3-Night Bahamian Disney Cruise Line Report – Part 1
We recently set sail for a 3-night cruise to the Bahamas aboard the Disney Dream, and thought we’d share our experience with Disney Cruise Line in this trip report. We have a lot of cruise photos to share, thoughts on the itinerary, ship, dining, and other aspects of the experience.
Our Disney cruise almost didn’t happen. We booked it around a month before our Walt Disney World trip with my parents was to start (thankfully we had procrastinated on buying airfare!), and only did it because we saw an exceptional deal on the cruise. (By the way, that WDW trip report is still coming–I’m doing this one first because it’s shorter and we’ve been busy. Plus, I realized we’ve never posted a cruise report, so this is entirely new material.)
We’ve done these last-minute cruise deals in January and February before; in our experience, it seems like the best time of the year to score a great deal on Disney Cruise Line. There was actually a slightly better price for a cruise shortly before our trip, but the dates didn’t line up as well. With this cruise, we sailed the same day my parents checked out of our cabin at Fort Wilderness, which worked out perfectly…
Rather than taking Disney’s shuttle to the airport, we did a one-way car rental from the Swan & Dolphin to Port Canaveral.
In our case, this worked out to be significantly cheaper than paying for the shuttle (it’s always good to check–sometimes this will save money, sometimes it won’t). It also was more convenient and allowed us to arrive at port early.
Since we’re Castaway Club members, we had an early boarding time for the ship, and we wanted to take advantage of that (and also not pay for breakfast somewhere). I’d describe the boarding process for Disney Cruise Line as “organized chaos.”
There are tons of people in the waiting area and a variety of lines, but somehow Cast Members do an exceptional job of getting people where they need to go in an efficient manner. We breezed through security and were on board 10 minutes after arriving.
Our first stop once on the Disney Dream was Cabanas, which is set up as an arrival-day buffet.
We were really hungry by this point, so we got plates piled high with crab legs, steak, and a variety of other things.
The highlight, by far, was the lamb. (The crab was good, too, but I don’t have the patience for that.)
After a huge meal–I literally don’t think I could’ve eaten another bite–we needed to find somewhere to beach ourselves. On the way to the lounge chairs, we passed the soft serve ice cream station.
My code of ethics compels me to stop whenever I see free ice cream (yes, a portion of my “ethics” involve ice cream…doesn’t yours?!), so I prepared myself a huge cone. Ice cream is 95% milk anyway (#fakescience), so this was basically a healthy way to offset the unhealthy things I had at Cabanas.
From there, we headed over to the adult area, found lounge chairs, and I almost immediately passed out. So much for boarding early to “enjoy the ship.” The food coma wore off pretty quickly–I think I was asleep maybe 30 minutes before getting up.
At this point, we decided to get some work done before the ship departed and we lost internet. We had not used the ship WiFi previously, but I noticed they were offering a free 50MB internet package if you signed up on the first day. (Maybe this isn’t new, but it was new to me.) I didn’t need this while we were still at port, but signed up anyway as it was an embarkation day special.
Foolishly, I did not pause my cloud services after signing up, and my internet was gone in under 60 seconds after signing up, despite me not actively using the internet. I should’ve known better, but let that be a lesson… (Honestly, I’m pretty sure there was a warning about this on a page I clicked-through without reading.)
I think our Disney Cruise Line coverage has been lacking on the blog, and aside from the fact that we haven’t gone on many cruises, that’s probably because we haven’t done any super in-depth posts about Disney Cruise Line.
If you’ve never cruised, hopefully the photos and info about our experience will help answer some of the questions you might have (I’d also recommend ordering the free Disney Cruise Line planning DVD for video footage of the ships, ports, etc., as it provides nice comparisons.)
Our stateroom was ready at this point, so we headed there. Our luggage was awaiting us, as was our Castaway Club freebie, and a few other things. Even though I know it’s motivated by a desire to get repeat business, I really appreciate that Disney Cruise Line does the Castaway Club.
