#745226 by FamilyMan
06 May 2010, 15:09
It's kind off hard to know where to put this one as it's sort of a TR but is also quite Disney oriented and hardly a TR in the conventional sense. Anyway I've opted for this forum, mainly because the TR forum does not allow me to define a explatory title, but one of the mods should feel free to move it if required. I searched for any information on Disney Cruise reports on the site but couldn't find one and since many of the reader of the forum travel regularly to Orlando and may like to consider such an excursion I figured it might be worth the effort.

The Background
We always try to do a little mini-trip with the in-laws when visiting them in Lake Mary, just North of Orlando, and on this occassion the Disney Cruise line caught our eye. April, away from Easter, is not really high season and we were able to secure a place on a three night cruise for around 1400USD (around 900GBP)- this was for a single 4 berth inside room. Although we have three kids we added one to our in-laws room in the knowledge that our youngest would be in the same bed with us anyway. An aunt and a couple of cousins also came on the trip and they booked an outside cabin for around 600USD more. So in total there was a largish party of 12 that finally embarked - for the record - 6 adults including our in-laws that are retirement age, our three kids -7,5 and 1 and our cousins 6,13 and 15 - so a fairly large spread of ages. We had never been on a cruise before but were inspired by the kids enthusiasm of our ferry to Spain last year and the overall positive rating of Disney Cruises overall.

Disney Cruise lines is small compared with other lines - they currently only have two 2,400 (+945 crew) capacity ships - The Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder (our ship) with cruises thus far fairly constrained to the Bahamas, Caribbean and a short European season from May to September. However a new 4,000 (+1450 crew) capacity ship, Disney Dream is joining is early 2011, followed by a sister ship Disney Fantasy in 2012. This is enabling them to extend their cruise itineraries (in 2011) to the West Coast inclusing a Winter Season in the Mexican Riviera and a Summer Season in Alaska. The new Dream will take over the short Bahamian trips next year so this year was the last opportunity to do this on a smaller ship.

Embarkation
We arrived at the Port Canaverel terminal at around 2pm after a one and a half hour drive from Lake Mary - Orlando would have been a little closer. Bags were unloaded at kerbside and cars were parked - 45USD for 3 days seemed a little steep but then I guess they have a captive audience. With most of the paperwork and pre-registration done prior to arrival at the terminal we were looking forward to getting on-board, enjoying a buffet lunch and exploring the ship. Security and boarding procedures did take a little longer than expected but there were few queues and we were moved fairly fast with the paperwork being the main delay. We also had to register the younger kids seperately if they were to be admitted to the two Kids clubs (Oceaneer Club and Lab). Registration included the fitting of a tag to the kids arms and a single pager being issued - both of these had a hefty charge on if lost but were free otherwise - more about these later. As you walk on board you family name is taken and you are announced - a nice touch, maybe a little corny and you are then directed to your stateroom.

Settling In / Departure
We were on deck 6 (of 11) and the room was perfectly adequate and well presented. We were prepared for it to be small but were pleasantly suprised as it was very functional and well equipped. We had a TV - which was unlikely to see much action but did include a channel for an external view which was useful in an inside cabin, as would be expected it also had a multitude of Disney programming. We ventured up to the buffet lunch prepared in the Beach Blanket restaurant on Deck 10 and enjoyed a rather pleasant lunch while looking across the Port. I had a stroll around the upper two decks and realised that this was pool land with 3 pools (one for adults) and a paddle area for kids that still needed diapers, there were also a number of smaller places to grab a bit to eat. Next up was the safety drill made somewhat more complicated by the number of children and non English speaking in-laws that we were supervising. However we fairly quickly managed to congregate on Deck 4 to be counted while wearing large Orange life jackets - what fun. Although the kids and infants had their own our poor one year old, Hannah, was almost completely hidden by hers.
My middle one, Joshua, wanted to use the pool so I supervised him in the pool with a water slide. The pool was adequate but on a ship with so many kids it was a little crowded. There was a smaller swimming pool for kids further up but again this was quite small. Incidentally the new ship has a water slide on board that starts in one of the turrets - juts out over the side of the ship - so that you are looking down into the sea - and then doglegs back, runs down the deck and finally dumps you into the pool. I watched as right on schedule at 5PM we cast off and set sail past the boathouses and business and out into open sea - slowing down briefly for the Pilot to disembark and wave goodbye. Nice touch is that when the ship horn blows it does so to the tune of 'When you wish upon a Star' - we felt pretty special as we left with the anticpation of the next two days to come.

