To cruise or not to cruise??

[gracie1]

I am planning our next WDW vacation and I'm debating whether or not to do a 4 night cruise. We have never been on a cruise before and my husband vowed he would never go on one (now I at least have him considering it) I looked into the parks/cruise packages...just not sure if we want to spend that much this trip...also, if we go that route we would spend 3 nights at WDW and do a 3 night cruise. Does that give us enough time to really enjoy both?? or is it better to just do one over the other? One more question, Can we request to eat with just our family on the cruise? Not big on eating with others while on vacation.
Looking at Jan next year and our kids' ages are 12, 8 & 5. Thanks so much!!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I am planning our next WDW vacation and I'm debating whether or not to do a 4 night cruise. We have never been on a cruise before and my husband vowed he would never go on one (now I at least have him considering it) I looked into the parks/cruise packages...just not sure if we want to spend that much this trip...also, if we go that route we would spend 3 nights at WDW and do a 3 night cruise. Does that give us enough time to really enjoy both?? or is it better to just do one over the other? One more question, Can we request to eat with just our family on the cruise? Not big on eating with others while on vacation.
Looking at Jan next year and our kids' ages are 12, 8 & 5. Thanks so much!!

H Gracie1! I say definitely cruise!

I find the 3 night cruises a little too short to fully relax and take advantage of everything. If you have a choice, I'd go with a 4 night, but if you're not sure they are for you, a 3 night isn't a bad way to try them out.

Is 3-4 nights enough at WDW? Not if you've never been. If you are a regular visitor though, I think you can see a lot in 3-4 nights and still feel like you had a great vacation.

You can request to eat with just your family. You can also check once you board to see if your request was honored, and if not, they can usually fix it then.

 

[gracie1]

We spent 7 days at WDW last year, so I think 3 days would be okay - yet I'm not sure if I want to try (and pay for) both at once.
My other question about the cruise, is I keep reading trip reports about how great people's cruise was because they hardly saw their kids. We are the opposite..(nothing against those families) but when we take a family vacation, we want it to be just that..a family vacation! Do the kids have to spend all day in those clubs or are there lots of family activities we can all do together?

 

[Disneyfalcon]

We spent 7 days at WDW last year, so I think 3 days would be okay - yet I'm not sure if I want to try (and pay for) both at once.
My other question about the cruise, is I keep reading trip reports about how great people's cruise was because they hardly saw their kids. We are the opposite..(nothing against those families) but when we take a family vacation, we want it to be just that..a family vacation! Do the kids have to spend all day in those clubs or are there lots of family activities we can all do together?

Lots of family activities! Disney knows some families want to spend time together and they plan lots of activities for families.

The kids clubs are also awesome but no one ever has to go. The nice thing is that all the actives in the clubs are on the daily Navigators in your room. So if they want to say, make flubber, they will know that's at two o'clock and go to the club a few minutes before.

I always say you can see your kids as much or as little as you want.

 

[toolsnspools]

We did the 4 day cruise last April and I just found myself on the boards reminiscing about how awesome that vacation was, when I came across this thread.

I would dump the time in the parks and do the 4 night cruise. If you're short on $$ and have a few extra days in FL, spend them catching other things that you normally wouldn't do. We have 3 kids, they were 8, 11, and 12 at the time. We spent almost the whole cruise together so don't feel like dumping the kids is the only option. There are tons of activities that you can do as a family. As a family, we did the Junkanoo tour (cool way to see some of the culture of the Bahamas), the snorkeling, biking across Castaway Key (which was wicked awesome and cheap too), saw multiple shows together, mini-golf, spent the day together on the beach, rode the Aquaduck, not to mention you'll eat most meals together as a family as well.

Some of the things I was worried about that NEVER became an issue were: sea sickness, being stuck for hours in a small room, being constantly crowded, being bored, and (believe it or not) being mobbed by tons of kids. They just didn't happen. There was always enough space to make me comfortable and if you wanted to sneak off and relax by yourself, you could walk the promenade deck or go to the adult areas.

All things considered, it was one of the best family vacations we've ever taken. Now that I've ranted for far too long, I think I'll go back to dreaming about taking that 7 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean.... :lol:

 

[gracie1]

Thanks so much for your response! Yes, I feel nervous about not doing the parks for a cruise. Yet, the more I keep reading and researching, I think it would be so much fun!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Thanks so much for your response! Yes, I feel nervous about not doing the parks for a cruise. Yet, the more I keep reading and researching, I think it would be so much fun!