It makes loyal guests feel valued, and is a mutually-beneficial scenario. I really wish the parks would do something like this. Repeat guests sometimes feel like Walt Disney World’s absolute last priority, even though they are an important aspect of the business.
Ironically, despite the recommendation that you do “give serious thought” to which stateroom is right for you in our Top 10 First Timer Disney Cruise Line Tips post, every time we’ve cruised, we have done last-minute restricted fares, meaning that we didn’t get to choose a room category ahead of time.
This time we opted for the absolute cheapest tier of restricted fare, and ended up with an ADA Inside Stateroom (11C). This was perfectly fine by me. On a longer cruise, I would’ve preferred a verandah, but we planned on spending very little time in the room this trip.
A common complaint about cruise staterooms is that they are cramped and claustrophobic, but I’ve never felt this way about Disney Cruise Line staterooms (on this trip, the added space of the ADA room probably helped). I think part of that is DCL’s efficient use of space, and the nice style of the room.
The Magic Porthole was a nice touch, and there were cool ‘Easter Eggs’ that appeared on it from time to time, but I mostly appreciated it as an ambient night light. The bed was a much bigger deal, as it was incredibly plush and comfortable.
Next up was switching up our dinner seating so that eating wouldn’t interfere with photographing sunset (as much as I love eating, I do have my priorities in line!), which is a pretty simple process on the ship. In fact, everything on Disney Cruise Line is pretty simple.
One of Disney’s greatest strengths is how accommodating they are (almost to a fault), and that’s definitely true on the cruise ships, as well.
The Sailing Away party was one of the next things on the agenda…
It’s a cute-enough little thing, but my main complaint about this–and all of these little shows–is that it’s devoid of any substance. It’s basically just a smile and wave opportunity.
I get that this is probably sufficient for most families, but if the characters are going to be on stage anyway, why not have it be something that guests of all age can enjoy? These shows don’t have to be superficial.
Our next stop was the Disney Vacation Club Member Celebration. We’ve been to this before, and it’s basically just a session to hype people up about DVC and get members to add on points.
We had no intention of doing that, but it’s still a moderately enjoyable party, and Sarah wanted the free drinks they give out. I managed to “win” a light-up wristband, so there was also that.
After this, we ate again.
Even the quick service locations on the Disney Dream had solid food options.
While Sarah got ready for the show, I headed up to the deck for sunset. We planned on doing some serious eating on the cruise, so we agreed to always take the stairs wherever we went on the ship to help justify our gluttony.
Seriously, if eating were a sport, this cruise would’ve qualified us for the Olympics. Being on Deck 2 made this quite the challenge, especially as I raced up and down trying to capture the sunset.
I had a really limited window to photograph the sunset, and if it had turned out to be a good one with lingering color after official sunset time, I would’ve missed the beginning of The Golden Mickeys.
This was a risk I was willing to take, but it didn’t end up being an issue as the sunset was nothing special.
We met up in front of the Walt Disney Theater about 5 minutes before the Golden Mickeys, and somehow still managed excellent seats. The last time we had seen this was in Hong Kong Disneyland, and the show was dramatically different from what we experienced there.
Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable show. Some elements were a bit hokey (the bit with Bob Iger felt like classic Eisner to the point that I wonder whether the show was approved when he was still CEO) and the narrative didn’t really feel all that satisfying–in typical Disney montage show fashion, it seems like an excuse for the musical numbers–but it was enjoyable. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed during these stage shows. After the Golden Mickeys, we wandered around The District (the adult nightlife area) before it was time for dinner at Animator’s Palate. We’ll pick up there on Page 2.
