First Cruise Booked! A few questions...

[MissStitch626]

We have booked our first ever cruise for April next year - 7 night Eastern Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy!

I have a ton of research to do and have been reading through the forum as well as various blogs, vlogs etc but there are a few things I haven't been able to get a clear answer on yet.

Transfers - we're flying in to MCO from UK the day before our cruise. Our current plan is to book 1 night at a Disney resort for the night before our cruise, then a week at Disney after the cruise. Will I be able to book Disney Cruise Line transfers to and from Port Canaveral even if I've booked my WDW resorts separately?

Passports/names on reservation - when we booked the cruise, the info pulled through from our Disney accounts, which don't have middle names on them. Our middle names are on our passport. I recall reading something about the names having to match exactly - will our middle names not being on the booking cause any issues?

 

[erionm]

Transfers - we're flying in to MCO from UK the day before our cruise. Our current plan is to book 1 night at a Disney resort for the night before our cruise, then a week at Disney after the cruise. Will I be able to book Disney Cruise Line transfers to and from Port Canaveral even if I've booked my WDW resorts separately?

Yes, you can still book DCL transfers even if you booked the cruise and WDW resort separately.

 

[MissStitch626]

Yes, you can still book DCL transfers even if you booked the cruise and WDW resort separately.

Thank you!

 

[cyndiella]

I would edit the cruise info to include your middle names.. You don't want to risk a mix up! You may have to phone the cruise line for this..

 

[Princesca]

Unsolicited advice, but we JUST did a week in the parks and a week on the cruise this past April. We had previously had it to do the parks second, but we switched it and I'm SO GLAD we did. The cruise was so relaxing that I can't imagine having done the craziness of the parks second and undoing all that R&R. It's not the end of the world - a week in the parks is worth it, whatever order you have to do it in, but if you have any flexibility at this point I highly recommend doing the parks first. It also helps you make 100% sure you're in Florida long before that ship leaves port.

 

[Disturbia]

We have booked our first ever cruise for April next year - 7 night Eastern Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy!

I have a ton of research to do and have been reading through the forum as well as various blogs, vlogs etc but there are a few things I haven't been able to get a clear answer on yet.

Transfers - we're flying in to MCO from UK the day before our cruise. Our current plan is to book 1 night at a Disney resort for the night before our cruise, then a week at Disney after the cruise. Will I be able to book Disney Cruise Line transfers to and from Port Canaveral even if I've booked my WDW resorts separately?

Passports/names on reservation - when we booked the cruise, the info pulled through from our Disney accounts, which don't have middle names on them. Our middle names are on our passport. I recall reading something about the names having to match exactly - will our middle names not being on the booking cause any issues?

What time are you arriving? With flight delays and the like do you want to pay for transfers from MCO to a Disney resort and then from the resort to the cruise?

Our flight was delayed by 7 hours from the midwest 3/31 and we didn’t arrive until 3:30 am and check in until 4:30 am (Hyatt Orlando airport). We had to be out of our room by 8 am, so slept about 1.5 hour. Our room was given to someone else as we hadn’t checked in (long story airport nightmare with young kids, stuck on tarmac 3 hours; running to get food; tornado touchdown….). We got upgraded or a presidential suite but it only had 1 bed for 5 of us (2 of us slept on sofas without any extra bedding.) It took us 3 days to get over the exhaustion.

If you book Mears (you get automatically assigned 11:30 PAT) we boarded our bus from Hyatt at 9:40 pm (everyone needs to be on board by 10 am).

Eventhough I took Dramamine chews and pills I still felt dizzy for about a week after the cruise, so I would recommend going to WDW first.

 

[Princesca]

Also, for an international flight, the way things have been for air travel in this country over the past year, I'm not sure I would feel comfortable arriving just the day before. :/ I tend to be overly cautious, but it's not like you could just drive yourself to FL if something happened. That's another reason I prefer to do the parks first, it's a good embarkation buffer. Better to miss a day or two of your park vacation than your entire cruise.

 

[HeatherLassell]

We have booked our first ever cruise for April next year - 7 night Eastern Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy!

I have a ton of research to do and have been reading through the forum as well as various blogs, vlogs etc but there are a few things I haven't been able to get a clear answer on yet.

