Asking for top tips for Disney cruising.

[DisneyDoolally]

Going on a Disney cruise soon and very excited. Has anybody got any top tips/ best bits to share with me that will get me even more excited (if that’s possible!)?

On embarkation day you might not get all of your luggage until evening so
take a carry-on bag with everything you’ll need between boarding the ship and dinner. If you want to swim you will obviously need all your swim stuff.
If you want to change your seating or your restaurant rotation, do that as soon as you embark. Just go to Guest Services and they can point you in the right direction.
Don’t rush to dinner. If you show up five minutes after they begin seating you’ll walk right in. If you show up early you’ll just have to wait!
On most ships, there are some small snacks available most of the day. In the adult coffee bar, there have generally been free mini-desserts available during the day, and little antipasto nibbles during the evening, but we didn’t see them on the Wish.
You can pre-book popular character meet and greets before you get onboard. For our most recent cruise, I was able to reserve tickets for the Princess Gathering and the Frozen Meet and Greet on the day I checked in. If you don't book online or they are gone, don't worry as they usually put aside a few reservations to be booked once you arrive. These will be gobbled up fast so make sure this is the first thing you do once you get on.

This is really useful, thank you! Did you have a good time?!

Yes yes yes! What do you want to know? Been on 4, going again in 4 weeks time and so excited!

Try and get first dining option too. The early dining slot allows you to have dinner at 6.15 then get to the 8.30 shows (which are amazing).
Don't bother with the Disney excursions. They are expensive and often crowded. Its very easy to pick up a taxi at the ports and do your own thing or use a local trip organiser.

OP can I ask which Disney cruise you are going on please as I was thinking of one for my family?

Ah, but the advantage of the later dinner is that you get a later breakfast on debarkation day (8am) and you watch the shows before dinner!

I agree about the Port Adventures, don't bother unless there's something particular you have to do.

Ooh, I'm now considering one of these for December time. What's the cost people are looking at?

OP, I hope you have an AMAZING holiday!

@BecauseICan22 we've paid about £4.5k for four for a week.

For those considering it, they do the usual USA departures, and Alaska trips, but they also do European and if you don't want to fly, they sail from Dover, although next year it will be Southampton (the Disney Dream is coming over next year instead of the Magic).

I love cruising and keep longingly looking at disney cruises. What are the kids clubs like? Our 5 year old loves the kids clubs but loves coming home with loads of momentoes of stuff she has made in the kids clubs. Is that the type of stuff they do?

We have done princess, p&o and oyal caribbean.

My youngest was 12 the first time we went, and had the choice of going in the 3-12 club or the 12-14 club, and was able to switch between them. They did all sorts of activities, mine like arts and crafts and did loads of that, others were doing sports or games. As they got older they made a music video over the course of a few days, and activities like smoothie making and late night films. I don't know how it is post Covid, but pre they could go in as often and for as long as they want.

We've done a couple of Disney cruises pre-covid. Med and Italian islands which was a week and about £7,000 and then Med and Greek islands for 12 nights which was £10,000. Both in August due to school hols and both departing from Barcelona so had to pay for flights as well. Disney cruise line is certainly one of the more expensive cruise lines but when the kids were smaller 5-13, it is magical.
Our boys loved it as they had an avengers academy where they could meet people who worked on the movies, got to see and hold costumes and props such as Thors hammer! We would spend mornings /early afternoon sightseeing and then back to the ship at 2ish for a late lunch, swim or read whilst the kids went to the academy for a couple of hours.

Pack refillable water bottles as there are dispensers and dont forget they will add gratuities to your credit card at the end of the cruise, which is fine, but can come as a shock if you are not expecting it.
You may prefer to take dollars and ask for gratuity envelopes so you can tip staff personally.

Ah thanks so much for all the feedback! Not too sure how to reply to everyone individually. We did change to the main seating from the later one as we thought the late may be too late for the children- probably easier for them to sit and watch a show when tired rather than eat.

Interesting about excursions- we’re doing a Northern Europe one and most of the excursions seem to be walking tours which may be a bit much for our young children so mainly plan to get off and take it at our own pace with a couple of some of the less intense excursions booked.

I’m looking forward to seeing what the kids clubs are like. Has anyone been recently? What is it like for mask-wearing- particularly the kids’ clubs for unvaccinated children?

As far as I am aware disney do not let unvaccinated children aboard. It may have changed since Iast looked but all over 5s must be fully vaccinated. Unless your kids are all under 5 which means your all ok.

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Yes it’s the under-5s I’m thinking of- still need to source masks that will fit on LO’s faces without falling off!

Glad to hear people have made return trips. 😁

Amazon sell kids size disposable masks. I used some for our recent cruise on Princess.

Thanks! I have however already sourced Mickey ears for children. Priorities 😁.

The kids clubs are amazing and the staff are excellent. They usually have an open house on the first day go with your children. It's an excellent opportunity to go and look around them.

Make or buy magnets to go on your door. There are some Facebook groups for stencils and they are easy to do.

If you get chance the mixology class is lots of fun and it can be nice to do something adult.

You need to know all the words to “it’s a small, small world”.