Questions about cruises.

In My Humble Opinion
1

We plan on taking two cruises within the next year and are about to book now. I have been on two cruises, with Royal Carribean (very elegant) and Carnival (definitely good for partying). We are looking to take a Disney Cruise this coming December (great prices for Florida residents) and a European Cruise the summer of 2007. Carnival has recently announced that they now cruise throughout Europe which to us seems great. So, my questions are:

1a) Has anyone ever been on a Disney Cruise?
1b) If so, what are the likes/dislikes?
1c) What do you recommend we do to make it better?

2a) Has anyone ever been on a European Cruise?
1b) If so, what are the likes/dislikes?
1C) What do you recommend we do to make it better?

In advance, thank you. And if you post, if you don’t mind, please pay attention to the thread because I might be asking further follow-up questions.

2

Wish I could help you. The last cruise I went on was basically a 10-day drinking/sex binge (no joke). All I can say is that I hope you and your wife have as much fun on your cruise(s) as I did on mine :wink:

3

Have you read FormerMarineGuy’s posts, Incubus? :wink:

4

I am glad I will be remembered for something when I pass away.

Yeah, I do enjoy sex, but it is definitely not the purpose of my cruise, especially the Disney cruise. Cinderella is kind of sexy, but I never dug blondes. How about Minney?

5

Sorry, she’s fucking Goofy.

Can I interest you in a chipmunk or two?

6

We’ve been on one Disney Cruise and are about to go on another one in three weeks…

Things you should know:

Booking early can save you lots.

Booking early also gives you first crack at early dinner seating. Late dinner seating means that you won’t eat until 8:30 or something at night - which people with young kids don’t like. At this point, with a December cruise, you’ll get late seating (you can ask to be switched to early when you board).

Disney activities for the under three and not potty trained set are limited - we elected to wait until our youngest was potty trained. The sweet spot for a Disney cruise is kids ages 4 -12 - older teens in particular can find it “hokey.” From aged 3 (AND potty trained) to eighteen, there are FREE supervised activites for the kids that start by 8 am and go until midnight. So you can drop your kids off, go sit in a grown up hottub (or go back to your room for sex), and pick them up in an hour or two.

Disney does a very good job of keeping kids areas and adult areas seperate. There are a TON of kids on the ship - but you don’t see them at the adult pool, adult restaurant, spa, adult beach on their island, or in the nightclubs (after 9).

While the cruise price is “all inclusive” - you will have a bill when you get off. You need to tip your servers and stateroom hosts (they basically work for board and tips - so tips are pretty much all the cash they make), any alcohol you drink, souvieniers, excursions, spa trips, bingo, etc.

Disney does not have a casino on board.

Disney sails 3 and 4 day cruises and 7 day cruises.

Do a web search for Disney Cruise Line - there are a couple of pretty darn good fan sites that have links to the menus, copies of the cruise schedules (i.e. when they are having the Shuffleboard tournament), and chat boards.

7

Dangerosa says…

Apparently it must be pretty good if you are going on your second one. What itinerary did you take? What rooms did you get?

My son is 7 and daughter is 11, so they should be okay if we are forced to get late seating. Or I could try to slip someone some money for early seating.

How is the supervision? Did you feel comfortable leaving them alone?

That’s fine, I do not want my kids to see me playing blackjack, drinking, and smoking cigarettes while losing their college fund, anyway.

8

The three day and four day go to Nassau and Castaway Cay (Disney’s private island). The seven day alternates between a Western and and Eastern Carribean - Eastern to St. Thomas and the like - Western down to Cozumel. We did the four day to Nassau and are about to do a seven day “special itinerary” that goes to Cozumel and stops twice at Castaway Cay.

Don’t try to slip Disney employees tips to get things done - they can get fired. If you want early and can’t book it, go on the waiting list or board early and they will probably be able to switch you. With seven and eleven year olds, though, you might like late better since it gives you more “day.”

We felt fine leaving the kids under Disney’s care. The kids clubs have at the ages you are talking about I think a 20:1 ratio - better than their schools have. All kids have wristbands with contact info. You get a pager and are paged if they want to leave. Your eleven year old will have self check out privledges though (you may be able to say no to that, but at eleven it is at least the default - it isn’t that scary on a Disney cruise - while there are weirdos everywhere, Disney has a higher than average number of parents on board who are aware). You need to know your family password to get them out, so they won’t leave with strangers.

We stayed in a category six with a veranda - which was very nice.