Disney Cruising Q&A ~ Part 2

(Continuation of Part I)

Without further adieu….Part 2!

1. What are some of the things that were not included on your cruise and you had to pay extra for? Is the spa included?

Here are some of the extras that have additional charges:

• Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
• Palo – fine dining, adults only restaurant where we celebrated Nana’s retirement
• Remy – fine dining adults only restaurant
• Internet
• Phone calls to numbers off the ship
• Gratuities ($12/day per person).  We chose to add additional funds to these because our servers and stateroom steward were exceptional!!
• Port Adventures/Excursions
• Excursion tips
• Professional Portraits
• Fruit smoothies
• Specialty coffees
• Alcohol
• Mixology classes and wine tastings
• Bottled water
• BINGO
• Arcade
• Souvenir shopping
• Tips for room service
• Cabana rental on Castaway Cay
• Hair Braiding
• Spa services
• Nursery services for babies under 3 years of age
• Children’s MagicBands if you choose to take it home
• Virtual Sports Simulators
• Snacks and popcorn sold outside the theatres
• Art
• Welcome Aboard/Birthday packages
• Onboard/Castaway Cay wedding ceremonies
• Vow renewals
• Laundry
• Parking/port transportation
• Port Porters
• Deposit for next cruise

One thing Disney does include that I don’t believe any other cruise line does is complimentary soft drinks.  There is a soda machine on the 11th deck that I believe is open 24 hours a day that has pop, iced tea, lemonade and more.  There is also complimentary coffee and tea at the same location.

I know the list above is extensive but in reality there weren’t  many of those that we chose to partake in and most of those that we did we planned for in advance and went prepared.   Sharon and I both chose to take cash with us that we applied to our onboard accounts soon after boarding.  Rather than having anything charged to our credit cards we were able to pay for everything before leaving the ship.

Aside from gratuities I’ve heard of some people paying as little as $50 in additional charges to others who pay thousands!  Yikes!!!  You truly can have a very enjoyable cruise without paying for many things that require additional charges.  This year Nana and I treated Hannah to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, went to Palo for lunch, purchased a few professional photos and used a porter when we left the ship.  We were happy with all of these choices!

Here are the professional portraits I chose to purchase.  I have a frame for the first one and will hang it alongside a picture of Hannah with Mickey and the photo mat that was signed by all the characters.

There were many opportunities to have pictures taken by professional photographers and they took beautiful pictures!  If you go on a cruise I highly recommend preparing for a family picture as they are beautiful keepsakes of your time together.  (The photographers can also be booked for family sessions outside of the times that they are available for all.  We saw many families doing this and it was a great way to gather many people into a beautiful photo!)

2. What did you enjoy most about the cruise?

Hands down I would say it was the time we spent together as a family!  Hannah, Sharon and I travel really well together and sharing this time together was the best!!  There was nothing else to take our time away from each other (eg. cooking, house work, work, etc.) so we focused on each other.  Perfect!!  Our preference was to eat in dining rooms for the majority of our meals which gave us quiet times together each day when we could talk in a quieter atmosphere, enjoy great food and discuss our upcoming plans.

Aside from that I think it would be the way the cruise allowed us to relax, and at the same time do a lot, all in the time frames that suited us best.  

Here is a typical ‘at sea’ day for our family:

- wake up between 7 and 8 and prepare for the day

- breakfast in the dining room

- character greetings or clubs for Hannah.  Sharon would often go for walk on the 4th floor walk/run track at this time.

- if Hannah chose not to go to clubs we would either play Midship Detective or go for a swim

- lunch in a dining room

- most afternoons we spent at the pool although a couple of afternoons went to a cooking display or galley tour

- supper

- photos and/or character greetings

- live show in the theatre

- AquaDuck and swim in the Mickey pool

- crash sometime between 11 and 12pm, excited to start again the next day!

3. How does the dinning with another family work? I never heard of this.

Dining with another family is optional and quite common on cruises.  You can request a table on your own if you wish and Disney will do their best to fulfill your request.  We chose to dine with other people and it worked out wonderfully for us!  It was great to meet Tonya and her family and we continue to keep in touch. 

