Disney Cruise

[Padukacat]

Were leaving Sunday and heading on a Disney cruise with the kids, i believe on the Disney Dream ship. We will port one night in the Bahamas and one night in their private island, Castaway Cay. So has anyone ever taken a disney cruise, if so give me the low down of anything i want to avoid or do (particularly at the ports).

Thanks in advance!

[dan_bgblue]

I have never taken a Disney Cruis. Have taken a couple others in the Caribbean though. Do not take any of the tours offered by the cruise line. If you only have one day in the Bahamas, just walk off the boat and enjoy a day on solid land while enjoying the local food and atmosphere. jmho btw have you been watching this?

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT14/refresh/AL1416W5_NL+gif/203708W5_NL_sm.gif

[KSRBEvans]

I've been on 2 DCL cruises: a 7-night Western Caribbean (stops in Georgetown Grand Cayman/Costa Maya Mexico/Cozumel Mexico/Castaway Cay) on the Fantasy in 2012, and a 3-night Bahamas (stops in Nassau and Castaway Cay) this past January on the Dream. The first one was an empty-nester trip Mrs. BEvans and I took with another couple, and the one in January was a family cruise with our adult son.

For our Bahamas cruise we didn't get off the ship in Nassau because we knew we only had a limited amount of time and we wanted to enjoy the ship. We got off the ship at Castaway Cay and it's a very nice private island.

Both the Dream and Fantasy are amazing ships and I think you'll enjoy yourself. Disney cruises can be a little (or a lot) more expensive than other cruise lines, but the ships, service and entertainment are outstanding. Some things that come to mind:

--Don't know if you're going with kids, but try to take advantage of the adults-only areas if you can. They're very nice and peaceful;

--Along those same lines, 2nd seating for dinner is usually quieter because parents with younger kids want to get the kids fed early and in bed;

--The Aquaduck (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AquaDuck) is a lot of fun. You'll find shorter waits if you're doing it early in the morning, later in the afternoon/evening or while in port;

--Free soft drinks, tea and coffee on the ship, and they have soft drink fountains on the pool deck. I took a big Tervis tumbler with me--holds a lot more than the relatively small paper cups they have at the fountains;

--They have a Pirates Night where they do a Pirates in the Caribbean show and fireworks which are cool;

--The evening shows are what you would expect from Disney, and they have Disney movies playing in the Walt Disney Theater. When we were on the Dream in January they were showing Star Wars Episode VII, Bridge of Spies, Zootopia and others. They're free, of course, but the snacks they offer outside the theater are not free. Before the movie stop on the pool deck for a soft drink and snack to take into the movie;

--The spas on both ships are very nice, and you can purchase a length-of-stay pass or by day that entitles you to use of the indoor hot tubs, steam room, sauna, showers, etc.

--Castaway Cay is a lot of fun, and they have an adults-only area (Serenity Bay) which is very, well, serene. Getting there early insures you'll have a good selection of chairs, but they should have plenty, anyway;

--If you're a runner they do a Castaway Cay 5K that's usually early in the morning when they announce "all ashore." It's free and neat thing you can say you did.

Feel free to ask any other questions here or PM if you want. Have fun!

[Padukacat]

Thanks so much for the info! Yeah I think the hurricane is gonna prob change our itenerary and may kinda ruin things

[KentuckyWildcat]

Thanks so much for the info! Yeah I think the hurricane is gonna prob change our itenerary and may kinda ruin things

Report back please after your trip. I'd like to do one when both kids are old enough.

[KSRBEvans]

BTW, disboards.com has a Disney Cruise Line forum that's great for info and tips. Here's a thread they have going on the hurricane:

http://disboards.com/threads/so-about-this-hurricane.3550972/

[Darrell KSR]

Fascinated with weather and ships, although I've only been on one short cruise many years ago.

Here's an article on Hurricanes and cruises that you may enjoy.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=884

[Padukacat]

Well, we port in nassau on Tuesday and Castaway Cay on Wednesday which is pretty much the time the hurricane is planning to port as well...so thats not gonna work out. I suppose we can hope they move us to a different port out of the path on Tuesday and then a day at sea wednesday and then hopefully port at CC on thursday, but that sounds optimistic. I'll let you know.

[Darrell KSR]

Take dramamine or whatever your seasickness solution may be. They say that if you ride out the skirts of the storm, the seas may be rough on even old sea hand types.

Me? True story here--I got seasick when we went tubing on the Chattahoochee River in Helen, Georgia a couple of summers ago. These days, my equilibrium is shot.

Yeah, this is pretty much what it looked like. I'm a wimp.

http://southernhighroads.org/uploads/images/cache/0a2dcf361d6132c12fa574adbeb0c8c729f687da.jpg

[dan_bgblue]

Take dramamine or whatever your seasickness solution may be.

