Disney Cruise for Spring Break- I hate cruises

[Anonymous]

Sounds awful. Get some strong meds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any way one child would be willing to stay home with you, preferably the child most likely to end up falling off a balcony? Would that make things easier and safer for DH to go without you? Perhaps you could plan some special staycation outing for the kid who stays.

Nooo don’t deprive that poor child of an amazing experience because you have anxiety!

I would go- and in the meantime work with a therapist

This is so spot on. A good therapist will give you a non-judgmental space to process your fears. Then you can work together on concrete ways to manage anxiety about the cruise.

[Anonymous]

I think it it’s fine if you skip it given your phobia, but it would be really sh*tty if you to not allow your kids to go with their FATHER.

[Anonymous]

You need anxiety meds. If you are in them, talk to your doctor about increasing the dose.

If you don’t go on this vacation, you have to let your husband do it without you. They will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Meds and therapy. Call someone today to get on the waitlist if you have to. I would absolutely take the kids on a Disney cruise with the cousins even if I was anxious about it. Please don't let your anxiety hinder your kids' life.

[Anonymous]

I’m with you, OP. I have no interest in cruises and have general anxieties and phobias surrounding them, though not based on personal experience. But, Disney is known for providing a very good cruise experience. If it were me, I would suck it up and go out of a sense of obligation. There’s zero chance I would let my distractible husband and his family members watch my kids on a cruise.

[Anonymous]

Did you get seasick? Get meds from a doc. Did you think it was claustrophobic? DCL ships have great deck areas. They have awesome kid programs and you may find that the kids spend most of the time in there. Treat yourself to a spa program! This is a great opportunity to learn the upside of cruising. I have been on almost 20 cruises.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP - First I also suffer from generalized anxiety so I completely empathize. I understand how you might be fixated on the cruise over the next 3.5 months negatively affecting your day-to-day. I like the suggestions about therapy/meds if they are an option.

For me, it helps my anxiety to feel reassured so I want to highlight our positive experiences. I've been on 3 Disney cruises. We've been on that many because my kids have a blast. I think seeing your kids light up again and again throughout the cruise might help your anxiety. In particular my kids love meeting the characters and bumping into them in the hallway. Playing in the pools and meeting friends there. Having the opportunity to eat ice cream 24/7. Looking forward to closing out each night with a Disney show in the theater. The kids clubs are also really cool and provide a nice break for parents if you need it.

I've also felt very safe on a Disney cruise and they are very accommodating to special needs. A positive customer experience seems to be the core of their business model.

I hope this helps! Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What ship did you get sick on, and where?

Carnival. 3 days to Cozumel leaving from Orlando.

This cruise leaves from Orlando as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any way one child would be willing to stay home with you, preferably the child most likely to end up falling off a balcony? Would that make things easier and safer for DH to go without you? Perhaps you could plan some special staycation outing for the kid who stays.

Nooo don’t deprive that poor child of an amazing experience because you have anxiety!

I would go- and in the meantime work with a therapist

This is so spot on. A good therapist will give you a non-judgmental space to process your fears. Then you can work together on concrete ways to manage anxiety about the cruise.

I think I’m going to talk to my therapist with the very specific goal of overcoming this fear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m with you, OP. I have no interest in cruises and have general anxieties and phobias surrounding them, though not based on personal experience. But, Disney is known for providing a very good cruise experience. If it were me, I would suck it up and go out of a sense of obligation. There’s zero chance I would let my distractible husband and his family members watch my kids on a cruise.

I totally trust my husband but our kids are young and hard. His sister has six kids (4 to age 9) so I feel like 9 kids against 6 adults is much preferable to 9 kids against 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be the same way. FWIW, a Disney cruise is probably going to be the best cruise option out there. If I was going to go on a cruise (ugh) it would be a Disney cruise.

+1 except for the (ugh) part
They are awesome!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you get seasick? Get meds from a doc. Did you think it was claustrophobic? DCL ships have great deck areas. They have awesome kid programs and you may find that the kids spend most of the time in there. Treat yourself to a spa program! This is a great opportunity to learn the upside of cruising. I have been on almost 20 cruises.

I got seasick from day 1. The cruise ship was old and one of the stabilizers broke and it was so choppy even seasoned cruisers were struggling. I also felt very trapped and things felt dirty. Then on the last day I ended up with what was later diagnosed as e. Coli. It was AWFUL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi OP - First I also suffer from generalized anxiety so I completely empathize. I understand how you might be fixated on the cruise over the next 3.5 months negatively affecting your day-to-day. I like the suggestions about therapy/meds if they are an option.

For me, it helps my anxiety to feel reassured so I want to highlight our positive experiences. I've been on 3 Disney cruises. We've been on that many because my kids have a blast. I think seeing your kids light up again and again throughout the cruise might help your anxiety. In particular my kids love meeting the characters and bumping into them in the hallway. Playing in the pools and meeting friends there. Having the opportunity to eat ice cream 24/7. Looking forward to closing out each night with a Disney show in the theater. The kids clubs are also really cool and provide a nice break for parents if you need it.

I've also felt very safe on a Disney cruise and they are very accommodating to special needs. A positive customer experience seems to be the core of their business model.

I hope this helps! Good luck!

Thank you for this. I think my first experience was especially bad and I’ve heard Disney Cruises are much better than Carnival. I do want to go, in that I want to have fun with my family but this anxiety is really taking over. I’m on medication for anxiety and feel silly upping my dose for a one week event months away but I’ll talk to my therapist about it.

[Anonymous]

Disney is much much better than Carnival and departing from Cape Canaveral is usually very smooth sailing. I'm not sure how many years its been since your Carnival experience, but stabilizers on cruise ships have gotten much better. Carnival is the worst of the bunch, and Disney is the best of them in terms of experience, so try to keep an open mind. I've been on four Disney cruises and not heard or seen of people getting seasick (though you do occassionally see motion bands on wrists). I recommend therapy for anxiety, Disboards if you want reassurances about your ship/itinerary, and if all else fails I would feel safe sending kids with DH because the kids programming is really top notch so its all a very relaxing experience for adults, too. The only negative I'll say is that the bigger Disney ships (Dream and Fantasy in particular) can feel crowded so if that's an issue avoid the deck parties and buffet. The Wish felt less crowded to me.