Disney Cruising Q&A ~ Part I

Thanks for your questions!  It’s fun to hear them and share from my experience.

I want to begin with a disclaimer that I am posting from my own point of view.  I have experienced 1 cruise in my life and it was a Disney cruise.  Hannah and I are HUGE Disney fans which also influences my thoughts and opinions.  That being said….let’s get on with the questions! 

1.  (From Lisa N)  “I wanted to ask you if you thought the cruise was worth the extra expense as compared to a regular Disney vacation and/or other cruises?”

In one word, ‘YES!’ 

I will say that I agree with you, Disney cruises are pricey!  Some may say they’re not but to the general public and in comparison to a regular WDW vacation or other cruise lines, the cost of a Disney cruise is more.

But, that being said, the extra cost is worth it to me.  Personally I would choose to cruise less often and go with Disney than to pay less and choose a different cruise line.  Hannah is 5.  She loves Disney!  She loves Disney characters and I love the way Disney treats people.   I loved the fact that we could go to any show on the cruise and know that it would be good, clean fun and geared to family entertainment.  I didn’t need to worry about inappropriate jokes or material being presented to my child.  I am very cautious at home about what she watches on TV, etc. so our vacation is just an extension of this. 

The ship was filled with children and adults.  This was huge as it was a family atmosphere and children and families were celebrated!  We say many family reunions onboard ship and it was precious to see so many families sailing together! 

One thing Sharon and I both noticed during our trip was that onboard the ship neither of us heard any swearing.  I’m not saying it wasn’t there, it just wasn’t prevalent and it was a nice treat.  Also, Disney is very restrictive about smoking areas.  They are available for those who need them but away from the general public and with so many children onboard, I appreciate this.

I also love the children’s programs offered.  Hannah went to clubs 4 times (outside of the open house when the 3 of us went together) and she loved it each and every time.  One night she went to Pluto’s pyjama party and had so much fun she didn’t want to leave even though it was after 10pm!   The kids could choose to go in their pj’s and many chose to do this, including Hannah.  when I dropped her off there were over 106 kids at the pyjama party (their magicbands can give stats in an area to cast members at any given moment)  and they were having a blast!  When the clubs are not in open house we can see a bit of what they’re doing from outside but are not allowed to enter nor to take any pictures.  I desperately wanted to as they looked adorable and were having such fun but I respected the rules.  Hannah said Pluto was there for the party and played games with them and more.  I could hear them playing, ‘What Time is it Pluto?’ a version of ‘What Time is it Mr. Wolf?’  Pluto tapped his paw to tell them how many steps to take.  Shrieks of delight could be heard from outside the club and it made me smile!  She also coloured this sweet pillow case.  Another wonderful keepsake of our trip!

One way we found to save money was we chose an inside cabin.  I know that doesn’t suit everyone’s taste but for us we were in our room so little that I could not justify the cost for a room with either a port hole or a veranda.   The virtual port hole also made such a difference as it gave a more open feeling to the room.  If I could afford it I would love an exterior room but as with all our Disney trips, cutting back in small ways = more Disney travel which wins out for us every single time!

As for the cost of Disney Cruise Line vacation vs. a Walt Disney World vacation, that’s a good question.  Many have asked me that since we got home and my answer normally is something like, ‘I like they both the same, they’re just so different from one another that they can’t be compared.’  We can enjoy more days in the park for the same price as a shorter cruise.  For Hannah and I we really like them both so as we’re able, we’ll do both.  If I had to choose only one right now it would be WDW for us.  We tend to visit WDW during ‘off season’ which lowers the price of our room and I always go during a Free Dining offer which makes a big difference in the price of our trip.  At WDW we stay at value resorts and for the amount of time we’re in the room this works perfectly for us.

2.  (from Jenna)  Do you know if there were any make a wish kids on your cruise?

Hi Jenna,  Although I’ve seen many ‘Make a Wish’ kids at WDW, I was not aware of any on our cruise.  What a wonderful wish that would be to receive!! 

