I have been on 2 Disney cruises - one in early May when school was in session and one during Thanksgiving break. There were definitely more older kids on the Thanksgiving cruise while the May cruise had very few elementary aged children.

I did not feel the boat was overly crowded. I thought did an excellent job keeping the crowds spread out on the ship. Like they would have jedi training or a new movie playing during peak pool time. Lines for aquaduct could get to be 30 min but that was the only thing we really needed to wait in line for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here, what do most people with kids (ex a family of 4) do about rooms? Do they get adjoining rooms or does everyone sleep in the family cabins? If you roomed together, do the cabins feel cramped?

We got a balcony room for three and it was a nice size. There was a queen bed, pull down and a couch that converts into a bed. But, I'm cheap I'd never do two rooms and we often put as many people as we can (i.e. grandparents) in one room as we all are fine with it. Some rooms can have 5. You aren't in your room much. We had two bathrooms - one with a sink and shower and one with a sink and toilet. It really expensive (we went only because of a discount).

Thanks pp! We went on a couple of cruises pre-kids and enjoyed them. We always figured we'd get 2 adjoining rooms when we had kids but wow DCL prices are no joke!

As far as not spending much time in the room, these days we really appreciate the occasional peace and quiet. Is it possible to find that on the ship or is it party all day? Wondering if this isn't the right vacation for us at this stage....

We found plenty of quiet areas. If you stay away from the pools and eat in the sit down restaurants for breakfast and lunch, its fine (most eat the buffet). Our room was very comfortable. I loved the balcony but it wasn't an expensive upgrade for us or I wouldn't have done it. There is no need for two rooms. The balcony room we had, had a curtain between the bed and couch/bunk area for some privacy. Or, you sit on the balcony when the weather was nice. Room service was great. Its not a party all day. We walked through a few bars and saw only a few people in each. We didn't go to any of the bigger parties so I can't speak to those as we are not into crowds and we could see the fireworks from our stateroom. I rarely saw anyone drunk and most didn't even see that many drinking at meals either. If its your first cruise with kids and kids are under 8, it is worth it to do once (assuming they like Disney). If they are older, I'd find something more teen friendly. We went at an off time so it was mainly elementary school and younger. Our kids have no interest in Disney characters so for us, another cruise line would have accomplished the same thing for us. We did really like Castaway Cay and would go for that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is interesting because in real life, all I ever hear about are raves about Disney cruises.

Question: is it worth getting the cabana on Castaway Cay? They're $600 for a couple hours.

We've been to Castaway Cay twice and never felt like we needed a cabana. We always leave the boat when you can get off and have no trouble finding chairs close to the water. Between bouncing to all the activities on the island and in the water I feel like it would be hard to get your moneys worth unless you just stayed there all day. Maybe if you are a large group it would be more worth it.

We have also never experienced all the negative comments people have made above. Our two Disney cruises have been our best vacations since having kids. Everyone has a total blast and we're contemplating a third.

Unless you book a concierge room (or are Platinum Castaway Club member - 10+ cruises) you aren't getting one anyway.

I know people on our cruise who got one but they booked their cruise and scheduled it very early (we did last minute so not many choices).

Anonymous wrote:This thread is interesting because in real life, all I ever hear about are raves about Disney cruises.

Question: is it worth getting the cabana on Castaway Cay? They're $600 for a couple hours.

No, only some sections were very crowded and even then it wasn't bad. I couldn't see the need for one. Food was plentiful and nearby. It was very clean and nice. I'm not a beach person and even I enjoyed it. It is worth doing the sting rays.

+1 on going 'off-season'.
Avoid spring break and the other obvious crowded times and you'll be fine.
Went three times and enjoyed it. But the pool area has always been crowded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is interesting because in real life, all I ever hear about are raves about Disney cruises.

Question: is it worth getting the cabana on Castaway Cay? They're $600 for a couple hours.

We've been to Castaway Cay twice and never felt like we needed a cabana. We always leave the boat when you can get off and have no trouble finding chairs close to the water. Between bouncing to all the activities on the island and in the water I feel like it would be hard to get your moneys worth unless you just stayed there all day. Maybe if you are a large group it would be more worth it.

We have also never experienced all the negative comments people have made above. Our two Disney cruises have been our best vacations since having kids. Everyone has a total blast and we're contemplating a third.

Unless you book a concierge room (or are Platinum Castaway Club member - 10+ cruises) you aren't getting one anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here, what do most people with kids (ex a family of 4) do about rooms? Do they get adjoining rooms or does everyone sleep in the family cabins? If you roomed together, do the cabins feel cramped?

We got a balcony room for three and it was a nice size. There was a queen bed, pull down and a couch that converts into a bed. But, I'm cheap I'd never do two rooms and we often put as many people as we can (i.e. grandparents) in one room as we all are fine with it. Some rooms can have 5. You aren't in your room much. We had two bathrooms - one with a sink and shower and one with a sink and toilet. It really expensive (we went only because of a discount).

Thanks pp! We went on a couple of cruises pre-kids and enjoyed them. We always figured we'd get 2 adjoining rooms when we had kids but wow DCL prices are no joke!

