What I would do/not do next cruise

[ForMyBoys]

We have our 3rd Disney Cruisecoming up!

What I WILL do:

1. Fly in the night before (first cruise we did not and were super tired the first day)
2. Take disney transportation to the port (second cruise we did not and we missed it- kids love the bus and cartoons and service was excellent). We always rent a car on the way back so we can hit a park or DTD before the plane ride back home.
3. Have early dining (didn't like second dining on second cruise)
4. Try a brunch - didn't get a chance on the prior two- booked Palo for this one
5. Will not miss sail away party (missed it on cruise two since DS was tired and it didn't feel the same- we like the celebration to kick everything off- it makes it feel like the vacation has started)
6. Get formal photos with the captain (missed this on the last two)
7. Get a family formal photo (its tradition!)
8. Visit cove cafe
9. Buy passes ahead of time for rain forest room
10. Bring water, beer, soda with us. (thank you southwest- 2 checked bags free!) I know they give soda/water free but its nice to have cold cans to grab when needed and then we have room for souveniers on the way back.
11. Eat ice cream while watching funnel vision movie at night instead of attending a show we've already seen. Pool is less crowded and its so relaxing.
12. Have a beach day in one of the warmer ports. Castaway Cay is nice, but chilly in Feb.
13. Order breakfast from room service on port days
14. Get lots of character photos
15. Bring magnets for our door (made it fun and easier for the kids to find our room)
16. Get kids to meet and greets the first day (they had more fun second cruise and met more kids when we did that)

What I will NOT do:

1. Palo dinner- I missed eating w/ the family and was disappointed it ran so late that we missed the show that night
2. Visit the arcade- way less impressive than the rest of the ship and felt like something we could do at home
3. Feel tied to Disney excursions- We've had lots of fun on our own and have more flexibility

 

[bcwife76]

We're booked on our second cruise for August 2016.

Would do again:
-Palo Brunch
-trivia games
-mixology class
-order from room service
-Palo dinner
-excursions (never got off the ship on our first cruise)
-movies in the theatre
-ticketed meet n greets
-stand in line for *some* unticketed meet n greets

would not do again:
-cove cafe, over priced and slow service
-bingo

 

[scrappinginontario]

Would do again:
- Palo brunch
- Relax in adult deck area while DD is in clubs. Nothing like looking out over the vast ocean in the middle of Feb when snow is flying at home!
- Early seating for dinner
- Room service, a fun treat
- Allow my DD to stay up crazy late at clubs if she wants to.
- Book afternoon excursions which allows us to....
- Enjoy the pools and AquaDuck on port mornings when it's quieter

Would not do again:
- Bingo, too expensive
- Feel like I 'have' to book an excursion at every port. Sometimes it's just nice to wander or possibly stay on the ship

 

[rubberbootbunny]

I Will:
1. Keep the second sitting for dinner. I love the ability to relax over a tea with my table mates after the meal. (Without having to relocate)
2. Enjoy a glass of wine with a book at sunset (I liked the deck of Meridian) BY MYSELF.
3. Keep allowing my DD to spend as much time in the youth clubs as she wants (as long as I get her for dinner and one pre-selected activity per day).
4. Take in a tasting class. (A group of us from our dis group did it together and we had an amazing time fun, informative, and tasty)

I Will not:
1. Book a 3 or 4 night cruise. My first was a 7 nighter and the other just seemed too short. I never really relaxed.
2. Skip as many shows. I say it every time and still miss most of them.
3. Get nuts about the schedule. It's my vacation too and if I would rather sit and relax with a book on the prominade deck instead of going to a sit down lunch than I should.
4. EVER (not ever- really) wear high heels to a tasting class. Especially in high seas... not my wisest fashion choice. Lol

 

[scrappinginontario]

I Will:

4. Take in a tasting class. (A group of us from our dis group did it together and we had an amazing time fun, informative, and tasty)

Can you please explain what a tasting class is? I'm not a drinker so a mixology class doesn't really work for me but possibly a tasting class would?

Thanks!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Can you please explain what a tasting class is? I'm not a drinker so a mixology class doesn't really work for me but possibly a tasting class would?

Thanks!

A tasting class (for example: beer tasting), will have 4 or 5 different beers for you to sample, with some information supplied by the bartender as to how beer is produced and the different flavors involved.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thanks @PrincessShmoo. I was hoping it might be more of an appetizer or dessert tasting class. Thanks for the info.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thanks @PrincessShmoo. I was hoping it might be more of an appetizer or dessert tasting class. Thanks for the info.

