Well now it's official :)

[BigTxEars]

You are NOT annoying!

I have no idea what time the port opens in Galveston. Maybe you could look up the port's website in Galveston. I'm sure it would be around noonish at the latest. If it's possible, get onboard as early as you can. That way you get as much time as you can to get oriented and have a yummy lunch before your room is ready. :wave:

Laundry. Yep, they have laundry rooms onboard. Also, the prices for pressing and dry cleaning are comparable to what I pay at Munro's locally. If the Magic has similar facilities to the Dream, the laundry rooms will have irons & ironing boards if you want to do your own pressing. We waaaay overpacked for our Dream cruise. Tracey swears next go around he's bringing 3 outfits and that's it. I'll be sending him to do the washing for us since he's so adamant.... :lol:

I will check with the port in Galveston to see when they open. Although Disney does not cruise from there I know a number of other companies do so they so have a fairly system in place.

My wife does the packing because I would show up with a duffle bag at best if I did. :ROFLOL:

My 17 year old spends the night at his friends house and uses a trash bag to haul his clothes in

Yeah I think I better let her pack :ROFLOL:

I am looking forward to the formal dinner nights, it will be fun to get dressed up at sea :sohappy:

 

[BigTxEars]

Sweepee is correct and described it well.

You always have the option to prepay your tips, you can do it through your travel agent or directly through DCL. They are $12 per night per guest from Disney.

Great info, did not know that. so $12 x 4 of us for 7 nights = $336. That is fair

Thanks!

 

[BigTxEars]

DCL does do prepaid tips but it's a little different. You pay the prepaids before the cruise. On the last night of the cruise your room steward leaves the envelopes and little vouchers stating the tip amount and who it's for on each. You put the prepaid voucher in the envelope for the right person and add any cash or whatever you wish to. Then you hand-deliver the envelopes to the 3 wait staff folks and the room steward when you see them next. The dining staff doesn't distribute anything. The room steward (or perhaps some other CM) leaves the items you need for tipping on your bed for you to find. :wave:

Great info, I am so saving this thread

I love that Disney makes it easy, clearly they benefit from it but it makes the vacation what is suppose to be, relaxing and easy :sohappy:

 

[BigTxEars]

About the tipping, when I sailed Carnival (my only other cruise experience) I was charged $10 per day, per person for tips. This was inlcuded in the price of the cruise and paid up front. So, even you didn't tip anyone during your cruise, you tipped everyone ahead of time. There was an option to go to one of the cruise service desks at the end of cruise to request your pre-paid tips back if you wanted them back (but that's strictly bad form).

Also, on our last night, the dining room staff distributed envelopes for additional tips should one care to do so (they did get a piece of the pre-paid tips as well).

Does Disney Cruise include these "pre-paid" tips in the cost of the cruise?

Sounds like a good system. I agree asking for tips back is

Thanks

 

[BigTxEars]

And even without cell phones, each room now has 2 "wave phones". It's essentially a cell phone for use only on the ship with other ship phones. I like it, b/c it lets me text my daughter when I want to know where she is. But I can understand people who want to get away from being connected to a phone at all times.

Sounds like a great thing. I do not want contact from the outside world (looking at you work :lookaroun) but with my daughter turning 15 on the cruise she is already talking about the teen club onboard. I am comfy giving her some freedom to roam but like the ideal we can keep contact with here :sohappy:

Sounds like Disney knows a wee bit about making folks happy on this old tugboat :ROFLOL:

 

[BigTxEars]

He was enjoying every minute! :lol:

And yes they do.

Great to know

 

[BigTxEars]

Be aware you CAN use cell phones - for the cost of a second mortgage. Well - not that bad, but still pretty pricey. So if you have an emergency you can use it. If not, turn them OFF (or at least airplane mode) so your phone does not go downloading updates on you and start racking up charges.

As for the dining room, you got the answer about it being on the keys and the "tickets" but it is also in one other place - your servers. Your serving team follows you from dining room to dining room each night. They tell you at least two or three times each night as dinner is ending "remember, tomorrow night dinner will be in XXXXX"

-dave

Good stuff, I am lad to hear about he servers keeping us in line

Good call on the cell phones, I will make sure to do so. If I do not throw the darn thing overboard

Last month at WDW the rule was no phones, iPods etc outside of the POR room. Great rule for us. We all enjoyed it having just "us" to communicate with :sohappy:

 

[BigTxEars]

You've already gotten your questions answered, but I just wanted to say that this kind of post -- first cruise, just a couple questions -- makes me smile!! You'll have a great time. Enjoy!

