15 Things You Should Know about Disney Cruises
Updated 10/2/2019
Trips to Disney World can involve a lot of planning.
Well, at least some planning unless you are a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of person. While planning is part of the experience for me, I found that letting go of the reins a little and leaning into a Disney Cruise was a nice change of pace.
Disney Cruises are just…simpler.
The only thing you NEED to do is decide the stateroom type and location you want and whether you want the early or late dining time. There is only ONE bleary-eyed at the computer moment needed to secure a boarding time, make reservations at the fancier adult only restaurants and book excursions and character meet and greets. No FastPass stress. No Advance Dining Reservations six months before your trip.
That’s not to say that there aren’t a ton of things to do, see and eat on a Disney Cruise.
It’s just a smaller environment that depends less on strategy and pre-planning and more on relaxing and allowing yourself to be pampered. No rope dropping here. No Extra Magic Hours. No super long lines. The deck parties and the elevators can get busy during dinner/show times, but surprisingly the ship never really feels that crowded.
Disney World and Disney Cruise Line (DCL) offer very different vacations but both share the same “magical” Disney feel. If you are thinking of taking the plunge, here are 15 Things You Should Know about Disney Cruises.
1. Explore!
After you are underway, take time to explore the ship. There are so many nooks and crannies hiding interesting art work, roaming characters, and amazing views.
You have plenty of time to snoop around the ship and still eat lunch before the muster drill and Sail Away Party. Take that time to be a little nosy.
Mornings are also a great time to roam the ship. Grab a cup of coffee and stroll around. Take it all in before folks start hitting the pool. Take a moment to appreciate the ship.
2. Eat in a dining room for lunch on embarkation day.
Most people figure that grabbing a quick lunch at the ship’s buffet is the easiest option after boarding the ship. It is a fantastic buffet but there will be PLENTY of opportunities to eat there during the sailing.
On embarkation day, the ship will have at least one full service dining location open for lunch. Take a load off and relax. There will be more room to stow your carry on luggage (stateroom’s won’t be available until later) and the food will come to you. Crowds are a little lighter in the dining rooms than at the buffet and you get to soak in all of the theming. No wandering around with your tray trying to find a seat. A group of smiling Cast Members will be there to whisk you straight to a table.
3. Don’t skip the shows.
When they say “Broadway Caliber” they MEAN it. Each of the shows are fantastic. Make the time to see them. I read up on the entertainment options ahead of time (see, I had to study SOMETHING) and one show was often mentioned as “skippable.” That “skippable show” happened to be the first in our rotation and we were blown away. Let’s just say that NONE of them are skippable if you haven’t seen them yet.
HELPFUL HINT: Arrive to shows around 40 minutes before the listed show time. Cast Members will begin allowing guests to enter the theatre 30 minutes before the listed show time. While there aren’t any terrible seats in the theatre, you will get your pick if you are among the first group to enter. Believe me. People will be lining up outside.
4. Be prepared to deal with sea sickness.
Chances are you are already thinking about this, but it bears repeating. You will read a lot of conflicting information on this. Some guests say they didn’t feel the boat rocking at all. Some will say that it’s terrible.
Both my son and I can get car sick on winding roads, but not often. I was still concerned that the rocking of the ship might cause a bit of trouble. I came prepared with accupressure wristbands, non-drowsy motion sickness medication and ginger chews. I’m glad that I did and we used ALL three of those remedies. If anyone in your group ever suffers from car or motion sickness, it’s better to just assume that will happen on your cruise. Doesn’t mean it will, but it’s better to be prepared and deal with with it BEFORE it becomes an issue. Preventing sea sickness is much easier than trying to deal with it once it is already happening.
HELPFUL HINT: Turns out, those big old DCL ships DO move quite a bit. The Walt Disney Theater is DEFINITELY a place that you can feel movement, and we found the main dining locations to be a little rocky as well. At times, we felt a little wobbly and my son was nauseous one evening when he took off his wristband. Ginger chews fixed that and keeping the bands on for the rest of the trip kept it from happening again.
5. Bring a sweater or light jacket
This holds true even if you are travelling to warmer ports of call during the spring and summer. Yes, for the most part you will be basking in the sun. However, it can get pretty chilly in the restaurants and especially the theaters. Bring a light jacket or sweater for those occasions. Outside on the deck is pretty windy and can get a little chilly in the evenings as well.
