TwinPrincessMermaids

This thread is hilarious! :D

Yuck. This has been a horrible year for travel in winter! I hope I'm ok in early May! :eek:

Every catamaran snorkel I have ever been on has provided them if needed. We always bring our own, but if you want to try it out, they should have what you need available.

I think they should go to Disney World...AND on a Disney Cruise! Yay! Try it out for a shorter cruise tacked onto a few Disney park days. It's perfect. It's also what we are doing. :D

Also, I guess I get more frustrated, not at the search function not working, but more at the constant reputation DCL gets for being a kids-only cruise line. Its like someone poking you constantly. After the 20th time, it just gets frustrating. Especially because it so often comes from completely clueless people. My comments were more out of frustration towards the OP's equally opinionated family's generalizations, rather than the OP themselves.

Its SUCH a great vacation! I would suggest doing both. We have 5 families meeting there from 3 states, and I got us a big vacation rental home for $53 per family per night (all cleaning fees and taxes total). Has our own pool and rec room and kitchen, and each family has their own bathroom. 5 bed, 5 bath right outside of Disney. From there, we go on to our cruise for 4 awesome days of Disney, playing with sea lions, Palo as a first, catamaran snorkels and running the 5k, and then when we get off on Friday, we are buzzing over to Seaworld (with Buschgardens basically has two for one up to Mid May) and are staying at a Disney Neighborhood hotel suites with awesome pool, included breakfast and park shuttles. Royaleparcsuites.com . I have coordinated the entire trip myself and got us some good deals. A Land & Sea trip is very doable, even with a large party. We have 11.

Happy Cruising!

Woohoo for you!!! I'll be seein' her in 8 weeks myself! Have a great time! (let me know who to request as my server! My fave Dream server Mihayl is still on the Dream...)

The Dream was the ship that restored our faith in Carnival after a steady decline. We absolutely loved it! She ranks as our second best Carnival cruise ever (only second to the Liberty) :)

 

 

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Not doubting you at all Tapi, my 2011 cruise was a great one too. Just seems to be the hey day. Feb 2013 was :eek: for CCL and to me, it was really amplified on the Dream.

Different crew experience would have made it different. Others in our party got wonderful staff, but not us. I liked the ship well enough and enjoyed its entertainment crew. I missed the pizza and sushi from the year before on the Conquest, had a shortage of cups, plates, coffee all kinds of things at the buffet, and you can't go off times, or they close etc.

Whatever, a lot of others seem to love her... must have been our sailing. Even the chicks behind me at the gift shop who I had never met said they couldn't 'wait to get off this forsaken boat, worst cruise they were ever on.' I thought it was me, until a nurse I talked to last summer said the Dream was her least favorite CCL she had ever been on, that the bar staff were screaming at each other in front of her and really unprofessional and unfriendly.

Wasn't it the Liberty that got a pretty good review on the Best Value for 2014? That says a lot there, OP.

Hello everyone,

 

Neither my wife and I have ever been on a cruise before. We have only done the resort thing. We are now planning for a trip next March and this time it will be our first big trip as a family (2 kids now with us, ages 6 and 4).

 

I'll have to admit that neither my wife or I had the desire to go on a cruise but I am warming up to the idea, especially seeing the activities for kids. The wife has yet to get excited about it.

 

No kids for us, but we have done AI and LOVE cruising, so you might appreciate answers from our perspective anyway?

 

So I have some questions to start but I'll probably have a bunch more:

 

1. To those of you who have done both, how does DCL compare to a 5 star all inclusive resort?

We had our honeymoon at Sandals in Jamaica. It was a WONDERFUL, relaxing experience with some excitement like scuba, sailing, snorkeling, pool and beach volleyball and Dunns River Falls. I have tried to get my Husband to book another one, but he just LOVES cruises. We have done 1 A.I. as a couple, and we have done...lemme count 6 Cruises since we have been together. And the next cruise is in 2 months, that will be 7, and there will be future cruises as well. He just loves cruising, and I do too! I think he thought the A.I. was just a bit on the too laid back side. The resort was a perfect honeymoon where you don't want to be tied to a schedule, but I think he loves the change of scenery with the ports. I'm happy with all of it! I think that is the biggest difference for us, just more activities and we just love the price and what you get for cruising. But we love to go to Disney Parks too. We just haven't gone back to a beach resort since our honeymoon because we love to cruise with our friends and family. Hope that helps.

