Which ship for a Disney newbie?

[Charlies_Mommy]

Hello-
New to these forums! Learning a lot. I recently booked our first ever Disney cruise. We have cruised BK (before kids) on RCL, Princess, and Celebrity with Celebrity being our favorite. It will be myself, my hubby, and our 4-yr old daughter. I booked a 5-day on the Magic, but had some questions.
1. Which ship should a Disney newbie consider if they are not new to cruising in general and why?
2. If we are use to 7 day cruises, will a 5 day be too short? I chose it to test the Disney waters (and to see how my daughter does on a cruise).
3. I am considering changing our cruise to one that leaves from San Juan. We have been there before but is there anything we should consider going with the little one. Would spend the night there before the cruise begins.
THANK YOU!!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hello-
New to these forums! Learning a lot. I recently booked our first ever Disney cruise. We have cruised BK (before kids) on RCL, Princess, and Celebrity with Celebrity being our favorite. It will be myself, my hubby, and our 4-yr old daughter. I booked a 5-day on the Magic, but had some questions.
1. Which ship should a Disney newbie consider if they are not new to cruising in general and why?
2. If we are use to 7 day cruises, will a 5 day be too short? I chose it to test the Disney waters (and to see how my daughter does on a cruise).
3. Considering changing our cruise to the one leaving from San Juan. We have been there, but is there anything I should consider going to spend the night before the cruise with a little one?

THANK YOU!!

1. IMO, any Disney ship will be good. Just pick the itinerary that looks good to you.
2. A 5 day will seem short, yes. But a 5 day is better than no days on a cruise. I prefer longer, so, if I had the choice between 5 & 7 nights I'd go for 7.

 

[scgustafson]

Hello-
New to these forums! Learning a lot. I recently booked our first ever Disney cruise. We have cruised BK (before kids) on RCL, Princess, and Celebrity with Celebrity being our favorite. It will be myself, my hubby, and our 4-yr old daughter. I booked a 5-day on the Magic, but had some questions.
1. Which ship should a Disney newbie consider if they are not new to cruising in general and why?
2. If we are use to 7 day cruises, will a 5 day be too short? I chose it to test the Disney waters (and to see how my daughter does on a cruise).
3. Considering changing our cruise to the one leaving from San Juan. We have been there, but is there anything I should consider going to spend the night before the cruise with a little one?

THANK YOU!!

1. I would recommend Disney Dream since it is either 3 or 4-night cruises, so if first-time cruisers discover they become seasick, their at sea time is limited to about 30 hours at most (4-night), and aren't miserable without the relief of port days. Disney Dream also seems to be the starter ship for the shorter, and thus usually more affordable, cruises.
2. You may find yourself feeling that way on night number 5, but it is also your first with a young child, so your experiences will be completely different than your previous cruises and may prove more tiring with a little one and 5-nights may be just enough as a starter.
3. Cannot help you with this one, but if it is a repositioning cruise, starts in San Juan but ends in a different port, you will need passports for everyone.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

1. I would recommend Disney Dream since it is either 3 or 4-night cruises, so if first-time cruisers discover they become seasick, their at sea time is limited to about 30 hours at most (4-night), and aren't miserable without the relief of port days. Disney Dream also seems to be the starter ship for the shorter, and thus usually more affordable, cruises.
2. You may find yourself feeling that way on night number 5, but it is also your first with a young child, so your experiences will be completely different than your previous cruises and may prove more tiring with a little one and 5-nights may be just enough as a starter.
3. Cannot help you with this one, but if it is a repositioning cruise, starts in San Juan but ends in a different port, you will need passports for everyone.

Not necessarily. Depends on the cruise. A cruise from Puerto Rico to Miami, say, doesn't require passports for US citizens.

 

[scgustafson]

Not necessarily. Depends on the cruise. A cruise from Puerto Rico to Miami, say, doesn't require passports for US citizens.

PrincessShmoo, for one of the first times, I am going to have to disagree with you on a point. Since a cruise starting and ending in two different US ports, such as your San Juan to Miami example, does not meet the closed-loop criteria, all passengers regardless of country of citizenship are required to have passports; however, they do not have to be passport books for US citizens, as passport cards are valid for sea entry.

 

[Charlies_Mommy]

Thanks everyone! We all already have passports so no worries on that point. I don't travel outside of the US without one. Though my daughter's has yet to be used!

 

[TrishaK]

I think a 5 night should be good for your daughter. Ours is 7, and by the end of our 5 night cruise last week, she was definitely home sick and ready to be done with vacation.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

PrincessShmoo, for one of the first times, I am going to have to disagree with you on a point. Since a cruise starting and ending in two different US ports, such as your San Juan to Miami example, does not meet the closed-loop criteria, all passengers regardless of country of citizenship are required to have passports; however, they do not have to be passport books for US citizens, as passport cards are valid for sea entry.

If the ship stops in South America during the cruise, yes, you need a passport. But, if it doesn't, travel from Puerto Rico (a US territory) to the US does not require a passport. At least according to the Passport people. BUT cruiselines can (and do) often have stricter requirements than the law.

Of course, that's the information I got a while back. And all things are subject to change.