I think the higher level of service on a cruise line, Disney or any other line, also has to do with the backgrounds of the people in those positions and the “accountability” measures set by management. For the most part the cabin and wait staff on a cruise are not from the US. In contrast most of the domestic parks staff are. Why? Because the cruise positions are unpaid with no benefits and depend entirely on guest tips for their income. The ships fly under non-US flags and US labor laws are not followed. There is no minimum wage on a cruise ship. Staff who do not meet a high threshold on customer service surveys and feedback do not keep their positions. Because these are highly sought positions management can set high goals. For US citizens and residents better pay and working conditions can be found domestically. But for people from less affluent contries the cruise line positions offer income beyond what can be made at home and therefore staff are willing to be away from family for months at a time, work long hours, and constantly strive to meet service goals in a way domestic parks CMs wouldn’t because they (parks CMs) have other employment options. This isn’t just Disney, this is how all the cruise lines operate.
How early can a first time DCL family board? It looks like a great idea to get onboard and maybe go to the pool before the masses arrive.
I was wondering what your room # was. I do not like small rooms but could handle that inside room
Great start to the trip report! I just blogged about taking a 3 Day Royal Caribbean Cruise. It’s interesting to see the differences! The buffet food definitely looks a lot better on Disney.
Hello, you did not miss much from the buffet on the Disney Dream. My husband and I just traveled on the Dream March 10th and definitely think the Royal Caribbean Cruise have better buffets and quality of food than Disney.
Thanks for the great post and I look forward to more. Quick question the showers in the ADA room has to be easier to use than the ones in the regular rooms right? The shower was the only major issue my husband had on our honeymoon cruise in January. He’s 6.6 and couldn’t even think of standing up straight in the shower which was very uncomfortable for him. We actually discovered that he could us the shower in the spa area each day, but that was a hassle and we didn’t discover this till maybe day 5 on our 7 day cruise. If the ADA showers fit him better I may be able to talk him into another Disney cruise much sooner =-)
How far out do you buy the cruise to get the last minute deals? And would you say this is the best time to go?
Fantastic article! I agree with so much that is written here! We have sailed with Disney Cruise Line 3 times (starting all the way back to the Inaugural year of 1998!) and we are booked on our 4th one later this year, 1st time on the Dream! The impeccable Disney service and the attentiveness to cleanliness are our top reasons for sailing with Disney again and again. Their ships are just beautiful and so well taken care of. The crew members enthusiasm for their work shines throughout the ships! The Disney theme is not too overboard or underwhelming, but just perfect how they incorporate Disney into each of the ships designs. I love how the ships appeal to all ages and there is always something fun for everyone to do. I can actually take a vacation myself. As a mom of two, I feel like I am always ON duty…even at the parks. I know my kids are off having a blast in the kids clubs and well supervised, so I feel like I can totally relax and take it easy on a Disney Cruise. Meals and activities are all planned. There is literally nothing I have to do to make sure that everyone has a great time! Although more expensive than other cruises, I feel that for all you get on Disney Cruise, it just doesn’t compare to other cruise lines. There are ways to save for a Disney Cruise that make it much more comparable in price to other cruise lines…future placeholders, purchasing gift cards at a local grocery for fuel discounts, and a Disney Vacation Savings Account are all very helpful to us in discounting the cost of a Disney Cruise. Using these methods together can make a Disney Cruise much more affordable and quite comparable to other cruise line prices! Oh, just a suggestion for you, Tom, take your phone to the tech help desk next time. They will turn everything off for you and get you all set up so that you don’t go through your 50 free MB so fast the next time. Hope that helps! : )
Totally agree about the design, theme, and Disney-integration on the ship. It is pitch-perfect!
Just booked a 3 Night on the Dream for April 2018! After reading this It cant come fast enough! It all looks amazing
Hi Tom! I love your blog and you are my go to source for when free dining will be.
I have to agree with you about the lack of attention given to repeat visitors to the parks.
I had been every year for the first 10 years of my life, then again after graduating high school. In 2014 my wife and I married at the Disney Boardwalk and honeymooned at the parks as well. We went returned in 2015 and 2016.
