Disney Dream Cruise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really want to try a cruise but hate sharing a hotel room with my kids. I still want them in bed at 8, even on vacation or we will all pay the next day. How can I accomplish this on a cruise? DH says it's not possible which is why we haven't done it yet.

The Disney cruise has this cool curtain that separates the room-- it's like having two rooms. And the other room has bunk beds (and some have a third bed too).

What does something like this cost? We've never been on a cruise before.

[Anonymous]

We just booked this for next summer. Any tips? Worth it to rent a cabana on Disney's island?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really want to try a cruise but hate sharing a hotel room with my kids. I still want them in bed at 8, even on vacation or we will all pay the next day. How can I accomplish this on a cruise? DH says it's not possible which is why we haven't done it yet.

The Disney cruise has this cool curtain that separates the room-- it's like having two rooms. And the other room has bunk beds (and some have a third bed too).

What does something like this cost? We've never been on a cruise before.

Every room has this feature. It isn't something you pay extra for. Basically the rooms sort of have 3 areas. There is the entry way right when you enter the room, the closet, bathroom, and shower are there. Then there is an area with a queen bed, where the adults sleep. Then there is the area with a couch, table, TV and the dressers and such. At night, the couch folds out into a bed, and there is a bed that folds out of the ceiling above the couch, sort of like bunkbeds, except the bottom bunch is a couch bed. In larger rooms, there is another murphy bed that folds out of the wall as well so 3 kids can sleep.

There is a curtain that can be pulled between the adult bed area and the couch/kids bed area. We always pull the curtain after the kids are asleep and then hang out in our section of the room or on the balcony. Sometimes we take turns going out and doing stuff on the ship while the other parent watches the kids. A few times we have traveled with my parents and gotten adjoining rooms. This is the best because my parents will watch the kids at night while my wife and I go out and do stuff on the ship. They just leave the door cracked between the two rooms in case one of the kids wakes up or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just booked this for next summer. Any tips? Worth it to rent a cabana on Disney's island?

The way bookings work on Disney is based on status. If you have done maybe 10+ Disney cruises, you are platinum status, 5+ is gold, 1+ is silver. The platinum people get to book stuff like cabanas first, then gold, then silver. I don't think the cabanas are worth it or necessary at all, but they are popular so they usually book up quickly by the higher status cruisers. If this is your first Disney cruise, there probably won't be any left to book by the time your booking window opens.

There are plenty of beach chairs and umbrellas that don't require reservations at Castaway Caye. You don't have to worry about having a place to sit.

[Anonymous]

We've had two days on the island --one with a cabana, one without. Both days were great. The day with the cabana was split among the 14 members of our family, and it was fantastic to have that time together. But we had almost a good a time when we just hung out on the island.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking about doing a 3 or 4 night Bahamas cruise. Kids will be 3 and 5 when we go. Do you recommend the 3 or 4 night option? It is so expensive that I'm leaning toward 4 nights (my thinking is that if we are going to spend that much, we might as well get as much vacation time as possible).

I was also wondering if we would be better off waiting a year, until the kids are 4 and 6. . . I'm overthinking it right?

Having taken several of these cruises with kids at these and varying ages, I would wait a year, and if you can swing it, do the longer, week-long cruise on the Fantasy or Magic.

[Anonymous]

We hated it and thought that they should have paid us to get on that ship. Food was average or ok.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I did that cruise op plus several of the longer ones. It was great! Kids love it. Food was good and they got the kids what they wanted to eat even if it wasn't on the menu.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We hated it and thought that they should have paid us to get on that ship. Food was average or ok.

Every party has a pooper!

This person is an outlier, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We hated it and thought that they should have paid us to get on that ship. Food was average or ok.

Every party has a pooper!

This person is an outlier, OP.

I love Disney cruises and have been on 6 so far, but I agree that the food in the main dinning rooms is poor to average. It has gotten worse over the years, often you will get a main course that is pretty much disgusting or inedible. The servers will exchange the meals for you if you don't like your food, but dinner isn't really a highlight. I consistently rate the food 1 star on the feedback cards and add extra comments about this, it doesn't seem to help. If you complain the servers are quick to bring you another meal, though, but still for the money you pay for a Disney cruise, the food should be much better than it is.

[Anonymous]

i just booked a first cruise on the disney magic for spring break!

the most helpful info i've found in planning/making decisions is through a disney cruise facebook group. the disney cruise official website is not super informative or easy to navigate, imho.

the disney dream just got upgraded to include a new star wars area in the kids' club. and the magic has a marvel avengers academy area right now. i have a little boy who is going to love it.

it is costing us an arm and a leg so he better dang well love it...