Thanks. I was a little hesitant at first but now am really happy with the cruise over WDW.

Still gonna miss NSSHP though

"When you hear the knell of a requiem bell,
Weird glows gleam where spirits dwell.
Restless bones etherialize,
Rise as spooks of every size".

Just awesome at the start of Hallowishes :sohappy:


But again REALLY looking forward to the cruise. Thanks for the well wishes.

Do most of you on here get the travel insurance? We did. I do not for WDW trips but the cruise seems like it might be a good ideal too.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

^^^
We haven't gotten the insurance. It's expensive and I don't like the limited coverages. We don't fly so not worried about flight changes. If a hurricane comes the ship still has to get out and DH and I will especially want to be on it. It's a gamble, I know, but it's part of traveling. Next years cruise will be a week long so I might look into some travel coverage from an outside source. I hear it's much more affordable that way.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I definitely recommend insurance for cruises. I never get it for WDW, but always for cruises. If that ship sails without you, you aren't going a day late, you have missed your vacation.

I also recently read a story about a family whose son had an emergency appendectomy in Cabo (I think). They missed the ship of course and all had to get airfare from Cabo home. Insurance paid for all of the plane tickets and the medical bills.

Access America is the company I recommend, and in fact Kingdom Konsultants sells it now because we like them so much. Their coverage is excellent. It's actually the company that DCL uses, but you're cutting out the middle man so to speak. By cutting out the middle man it is usually cheaper (that will depend on your ages, but it can be TONS cheaper), has better coverage (includes airfare not purchased through Disney), and if you don't buy it through Disney it will cover pre existing conditions if you buy it within 14 days of putting down a deposit.

I've used them personally for years. We've actually had to file a claim with them on our last cruise and it was painless.

 

[BigTxEars]

I definitely recommend insurance for cruises. I never get it for WDW, but always for cruises. If that ship sails without you, you aren't going a day late, you have missed your vacation.

I also recently read a story about a family whose son had an emergency appendectomy in Cabo (I think). They missed the ship of course and all had to get airfare from Cabo home. Insurance paid for all of the plane tickets and the medical bills.

Access America is the company I recommend, and in fact Kingdom Konsultants sells it now because we like them so much. Their coverage is excellent. It's actually the company that DCL uses, but you're cutting out the middle man so to speak. By cutting out the middle man it is usually cheaper (that will depend on your ages, but it can be TONS cheaper), has better coverage (includes airfare not purchased through Disney), and if you don't buy it through Disney it will cover pre existing conditions if you buy it within 14 days of putting down a deposit.

I've used them personally for years. We've actually had to file a claim with them on our last cruise and it was painless.

Good info. What you summed up is why I purchased the insurance for the cruise when I do not for WDW. I booked the cruise and bought the insurance thru the Disney website. I think it was roughly $240 forth four of us.

If nothing else it give me piece of mind.

Our yearly open medical/life insurance enrollment is going on at work right now. I pretty much max everything out now this time. My boss had a long battle with cancer this year and then an emergency operation to remove part of his intestine due to a different matter. Insurance already paid out close to $600,000 this year for him. A waste of money if you do not use insurance, priceless the second you need it.

 

[BigTxEars]

^^^
We haven't gotten the insurance. It's expensive and I don't like the limited coverages. We don't fly so not worried about flight changes. If a hurricane comes the ship still has to get out and DH and I will especially want to be on it. It's a gamble, I know, but it's part of traveling. Next years cruise will be a week long so I might look into some travel coverage from an outside source. I hear it's much more affordable that way.

I agree. It seems WDW packages have a much lower "risk" than the cruise. A delay of a day as posted is OK at WDW, not so much on a cruise. I was not really aware you could book insurance thru an outside service

 

[Disneyfalcon]

A waste of money if you do not use insurance, priceless the second you need it.

Absolutely!


FYI, unlike WDW, DCL's insurance is refundable up until your final payment. Go to accessamerica.com and see if you can save money on your own. I would guess it will be about $100 cheaper.