As someone with a strong connection to WDW it is frustrating that no kind of program exists. When I call about my reservations and they ask me if I have visited in the past 5 years it drives me crazy thinking shouldn’t you already know.
Perhaps my expectations are too high but I just feel something is missing when Disney does so much so right.
I loved reading your review of the Disney Dream as we are taking our first family cruise on it in September! My question for you is this: is Nassau a great port to explore? My husband and I were here a couple of years ago but didn’t spend much time at a beach. Would it be better to enjoy the ship at this port and then enjoy Castaway Cay as a beach day, in your opinion? Thanks!
I’ve been on 3 cruises on the Disney Dream. I’ve only gotten off the boat in Nassau once, on our first cruise. I won’t get off there again. When we did go, we paid for one of the excursions to the Atlantis resort to play on their beach. It was a hard place to navigate, it smelled like dead fish, and the seagulls ate your food right from your table! I didn’t enjoy it at all! With such a short time on the boat, we like to stay on board and hang out at the pools or catch a movie while it’s less crowded. I will say if you don’t have kids along with you, Nassau may be an ok place to explore, but Castaway Cay blows the beach in Nassau away!
Lol! I was wondering about going over to Atlantis seeing as we’ve never been t like you said, with such a short time on the boat, it would b nice to enjoy it without the crowds! Thank you for your thoughts!
I agree that for a “beach day” Castaway Cay is much nicer than the beaches in Nassau. And many people/blogs will tell you not to get off the boat in Nassau. But I’d disagree. It’s a foreign country, and I think you owe it to yourself to at least wander around and explore for a little bit.
See the Queen’s Staircase, the Government House, the Cathedral. Or stop by the zoo. There are several geocaches in the city you can look for, if you enjoy that.
Thank you for your input! I have been in Nassau once before and mostly shopped on the main street, did hang out at a beach close to the cruise ship port, and had lunch at Senor Frogs (I think). We never went over to the beach at Atlantis and I was wondering if it is worth it? As the lady before you said, with such a short time on the boat, might be nice to enjoy it without the crowds
We went on this same cruise last February (Dream, 3 night Bahamaian). We loved everything about it!!! One thing I can attest to that wasn’t covered is the kids area. Our daughter, who was 6 at the time, absolutely loved it! I won’t go into all of the amazing things in there, because I won’t do it justice. Go look at some pictures and you will see that immediately. From a parent perspective, the kids area was like Fort Knox. You needed a special wristband, your key, and a secret code word (no, really) to retrieve your child. They would let you in just long enough to pick up your child, wash hands (coolest hand wash stations ever!) and leave. If you lingered at all beyond 5 minutes, they were kindly asking you to go or come back later. Only cast members and the supervised children were to be in the area. We also learned that if a child managed to get past the check in area, all of their screens would turn red and the ship would go on immediate lock-down. (No, this didn’t happen, we were just curious). Also, they have monitors built into the wristbands that allow them to know where your child is at all times. Imagine our surprise when we went to get our daughter and they quickly responded, “Sure, she is in the Millennium Falcon” (cause yes, that’s in there!!!). Of course we were wondering how they knew this so quickly, so they explained how the kids are constantly monitored.
So the major take away from the cruise was this: Parents – you can have adult time with ZERO guilt, because your kid is completely safe and having the time of their lives. And trust me when I say my dear husband is the king of the helicopter parent. He was a hard sell on letting her go in there, but once he saw the safety and security measures (and how reluctant she was to leave) he was fine.
I also think this is how Disney makes sure they have future customers. They give the parents some alone time! 😉
Thanks for the rundown on this! It’s interesting, and something we didn’t know as non-parents.
We wanted to tour/take photos of the kids area when we first boarded the ship (they’re usually open to look around early in the day), but in our rush to get food, we totally forgot. The re-imagined kids area on the Disney Magic is cool, and this sounds better than that one.
