Disney cruise, yay or nay?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
They haven't been on one, they're just snobs who look down on Disney and cruises in general, is my guess. |
Anonymous
| YAY for sure. Best vacation we've ever done! |
Anonymous
| My husband and I are cynical, intellectual snobs and we hate Disney. We've been on two cruises with Disney and loved it because it kept our daughter entertained and excited for a week and gave us a chance to relax on our own. That being said I don't know why anyone without children would go and I think it's best suited for kids between 3 - 10. |
Anonymous
|
Hi Everyone, we just started doing research on a possible Disney Cruise vacation and I have a quick question: Do you end paying for a lot of stuff that is not included in the fare? I gather all meals are included and all the entertainment but not alcohol, gratuities or spa treatments and such right? Anything more I should add to the list of extras?
Thanks! |
Anonymous
| On most cruises, any excursions ashore where you go to do something cost extra. They can add up too. I think most cruises allow you to pre-book them. You can always just stay on the ship in port or walk around the town for free. |
Anonymous
| Thanks PP. Anyone has experience with those costs. I haven't been able to find info on the website. |
Anonymous
| We did the four night Dream cruise with a four year old and a seven year old. We had done two previous Royal Caribbean cruises without the kids. Our kids picked and choosed what they wanted to do in the kids club-- you get a daily schedule and we would make suggestions to them. Our seven year old loved the science experiments (went three times) and the four year old loved the character activities...she did one with Tinkerbelle and one with Captain Hook. She also loved creating fairies with different outfits on the computers. The seven year old played on the computers some, and played some kickball games. We went to one show at night and one matinee, and skipped with more evil one because. We spent VERY little money besides the 2000$ for the cruise (I know prices have gone way up since we booked it 1 1/2 years ago). We did not do an excursion on Nassau . The best there for small kids would be the swim with stingrays which is around 50$ a person I think. We just stayed onboard since everything is open that day, including the kids club. At Castaway Cay there is no kids club onboard since there is on the island, though I barely saw any kids using it. We sat and enjoyed the beach, waterslides, and food. No one is pushing drinks there, though I have to say if someone had come by with a fruity concoction I would have bought one! Royal Caribbean pushes the alcohol way more than Disney, which I generally don't care for as I am not a big drinker. I digress...the only money we spent on the private island was a ridiculous 18$ on sand toys ( take a few of your own!) and 12$ on bikes for two people plus the four year old on the back of one of them. No need for excursions with small kids! We did not even get to the movie theatre on board though the kids would sit in the pool and watch Peter pan on a huge screen. Very few adults in the pools....mostly on e edge. It was too loud for my parents to sit at the pools for long so they would go in the adult area. I am not into Disney at all, so the cruise was my compromise and I thought it was fantastic. The rooms are thoughtful for families with a curtain and a little bigger in size. We had an outside deluxe room, no balcony, and it was perfect. We also did one day at Disney and spent no time doing character stuff at all since we had seen tons of characters on the ships. HTH! |
Anonymous
| Thanks so much PP. That was extremely helpful! |
Anonymous
| We just came back from a Disney cruise with two elementary aged children. If you are thinking of going, then go. The kids had a terrific time, which means we had a terrific time. |
Anonymous
If the cruise excursion is using a private company or site, then call the company or site and see about making arrangements privately. While in Cozumel, the Royal Discovery dolphin swim was sold out on ship. When I called Royal Discovery directly (they had an 800 number so I was not charged for an international call), they had a better package (included more) that cost less than the package on the ship. Even when I added the taxi ride there and back, it came out to only about $2/person more. When we were in St. Lucia, I had the same problem with a zip-lining excursion. I called the company and paid less for the same package as on board. It was more expensive because I had to pay $35/pp for a cab, (which made the cost about $20/pp more) but we ended up in a private air-conditioned minivan that seats 8 (just the 2 of us) for an hour ride each way. Our cab waited for us to take us back. The cruise excursion rode in two large vans (16 pp each) that was unairconditioned, only had a couple of small windows. We talked to several fellow passengers on our ship and they said the ride was miserable and that it definitely affected their enjoyment of the excursion. Now, I look on-line for private versions of the excursions before booking the more expensive ones on ship. The only caveat is that you want to make sure that you are back in plenty of time for departure. If you are on a ship-board excursion and it runs late, the ship will wait. If you book your own and you are late, the ship will sail and you have to find your own way to the next port of call. I always make sure that we're scheduled to be back at least 2 hours before sail away. |
Anonymous
We spent approx an additional $500 not including gratuities (Grandad picked up the gratuities for the whole family - yea Grandad!) We did one shore excursion (dolphin encounter) and one spa treatment, and the rest was just extras here and there (a smoothie is extra, popcorn at the movies is extra, etc.) |
Anonymous
| we just got back-went for Spring Break on the Dream. Doubt we will go again. Maybe it was the time of year but it was too crowded-at sea day you couldn't even get close to the pool much less find a seat near it. For the amount of money we spent, there should have been more space at the pool. The adult pools were all empty...the kids "pools" were tiny and no way could accommodate the amount of people on board. The food was ok at best-cappuccino, lattes etc were all extra-the fact that popcorn was extra at the movies was ridiculous. My oldest is 8 and didn't like the kids club-he isn't quite a tween but too old for the kids in the club-my other two-4 and 6 liked it. On the positive side-the ship was very clean, they had hand wipes available everywhere, the staff was fantastic. We went to Atlantis as an excursion and on the private island glass bottom boat-terrible and supposed to go parasailing but it got canceled. I should mention that I have taken several cruises on various lines and there is nothing special about this ship-the food was definitely worse. I have three boys who don't care about all the princess stuff going on on the ship but I imagine if we had girls they would have liked it more. While I am not a fan of cruises my husband is and I would not go on a Disney ship again. |
Anonymous
This. It's my personal nightmare. |
Anonymous
Thank you two very much for adding nothing to this discussion, and exposing yourselves as the smug self-satisfied grouches that you are to the discussion at large. |
Anonymous
It's my personal nightmare too. |