Disney Cruise Vacation - Adventures, Tips and Memories!
Booking the Cruise
Imagine my surprise about 2 months ago when, surfacing disney's cruise website I bumped into what seemed like an amazing price, within our budget, and to the ports we wanted (7 nights West Caribbean)!!! The only 'catch'? It was a 'restrictive fare' meaning no cancellations and no choosing your own cabins.
So after getting a slightly even cheaper rate by calling our travel agent, we booked everything!!!
Booking the Flight
We had originally planned on flying from Buffalo, NY. That would mean huge savings with only about 2 hrs drive to across the border. But I asked our travel agent and searched online and found a charter flight from Pearson Airport in Toronto that was decent. So we decided on the charter flight - we took the same flight 2 years ago when we sailed with Royal Caribbean and it was a good flight...and less transiting and traveling is always good especially with kids!
Insurance
With everything booked now I had to look at preparations. From experience I knew we had to get travel insurance. Full coverage was way too expensive so we just prayed that nothing would happen. Imagine my (selfish) relieve as we witnessed Hurracaine Sandy batter the same area we were going to only 2 weeks before our sailing date!
As you will find out (keep reading) - we were very glad we got the insurance cause we did use it big time!
Transfers
We would fly into Orlando but embark at Port Canaveral, about 45 min from the airport. Transfers by Disney cost about $70 per person ($35 each way). We did transfers when we cruised with Princess sans children. We hired a car service 2 years ago when we sailed with Royal with the Kids. And when I sailed with girlfriends eons ago with Carnival we rented a car....so I have done it all I suppose.
What to do this time?
Transfers:
+ no fuss. Disney does all the work for you.
- expensive
- cannot go anywhere else. Less freedom.
Car Service:
+ they pick you up right at the airport
+ last time we booked with a company that provided complimentary car seats for the kids
- prices have gone up. Round trip was over $200 on average and many charged for car seats
- cannot go anywhere else. Less freedom. Some do allow a one stop if you let them know before hand.
- most ask you to give 15% tips each way. Some charge extra for tolls etc.
Car rental:
+ cheapest of the 3 options. I scouted for promotions too and found the cheapest at around $50 per day all taxes included (pick up in one location and drop off at another)
- we have to bring our own car seats.
+ more flexibility
- might have to wait longer to get the car at the airport and at debarkation, have to wait in line for the shuttle to get you to the rental place (it is not at the port)
We opted for Car rental this time. It actually worked out fine and the nice bonus was we did not have to take the car seats into the ship with us. We just left them at the car rental place in Port Canaveral.
Packing:
Packing is always a challenge with kids. But this time was a little easier - no more diapers and baby food :D. Aside from the essentials, here are some extra tips:
- No need to pack towels, shampoos, conditioners or creams. All pretty standard.
- Some people said to bring your own hair dryer. No need for the Fantasy. The hair dryer was not only fancy but had a lot of power IF you plug it in the right place
- No need to prepare special movies for the kids. My kids loved to watch those old Disney TV shows on their Disney channels over and over again.
- Water Bottles - VERY IMPORTANT. Bring your water bottles. There is free soda (a first!), juices and water everywhere but having your own bottles help. THey do have cups with lids for you to use. I would have taken a bottle that holds hot drinks too as I liked their selection of coffee and teas too!
- We restricted ourselves with 2 mid size luggages, 2 kiddie ones and 1 carry on (we ended up checking this one in) - remember you will need to travel around the airport with these. The carts at Orlando airport are crazy expensive ($5)....and remember that the carts at Pearson ($2.50) can be returned and I think you get 50 cents back.
The Ship -
We sailed on Disney's Newest Ship, the Fantasy. It is less than 1 year old so everything was so new and clean. The ship is beautiful and there are details with traces of Mickey Mouse everywhere!
Cabins
We were assigned an inside cabin in the front of the ship - not the ideal but we managed ok. Observations:
+ quiet since we were on Deck 5, very few rooms because this is the deck where the kids clubs are. Very few 'human traffic' around corridors at the front and back of the ship on this deck
- if you are really sensitive, stay away from the front and top decks of the ship.
