Top 10 Reasons Why a Disney Cruise is the BEST Vacation You’ll Ever Take
Ok, I could easily come up with more than 10 but I’ll save everyone some time. 10 reasons are enough. After you take one, you can add to the list. :)
I can’t say these are in any particular order.
1. It’s all the magic of Disney World/Disneyland with less walking. :)
In all seriousness, the thought of a theme park vacation with a 5 year old made me want a Xanax. Rides and lines and hot/cold/rain/whatever the weather decided to throw at you. Tantrums and walking and whining. But Disney is MAGIC. And I wanted the Magic for him. And you get it on a Disney Cruise. He got to meet ALL his favorite characters (and we didn’t have to chase them down or hunt for them. We had a nifty little schedule that told us right where they were going to be.)
2. It’s all inclusive and less complicated. There is no “dining plan” to decode and purchase. You don’t have to decide months before your trip how many meals and snacks and dinner services you want on your trip. On a Disney Cruise, you want pizza at 2 in the afternoon? No problem, just head to Pinocchio’s Pizzeria and grab a slice (or three) of pizza! (If they have Portobello mushroom pizza – GET.IT.) Hungry at 10pm? No problem. Go to Goofy’s Gallery and get burgers, chicken or fries. Want ice cream? Pluto’s Dog House until about 11pm.
Oh, and the less complicated part? That includes no fast passes to figure out, no character dinners to schedule, no debate on if you should stay on site or off site. No transportation hassle if you choose to stay offsite. No worrying about getting their in time for “rope drop”. When you wake up on a Disney Cruise Ship, you’re just an elevator ride away from whatever you want to do.
3. The food. That’s it, just the food. (see #2 above)
4. They make you feel like ROYALTY. If you attend your seated dinner service each night your wait staff learns you. It didn’t take them long to figure out my picky eater wouldn’t eat anything off the kid’s menu besides chicken fingers and French fries. So when we sat down to dinner service they had his plate ready for him. Which was great for everyone. He could finish his dinner while we were still waiting on our order and I could take him to the Oceaneers Club and he could play while Hubs and I enjoyed our three course meal + dessert. They also only serve unsweet tea and Hubs and I are both Southern too the core when it comes to our sweet tea. And only Sweet-n-low (the pink packs) can make unsweet tea taste decent. So by the third night, our server had a PLATE of Sweet-n-low packs on the table for us. :)
4 1/2. Did I mention THE FOOD?
5. The spa products in your cabin. Seriously, don’t waste your time packing shampoo, conditioner, lotion and soap. Use what they give you. In fact, HOARD what they give you. I brought a lot home. And I’m still using the soaps. The shampoos didn’t last as long as I wanted them too. The shampoo is amazing. It’s green and smells like a forest and I’m pretty sure seaweed is a main ingredient but it did amazing things to my hair. And the sea salt facial soap is great. I still have lots of that left.
My tip for the bath products is as soon as you get to your cabin the first night, round up the toiletries in the bathroom and put them in your bag. They will restock your bathroom while you’re at dinner. If they service your room and you’re out of something they will restock it. So I would put something in my bag every time we left. Room service comes by twice a day. Once in the morning to tidy up and make your bed. And then in the evening for turndown service.
6. Turn down service! How many vacations have you ever been on where you spent a taxing day by the pool or used all your energy..umm…. sitting on the beach.. or whatever…scratch that. How many vacations have you ever been on PERIOD that turn down your sheets, fluff your pillows and leave chocolates on your bed?
Go ahead, you can answer that question.
7. No other vacation will take you to Castaway Cay. Castaway Cay is Disney’s private island which beaches, a game & sports area, a splash pad, a kid’s club, restaurants, shops, character meets, live music, games and more! Oh, and the all inclusive thing? That includes the FOOD on Castaway Cay too. Did I mention the food? (this only applies to Bahamian and Caribbean cruises – not Alaskan or Mediterranean)
8. The Buena Vista Theatre. Our first night we saw PLANES in 3D. It wasn’t in the theaters and it wasn’t on DVD yet. And we got to see it. Oh, and the all inclusive? That means the movies too. Also playing on our ship (in January 2014) was Frozen, Saving Mr. Banks and Thor’s Dark World. All movies you paid to see that month because they were all in the theater.
9. Pirates in the Caribbean deck party. Because I mean, if you’re going to be on boat in the Caribbean you might as well party like a pirate! The party is fun and the fireworks are AMAZING! Other ships cruise close (not too close) to the Disney ships at night so their guests can watch the fireworks. No lie – they told us this on the ship. The night of the Pirate deck party you could see the lights of three other ships in the distance.
