What I would do/not do next cruise

[julydreamer]

WILL DO:

Verandah all the way, loved waking up and reading on the balcony while DH was still asleep

Nap every day since I wake up early

Bring enough of my own wine on board to drink the whole cruise. Only brought three small bottles last time and regretted having to pay as much for a glass as I do a whole bottle of barefoot.

Book our next cruise on board.. Or two

Order room service instead of going to the buffet on the first day

Go to table service for breakfast or lunch at least once. I regretted not ever going after having our disembarkation breakfast

Participate in formal night.. We didn't bc we don't have the clothes or need to ever buy dressy clothes but our normal clothes we had for the MDR would have worked fine after seeing how other people dressed.

Participate in CC5K when we go for the first time in April

There's so many more!!!

WON'T DO:

STRESS!!

Pirate party- too crowded for us and without kids it's not as much fun

 

[shanhop]

Will Do Again:
* Allow the girls (10 now 11) free reign to go back and forth to club as long as they are together.
* Spend one port day on the ship. Our excursion was cancelled, so after walking the shops at Cozumel, we just headed back. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon and so empty
* Purchase the picture CD and photos They let us link our room with my parents, and we had over 300 pictures! Plus we purchased all the prints for a flat $50. It was an incredible value once we knew we were going to do it, and were able to get so many pictures.
* Secret Deck - we enjoyed at least two mornings out here enjoying the peace and sunshine.
*Have swim suits on/with us when we board Depending on weather in Vancouver. We did this on Spring Break cruise and girls loved that they were in the pool first thing (before our room was ready). And it was very uncrowded.
* return address labels for the luggage tags - My mom was not happy I hadn't mentioned this to her.



Will Attempt Next Time:
*FE Group - Don't know why I didn't last time
* Palo Brunch - We did dinner, and loved it, but don't want to miss a MDR experience either
* early dinner seating - I loved the late seating on our Spring Break cruise, but the time change in Vancouver/Alaska won't work for us.
*Booking excursions privately - spent too much time waiting around on Disney booked excursions.
*Mixology - we were just too overwhelmed with everything else on our first cruise
* Drink Carrier Will allow one person to bring back/carry multiple drinks!
* Skip a show if we've already seen it. It'll be just 15 months between cruises for us. There's so much to do in the evenings besides the show!
* Sweaters/wraps for daughters They were constantly cold in the dining rooms.

Things we will not do
* Order cake of the day from room service - too much other good food to choose from.
* Tea with Alice My girls are aging out of this. So sad.
*Bring over the door organizer I really loved having this space for odds and ends, but I read they are not allowed anymore.

 

[txnmom]

Wow!! As a first time cruiser, I'm LOVING all of this info! Thank y'all...I'm taking notes!

 

[emsmomma]

Return address labels for luggage tags??

 

[shanhop]

When you put your luggage out the night before, you are given a character tag where you fill out your name, address, etc for each bag. With four people, we had lots of bags. It's not much, but on the last day of the cruise, in a packing frenzy, it was a whole lot easier to slap a return address label on it, than sit down and fill it out.

 

[snchpnz]

Will repeat:
Water slides
Movie theater
Late night room service
Bike around castaway cay
Get coffee from cove cafe

Wont repeat:
Sail away or Pirate Party show on deck.
Repeat any theater show I've already seen.
Go to family activities (trivia, karaoke, etc.) Only 18+
Spend too much time in repeat ports.

Will try to do:
Mixology/Tasting
Take a tour of the ship
Rainforest Room showers
Eat somewhere other than the main dinning rooms and room service.
Jetski or some sort of water craft on castaway cay.

 

[Lisamarie4400]

We just went on our first Disney cruise but next time I will listen and eat breakfast only at Cabana's. Once we caught on we wanted to kick ourselves! Also next time I will bring bonine and seabands. My dramamine wasn't effective enough for me.[/QUOTE


Why breakfast at cabanas ?

