Would hubby and I ENJOY a cruise?

[Blue Eeyore]

Okay... so every year, DH and I do WDW . This year, we plan to stay at the Poly Concierge Lagoon View once again (aahhhh...). But... I was thinking about cutting our 6 to 7 day trip down to 5 days and taking the cruise (with a verandah) for 3 days. But here's the thing... Yes, we are Disney NUTS, but some other reasons that we go to WDW are:

1) We don't have to dress up ANYWHERE and can eat at FABULOUS restaurants w/o doing so.

2) We will NEVER get bored (we run around like maniacs!)

So... (don't worry, here comes my questions)... would we ENJOY a cruise? We're not sunbathers or beach bums, we live in Florida so Palm Trees don't send us.... DH HATES to wear anything but shorts while on vacation... we don't dive or snorkel.

What else is there to do? We DO love to EAT and we DO love to DRINK, but we can't do that ALL DAY! We aren't into spas or gyms, we're not into public pools... I know there's a theatre and we would LOVE that, but AGGGHHH! We've never been on a cruise and I guess I'd just like someone to make up my mind for me! We will NOT enjoy spending quiet, romantic time together ALL DAY... boring

So what do you guys think? Think I should stick with the 7 day Poly plan or do 5 days and add the cruise? THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

 

[two-foxes]

My DH and I did WDW and DCL for our honeymoon...we love the parks, but neither of us had been on a cruise, so we started with a 4 nighter (we have since worked our way up to a 7 nighter we LOVED it so much!) But I had no idea what to expect, and I have a hard time "relaxing".....WDW is not a vacation to some because you go, go, go, but it is my perfect idea of one!!!

My suggestion to you would be to check out www.castawayclub.com and read through some 3 day navigators. It will give you a great idea of what activities there are for you...and I'd be there will be plenty that will suit you two.

You will eat alot, you will enjoy shows and characters and the beautiful ocean and wonderful castaway cay. Try a 3 night...you may find it may not be long enough, but if you don't really care for cruising, 3 nights will be perfect because the Disney touches will keep you interested!

 

[kcashner]

We like the parks, but we LOVE the cruise. It is a totally "no work, no brains" situation. First, there are lots of adults only areas, especially at night. Adults only pool, restaurant, beach at CC, nightclubs after 9, piano bar all the time. There is adults only progamming (art of entertainment (cooking, table decoration lectures), navigator series (all about the ship), and on the Eastern, a special series with a guest presenter.....there are Broadway style shows, current and classic movies, nightclub acts....wonderful food....superb service....

All of that is before you even get to the various ports of call! If you're unsure, try a 3 or 4 day cruise (although the programming isn't the same).

Since my 10th Magic cruise is coming up soon, maybe I'm not the person to ask....but I love it.

As to "dressing up"...the only thing they ask is no shorts in the dining room at dinner. Your husband will fit right in wearing dockers and a polo shirt. You can literally wear just about anything. At breakfast and lunch, shorts and a t shirt are fine.

The cruise takes all the good things about Disney and makes it even better.

 

[Mary Anne]

Trust me on a cruise you can eat and drink all day. I've heard the 3 day is far less formal then the longer ones, so as long as you don't wear shorts to dinner it should be fine. No need to really dress up.

We love cruising but we never do any of the stuff you've mentioned. We also do not do any tours or stuff on the islands. Our days are spent eating, drinking, seeing the shows, the movies and all the on board activities.

We are never bored and we always do the 7 day trips. (We do enjoy dressing up tool)

 

[erikthewise]

I also cannot lay on a beach very long without wanting to get up and "do something". I can't swim and as a result don't care for water sports. I love WDW and regret taking days away from our stay there. I never had any interest in cruising. And I like to wear shorts all the time. Nevertheless a couple years ago we combined a Polynesian stay with a 3-day cruise, and I really enjoyed it! We're going back for a 4-day cruise this year.

I found I ate better on the cruise than at WDW! Even though we ate all our WDW meals at sitdown restaurants or in the concierge lounge. There are always dining alternatives on the cruise. If you can't be bothered to change out of shorts, you can go to the buffet or order room service. But we always went the restaurants, including one night at Palo, and I'm glad we did. You are not limited to one appetizer, one entree and one dessert, and I took advantage of that on more than one occasion!

