sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
We parked offsite at Port Canaveral once...and never again. I wrote about it in our May 2013 Fantasy cruise report (link in my signature). That's prob'ly what @ChuckElias is referring to.
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Convince me please!
- Thread starter ladydi
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PolynesianPrincess
Well-Known Member
I'm going to jump into this and say YES, aboslutely try a Disney cruise!! I was a Disney World gal all the way before I did the girl's cruise in September. In my mind, nothing could top WDW. I was happily proven wrong! The cruise was nothing short of amazing! I am glad we did the 4 night cruise to "test the waters" so to speak. I would have hated to book a 7 night cruise only to learn after the 2nd night that I hated it and then be stuck with 5 more nights. At least with the 4 nighter, if I hated it, I only would be stuck for 2 more nights. Thankfully, I loved it. I'd rather go on a cruise than to WDW now, that's how much I loved it! We have AP's but we are letting them lapse when they expire in May. We're planning a trip out west to visit Disneyland in April and have another cruise booked in November 2014. Until WDW starts offering up some new things, we'll be cruising the high seas! 
I have done my first and so far Disney cruise as a couple with no kids. It was wonderful and I never felt out of place. There are quiet a few areas that are adults only, so it is easy to get away from the kids.
Since you live in Florida, check out the Florida resident rates that Disney offers. they always come out on Monday and can be found in the website under Special Offers. I did a 5 night cruise out of Miami and thought it was perfect for a first cruise.
SSH
Well-Known Member
Thanks Bolna: much appreciated! I will definitely start looking for that.
derelicte19: that's definitely a convincing endorsement since you love the parks too. I loved this last holiday trip, but was also exhausted with all the mymagic+ planning, hassles, etc. Maybe wouldn't be a bad idea to trade the parks for a cruise instead.
ChuckElias
Well-Known Member
RMichael21
Well-Known Member
Do it! Do it!
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
I never expected it - but the 5-night cruise was the most relaxing vacation I ever had in my life. And friends of mine who went on their first cruise ever this fall in the Med (not Disney) came back and said they were so surprised at how wonderfully relaxing the cruise was. So, if you want a vacation, that will not exhaust you, trading the parks for a cruise is just the right thing to do!
Another cruise convert weighing in...took my first Disney cruise in September with the wonderful Girls of WDWMagic, and I have three more booked!! Feb 2014, Sept. 2014, and Feb 2015.
Hubs and I are going for Valentines Day coming up. Last cruise he was on was our honeymoon, and we found it just meh. If he turns out to love DCL as much as I did, it will be a great thing that our DVC points are sufficient to get us a 4-night cruise. If cruising still isn't for him, I'll have the annual girls cruise to look forward to every year!
Hubs and I are going for Valentines Day coming up. Last cruise he was on was our honeymoon, and we found it just meh. If he turns out to love DCL as much as I did, it will be a great thing that our DVC points are sufficient to get us a 4-night cruise. If cruising still isn't for him, I'll have the annual girls cruise to look forward to every year!
SSH
Well-Known Member
Tiggerish: wow...3 upcoming cruises in just 12 months...that's awesome. What fun. How were the crowds on your Sept cruise...and did you book at last min to ward off any possible hurricane disruption or did you just go for it and buy trip insurance? (I don't have school issues, so will be looking for the slowest possible time to book.)
Gosh, no!! The September 2013 cruise was booked almost two years in advance, right fellow Dream Girls? I did buy trip insurance, because you just never know what could come up. I would absolutely not call it crowded on that particular sailing, but I have nothing to compare it to. Any of the other experienced cruisers who have posted here, such as @sweetpee_1993 or @Disneyfalcon would be the best judges of how crowded it was in September, as they've cruised at different times of year. I thought it was perfect, the weather was fantastic, the ship was gorgeous. I felt very spoiled.
Here's a link to a thread full of links to all the trip reports from our 1st Annual WDWMagic Girls Cruise, so you can get several points of view: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/dream-girls-trip-reports.875448/
If, after reading some of those trip reports, you still need convincing...well, I don't know what we could do.
sweetpee_1993
Well-Known Member
Thanks for taggin' me in, @Tiggerish! Isn't it kinda like tag-team wrestling sometimes??? LOL!
@SSH, September is a slow time to cruise. Pretty much Labor Day thru to Christmas with the exception of holidays, when kids are typically in school, is the slowest times for sailing. This is when you're more likely to find discounts, too. You don't have to worry too much about hurricanes. Even if it's time to sail and a hurricane is forecast the captains will always sail out of the way. Sometimes they have to modify port schedules but for the most part they do everything possible to keep guests comfortable, protect the ship, and keep safety in mind. Ships do not typically stay tied up at any piers during hurricanes because of the potential to damage the ships and the piers. My dad was a career Navy man. I've always understood that for sailors when hurricanes come it's time to get underway.
