OK - need advice!!! About This Page:

[Luvsun]

Well - I am so excited I am about to bust!
Dh told me to check out prices for a Disney cruise! And you can bet, I have been doing my homework.
Now - what I need from you guys is some advice.
Lots of advice.....here we go.
We have never been on a cruise, so I am very, very new to this.
I think I want to do a 7 day cruise. But since this is my first, should I do a 4 day cruise and 3 day land - or just all 7 days of cruising?
If I do a 7 day cruise - Eastern or Western Caribbean??? Which one???
I am looking at February - April of 09. What month is best weather wise?
Early or late dinner??? (I am thinking late - since we won't have children with us)
Any help and advice is greatly appreciated!

[theJordans]

We`ve done two cruises a 4 day family cruise and a 7 day, me and DH one.
Both were great! I think some people opt for the shorter cruises just to see if they like them. To me if you can spare the time 7 days is the way to go. Though saying that I would have to have a trip to WDW come what may.
Weather wise both early January and November have been great - lovely temps and flat seas. DD and I are sailing next month we`ll see what that brings.
We`ve had late seating twice - however on the 7 day cruise I was so tired by evening I felt I was hanging about waiting for dinner - so this time we have opted for early seating.
DH and I did the western cruise, mainly as we wanted to visit Key West. Generally speaking the ports of call don`t really concern me as like being on the ship. I`ve heard the eastern is more picturesque but the seas might not be so calm.
I`m sure you`ll get lots of other opinions - have fun!

[emtpej]

Originally Posted by theJordans

We`ve done two cruises a 4 day family cruise and a 7 day, me and DH one.
Both were great! I think some people opt for the shorter cruises just to see if they like them. To me if you can spare the time 7 days is the way to go. Though saying that I would have to have a trip to WDW come what may.
Weather wise both early January and November have been great - lovely temps and flat seas. DD and I are sailing next month we`ll see what that brings.
We`ve had late seating twice - however on the 7 day cruise I was so tired by evening I felt I was hanging about waiting for dinner - so this time we have opted for early seating.
DH and I did the western cruise, mainly as we wanted to visit Key West. Generally speaking the ports of call don`t really concern me as like being on the ship. I`ve heard the eastern is more picturesque but the seas might not be so calm.
I`m sure you`ll get lots of other opinions - have fun!

Julie,
I agree with pretty much everything you are saying, so I don't have another opinion!

We did opt for the land & sea package, but that was only because we wanted to do both. Also, no one in our party had ever cruised before so we were not sure if anyone would become seasick. No one did, even though we were high up on the ship - deck 8. The early seating was fine with us - we are used to dining earlier, anyway.

I agree, the 7 night cruise is the thing to do (we are planning to go in 2011), and the weather may be a bit better if you go in April, but you might want to avoid spring break time, however, I never noticed any sort of crowding while aboard...

As a first time cruiser, having the Passporter book for DCL (and this forum) was invaluable! Oh, and get the DCL planning DVD -- ASAP!

[chezp]

How great that you're looking at cruises! We fell into the "shorter cruise first time" category. We booked three nights for our first cruise, just to see how we liked it - and we loved it. Having said that, I wouldn't have done it any differently, as I think it was a great way to just "get our feet wet" and to check there weren't any issues, such as seasickness. There weren't and we went on to the 11 day inaugural Med cruise last year.

[eff051102]

I went on a week long cruise with NCL several years ago and that was
my first cruise that I had ever been on. I LOVED it! However I went
with my best friend (both of us single) and we decided that for us,
a cruise was best if you had someone to really share it with. That was
just the feeling we both had.

Towards the end of the week we were ready to be home.

[colleymouse]

Two years ago we (DH, DDs, 11 and 8 at the time and I) decided to go on a shorter cruise to get our feet wet. DH and youngest DD are prone to motion sickness so we weren't sure how they would like being out to sea. We just couldn't resist going to WDW so we chose the land and sea package. We went to WDW first to accomodate our schedule but were so tired from the parks that the first day or so onboard were a little like a blur. Loved the ship experience so much, that we promised that we would return for a 7-day. We are going on the Thanksgiving cruise and can't wait to enjoy the 2 relaxing days at sea. We prefer the late seating so that you don't have to rush back from shore excursions and eating late made the days seem to last longer. We aren't in to spending time in the lounges so it was a nice way to end the day. If you wish to enjoy the nightlife, I would opt for the early seating.

[Earkid]

If you are considering cruising in April '09 you might be interested in the Passporter Decade of Dreams Cruise. Me, my DH, my mom and my 11 yr old niece will all be on this cruise as well as a bunch of other cool passporterites.

We just went on our first cruise in May. We jumped in with both feet and went on the 15 day Panama Canal repo cruise. No problems at all with motion sickness and I only took a Bonine about half the time on the ship. I was determined to go on this special cruise so maybe mind over matter helped? DH was worried we would be bored so we brought along a lot of books and his PSP. No books got read and the PSP never left its case. Just too much fun stuff to do on board.

[minushka72]

We took our very first cruise this past March. Did the 7 day EC with me, DH and DS(18 months). I thought about the 4 day but since I am not sure if we will be able to afford to go again soon, I really wanted to make this a wonderful vacation. Then spent 4 days w/ DFIL in the Lakeland area of FL. We still got in 2 days at WDW so everything was great. Cannot wait until we save up enough to go on another cruise (4 day or 7 day WC next time. )

[anangel21]

DH and I are planning a cruise for Summer 2009. It will be our first cruise ever too...and we were going back and forth about doing a 4 night vs. the 7 night and after much research we decided to go all out and do the 7 night. We haven't decided on which (Eastern/Western) to take, but we were afraid that the 3/4 night cruise would leave us wanting a longer vacation.