Night life on the cruise

[Julia Anderson]

I recently went on a carnival cruise to the Bahamas, and one of my favorite parts of this experience was the night club and comedy shows onboard late at night for an adult crowd. I am now considering a Disney cruise with my family, but I was wondering if Disney cruises would have similar nightlife opportunities for adults. Anybody that has been on a cruise before, did the boat offer have a night club and other adult events at night, and if so, which boat were you on? Which boat is best for adults and nightlife?

 

[southerngirl528]

I recently went on a carnival cruise to the Bahamas, and one of my favorite parts of this experience was the night club and comedy shows onboard late at night for an adult crowd. I am now considering a Disney cruise with my family, but I was wondering if Disney cruises would have similar nightlife opportunities for adults. Anybody that has been on a cruise before, did the boat offer have a night club and other adult events at night, and if so, which boat were you on? Which boat is best for adults and nightlife?

My young adult kids, and my DH and I very much enjoy the adult areas on the DCL ships. I do have to say they often don't go until the wee hours with activities but we usually have something planned pretty early the next day so we don't really plan to stay up until dawn anyway.

That said, I don't think the DCL ships will have the same "party boat" atmosphere that say, Carnival, has. I've only cruised DCL and RCCL, but know tons of folks that have sailed Carnival many times and it surely sounds more "party" centered. But then, that's pretty much hearsay and what I've read so I could be amiss on that.

 

[cmph]

I think it depends partially on the ship but also on the itinerary. For example, we sailed on the 7 nights over NYE (2016-17) on the Wonder. The ship was DOA the last night! DH and I wandered the ship, and marveled at it's emptiness. We caught the tail end of a 3D showing of Rogue One, and I swear the 1/3 full theater had every conscious person in it at midnight - b/c there was no one to be found anywhere else! Fast forward to this June in Alaska on the Wonder, and we bounced from one place to the next with people everywhere. Promenade Lounge was packed with groups of people hanging out, adults-only areas still going strong, late night DJ event hadn't even started b/c the previous show in Azure had run over. Crazy difference, same ship!

 

[DisneyParkFan]

I think it depends partially on the ship but also on the itinerary. For example, we sailed on the 7 nights over NYE (2016-17) on the Wonder. The ship was DOA the last night! DH and I wandered the ship, and marveled at it's emptiness. We caught the tail end of a 3D showing of Rogue One, and I swear the 1/3 full theater had every conscious person in it at midnight - b/c there was no one to be found anywhere else! Fast forward to this June in Alaska on the Wonder, and we bounced from one place to the next with people everywhere. Promenade Lounge was packed with groups of people hanging out, adults-only areas still going strong, late night DJ event hadn't even started b/c the previous show in Azure had run over. Crazy difference, same ship!

I had a similar experience on the Wonder in Alaska back in June 2016. My tablemates and I would decide to go to one of the adult acts in the lounge/club after the 2nd MDR seating.

 

[Pens Fan]

It's funny how the nighttime vibe differs from cruise to cruise. We've been on sailings where the adult areas were pretty much completely dead after 10 PM. Then we've been on some where the adult areas were packed and hopping. I think it seems to vary based on the number of kids on board. The more kids, the less the nightlife. I know that when our son was young, we never spent any time in the adult areas as he wasn't a fan of the kid's clubs. It may be hard to believe, but I never set foot in one of the adult bars until our 3rd cruise (trust me, my friends are rolling their eyes and saying "suuuure you didn't!" ) But it's true!!

So it's really hard to say. One thing I do love about DCL is the dedicated adult areas. But on some cruises they are kind of a waste, while on others they can be a ton of fun. The last DCL cruise we took was in the fall timeframe out of NYC to Canada and there were very few kids on board. The adult areas were packed all day and night. You had to actually plan ahead and go really early to find a seat if you really wanted to go to an adult only activity. I think it just depends on the mix of passengers on board.