Disney for Adults with no kids?

[cocacola86]

I thought of RC, thing with Disney is we're going to WDW next month, I get more excited going to WDW than on my Carnival cruises, not that I don't like cruising, but with Disney you step into the park and you just transform back to your childhood, so is that the same way you get when you step on there cruiseline? I'm 36 but I can't wait to meet the characters. Am I the only adult who gets excited like that? I think I'm more excited than my 4 yo nephew.

[holula]

I think there are some magical things about the ships but I don't think they have that "magical" feeling that the parks makes you get. I get the same thing in the parks, not so much on the cruise.

[LuCruise]

I think there are some magical things about the ships but I don't think they have that "magical" feeling that the parks makes you get. I get the same thing in the parks, not so much on the cruise.

 

I totally agree with this. Disney World is completely magical...you go back to your childhood and you're lost from the real world. The Disney cruise, was fun but not quite the same feeling.

[cocacola86]

So with that said, what keeps you coming back to Disney?

[moki'smommy]

From the DCL website:

 

 

Pete's Boiler Bites

Location: Disney Magic

Overview

At a Glance

Location: Deck 9, Aft

Restaurant Type: Quick Service

Cuisine: American

Meal Type: Lunch and Dinner and Snack

Pete's Boiler Bites on the Disney Magic is an outdoor Quick Service dining location on Deck 9, Aft next to the AquaLab pool area, serving lunch and dinner in a casual setting.

 

If you're looking for a tasty snack for lunch or dinner without the formality of table-service dining, or perhaps you just want a little something between meals, Pete's Boiler Bites is the place for you. Featuring classic American fare the entire family is sure to love, this breezy eatery invites you to sink your paws into a mouth-watering selection of tasty treats.

 

Lunch, Dinner and Snacks

Lunch, dinner and snacks are served from approximately 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. every cruise day. Check the Personal Navigator—the Disney Cruise Line daily newsletter detailing all there is to see and do—for specific dates and times of activities while onboard.

 

Although subject to change, lunch, dinner and snack food items might include:

 

Hamburgers

Hot Dogs

Veggie Burgers

Tacos

Chicken Tenders

 

Again, have you checked out The DCL website has a lot of information about each class of ship here as well that can help you compare each ship before you make your decision.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com

 

The Disneycruiselineblog also has some previous menu's for you to view and whet your appetite:

http://disneycruiselineblog.com/menus/

 

ex techie

 

Room service has hamburgers, pizza, and chicken fingers 24/7 except the last night of the cruise when they close at 1 am. The pool deck outlets have decent hours, but room service is always there as a back up.

[cyclenut]

We love cruising with Disney. That said, my wife and I did a seven day on Freedom of the Seas without the kids on an Eastern itinerary and had the time of our lives. For kid less thirty somethings, I would say there is a lot more to do on a Royal Caribbean ship.

 

The Freedom is an outstanding ship. We absolutely loved our cruise on the Freedom. We felt the same way you did after our Freedom cruise. Having just left the Fantasy, I can honestly say we liked it better in many ways, although not in every way.

 

We will do either line again. Adults only.

[TrustNoOneKMC]

I took an adults only cruise on the Disney Dream. While the shows are family oriented, I thought they were the best productions I've seen on any cruise line (then again, it's Disney!). The adult only areas really were adults only. While I definitely enjoyed the cruise, I missed having adult entertainment in the evenings. I am one who likes to go to karaoke or piano bars on cruise ships, or even gamble a little. None of these were available on the disney ship (although there was 1 dance club open for adults, but I wasn't interested). I have heard that you have more options for evening activities on the longer disney cruises, but if you do without these things, I think you will really love the Disney ships!

[cocacola86]

If you knew what you know now, would you still have taken the cruise? Would you have any tips for a first timer?

[Carolla5501]

Personally if I never set foot on the dream again it's fine with me. Go for a smaller ship

 

 

Dream adult areas are poorly designed, service was horrid and since it does shorter cruises and has the fancy kids area it's a family magnet.

 

 

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[chictravel227]

OK, so my 2 cents here as well. All of my cruises have been adults only. Adults have ranged in age from 23-60's.

 

It depends on you. And what you like/dislike.