Dining
As you would expect eating is pretty high on the priorities of a cruise and very soon we were heading down for our first evening meal. Disney Wonder has four main restaurants but three of these are on rotation meaning that you change each night. Three nights meant one sitting at each of the rotational restaurants. We started at Lumieres (Deck 3) - American / French themed around the Little Mermaid, moving to Animators Palate (Deck 4) - American themed around animation - on the second night and finally Parrot Cay (Deck 3) - caribbean cuisine - on the final night. All the food was excellent and although there was a charge for alcohol it was very reasonable, There was also another non-rotational adult only restaurant Palo on Deck 10 that we did not get to - for obvious reasons. The entire waiting staff rotate around the restaurants with you so you keep the same servers every night which helps everyone as they are more able to know your requirements - indeed on the second night the kids drinks were laid out with their name on and high chair was already in place. Food was very good - but not excessive - and consisted of three courses, and the kids had their own slimmed down version with more kid friendly dishes. The servers were always eager to please and on more than one occassion were able to secure something from one of the other restaurants. Each night the meal service stopped at some point in order to have a brief entertainment type interlude which made use of the restaurant theme and normally the restaurant servers. Breakfast was also served in all three restaurants but we always opted for Parrat Cay as it was buffet oriented which suited us better.

Entertainment
The main entertainment in the evenings was the main show in the 977 seat auditorium where each night a lavish west end style show was performed. I missed the show on the first night for reasons beyond my control but on subsequent nights we were treated to Toy Story the Musical and Disney Dreams. Quite honestly the three shows themselves for four people would have been worth close to half the price of the tickets and made for a great finish to the day. There were always two performances timed opposite your dining - so if you dined early (as we did) you had dinner and show, or otherwise you had show followed by dinner. There was no reserving of seats so you just turned up and sat down. There was plenty of other things to do and these were detailed in the daily schedule but we had little time to really sample everything. If you wanted bars there were a number scattered around and as you would expect from Disney there was also a smattering of retail on deck 4. There was also a 268 seat cinema with Disney films running throughout the day - including new releases (they had the new Alice in Wonderland on a few times). In addition to the main kids clubs there was also a club for teenagers that the two with us visited a couple of times.

Shore Leave - Nassau
Day 2 dawned and we switched on the TV to reveal we were already docked in Nassau. We went down for breakfast at Parrot Cay and enjoyed a wonderfully diverse buffet - and we found out later that other requests could also be accomodated. We disembarked and spend a couple of hours walking around Nassau, which is not particularly impressive and totally clogged with traffic - after a couple of hours the kids were straining at the bit to get back to the ship and all that it had to offer. After a quick lunch and a swim for the kids we checked them into the Oceaneers club and I with Mrs FM left for a more leisurely look rough Nassau. We rather cornily took an overly expensive buggy ride around the town where the main tourist attractions seemed to be 'the first bank in Nassau', 'the hospital', 'a tree' etc. We looked round the town and bought a couple of things but felt that one day was probably enough - unless you left Nassau town behind and managed to get aroung the island. We were docked with at least three other huge cruise ships - all bigger than the Wonder and again it felt a little more special to be on a smaller ship. We picked up the kids from their club and were amazed at the range of activities and level of organisation. All kids were logged in and out using their tags so that at any time they could tell where the kids were - as they could move between the clubs.

By 5pm we were heading out to sea and the second round of dinner and show.

Characters
They always say that you meet some real characters on cruise ships but that takes on an entirely different context on Disney Cruises where you are constantly bumping into ducks, mice, pincesses and pirates - to name but a few. Generally many of the appearances are scheduled but you never can tell when you might bump into someone unexpectedly. The really great thing is that you are part of a small (relatively) club for a few days and getting photos and a few words with Captain Hook or Chip and Dales is really fairly simple - indeed if you really wanted to you could easily get photos with 30 or 40 characters without really breaking sweat. We limited our encounters to accidental meetings and one special excursion on the last night where our daughter collected princesses.