 

[100AcreWood]

We just went on our first Disney cruise but next time I will listen and eat breakfast only at Cabana's. Once we caught on we wanted to kick ourselves! Also next time I will bring bonine and seabands. My dramamine wasn't effective enough for me.[/QUOTE


Why breakfast at cabanas ?

We loved the choices and sitting in the outdoor seating area watching the ocean first thing in the morning! We didn't discover how awesome this was until CC day. We enjoyed breakfast while watching the boat dock. It was great!

 

[psac]

We loved the choices and sitting in the outdoor seating area watching the ocean first thing in the morning! We didn't discover how awesome this was until CC day. We enjoyed breakfast while watching the boat dock. It was great!

Another +1 for breakfast at Cabanas. On the Fantasy, the food was good there every morning. The only thing missing was an omelet station, but in some ways, not having one made things move much quicker, and the pre-made fried eggs they had were perfect for me.

 

[arielmomma]

Bumping! I'm learning so much from this thread!

 

[UpstateAddict]

Will do again
Aqua duck-it was particularly awesome at night and much less crowded
Movies on funnel vision-my kid can just not get enough time in the pool even though it is sooooo crowded
Fish extender-this ended up being super fun and my kid had just as much fun delivering as getting
Palo brunch was so, so yummy
Order coffee and donuts from room service in the morning
Rainforest room-I could leave the showers but sitting in the hot tubs and reading a book on those heated loungers was heaven
Also the fun family activities at 7:30 like the dance parties, comedians, all were done so well and we had a great time


Won't do again
Most of the main stage shows
I LOVE the fruit soups at dining room lunch but it takes a long time
Would only get off in Cozumel for an excursion
I would choose to skip the main dining room for pirate night but we can't because of food allergies

Will try next time
Will explore the ship more-it is just so thoughtfully designed and has so many great things we haven't seen
More character dance parties
Order from room service at night-I was always too full and too tired at night

 

[mtchurchmonica]

Great thread.

I will do again:

Keep a detailed journal of everything. I might lose the journal in the depths of my closet, but the online trip report I write based on my journal notes will always a few clicks away.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Great thread. I will do again: Keep a detailed journal of everything. I might lose the journal in the depths of my closet, but the online trip report I write based on my journal notes will always a few clicks away.

A great option for a daily journal if even for your own use is to turn your video camera on yourself each evening. A quick, easy way to capture the many details you want to remember without having to take the time to write them all down. Theses daily video journals are also great places to aid in writing trip reports.

When I adopted my dd from China I would fight to stay awake each night to capture as many details as possible. I wish I'd thought at the time to do the above. Now it's my tip to other families who are adopting to keep daily video journals of themself just tracking the events of each day. Invaluable afterwards!

 

[millscrew]

Next time we will rent tux on the ship, instead of bringing them from home,

 

[ShannonMB]

Bump! This is so informative!!

 

[SnBDiva]

Just wondering if those with late seating that dressed for formal night prior to attending Golden Mickeys felt if it would be something they would/would not do again. Why or why not?

 

[Grumpymom73]

Just wondering if those with late seating that dressed for formal night prior to attending Golden Mickeys felt if it would be something they would/would not do again. Why or why not?

We had late seating on all our cruises and we always dress before Golden Mickey's. After the show we had our pictures taken. The lines can get long on formal night and while I'm not sure... I don't think the picture opportunities were still open after we ate. I like to take my time getting ready and I wouldn't want to be rushed. Plus, I've always felt that the stage shows and the elegance of the theater deserved the effort to dress up for.

 

[weniepooh]

I saw earlier someone say their husband drank beer with a beer token or something... Does anyone have more info on what this is?

Also on CC you can rent bikes... Do they have tandem bikes or bikes that can tote along younger kids that can't ride?

What does the wine packages cost and you get a bottle of wine with every dinner? Are they paired with what you are eating?

 

[MissCallie]

Saw some great tips! Thanks from this first time cruiser!

 

[southerngirl528]

Weniepooh, you can check out the wine package options/choices like how many bottles, Premium or Classic, etc., and listings of wines offered here:

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/gifts-and-amenities/