We got a lot of helpful information from this website prior to our cruise, so I feel like it would help others to add a thread as payback.
TIPS and INFO
Check in your own case of water so you can avoid buying a case from Disney for $17. You'll need at least two full tubes of sunscreen for your family. Cost sunscreen costs $13 on board. A pair of water clogs is $32.
Bring magnets and print out a sign for your door. It makes it easier to find your room, and appears to be an IN thing.
Embarkation took about an hour: waiting to show our passports and tickets as well as registering the children. Registering your children during embarkation is faster than waiting to get on board and doing it at the club. On the first day, if you bring your swimsuits in your carry-on the pool is relatively uncrowded. During the days at sea the Mickey pool is teeming with kids. I wish the Mickey pool were larger. The deck 9 sail away party is pretty fun.
Debarkation took about an hour: waiting for your turn to debark, waiting in line for customs and then collecting your luggage. They get you off the ship by about 8:30 am, and you have to pack your bags the night before. You get assigned a breakfast time of 7:30 am or so. It's not hard to find your luggage. We were waiting by the curb for our ride by 9:40 am.
You *can* order more than one appetizer, entree and dessert at dinner. The server will not make you feel bad about indulging.
If you can bring more than one swimsuit that would help, otherwise you can use the driers on board.
Bring pirate clothes if you have.
One light jacket is enough. Never used long sleeved shirts. Long pants was used occassionally. For women, pack cute clothes. I didn't have enough choices for cute clothes and shoes.
If you get diarrhea or vomit, you will be quarantined for 24-48 hours in your room. But you can claim it on your trip insurance if you have.
To enjoy yourself at night, you can put your kids on mats to sleep in the clubs starting at 10:30pm. But we ended up watching them ourselves or letting them sleep by themselves in the room.
Pirate night wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. It was one long group dancing, interspersed with a character appearance (Hook and Mickey sliding down from above). The fireworks were good though and seeing everyone dressed up as a pirate. I think the West Coast crowd is more chill, and it would be more fun if everyone got more into it. There was a dessert buffet during pirate night which was yummy.
EXCURSIONS
We did our excursion in Cabo and Mazatlan which saved a lot of money and we still had a great time in Cabo.
In Cabo San Lucas we took a glass bottomed boat to Lover's Beach. This was great fun. You can only get their by boat and it is by the arches/rock formations. $10 per person is a reasonable price. If you have to choose a boat it is better to get one with a ladder in the front because otherwise you have to jump out into the sea when you get there and it requires some athleticism. Drivers accost you when you get into port, so it is easy to get one of these boats to take you there. If you have a beach umbrella it would be very helpful to bring one. The sun is powerful in Mexico. I got red by standing on deck for 5 minutes, and I had even put on sunscreen.
The weather was very hot, high 90's in all the ports. In Mazatlan, decided to take a taxi for $5 to the lighthouse and hike to the top. The views were very good from there, we got to see a wild iguana, wild cactus, and sleeping plants on the hike. But it was hot. You need to take taxis to get anywhere in Mazatlan and the "golden zone" is well, check it out online. You can also watch cliff divers on Youtube. You won't miss much by not going on a CityTour.
We did the Paradise Beach Hotel excursion in Puerta Vallarta and it was very fun. We especially enjoyed the free boogie boarding and underwater caverns in the pool area. The bus was a bit long (about 40 min) but gave a view of Puerta Vallarta.
CAN SKIP
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride: this is an activity 4 kids can enjoy at any time, involving a string and plastic toad.
Celebration of the Journey: this is a graduation ceremony involving watching kids get on stage for 10 minutes, a 10 minute slide show of kids who are not yours (or anyone's on board), and watching kids get off stage for another 10 minutes.
Infomercial about Port shopping and Gemstones: you can get coupons for free jewelry if you try on a piece at their store in port. I didn't think it was worth it to find those stores or sit through the infomercial.
MUST SEE
Pub Night was hilarious: crew members performed a funny skit and had the passengers participate in pub-like group activities and singing
Late night dessert buffet: ice sculptures and lots of delectable desserts, huge chocolate fountain
Sailabration: my opinion was it was fun. My kids liked the dancing, singing and dropping of balloons.
Twice Charmed is the best evening show. You can watch it on TV if you have to stay in the room. All the shows were good and most people see them all.
OBSERVATION:
You can always get a machine in the fitness center eve though there are 2,500 people on board heavily overeating.
I ran on deck at 6am and I was alone.
There was a long line for the iron in the laundry room on Formal Night. So it would serve you well to do your ironing in advance. The driers were busy starting halfway through the trip, but mornings and on port days before everyone gets back from their excursions is a good time to do laundry ($1.00 for washer, drier).
You have to be lucky to see dolphins at sea but we managed to sea a school of them jumping out of the water next to our ship. It is easy to sea flying fish which look like birds that eventually dive back into the water. There are lots of those.
