cruisefamilyforever

Another thing to consider is pricing. If you sail during any major holiday the price increases dramatically. If you want to cruise over Christmas be prepared for sticker shock! Disney is a great family cruise, but it comes at a premium price. Hopefully, money is not a concern for you, so your can go during the Holidays.

It would be more helpful to list the ports.

Thank you for all of your replies. I have contacted Special Needs and was told that I am waitlisted for early dining. I have also called DCL customer service in the hopes of getting it changed on the phone, but was basically told that have a medical condition (diabetes) does not put you any higher on the waitlist. I guess we'll have to wait and see if it gets changed or go on the ship to where we can get it changed. I am Platinum on both Disney and Carnival and have never had a problem getting my dining changed for a medical reason so I do not know why this is different.

Early dining always fills up first. As a Platinum member you had the opportunity to guarantee early dining by booking your selections earlier than most of the other cruisers. Since you booked late outside of your window you are now no different than a first time cruiser for booking options. Your best bet is to go to the dining room noted in the Navigator (usually Animator's Palate at 1:00} and see if they can squeeze you in, but remember there will be many more people trying to do the same thing.

I always book early dining and I always get it, but I also always book cruises when first open up over a year in advance. Hopefully, they can help you, but your back up plan would be to eat dinner at Cabanas. It's a sit down dinner with servers, but it's not open on the first and last day of the cruise for dinner.

Hello, we just booked our second Disney Cruise with our now almost 3 year old toddler (last one was taken when she was almost 2 on the Magic and she loved it), and we have some questions, I appreciate if anyone knows the answers:

 

1. Bed rails. On the DCL website it has the option to request bed rails, but that option is grayed out and appears to read as if its only for toddlers who are 3+. Our daughter sleeps in a bed now and will not like a crib, will they honor a request for bed rails? Should I call in advance? You should be able to have your room steward get them for you.

 

2. The kids club. I know that you need to be 3 for the kids clubs. Our daughter turns 3 literally the day after our cruise returns to port. Is there any flexibility here? She's going to be bored with the nursery program for kids 6 months to 3 years. No, your child must be 3 prior to departure.

3. Swim Diapers. I have high hopes that our daughter will be potty trained by the time of this cruise (which is 5 months from now). However, in case we're still at the "wear swim diapers for emergencies / just in case" stage, what is she allowed to do as far as thhe water activities? Are swim diapers prohibited in the pools? No diapers of any kind in any pools are allowed.

 

Thanks in advance!

Timing does make a big difference with Disney and they aren't flexible on age limits.

You can wear pretty much anything in all of the rotational dining restaurants even on formal/dress up nights and you will be served. Yes you can even wear shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops on formal nights and trust me several people will! Swim suits and tank tops are the only things you aren't supposed to wear.

Only the up-charge restaurants have a dress code that is actually enforced.

Oh man, I've only ever seen the stone crab, shrimp and mussels at Cabanas and only got the crab legs at Palo brunch. I would never leave Cabanas of they had the crab legs there!

I'm with you. My family loves snow crab and we used to be able to get it on buffets at several restaurants near us in Florida, but sadly it's a thing of the past. We are not fans of stone crab, but if you are Shmoo's picture is a regular occurrence on the Fantasy or at least it was when we were on it. Notice that there is plenty of stone crab, but a small pile of shrimp? There is a reason for that>

It was available several times when we sailed, but this is stone crab and it's a lot of work to get a little meat. . It's not snow crab, so no worries about it running out. I stick to the shrimp and it was available every day

Burp...

 

I can barely make it through the regular dinner. There is no way I can eat that much food! When I was young I'd order things like a 22 oz. Porterhouse with everything and scarf it all down. These days I avoid the specialty restaurants as I can't finish the regular dinner even when I order the smallest steak. I miss being able to eat like I used to but I don't burn the calories I used to burn and would end up as a huge blimp if I was still eating that way. I do love food but hate wasting it by ordering more than I can eat. It was kind of amazing on our last cruise to watch one of our dinner mates ordering double entrees on some nights and eating it all. He was maybe 10 or 15 years older than me and not porky. He must have a very different metabolism from mine. (Maybe he also exercises much more...)

 

As for those who urge me to try the eastern Canadian lobster... Someday. We had a fantastic trip through western Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, and Yukon) last summer. One of these days we will make it to the east coast of the US and Canada. We definitely look forward to it - and not only for the lobster. :D

I don't waste any food! If the food is good I clear all my plates and with rare exception it usually all good. I have to say serving tiny lobster tails without butter is pathetic and the person that approved that change should be fired!