 

My first cruise ever was on the Magic (spoiled me for everything else). It was a med cruise and the kids, well, the kids ran rampant and the adults did not seem to remember to parent. We had late seating and the table adjacent to us let their 6 year old run wild around the table, constantly knocking into our chairs.... Had I known, we should have spoken with our head server immediately and asked to be moved. Now I know better. I still remember our waiters though and they really did make up for everything. They were awesome. The whole cruise was awesome, but I don't know how you have a "bad" time when in the med. I mean, come on. I was hesitant to take another Disney cruise because of the kids. We would many times step onto the elevator and find ALL the buttons pushed... Or just kids running around without adult supervision. Do parents not worry their kids will climb the railings and fall overboard? I should also note, these were loooooong port days. Some excursions lasted over 12 hours, so we were not on the ship much on port days. We would pretty much be up at the crack of dawn, get back, shower, go to show and dinner, crash, repeat.

 

2nd cruise was on Princess for Alaska. Well, my expectations from the Disney cruise were pretty high. I should have lowered them significantly. Smoke smell in room (even after calling ahead to make sure it was cleaned properly...) Entertainment not as good, never got to know our servers, food was horrible (way salty, salt lick salty). The brunch that you pay for was horrible, mine was warm, I was a bit afraid to eat it. Champagne should not be room temp... Especially when there was an up-charge for this brunch. If it were free, well, then, I would not care. Holes in my sheets and they were never changed. I mean, we are not in a boys dorm room, right? Kids were not bad on this cruise, but there were more than we expected. Again, this was Alaska and really, how can you have a bad time? So beautiful. And glacier bay. Just wow. I also missed the towel animals in my room every night (kid at heart), you get this on Disney. Not so much nightly on the other lines. You may if you have kids. I still want the animals, with or without kids.

 

3rd cruise, back to Disney we go. We were on the Magic again and had our same server from Palo! We did have different dining room servers since one of ours had married and the other was off during that time :(. I tell you, we loved them! Magic tricks after dinner! It was great. We again had a great time. We did a Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral, it was a blast. Same great food and service. This sailing also had a high tea, which was fun to attend! Not as many kids, we did an off-season sailing. This is still hit or miss as many will take kids out of school and/or they are home schooled.

 

4th cruise, I did a Carnival as a girls trip. It was a great itinerary and was tons of fun. I think we had 6 port stops on a 7 night cruise. Which was a good thing, because if you don't gamble, then there was like nothing to do for adults. Unless you wanted to participate in the hairy belly contest.... Demographic was a bit different and I am not in college anymore. Still had a blast. Just got bored on the day at sea. OH, and we booked a suite, which means different things on different lines. Not really a suite, more a big room, still only 1 bathroom. I tell you, Disney spoils you. Food wise, well, it seemed like they would choose one starch (veggies were hard to find, sometimes if you ordered broccoli, you got one spear), so you had different meats, but mashed potatoes were being served whether you got the salmon, steak, or chicken. It made me laugh.

 

5th cruise, back on Disney, the Fantasy this time. Aqua-Duck here we come! So, we were on the cruise that got hit by the rogue wave on the way back from St. Thomas. Yeah, the aqua duck was a blast. Servers, not so great this time. It was pretty new, so not sure what was going on, but neither or server or assistant server were on their A game. Room steward was awesome. Bigger ship than the Magic. I loved Remy. Palo disappointed compared to Palo on the Magic. Brunch was still awesome, but it was more get you in, turn the table over, goodbye. Whereas, on the Magic, you were encouraged to savor your experience. Remy was an awesome experience, it took us over 3 hours. Loved our server! We also had brunch at Remy, it was more a foodie brunch, not something for everyone, but still enjoyable. I liked it.

 

6th cruise - well someone convinced me to try Princess again. Yeah, it was horrible. Smoke filled ship that you could not escape. Ruined the piano bar, as smoke filtered up to it. Was not fond of the shows. Food was mediocre. The sheets did not have holes in them, BUT the beds were so hard we could not sleep. We are on vacation in what is essentially a floating hotel, right? Beds should be routinely checked and changed out as needed. Guests should not be told they should have requested an egg crate. Customer service fail anyone? That is like going to the best western and being like, oh yeah, give me an egg crate for your bed because the quality is so bad. The cruise itself was fun, another Caribbean cruise, better itinerary than Disney offers. We got to go to Honduras and Belize. It was lots of fun. I just needed to sleep for a week and use a breathing treatment when I got home.

 

7th Cruise - Back to Disney, this time on the Wonder. I am spoiled on their customer service. This was too short of a cruise, only 5 days. Ack! It was still a blast. Palo was like it was on the Magic, where they don't rush you and you don't feel like they are simply trying to turn the table over.