2. How busy/crazy/congested is it? Is it relatively easy to do what we want, when we want to?

For cruising, you can definitely do what YOU want. You may or may not have crowds but they never effected us too much. I compare this to amusement parks. There ARE other people, but you can still have a good time if you work the lines right and don't automatically line behind other people. Still WAY more lines at the parks than on a cruise.

3. Our kids speak french but do understand some english. I don't expect the staff to speak every language under the sun but do you think there will be an issue leaving them with a kids club? I would imagine there are a number of people from Canada there and with some being from Quebec I imagine there are some french first folks there.

4. Is the Avengers Academy still on? I think my son's head would explode if he saw Captain America, let alone meet him.

This is on the Magic, We will be on her in 2 months!

5. Is there a princess tea party thing? Again...head explode, but daughter's this time.

This is outrageously expensive and may not be available on all ships. To each their own. I LOOVVE princesses and got a complete Princess fix by enjoying the star-studded live stage shows and the princess photos where they chitchat with you and hug and if you time those lines right, about 30 minutes before the Navigator says for the Princess Gathering time and you should be able to make the lines ok. This way a major plus for us, since we never have time for princess lines at the parks. The cruises make it MUCH more manageable. And it is more than just photos, they are lovely characters completely in character. I'm in my 30s with no kids! But we loved it. We wear tiaras everywhere.

6. Evening activities for adults. With the kids bedtimes being around 8:00ish, one of us will have to stay in the room while the other wanders. Are there many things to do for adults in this situation?

We had a great time as adults. We found the family activities such as family karaoke hilarious but we went to adult karaoke too, or danced in the clubs, or just went around and did whatever we wanted. We met cool people and stayed up til 2am one night. I will say, the hottubs close at midnight and so does the pizza, but room service is available. Still, I will plan accordingly and get a slice before midnight next time!

7. Is there a best time to book? Earlier the better or does that matter? What about through a travel agent vs. online with DCL.

The earlier you book tends to be the cheapest. However, you can get a short notice cruise, that's how we went on our first cruise and we loved it. On the other hand, our upcoming cruise is $400 more than it was when we booked, and no sales rates have come out yet. We booked in late July '13 for May '14 and it has just gone up and up since then. For time of year to cruise, we cruise late Feb to May, never during school, never during hurricane season - lived on the Gulf Coast, believe me, they aren't worth missing your vacation for, I don't do hurricane season and cruises- and don't cruise in the winter. Spring is the sweet spot for us and prices were ok too. If I couldn't cruise spring, probably early November would be my next pick, as it is out of hurricane season and just before hard winter.

 

8. How should I go about convincing the wife? ;)

Not sure why you have to! It's a no brainer. A lovely sit down dinner with impeccable service every night, and a cute lil cruise dress, where can you afford to go out to eat every night for a nice dinner? And a show? And take all the kids with you and not get glares from fellow diners...cuz its Disney and kids are very welcome. And the entertainment DURING the dinners is great too! And if you love beach resorts, you will LOVE Disney's private island! Our friend has an 8 yr old and she kept checking to see if he wanted to get picked up from the kid's clubs and he just kept begging and begging to stay longer and dig the whale bone fossils and this and that, so she finally let him stay and her and hubby went off to the adults beach and hung out all day. So the kids clubs are REALLY worth it in that your kids don't really feel like they are being dropped off, this is THEIR vacation too and they love their activities! Or at least, that was the case for her. Disney has very high taste compared to other cruise lines in the mainstream vacation category. But honestly, if you aren't sure, I would book a 3 or 4 day, maybe hit a park day coming or going and see if it is for you. Bet you become addicted like the rest of us!

 

Thanks in advance

You are welcome!

