YIKES, first Disney cruise, NOW WHAT?!?

[QCTodd]

Yesterday we met with our travel agent and booked our first ever major family vacation. We will be spending Christmas 2013 aboard the Disney dream! The wife's and I have been on Cruises before but this will be the first time for the kids. I know booking is the major part but beside read, read, and reread this board what else should we do? Anything to keep out eyes out for? Our agent didn't see any shipboard credits, are there any? We are convincing friends to go and so far we at up to 10 people. We are in cabin 6124 (I think), anyone know anything about this cabin? what kind of weather are we looking at, I know it will be warmer than the cold Midwest! I'm sure I will have many more questions as its 22 months away! Tha is ahead of time!

 

[sauerkraut]

Be prepared for a very full ship.

 

[QCTodd]

Be prepared for a very full ship.

Lol, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[sissy_ib]

Yesterday we met with our travel agent and booked our first ever major family vacation. We will be spending Christmas 2013 aboard the Disney dream! The wife's and I have been on Cruises before but this will be the first time for the kids. I know booking is the major part but beside read, read, and reread this board what else should we do? Anything to keep out eyes out for? Our agent didn't see any shipboard credits, are there any? We are convincing friends to go and so far we at up to 10 people. We are in cabin 6124 (I think), anyone know anything about this cabin? what kind of weather are we looking at, I know it will be warmer than the cold Midwest! I'm sure I will have many more questions as its 22 months away! Tha is ahead of time!

Just keep reading. You can look at the Navigators that are posted here http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/cr-stateroom-navigator.htmto get an idea of the kinds of activities they will have on-board. Check out the port adventures on DCL's website to see if you would be interested. I have not spent much time over on Cruise Critic but they are supposed to have good reviews of the different excursions. Trip adviser is another good place to look.
For now just gather info then a few months out start deciding what you want to book. I think you can book excursions 75 days out so you have a lot of time to decide.

 

[Disney Dreams]

Yesterday we met with our travel agent and booked our first ever major family vacation. We will be spending Christmas 2013 aboard the Disney dream! The wife's and I have been on Cruises before but this will be the first time for the kids. I know booking is the major part but beside read, read, and reread this board what else should we do? Anything to keep out eyes out for? Our agent didn't see any shipboard credits, are there any? We are convincing friends to go and so far we at up to 10 people. We are in cabin 6124 (I think), anyone know anything about this cabin? what kind of weather are we looking at, I know it will be warmer than the cold Midwest! I'm sure I will have many more questions as its 22 months away! Tha is ahead of time!

How exciting! You are going to love it! I would read the FAQ sticky at the top of this board. It has a lot of the information you will want to know and will probably generate questions, at which point you can post here and get answers. I would also look over the various excursions offered during your cruise and see if there are any you will want to book when the time comes.

Welcome to your new addiction --- well, two actually: DCL and DISBoards!

- Dreams

 

[woody73]

Be prepared for a very full ship.

Lol, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

That depends on whether you like long lines.

Woody

 

[mickey2000]

A good point is that you have almost 2 years to save lots of money

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

We did a New Year's cruise last year and had a blast. The ship was full but it didn't detract from our vacation in any way. Orlando was very cold when we got there but the weather for the cruise was mostly mid-70s. It was gorgeous!!!

Laurie

 

[QCTodd]

That depends on whether you like long lines.

Woody

Long lines? For what? Anything to stay away from?

 

[QCTodd]

A good point is that you have almost 2 years to save lots of money

That doesn't sound good, lol. What's the typical extra amount spent?

 

[mickey2000]

Long lines? For what? Anything to stay away from?

On the first island the train ride back to the ship can be pretty crowded during Christmas !

 

[sissy_ib]

That doesn't sound good, lol. What's the typical extra amount spent?

There really is not a typical. Some people spend less than $100 extra some spend thousands. If you do research, like you are, you will know what you want to do and about how much it will all cost.

 

[QCTodd]

There really is not a typical. Some people spend less than $100 extra some spend thousands. If you do research, like you are, you will know what you want to do and about how much it will all cost.

On our previous cruises we spent about $700 which was just the 2 of us. I sure there are plenty of varriences on what is spent, heck it would cost $2000 for our family to do the dolphin trainer for the day alone lol. Is there an average that is being spent?

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Long lines? For what? Anything to stay away from?

All of our DCL cruises have been during sold-out, peak times (spring break, summer, Thanksgiving.) The lines are NOTHING like the lines at WDW. (Long lines are mainly at the buffets on sea days, and for photos with the characters.) Even then, nothing stressworthy IMHO.

I'm sure you, your family and friends will have a WONDERFUL time!

 

[sissy_ib]

On our previous cruises we spent about $700 which was just the 2 of us. I sure there are plenty of varriences on what is spent, heck it would cost $2000 for our family to do the dolphin trainer for the day alone lol. Is there an average that is being spent?

Mathematically? Yes, there is an average. I doubt anyone here knows that number however. The point I was trying to make is how much a person decides to spend on vacation is up to them.

 

[QCTodd]

Mathematically? Yes, there is an average. I doubt anyone here knows that number however. The point I was trying to make is how much a person decides to spend on vacation is up to them.

Gotcha! Maybe what I looking for is like, ok here are the must haves for the boat, does that make sense? Lol

 

[DisSarahK]

Did you buy cruise insurance? That is something to buy now if you haven't done it already.

 

[QCTodd]

On the first island the train ride back to the ship can be pretty crowded during Christmas !

We went on the bud light cruise 2 years ago The Dave Matthews Band performed on coco cay. The "seats" were first come first serve so I know what you mean by packed trams, the first tenders were CRAZY! I do think we ended up with decent "seats" tho

 

[QCTodd]

Did you buy cruise insurance? That is something to buy now if you haven't done it already.

Yes we did, figure it's a little investment that will cover our butts in case something does happen.

 

[mellers]

Yesterday we met with our travel agent and booked our first ever major family vacation. We will be spending Christmas 2013 aboard the Disney dream! The wife's and I have been on Cruises before but this will be the first time for the kids. I know booking is the major part but beside read, read, and reread this board what else should we do? Anything to keep out eyes out for? Our agent didn't see any shipboard credits, are there any? We are convincing friends to go and so far we at up to 10 people. We are in cabin 6124 (I think), anyone know anything about this cabin? what kind of weather are we looking at, I know it will be warmer than the cold Midwest! I'm sure I will have many more questions as its 22 months away! Tha is ahead of time!

Given that you just did this yesterday, I would recommend buying cruise insurance, and not from Disney. You should do this very soon (preferably within the next week) to have the best selection of policies which will cover pre-existing conditions (I STRONGLY recommend this--Disney does not cover them). If you, or one of your traveling companions, is a serviceperson, reservist, or vet, I'd recommend using http://www.usaa.com/ for your travel insurance. It not only covers pre-existing conditions, but also deployments. Kids are also free.

If not, I would go with http://www.tripinsurancestore.com, http://www.insuremytrip.com , or http://www.squaremouth.com.

If you are traveling with children, try Travel Insured or Access America, but make sure you insure yourselves for the adult price. I know Travel Insured insures kids for free (bought their policy for a cruise), and another poster mentioned that Access America does as well. This can save you $$$$. You will probably pay less for this coverage, and get better coverage than Disney.

Still, I hope you have a great cruise and no need for the insurance