Hellobee Boards

We did a four day last year and are doing a seven day next year. We didn’t go to Nassau though. Atlantis is pretty expensive and with a toddler it may or may not be worth it. A lot of people stay on the boat in Nassau. There are some hotels that do day passes if you like beaches.

For dinner, I’d stick with the earlier time. By the time you eat it’ll be closer to 6:30. And you can always get a snack or some ice cream later if you’re hungry.

For Castaway Cay you don’t need to book anything ahead. We tried to reach my 4 year old to snorkel and had mixed results. But Disney may not let you anyways. Minimum age for rental of snorkel gear is 5 and everyone that snorkels must wear a yellow vest. So even if you bring your own equipment you need a vest for him and they may not allow it.

@FaithFertility: How was the sleeping arrangements? I want to take my 3yo and 1yo but im scared about how we will all sleep together in a cramped room!

@sckim: The sleeping arrangements are great. We had an 18m old and 4 year old last time. The toddler slept on the couch bed with rails (it’s really low and she doesn’t move around much) and DS slept in the top bunk with rails all around. And then there’s a curtain in between the big bed and where the kids sleep. It’s amazing. We’re planning a trip to stay at the Grand Floridian or Bay Lake at WDW and I’d far rayer stay in a Disney Cruise stateroom than a regular hotel room.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: We bribed DS to go with ice cream, lol. We told him as soon as we picked him up we’d get some soft serve. He wasn’t thrilled but it was fine. I’ve also heard that if you tell them at the kids club that you’ll be at one of the adult restaurants or the spa, they’ll do their best not to call you.

The photogs are in a lot of places like the meet and greets and at dinner and roaming castaway cay. I don’t love their style though. Too posed and over exposed.

We decorated our door but the homemade ones wouldn’t stick. I bought a pack of magnets at one of the shops and those worked. It was nice to be able to identify your door.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Nassau has cramped streets and with a stroller etc....it was just not ideal
@sckim: We had a room little bigger than a standard DD crashed in the bed with us and DS at night we put his pack and play up (there was zero room). But it was just at night

There was a small couch that pulled out too

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Novel, hahaha! Hey, that's how much I loved my experience

We had the photo package too, they took pics at the meal times, and when you line up to take pics with the characters...etc. I agree with @SHOOTINGSTAR: don't expect "photography". They even slap on default disney photo borders/mortise designs (you know, little mermaid or goofy or whatever designed as a border and printed on each and every photo). I don't think they give you ones that are without the borders.

Kids Club: On the first day of boarding the ship, there is "open house" before the ship sets sail. Make sure you spend some time with your LO there so he hopefully gets comfortable enough for you to finish your spa treatment

We didn't get much screen /video game time at home too, maybe that's why DS just sucked to them once he got in. I can't blame them for the screen time because of how many kids there are on the boat that needed the service (parent drop off) , but that definitely make me think twice before I drop DS off again.

We didn't decorate the door. While we envied the people who did, I think we were just fine without. We did get an autograph book for the characters to sign. $5 from amazon. We'll bring the book for our next cruise! We also asked the captain of the ship to sign it too.

There are also interactive detective games you can play when you are on board. Some of the artwork on the boat are actually screens. You get your assignment at a certain location and it tells you to find the artwork which will continue to give you clues to go to the next one, and the next one...etc. We played one of them on our final night. You see a lot of families running around the ship the very last night as everyone was trying to get that in lol. It was fun.

Sorry for another Novel!

I haven’t read all the comments but...

You’re going to love DCL! We’ve done 3 and definitely wouldn’t take kids on any other cruise line!

I loved Castaway Cay. We didn’t have any activities planned for the kids but we had booked hang gliding for some of the adults. It ended up being canceled because of wind, but we still had a great time! I really wanted to do the 5k but there were some issues that morning (my husband got off the ship with my daughter’s key to the world card and we had to wait for him to come back) and we missed it. I definitely don’t think you have to have an excursion planned for the island. The water slide is super fun!

I’ve been to Nassau on another cruise line and if I went back with disney I would skip it and stay on board. We’ve stayed on at 1 port in Alaska and Mexico before and being on the ship more is never bad!

We always do early seating but if you do late remember the kids can eat earlier at the buffet or in kid’s club if they can’t make it. If they eat earlier and are up for playing, put them in kids club and have a grownup dinner! Also, keep in mind whether or not there is a time difference!