This. Take one 12 hours before boarding then follow the recommended repeat dosage. Do not be macho or brave and think everything is going to be OK without it. Trust me please.

I had never been motion sick in my life. Deep sea fishing in 4-6 foot seas, the worst rides a fun park could offer, etc and no hint of being seasick. 1st ocean cruise, my wife (both in our early 30s) and I were at the 2nd seating the first night out of port and we managed to get our order placed before we had to leave the table. Walked past the pursers desk where they were handing out pills as fast as they could. Hallways were littered with vomit and smelled, well like vomit. Got the pills down and it was early the next morning when they really kicked in. We had a room 3 floors above the waterline and a nifty porthole. All night long the waves were smashing against the porthole and every time they would water would squirt into the room from around the seals. It was a very miserable night to say the least with my wife staying sick in the bathroom and me wedged into a corner in the room concentrating on not emptying my stomach all over the place.

The next 2 days were beautiful with 5-8 foot seas and a gentle roll. Stayed on the meds and we had a good time.

[PedroDaGr8]

The hurricane is up to a Cat IV, looks to be a pretty strong one! Hope that you are able to skirt around it because it is going to be some REALLY rough seas.

[CitizenBBN]

Maybe they'll divert you to key west. it's great for rainy weather, you just sit around and drink. Of course that's what you do in nice weather too.

[Padukacat]

Maybe they'll divert you to key west. it's great for rainy weather, you just sit around and drink. Of course that's what you do in nice weather too.

Well I saw on the thread someone linked that our ship the dream is too big to port in key west

[Padukacat]

And thanks everyone for being interested in my demise or caring about me either way

[Darrell KSR]

And thanks everyone for being interested in my demise or caring about me either way
Of course we're interested. Will make a great story. Can be the next SS Minnow.

[Doc]

They will likely reroute you. Unfortunately my house isn't mobile. Expecting a wet week next week

[Darrell KSR]

Stay safe, Doc. I know the winds are not a problem for you and you're well protected against, well, probably everything. But dump a bunch of wet stuff and strange things happen sometimes. Hope the TV and internet stay on.

[Darrell KSR]

An ounce of prevention is certainly worth it. You have the definitive example here; I hope he heeds your words.
This. Take one 12 hours before boarding then follow the recommended repeat dosage. Do not be macho or brave and think everything is going to be OK without it. Trust me please.

I had never been motion sick in my life. Deep sea fishing in 4-6 foot seas, the worst rides a fun park could offer, etc and no hint of being seasick. 1st ocean cruise, my wife (both in our early 30s) and I were at the 2nd seating the first night out of port and we managed to get our order placed before we had to leave the table. Walked past the pursers desk where they were handing out pills as fast as they could. Hallways were littered with vomit and smelled, well like vomit. Got the pills down and it was early the next morning when they really kicked in. We had a room 3 floors above the waterline and a nifty porthole. All night long the waves were smashing against the porthole and every time they would water would squirt into the room from around the seals. It was a very miserable night to say the least with my wife staying sick in the bathroom and me wedged into a corner in the room concentrating on not emptying my stomach all over the place.

The next 2 days were beautiful with 5-8 foot seas and a gentle roll. Stayed on the meds and we had a good time.

[Padukacat]

well i've never been sea sick and cruised through rough seas for a night, so rough we skipped our nassau stop last time. can you believe i've cruised twice now and both times bahamas stops are cancelled. now i have a decision to make, do it play hard headed and say i've done his before and never get sick...or do i just take the stupid pill. i'll prob heed your advice.

[Darrell KSR]

Oh, tough it out. It will make for a better story when you return. We don't need any pictures, however.

[dan_bgblue]

The maker of this video is a graduate student in meteorology at FSU. He has been putting together videos on tropical storms for a few years and I have found that he has a very good handle on tropical storm predictions. He is actually an Alaskan native and got his start on weather watching and meteorology watching and tracking the intense storms that occur in the Bearing sea area.

I think his information is always worth watching if one has an interest in potential tropical storms or hurricanes


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMcuZiOYPec

[Doc]

Take dramamine or whatever your seasickness solution may be.

I use scapolamine (the patch). Start it a couple days before (or if you dramamine, do it 2-3 days prior) and it will be more effective. We had one cruise at Xmas a few years back where the seas were so high we could not make port in the Turks. Lots of folks feeding the fish (as they say) but I was good thanks to the patch, and I'm the biggest sea sick guy out there. I got sea sick PADDLEBOARDING. When I got my scuba certification I was vomiting thru my regulator. People were amazed because I had so many fish around me! Now, I don't take baths due to the rough seas in the tub.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eGWbilNvfj4/T0kVKoj4P5I/AAAAAAAAAUE/fNcisBLneTc/s1600/TRANSDERM-SCOP.jpg

But if you go with scopolamine, be prepared for this (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anisocoria):
http://www.danintranet.org/storymedia/3209.jpg

and you likely will be light sensitive

[Darrell KSR]

Woo, look at that left pupil (the one on the right). Cowabunga.