 

[BigTxEars]

Absolutely!


FYI, unlike WDW, DCL's insurance is refundable up until your final payment. Go to accessamerica.com and see if you can save money on your own. I would guess it will be about $100 cheaper.

Wow thanks!

$272 thru Disney

$112 thru your site....wow

$50 more to cover my wife and I if work prevents us form going, that is not covered at all thru Disney....so $162 if I choose that option, still much cheaper with better coverage.

Just read thru the details on the Disney Cruise site, it says 10 day to cancel the trip insurance and get a refund after you "purchase" it. I am still within that and will cancel tomorrow. I guess since I just put a down payment down on the entire package I have not "purchase" it yet so that is why I have until I make my final payment to cancel the insurance?

Thanks again

 

[flynnibus]

Great info thanks

On bad thing is I am over 365 days away

It goes quick! I booked our Dream cruise right before xmas last year and it's already here! we leave saturday for the drive down to FL.

We've barely done any planning.. so I hope I get to experience the good stuff.

RE: vs doing a WDW trip... well I know the WDW trip is a lot cheaper! We have a veranda room and the cruise itself wasn't obscenely expensive (but still more then I spent total, inc airfare, on our last WDW trip) but it's the extras that are going to kill me when I get home. The excursions added basically 1k, and tipping is going to be several hundred dollars more too..

I bet for my family of 5, this trip is going to cost 6k probably all said and done.. and that's driving instead of flying. Plus I'm going to goto Uni after, so that's almost another 1k.

I'm blowing the bank of this one... the wife has been begging for a DCL trip for a long time.. hope she enjoys it because it'll be another 5-10years before I can afford another

 

[BigTxEars]

It goes quick! I booked our Dream cruise right before xmas last year and it's already here! we leave saturday for the drive down to FL.

We've barely done any planning.. so I hope I get to experience the good stuff.

RE: vs doing a WDW trip... well I know the WDW trip is a lot cheaper! We have a veranda room and the cruise itself wasn't obscenely expensive (but still more then I spent total, inc airfare, on our last WDW trip) but it's the extras that are going to kill me when I get home. The excursions added basically 1k, and tipping is going to be several hundred dollars more too..

I bet for my family of 5, this trip is going to cost 6k probably all said and done.. and that's driving instead of flying. Plus I'm going to goto Uni after, so that's almost another 1k.

I'm blowing the bank of this one... the wife has been begging for a DCL trip for a long time.. hope she enjoys it because it'll be another 5-10years before I can afford another

Well have a great time first and foremost! :sohappy: Saturday is right around the corner

I am in Texas so we fly to Orlando, I am not a big fan of driving 1 1/2 days each way. Airfare would run us around $1200-$1300 and then a rental car (yep not a bus guy either :ROFLOL would run $175 or so for a week. So to fly and rent a car combined = $1450 or so. Room & board and tickets for 7 days would be about $2600 or so at POR. Now we are up to $4050 roughly. Oct would most likely be free dinning at WDW but tips would run $250 or so on TS meals for 7 nights. Running total is $4300. Spending money at WDW for 7 days would run $500 or so I would guess. New Total $4800.

The cruise was $3600 not including insurance. No airfare (Galveston is less than 2 hours form home) Tips will run $500 roughly I think all told. Running total $4100. Say the same spending money for 7 days ($500) so the total is $4600. 2nd party insurance (see post above) will run $175. Total $4775. I have no ideal about shore excursions yet but I guess I am going to learn :ROFLOL: So with out shore excursions:

WDW = $4800
Cruise =$4775

Pretty close as you can see. I guess shore excursions will be the part that swings the balance. :ROFLOL:

Of course if we went to WDW in 2012 we would go to Universal as last time we went to Universal was in 2010 and the Harry Potter crowd was so bad we really did not see that part of IOA. We did not go to Universal in 2011, just WDW. So add $500 minimum to the WDW trip total to be fair.

WDW = $5300
Cruise =$4775

So what types of excursions are you doing? I need some ideal how much to budget :ROFLOL:

Going to :

Grand Cayman
Costa Maya
Cozumel

Not sure what is even available to do there much less cost.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Wow thanks!