 

Overall, I love Disney's smoking policy. It is only allowed outside. I have a sensitivity to it and asthma, so it is important to me that I have quality air coming into my lungs. This may not matter to you, so it may not impact your choice of lines. It does mine. After that last experience on Princess, until they change the policy, which is unlikely, I am not sailing on any ship that allows indoor smoking. I will say, it was not nearly as bad on my first Princess ship or the Carnival ship, so I don't know what was different on this sailing, maybe the layout of the ship?

 

Food - you are going to get a different opinion from everyone, some like DCL's rotational MDR's. Some like the anytime dining. Some like only going to the up-charge restaurants. Each line has both good and bad things about it.

 

Service - IMHO Disney just wins this hands down.

 

Rooms - Disney's are bigger for same category of room in general. Maintained better. On the last Princess cruise, our balcony badly needed sanding, mom got a splinter from putting her hand on it. I have not seen Disney let the banister get that bad.

 

Entertainment - Disney wins, even without kids. Tastings are offered and the CM's have fun with them. Much drier on Princess. I don't think we had time for any on Carnival. That really was an awesome itinerary.

 

Overall Experience - this depends. If you love Disney and are a kid at heart, then Disney is for you. If you like things a little more proper, then Princess. Carnival was more of a party atmosphere.

 

At the end of the day, all of us here have our own experiences and nuances and can share those, but it really will be up to you! All the lines are different and will have pluses and minuses, it is just finding one that has the most pluses for you.

[Ex techie]

If you knew what you know now, would you still have taken the cruise? Would you have any tips for a first timer?

 

If you quote the person you are commenting on their thread, it helps identify who you are responding to. Or otherwise it can be lost on everyone else.

 

ex techie

[perditax]

Chictravel, thank you so much for posting all of that. I really enjoyed the quick summaries and contrasts. Posts like yours also make me wish the Magic had itineraries that lined up with my travel needs, not the first time I've felt this way, but it seems like my first cruise/first DCL cruise will be the Dream. Maybe next year.

[Ex techie]

Chictravel, thank you so much for posting all of that. I really enjoyed the quick summaries and contrasts. Posts like yours also make me wish the Magic had itineraries that lined up with my travel needs, not the first time I've felt this way, but it seems like my first cruise/first DCL cruise will be the Dream. Maybe next year.

 

So you are not cruising on the Dream in September this year anymore?

 

Thats sad!

 

ex techie

[perditax]

Ex techie, sorry, my wording was ambiguous. I see a lot of people say they prefer the Magic over the bigger ships, and since I'm not a fan of crowds it sounds appealing. But the Magic doesn't have itineraries that work for me in the same time frame, and in a "nearby" time frame (late sept rather than early/mid) they cost $1000 more for the same category and number of nights. So it's the Dream this year, maybe the Magic next year if all goes well on the first cruise.

[cyclenut]

Ex techie, sorry, my wording was ambiguous. I see a lot of people say they prefer the Magic over the bigger ships, and since I'm not a fan of crowds it sounds appealing. But the Magic doesn't have itineraries that work for me in the same time frame, and in a "nearby" time frame (late sept rather than early/mid) they cost $1000 more for the same category and number of nights. So it's the Dream this year, maybe the Magic next year if all goes well on the first cruise.

 

Enjoy your cruise on the Dream. I think both types of ships offer something different. Classic ships are smaller, but no less "crowded". There are less people, but also fewer places for those people to go.

 

Search for my review from my Fantasy cruise that I posted here on Cruise Critic. It was just published this week. Look at the pictures I posted of the ship in this forum. The Dream is going to be similar to the Fantasy in a lot of ways.

 

I actually prefer the larger ships as adults travelling without kids. I feel as though they have more to offer by way of entertainment on board. I also thought the shows were much better.

 

That is the beauty of these forums. Nobody is wrong. It is their perspective and you have the chance to gain different perspectives as input to your own personal choices.

[perditax]

Enjoy your cruise on the Dream. I think both types of ships offer something different. Classic ships are smaller, but no less "crowded". There are less people, but also fewer places for those people to go.

 

 

 

Search for my review from my Fantasy cruise that I posted here on Cruise Critic. It was just published this week. Look at the pictures I posted of the ship in this forum. The Dream is going to be similar to the Fantasy in a lot of ways.

 

 

 

I actually prefer the larger ships as adults travelling without kids. I feel as though they have more to offer by way of entertainment on board. I also thought the shows were much better.

 

 

 

That is the beauty of these forums. Nobody is wrong. It is their perspective and you have the chance to gain different perspectives as input to your own personal choices.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'm in still in that early newbie/planning stage where the grass is always greener and I'm easily swayed by the negative and the positive. :)