Which Cruise Would You Choose?

[AshleeH]

We're tentatively planning our vacation for next October. Normally when we go somewhere in October it's to WDW, but we had a fantastic cruise to Alaska two weeks ago (seriously, amazing!!) and now we're leaning toward a Land and Sea vacation or another 7-night. Which would you choose?

The 4 night cruise would be to the Bahamas on the Disney Dream, leaving Monday, so we'd have part of Saturday, all of Sunday, Friday, and Saturday in WDW. My husband and I have been to the Bahamas together (via Carnival cruise), but our kids haven't.

The 7-night would be the Eastern Caribbean route on the Disney Fantasy.

Both stop at Castaway Cay, which is my only real requirement because I've heard such wonderful things.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I've done both of those options and would without a doubt take the 7 night Fantasy. But if you were to do a land and sea option I would do WDW before the cruise. I find the cruise part do relaxing that I really don't like going to the parks afterward.

 

[AshleeH]

I've done both of those options and would without a doubt take the 7 night Fantasy. But if you were to do a land and sea option I would do WDW before the cruise. I find the cruise part do relaxing that I really don't like going to the parks afterward.

Thanks! I agree about it being so relaxing. The only problem is that the land and sea option would let us off the boat on Friday morning and my husband wouldn't have to be back to work until Monday and there's no other cruise option that week. We wouldn't want to head to the beach after cruising to beaches, and if we're in Orlando we would want to make the most of it with WDW or Universal. I was hoping there was one that disembarks on Saturday or Sunday out of Port Canaveral, but no luck .

I'm leaning toward the 7-night - we loved that length going to Alaska and we've never been to the Caribbean, so that's a new place to see. I'll be taking my daughter to Disney World the following February, just the two of us, but a land and sea option would get all the boys to WDW, so that's why I keep going back and forth. Although, you can see by my signature, my boys aren't exactly WDW deprived .

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We're tentatively planning our vacation for next October. Normally when we go somewhere in October it's to WDW, but we had a fantastic cruise to Alaska two weeks ago (seriously, amazing!!) and now we're leaning toward a Land and Sea vacation or another 7-night. Which would you choose?

The 4 night cruise would be to the Bahamas on the Disney Dream, leaving Monday, so we'd have part of Saturday, all of Sunday, Friday, and Saturday in WDW. My husband and I have been to the Bahamas together (via Carnival cruise), but our kids haven't.

The 7-night would be the Eastern Caribbean route on the Disney Fantasy.

Both stop at Castaway Cay, which is my only real requirement because I've heard such wonderful things.

The 7 night' now after a Alaska cruise for 7 nights anything less will feel an anti climax , it will be over too quickly. The Eastern is a great cruise.

 

[darkwing818]

OP, we just completed a 4 day on the Dream over Memorial Day, since we drive we also do 1 to 2 days at WDW prior to our cruise, followed by 4 days at the parks. We've also done WDW in conjunction with a 7 day cruises on the Fantasy (latest was last May). But if we only have a week or so we really enjoy combining a 4 day cruise with a few days at the Parks. Bottom Line; I really don't think you can go wrong with any of your options (so not much help---huh!!)

 

[MouseMomx2]

I disagree that a shorter cruise will feel anticlimactic after a 7-day (we still take the occasional 4-night cruise even after many 7-day and several 14-day sailings) but I would also go with the 7-day option. If you had all of your WDW time either before or after the cruise that would make that option a little more appealing to me, but with the days split onto either end of your cruise I think you would find the vacation quite hectic and not very relaxing.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We started out with the shorter cruises while my son was growing up, preceding them with WDW stays. We then took a 7 night eastern followed by a 15 night Panama Canal cruise and were hooked on the longer cruises. We really wanted to check out the Disney Dream but thought it would be very disappointing to be on a much shorter cruise. We loved our stay on the Dream; we did the four night Bahama. We have since done a 7 night eastern over Christmas, have a 7 night Alaska 2016 cruise booked and are giving thought to another 4 night cruise on the Dream, fall of 2016 (really hoping we can fit this in). With each of the shorter ones we just add extra nights ahead of the cruise to stay at one of the Disney resorts. So far we have not stayed at the same resort more than once. Having just as much fun checking each one of them out.

So long story short; take the shorter cruise, IMHO. It's the only way you will know if YOU and YOUR FAMILY will enjoy it!!!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Aren't the 4 day cruises on the Dream? If so do the 7 day. Dream was a very disappointing ship IMHO. (We actually call it the Nightmare)

 

[mmmears]

We loved our 7 night Alaska cruise, but also loved our shorter Bahamas cruise with a few days in the parks. To me, it felt like 2 vacations in one. We did a couple of park days, then DCL, then a couple more days at WDW. It was fantastic! We liked it so much we are planning to do it again. We don't to WDW as often as I would like, though, so we would pick a few park days over a few more days at sea. I don't think you can go wrong either way... It just depends on what your family would like. I am choosing the 4-night this time, so that we have more relaxing time on the ship. The 3-night was fun, but very rushed.

 

[emilyann415]

I also disagree with a four night being anti-climactic. We've taken both and personally don't experience that. It is shorter but we don't mind. I will say if you've done Disneyworld at Halloween already, my vote would be to go for the longer cruise. It is definitely a more relaxing vacation. But I do love me some Disney World...this is one of those tough decisions you really can't go wrong making!