As far as not spending much time in the room, these days we really appreciate the occasional peace and quiet. Is it possible to find that on the ship or is it party all day? Wondering if this isn't the right vacation for us at this stage....

It's definitely possible to find quiet places. There's an adult-only deck area and there are a bunch of lounge-type areas that we've always found deserted. But it is a shop full of kids. So while it's not a non-stop party like Carnival, it's noisy and boisterous. There's always a movie on the mail deck so that's not a quiet area. But the best part of the cruise is the kids club-- ours love to be in it so we get lots of time to ourselves!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here, what do most people with kids (ex a family of 4) do about rooms? Do they get adjoining rooms or does everyone sleep in the family cabins? If you roomed together, do the cabins feel cramped?

We got a balcony room for three and it was a nice size. There was a queen bed, pull down and a couch that converts into a bed. But, I'm cheap I'd never do two rooms and we often put as many people as we can (i.e. grandparents) in one room as we all are fine with it. Some rooms can have 5. You aren't in your room much. We had two bathrooms - one with a sink and shower and one with a sink and toilet. It really expensive (we went only because of a discount).

Thanks pp! We went on a couple of cruises pre-kids and enjoyed them. We always figured we'd get 2 adjoining rooms when we had kids but wow DCL prices are no joke!

As far as not spending much time in the room, these days we really appreciate the occasional peace and quiet. Is it possible to find that on the ship or is it party all day? Wondering if this isn't the right vacation for us at this stage....

Anonymous wrote:This thread is interesting because in real life, all I ever hear about are raves about Disney cruises.

Question: is it worth getting the cabana on Castaway Cay? They're $600 for a couple hours.

We've been to Castaway Cay twice and never felt like we needed a cabana. We always leave the boat when you can get off and have no trouble finding chairs close to the water. Between bouncing to all the activities on the island and in the water I feel like it would be hard to get your moneys worth unless you just stayed there all day. Maybe if you are a large group it would be more worth it.

We have also never experienced all the negative comments people have made above. Our two Disney cruises have been our best vacations since having kids. Everyone has a total blast and we're contemplating a third.

Anonymous wrote:This thread is interesting because in real life, all I ever hear about are raves about Disney cruises.

Question: is it worth getting the cabana on Castaway Cay? They're $600 for a couple hours.

We did one when we traveled with 14 family members. It was nice to have a place where we could all hang out and it worked out to about $100/person, which was our only "excursion" of the trip. But if it's just a small family I wouldn't bother. There's plenty of room on the beach and you don't need the cabana.

As for raves -- we had a great time on the cruise. Stick to the smaller ships, try to go off-season and you'll have a blast.

This thread is interesting because in real life, all I ever hear about are raves about Disney cruises.

Question: is it worth getting the cabana on Castaway Cay? They're $600 for a couple hours.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those who have done a Disney cruise, did you find it extremely crowded? Would love to know where and when you went, too, if possible. Thanks in advance!

Disney Magic Feb 2015, 7 night Western Caribbean. It was not crowded. I much preferred the cruise to Disney World. It was a better experience than I expected.

The cruise was much better than Disney. Our children like both but I think if we made them pick one they would choose a cruise.

Anonymous wrote:I've never read such negative comments about a Disney cruise. There is usually one Negative Nancy on cruise ship threads, but this one has several. We are booked on our first Disney cruise in April. I'm looking forward to it ... I think.

We had a nice trip but it was overcrowded and the staff, especially waiters catered to the demanding families or the ones who were ignoring their kids, so it sucked if you were not demanding and your kids behaved. They'd be so focused on calming the kids so the parents could eat, they'd ignore other tables. The pools were very crowded and I would think a safety issue as if there was a drowning, you couldn't see it as it was more people than water. I think a lot of parents go so they can defer their parenting to the staff and the behavior of the kids showed. If your kid isn't into Disney there are plenty of similar lower cost ships. Its worth doing once. The room was really nice and large, which was a bonus but you are paying a premium for the Disney characters which is great if you child is a Disney fan, but ours are not despite us trying hard. I would consider another one but would probably look at other options, which I didn't do when we went to this as everyone raves about Disney. I had much higher expectations, especially with the kids club (staff were great, set up was not) and for us, the kids club appeal is no longer there as ours didn't want to spend more than an hour at a time in there. I'm glad I did it once. We'd do a cruise again, probably sooner than later as we did enjoy it, just not sure about Disney.

Anonymous wrote:For those who have done a Disney cruise, did you find it extremely crowded? Would love to know where and when you went, too, if possible. Thanks in advance!

Disney Magic Feb 2015, 7 night Western Caribbean. It was not crowded. I much preferred the cruise to Disney World. It was a better experience than I expected.

Anonymous wrote:I've never read such negative comments about a Disney cruise. There is usually one Negative Nancy on cruise ship threads, but this one has several. We are booked on our first Disney cruise in April. I'm looking forward to it ... I think.

I agree. I think this thread is full of high-maintenance wacko killjoys.

We went with DD when she was 5 and when she was 11. We had a fabulous time both times, and DD continues to talk about the cruises to this day.

You and your family will definitely enjoy yourselves.