There is a chocolate/liquor tasting that is not just drinks. Sometimes there are "cooking" classes that you may get prepared tastings of whatever is being demonstrated. We had some sort of salmon/toast appetizer class on one of our cruises.

 

[argomANIA]

I would NOT book on one of the smaller ships again. I use a mobility scooter and had a tough time on both the Wonder and Magic. They're not very accessible friendly....Magic is slightly better then the Wonder though

I WILL book on the new class ships again as I've nver had an issue on them

 

[WINTER]

I will never cruise a 3 or 4 night in January again. It was 35 degrees when we set sail from Port. The kids wanted to go in the Ocean at Castaway Cay and of course it was to cold for dh and myself.

Also BINGO, I will not be suckered into playing again! Ha I love bingo but when I saw my bill of $480 for bingo on the cruise I about fell over.

I will sail again, again and again on DCL. We love the ships and the kids love the characters. I will be devestated when they figure it all out and just want to go on the boat to look at the girls! They are only 2 and 4 so I think we have time!

Just curious . . . because I was planning to play BINGO . . . but how did you spend $480?

 

[drnp]

Will do:
- When doing bingo, pay for the electronic cards instead of the paper. It seemed like every winner was doing the electronic ones
- Download DCL app so i always have a navigator handy
- Visit Cove cafe more for the snacks

Won't do:
- As many excursions as in the past. Will enjoy the emptier ship more on port days
- Wait to pay for pictures on ship. We always balk at the shutters prices, but then end up buying some shots onboard.

 

[lds0191]

Will do
1- will get breakfast via room service
2- will do FE again - very fun, kids loved it
3- will pre print stickers for luggage for disembarking- very time saving
4- bring over the door shoe bag for small things.
5- pack way less for everyone
6- read personal navigator more closely as to not miss fun events.

Will not do
1- book shore excersions prior to boarding
2- play bingo
3- forget to bring alarm clock that projects time on ceiling
4- will not bring refillable mugs or my own tea bags ( the ships tea was good)

I agree, the tea is awesome! There is a blackberry flavor that I can not find anywhere on land so I always bring home a few

 

[Iamaplanner]

Will do....
- going to the nightclubs/pubs! It'll be our 4th cruise and we still haven't tried them all
- research the various excursions in advance so we knew what we wanted to do and the best way to do it
- bring an underwater camera. We sure got some awesome pics on the beach and on the Aquaduck
- watch the fireworks!! The kids have always been too tired to stay up that late but not this year!
- dinner at Palo. It feels like a date night for us- no kids, all dressed up, a nice meal. Ah, I'm smiling just thinking about it

May pass on....
- skipping dinner in a MDR to go to Cabanas instead. Wasn't overly impressed with Cabanas for dinner
- doing a FE. Had a decent experience with it but the prep was time consuming and costly enough, and I needed an extra suitcase to bring it all with me (a real pain). Plus I didn't really really enjoy delivering all around the boat.

 

[bethy]

Recently back from first ever cruise. Here are mine:

WILL DO:
- Do the FE again. I had my doubts but my kids looooooooooved it. A major highlight for them.
- Push my 5yo to go to secured programming as much as possible and with no guilt. I get very little downtime in real life and don't really have a good babysitter so this is my chance to relax. Luckily she mostly enjoys going.
- Stickers for disembarkation tags for sure!
- Try Palo - enjoyed the MDR experience but didn't love the food
- Do one excursion - it will be a financial stretch for us but I want to see more of the world
- Skip the shows I've seen before
- Sit around more and relax and do nothing
- Get two rooms, one for the adults and one for the kids
- Main seating - I can't imagine our family eating later
- Order room service coffee the night before to have ready in the room first thing in the morning. Add my Starbucks VIA's to make it drinkable
- Carry on a pack of bottled water - my family did not drink enough water
- Decorate the room, get cool magnets for the door, order a real FE - basically embrace the Disney Cruise culture!

Won't DO:
- Send my kids to Scuttle's Cove - too hot, not enough shade or programming
- Order pics from Shutters - ugh - poor quality, forced to order 8x10's, etc. I will just ask nice people to take pics of us with our phones and happily do the same for others.

