To Disney or Not to Disney....That is the Question???

[ytown818]

This seemed like the best place to post this question.

Has anyone ever taken there kids on a cruise (DS 7, DS 10)....unfortunately not the Disney cruise.

Would LOVE to hear the Pros and Cons

I priced out a Disney trip for Thanksgiving week with a total of about $3,500
I then priced out 2 seperate cruises and the cost was about $2000 w/hotel stay

 

[ilovemk76]

Did you include the tip and all excursions in your cruise estimate. They add up quickly.

 

[eliza61]

We have done the Royal Carribbean cruise lines and loved, loved, loved them.

Not sure if there are many cons from either line. They are both very different experiences. One reason we decided on not doing the disney cruise was because we were already going to the parks ~ every 14 months so we wanted some thing different.

My kids were a bit older when they cruised. I think 9, 11 & 13 if I'm not mistaken. We decided to try RC because of hte price and the rock climbing wall.

 

[ytown818]

We are feeling the same way.....we have done Disney many times already and we're wanting something NEW...

 

[gracie1]

I would opt for a cruise for that kind of savings. I have only been on one and am looking into going to Bermuda next year for a 7 night cruise. When you book with the cruise line you can prepay your gratuities which is nice! As for shore excursions, we never booked any with the cruise line. Once we got to port we would either hire a local which was half the price of doing something through the cruise line. I went on Royal Caribbean and it was awesome!!!

 

[Marionnette]

This seemed like the best place to post this question.

Has anyone ever taken there kids on a cruise (DS 7, DS 10)....unfortunately not the Disney cruise.

Would LOVE to hear the Pros and Cons

I priced out a Disney trip for Thanksgiving week with a total of about $3,500
I then priced out 2 seperate cruises and the cost was about $2000 w/hotel stay

We've done both Disney and RCCL with the kids. There is a "Disney Difference" but I don't think that it's worth nearly double the price!

The Disney staterooms have a split bathroom...toilet and sink in one room, bathtub/shower and sink in the other. Most other cruiselines have a single bathroom and NO BATHTUB, just a shower.

The average Disney stateroom is slightly larger than the staterooms on other ships. Probably because Disney caters to families and therefore the demand for cabins that accommodate 3,4 or 5 people are more desireable.

The entertainment on a Disney cruise will be G-rated except in the adult areas. Other cruiselines' entertainment may or may not be something you want the kids to hear.

Dining on the Disney ships is very kid-oriented. That doesn't mean that the adult menus aren't unique or well presented. It's just that Disney knows how to cater to kids' palates and the staff knows how to interact with their pint-size guests.

Both RCCL and Disney had great kids' clubs but my kids weren't interested in them. RCCL had more non-club activities for the kids than Disney did.

Both had pricey excursions. It was more affordable to go it on our own or with a group from Cruise Critic.

Age of the ship that you will be on is also another factor to consider. The Dream is really new. When were the other ships last rehabbed?

And finally, look at the itinerary for all of the cruises. Are they going into ports that you want to visit? Will you have to tender into those ports or will you be docked right at the per? How many days at sea? Will there be a stop at a private island (like Castaway Cay)?

Lots to consider but you're the only one who can decide whether you can or want to spend the extra bucks for a Disney cruise.

 

[v.t.]

We took the kids on a cruise last summer. They were 11 and 8. They enjoyed it, especially the food! They loved being able to eat what they wanted when they wanted it. We went with RC and they used the kids club occasionally.
Make sure you add in tips, excursions and drinks. Some say to take the base cost of the cruise and double it. That is pretty accurate if you take an excursion at each port and if you order alcohol or cokes.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

We also have sailed with Disney and sailed with Royal Caribbean. My kids prefer Royal and so do I. (I know flame away) On Royal we can have 2 cabins for not much more than 1 on Disney. The kids liked the clubs better on Royal and the ships just have more to do. IMHO the only thing Disney has the edge on is the private island - that is nice!

Be sure you add the tips and shore excursions into your price comparison as they do add up. There is a board like this one called Cruise Critic that has lots of good cruise information.

 

[ytown818]

What would be a kids friendly shore excursion? Do you need to pay to just relax on the beach and site see?

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

We also have sailed with Disney and sailed with Royal Caribbean. My kids prefer Royal and so do I. (I know flame away) On Royal we can have 2 cabins for not much more than 1 on Disney. The kids liked the clubs better on Royal and the ships just have more to do. IMHO the only thing Disney has the edge on is the private island - that is nice!