I had the opposite feeling about the kids area. I can understand why adults are not allowed in except a couple designated times for security, but part of the appeal of Disney has always been getting to do things with my kid. I drop my daughter off and go do “adult things” most every day. On vacation, I want to spend time with her.
All that said – the area is super-cool, and I realize there are other families who justifiably feel differently than I do. For them, this area is perfect, it’s just not for me.
This is soooo true. *I* felt guilty in advance of using this, especially as our daughter, who was also six when we went on this ship last year, is an only child, and I felt like what kind of parents take their child on a Disney cruise and then ditch her off with strangers so they can have a drink and a soak in a hot tub?? The best kind of parents, as it turns out. Our daughter had such a fantastic time in there; in fact, once she had the opportunity to meet a princess with a relatively short line, and she turned it down because she was in a hurry to get back to the club. The caregivers there are, literally, better than royalty.
As for my husband and I, it was our fourth cruise, but our first on the DCL, and he is not really a hardcore Disney fan…but he thought the value of this cruise far exceeded the ones we took in our pre-child days based on Disney’s attention to every detail.
We have done two cruises. Both times we hardly saw our kids (16, 14, 11, and 6), not because we just ditched them and left but because they were having a blast doing whatever they wanted. Even our youngest, who is the most clingy and hates being away from us, couldn’t wait to go back to the kids club each day, spent all day there, and was devastated the last night when he knew it was over. Both times the last morning was spent with big tears at breakfast from at least two of them. Like most things with parenting and kids, it all depends.
Just like you made me a bigger fan with the Upside Down reference some posts back, you’ve now added to my fandom with #fakescience
Now for my stay on topic comment, I loved this post. We’ve only done one Disney Cruise, last March on the Dream. It was my first ever cruise (I’m in my forties), and I absolutely loved it. Anytime y’all take another Disney cruise, I’d love another trip report!
And off-topic, any chance you’ll ever get to finish your Aulani trip reports from back in the day? We’re going in May, and I’d love and appreciate the rest of your thoughts, tips, and suggestions! (But I know life is crazy busy, so I totally get if you can’t or that ship has sailed-pun intended)
LOVE your and Sarah’s work. Truly apprappreciate it!
Interesting thoughts, as always. Here are mine:
–Three night cruises (or four even) are ridiculously short. I’ve been on 20 cruises now (seven on DCL) and the shortest Disney cruise I’ve done is five nights. Cruises are meant for relaxing and you haven’t lived until you’ve done 14 or 15-nights. I’ve done both on DCL as well as 14 nights on other lines. Besides, the fact you are off the ship almost before you are on, you also don’t get to dine in every location, see all of the show and entertainment and you don’t go anywhere. As a Floridian, the Bahamas are just a poorer version of here! 3-4 nighters are for newbies who have never set foot on an ocean liner and are afraid. It’s a starter much in the way I send Americans looking for Disney parks abroad to DLP before Asia because I know that Europe is easier to travel to for starters.
— You are 100% correct on service, but I’ll also say that except for one horrendous experience on Celebrity, I have found the Disney service level to largely (but not entirely) be the industry standard. It isn’t the theme park resort/tourist trap model. … I would also agree that WDW service once approached these levels and also concur that it went away by sometime in the 90s.
— You also did exactly what we did and saw Moana for the first time on our seven-night Western Caribbean Fantasy cruise last fall. No, it isn’t a waste or stupid to see films at sea and we usually do multiple films at sea. I recall seeing Princess and the Frog and Captain America Winter Soldier on DCL cruises … not counting films I caught on deck or stateroom TV.