 

[Jennifer777]

WILL DO:
1. Order room service every morning. It's so nice having a full pot of coffee to wake up to.
2. Skip more shows and spend that time in the evening using the pool. It's so much more quiet on the top deck after 8pm.
3. Get a cabana (if possible). It's expensive but worth it IMO.
4. Request a private dining table for our family. We really enjoy the opportunity to reconnect as a family and being seated with another family makes that more difficult.
5. Book private excursions. Getting stuck with a crowd on our first cruise meant more waiting around, no flexibility. The private excursions on our second cruise gave us the flexibility to do what we wanted, when we wanted, and it saved us money to boot!
6. Brunch and dinner at Palo!
7. Bring more small bills for tips both in port and on the ship.
8. Get a balcony room. One of my favorite parts of the trip is sitting on our balcony each morning sipping coffee and enjoying a cocktail out there each night. We've seen dolphin, flying fish, other cruise ships off in the distance and we love trying to guess which island we're passing. Won't cruise without a balcony again.
9. Bring alcohol on board to enjoy in our room.
10. Use the navigator app. It was so nice being able to look ahead at the dining menus for the week so we could plan ahead and add nights at Palo.

WON'T DO:
1. Over pack. I brought an entire pharmacy with me and 3/4 of the clothes I brought I didn't wear.
2. Bingo. It was kind of fun and I won a hat and magnet but it was well over $100 for about one hour of entertainment. We definitely felt like it was a poor choice afterwards.
3. Get off the ship in the less desirable ports. I've always felt obligated to get off at each port but I'm actually looking forward to enjoying a quiet ship on our next cruise.
3. Eat breakfast in the MDR the morning we leave the ship. I always feel like we were being rushed off the ship and since we have main seating, we're the first ones off.
4. Go to the sail away and goodbye parties. Been there, done that. I would rather spend that time enjoying our balcony.
5. Over eat...ok, that's a lie. I will totally over eat, but I will try harder next time not to make myself miserable.
6. Underestimate how much we will spend on the ship and not budget for a realistic amount of expenditures. I always tell myself we won't need much and we always spend WAY more than expected. I don't want to pinch pennies on vacation so I will over budget in the future.
7. Go to the movies. Yes, it's cool to see the new releases but it's not that expensive to go to a movie at home. I don't want to waste what little time we get on the ship watching something we could see at home.
8. Live out of our suitcases all week. We will take 30 minutes when we get into our room from now on to unpack and get organized. It makes the rest of the week a lot less stressful.

 

[NC State]

what is cove cafe

 

[NC State]

what is cove cafe

 

[godde8ss]

This is a great post. The reason I am going on a second disney cruise is because of all the things i did NOT do on the first one.

Will do again:
-Palo - but brunch this time
-Shows - but will skip any that we have seen already
-Get tickets for meeting the princesses - my 2 year old LOVED this and there is no way she could wait in the lines
-Meet characters - this time, we will try and pay more attention to the navigator
-Fish extenders - this was slightly stressful due to my lack of planning, but the experience was awesome
-Mixology
-Enjoy the adult district
-DRESS UP. i do not care if others don't, but I will always dress up for formal nights on cruises - those are some of my best memories
-let my son enjoy the kids club for extended time

Will do but did not get to the first time:
-Fireworks - we were all too tired
-GET MORE REST PRIOR to the trip - i spent so much time fretting over the FE and packing and organizing the kid's things that I was EXHAUSTED on the cruise. I fell asleep early twice on our 5 night cruise, which is not like me, and feel it shortened my vacation
-Take family pictures, take more pictures, and remember to go to Shutters at some point during the cruise (not disembarkation morning!)
-Tastings
-see the show at animator's palate
-see all of the shows
-enjoy the adult areas
-attend captain's party
-see a movie
-get in the pool and watch something on Funnel Vision
- bikes/kayaks on Castaway Cay
- book a cruise on board - completely forgot!

Will not do again:
- FALL asleep early! LOL as stated above
-work on my FE a few days prior to sailing
-feel obligated to eat in MDR every night
-let my children go all day without resting - my 5 year old no longer naps, but if i would have had him take more "rest time" in the cabin, we could have avoided alot of melt downs and early bed times
- book a 5 night cruise - it was too short and i felt like i missed so much
- get off the ship in Grand Cayman: Disney's tendering process is convoluted and there is not much to do there. I would rather have another sea day
- probably would not do the rainforest at Senses again. it was really nice, but too pricey for basically enjoying a sauna and steam room

 

[PrincessShmoo]

what is cove cafe

The small coffee bar/cafe in the adult only pool area.

 

[NC State]

The small coffee bar/cafe in the adult only pool area.

Remind me what is free and what is a charge in there.