Thinking of booking. Adults only thoughts

We love cruising Disney as adults. Honestly, our radar is calibrated to "filter out" the kids we do see, but it seems during they day they are all either in the clubs or at the family pool. Stay away from that area, and it's like you're on any nice cruise ship, themed to reflect Disney. Love it. Love the CMs. It is a wonderful feeling to see families enjoying life in the MDRs, as we do when kids are with us.
 
DH and I have no kids. We love the Disney cruises because there is a lot of stuff to do and great adult options...

First of all, the adult sections on the ships are fantastic (Quiet Cove, Cove Café, Bars, and 18+ restaurants like Remy and Palo) and Serenity Bay on Castaway Cay is absolutely perfect!

Also, you can do the spa, you can go to the movies, you can participate in many alcohol tastings.

(And I strongly recommend all of those activities!)
are the tastings included or are they extra?
 
are the tastings included or are they extra?

On the Magic I did a Liquor and chocolate tasting. It cost $35 but I felt was well worth it. I plan to sign up for another in February when I sail again. There are other options. I believe you have to book them when you board the ship on the first day.
 
are the tastings included or are they extra?

Extra going from 20$/pp to 35$/pp but you will definitely get enough to drink to compensate for the price you paid (view picture - 6 glasses per person and they were almost a complete "portion") + it is very interesting and entertaining (It's a class.)

We've tried the wine tasting and a mixology class. We've had a good time in both.
 

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I think any fan of Disney will like a Disney cruise.

I do have to say that my early cruises, I loved. I've been on all 4 ships and my next one will be #10. I still have a good time for the most part, but I have seen so many changes, that I can't say that I love them anymore.

Most of my cruises have been adult only and a majority have even been solo.

You can avoid the children on the cruise for the most part. There is an adult-only area on the pool deck. There is an area of clubs that become adult only after 9pm. There are a variety of wine, cocktail, and spirit tastings that incur an additional expense. These are fun and I believe, a good value, so I highly recommend these. There is no cocktail/spirit package like on other cruise lines.

I'm probably in the minority on the daytime entertainment. I'm not one to play Bingo and I'm not interested in trivia, so I don't participate. Usually, I'm outside enjoying the sunshine with a good book or taking a nap on the Promenade deck. Occasionally, there will be a movie on that I haven't seen in the theater. Sometimes I will sit in the coffee lounge(adult only) and enjoy a treat there.

Evening entertainment will be either the Disney Broadway-type production show or a entertainer from shoreside. I have enjoyed the production shows, initially, but not enough to see them on repeat cruises. They are G-rated, FYI, and are Disney story-related, for the most part, rather than just song and dance. The shoreside entertainment will usually do an extra adult-only show in one of the clubs, but they are PG rated, not R rated.

Evening in the clubs is usually dancing and maybe some kind of game. There is a sports bar, if you are into that. Here again, PG rated, for the most part. The clubs will most likely be deserted by 10:30-11pm.

The deck parties are live musicians with the characters dancing and the cruisers, either dancing or enjoying watching the dancing. They will show some animated action on the big screen and then there are some fireworks at the end. You can dress like a Pirate or not for Pirates in the Caribbean night.

I find the mixed drinks aren't very good, so I avoid those.

I find most of the public areas to be loud. The deck parties are loud, the atrium is loud, the dining rooms are loud.

If you want to avoid the kids, try to steer clear of the atrium where most of the character meets are held. The kids and families do have their own pool, so you can avoid walking through that area, if you want. Their clubs areas are easily avoided.

You can look at past navigators at http://disneycruiselineblog.com/personal-navigators/ to see if there are enough adult activities to keep you entertained. Since I don't care to participate in most of these activities, my answer is no, but then that's because these don't interest me. They may be just what you are looking for and there are plenty of people that will tell you that there is so much to do, they can't do it all. Only you can decide that for yourself.

My worst kid story...one night I wanted to see the late movie on the Funnel Vision and it was the exact same night that the kids from the club had a late night pool party. I could not hear a word of the movie. So disappointing since the movie would not be repeated during the cruise.