EDIT: I did some looking around. For a repo cruise from San Juan a passport may be required, but it's not the only document that's good. These are the documents that will be acceptable:

Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative / WHTI-Compliant Documents
1) Valid U.S. Passport
2) The Passport Card
3) State Enhanced Driver's Licenses (EDL)
4) Certificate of U.S. Naturalization and a Government-Issued Photo I.D
5) Trusted Traveler Program Membership Card - NEXUS Card, SENTRI Card or FAST Card

But, since DCL has determined that for their San Juan cruises that a passport or NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST are the only documents they will allow (cruise lines can be stricter than the law):
Required Documents for U.S. Citizens
All Guests claiming U.S. citizenship, including children, must provide one of the following:

• A valid U.S. Passport
• A valid U.S. Passport Card
• A valid Trusted Traveler Card (NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)

That's what you have to have.

 

[Rabb it]

Our first cruise we went on the Magic, it's one of the smaller ships, but it's one of the first ships Disney came out with, so we wanted to start there. Also the Dream and the Fantasy are Disney's big momma ships, so if you go on one of those first when you go on the Magic or the Wonder later you might be left thinking "oh this is it?" because they're much smaller. Just a thought!

 

[Charlies_Mommy]

Thank you all for the comments so far!

 

[cmwade77]

Just my thoughts, but everyone usually ends up preferring the ship that they start out with, so I would look at which one will be the easiest for you go on multiple times in the future based on itineraries. For example, our first was the Wonder because it does the west coast, so that makes sense for us as we can keep going on more on it without flights.

Personally we love the smaller ships, the larger ones are nice, but the smaller ships fit better for us.

 

[apple9117]

IMO the newest Disney ships (Fantasy and Dream) were my favorite. They're much bigger, and feels cleaner and newer.

 

[PaoDCL]

Our fist cruise was on the Magic also 5 nights. My 2 DDs at that time, 2 and 6 had a blast. The Magic is a beautiful ship.
Also, for a 5 nights you'll have 2 sea days so you can explore and enjoy the ship.
My vote is for the Magic 5 nights

 

[Shanti]

I would recommend a 4-night on the Dream. Your daughter is probably too young to enjoy the drop-down box Aqua Dunk water slide on the Magic, but she would likely love the tamer & longer Aqua Duck on the Dream. The Dream also has a fun Midship Detective Agency game the Magic doesn't have, & it's a great way to get to know the layout of the ship. The Dream also has mini-golf, a virtual sports simulator, interactive virtual artwork, and Disney movies & cartoons on demand in the stateroom, none of which are on the Magic.

The Dream is also in a bit better shape than the Magic, which is DCL's oldest ship.

 

[rcchello]

I would not worry about which ship with Disney. More important is which Cruise goes where you want to go and has dates and a price you can live with. The only time it should come down to which ship is if you want the 3-4 day Cruise out of Canaveral and the Dream and one of the Classic ships ( Magic or Wonder ) are also doing the same itinarary. Cruises out of other ports will always be the Classic ships.

 

[IrishEye]

Just my thoughts, but everyone usually ends up preferring the ship that they start out with, so I would look at which one will be the easiest for you go on multiple times in the future based on itineraries. For example, our first was the Wonder because it does the west coast, so that makes sense for us as we can keep going on more on it without flights.

Personally we love the smaller ships, the larger ones are nice, but the smaller ships fit better for us.

Interesting theory, I would love to see a poll thread with this question. For me our first DCL cruise was the Magic however the Wonder is our favorite ship, Route 66 in the adult area was much more fun than Beat Street. There have been what is your favorite ship polls but I have never seen one asking if your first ship is your favorite.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Route 66 in the adult area was much more fun than Beat Street.

Sadly, Route 66 is no longer. It's now After Hours on both the Wonder & Magic.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Interesting theory, I would love to see a poll thread with this question. For me our first DCL cruise was the Magic however the Wonder is our favorite ship, Route 66 in the adult area was much more fun than Beat Street. There have been what is your favorite ship polls but I have never seen one asking if your first ship is your favorite.

Our first was the Magic, but our favorite (so far) has been the Wonder because we've cruised the Panama Canal, Hawaii, and a repositioning cruise on her. The Wonder started out doing the shortest cruises and we avoided her for that reason -- same reason we haven't been on the Dream yet. The Fantasy has lots of bells and whistles, but she's also too large and crowded for our taste. So no, I don't think the first Disney ship we sail ends up being our favorite.

 

[NewsMom]

My first cruise was last year on the Magic. People may say it's old and small, but it was awesome. If it's the least impressive of the four, well, I don't think you can make a bad choice. But catch me after my Fantasy 7-day next month and I may have another opinion.

 

[dcassetta]

The Magic is a great choice for a first Disney cruise. The ship is beautiful and well-maintained. Because it's a classic ship, it always seems less crowded to me in the public spaces, plus Castaway Cay will also be less crowded. And I think that it's a big plus visiting Disney's private island with fewer people. In addition, and this is obviously a very personal opinion, the Magic is home to the best show on any of the Disney ships, Tangled. They even turn the sports pub into the Snuggly Duckling on one day.