Photos
Located on Deck 4 was Shutters which had a constant revolving display of photos that had been snapped of guests on board - on arrival or in restaurants every night - or ashore. Really to take advantage you had to buy a package which included every photo on board which would have worked out quite reasonable - especially on the longer cruises. As it happens we only purchases one photo at a cost of around 20 USD

Shore Leave - Castaway Cay
Day 3 was marked by an early (very early) arrival at Castaway Cay, which is Disneys very own Bahaman Island which by my calculation welcomes one of the two cruise ship on average three times a week in peak season. The wise were out early to stake their claim to a piece of beach but to be quite honest it was not really necessary as the finding a less busy area just meant a slightly longer walk - which was a good idea anyway as the closer area of the beach filled up fast. There were a whole host of activities that you could partake in for a small fee including snorkling, canoeing and jetskis but we were more than content to sit down and let the kids play on the sand. They are also doing a bit of development on the island at the moment, no doubt aware that from next year 4,000 people will arrive on a ship rather than the current 2,500. Some of this new development was opening early including a amall water slide complex that the older kids were able to enjoy. I also hired a couple of bikes later in the say and along with my son (on his own bike) and youngest on the back of mine, went for a cycle to the back of the island - cycling down the airstrip and swinging by a look-out for a great view across the island - still largely undeveloped. Disney are always wary of not alienating their adult guests and therefore on Castaway Cay there is an adult only beach so that there is some escape from the constant kids - having said that you would have to be nuts to book a Disney Cruise if you wanted to avoid kids for the entire time. There was no need to return to the ship for lunch as a large BBQ was available on the Island - although I have to say that at peak times this is the only point that I encountered an unacceptable queue - lining up for a good 15-20 minutes.

Again by 5pm we were on our way and the third and last round of dinner and show.

Disembarkation
By the time we woke up we had arrived in Port and ready for a quick disembark so that the ship could be turned around the same day. They really work the ships and international staff hard with most of the staff working 6 months straight before having time off. Breakfast was in a very regimented two sittings (in line with your evening meal and in the same location as your meal the night before). Our suitcases were packed and removed from our rooms the night before so the only thing we had left to do was pick up our last few items, disembark and complete abbrevated customs and immigration - no additional US stamp required as I guess we were noted as temporarily absent.

All in all a great few days and really excellent value for money considering what we recieved. I am most definitely a converst and we are already working out how we can take another - hopefully longer - cruise in the next few years.
#745230 by maz
06 May 2010, 15:48
We are off on our 6th Disney cruise in September - a Transatlantic back from Barcelona to Florida. You can cruise the Med this summer and next on the Disney Magic.

We thoroughly enjoy them, and are oldies with no kids, and we certainly are not the gooey eyed at children type either. No casino for those who would want one, but for us that is a plus!

The service is excellent.
#745369 by buns
08 May 2010, 14:54
Thanks for such an informative TR y)

I have always wondered how Disney spread their Magic on a cruise and now I know :D :D

Very interesting the "revolving restaurant" concept - I am sure there are many cruise aficionados that would find this a change too far, but then the Cruise Market is heavily segmented and this cruise does appear to meet the needs of those who hanker after both Cruising and Disney ;)

Like all of us who have been on a cruise, once you have been on one you cannot wait to go again - perhaps it is something they put in the drinks :w

buns
#745372 by Jacki
08 May 2010, 18:34
Loved the TR - always wanting to know more about cruises as I have yet to take one but almost ready to take the plunge!
#745383 by HighFlyer
08 May 2010, 20:59
Very interesting report, thanks for taking the time to write it. Being (and hopefully remaining) child free a Disney cruise wouldn't be top on my list but I can well imagine that the cruises operate with that Disney magic and timing that make the parks appear to run like well oiled ships. Brill!
#759721 by Concorde RIP
12 Nov 2010, 16:46
Just came across this TR.....thank you very much indeed.

I've been looking at the Disney cruises for a couple of years now, but never been quite sure before.

Very informative, and you may well have sold the idea to me...
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