Our Disney Dream 2015
For Kassidy's 4th birthday this year we decided to go on a Disney Cruise. From what we have heard, there is no experience quite like it. My mom and I had both been on cruises but they say you haven't cruised until you've gone Disney.
Kassidy had the time of her life, it is definitely a vacation geared towards children. They had us at "hello." The service is immaculate.
Here's our insight based off of our experience. It's a little long, but I tried to be as thorough as possible. I am going to split it up into parts.
I bring you, part one:
PLAN
Research
Go to Disney Cruise Line and explore their website. Check out all of the options, what's appealing to you and your family? Where do you want to go? What's your budget? How long to you plan to be away? Also check Pinterest. I research EVERYTHING on Pinterest. It has tons of links to websites and other blogs.
Ask people you know. Do you know someone else that has been on a Disney Cruise? Get the rundown from them as well.
Budget
Go through the motions of booking the cruise and proceed to checkout until it is time to enter payment information. Make note of how much the trip will cost.
Set a date, even if it's 18 months out. With a date in mind, it will give you a visual and something to look forward to.
SAVE, SAVE, SAVE! Cut out unnecessary purchases and save a certain amount every paycheck.
TRANSPORTATION
Drive to the closest port
We live in Gainesville, Florida, so for us it just made sense for us to drive 2 1/2 hours to Port Canaveral. For those of you who do not live in the state of Florida, research the nearest Port or book a cruise that leaves from the port closest to you. Airfare for a family can be steep.
We suggest prepaid parking ($70). It's a nice covered and gated parking garage. Very convenient process. Carry your own bags, keep the tip.
BEFORE YOU LEAVE
It never hurts to over pack, but with little luggage. You don't need the whole house. Roll your clothing. It's better to be over prepared, than to have forgotten something.
Set up a call from a Disney Character before the cruise. After the cruise is booked and paid for, it can be set up online, choose the character, date, and time. We arranged for them to call Kassidy the morning of.
CHECK IN
Get there at least 1 hour before the ship begins boarding. The lines are long and full of anxious people.
What you'll need
Photo ID for all individuals 18 and up
Birth certificates/passports
Immunization verification (blue slip) for everyone under 18
Print out the health questionnaire from the website and have it completed at check out, it'll save you a little time.
Register the kids for Activities!
Kassidy LOVED the Oceaneer Club. She actually preferred to be there over being with us. They will give all registered children a wrist band and it gives them full access to child care services on the ship.
MEALS
Dinner was in a different restaurant every night (Animator's Palette was our favorite). Also, every night you are provided with a new selection of starters, entrees, and desserts to choose from...yum. Choose something different every night, expand your taste buds.
For you picky eaters, if it's not listed on the menu, you can request just about anything (i.e. burgers, chicken fingers, fries).If you aren't interested in a sit-down dinner, that's fine too. There is always a faster food option or buffet open, always. Did I mention that room service was free and available 24 hours?
ONCE ABOARD
Character pictures
Find the guest services desk and make appointments to take pictures with your favorite characters. Once on the ship you may see characters walking about, but they may not have the time for photo ops.
Buying pictures on the ship is EXPENSIVE! When taking character pictures, you are allowed to take photos with your personal camera or phone.
Shows
One of the reasons that makes the Disney Cruise unique are the theater like shows on board. We caught all 3 and really enjoyed it. That is the closest to a Broadway experience that we had ever been. There was the 'Golden Mickeys, Villians,'and Disney Magic.
There is also a movie theater on board that shows popular Disney Movies.
Some nights they show movies on the deck, relax on a pool chair and catch a flick.
CONS
No free Wifi! In my opinion, for the significant price of the cruise, wifi should be available gratis. Maybe it's just me. While I understand it encourages people to stay off of their electronics and engage one another, it also hinders people from sharing photos in live time. And for those iPhone users, the wifi would allow us to make/receive phone calls and reduce international fees.
Also, cable was minimal! Again, this is probably to promote interaction but during sea days (days where the ship is in route to the next destination) we preferred to relax in the room. Disney owns a host of channels (Disney, ESPN, HLN...), not to mention tons of movies, so the programming in the staterooms should be more extensive. ESPN and HLN were the only channels appealing to adults. HLN looped the same programming all day, I had heard all I wanted to hear about the daily share. Lucky for us, we were able to watch Forensic Files (my mom and I love that show.) The cartoon channels played the same 5 shorts, the entire cruise
As mentioned above, the Oceaneer Club is full of planned activities for the children, which did not leave much for the adults to do.
There are children all over the place! Some people do not have a tight reign on their children.
WHAT WE LEARNED FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
So, that 5 days/4 nights was a little too long. The days that we were on the ship the entire day really dragged. Next time, we will either do a 3 day cruise, or a long cruise that has a new destination every day.
Apparently, every Disney Cruise has pirate night. We didn't get the memo. So, bring costumes and join the fun. They gave us bandanas but I have to admit, we were sorry excuses for pirates. The prices for pirate costumes on board are RIDICULOUS. Save yourself the time and money and pack them.
This concludes this post. Stay tuned for more information. If you have any questions, contact us on our social networks and we will cover it on the next post.
I hope this helps.