So, I wouldn't let the fact that there are lots of kids on a Disney cruise bother you. The adult activities aren't to my liking, but may be fine for you. Adult beverages can be had. Definitely budget for the tastings and you may or may not like the cocktails, but there is always beer, wine and dirty martinis!
Thank you so much for all the
Info!!! We personally like to keep as far away from kids as possible but being Disney we know that it will happen. Haha
 
Extra going from 20$/pp to 35$/pp but you will definitely get enough to drink to compensate for the price you paid (view picture - 6 glasses per person and they were almost a complete "portion") + it is very interesting and entertaining (It's a class.)

We've tried the wine tasting and a mixology class. We've had a good time in both.
Oh wow will definitely try that!
 
I would cruise when the kids are in school, so there will be fewer kids onboard. Those off-season cruises are also cheaper. Try to avoid the summer months, spring break, Thanksgiving, and the Christmas holidays.

DH and I have cruised DCL four times without the kids/grand kids -- very relaxing.
 
Most of the people on this board love Disney cruises, so you might get a biased perspective. :rolleyes: We have sailed about 20 times on NCL, RCCL, Carnival, Princess, Celebrity, and our first Disney cruise this Thanksgiving. We usually choose based on the ports of call and look for the best ship/itinerary we can find on specific dates as we are tied to the school calendar.

DCL certainly had its high points, but I would never consider it for DH and I without the kids. We love, Love, LOVE Disney and have made many (wonderful) adults only trips to Disneyland and WDW, but the cruise didn't live up to the standards we expect from a Disney vacation or a cruise, much less the two combined. Here is where it went wrong for us:

1) We sailed over Thanksgiving, so there were hundreds of kids on board. There was always a baby crying, a child screaming, and/or a parent losing it. Everywhere. Day or night. Not as relaxing as most of our other cruises (including those during summer and Christmas). Hopefully it would be better if you could go when most kids are in school!

2) The ship shut down after 10. We were on the Magic, and there was a decent adults only area. The pub was a nice place to watch football, the piano bar was relaxing, and they even scheduled adult-only games and dance parties, but no one showed up! During the day they had a decent crowd, but we are used to hanging out 10pm-1am, and it was like a ghost town. We feel like old fogies when we sail NCL and Carnival--not really cool enough for their late night parties, but we love watching from the sidelines!

3) Character appearances are the a highlight on DCL, but we missed some of the specialties from other lines. NCL is the best for live music, but we were surprised to find less than half the amount of live music going on around this ship than any other cruise we have ever been on. DH and I are nerds, so we love that Princess and Celebrity have an education series with talks about the destinations and the ship's engineering, and most others offer ships tours, galley tours, etc, but there was nothing similar on the Disney Magic. We asked and were told that the only one they do is the show tour. We missed having a casino too, especially as we frequently found ourselves bored with nothing to do but watch movies.

4) We missed the varieties of dining on some other ships. The portions were larger on DCL, but quality was hit or miss and with only one specialty dining restaurant we found ourselves longing for a french bistro, upscale steakhouse, or even Guy's Burger joint. Palo can't compare to the Chef's Table on Carnival or Royal Caribbean.

There was nothing really wrong with DCL, we just preferred many of our other cruises. The quality of service was about average compared to cruises less than half the cost, not outstanding by any means. We may still try DCL again, Fantasy or Dream, but only because of the benefits of the kids club for our son with special needs. Otherwise, I would choose most other lines--actually, we already have. DH and I will be on Carnival again next month, and Chef's Table is already booked! This summer we'll be back on NCL with free drinks and specialty dining, the same itinerary we were considering on the Fantasy for less than half the cost.

Just my experience. ymmv!
 
Most of the people on this board love Disney cruises, so you might get a biased perspective. :rolleyes: We have sailed about 20 times on NCL, RCCL, Carnival, Princess, Celebrity, and our first Disney cruise this Thanksgiving. We usually choose based on the ports of call and look for the best ship/itinerary we can find on specific dates as we are tied to the school calendar.

DCL certainly had its high points, but I would never consider it for DH and I without the kids. We love, Love, LOVE Disney and have made many (wonderful) adults only trips to Disneyland and WDW, but the cruise didn't live up to the standards we expect from a Disney vacation or a cruise, much less the two combined. Here is where it went wrong for us:

1) We sailed over Thanksgiving, so there were hundreds of kids on board. There was always a baby crying, a child screaming, and/or a parent losing it. Everywhere. Day or night. Not as relaxing as most of our other cruises (including those during summer and Christmas). Hopefully it would be better if you could go when most kids are in school!