I highly, HIGHLY recommend buying some amount of trip insurance for EVERY cruise. In the case of hurricanes or other unforseen circumstances that can alter your itinerary it's nice to have. Where it's most important is for medical coverage and medical evacuation coverage. Some health insurance companies don't cover costs incurred outside the US. Obviously hospitals and other providers outside the US are highly unlikely to be in-network or even bill US insurance companies directly. This could mean YOU having to pay for everything at the time of service and submit your receipts to your insurance company for reimbursement. Medical evacuation from another country can be extremely expensive running easily in the 5- to 6-digit range. It takes so little to require medical assistance. Twist an ankle. Trip and bust your head open. It can and does happen. Trip insurance is something I'll always be happy to have spent a little money on and never needed. There are other places you can look for travel insurance not thru the cruise line that offer better coverage for less $$. I personally like insuremytrip.com. Not trying to get all up on the soap box. When I started cruising I didn't give it too much thought and didn't buy insurance. As I came across other horror stories I realized how big a risk I was taking. You know? Just tryin' to share the insight!
@SSH, September is a slow time to cruise. Pretty much Labor Day thru to Christmas with the exception of holidays, when kids are typically in school, is the slowest times for sailing. This is when you're more likely to find discounts, too. You don't have to worry too much about hurricanes. Even if it's time to sail and a hurricane is forecast the captains will always sail out of the way. Sometimes they have to modify port schedules but for the most part they do everything possible to keep guests comfortable, protect the ship, and keep safety in mind. Ships do not typically stay tied up at any piers during hurricanes because of the potential to damage the ships and the piers. My dad was a career Navy man. I've always understood that for sailors when hurricanes come it's time to get underway.
I highly, HIGHLY recommend buying some amount of trip insurance for EVERY cruise. In the case of hurricanes or other unforseen circumstances that can alter your itinerary it's nice to have. Where it's most important is for medical coverage and medical evacuation coverage. Some health insurance companies don't cover costs incurred outside the US. Obviously hospitals and other providers outside the US are highly unlikely to be in-network or even bill US insurance companies directly. This could mean YOU having to pay for everything at the time of service and submit your receipts to your insurance company for reimbursement. Medical evacuation from another country can be extremely expensive running easily in the 5- to 6-digit range. It takes so little to require medical assistance. Twist an ankle. Trip and bust your head open. It can and does happen. Trip insurance is something I'll always be happy to have spent a little money on and never needed. There are other places you can look for travel insurance not thru the cruise line that offer better coverage for less $$. I personally like insuremytrip.com. Not trying to get all up on the soap box. When I started cruising I didn't give it too much thought and didn't buy insurance. As I came across other horror stories I realized how big a risk I was taking. You know? Just tryin' to share the insight!
SSH
Well-Known Member
thank you both for your great advice....I will certainly check out that thread this weekend. (I really don't need much convincing based upon what I've already heard here, but it'll be a great escape to read all the stories.)
My biggest issue re: hurricanes is not so much disruption to cruise itself: I'm in South Fla - hurricane alley. So if one were headed our way the same day or week as our departure, I'd have no choice but to cancel out, as I have pets, my husband has elderly parents he'd need to help, etc. I've heard stories of people escaping the storm by leaving town, only to come back to a bigger mess that was made much worse when a roof leak or busted window turned into major disaster with no one to take care of it. So hoping to find a travel insurance policy that might cover canceling due to this type of event.
My biggest issue re: hurricanes is not so much disruption to cruise itself: I'm in South Fla - hurricane alley. So if one were headed our way the same day or week as our departure, I'd have no choice but to cancel out, as I have pets, my husband has elderly parents he'd need to help, etc. I've heard stories of people escaping the storm by leaving town, only to come back to a bigger mess that was made much worse when a roof leak or busted window turned into major disaster with no one to take care of it. So hoping to find a travel insurance policy that might cover canceling due to this type of event.
Kelly, I just love to watch you strut your stuff and show off your DCL knowledge. You are a cruising superstar.
@SSH, we like you a lot, and before we're done here, I hope that you'll be deciding that you just can't do without joining the WDWMagic Girls Cruise in 2015 (2014 if you're up for 2 cruises in 1 year!)
@SSH, we like you a lot, and before we're done here, I hope that you'll be deciding that you just can't do without joining the WDWMagic Girls Cruise in 2015 (2014 if you're up for 2 cruises in 1 year!)
Disneyfalcon
Well-Known Member
Most cruises sail close to full, if not full, so the crowds are the same! What varies the most is the number of kids. Kids are very low on long cruises during the school year. Highest during the summer.
Cruises in September always run a risk of hurricanes. We've been on a September cruise surrounded by two hurricanes and one tropical storm. We had some rough seas and our itinerary changed slightly, but the captain did an excellent job of avoiding the storms themselves. It's definitely a risk though. Disney insurance will let you cancel for any reason basically and they'll apply what you lost to a future cruise. If you do decide to try a September cruise, that may be a good option for you.