First Time Disney Cruise With Lots of Questions

We have cruised numerous times, but this will be our first time on Disney and so we have lots of questions. We are mature adults. Well at least my wife is, the jury is still out on me! :D Our kids are grown and don't have grandchildren to spoil yet, so will be sailing child free. We will be celebrating my 60th birthday on the Disney Magic, and sailing out of Galveston, right after the Thanksgiving cruise.

Can adults relax without feeling overrun with kids and are the adult only venues enforced as adult only?

I understand you can bring your own wine onboard to drink in your stateroom or pay a corkage fee in the dining rooms. That is one thing we really like about Holland and Princess. We usually load up a case and check it with our luggage. Does Disney allow you to do the same thing? Also, if we pick up wine in port are we able to bring it back onboard with us?

We are booked in a wheelchair accessable stateroom with verandah. It is a category 6A and is 7136 which appears to be larger. Is anyone familiar with this stateroom? Does it have railing on the verandah that you can see through when sitting or lying down? Is it really as large as it appears? Anything quirky about this cabin or location?

We are doing late seating. Are there more kids or less kids? How does the rotating restaurants work? IE, what are the benefits, and is it assigned seating stations and tables in each venue? Lastly, we would like to do the specialty restaurant on my birthday. Do we need to reserve well in advance and how do we do that?

Thanks in advance!

We have cruised numerous times, but this will be our first time on Disney and so we have lots of questions. We are mature adults. Well at least my wife is, the jury is still out on me! :D Our kids are grown and don't have grandchildren to spoil yet, so will be sailing child free. We will be celebrating my 60th birthday on the Disney Magic, and sailing out of Galveston, right after the Thanksgiving cruise.

 

Can adults relax without feeling overrun with kids and are the adult only venues enforced as adult only? We've done most of our DCL cruises "childless". We're in your age range and our kids are grown. The adult-only areas onboard (as well as at Castaway Cay) are enforced.

 

I understand you can bring your own wine onboard to drink in your stateroom or pay a corkage fee in the dining rooms. That is one thing we really like about Holland and Princess. We usually load up a case and check it with our luggage. Does Disney allow you to do the same thing? Also, if we pick up wine in port are we able to bring it back onboard with us? Any beverages you bring onboard must be carried on, not checked. You may bring beverages onboard at any port.

 

We are booked in a wheelchair accessable stateroom with verandah. It is a category 6A and is 7136 which appears to be larger. Is anyone familiar with this stateroom? Does it have railing on the verandah that you can see through when sitting or lying down? Is it really as large as it appears? Anything quirky about this cabin or location? Sorry, don't know about verandahs;)

 

We are doing late seating. Are there more kids or less kids? How does the rotating restaurants work? IE, what are the benefits, and is it assigned seating stations and tables in each venue? Lastly, we would like to do the specialty restaurant on my birthday. Do we need to reserve well in advance and how do we do that? Generally, you may see fewer kids at the late seating.

When you checkin at the port, on your KTTW card will be printed your dining rotation as well as your table number. Example (from the Magic) APLAPLAPL, could be your rotation (Animators Palate; Parrot Cay, Lumiere's). Each night you (as well as your servers and any tablemates you have) will go to the next MDR to be seated. You will have the same table number in each MDR, however the table itself may not be in the same location within the room. It'll be close, though.

 

Palo is the adult-only extra pay restaurant on the Magic. Yes, you should try to book as soon as you can. As as first time cruiser, your booking/check-in window will open 75 days out. Chances are fairly good, you may not be able to book it right away. Just keep checking. If you are unable to book precruise, after you checkin at the port go to where the Palo reservations changes are being handled (on our Magic cruises it was in Rockin' Bar D). They generally hold back about half of the available reservations for booking onboard.

Thanks in advance!

My answers in red

:)

We had a verandah cabin 7630 on the Magic. We had the solid wall. I believe you will have the plexiglass wall.

We were four adults and NEVER felt overrun by children. We had late seating for dinner. We hung out in the adult areas for the most part but when I saw children they were pretty well behaved.

Happy Birthday and enjoy your cruise. The staff on the Magic is fabulous!

Thanks Shmoo and NYGirl that was just the info we were looking for.

However, I did find out that our verandah has one of those white walls with the rail on top. Does anyone know if you actually see the water over the railing while sitting down?

That's what we had. No..you need to stand up to see the water.

I have a picture of it but I don't know how to upload it. Let me see if I can figure it out.

Since we don't have kids, we've only cruised DCL without kids. We've had a great time. We have had no trouble with the adults only areas. The crew members are pretty strict & active.

I will confirm that the 2nd seating had a fraction of the children we saw entering the 1st seating. We have only done 2 (#3 coming) DCL cruises, but it was the same on both.

That's what we had. No..you need to stand up to see the water.

 

I have a picture of it but I don't know how to upload it. Let me see if I can figure it out.

We found some pictures. Yes, you do have to stand up. Thought that was odd. It is wheelchair accessible, but you have to get out of the wheelchair to see the water. Person from Disney explained that all accessible verandahs on Disney are that way. They were afraid that the plexiglass barrier might be too flimsy to stop an errant motorized scooter. I had to laugh at that one. Oh well, we moved locations to a BC cabin, so we could have a better view.

Thanks to all about the information about kids and adult areas. We think this will work for us just fine and are anxious to sail on Disney for the first time.

I found my picture:

I found my picture:

 

At least I know where you were on my birthday!!:D