 

[emilyann415]

Aren't the 4 day cruises on the Dream? If so do the 7 day. Dream was a very disappointing ship IMHO. (We actually call it the Nightmare)

Wow....sorry to hear that. We really love that ship. Too bad you had such a bad experience.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I also disagree with a four night being anti-climactic. We've taken both and personally don't experience that. It is shorter but we don't mind. I will say if you've done Disneyworld at Halloween already, my vote would be to go for the longer cruise. It is definitely a more relaxing vacation. But I do love me some Disney World...this is one of those tough decisions you really can't go wrong making!

Yes understand. everyone has their view.

To explain most ( not all) people start with a 3/4 night and move up and longer cruises. Now the exception is people who live in Florida near the home port and do not have other travel costs like flights but can go when they like for a long weekend.

This cruiser had a 7 night Alaska cruise, that is Wonderful, ( pardon the pun), trading down to a 3/4 night Bahamas cruise will normally be an Anti Climax, and considering an option of a seven night caribbean to me its clear go for the seven night, as on the 3/4 its not worth opening your luggage as your off very quickly.

An add on to a WDW stay for first cruise a 3/4 is nice, but not post 7 nights in Alaska.

 

[dcassetta]

Doing the parks before and after your cruise, and only taking the four night cruise might also enable you to see if you like the larger ships. The Dream and Fantasy do have more bells and whistles than the Magic and Wonder, but they also have a lot more people. I personally find that the service and the cruise experience is overall much nicer on the smaller ships. If you enjoy the Dream, you could always book on board for a Fantasy cruise in the future. If you have the flexibility, it might also be nice to book different resorts at WDW for each end of your stay.

 

[SwimMom2]

I just did a 7 night as my first too.

I would book the 4 night + WDW and later the 7 night Fantasy if I could! However since that isn't realistic, I agree anything less than a 7 night would be too short. I will always be able to manage at most one cruise a year, so it's got to be at least 7 nights.

 

[emilyann415]

Yes understand. everyone has their view.

To explain most ( not all) people start with a 3/4 night and move up and longer cruises. Now the exception is people who live in Florida near the home port and do not have other travel costs like flights but can go when they like for a long weekend.

This cruiser had a 7 night Alaska cruise, that is Wonderful, ( pardon the pun), trading down to a 3/4 night Bahamas cruise will normally be an Anti Climax, and considering an option of a seven night caribbean to me its clear go for the seven night, as on the 3/4 its not worth opening your luggage as your off very quickly.

An add on to a WDW stay for first cruise a 3/4 is nice, but not post 7 nights in Alaska.

I am really not trying to pick a fight or anything.....just saying that that is not the case for us. We started out on a 3 night, then a 5, a couple of 7 nights, then we did a four night with WDW, and lastly another 3 night. We've loved all of them. Quite honestly all cruises I've been on have felt too short. We've never been disappointed with any of our cruises and things like packing and unpacking just aren't a big deal to us and are very much "worth it" to us. Again, just a different perspective. I had always heard people tell me not to do shorter cruises after we did a few of the 7 nights. That I'd be disappointed. I'm really glad I didn't let that stop me. I've loved every cruise but our 4 night on the Dream was actually our favorite so far! Everything worked out perfectly and we made some lifelong friends I expect. To the OP, I wouldn't let the fact that you've done longer cruises stop you from going back to a shorter one. Maybe you won't like it, maybe it will seen too short....but only you can decide that for you.....

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I am really not trying to pick a fight or anything.....just saying that that is not the case for us. We started out on a 3 night, then a 5, a couple of 7 nights, then we did a four night with WDW, and lastly another 3 night. We've loved all of them. Quite honestly all cruises I've been on have felt too short. We've never been disappointed with any of our cruises and things like packing and unpacking just aren't a big deal to us and are very much "worth it" to us. Again, just a different perspective. I had always heard people tell me not to do shorter cruises after we did a few of the 7 nights. That I'd be disappointed. I'm really glad I didn't let that stop me. I've loved every cruise but our 4 night on the Dream was actually our favorite so far! Everything worked out perfectly and we made some lifelong friends I expect. To the OP, I wouldn't let the fact that you've done longer cruises stop you from going back to a shorter one. Maybe you won't like it, maybe it will seen too short....but only you can decide that for you.....

Yes. Everyone will have a different opinion then the OP will sift through the responses and decide.

 

[mmmears]

While we really loved our 7-night Alaska cruise on the Wonder, we don't have time for both a 7-nt on the Fantasy plus several days in the parks, so we are going to try the 4-night on the Dream and 2 WDW resorts. Thanks @emilyann415 for your perspective. I do think that there is no right or wrong answer here, only different options that will appeal more to different people. It would be hard for us to get so close to WDW and not have any time to enjoy it.

 

[AshleeH]

Thank you so much, everyone! I've read all the responses and I'll consider them all. I agree with the statement that there is really no wrong way to go . I'm leaning toward the 7-night, but my husband hasn't weighed in on his preferences yet. And my view is a little tilted because I'll be taking my daughter to WDW for a "Princess Trip" (aka Mother/Daughter trip) the following February, just 3 months after this family vacation, so I don't need WDW time in October, but my husband might like it because he loves the parks. That being said, we're going to have an adults only vacation to WDW, just him and me, in late 2017 (a year after the trip I'm trying to decide on), which also makes me lean toward a 7-night. But I definitely won't be disappointed in whatever he ultimately decides! We just joined the DVC, so I'm sure we'll be cruising a lot over the years . Thanks again!

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Whatever cruise you choose, enjoy it.