We had a great time. We had high expectations going in and they were met, although not exceeded.
TIPS and INFO
Check in your own case of water so you can avoid buying a case from Disney for $17. You'll need at least two full tubes of sunscreen for your family. Cost sunscreen costs $13 on board. A pair of water clogs is $32.
Bring magnets and print out a sign for your door. It makes it easier to find your room, and appears to be an IN thing.
Embarkation took about an hour: waiting to show our passports and tickets as well as registering the children. Registering your children during embarkation is faster than waiting to get on board and doing it at the club. On the first day, if you bring your swimsuits in your carry-on the pool is relatively uncrowded. During the days at sea the Mickey pool is teeming with kids. I wish the Mickey pool were larger. The deck 9 sail away party is pretty fun.
Debarkation took about an hour: waiting for your turn to debark, waiting in line for customs and then collecting your luggage. They get you off the ship by about 8:30 am, and you have to pack your bags the night before. You get assigned a breakfast time of 7:30 am or so. It's not hard to find your luggage. We were waiting by the curb for our ride by 9:40 am.
You *can* order more than one appetizer, entree and dessert at dinner. The server will not make you feel bad about indulging.
If you can bring more than one swimsuit that would help, otherwise you can use the driers on board.
Bring pirate clothes if you have.
One light jacket is enough. Never used long sleeved shirts. Long pants was used occassionally. For women, pack cute clothes. I didn't have enough choices for cute clothes and shoes.
If you get diarrhea or vomit, you will be quarantined for 24-48 hours in your room. But you can claim it on your trip insurance if you have.
To enjoy yourself at night, you can put your kids on mats to sleep in the clubs starting at 10:30pm. But we ended up watching them ourselves or letting them sleep by themselves in the room.
Pirate night wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. It was one long group dancing, interspersed with a character appearance (Hook and Mickey sliding down from above). The fireworks were good though and seeing everyone dressed up as a pirate. I think the West Coast crowd is more chill, and it would be more fun if everyone got more into it. There was a dessert buffet during pirate night which was yummy.
EXCURSIONS
We did our excursion in Cabo and Mazatlan which saved a lot of money and we still had a great time in Cabo.
In Cabo San Lucas we took a glass bottomed boat to Lover's Beach. This was great fun. You can only get their by boat and it is by the arches/rock formations. $10 per person is a reasonable price. If you have to choose a boat it is better to get one with a ladder in the front because otherwise you have to jump out into the sea when you get there and it requires some athleticism. Drivers accost you when you get into port, so it is easy to get one of these boats to take you there. If you have a beach umbrella it would be very helpful to bring one. The sun is powerful in Mexico. I got red by standing on deck for 5 minutes, and I had even put on sunscreen.
The weather was very hot, high 90's in all the ports. In Mazatlan, decided to take a taxi for $5 to the lighthouse and hike to the top. The views were very good from there, we got to see a wild iguana, wild cactus, and sleeping plants on the hike. But it was hot. You need to take taxis to get anywhere in Mazatlan and the "golden zone" is well, check it out online. You can also watch cliff divers on Youtube. You won't miss much by not going on a CityTour.
We did the Paradise Beach Hotel excursion in Puerta Vallarta and it was very fun. We especially enjoyed the free boogie boarding and underwater caverns in the pool area. The bus was a bit long (about 40 min) but gave a view of Puerta Vallarta.
CAN SKIP
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride: this is an activity 4 kids can enjoy at any time, involving a string and plastic toad.
Celebration of the Journey: this is a graduation ceremony involving watching kids get on stage for 10 minutes, a 10 minute slide show of kids who are not yours (or anyone's on board), and watching kids get off stage for another 10 minutes.
Infomercial about Port shopping and Gemstones: you can get coupons for free jewelry if you try on a piece at their store in port. I didn't think it was worth it to find those stores or sit through the infomercial.
MUST SEE
Pub Night was hilarious: crew members performed a funny skit and had the passengers participate in pub-like group activities and singing
Late night dessert buffet: ice sculptures and lots of delectable desserts, huge chocolate fountain
Sailabration: my opinion was it was fun. My kids liked the dancing, singing and dropping of balloons.
Twice Charmed is the best evening show. You can watch it on TV if you have to stay in the room. All the shows were good and most people see them all.
OBSERVATION:
You can always get a machine in the fitness center eve though there are 2,500 people on board heavily overeating.
I ran on deck at 6am and I was alone.
There was a long line for the iron in the laundry room on Formal Night. So it would serve you well to do your ironing in advance. The driers were busy starting halfway through the trip, but mornings and on port days before everyone gets back from their excursions is a good time to do laundry ($1.00 for washer, drier).
You have to be lucky to see dolphins at sea but we managed to sea a school of them jumping out of the water next to our ship. It is easy to sea flying fish which look like birds that eventually dive back into the water. There are lots of those.
We had a great time. We had high expectations going in and they were met, although not exceeded.
) 
).