- the room where we were was close to a staff stairway and from time to time you could hear people go up and down though it didn't really happen that often and even when it did it didn't matter that much
+ Inside cabins in the Fantasy have fake portholes. They are really screens that have a live feeding from a camera outside so you do technically see when we sail out, dock, etc. In addition, they have Disney characters 'show up' on the 'window' to surprise the kids. Our kids had a lot of fun with these
+ For an inside cabin I found it to have a lot of storage space. The beds have legs so you can put all your luggage underneath it. The 'coffee table' is really a chest box so you can place stuff there. There are tons of hangers.- Use the hangers. If you don't, when the seas get rocky you will get the annoying sounds of the hangers banging on each other.
+ Some people on discussion boards said to bring your own nightlight. I didn't see the point or need for them. There is a nightlight in the room and the kids actually wanted that.
+ Bunk beds - our kids loved them and we told our host to keep the bunk beds at all times because the kids could lay there during the day in between breaks. Otherwise they store them during the day.
+ Washrooms - best washroom by far in my experience. The Bathtub is a plus especially if you have small kids.
+Fridge
+ Phones. I LOOOOVVVEEEEDDD the fact there were 'wave phones' on each cabin. My husband and I were able to communicate on the ship that way. And by the way it works at Castaway Cay too - My husband called me from the island.
Oceaneers Club
Disney has a club for the kids. My kids fell into the younger crowd club but I wondered if they would be willing to be dropped off. My hope was that having each other would help.+ wrist bands - for sign in and sign out, to locate kids
+ a lot of helpers
+ wonderful facilities - lots to do
- almost too much to do - my kids got lost and unnecessarily overwhelmed - after one time I decided to step in and grabbed the helpers and told them they had to guide my kids and help them settle into the activities
+ very clean
+ my son loved the craft stations.
- the only program my son did was a Science program but he joined that only because a helper invited him while he was doing crafts. We tried to get the kids into the programs by looking at the schedules but either the kids would shy away from them (drop off into a room full of strangers) or we felt we had no idea where things were happening
Overall though, it was a great club with great helpers and great facilities. You can use the facilities technically from 8:00 am to midnight
Food:
The food on the first day, for some reason, was VERY salty. Someone must have done something wrong in Mickey's Kitchen. Second day and forward everything was back to great. At DCL you rotate in 3 different restaurants and your rotation is labelled in your card. Every restaurant has a different theme.
Because my son has dairy sensitivity and cannot have any nuts, we tried a couple of things.
First few meals we simply chose things we thought would be safe.
All their kids meals are nut free
After a couple of days Samuel had too much dairy so we pre ordered his meals at the end of dinner the night before
Samuel's favourite: Mickey's Pasta, Chicken Fingers (the fried kind) and fries
Sarah's favourite: Steak, Spaghetti, Chicken Fingers and fries
For dessert they would always bring vegan desserts for Samuel
They also had lactose free milk, soya milk and rice milk. And conveniently if you ask them they had the small cartons you can take back to your cabins.
In terms of times for dinner, we had the 5:45 PM dinner. The other one was at around 8PM.
Entertainment for the Family:
Aside from Oceaneer's Club you cannot get bored on the ship. Here are some of the things we checked out, liked, didn't work for us, etc:
+ MOVIES!!! We had never taken our kids to a regular movie theatre because it costs money and we thought we might not survive the entire movie. It was great to be able to watch in an almost empty theatre and see the kids respond. We lasted the entire 3D Finding Nemo (though my daughter could care less about the glasses), daddy and Sarah watched 3D Wreck it Ralph, I watched a midnight showing of "Lincoln" in my PJs, and we tried to finish a 3D showing of "Brave" though we left half way because it got too scary. Advice: Bring your own goodies - they 'sell' goods on the first floor of the theatre but we always went in from the 2nd floor - less traffic, closer to our cabins, and had no trouble bringing in and out food
+ EVENING SHOWS!!! Spectacular! We were not only amazed that our kids lasted through 3 entire shows but that they understood the messages in each! The shows are just perfect for families since they all last 60 minutes only. The quality of the shows are the best by far I've seen in all my cruising experience and un par with any Disney production on Broadway or in your city. The first time we arrived 15 min before show and we only found seats in the back of the 2nd floor. For the remaining of the show we opted to arrive 20 - 25 minutes before show started. By the way, you are not allowed to save seats for your crowd.