— Back to DCL standards and pricing: I still recommend DCL highly, but not quite as what I would have 2-3 years ago. Prices are generally way too high. I’ve gotten lucky with Disney deals at times. We had two staterooms on the second ever Magic eastbound TA in 2010 for $599 a person (14 nights, inside, but not lowest category), the CM rate was $499 a person. When I see people paying thousands for 3-4 night hops to basically Castaway Cay (because bloggers, not yourself, have largely convinced newbs that Nassau is too scary to get off the ship to see), I see people burning $$$. You can routinely get 7-nights on other cruise lines out of Port Canaveral, Port Everglades, Tampa and Miami for far, far less than Disney. Disney has also had cutbacks at sea and they flat out have the worst ice cream and desserts at sea out of all the major lines (and this has been taken up the chain of command to Celebration Place, but they don’t care at this point beyond adding upcharge gelato locations on the Dream with one coming on the Fantasy this spring).
— Relaxation is ultimately the best reason to cruise. People who want to sleep six hours a night and then spend 12 hours going on the same old attractions at the MK or EPCOT mindlessly is probably not going to get much out of any cruise. But for people, like me, who recall when you could go to The Vacation Kingdom of the World and relax, well, DCL really is a Disney Dream come true.
I’ll only address a couple of these points now as most are going to be covered in subsequent posts on this…
-As for cruise duration, I’d definitely like to do a longer cruise. Unfortunately, our schedule would not allow it. The only reason we even did this cruise was because we were already in Florida and it was really cheap (by DCL standards). My dream cruise is one to Alaska, but the dilemma there (beyond pricing) is that a lot of stuff there I’d far prefer to just do on my own, and I could make the trip far easier just backpacking and camping. (I still want to do that cruise, but it’ll probably be my second trip to Alaska, not first.)
-Relaxation is definitely nice, but I also appreciate the number of activities and things to do. I’m not particularly big on relaxing, and Disney Cruise Line offers plenty to me so that I don’t feel like I’m “wasting time” by sitting around.
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Very excited to see this TR and looking forward to more cruise reviews, maybe restaurant reviews, excursions, and any other tips. Thank you and love your blog!
The only cruise we have been on was this same one – it was a fun time and I agree with you on service (particularly the waiters). But we discovered that cruising really isn’t our thing. Perhaps in that light, I’d disagree with the comparison to WDW.
When we ate at Aminator’s Palate I had something pretty decent to eat, but casually mentioned that my step-father’s pork looked tremendous. A couple minutes later and, bam, a plate of pork appeared in front of me. I happily ate both main dishes. And dessert. There must be something about cruise ships that increases metabolism…
Some friends of ours are cruise fanatics and have been on at least 15 Disney cruises. They say the 50MB isn’t new – just make sure to read only text. Adn they highly recommend the Disney cruise out of Norway.
Cruising is a nice change-of-pace for us, but it couldn’t replace Walt Disney World, nor would I do it as much. From that perspective, it’s an apples to oranges comparison.
I think the 50MB offer has been around for ~2 years, but it has been on ‘select cruises only’ for at least some of that time. This is the first time we’ve been on one of those ‘select’ cruises. It’s not a large allotment either way, but had I paused Dropbox and Amazon Cloud, I probably could’ve checked email for the duration of the cruise.
We used the 50MB free internet on our Disney Cruise to Alaska. If you turn off all your updates, and remember to log out of the internet when your done, it was more then enough to check email for the entire week. Alaska took our breath away and we basically forgot to even bother to check email after the 3rd day. It’s a cruise you really should do. Even as a first cruise to wet your appetite. It will only make you want to go back to Alaska.
Wow. Great timing. My wife and I have been talking more and more about taking a Disney cruise. I didn’t realize you guys reviewed DCL so this is a great resource at a perfect time. Seven day with verandah is what we’re looking for.
Tom, where do you go to find these last minute cruise deals?
Is this pricing that you find directly through Disney’s cruise site or are their 3rd party booking sites that offer deals?
There used to be a newsletter we subscribed to, but they stopped operating, so now we watch the website directly (it’s not working right now, but here it is anyway): https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/special-offers/
I also follow @TheDCLBlog on Twitter, and sometimes see stuff on Scott’s site: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/
Thanks I was about to ask the same question. I’ve only gone once but now you made me remember how much fun I had!