6. Don’t worry about not getting off at every port of call.
It’s understandable that you want to get the most of your cruise experience. DCL is NOT an inexpensive vacation. Just remember that part of what you are paying for is the ship and all of it’s activities and amenities. Don’t feel bad if you aren’t motivated to get off the ship or if you don’t see any excursions you want to do at a particular port of call. Relax and enjoy the ship with less guests around. Play a round of mini golf or other game depending on your ship.
See a movie. Grab a lounge chair and read. Sleep in or take a nap in the afternoon. You could also use that time to see if the pool is less crowded or the water slide line is shorter.
The only caveat is: DON’T SKIP Castaway Cay. It really is as beautiful as everyone says it is. We had no problem getting the lounge chairs of our choice and there were PLENTY of empty hammocks available throughout the day.
Really, this will be the least “touristy” port of call on the trip. No navigating pushy salespeople or crowds. Just you, your Disney Cruise buddies, lovely Cast Members and some roaming Disney characters in their beach attire.
7. Don’t be afraid to send your kids to the clubs.
If you have read anything about DCL, you have probably heard about the open houses on embarkation day. The afternoon that you board the ship, anyone can visit the nursery and youth clubs. Unless you are dropping off or picking up younger kids, no adults are allowed access to those areas after the open house. Take advantage of that sneak peek.
The DCL clubs are ridiculously fun and full of activities. This is not a situation where adults are dumping their kids to enjoy a childless cruise. Most folks with young kids complain that they can’t get their kids to LEAVE the clubs. In fact, I’m a little peeved that I can’t hang out and fly the Millennium Falcon whenever I want. No grownups allowed!
The teen club, Vibe, even has a complimentary smoothie/coffee bar. There are video games, but they aren’t permitted to use them all day every day. Special port excursions are offered, at reasonable rates, AND the teens have their own little pool.
Even if your kid is shy, I highly recommend having them try it out. My son didn’t live at the club like some of the kids did, but he had fun at the dance party ice breaker as well as playing games and ping pong with other kids.
HELPFUL TIP: Visit the clubs on embarkation day to sign up. Find out when the “ice breakers” are. It’s a great way to get the tweens and teenagers to meet other kids their age and takes some of the pressure off of just wandering in later in the cruise if they don’t know anyone. If you have a kid who is right on the cusp of being in a certain club, check both out. My son was a few months from turning 14, so we visited both Edge and Vibe. He was allowed to sign up for both of the clubs and go back and forth, but was more comfortable at Vibe. If you have a similar age situation, just ask one of the Cast Member club counselors.
8. Try out the “Drink of the Day“
Best way to feel like the Disney King or Queen that you are? Indulge in the drink of the day. A different drink is featured every day of the sailing (both with and without alcohol) at a cheaper price point than the other drinks. Pick up your first “drink of the day” at the Sailing Away Party.
For a few extra bucks, you can get it in a plastic DCL souvenir cup and use it for all of your “drinks of the day”. The jury is out, I think, on whether or not there is much savings in purchasing the cup and refilling it. Some guests claim that it is a bit larger than the regular glasses that are served, but I’m not sure it makes much difference in the end. It does make a nice souvenir and you can bring it with you to Castaway Cay and use it on the beach! Each of the drinks are fruity deliciousness.
9. Stop by Cove Café
Need a little caffeinated pick me up that’s an upgrade from the free coffee at the buffet? This place has you covered. Located just inside the “adult” section of the ship, Cove Café has some baked goods (included in your cruise price) and delicious coffee drinks that can be charged to your shipboard account.
They have a cozy seating area “inside” and lovely giant lounging chairs on deck just outside. It’s pretty low key and quiet, particularly in the morning.
HELPFUL TIP: They offer a rewards punch card, so make sure to grab one. After five punches, the next fancy coffee drink is free!
10. Bring a pair or two of comfortable shoes.
You won’t walk as much as you do in the parks, but more than you think. We clocked 5 miles one day just wandering around the ship, playing mini golf and the Midship Detective Agency scavenger hunt game. With the over abundance of food and opportunities to eat it, doing a little walking around the ship may be necessary anyway.