I've had lobster in the main dining rooms on Carnival, Disney and RCI a few times. It's been anywhere from just OK to very good. On my last Disney cruise I had them bring me 4 tails with a bowl of hot butter. All 4 were very good. You can order as many entrees, appetizers, and desserts as you desire on any of the major lines in the main dining rooms at no additional charge. I normally order 2 appetizers, 3 or 4 entrees and two desserts for dinner.

I'm looking forward to experiencing the food on the Ruby next spring.

I have slept on the sofa-sleeper many times and as an adult male I have never had any issue with the bed

That is good to hear. I was hoping it was a fairly high quality mattress.

If the bed is not to your liking' date=' they do have roll away beds available; they are sometimes hesitant to put them in the room as they do take up space.

 

The beds on Princess are not like the flip beds on Disney. On Disney, they do not fold up when in the couch configuration and thus are able to use a standard twin mattress. They "flip" and the mattress is entirely stored inside/behind the couch with no folding. On Princess, it is more like the standard fold out bed that you might have in a home. Just be forceful with the stateroom host and guest services if the fold out does not fit your needs.[/quote']

 

I knew it was the fold out kind, I was just hoping it is a much better mattress than you get with a typical home sofa sleeper that I've not found very comfortable in the past.

There is a good chance I may be the one sleeping on the couch on our Alaskan cruise on the Ruby next May. I've slept on a couch on Disney and it was as comfortable as the main bed. Do any adult males over 200 pounds have any thoughts on the comfort of the couch? I prefer a bed not too soft or extra firm. And of course I'm hoping there won't be a bar in the middle of my back when I wake in the morning.

FYI - The RT Seattle trips do NOT go to Glacier Bay --- they typically get into Tracy Arm fjord IF the ice conditions permit.

Not true! The Ruby out of Seattle and returning to Seattle does indeed go through Glacier Bay and I'm booked on it.

just wondered if we might need water shoes for Castaway Cay or is the bottom smooth and sandy?

Thanks!

Yes, especially the adult area. It is a very rocky bottom that will shred your feet. The kid area is sandy and OK.

One of our family members does too. There were quite a few things that had available bathrooms. You are right, some tours like Greatest Catch (on a boat) have minimal facilities. But The Lumberjack show has great bathrooms, Tongass rainforest museum has great bathrooms (both in Ketchikan and within a very short walking distance of the ship.) We did not go on the train in Skagway but there is a bathroom in every car. Just do the round trip to have continuous availability not the one where you have to be on a bus at the end. Let's see in Victoria it was a short ride on a bus into town and there were public bathrooms by the water. The Empress Hotel has bathrooms (just for patrons) but if you go into the bar area and get a sort drink you are covered.

Thanks for your insight, we will definitely check out your suggestions! Also, even though the Bliss is now doing Glacier Bay and they are running a special which would make this cruise in a mini-suite $2,000.00 cheaper, I booked a mini-suite on the Ruby Princess for my family of four. The cabin is over 50 sq ft larger and my balcony is about four times larger on the Ruby. After research on a couple of boards I felt more comfortable with traditional dining and Princess has more Alaska enrichment opportunities on the ship. We sail 18 May 2019.

The three main dining rooms will have all the same menus. You in fact will be able to make reservations for the MDR ahead of time for 5:30 pm if you wish, and can even request the same sever if you like when you get on board (if you stick to the same MDR each night). The shows likely will be at 7 or 7:30 pm and some of those will be able to be reserved as well. As PP stated contact the access desk ahead of time and once on board you will meet with an appropriate person to discuss the menus. NCL only does Freestyle dining and they do it right, they will have no problem accommodating your daughter's dietary needs.

That's good to here, thank you!

We have found the AccessDesk folks to be very helpful.

 

For a diet/allergy situation, we were given a name upon boarding, and asked to plan ahead for meals so that they could specially prepare the selections desired, without the "bad" ingredient.

They also did that for the Specialties.

 

GC

We won't be doing any specialty dining, just the three free dining rooms. Do you get to look at all three dining room menus no matter which dining room you are in the night before and then decide what to eat and where to dine the next night? Also, do you think they will be able to prepare most of the entrees without garlic or will she have to select something like a baked fish every night?:(

My daughter has a garlic allergy and we have sailed on Disney, Carnival and RCI. We have always done traditional dining so we are able to work with the same servers and preview the menus the night prior. That way my daughter can safely have her food prepared with the possibility of more choices.