I wonder if the length of our cruise and/or distance to medical care makes any difference on the cruises awarded by Make a Wish?  Just thinking out loud.

I’ll post this for now and answer more questions in my next post.  Keep them coming!  This is fun and helping me relive the memories one more time!!

Any Disney Cruise Questions?

I hope you enjoyed sharing our Disney Cruise with us!  It sure was fun reliving the memories as I worked on these posts.

Have you caught the Disney Cruising bug?  We sure have!!  This was us a couple of weekends ago as we dreamed of Mediterranean and Alaskan cruises we could not afford but the thankfully dreaming doesn’t cost anything!

Do you have any questions about cruising with Disney?  I’m happy to answer any that I can. 

Someone asked in a comment recently how the cruise compares to our trips to Walt Disney World.  I can honestly say that I enjoyed them both the same even though they are such different vacations.  (I’m surprised to be saying this as before we left I didn’t know what we’d possibly do to fill our days.  Heh!!!)   WDW is busy and exciting filled with rides, shows, fireworks, character greetings and much more.  Disney cruising is filled with much the same (if we consider our many rides on the AquaDuck) but in a different way.  It’s busy but in a contained way.  Both are chock full of family time which we love and is one of my favourite parts about Disney.  They do so much for us that I can leave everything else behind and just concentrate on Hannah and being with her.  Truly, that’s one of the greatest reasons I love Disney is the way is draws our family together whether it be Hannah and I alone or when we share time with the grandparents too.

What questions do you have?  LOL – are you read to book?

See You Real Soon!!

As we disembarked our first cruise on Saturday, March 1st we walked under this sign.

I’ll be honest and say that it was much easier to leave the ship knowing that we’d taken the advice of many on DISboards and had booked our next cruise before leaving our first!!  Wheee!!!!!

Thursday during our final full day at sea, Hannah and I sat down with a Disney Cruise planner and chose a cruise for next February.   I’d planned ahead to look into this to see if we could swing it but wasn’t holding my breath.  I had saved for 7 years to pay for this first cruise so I wasn’t sure we’d be able to do it again so soon.  (And to be honest, I had no idea how much we would both fall in love with Disney cruising!!)  Disney offers a 10% discount and an onboard credit if you book another cruise while still onboard.  Well, after checking the prices of a few I found one that would work for us and it was less than 50% of the one we were currently on.  That works!  I booked it for the two of us and then we went in search of Nana.  (Hannah is still young enough that she had no idea what was happening even though I was speaking openly in front of her.)

We went down to the cabin to find Nana and I shared the exciting news!  Her reaction was exactly what I’d hoped it would be – she wanted to book for she and Papa too!!  Woo hoo!!!  Next year is their 50th Wedding Anniversary and what a wonderful way to celebrate!   We went back up to the booking desk and booked a cabin for them too!    Hannah was tired of all this booking stuff so took the opportunity to catch a nap before lunch.  I’m guessing all those late nights and days filled with swimming and play were catching up with her.

We went for lunch after this where Hannah continued to nap in my lap while Nana and I celebrated our exciting news!! 

Later that afternoon Hannah and I went to the kids club while Nana went for a walk around the ship.  She bumped into Tonya and her family and yes….they went ahead and booked the same cruise for next year too!   Yay!!!  We’ve already linked our reservations together and requested to sit together again. 

As the day proceeded I had a niggling that just wouldn’t go away.  I knew I needed to make one more booking and hope that it all worked out.  And…it did! 

Next year on February 20th our family will board the Disney Wonder for a 5 night cruise to Grand Cayman and Disney’s Castaway Cay, plus 2 days at sea ~ which are our favourites!  (Truly I’d be happy if we left the dock, sailed around for a week and then went back to the same port!  I know it’s not possible but the sea days are the ones we enjoyed the most!)

So here we go….Hannah and I

Nana and Papa

and…….Grandma and Grandpa!!!

will board the Disney Wonder and set sail for a beautiful family vacation together with Tonya and her family!

So Mickey, we’re happy to say, ‘See you real soon!!’

