Things you wish you knew(or glad you did) for your first DCL cruise

[Realbetis]

I wish I had a rainy day back-up plan for Juneau. We went in August 2011 and we had two DCL excursions planned for Juneau. It was raining and both excursions were cancelled. Besides a rainy day walk and shopping, there were no excursion options for us.

 

[princesspwrhr]

Here's something I wish I had known- all of the kids bikes at Castaway Cay are the same size (20 in tire) and have lower seats and handlebars. Even with the seat all the way up my 9.5 yo had a hard time fitting one. She's 57 inches and mostly leg which contributed to the problem. She was about 3 inches too short for the women's bikes (24 in) and 3 inches too big for the kids bikes. Her knees kept bumping the handles and she had to lean way over. And she let us know about it repeatedly! She has the same problem at home. She and my 8.5 yo have 20inch bikes but the way she's built she can't ride her younger sisters bike and it took FOREVER to find one she fit. Understandably Disney has to stock standard bikes- it just wasn't something I thought about when we booked the bikes.

 

[ilovepooh]

You may order more than one appetizer or main dish, etc. if you are really hungry while at dinner. I didn't need to but hubby wished we knew about this while on board.

 

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Also, you can order 3 apps if you want! You can order as much as you want, altho we split a few different ones so we could have 'tastes' of all the different offerings. My husband usually always orders two soups apps, occasionally 2 entrees, and always 2 deserts...

 

[honeymo78]

You may order more than one appetizer or main dish, etc. if you are really hungry while at dinner. I didn't need to but hubby wished we knew about this while on board.

You can so this even if you aren't really hungry. Our servers were happy to bring an extra app or entree so we could try something new but still have something we knew we liked in case. It's easier for them to bring out extra at the start rather than discover that you don't like it and need to replace it with something different.

 

[disneyfan888]

Free room service! Wish we would have known the first time, have taken advantage of it since then!

 

[Naty1209]

Whaaaat???? You can bring your own liquor? I had no diea. Is there a restriction on how much you can bring? I know Carnival (gasp) has a 1 bottle of wine/champagne per person restriction.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Whaaaat???? You can bring your own liquor? I had no diea. Is there a restriction on how much you can bring? I know Carnival (gasp) has a 1 bottle of wine/champagne per person restriction.

On DCL you may bring whatever (soda, juice, liquor, wine, beer, whatever) beverages you wish. As much as you wish. Only requirement, you must bring it onboard in your carryon bags, not checked.

 

[jjje]

I wish I had known I could relax a little and not worry about getting the "best" table in the "best" dining rotation or the "best" room on the "best" deck or doing all the "best" activities. I would have enjoyed my vacation planning a little more if I hadn't been so hung up on silly stuff.

 

[wcw57]

amen to the above post! be informed then go with the flow....it's a cruise!! you RELAX on cruises!!!!

 

[allie1078]

Just got back from our first cruise and loved it. I was a single mom with 4 kids, so I was stressing about the little things before we left. turned out I didn't need to. I ended up relaxing and going with the flow. A couple of things I learned, was to bring a jug or mug of some sort for drinks, a small purse or something to carry camera and key card, so you always have them on hand cause the picture opportunities are endless. if you have teenagers have them go to the clubs the first day, my oldest didn't and was to shy to go anytime after that.

 

[harleyquinn]

I love this thread!

 

[mtanberg]

-Go to the dollar store and buy the boxed candy. I get one for each day to bring to the movie theatre. I also bring the extra blanket that is in the room with me to the movie since its so cold in there!

-Bring suction cups for the shower to hang your bathing suits. I also put one on the full length mirror to hang my sweater that I wear to the restaurants each night for dinner.

-Bring return address labels to put on your luggage tags for debarkation.

-Bring a folder to put everything in and a highlighter and a sharpie.

-If you bring your own float they will blow it up for you at the store at castaway so you don't have to pay to rent them there.

 

[harleyquinn]

-If you bring your own float they will blow it up for you at the store at castaway so you don't have to pay to rent them there.

I have never seen that one before! Great tip!! Thanks!

 

[Narnia_girl]

I wish I had known I could relax a little and not worry about getting the "best" table in the "best" dining rotation or the "best" room on the "best" deck or doing all the "best" activities. I would have enjoyed my vacation planning a little more if I hadn't been so hung up on silly stuff.

Very good point!

-Go to the dollar store and buy the boxed candy. I get one for each day to bring to the movie theatre. I also bring the extra blanket that is in the room with me to the movie since its so cold in there!

-Bring suction cups for the shower to hang your bathing suits. I also put one on the full length mirror to hang my sweater that I wear to the restaurants each night for dinner.

-Bring return address labels to put on your luggage tags for debarkation.

-Bring a folder to put everything in and a highlighter and a sharpie.

-If you bring your own float they will blow it up for you at the store at castaway so you don't have to pay to rent them there.

also good ideas!