Transfers - we're flying in to MCO from UK the day before our cruise. Our current plan is to book 1 night at a Disney resort for the night before our cruise, then a week at Disney after the cruise. Will I be able to book Disney Cruise Line transfers to and from Port Canaveral even if I've booked my WDW resorts separately?

Passports/names on reservation - when we booked the cruise, the info pulled through from our Disney accounts, which don't have middle names on them. Our middle names are on our passport. I recall reading something about the names having to match exactly - will our middle names not being on the booking cause any issues?

Personally I would do the week at Disney before the cruise!

 

[MissStitch626]

Unsolicited advice, but we JUST did a week in the parks and a week on the cruise this past April. We had previously had it to do the parks second, but we switched it and I'm SO GLAD we did. The cruise was so relaxing that I can't imagine having done the craziness of the parks second and undoing all that R&R. It's not the end of the world - a week in the parks is worth it, whatever order you have to do it in, but if you have any flexibility at this point I highly recommend doing the parks first. It also helps you make 100% sure you're in Florida long before that ship leaves port.

I'm glad you mentioned this - we haven't booked our hotel yet so have flexibility, and we've debated back and forth on the order. I've been in favour of parks first for all the reasons above, DH is in favour of parks second (his thought process - if it turns out we are not cruise people we'll still have park days to look forward to )

I think if we do go with cruise first, it will be a very light park schedule, we've been lucky enough to have two big WDW trips in the last 6 months so we're aiming for a very slow pace this time either way.

 

[MissStitch626]

Also, for an international flight, the way things have been for air travel in this country over the past year, I'm not sure I would feel comfortable arriving just the day before. :/ I tend to be overly cautious, but it's not like you could just drive yourself to FL if something happened. That's another reason I prefer to do the parks first, it's a good embarkation buffer. Better to miss a day or two of your park vacation than your entire cruise.

This is definitely a concern. Our connecting flights in UK are very close together and there are a lot of "what ifs". We're currently due to land at MCO at 3pm the day before, and we've typically never experienced terrible delays, but definitely worth thinking about.

 

[sponica]

I'm glad you mentioned this - we haven't booked our hotel yet so have flexibility, and we've debated back and forth on the order. I've been in favour of parks first for all the reasons above, DH is in favour of parks second (his thought process - if it turns out we are not cruise people we'll still have park days to look forward to )

I think if we do go with cruise first, it will be a very light park schedule, we've been lucky enough to have two big WDW trips in the last 6 months so we're aiming for a very slow pace this time either way.

I have done cruise and then parks, but it was our honeymoon and we NEEDED the cruise to be first. After the hectic pace of the wedding and wedding prep of that week, parks first would have destroyed us.


Going forward we'd probably book parks and then cruise, but my husband's uncle tells a story of when they did it that way and the kids were bawling their eyes out when they left WDW to go to the cruise.

 

[MissStitch626]

What time are you arriving? With flight delays and the like do you want to pay for transfers from MCO to a Disney resort and then from the resort to the cruise?

Our flight was delayed by 7 hours from the midwest 3/31 and we didn’t arrive until 3:30 am and check in until 4:30 am (Hyatt Orlando airport). We had to be out of our room by 8 am, so slept about 1.5 hour. Our room was given to someone else as we hadn’t checked in (long story airport nightmare with young kids, stuck on tarmac 3 hours; running to get food; tornado touchdown….). We got upgraded or a presidential suite but it only had 1 bed for 5 of us (2 of us slept on sofas without any extra bedding.) It took us 3 days to get over the exhaustion.

If you book Mears (you get automatically assigned 11:30 PAT) we boarded our bus from Hyatt at 9:40 pm (everyone needs to be on board by 10 am).

Eventhough I took Dramamine chews and pills I still felt dizzy for about a week after the cruise, so I would recommend going to WDW first.

We would be due to land at 3pm the day before the cruise. We've typically not had too many issues with delays on the London to Orlando leg (though the connecting flights are often a different story!)

We planned on staying at the Hyatt but there's a $300 difference in the price compared to a night at All Star Movies so we're rethinking that!

I'll make sure to pack plenty of Dramamine - as neither of us have been on a ship before, don't know what to expect in terms of sea sickness so I'll be preparing for the worst

 

[Disturbia]

Our cruise this April was the Eastern Caribbean. I would highly recommend the Jost Van Dyke beach transfer (was enough time for us before getting sunburned), but do not waste time or money on Secret Sands (St Thomas) they would not call a cab and had us stand 1.5 hr at the bus stop past pickup with young kids who were starving (they changed our excursion without notice from 8:15 am to 10:30 am and there was no place to grab lunch); we got back to the ship around 3:30 pm and had to call for our allergy orders (arranged with restaurant) and others had to grab burgers from Flos.

