Bring extra film, and a waterproof camera. I recommend using disposibles, so you don't have to worry about camera malfunctions. Bring your camera EVERYWHERE!
Shutters
- You don't have to buy the photo package the first few days - wait to see if there will be enough (or any) pictures you want to purchase. If you have young kids and they participate in the activities, there will probably be a lot. If you have older kids, or it is just you and spouse, you may waste your money. Find your pictures each day and group them - they may move them but they won't throw them away. The special posed pictures (with characters, captain or in front of backdrops) aren't part of the package. You buy them separately
- When you see the Shutter's staff, drag (ask them) nicely over to photograph your kids / you, etc. rather that wait from them to ask - you will have a lot more pictures to choose from later
- At Shuttlers, stack the pictures you are considering purchasing together each day so you you don't have to search all the displays repreatedly. Shutters staff will keep the stacks together
For the Kiddos
- We give each kid (got 4) a 24 exposure disposable camera before the trip. Let em take a picture of whatever they want. But once they use it up they are done. They get better with each trip. Plus they have their own memories.
- Crayons, books and plain paper for kids during the down time in the room --- have them make a "picture" scrapbook for when they get back home!
- disposable camera for your child to use
Staying Healthy
- if anyone requires urgent dental treatment while on the Western Cruise, then get a taxi to the Medical Centre when you dock at Cozumel.They were wonderfully efficient and helpful to me when I had dental prob. New clean building , and helpful staff there - specializing in medical and dental probs. (Crew members also attend there if necessary).I was treated within the hour, and was sufficiently happy to partake
Event Tips
- Don't leave "Disney Dreams" early. This is a "must-see" show, but at the end, don't join the people who leave before the final bows. There is still one more surprise to see.
- On 7nt cruise, Who Whats to be a Mouseketeer show, wait to sit down until everyone else is. Pick out an empty row or one that has very few people. When the computer picks seats for the "Hot Seat" it is done randomly. If the seat is empty they go to the next closest one. So....if your row is practically empty you have a better chance.
- Don't show up just-in-time for movies - the Buena Vista Theatre is small and if your party is large, you may not be able to sit together.
- Same goes for the Walt Disney Theatre - find your seats early (at leat 5 minutes before the show) so you will be more successful finding good seating and as a courtesy to others
- f you are a repeat cruiser on DCL, and are invited to the captains cocktail party , then be sure to show up early. We showed up on time and did not have a comfortable place to sit down
Shopping
- If you smoke, buy cigarettes in St. Maarten, about $12.00 per carton.
- Grand Cayman Shooping: Blue Iguana Souvenir Outlet Blue Iguana Souvenir Outlet is the best place by far...
Excursion Tips
- GRAND CAYMAN: Rackham's...a little way down on the left from the dock...oceanside, the deck overlooks the ocean, the food looks and smells wonderful, and for the beer lovers in your group the stinray city light and dark beers are both wonderful. They also have a great souvenier shop...in fact that is where we got all our soveniers for everyone...better prices than most the other shops in Grand Cayman.
- We did Key West on our own. You can see a lot by walking around, depending on how hot it is. We ended up buying a daily pass for the Bone Island Shuttle ($7 each for all day riding). Not as many stops as the Trolley, but more cost efficient and you get to see more of Key West if you ride the entire circuit. We bought our tickets at the same booth as they sell the trolley tickets near the Key West Aquarium
Swimming/ Beaches
- You won't have to rent floats if you are willing to wait until around Noon on CC - by then enough are discarded laying around and floating "free" in the lagoon for your use (we rented one early, then had so many extra drift by... could not locate the owners so we used them)
- Snorkle early (snorkle first thing) at CC - the bottom gets stirred up bad and visibility becomes very limited
- All 10 of the Disney's snorkel vests we tried leaked badly through the valve - you may want to consider bringing your own if you need to rely on these for bouyancy (Note you must wear one in the CC snorkeling area)
- No floats in the snorkle area (I think a very bad policy) would help prevent the bottom from getting so torn up
Odds n Ends
- In the corridors on the ship, just look at the carpet to find out which way the back or front of the ship is - the anchor on the carpet is two-colored, the red points towards the back of the ship, the blue towards the front.
- Go to at least one program/activity a day. The cruise staff is great, and you get to meet people other then the ones you see at meals.
- Play, or at least attend Jackpot bingo the last night. It's a blast. WARNING WARNING WARNING BINGO IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE, but FUN FUN FUN!!
- Seek out and enjoy the secret deck 7 aft verandah
- If you like the internet, buy the unlimited access, while on board. It is 89.00 but worth it if you on the computer alot
- You can call up to a week before you sail and find out which movies are showing during your cruise. Call 1-888-325-2500, choose the "reservations" option, then ask what movies will be showing.
- ...before we went on our last cruise, we decided which cruise we were going to book while on board. I then went to several on-line travel sites and got quotes for that cruise. When we went to book the cruise on board, we took the quotes. The gal was able to match the cost plus give us the $200 credit
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