It will be.

 

[ChuckElias]

Hmmmm. . . Cruise. . . or no cruise. . .

CRUISE!!! :ROFLOL:

I can totally understand worrying about shorting your time in the parks. I love the time with my daughter in the parks. But the cruise is such a great experience, and different from the parks, that if you can do it, you really should do it (even if you decide against it on this particular trip).

For people who want to get rid of the kids, it's a great vacation b/c of all the kids-only activities. If you're like me and you actually like being with your kid(s), there are plenty of family activities. On one of our early cruises, my daughter and I decorated a kite together and then flew it at Castaway Cay. There's family kareoke, family dance parties, all the deck parties, movies in the Buena Vista Theater (my daughter and I always see at least one movie together). Who Wants to Be a Mouseketeer? Tons of things to do with the kids.

Now, to be perfectly honest, you're going to want to ditch the kids for some of the time. Otherwise, you can't enjoy Quiet Cove. And, oh my gosh, you really want to enjoy Quiet Cove. And you can't take kids into the adult lounges at night; but there's a great mix of family and adults-only stuff for you to choose from, even at night.

I'm 99.9999999% certain that you will love the cruise, even if it means a little less time in the parks.

 

[RobnRachal]

WARNING! WARNING! Do not enter cruise forum and post such questions unless you want to be convinced that a Disney cruise is awesome! :lol:
You can't really compare WDW to DCL...it's like trying to compare apples and oranges. It just depends on what fruit you feel like that day.
The last two trips we have been fortunate enough to include both (4 night cruise and WDW stay) However our next trip will likely be just a cruise (7 night though )
Without knowing you personally I can't say that you will love cruising but if there's any chance of getting your husband onboard with the idea it would be a Disney cruise. It's true, there is so much for the kids to do, but if we're taking a family vacation then we spend our time as a family (and there's certainly no lack of family activities). The only exception is our "adult night" (Palo's or Remy's)

 

[gracie1]

WARNING! WARNING! Do not enter cruise forum and post such questions unless you want to be convinced that a Disney cruise is awesome! :lol:
You can't really compare WDW to DCL...it's like trying to compare apples and oranges. It just depends on what fruit you feel like that day.
The last two trips we have been fortunate enough to include both (4 night cruise and WDW stay) However our next trip will likely be just a cruise (7 night though )
Without knowing you personally I can't say that you will love cruising but if there's any chance of getting your husband onboard with the idea it would be a Disney cruise. It's true, there is so much for the kids to do, but if we're taking a family vacation then we spend our time as a family (and there's certainly no lack of family activities). The only exception is our "adult night" (Palo's or Remy's)

You are totally right! I think I came on the forum for everyone to convince me to take the cruise! lol! The more I read, the more I think we'd love it. We won't get back to WDW for a good 5 years (if we do the cruise, my husband is adament about trying other places to vaca!) So I just want to make sure I'm making the right decision. We would be looking at the end of Jan. Are the cruises very crowded then?

 

[Disneyfalcon]

You are totally right! I think I came on the forum for everyone to convince me to take the cruise! lol! The more I read, the more I think we'd love it. We won't get back to WDW for a good 5 years (if we do the cruise, my husband is adament about trying other places to vaca!) So I just want to make sure I'm making the right decision. We would be looking at the end of Jan. Are the cruises very crowded then?

Just about every Disney cruise sails full or very close to it, so you don't have to worry about crowds. They are pretty much always the same and the ship is built for it.

January tends to be a cheaper time to cruise which is nice.

 

[DisneyJoe]

January tends to be a cheaper time to cruise which is nice.

Very true Tammy! Just be sure to book as far in advance as possible as that is when the rates are lowest - as the ship fills, the prices go up.

 

[Master Yoda]

Just about every Disney cruise sails full or very close to it, so you don't have to worry about crowds. They are pretty much always the same and the ship is built for it.

January tends to be a cheaper time to cruise which is nice.

This was something that downright shocked me on my first Disney cruise. On advice from friends that had cruised on other cruise lines we got and outside room with veranda so we would have an outside refuge away from the crowds of people on deck. I expected the common deck areas to be like the parks on the 4th of July but to my surprise I found them to be like the parks a week after 9/11 even though our cruise was sold out.