If you can, change your room so your muster drill is not on deck:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/dream-fantasy-muster-stations.2639344/page-27#post-64822437

 

[MissStitch626]

I have done cruise and then parks, but it was our honeymoon and we NEEDED the cruise to be first. After the hectic pace of the wedding and wedding prep of that week, parks first would have destroyed us.


Going forward we'd probably book parks and then cruise, but my husband's uncle tells a story of when they did it that way and the kids were bawling their eyes out when they left WDW to go to the cruise.

I actually suspect this is where DH is coming from a little. Our trips are usually for 2 weeks, I have a feeling he's worried that he wouldn't want to leave after 7 days to go on the cruise

 

[lanejudy]

Most folks on here seem to prefer parks first. We've also done cruise first because it was what fit our schedule that year. I still prefer parks first, but not a big deal if the cruise you want fits into your plans first.

However, I would be concerned about arriving just the day prior. If there is any way to push that a day or two earlier, or flip-flop cruise/parks, that's my recommendation.

Another option other than Hyatt is one of the airport area hotels. Not quite as convenient as the Hyatt but there are free shuttles between the airport and several area hotels, plus many also include a free breakfast. For considerably less than the Hyatt.

 

[Disturbia]

We would be due to land at 3pm the day before the cruise. We've typically not had too many issues with delays on the London to Orlando leg (though the connecting flights are often a different story!)

We planned on staying at the Hyatt but there's a $300 difference in the price compared to a night at All Star Movies so we're rethinking that!

I'll make sure to pack plenty of Dramamine - as neither of us have been on a ship before, don't know what to expect in terms of sea sickness so I'll be preparing for the worst

Without Dramamine I was dizzy for more than a month and felt nauseous on the ship esp the last few days when they go at high speeds to get to castaway cay. Even my teen and DH stole some of the chews (they’re like soft ginger toffee).

I’ve been on a transatlantic flight and cruise was worse in terms of getting sea legs/sickness the first time I went. I swore off of going on one ever again but except for the initial flight hiccup we all enjoyed the cruise and are booked again next year (Western Caribbean).

 

[ILoveMyKellen]

I’m in the minority here but we love doing the parks after the cruise. I hate getting off the ship and heading straight home, it’s so sad for me and my son.

If we do a week of parks afterwards and then go home it’s sad but not as sad as leaving the ship.

 

[MissStitch626]

Our cruise this April was the Eastern Caribbean. I would highly recommend the Jost Van Dyke beach transfer (was enough time for us before getting sunburned), but do not waste time or money on Secret Sands (St Thomas) they would not call a cab and had us stand 1.5 hr at the bus stop past pickup with young kids who were starving (they changed our excursion without notice from 8:15 am to 10:30 am and there was no place to grab lunch); we got back to the ship around 3:30 pm and had to call for our allergy orders (arranged with restaurant) and others had to grab burgers from Flos.

If you can, change your room so your muster drill is not on deck:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/dream-fantasy-muster-stations.2639344/page-27#post-64822437

Thanks for the link, looks like we're inside for the muster drill

 

[ArtemisPhoenix]

Our cruise this April was the Eastern Caribbean. I would highly recommend the Jost Van Dyke beach transfer (was enough time for us before getting sunburned), but do not waste time or money on Secret Sands (St Thomas) they would not call a cab and had us stand 1.5 hr at the bus stop past pickup with young kids who were starving (they changed our excursion without notice from 8:15 am to 10:30 am and there was no place to grab lunch); we got back to the ship around 3:30 pm and had to call for our allergy orders (arranged with restaurant) and others had to grab burgers from Flos.

If you can, change your room so your muster drill is not on deck:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/dream-fantasy-muster-stations.2639344/page-27#post-64822437

Why is it important not to have your muster station on deck?

 

[ArtemisPhoenix]

I second everyone else here saying that the parks would be better first. The parks are a ton of fun, but exhausting. The cruise is a lot of fun and very relaxing. Even if you find that you’re not “cruise people”, you’ll still get to relax and unwind after all the chaos and endless walking in the parks.