No flames here, I totally agree! If I could book any cruise tomorrow it would be Royal Carribean Allure or Oasis of the Seas. We went on the Independence of the Seas and the Dream, our cabin was nearly identical (except the split baths) and the Indy was only $400 more and 4 nights longer! The Dream was beautiful but no way worth the premium price- food was not any better, cabin steward was so-so (i.e. he never learned our names) and RCCL has a private island Labadee which is awesome. I loved the rotational dining on the Deam, but the dining rooms are crowded and very loud. Pools also small and crowded.

And I hate to say it- Disney has is all happy-snappy until something goes wrong, and when something goes wrong they are a major pain to deal with. They stained a bunch of luggage coming off the ship (covered in paint- not like house paint, but thick yellow industrial paint- like a school bus) and 2 of our bags were among them. They admitted fault, but didn't want to pay up- gave me an excuse that b/c I didn't purchase insurance it wasn't covered. I pulled out the cruise contract and read them section #16. Guess what... I was offered a check immediately. Ironically I was willing to take 50% but when they wouldn't make good on an accident that they admitted fault to, I went for full replacement. Now I am fighting for refund of art work we bought at the auction. Turns out the auction vendor is selling stuff not in stock. I was supposed to have no later than last week and they haven't even ordered the print yet. I ended up cancelling after reading horror stories on the DIS cruise board. Disney says they can't do anything since it is a 3rd party vendor, but it is Disney that bills the purchase and has to issue the refund.

 

[pigletto]

We have cruised quite often but never with Disney. Celebrity is our favorite line so far, but I would like to try RC next time.

Here's the thing with the Disney cruises for me. One .. they are expensive and from what I can see not worth the price difference.
Two.. if I'm going to do Disney I want it to be at Disney World and be the whole experience. It doesn't hold much appeal for me on a cruise.

And the BIG one... Disney cruise line is going to draw a lot of famalies with kids. I'd much rather go with Celebrity.. they have a great kids program .. but they aren't specifically marketed to young children. I have kids.. I don't mind them at all , but a cruise line like Celebrity has a mix of young and old, families with kids and couples without. It's just a better balance for my tastes than a vacation that is non stop kids.

ETA) And this is JMO.. but the private island holds no draw for us. We aren't lay around at the beach people. We want to get a tour of the island, meet the people, eat the food, stroll the markets, abd see the sights on our excursions.

 

[gracie1]

To save money do not book excursions through them unless you feel like you will be pressed for time. If you book through the cruise and your not back on time, the cruise has to wait for you. If you book on your own and not back in time, the cruise will leave you.
When we went, we only spent $150 for excursions (stopped on 4 islands), and the tab at the end with some alcoholic drinks was $200. If your kids or you drink sodas, then do the soda cards. We did one soda card and shared it because I drink a lot of sodas and my mom only drank 3 the whole time. And I am pretty sure that many other people do this as well!

So I don't think you need to double the cost of the cruise for tips and excursions. But you should definately check out cruisecritic.com!

 

[Abbeys_mom]

We did Holland American when DD was five one holiday season. It was fantastic. She woke up the first morning when room service was delivered to our veranda and said she liked this better than Disneyland. I knew I was in trouble then! Santa even came on board and had a gift for each child by age group. We had a box of presents (she thought it was all wine that I brought, and some of it was) and had Christmas morning in our cabin with the family.

Pre-book excursions and find out about the kids' club. It is all about the research for the right line for your family. Holland America skews older, we had my in laws with us in another part of the ship. My 21 year old sister was with us too, she had a blast. During the holidays you get all ages on board. I got the feeling that during the school year, there are no or very few kids on board. They treated DD like a princess the entire time. And the spa pass that MIL, Sister and I did for each other's gift - wow! That was WONDERFUL!

 

[Gina]

For DS & I, a Disney cruise is the best of both worlds. It's pretty darn cool to be on a lift and have Goofy or Snow White or somebody just hop in there with you. Like a mini private character meet & greet. And the Magic is like home-away-from-home for us.

That said, they have been priced smooth out of my budget for a few years now. But we do miss the Magic very much!! I'm thrilled beyond all mortal expression that she will be sailing from so close to my house next year, and I am hoping to be able to save up enough to be able to sail her again by early 2013, but we'll see. It really is a huge difference between DCL and other lines. HUGE. And it's a huge difference between a WDW vacation and a DCL cruise, especially since there are so many ways to save on a WDW vacation.

Cruising itself is the only vacation I ever take where I don't feel like I need another vacation afterward to recuperate from the first one. DS & I have sailed on DCL, Princess, & RCI, and are booked on RCI again for next February. Princess was the only one I wouldn't do again, because their kids' program was so abysmal. But from what I understand now, it really varies from ship to ship with them. He and his best friend had *such* a great time last year on RCI's Voyager of the Seas (they were in the teen program by that point) and are looking forward to just as much fun next year on Mariner of the Seas.