+ Spa - I checked out the spa once. I waited till the night before port days to see what sales they had to offer. I had a great full body massage. What I appreciated the most of the spa was there was almost no sales pitch
+ Gym - Yes, I did check it out. If you want to join the classes you MUST sign up. I showed up to one and found out it was full. With 2 unpredictable kids I could not tell when I might have free time but others might be able to plan ahead. The gym facilities is gorgeous and I ran on the elliptical for about 15 min. I know, I know. I got a text message that Sarah wanted to be picked up. But even in the short time I found I enjoyed it. Bring your ipod so you can use it. Water and towels available there.
+ Character Meetings - One of the highlights of DCL is meeting with all the Disney Characters all the time. We lined up for some according to schedules (lines never took us more than 10 minutes) but we also just quite literally bumped into them. They ALWAYS stop for us not only to sign the kids' autograph books (yes, bring one if you don't want to pay $15 for a basic book) but they actually take the time to chat with them. As a mother I really appreciated that small touch. A side note: For some reason Belle showed up very few times :(
+ Pirate Night - Everyone makes a big deal out of this one. My son had an outfit so we did pack that. But once Pirate Night came and we saw free bandannas in our cabin we knew everyone was going all out for this night. They do such a good job creating the atmosphere it just felt natural to participate. At the ports I had gotten matching dresses for my daughter and myself so we wore those for a more 'Caribbean' fare. I stole my son's pirate belt to put on my daughter and I used my chain necklaces to dress myself 'up'. There is an earlier show for the kids at around 7:30 PM on deck 11 and it was a great short party for the kids. After that though, my son melted and so I went back to our cabins with him. Daughter and daddy continued onto movies and then Deck 11 again for the Big pirate night. It must have been loud cause I could hear it from my Deck 5. Hubby said, though, that the fireworks were less than what he expected
+ Medic - yes, we even had to use their medical doctors because my daughter got really sick 2 days before the end of the cruise. But having gone through a similar thing in our last cruise I could make comparisons. Even though these doctors and nurses are not DCL employees they had that 'magic' in them. They took care of us and made me feel they were taking good care of my daughter.
Ports:
We decided before going that we would not splurge on the excursions this time because of the age of our kids. The only one excursion we considered taken was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy.
These were our ports:
Grand Cayman - Costa Maya - Cozumel - Castaway Cay
We skipped Grand Cayman and enjoyed a pleasant and quiet and relaxing day on the ship - no regrets making that decision!
In Mexico we just walked out with the kids and shopped a little. I was sick to see how overpriced everything was...but in the end we still shopped...mind you, with my Spanish, I got the prices way down :)
Make sure you bring enough water and snacks for your walk - it is a lot hotter in the Caribbean and though we did not plan on eating locally (with kids we just didn't want to chance it) we all did get thirsty in no time.
**Tip: we bought a heavy stone set of chess for friends in the US. Instead of taking it back home to canada we simply shipped it when we got off board in Port Canaveral - there was a Post office just across the street from the car rental. With all the packaging it cost me $18 only and my friends got them the day we got back home!!!!!
What you take home:
+ Get a picture frame mat before you cruise and leave it at the customer care desk on day 1 of your cruise. They will have all the characters sign it for you and return it to your cabin on the last night of your cruise. Bring markers if you can (I didn't)
+ Memorabilia - I just saved a lot of stuff for scrapbooking - all the schedules, the luggage tags (ask for extras at the customer care table), pirate night bandannas, etc.
I can go on and on about the trip but I think I will stop here. Hope you enjoyed it!
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