10/13/07 or 11/24/07 eastern during hurricane season

[sunshine07]

Hi. I'm new here and I'm so glad I found this site. Tons of great info.

We're thinking of going on the eastern 7-day disney cruise and are concerned about the hurricane season. We would preffer the 10/13/07 date to celebrate our anniversary with our 4 yr old, but my husband is leaning more towards 11/24/07 because it's the end of the hurricane season, so probably a smoother ride for first time cruisers like us.

For those who've cruised during those months, have you faced any problems?

Any suggestions on getting a nice room, inside lower category which would probably be cheepest. We're planning on being very active and would probably not spend much time in it.

Any suggestions on a good reliable website to book our cruise?

Any advice for cruising with a 4 year old. We're researching the activities for her age, but none of them state how long they are. 2 hrs/day, 3 hrs/day etc.

Thank you in advance.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Howdy,
welcome to cruise critics!!
Ok, we have cruised in November before and have 2 more November cruises booked. November is the last of the hurricane season, we have never had any problems with them on our cruises.
If a storm starts to brew, all they do is go to different ports so you still have a great vacation. No worries!!! Always safety first!!

If a hurricane hits the port area they will either dock at another port in Florida and bus you back to Orlando for free to get your cars or to get to the airport. This has only happened once that i know of and one other time people had to go to Fort Lauderdale to board the ship and once they spend an extra day at sea to make sure it was safe to come back to Florida. All of that took place during the 2 years we had all those hurricanes hit central Florida which is rare!! So not likely to happen again.

At least I hope not since we live in Florida and got hit 3 out of 4 hurricanes when they came through.
Seas are not too bad onthe Eastern for the most part, it is always a little choppy the first night as you cross the gulf stream.

Personally I think the weather is nicer in November, it is hot but not as humid as October. October is kind of the turning point for humidity here. The humidity can make a great day miserable!!!

Your right when you say your hardly ever in your room, But remember the insdie staterooms are very dark, NO outside light and are very easy to sleep all morning too!! Rooms are nice but I like some natural light in my room. Deck 2 has port hole windows which are really nice.
My husband usually books us a verandah because he like to sit out and have his morning coffee in the morning and evening to watch the sunset.
But you can go out on deck 4, 9, or 10 to see that.

We always just call DCL and book directly through them. It is so easy when you have a question or if you need to change something they will fix you right up. If you use a TA they will answer your questions but they usuallyhave to call DCL and then get back to you, which some of them take a few days to do. I want my answers right now!!

But I have heard many good things about Dreams Unlimited for booking and they will usually give you a room credit which helps the budget.
Just go to DCLs website and check out their price before you call anywhere else so you know if there is much of a difference in prices.

I will tell you the sooner you book the better price you will get because the prices will creep up a little each month .

Kids activities will vary. There is lots of free time in the clubs for them to just play. The length of the activities depends on the age group. The younger they are the shorter the activity is. They know kids dont have along attention span.
You can always ask the counselor when you drop them off at the club when the activity will be over. Sometimes they will take 6 kids to do an activity while others play, then they take another 6 to do it. But structured activities you often will sign them up for a specific time. The kids Navigator will tell you all about it.
4 years old is a perfect age for a DCL cruise!! Make sure you take your camera everywhere with you, even to dinner!!! There are surprizes everywhere, including characters strolling around the open decks for photos too.

I hope you take the November 24th cruise because I am on that cruise too!! It will be our 15th DCL cruise. I do have a cruise meets thread started for that cruise on this thread, so if you decide to book it, please join me there. So far I have 2 other people posting there, but I do know several people who are going on that cruise that I cruised with last November.
We are the banana heads, a group of fun ,crazy families who met last year on cruise boards then met on board. We had such an awesome time several of us are going next november then all but 5 have committed to going again in november of 08. So it is a reunion cruise for us. Lots of young kids too!! I hope you will join us, we are looking for more nice families to join us!!

If I can help with any other questions please just ask, I will be happy to try and answer if I can.

mom x4,grandma x4

[HIPrincess]

We cruised for the first time on Disney Magic on October 21, 2006. It was the best cruise that we have ever been on. We booked at the very last minute, less than 90 days, and then had to find flights. I have been pricing Disney for years and found the cheapest during hurricane season and a time that my youngest, 16 years old, had a few days off of school so we took the plunge. Mind you it was roughly a bit more than we would pay normally for a cruise even during hurricane season, but have always wanted to try Disney. Mom x 4, Grandma x 4 convinced me with her posts to go and she is right on with all her info.

Anyway we booked directly with Disney for the lowest category. We have cruised before and know that we were never in our cabin except to sleep and shower. When we received our paperwork we found out we were upgraded a level which was fine with us. We would much prefer being able to go and enjoy all the amenities of the ship and spend our money in other ways than get a higher category. For example, there were several art auctions on board and a few that featured Disney characters. What we would have spent on a higher category of cabin we used for a wonderful framed Disney print we will enjoy for a very long time. It is all a matter of choices and what feels comfortable for you and what is important to you. We were just thrilled to be able to go and not feel guilty spending a fortune going.