If you plan on going on any excursions, or just walking around the ports of call, you will need a comfortable pair of walking shoes for that as well. Also a good idea if you plan on doing a bike ride at Castaway Cay.
11. Rent a bike on Castaway Cay
This is a great way to explore the island and fairly inexpensive compared to other extra activities and excursions. We booked ours ahead of time but when we got there realized that it wasn’t really necessary. There were plenty to choose from and they do have helmets available. On a day when a lot of other activities and excursions were cancelled because of wind, the bikes were still available.
SPECIAL TIP: Wait until a little later in the morning to go biking. There is a Castaway Cay 5K run that guests can participate in and it takes place in the morning as soon as the ship begins disembarking. We hit the bikes first thing and had to maneuver around all of the runners. It was a little tricky to weave around them since some parts of the bike path weren’t really wide enough to easily accommodate runners and cyclists.
Definitely ride out to the tower and climb up for the perfect view of the island. Even here, Disney somehow manages to “hide” all of the umbrellas, and buildings and PEOPLE. Imagineering at it’s best! At the top of the tower, all that you can see is the ship, seabirds, plant life and the blue, blue sea.
12. Play the Midship Detective Agency game
Looking for a way to burn off those calories? This on board mystery game will have you wandering all over the ship. Think Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom, DCL style. It’s not just for kids either. I would recommend doing this earlier in the cruise. It’s the perfect way to get to know your way around the ship. There is a choice of several different mysteries to solve. Highly recommend the Muppets one.
13. Go see a movie!
Watch a movie inside when you could be outside soaking up the sun? Well, yes. Depending on when you are on your cruise, you may get to see the newest Disney movie before it is released in the theaters. You can also catch up on one that you missed. It’s only a couple of hours out of your day and a great way to relax. Buy some popcorn in the lobby or grab a free ice cream cone and head on in!
14. Download and USE, the Disney Cruise Line Navigation app.
The list of daily activities and movie times is VAST. There is, for now, a paper version of the Daily Navigator which lists the daily activties and entertainment times. However, guests may only receive ONE paper Daily Navigator in their stateroom on embarkation day.
EVERYthing is on the app and available on the go. Sometimes it is a bit to scroll through, but you can narrow it down by category when searching. Check it out in the morning over breakfast or in the evening before going to sleep. It’s not like planning for Disney World, but some movies and activities are only offered at certain times on certain days and one may conflict with another. Taking a moment to see what’s going on will help with deciding on how to arrange each day.
The app is also used, once on board, to communicate with everyone in your stateroom. Text messages can be placed via the app without purchasing an extra WiFi package. The wave phones that can be used really weren’t worth the bother of hauling them around, so we preferred to use the app.
HELPFUL HINT: Sometimes the messages lag a bit and you aren’t always notified when you receive a message. For the most part, it worked well enough for us to communicate with each other when we weren’t with one another. Just get in the habit of checking messages regularly.
15. Thinking about doing another cruise? Get “placeholder”.
If you think that you maybe/kind of/sort of/could consider taking another Disney Cruise, book a placeholder.
For a FULLY REFUNDABLE $250 deposit, you can reserve a spot for you and yours on a future Disney Cruise. You don’t have to pick a date, ship or itinerary. A “placeholder” just secures a virtual spot on ANY cruise as long as you book one that sails within the next two years.
If you decide you aren’t going to book one, or can’t sail within the two year window, just cancel before the two year date. The entire $250 deposit is FULLY refundable. Nothing to lose and everything to gain.
The placeholder, if booked, gets you a 10% discount off the cruise price and $100 of shipboard credit (6 nights or less) or $200 of shipboard credit (7 or more nights). Sadly, Disney Cruise Line just announced that the shipboard credit would not longer be part of the offer. However, placeholders will still get you 10% off the cruise price. The deal isn’t as sweet, but it’s still a pretty decent discount. You have to do this before the last day of your cruise.
HELPFUL HINT: You can do this at the Future Cruise/Disney Vacation Planning desk. Just grab one of the forms that they have on display, fill it out and drop it in the box. Unless you know exactly which sailing you would like to book, there is no need to get in the virtual queue for an appointment to talk to a Cast Member at the desk.
For more information on cruising with the Mouse, check out the official Disney Cruise Line site. Happy Sailing!