Because she wants everyone to know, everyday, how horrible it was. And how much better off she is sailing Disney. :rolleyes:

Aw!!! You know me SOOO well! :):):)But hey the OP asked, I voted for Conquest cuz for the most part, I really liked that cruise. I've had great cruises on CCL, Dream just left so much to be desired from a typical cruise experience, even by CCL's standards. It wasn't just one night, the service was bad everywhere. I think the company was in a panic due to low bookings or something. The crew was beyond desperate for pushing sales. And hey, in case you didn't check, DCL is again sweeping the CruiseCritic 2014 Awards, particularly in almost every top of the LARGE SHIPS category. It is what it is. But if CCL wants to make a comeback to how they were in 2007 and even 2011 at least from my experience (cuz my experience is all I have to go on?) than I'm all for it.

My apologies for making you work so hard to respond to a post. The first post on the search function for "disney cruise with no kids" shows a post from Feb of 2013 that says "Don't cruise on DCL without kids." The next one is from November of 2012.... I was hoping for some opinions.

 

Sorry to inconvenience you so much. Next time, don't bother to respond. :rolleyes:

Chalk it up to low blood sugar. This really does come up all the time, but I guess for this 30 somethings couple, it's a no brainer! My advice is to try a 3 or 4 day and see if it's for you! It was definitely for us. We couldn't wait to rebook.

Happy sails!

What about a cruise to a private island? That helps with security in at least you know everyone on the island is either an employee or a guest. Not fool proof but perhaps more secure to an extent?

Then why are you still on the boards?:confused::rolleyes:

Cuz I'm interested in all the changes and reviews and my friends cruise CCL. (I frequent all the boards that I have cruised on.) Its VERY entertaining! I voted for Conquest, mostly good experience. Dream had great Entertainment staff and the most unfriendly worst service I have ever had. I still liked my 2007 MS HOLIDAY the best, but Triumph in 2011 was great service and fun too. Dream had REALLLLLY crazy lines every where and all over the ship, I heard people as unhappy we were. But it was about 2 weeks after the Poop cruise incident so who knows. Coulda been CCL feeling the squeeze and the service cut backs were insane. They were way overworked bordering on rude and I was delighted to get back to land. Ports were good, but they are always good. I wouldn't go on the Dream if it was free.

Don't go on the Dream. Even a year later, I'm still miserable talking about that cruise. It's the one that cured me from CCL.

See our explanation page (re why the Magic didn't make it)

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_rules.cfm

 

For most categories the ship had to have at least 50 reviews to make the running. The Magic did not have that many last year :(

Should have a bunch this year! I'm going to do one in 2 months for sure. With the Magic's new doo-dads, she definitely needs to be represented! :)

Sheesh. What # is this? Number umpteen of the "IS IT WEIRD TO CRUISE DISNEY WITH NO KIDS" posts?

No, its not. We have no kids, if it were up to me, I would never sail on another line, but I do not intend to step foot on a CCL of my own volition again. Our 10th anniversary last year was UNBELIEVEABLE. We decided to go a few weeks early and 'crash' our parent's early 45th anniversary cruise. We were the only 'kids' of the group (since our parents are in their 60s and we are in our 30s- SEE THAT! A COUPLE WITH NO KIDS IN THE MID-THIRTIES!) and we had Late Dining which was wonderful, and it was THE BEST cruise I've been on. Even as a 3 day! (Hawaii of course was AWESOME, but this is the best ship, entertainment and service I had ever been on and the private island is AMAZING.)

If you need to convince your family, just show them the new Cruise Critic awards that came out. DCL is at the top of just about all of them, and while it DID pick up the Families category (how could it not), it also picked up a LOT of others including the humdinger OVERALL (like the Best Picture oscar). So obviously a lot more like it regardless of kids.

And what's with the chick that says that you can't compare a cruise to the parks!?! I think they go hand in hand! We are doing 2 park days with a 4 day cruise in 2 months. If you like the parks, they DO compare!!! Please. People that have never gone should not be making opinions. That's WHY Disney created a cruise line. Because they are an entertainment company and knows how their vacationers like to vacation! Ever thinks its weird to see a couple at Disney World? I hope not! We go as much as we can. :D And what about all the married couples, anniversaries, honeymoons, etc? Who says you have to like kids to like Disney? Yes they will be around, but you can always scadaddle on to the ADULTS ONLY sections and most of the time, the clubs keep them super busy anyway. Which is more than I can say for the other cruise lines, who's kids clubs are for-charge much later (which means more unsupervised kids around the ship) and Disney's is free until Midnight.

