What a great time!

[tmac04]

I have been wanting to post this for awhile but my computer bit the dust just as we got back from vacation! So my family went on our first Disney cruise. My family consists of me, mom, and 3 nieces ages 12, 10, & 7. We had so much fun that we signed up for another cruise next year.

 

One of the highlights for us were the live shows. Whenever the audience would applaud after a song, my youngest niece would ask "Is that all?" When I told her no she smiled and turned back to the show. We all enjoyed every show. We only missed the first show.

 

Also our dinner experience was fantastic. We were seated with a single mother and her two young sons. The boys were the same age as my two youngest nieces. We enjoyed their company and even attended shows with them. By the end of the week we all decided to sign up for the same cruise next year in hopes we can sit together again.

 

The biggest disappointment was not getting to spend much time on Castaway Cay. Unfortunately the night before a passenger had a heart attack and we had to make an unscheduled stop in Nassau. We did make it to Castaway but not until about 1:30pm. I was so proud of my nieces when I had to tell them that we would not be able to rent the aqua trikes because the line was too long and it would eat up all of our time. They agreed to pass the trikes so that they would have a couple of hours to swim. Now we just have something more to look forward to next year!

 

I do want to thank everyone on this board. You gave great advice and information and it helped to add some extra fun for us!

[Scrapnana]

Glad you all had such a good time. It really is addictive!

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Nice review. Glad you had a great time.

 

You can sit with your friends again on the next cruise but you must request it from DCL to link your dinner reservations together about 30 days prior to your cruise.

Only one party needs to call but you will need their names and room number and reservation number to do this.

They don't guarantee it but it has always worked for us. No problem.

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Hi OP!!! Like you, I have cruised a lot of CCL and this year was also our first DCL and it blew our minds! We only had a 3 day, shortest cruise of my life and best cruise too! (minus hawaii, but the ports in hawaii were what was amazing. I can't even remember the name of the ship I went there on!)

 

Just curious about your comparison. Some of the cruise lines are complaining that Disney has happier people because they have less ships and therefore less passengers to please, or at least to answer in a survey.

 

I think if you were take multi-line cruisers like us and have us COMPARE our experiences, that would be even more telling.

 

Am I likely to cruise CCL in the future after my experience this year?

Survey: 1 on a 1 - 5 scale.

 

Am I likely to cruise DCL in the future after my experience this year?

Survery: 5 on a 1 - 5 scale.

 

Just curious about your experience from your fresh perspective. And you encountered disappointments with itinerary (none of which that could be helped) and you still have completely positive things to say.

 

So it's not like they are problem-free, or 'perfect' but they do offer a great family experience.