2) The ship shut down after 10. We were on the Magic, and there was a decent adults only area. The pub was a nice place to watch football, the piano bar was relaxing, and they even scheduled adult-only games and dance parties, but no one showed up! During the day they had a decent crowd, but we are used to hanging out 10pm-1am, and it was like a ghost town. We feel like old fogies when we sail NCL and Carnival--not really cool enough for their late night parties, but we love watching from the sidelines!

3) Character appearances are the a highlight on DCL, but we missed some of the specialties from other lines. NCL is the best for live music, but we were surprised to find less than half the amount of live music going on around this ship than any other cruise we have ever been on. DH and I are nerds, so we love that Princess and Celebrity have an education series with talks about the destinations and the ship's engineering, and most others offer ships tours, galley tours, etc, but there was nothing similar on the Disney Magic. We asked and were told that the only one they do is the show tour. We missed having a casino too, especially as we frequently found ourselves bored with nothing to do but watch movies.

4) We missed the varieties of dining on some other ships. The portions were larger on DCL, but quality was hit or miss and with only one specialty dining restaurant we found ourselves longing for a french bistro, upscale steakhouse, or even Guy's Burger joint. Palo can't compare to the Chef's Table on Carnival or Royal Caribbean.

There was nothing really wrong with DCL, we just preferred many of our other cruises. The quality of service was about average compared to cruises less than half the cost, not outstanding by any means. We may still try DCL again, Fantasy or Dream, but only because of the benefits of the kids club for our son with special needs. Otherwise, I would choose most other lines--actually, we already have. DH and I will be on Carnival again next month, and Chef's Table is already booked! This summer we'll be back on NCL with free drinks and specialty dining, the same itinerary we were considering on the Fantasy for less than half the cost.

Just my experience. ymmv!
Thank you for the info too!!
 
I won't say much, because so many already responded. But I will add we loved our adult only cruises. We have another booked for May. As many have said, there are plenty of adult only activities. I have to recommend the Match your Mate game show, it was great. I will add that you can bring your own beer and/or wine. When we sailed in April, it was one six pack of beer per person or two bottles of wine. Please verify on the DCL webpage as this may have changed since then. If you get the drink of the day in the souvenir cup (around $9.50) you can get it refilled for half price. You can also ask for the DOD in a regular cup for the lower price, you just don't get as much.
 
You have received a lot of good responses, so there isn't much I can add. DH and I have done 8 DCL cruises, 2 of which have been adults only. There are pluses and minuses and I am in the same boat (ha ha) trying to determine if we are going to take our adult son on the next one, or try another cruise line. Not sure if he would like the minuses we felt on the last cruise. We cruised the Fantasy in 2015 and really the parts for me that stood out negatively (but did not detract from a great cruise) were kids running up and down the hall way at all hours and slamming doors; tripping over kids in the atrium trying to get to dinner; lack of programming available during the day that we found interesting (you can only do so many alcohol tastings and watching movies); and the loud dining rooms. The pluses for us are: great service; great adult only areas (love Satellite Falls on the Dream class ships); Serenity Bay on CC; and the biggest was---being about the only ones relaxed leaving the ship because all the parents of little ones were reaping the "benefits" of giving them free rein for a week. :) It is a matter of what would "ruin" your vacation, or what you could overlook.
 
The majority of our DCL cruises have been adults only. Sometimes I sail with my husband, sometimes with my friends, sometimes with both. Our adult kids started cruising DCL with us when they were not adults (way back in 1998) and loved it as kids and now also love it as adults. We had a great extended family/friend cruise with past August on the Fantasy with ages ranging from 1 year to 70 something. Of course the kids enjoyed it but the adults traveling without kids also enjoyed it very much.

Hubby and I and some friends are heading out again in January on the Wonder. Can't wait to see the refurb and the new Frozen show.

I used to be a WDW addict but since we started cruising DCL back in 1998 we prefer the cruise over the parks. Much less stressful. Lately I feel like I need a degree in Logistics to plan a WDW vacation now between FastPasses and dining, etc.

Go and enjoy a Disney Cruise. Granted it is not for everyone but we have cruised many other cruise lines and there is something about DCL that keeps bringing us back. I agree with trying to go one or more of the alcohol tastings. We loved the Mixology one. We had a private one with 25 of our friends and family and it was awesome.

MJ
 
The easiest way to avoid noise in the hallways is to pick a room at the end of them (forward or aft).
 

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