Finished 3 day Cruise just before Xmas 2008 - my thoughts and trip summary About This Page:

[CinciSmithFamily]

First of all, this website was invaluable to me in planning and preparing for our Disney cruise.

I can honestly say that this is the best family vacation we've ever taken. Everyone was happy every day we were together.

I would like to touch on a few things which will make this turn into a rather long post

First, we ended up spending about $250 on passports several months before the trip which weren't needed. We used them but we could have easily used our drivers license. I know homeland security was bouncing back and forth on that. The good news is that it only took about 8 days to have our passports processed and sent to us without any expedited shipping.

We drove from Cinci to Orlando, stayed the night in the Nickelodean hotel, let the kids swim and play around that evening , then left the next morning around 10am to Port Canaveral. We arrived around 11. We struggled to find a place to eat breakfast in port canaveral, mainly because I'm not familiar with the area. We eventually made our way over to the exit for the Disney Cruise. The parking staff was very helpful and suggested my wife take the kids and check us in while I parked. Parking was $45 for the 3 day cruise. I dilligently went thru the car and removed any food items we had. By the time I had walked into the waiting area, we were already registered and were waiting with about 400 other people to get on the boat. It wasn't crowded but there wasn't any available seating and several people were milling about. I assume our cruise was fully booked because two weeks before I checked for an in-law and there were no room options available for our date, but that could also mean it was so late that Disney had locked down the reservation system. I'm not sure how that works.

The time went quickly as we checked out the model of the boat, received our pager for the kids club (highly recommend registering online and doing all paperwork online - made the check in process and boarding the boat, getting to what we wanted to do so much easier). The personalized cards you get for access to your stateroom and onboard charges have the dining pattern you have printed on them for you. T for Trident, P for Parrot Cay, and A or AP for Animator Palate

At some point past noon they started calling people on board by groups. We were in group 6 which boarded about 20 minutes after they started the process. As recommended on this site, our kids were wearing their swimsuits under their clothes, so as soon as we were greeted, we went straight to the elevator to level 9 and let the kids swim in the Mickey Pool. The water slide wasn't open yet but they had a great time splashing around. We were literally the only people in the pool area for about 15 minutes and it still wasn't crowded by 2:00pm. While the kids played, we walked over to Goofey Galley and got a healthy snack avoiding the Pizza and Hamburger grills. I'm not sure if Beach Blanket Buffet was open immediately but later on I noticed people bringing food out to the pool area from there. The one thing we did forget however was sunscreen. We learned that you could go to customer service and they would sell it to you as the shops on the ship were not open until the boat left the dock. I was afraid there would be a huge line at Customer Service but there was not. I walked straight up (and paid $13 for sunscreen).

We went to our rooms around 2:45. Our luggage had not arrived but we relaxed , read the navigator and waited for the lifeboat drill. Once our luggage arrived I took out the over the door shoe rack I brought ($8 from target) just like someone suggested on this site. It did make a huge difference in the clutter in the room - shoes, sunscreen, hats, cameras - everything went in there and kept our room managable for the trip. The one thing I did not bring based on suggestions here was bottled water and a collaspible cooler. I never imagined a scenario where we'd want either one, although we did end up buying a couple of bottled waters throughout the trip.

The first night we did not go to a show called the Golden Mickey's which I regret. I would suggest you go to a show every night on the boat. They are very high quality and appealing for everyone. We introduced the kids to the oceaneers lab on our first night just for a few hours. My wife and I were a bit apprehensive about kids on a boat, leaving kids in the club, etc. Thats an understatement. We are overly protective parents. Let me just say right now that after about 2 hours on the boat I was completely at ease with leaving my kids. We had dinner at Parrot Cay? I think thats what its called. It was ok, the staff interaction was fun and my son and daughter who are normally pretty reserved suprised us when they jumped up to do the limbo. Our drink hostess came over and grabbed them which was really for them as they ran around the room in a line with all the other participating guests. By the time dinner was over we had our picture taken at least a half dozen times so we decided to check out Shutters and see if we have any good family pictures. We ended up spending $84 on a package that let us pick out the best (5) 8X10's throughout the cruise. We traded a couple in as we took better shots later on in the cruise.

The second day we arrived in Nassau. My wife and I originally planned to stay on the boat so we didn't book any on shore excursion. We did however take the kids into Nassau and just walk around. That was a fun experience for us but the kids were ready to head back. We dropped them off at the Oceaneers club and intended to let them stay there for several hours as we had reservations at Palo that night. Remember when I said we are over protective parents? We were so comfortable with Oceaneers club that we left the boat and went back into Nassau. Only for a fleeting moment did I think "what if we miss the 7pm curfew?". We walked down to the straw market, bought a few t-shirts and odd-n-ends. Got back on the boat and had a couple of hours before our Palo reservation.

This is the moment that probably sold me on the disney cruise. We decided to check in the kids at the club, and they had moved them to the disney studio to play a game called "Who wants to be a pirate?". But this wasn't just any game, it had a host and hostess who had divided the kids up into two groups, the 8-9 versus the 10-11. The host and hostess were dressed up in full pirate gear and had a ship's wheel that they were spinning which landed on various games for the groups to play in a competition against each other. The host and hostess stayed in chracter throughout the game being pirates and every time they spun the wheel , whatever game it landed on, they had professionally created audio and video played to describe or announce the game which was headed up by a technician in the control room in the back. We sat in the back of the room and watched as our kids had a great time playing this. We were 100% comfortable going off and having a good time on our own because we knew the kids were probably happier not being around us anyways.