Just chiming in to say we just finished a week-long western Caribbean cruise, our second (also went a few years ago). If anyone has any more burning questions, feel free to ask.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I don't want to be a debbie downer, but I wanted to chime in and say we did LOVE DCL like everyone else. It was great, but it wasn't THE BEST EVER like I was expecting. We did a 4-day on the Dream, and it was VERY similar to the 4-day we did through Royal Caribbean (except Royal also stopped at Key West). My kids aren't super into the Disney characters though, so that might have been a big part of our disappointment. For the most part, all the characters have set meet & greet times and you have to wait in line to meet them. We didn't see any wandering around. The shows are AWESOME, but my kids wouldn't stay up late enough to see them. If you are on the Dream, definitely see Beauty & the Beast - it was AMAZING. We skipped our normal dinner so our kids could watch it, but we didn't get their earlier enough, got crappy seats, and my kids were bored because they couldn't see well, which was such a bummer.

Nassau - we stayed on board, but so did EVERYONE ELSE, so it was super crowded on the boat. If you can find something to do off the boat, I'd suggest that. I think there's a nearby Hilton that you can get a day pass for and enjoy their beach - I'd suggest doing something like that instead of staying on the super crowded boat.

Castaway Cay - we didn't book anything - just played in the sand all morning and the kids LOVED it. We packed packable buckets and shovels and my kids were in heaven. It was overcast and I got a major sunburn - so make sure you wear sun screen!!

Kid's Club - FANTASTIC. It was huge and always had tons of stuff to do. It's very very secure, so we felt totally fine leaving our kids there. Unfortunately, my 4 year old refused to go, but my 6 year old loved it (he loved the video games).

Cleanliness - the boat was VERY clean. And they have hand sanitizer EVERYWHERE. And they make you use hand wipes before going into the dining rooms, so I really liked that aspect.

Rooms - I believe every room has a 2-half bathroom setup, where one half if toilet and sink and the other half is tub/shower and sink. Which was AWESOME.

Midship Detective Agency - this might be unique to the Dream, but it was such a fun game to play. Definitely do this if you're on the Dream.

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I obviously didn't do the Marvel Day at Sea, but I really want to! My kids are big Avengers fan, so I think that one would be really fun to do. Plus the Magic is a smaller boat, so it might not feel AS crowded. And if you stop at Castaway Cay, there won't be as many people due to the boat being smaller. Either way, I think you'll enjoy it as long as you go into it with realistic expectations. We had cruised before and so I was just expecting DCL to be SO MUCH BETTER than other cruise lines, and it really wasn't. There were definitely aspects that were better (definitely more geared towards kids), but other aspects were kind of just the same, so disappointing since I had such high expectations.

@MrsRoo: I think if it's your first cruise, you will absolutely have a blast! Just know it will be packed to the brim and the pools will always be full of kids, haha. Get the drink of the day - cheaper! And see Beauty & the Beast - AMAZING! And have fun!!!

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Our ports were Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Falmouth in Jamaica, and Castaway Key.

In Cozumel we went to Xel-Ha which is a natural waterpark and spent the day floating around in tubes. It was beautiful but it's a bit of a haul to get there and back and just wasn't enough time. So even though it was wonderful I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. I'd love to go back there with more time though!

On Grand Cayman we did a short Atlantis submarine excursion, which I really liked because my kids are really into sea animals, and it was an easy walk from port.

We didn't get off the boat in Jamaica by design -- wanted to spend at least one day on the pool deck when it was less crowded. A lot of the excursions were more adventurous and geared to older kids and adults so that helped cement our decision.

Castaway Key was our favorite day -- just beach time, pure and simple. It wasn't overcrowded (we sat near the snorkeling area, maybe that helped) and the weather was perfect though choppy seas canceled a planned stingray encounter.

Breakfast and lunch: There is always a sit-down option in one of the main dining rooms but we never used it for breakfast or lunch because we felt that one nightly longer sit-down affair was enough to ask of the kids. We always hit the buffet for breakfast and sometimes lunch, or the quick-service spots on the pool deck oftentimes for lunch. The buffet is quite good, very clean, and always well-stocked. And for real I hate buffets so that's high praise from me. The quick-service food is also good and there's a decent variety (burgers, chicken, wraps, salads, paninis, pizza, plenty of fresh fruit, etc).

Kids' club: We used it some after dinner to go the bars/lounges but probably the latest we picked them up is 10ish. I don't think they stay open all night (close at midnight or so maybe?) but there are definitely nooks in there where they have movies on and comfy places to lie down if kids are tired. Of course the nursery for under-3s has cribs. One nice thing is they do give you the option for your kids to eat meals in there, which we did the day we got a couples' massage and then went to an adult-only restaurant (Palo, highly recommend).

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: My youngest was 4 when we went, but he had been using our regular sized toilet at home for a few months, so he was used to it. I want to say the toilets were lower to the floor though, so not as intimidating as some toilets? I can't remember though.

Great thread ! We are Disney World regulars but have never done a Disney Cruise. I’d like to wait until my girls are old enough to enjoy the kids club... my 3 year old is still too young I think. My 5yo would totally love it though.

If you were only going to do a Disney Cruise once... what would the ideal ages be ? And what would your ideal Cruise length be? I’m thinking 7 days?