The other main difference for me between cruising and WDW, aside from being able to relax, is that on a cruise I also get to be a grownup. I've been a single parent since DS was under 2 (he's 15 now) and there haven't been many times when I've gotten to do grownup things. Don't get me wrong -- we LOVE our WDW vacations, and I cherish every single memory we've made there. And always looking forward to more! But on a cruise, there is always so much to do for every age group, so many activities to choose from, he gets to do his own thing and I get to do my own thing and we also meet up to do stuff together. It's just ideal to me.

And cruising is easier to budget for, to me, because all the necessities are included and I only have to factor in "wants" like photos, shore excursions, bingo, etc. But you can spend precious little onboard if that's what you wanted to do, knowing that your accomodations, entertainment, and more food than you could possibly ever eat is all included.

We usually alternate between WDW one year and a cruise the next. It makes the anticipation for each trip that much greater, and keeps things fresh. We just spent 8 nights in WDW in February, now can't wait for our next cruise!!

 

[ytown818]

Ok, I think I have found the cruise for us......

Royals Navigator of the Sea....It goes from Fort Lauderdale to Grand Cayman to Flamouth Jamaica then to Labadee Haiti.

Has anyone been to Falmouth Jamaica or Labadee Haiti???

 

[LynnTH]

Ok, I think I have found the cruise for us......

Royals Navigator of the Sea....It goes from Fort Lauderdale to Grand Cayman to Flamouth Jamaica then to Labadee Haiti.

Has anyone been to Falmouth Jamaica or Labadee Haiti???

We have a cruise booked for next spring break on the RCCL Allure of the Seas. Kids will be 13 and 10 at the time and this will be their 3rd cruise. They absolutely, love cruising. We usually alternate Disney and Cruises but as they become older I can see us doing more cruising.

Anyway to answer your question. We are also going to Falmouth and Labadee on our Cruise. Go to www.cruisecritic.com to their boards. They have a ports section where people tell the good and bad about each port.

Falmouth is a brand new port that just opened up last month. Where they dock is not quite done yet but sounds like should be finished this summer. I think when we go we will just wander around there some. Not sure if we will do an excursion or not yer.

Labadee is RCCL's private Island. I have not been there in years. It has gone through major improvements. It is basically a fun beach day. There are also shop on the Island and there will be a BBQ. There is a zipline and dragon coaster you can do (for a fee). There is also a place with the water toys for kids - climbing walls and such. I believe there is a $15 fee for that also. So, this day is a relaxing day.

I think cruising is a great family vacation. So much to do for every age.

 

[angelat]

I just wanted to throw out there that if you don't already have passports for all of you, you'll want to include that in your cost estimate as well.
I hope you have a great vacation no matter what you decide to do !!!

 

[ytown818]

Correct me if Im wrong, but my travel agent said we didnt need them. They would be good only if in an emergency we needed to fly home.
We plan on getting them anyway.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

Ok, I think I have found the cruise for us......

Royals Navigator of the Sea....It goes from Fort Lauderdale to Grand Cayman to Flamouth Jamaica then to Labadee Haiti.

Has anyone been to Falmouth Jamaica or Labadee Haiti???

Labadee- awesome, awesome, awesome. It is RC's private beach.
Jamaica is a different story- there are people complaining on Cruise Critic that the new port is having issues with the locals (pushy, drugs, prostitutes.) Hopefully local officials have gotten the message and will clean it up ASAP. If the price was right on the cruise I would still take it and make that a ship day if you have concerns. It is nice to explore the ship when everybody else is in port. We did that in Nassau on the Dream and glad we did- plus saved money not doing an excursion.

http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/...uise-ship-port-passenger-harassment-/155072/1

Navigator reviews by Cruise Critic:
http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=264

Member reviews (here you will get good info on the ports):
http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=264

 

[edk35]

subscribing


This is an interesting thread. We are booked on our first Disney cruise for June 2012 out of NYC to Canada. I had us booked on the Fantasy same month for the 7 day Eastern Caribbean but since the prices had been out for about 4 months..the more I thought about it, the more I realized we could wait for that one when the prices come out for 2013 and get a better deal.

Our kids will be 21, 17 and 13 when we take our first cruise next summer. HOWEVER....from the beginning I have been curious as to what others think of the "other" cruises. A lot of people on the Cruise board have been on other cruises but most are very loyal to DCL. We have nothing to compare anything to.

We live close to Balitmore and we have ships out of here now. I have not really looked into it though. If anyone can steer me in the right direction of a cruise line that my age kids would like....feel free to let me know. I am willing to check it out. I am not cancelling my Disney cruise but I would be willing to take another cruise on a different line especially if I got a great deal.

THANKS