10. There is something for EVERYONE in the family. Everyone. There is a nursery for the under 3 crowd. There are kid’s clubs, tweens clubs, teens clubs, adult clubs/lounges, family “clubs”. There are sports on deck. There’s a swimming pool, a wading pool, an “adults only pool”. There’s a game room, a movie theater, an auditorium for live shows. There’s food. There’s live music and karaoke. There’s a spa. Some of the Disney ships have a beauty shop. There are stores. All on a ship. You don’t have to go looking for things to do because it’s all right there.
So, those are my 10 reasons. I have more and you probably have different ones. But if you take a Disney Cruise, and don’t think it’s the best vacation ever, well, I won’t believe you. :)
Also, worth mentioning as reason #10 1/2 – The Castaway Club. See once you take a Disney Cruise you become a member of the Castaway Club which gives you perks towards your next cruise. And the more cruises you take the more perks you get. But it starts after the first one. After one trip, you’re already part of the family. And trust me, this is the kind of family you want to have around. :)
What reasons would you add to this list?
thank you, thank you, thank you! I was up in the air about taking a Disney Cruise for our 20th wedding anniversary with the kiddos but you have solidified that decision. We are going!!
That’s so great! I promise you won’t regret it!
One addition and one correction. The addition is that concierge makes it twice as special…..the correction is that I have been on both the Alaska and Mediterranean and we had the pirate night and party with fireworks on both of them
Thanks! I was misinformed about the Pirate night party!
I realize this is an older post, but just in case anyone happens upon it, I wanted to add this:
It is MORE than worth it, and this is coming from me – a self proclaimed cheapskate.
When we booked, I had a heart attack seeing the total amount. What? Seriously, WHAT? I had buyers remorse immediately. Then we went – and I walked away feeling like I had gotten a deal.
The food is almost all included – I say almost because if you go to the theater and purchase food there, it’s not (however, you CAN bring in food from the free spots) if you go to the adults only restaurant it’s also not free (though brunch is SO worth the 25 per person) and certain room service food isn’t free (plus ordering at all you should tip – but a few dollars to have someone bring me food while my kids were sleeping? Worth it. And the room service people were so respectful of my sleeping children!) Not only is the food free, but at dinner (which was always amazing) if you wanted to try two entree’s, go ahead! You want a second appetizer? Feel free! Extra desert? No problem! One night, we ordered both the lamb rack AND the lobster tail as well – how much would that had cost otherwise? I don’t know – but it was included and it was DELICIOUS.
The staff? Amazing. Didn’t matter WHO the staff was – people who worked in the shops, who serviced your room, who worked in dining, officers, maintenance workers – we didn’t have ONE negative experience. People would talk to you, ask you where you were from, how you were doing, how was vacation, ect.
Childcare is also included if your child is over three and potty trained. You can leave your child on ship and go check out the ports BY YOURSELF. You can drop your kids off in the childcare and go see a movie, or eat dinner by yourself. Even on castaway there is a childcare on island so you can drop your kids off and go lay in a hammock on the adults only beach (on a private island! You feel like a million dollars!) Yes – it’s a family vacation, and trust me there’s PLENTY of time for families to be together on it, but this is also one vacation that adults can EASILY take some time to themselves to actual relax. My kids? We had to BEG to spend time with us, as they loved the childcare and the workers and didn’t want to leave.
Giftshops – there’s only a handful on board, and only one your kid will care about. They close when in port. This means it’s less time for your child to try to pester you into buying something. We told my kids on the first day – we can go in and you can pick something out, but after that we’re done. They actual listened. There’s limited gift shops on castaway as well (two that are disney owned and they sell the same things.
Alcohol was an extra cost, but they ran daily drink specials and the drink of the day was cheaper than most bars for well drinks. You can also buy alcohol duty-free and drink it in your room, or bring alcohol on when you board and drink in your room.
Character greets were easy to navigate and for the more popular characters (such as the princesses) they offered one giant meeting with timed tickets. When we went to Disney there was an hour and a half wait to see ONE princess. We saw Belle, Cinderella, Tiana, Anna, and Elsa and waited ten minutes. You can also drop an item off the first night on board and by the last night it’ll be returned to your stateroom signed by either the princesses or the “fab five” (mickey and crew)
Lastly, you CAN find a deal, if you can be flexible when you can go. Less popular times (like when school in in session) and close to sailing date when they’re trying to fill up the ship they will sometimes discount some cruises – you have to watch and again, be able to go on somewhat short notice. We booked out cruise I think three weeks before sailing. A few days after we booked, I checked prices again and the cost had doubled!
My ONLY complaint is that they shouldn’t offer three days cruises, as it’s just NOT nearly enough time! Our first one was three days – the second time we booked a week long. My dream is to take one of the super long European cruises.
No regrets!