There is so much to do on the cruise you will have no problem keeping busy. Check out the sample Navigators (ship's newsletter) a http://castawayclub.com/

 

[Lisa F]

When DH and I went on our first cruise, we were die hard park nuts as well. We toured the parks pretty much the way you describe (couple without kids too). We love the restaurants at WDW and have finally run out of new ones to try (but don't mind repeating our favorites!) I was so nervous about going on a cruise, that I had nightmares for about a month before that we would have a completely miserable time. We are also go go go type people and I was afraid that we were paying a small fortune for the world's most boring vacation. Whenever people ask us why we go to Disney ever year, we say that some people like to go to some caribbean island and sit on a beach every year, but that's really just not us, we like to have something to DO.

All that said, we LOVED our first disney cruise, so much that we have been on 4 total in the last 3 years. There are a couple of differences between us and you though. We don't mind dressing for dinner and actually really enjoyed formal night on the 7 day (you don't have to worry about that on the 3 day). On the other hand, the 3 day is certainly more casual than any other itinerary and you can get away with dockers and golf shirt type dress pretty much everywhere (except maybe Palo). We also don't have any problem with "public" pools. We found the adult pool to be empty most of the time and a nice place to take a dip and cool off. We are not really "spa treatment" people either, but I do love getting my pedicure on board.

If someone were to ask me what we did all day, I probably couldn't come up with a list that sounded like much of anything to tell you the truth. We play some games throughout the day (shuffleboard and ping pong), we do go swimming in the pool, take a nap on deck 4 (after shuffleboard), catch a movie in the theater, and there is plenty of eating (breakfast, lunch and dinner!) Dinner is an event and if you have second seating, can take a while. There is tons of entertainment in the evening, not just the theatrical production but other adult type stuff. All I know is that the days go too fast, I have no problem slowing down my usual crazy pace to "island time" and I end up feeling totally relaxed by the evening of the first day.

The highlight of the cruise for me is Castaway Cay, the private island. I never thought about snorkeling before my first visit there but I gave it a try and LOVED It. On our last cruise we tried the catamaran snorkeling excursion there and it was fabulous. If you've tried snorkeling before and disliked it, I'm not sure what to say, but if you haven't tried it I urge you to give it a try. I also can't really tell you what we did all day at Castaway Cay but we somehow managed to fill the day with snorkeling, biking around the island, having lunch at cookies BBQ, and maybe a nap on the beach with a drink in hand.

Anyway, we didn't think we would end up being "cruise" people but we loved it. If you are willing to try some new things, like snorkeling, I think you might find that you enjoy it a lot more than you think you would. In either case, a 3 day is probably a good idea to try it out.

Lisa

 

[Blue Eeyore]

OMG! Thank you all SO MUCH for the very informative responses! I guess we'll definitely have to check it out. I'm ALWAYS running into people who are not into Disney who have done the cruise and then can't stop talking about how wonderful it was. Now I just need to talk DH into doing it, lol. I'm kind of excited now! Thanks again!

 

[Bbgrizzle]

If you have done WDW a lot already, you should give the cruise a chance. I probably wouldn't choose the 3 day though because you need at least one at-sea day! Is it possible to choose a 4-day?

As for whether or not you'll be bored, I know I'm in the minority here, but Ithere have been times on the ship when I've been bored. We've done two 7-day DCL cruises (our third is booked for December). Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Disney activities on board, but it seems like the really good ones overlap(Art of Entertaining, Navigator Series, etc.), and then there are periods where there really isn't anything going on. The planned activities that they do have I love, I just wish there were more of a selection throughout the day. I am not a person who likes to spend all my time relaxing when I'm on vacation. I like to DO stuff. I like the fact that at WDW there is always loads of stuff to choose from. That being said, the cruise is awesome, and there is nothing like a day on Castaway Cay, or watching Disney Dreams (I always go to the matinee AND the evening show because I love it so much). I've never done a 3-day cruise, so I'm not sure how they are. I think you have stops each of the days though, so you can make your own fun on the islands if the ship doesn't do it for you.

 

[jeanniec]

Let me add just one thing that hasn't been mentioned so far. We always get a verandah. Got one the first time around and now we can't stand to give it up. We love to sit out on our verandah (day and evening both work) and watch the ocean go by. Sounds kind of boring when you say it, but it is so cool! It's fun to watch the action on the other ships when you are in port, too. By the way, we do not spend the entire day and night on our verandah -- just portions of each.