As far as hurricane season, we had fabulous weather the entire week. It was like being on a cruise in March, clear skies, warm weather, etc. The only day that it rained was when we got back to port and were disembarking. I have cruised in early October when there was a hurricane brewing and they just steer clear of it. We had few cloudy days but a few sunny ones as well. This past fall was a very mild hurricane season, so we could have been lucky. It was in the back of my mind the whole time before we left though---but anything can happen so you just never know. But again, that was our choice to gamble with the cheaper fares and see how the weather played out.

We would definitely book another October cruise.

Hope this helps! I have found a ton of information on this board and everyone is soooooo very nice.

[Majesty Fan]

Hubby and I always cruise in Oct it is our aniv month and have never had an issue with weather we had some rain on time and it rained all day but we did a lot of trivia and on RCI the adult was covered. We had 6 other great days! I booke my cruises both onboard and then through USAA ex military and get $100 on board credit for the Magic sailings over $599. We are on the WOnder in about a month for 3 nights and then we leave Disney for about 18 months and do RCI to Hawaii but will return to Disney and do the double dip Haloween cruise. We try and stay on Disney prior to our cruise for a few nights and do the Haloween thing.
Lexi

[mylittleguyisarascal]

DH, 3 yr old DS and I will be on the 10/13/07 cruise (also for our anniversary!) - We're cruise virgins (LOL) so was concerned about hurricane season, too. DH wanted to go during our anniversary time and not after hurricane season so we purchased trip insurance. I highly recommend it.

I don't know much about the port excursions for toddlers although some that I read seem to average about 3-4 hours. I'm waiting for my Passporters book that I ordered - heard that book is THEE book to read:)

I don't think we can mention travel agents on these boards but I did not go thru DCL.

[Ginamarie]

We've cruised the Magic twice during the month of November (one eastern and one western). We've never had problems with hurricane season. In actuality, November hurricanes are extremely rare.

Disney is the best cruiseline IMO for travelling with toddlers and babies. I'm not sure what category a 4 year old fits into on DCL though. We've cruised with an 18 month old and with a six year old though, and had no issues whatsoever.

[Jeanne B]

If you're concerned about hurricanes I would recommend late November over October. We cruised in late October of 05 and we spent a few days beforehand in Orlando and to our surprise (thinking we were pretty safe in late October!!) hurricane Wilma came through while we were in Orlando but fortunately it only dampened one day of our vacation.

We cruised this year in late Nov/early Dec and loved it, we actually had nicer weather on this cruise (CC was cold and windy when we were there in Oct-05). And in late November the ships are decorated for xmas.

[sunshine07]

Thank you all for your advice. We're defenitely going to cruise but still haven't decided on which date. Still doing a little research, trying to find a good deal, and will make up our minds in the next several days. We are also going on another vacation to Florida this March, so we're being careful not to go over budget.

I've never heard of the Passporters book. Where can I find it?

Should we purchase cruise and air together, or would we save any money purchasing them seperately. Has anyone done this?

Thanks.

[mylittleguyisarascal]

Check out mousesavers dot com. They also mention the Passporters book (I got mine on Amazon).
Disboards dot com is also very helpful. My apologies if I'm not supposed to mention websites.

If you haven't already ordered one, you can order a FREE dvd and it comes with a great planning book re: the cruise on DCL's website.

[Jeanne B]

I've never heard of the Passporters book. Where can I find it?

Should we purchase cruise and air together, or would we save any money purchasing them seperately. Has anyone done this?

Thanks.


Definitely get the Passsporter, it's a fantastic book especially for first-time cruisers. You can buy it from Amazon, buy.com or the Passporter website itself. Cheapest way to get it right now is through buy.com with the $10 off using google checkout (ends up making the book only about $5). Just make sure you get the most recent edition that was just released on 1/28.

I always purchase our cruise and air seperately so that I can shop airfare for the best rate (we generally fly Southwest or JetBlue).

And one other tip, TRIP INSURANCE. It's very cheap and the peace of mind is worth it IMO. We purchased trip insurance for our first cruise in Jan-05 and we had travel days down and back which cost us around $1000 and we got all that money back. I've never paid more than $100 for insurance for the 3 of us, the last 3-day cruise just DD and I did only cost me $35. I use TravelGuard and my DD was free but it's generally pretty easy to get a plan that covers children for free.

[HIPrincess]

I was sorely amiss to not mention earlier, ALWAYS purchase trip insurance. My grandma passed away a few days before we were to go on a trip and if not for that insurance we would have been out several thousand dollars. That one incident alone has proven to me time and time again ALWAYS get trip insurance.:)