Nice post 🙂 I had to chuckle Tom – if you followed Scott *a little* closer, you’d have read about the 50mb internet 😉 Can’t wait for part two!
Did the four night Bahamas cruise in December 2009, a nice time to go because the ship is decorated for Christmas. We also went to the movies (saw the Jim Carrey version of A Christmas Carol). Never thought of it as an odd thing to do on a cruise though. It was a relaxing experience (except for the scarier parts of the film), and it got us out of the burning sun.
I think the cast member experience is more intimate on the ship, more so than the theme parks and hotels because, since there’s not too many places to go on a ship, you keep seeing the same people, both guests and cast members.
MY niece couldn’t pick her stateroom either and wound up with an inside ADA stateroom that slept eight. It was huge. And there were only two of them. I think they slept in a different bed every night.
I also miss the Disney feel of the earlier years. I think as the World expanded, the cast member/guest closeness dissipated. And by no means do I say that as a disservice to cast members. They deal with the public on a daily basis, and we all know that isn’t easy. I’ve seen guests who get argumentative and take it out on cast members. I think these guests have high expectations and get angry because things don’t turn out exactly the way they envision. Nothing like stress to bring out the worst in people.
At some point, I definitely want to do a Christmas cruise. I’m a sucker for Christmas, and the photos of decorations I’ve seen look awesome. The big downside of that is (from what I’ve seen) discounts aren’t as good or frequent–that seems to be a more popular time for cruising.
I’m a big fan of choosing the restricted categories for this very reason–it seems ADA rooms are often the most common ‘leftover’ so restricted guests end up with those a lot. It works out to be a nice upgrade at a lower price. Win-win!
We went on a 4-night on the Dream during in December. If you go during the first two weeks you get the decorations and the prices are much more reasonable than the second half of the month. We had six people in two rooms for under $4500 with delux ocean view rooms. The Christmas cruises are great with Christmas music piped throughout the ship, a beautiful tree, a show, and of course Santa. Also, Castaway Cay is decorated and has a tree on the dock.
We did a 4-night Bahamian on the Dream in mid-December a couple of years ago and got a good deal (relatively speaking …). We only booked 3 months out, and got an oceanview stateroom on deck 2 for 2 adults for under $1300. Loved the Christmas decorations, and the weather on Castaway Cay was perfect. Would definitely sail again during that same timeframe if I found another sailing at that price.
My first cruise was a 4 day Bahamas on the Dream December 2015. I wasn’t sure I would like cruising, but DCL is amazing and I’m hooked. I did a 7 day Western Caribbean on the Fantasy in Nov. 2016. I have a 7 day Southern Caribbean on the Wonder booked for Jan. 2018 and a 7 day Mediterranean on the the Magic booked for June 2018. I don’t normally relax on vacation because I like to get the most out of every day. I found that cruising, I can actually RELAX and I like it! I also like the fact that I can visit a lot of different places without moving my luggage from hotel to hotel. My hotel comes with me and always has a good meal and some entertainment waiting when I return.
One of these longer cruises to a ‘better’ destination is definitely on our radar. We are sort of ‘over’ the Bahamas (as I’ll cover in a future installment); cost/discounts become an issue with some of the other itineraries, though.
I have been on many cruises with seven different cruise lines, and DCL is by far my favorite. Yes, it is much more expensive than comparable itineraries with other cruise lines. But for a Disney fan, the experience simply can’t be beat! On our last cruise, we squeezed in three movies. There is something about watching a movie in the ship’s theater that is very appealing–and I always have to get popcorn as well (even if I have just stuffed myself with amounts of food that make your gluttony efforts look “cute”). Our first Disney cruise was last year immediately following Dopey, so I was taking the stairs rather slowly for a couple of days. We have booked two more cruises since then!
“…amounts of food that make your gluttony efforts look ‘cute’…”
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.