A Family with Mouse Ears goes on a Disney Cruise: Lessons Learned from Our Time at Sea
Many months ago, our family decided to take a Disney Cruise Line vacation to celebrate Grampy’s birthday. Our fabulous travel agent, Jenn Whitney of Whitney World Travel, booked our state rooms (four total, six adults and four kids) and helped with other onboard reservations to make sure we had a fabulous time. And we did, but I learned A LOT and want to share my insights with you.
Please note that we sailed on the Disney Dream 4-night itinerary from Port Canaveral (ports of call included Nassau and DCL’s private island, Castaway Cay) – this post is based ONLY on that experience.
The best part of the cruise was spending time with family (and the free, all you can eat soft serve ice cream). The kid got to spend a lot of time with his cousins and LOVED having a ton of other kids to pal around with. Like built-in siblings for an only child – WIN!
I also happened to LOVE all the food. I live with Mr. Picky and Mr. Meat and Potatoes, so being able to have lots of fish dinners, different types of cuisines (Indian, Middle Eastern) and NOT HAVE TO COOK IT was my WIN.
I also managed to get a pretty decent tan – don’t come at me with all the skin cancer business, I get it. But I have freckles, and freckles are cute. Besides, gingers are as rare as unicorns, so I’m going with it.
Here’s a few things I “learned” while on the cruise that are worth sharing with all of you:
Be prepared for long dinners – Our dining rotation was Royal Palace, two nights at Animator’s Palate and then Enchanted Garden. The first night, Ronan was bouncing off the walls. He was overly excited to be with his cousins and he’s also not accustomed to long meals where he is expected to sit at a table and behave.
Lesson learned: If you truly want your little ones (Ronan is almost five) to sit and be still, bring an iPad or whatever you’d use ‘at home’ to keep them engaged. I did that on the final night and it made a big difference.
If I had to do it over again: If it was just ‘us three’ on the cruise, I would only bring Ronan to dinner on the nights at Animator’s Palate and/or Pirate Night when there’s enough programming to keep him entertained. Other nights, I would have sent him to the Oceaneer’s Club/Lab (kid’s club).
There are long lines – Similar to a Walt Disney World Resort vacation, there are lines for things all over the ship: from check-in at the terminal to character greetings, Oceaneer Club pick up and drop off, the buffet, Aqua Duck. Be prepared to wait in line UNLESS you’re OK with eating early/late or finding other workarounds.
Lesson learned: There are A LOT of people on the ship and they’ve all got to eat somewhere. And they want to see the characters. If your kids are into the character greetings, be prepared to WAIT.
If I had to do it over again: I wouldn’t really worry so much about meeting the characters because my son’s just not ‘into it’.
It’s HOT in August – this is a bit of a no-brainer, and even though I live in the South, I was not very well prepared for just how HOT it was in the Bahamas in late August. No real key takeaways from this one, just be aware that it’s often too hot to just sit on the pool deck…you’ll need to get wet, keep covered up and away from the sun.
Castaway Cay requires A LOT of walking – my husband and I ‘ran’ the Castaway Cay 5K (it’s free) but it required us to walk about a mile to the starting line, then the 5K itself, then all the way back onto the ship to change, and then back to the family beach where it was FREAKING HOT!
Lesson learned: I won’t be doing the Castaway Cay 5K again (it was poorly organized, not a lot of good information available) and I’ll plan my time on the beach to be earlier in the morning and/or spend the money on a cabana to keep out of the sun as much as possible.