Believe me, it is a BIG FAT FALLACY that Disney has all the kids. Just try getting a burger or hotdog from the Carnival Dream grill. Talk about lines! LOTS of kids on all cruise ships these days, in or out of school, and we even had lines for self service ice cream. Families are cruising these days. Royal Caribbean is full of kids, so are Carnival. PRobably less kids on Celebrity and HAL, but certainly not impossible to see on those lines. Disney has its OWN Magic and you can't find it anywhere else.

If you enjoy disney movies and music or the parks, a DCL is a no brainer!

Now, I'm going to copy this into a word document so I don't have to post it every week...:)

I think they just go off of the number system rating that their trip reports indicate. Maybe the rest of the regular rooms just aren't reporting much? Its really just CC people anyway. Either way, OF the reports that CC has, Fantasy and Wonder and Oasis seem to be the Darlings.

Woohoo!!!!! If this was the Oscars, I'd call it a SWEEP!

I checked and thank goodness I don't have one. No idea about my husband's login but I don't think he knows to check, so far so good. (Cuz he might use it! :eek:) I see a trend here that seems to be paying off REALLY well for CCL. "We got a free cruise! We booked so and so with us and got a balcony etc" = $$ CCL probably wouldn't have otherwise gotten. PLUS what they spend on board. My CCL loving friends just booked all single rooms for 4 people on the Elation, practically giving away the rooms. There is NO way this could happen if there weren't lots of rooms available, same with the free cruise credits. To contrast, on my upcoming DC in May, the rooms have gone up and up in price by about $400+ per room, and that is with about 65 days left before sailing. A last minute sale is of course a possibility but the fact that the price goes up shows that the rooms are booking well. Free cruise = serious cry for desperation... It's a public forum so we can see it how we personally see it without others having to agree with us. But no, other cruise lines are NOT having to give away singles rooms or just free rooms to begin with...

Sorry, just noticed that the dates in my heading were wrong... s/b 2/9 -2/16/14

Hehe. I was like, now THAT is a B2-B2-1/2B !:D

I get irritated when people act like its our fault if our cruise was a let down. I have had GREAT cruises on CCL. Last year, CCL let themselves down from a service standpoint bigtime.

And to think, "other" cruise lines get the unruly and too many kids reputation...

On the CCL Dream, some would just walk by the icecream and flip the handle so it went all over the ground as they passed by...

Yep, I've cruised CCL 5 times & NCL once. Hated NCL, have loved CCL and the Dream was my favorite....the free upgrade to the spa balcony probably influenced that.

 

 

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I did spa interior on CCL Dream and I still hated that ship. I call it the Unfriendly Ship. Our dining staff was the worst experience I have ever encountered. If you enjoyed the CCL Dream, I will really be interested to see how you like the Disney Dream.

Boy voyage!

If you have only cruised CCL, you are in for a REAL treat! (Anyone who survives the CCL Dream especially! :D That was my segway out of CCL and into DCL.)

Its going to really amaze you!

Never heard of a limit on anything. Cruise Disney, you will LOVE it. All cruise lines change in decades, and it was the best service and most interesting and beautiful presented cruise food we have had. And if we were unhappy with anything, we were given chocolate covered strawberries or something to instantly put the magic back in our experience. We ordered two soups, salads, whatever we wanted.

Thanks OP for the Laugh! :D

The only thing that would ever get me back on the Dream (big big if!) would be Roatan. I LOVE Nassau specifically for the Blue Lagoon but our cruise didn't allow us enough time to go to it! (We went to it on a different cruise line where we didn't have to be on board until 5:45pm! Big difference from 2pm... we did a SeaHorse catamaran and snorkel like the poster mentioned above and it was WONDERFUL.)

BUT...Roatan almost covers a multitude of sins. (Although a little piece of me dies when I think of sailing the CCL Dream again... *twitch* :D )