$272 thru Disney

$112 thru your site....wow

$50 more to cover my wife and I if work prevents us form going, that is not covered at all thru Disney....so $162 if I choose that option, still much cheaper with better coverage.

Just read thru the details on the Disney Cruise site, it says 10 day to cancel the trip insurance and get a refund after you "purchase" it. I am still within that and will cancel tomorrow. I guess since I just put a down payment down on the entire package I have not "purchase" it yet so that is why I have until I make my final payment to cancel the insurance?

Thanks again

No problem! It's not our insurance at all, we just wanted to start offering our Clint's another option so we went through their training and have an account with them.

Thats exactly why you can cancel DCL's insurance. They don't purchase it until the final payment is made. That's also why pre existing conditions aren't covered, because it's not purchased within 14 days of the deposit.

 

[ChuckElias]

Do they have the Wave phones on the classic ships?

I think someone else answered this, but I was on the Wonder for Alaska, and they had the Wave phones.

with my daughter turning 15 on the cruise she is already talking about the teen club onboard. I am comfy giving her some freedom to roam but like the ideal we can keep contact with here :sohappy:

With the younger kids, they can't leave the club without your approval and you can contact them quite easily while they're in the club, so the Wave Phone isn't a big deal. But in the Stack (have they changed it to "Vibe" on the classic ships?), they can come and go whenever they want, so I really liked having my 16-year-old carry it around with her.

 

[Phonedave]

Good stuff, I am lad to hear about he servers keeping us in line

Good call on the cell phones, I will make sure to do so. If I do not throw the darn thing overboard

Last month at WDW the rule was no phones, iPods etc outside of the POR room. Great rule for us. We all enjoyed it having just "us" to communicate with :sohappy:

You will most likely get to know your servers better than any other CM on the ship. They are also very good at picking up on what you like. For instance my kids like Shirley Temples (with extra cherries). After the first night there were Shirley Temples with about 8 cherries in them waiting at their seats when we came into the dining room.

Just to be clear on the cell phones (yeah, I had to use mine a few times)

When at sea you can get a signal in the staterooms via the cell phone at sea service or whatever it's called. There is almost no signal in the corridors or common areas or verandahs (which is great, keeps cell users in their rooms)

When you approach land (3 miles out) the ship signal will shut down. As you get closer, you may be able to pick up local cell service (such as in Nassau). Rates can vary with this. I think Nassau is LIME, as is most of the carribbean islands.

Now, for Wave phones. Your room comes with 2 and if you want you can rent more. Any wave phone can call ANY phone on the ship (Wave or "landline") and can text ANY Wave phone. Last I checked, the phone menus were locked out so you could not add contacts. I would bring an index card and tape it to the back of the phone.

Wave phones also work on Castaway Cay. We didn't try them because we were all together and if you damage them they charge you, but apparently they work. You can see the massive palm tree looking antenna on the island.


-dave

 

[flynnibus]

So with out shore excursions:

WDW = $4800
Cruise =$4775

Pretty close as you can see. I guess shore excursions will be the part that swings the balance. :ROFLOL:

They can be crazy! Not sure if any of the DCL sites post excursion prices.. they probably do. I didn't get exposed to the excursion stuff until when we made our final payment allowing us to book them.

I think the cheapest on ours was $40/head for the Disney private beach package of stuff.. many were $100+/head and some (altantis packages) were upwards of $300+/head if I recall.

We are doing a dolphin swim thing.. $199/head!!! That right there was over $800 in a single day. Then we had another few hundred bucks for the private island stuff.

Its scarey because I think for that kind of money we could probably do Discovery Cove in Orlando and have a much better time with more to do.. but didn't want to do nothing.. so bit the bullet and the kids are hyped for it.

After our last trip in 09 which was 5 days in a value resort for a family of 5.. I wrote up a summary of my total expenditures. The bottom line was

$ 233.20 Airfare
$ 60.00 Parking
$ 189.02 Car
$ 18.35 Gas
$1266.00 Tickets
$1050.90 Hotel
---------------
$2817.47 Total

Airfare is a bit misleading as I didn't buy all 5 tickets outright. More here if anyone cares. This DCL will be 4 nights, and probably 5-6k. But I'm also not going value on the DCL cruise.. but the cruise itself I think was like 3800? can't remember.