I forgot to mention that just prior to us checking on the kids, my wife went off to her hot stone massage that cost something like $175. She loved it and will never go on a vacation again without doing something like that.

To be honest , Palo was a bit of a let down for me. I'm not sure what I expected but to me it didn't really differentiate itself from Animators Palate in terms of food and our wait staff, while very attentive didn't really help me enjoy the experience. The experience of an adult only environment didn't really come off as a "must do" for us. Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed our meal and our time there, I just expected to be blown away. Also a word about meals at the 3 restaurants (Palo excluded). Whatever time you have scheduled to go eat, there is no point showing up even a minute early. You don't go into the restaurant until that time and our first night we showed up 5 minutes early only to stand in a long line. Had we just shown up 2 minutes after our start time, we could have just walked in and sat down.

Again, we missed the show - Toy Story the Musical which sounded great.

The pirate night was fun for the kids but we were wore out by the time the fireworks were over. None of us had the energy to stick around for the food and fun afterwards. That was the only time during the trip that I felt the boat was too crowded. Getting from our room to level 9 on the elevators took forever and ended up walking up and down the stairs that night. Even though I think our cruise was fully booked, I never felt like the pool was too full, we always found a table on the decks, never had to stand in line more than maybe 4 deep for anything.

The next day was Castaway Cay. We had a 9am time for the Stingray experience so we were literally the first ones off the boat. We found a nice spot toward the end of the beach with a hammock, lawn chairs and some space. I put our stuff on it thinking the beach would fill up and there would be nothing available later on. We went to the stingray experience which was fun for the kids. I taught my son to snorkel and he was hooked. He didn't want to do anything else for the whole day. We went back to our spot on the beach and it was still almost pretty much empty. The beach actually didn't look like it was even close to filling up until around 11 and for the entire day, I don't think anyone had to really work at finding a spot to hang out. You may not have got a prime spot but there was plenty of spaces. The line for the b-b-q was a bit long at first and then they moved people around and opened up more spots which dropped it down to only a 5 minute or so wait

We went back around 3:30 after riding bikes on the island, showered and dressed for the show. I don't remember the name - I think Magical Dreams? It was a montage of scenes from Disney movies based on using your imagination and it was very impressive. My daughter was entranced the entire show. Then had dinner at Animators Palate which was fun.

Finished the night up with a family portrait , packed and prepared to leave the boat. Left our luggage outside the door and prepared our tips.

All 3 days we had breakfast at the beach blanket buffet,mainly due to time constraints. It was a typical breakfast buffet. I think we had lunch on the boat twice, once at the buffet and once at the galley. Getting food was not an issue.

One thing I didn't do was set aside some cash for the guy at the port to carry our bags out to our car. Luckily my son had some cash so we left him a tip.

I guess the best vote of confidence I can give the cruise is we booked again while we were on board. Even though I'm a bit suprised at how much we spent once we were on board - about $300 a day for us mainly because he had no self restraint - it was a very enjoyable vacation. We didn't get to alot of things - bingo, art auction , see a movie or play any sports. There just wasn't enough time.

One final note - I would highly recommend you pack medicine for various travel illness - tums, immodium, mylanta, dramamine, sinus relief, whatever - I spent a small fortune on board the boat for various items for my family. And just keep liberally putting on the sunscreen for yourself and the kids.

Ok well I hope that helps someone who is planning an upcoming Disney cruise

[SuperKate]

GREAT review! I'm glad you enjoyed the cruise, and I'm glad you found some tips on passporter that could help you!

[Colexis Mom]

Thanks for the review!! Glad you had a great time!!

[laurak]

I really enjoy reading the trip reports. This is our first disney cruise, and I love to read everyone's opinion/perspective on their trips.

[cdnmickeyfan]

Thanks so much for that review. Tho we are going on a 7 day cruise, alot of what you talked about will be really helpful to us.

[DyanKJ130]

Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Glad you could make good use of information you found on PassPorter. for sharing your review with us! I have enjoyed reading it

[chezp]

Sounds like you had a great time. And just think, now you have those passports, the world is your oyster - you can easily come over this side of the pond and visit the UK!

[shellybelly72]

great review!

[Lez(Madi and Lawton's mom)]

Thanks for the review.. we go next week so added a few things to get from your list

[CinciSmithFamily]

One other thing I forgot to mention about the beach at Castaway Cay

The lifeguards take their job very seriously and not only do they have lifeguards on the beach, they also have them on stands out in the water. I didn't feel the need to watch my children like a mother hen while they were in the water.

Completely different experience from taking my kids to Gulf Shores or any beach for that matter.

Castaway Cay has no waves, clear shallow water, and lifeguards who don't miss a thing. Of course Disney isn't a substitute for responsible parenting.

[iamgrumpy]

Great Review, Glad you had a great time and Great tips!

Dinner I will agree at Palo is nice but not spectacular but I loved the Brunch we had there.

[chezp]

Castaway Cay looks stunning.

[DCLFANATiC]

Great review !!!

[DyanKJ130]

Great photo!

[bornin49]

Great review,I really enjoyed reading it on a cold winters night.