Disembarkation Day and Homeward Bound

(Saturday, March 1, 2014)

We were up bright and early Saturday morning preparing to disembark early.  As with everything else during our cruise, Disney has disembarkation down to a find ‘T’!

Each family dines at the restaurant that they did the last night of their cruise, at their normal table.  Our family was at Enchanted Garden which was neat as this was the restaurant we’d started our cruise at 1 week earlier.  We’d had early seating for dinner so we needed to leave our stateroom for the final time and be in our dining room at 6:45am.    As each family entered the dining room they walked between 2 lines of servers who applauded.  A simple but special touch on a difficult, emotional morning!  (Who ever wants a great vacation to end??) 

There was a set menu for us to select from and we were in and out in only 45 minutes but without feeling rushed.  It was great to see our tablemates one last time (for now ) as well as our servers Tina and Ari. 

We left the restaurant around 7:40 so that they could seat the next group at 8am.  (Can you believe the entire process of disembarking all guests, cleaning all staterooms and restocking the ship would take mere hours?  The next group of guests would begin boarding at 10:30am!!  A fun fact that we learned during our galley tour is that they load every single bit of food that will be eaten during a cruise each Saturday when they ship is in Port Canaveral.  For example, each week they load 100,000 eggs!!!  I cannot begin to imagine the storage area this ship must have!)

We were totally impressed with how quickly and efficiently we disembarked the ship.  We lined up around 7:45 and waited a brief time to scan our Key to the World cards one final time.  From there we went down an escalator where we requested a porter at the suggestion of Tonya and her family.  Wow – what a great suggestion that was!!  He asked us where our luggage was and we said, ‘Tinkerbell Green’.  He took us there, we quickly found our luggage and he loaded up his cart and took us to the customs line.  We fairly flew through customs and were quickly outside awaiting our shuttle to the car rental place.  It arrived within minutes and we made our way there.  Sharon and I were shocked when we  realized that at 9:15 we were already in our rental car with luggage loaded and headed back to Orlando!!  Not bad for a ship that was disembarking 4000 passengers!!

Hannah was pooped and within minutes this was what we saw in the rear-view mirror. 

(Can you tell that i took A LOT of clean clothes home for Hannah?  Once she had her Rapunzel dress it was near impossible to talk her into wearing anything else.  So I didn’t.  This phase will pass soon enough so for now she wears it and her other princesses dresses wherever she wants to!)

Our flight wasn’t leaving until after 6pm so about a month before our cruise I cancelled our Disney transportation to the airport (couldn’t fathom sitting in the airport for 8 hours with our luggage!) and instead we headed here.  Heh…no surprise to anyone I’m sure!

We made our way to Downtown Disney and shared some wonderful final moments there.  SO much better than sitting in an airport!!  We visited the Disney store where Hannah stood in front of a Magic Mirror that tried a number of different princess dresses on her.  So cool!

For lunch we ran okay, walked quickly to Goofy’s Candy Store and ended our trip the way it began, with a caramel peanut apple.  Mmmmm!  We never tire of these!!

We spent most of the morning outside soaking up as much sun as was humanly possible as we knew we were headed back to frigid temps!

We all declared that we didn’t want to go home!  Let’s just call Papa, Grandma and Grandpa and tell them to come down and let’s just stay!  This is Hannah’s ‘We don’t want to go home’ look. 

Sadly we had no choice so we called Papa on Skype to tell him we were on our way home and made our way to the airport.

We arrived in Buffalo late that night but as you can see my rock star traveller was still in great shape!  She made a little luggage fort for herself while we waited for our shuttle to pick us up.

We spent the night in Buffalo and then headed home to Papa first thing the next morning.  (At this time Grandma and Grandpa were still on their Hawaiian cruise so it would be a few more days before we saw them.)

We’re home Papa!  We missed you!!!

What an amazing, wonderful, awesome, great, spectacular cruise we shared together!  We can’t wait to go back!!!

Thank you for sharing this time with us Nana!  We love you and the trip was extra special because you were there!!!