I currently have a Ruby Princess Alaskan cruise scheduled for May 2019, but I just found out I can do the exact same itinerary on the Bliss with an equal room for $2,000 less for my family of four. However, I need to know that we can get the same support using the regular "not for fee" dining rooms of which I understand there are three on the Bliss. We are used to eating around 5:30 and I'm hoping some of you can tell me it won't be an issue.

Also, we always go to all of the shows, so how does that work with Norwegian with anytime dining? There are 4,000 people on the Bliss, so how do I ensure we are always able to attend the nightly shows?

We have cruised Disney once when my daughter was almost a year old. We are sailing the Magic in April and hope to sail the Dream in Jan of 2019. I would like to do alaska in the summer but its not a def. it would be nice if disney is the cruise line but their prices are alot. With alaska being port intensive i am drawing the line at 6k. In 2013, my wife and i paid 299 pp plus port tax. Airfare was paid for with points. If disney comes in more than 6k just for the cruise we will have to go elsewhere.

 

 

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That low price isn't going to happen on any Disney cruise. You will be paying over 3k for your short cruise on the Dream. However, January is one of the least expensive times to go and some dates in February. We have sailed the Dream (5 day double dip) and the Fantasy. I highly recommend a virtual porthole room if you don't need or want a balcony. I hope you can work out the best options for your family. Personally, I would hold off on Alaska until my kids were a little older so they will retain some memory of it, unless you plan to cruise it again down the road.

Yes, We are Platinum on Princess. We enjoy them a great deal. We enjoy cruising Disney (April 2018 and Jan 2019). We are looking to cruise Alaska in 2019 and just feel like disney addresses everything we need with a 5 year old and 2 year old. We sailed the Star to Alaska in 2013 and it was absolutely amazing

 

 

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Since you haven't cruised Disney, but I guess you are going to in 2018 and 2019, why don't you just turn the two cruises into one Alaskan cruise. Then you can afford to get a larger room and do Alaska cruise right if you want to try Disney.

We are looking to cruise Disney to Alaska in 2019. Does anyone think it will

Be possible to do this cruise under 6k for a family of 4???

 

 

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There is no way on earth you can keep a Disney Alaska cruise under $6K! We have a family of four and have sailed Disney twice in recent years. You would be hard pressed to even sail the Caribbean for a week in the summer for that price, much less Alaska. Even if you are military or a Florida resident, which I am both and booked the cruise for the smallest inside room on the ship on the first day the cruise was available, you couldn't get it under $6,000.00. And that's not even considering tips ($350 ish), cruise insurance ($375) and airfare ($1,000 to $2,000) depending on where you live. I'm cruising Alaska on Princess May 2019 and with all my research I think you need to have at least $8,000.00 to cover the trip for a non Disney Cruise. You might be able to pull off a Disney Cruise for maybe $11K with all of the expenses, but even that may be tough. My Disney Christmas cruise was almost $12K for a balcony and I booked it 18 months out. I will say this was a premium price because it is actually Christmas week.

Alaska prices are much higher than the Caribbean and although I love Disney, I can't justify the $14K plus it would take to cover the trip for my family. Good luck but you may have to skip Alaska if $6K is your budget.

All except room service. Every beverage either delivered to your stateroom or in the fridge is charged for.

 

Coke Zero is in the process of being rebranded as Coke Zero Sugar. Which does contain caffeine. Some Princess ships do have the canned Zero instead of canned Diet. Or both. But again only Diet from the gun is part of the Soda and More.

 

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Thank you for insight.

The Soda and More includes fountain sodas only: Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale, Tonic Water, Club Soda. Other flavors available exclusively in cans (Diet Sprite, Diet Tonic Water, Orange or Root Beer if they have them) are only sold separately.

 

Caffeine-free cola is not available on Princess ships (to answer the most common follow-up question in advance)

 

Though any virgin cocktail, frozen or on the rocks, is included. It does help to get to know the servers/bartenders in one particular venue in order to get the biggest variety of "mocktails" served without question.

Thank you! Can you get soda card drinks at every lounge, bar, dining room, eating venue and using room service?

First, does Princess stock most of the regular coke products? Second, with the soda package it states mock cocktails are included. Does that me I can get frozen drink like a mock strawberry daiquiri?