[PedroDaGr8]

Isn't scopolamine a hallucinogen?


Also, Mathew is now a Cat 5 storm, that is just nuts. It just exploded in intensity and is really going to be a bad one. It is the FIRST Cat 5 storm in almost a decade.

[CitizenBBN]

And thanks everyone for being interested in my demise or caring about me either way

Would we have started the pool if we didn't care? :)

[Doc]

Woo, look at that left pupil (the one on the right). Cowabunga.

Called anisocoria. Scapolamine is a cousin of atropine which dilates pupils. Also dries secretions. It commonly will blow one pupil but not the other. I think it's more likely to do the side you put the patch on but I never paid attention. The blown pupil is what makes you light sensitive. Many people will have anisocoria, usually due to trauma. David Bowie had it. Most people think he had different color iris (heterochromia) but not the case. I believe his was due to getting hit in the eye with a toy as a child.

[Doc]

Isn't scopolamine a hallucinogen?


Also, Mathew is now a Cat 5 storm, that is just nuts. It just exploded in intensity and is really going to be a bad one. It is the FIRST Cat 5 storm in almost a decade.

Plus it's stationary. Fortunately not near land now. Worse hurricanes are the stationary ones affecting land because they dump water and flood.

[Padukacat]

I feel somewhat responsible for this, had I not booked a cruise Haiti or Jamaica wouldn't be Fixin to get 40" or rain.

[Padukacat]

Rerouted to Cozumel

[Doc]

Rerouted to Cozumel

Good choice, and totally expected. You should be happy. Nothing worse than a rough cruise because there is no relief. Cozumel is neat. We did a cruise there several years ago. Boat docks about 2 miles outside of town. Some good diving in that area if you SCUBA.

[dan_bgblue]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwX8J0wQpto

[dan_bgblue]

Rerouted to Cozumel

That is great for everyone involved. None of those says driving around in circles all day long avoiding the storm. Hope you have a great trip. I do expect the seas being pretty rough for the first 10 hours or so after leaving port as Matt is going to be pushing water well ahead of it's center

[Padukacat]

Yeah I agree guys best outcome possible I'm fine with any sun and a drink regardless of the destination. I'll keep ya updated. Not sure how arriving back at port when Matthew does will work out for us...

[dan_bgblue]

Does the ship provide free, or pay per byte internet service?

[KSRBEvans]

Really like Cozumel. Went there on 2 different cruises. As Doc said, Cozumel's well known for great diving and snorkeling.

[dan_bgblue]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMpSwY5uNsM

[Doc]

Its not looking good for me. Hopefully it stays east of us but we are expecting the worse. Likely shutter up tomorrow. Son is coming home from school in Orlando to ride it out here. Current track has it running directly over my business partners fishing house in the Bahama's, which is about 50 miles east of us here in FL.

[Doc]

https://icons.wunderground.com/data/images/at201614.gif

[dan_bgblue]

Well, I see the ship left port in Mexico. Not sure what they will do with you until Saturday, but I am sure they have a plan. Hope you and yours are having fun

[Padukacat]

Looks like we're gonna stay on board tonight for a second extra night, drive back tomorrow. I'd go back today but my crew would rather stay. It'll be our second free night which is crazy. Did Cozumel and a second port at costa maya. Pretty good trip, really hot and not a drop of rain or rough seas. Nobody took Dramamine after the first night for the record, 5' seas pretty much. They did take on about 5000 tons of water on the way back in to minimize the rockin in anticipation of 12' seas but don't think we saw them. Disney did a top notch job as usual on customer service. They had to lose a ton on the extra nights and the fuel they used up vs the original destination.

[Padukacat]

Here is how I would rate a disney cruise as a vacation, not really vs other cruises since I've only done one.

Food - starting w the most disappointing thing, it was the food. The breakfast and lunch was good I suppose (Buffet), but the sit down dinner wasn't near as good as I recall our carnival cruise years ago and nothing like a Disney world venue dinner. We expected greatness out of the food but it was mass produced to cut cost type of food. Sat us w another family which sucked but realized we weren't too happy about it, so they moved us to another server. The second server was as awkward as the first and we just didn't enjoy dinner whatsoever. Weird.

Service - outside of dinner it was fantastic overall. They had a curveball on this cruise and handled it well.

Entertainment - it was solid but I'll admit I expected a bit more. The shows each night were good and there were some good set aside activities prob more than you could find anywhere else. The kids really had a good time in the teen area and our ten year old enjoyed it too. We went to one adult thing which was a 90s trivia and it was a blast and we wished we had done more. The bars were great and there werent many adults in there. They had one which had a background that changed to a view of diff cities which was awesome. They had a bball court and moni golf. The pools were weak I thought.

[dan_bgblue]

Hope you got home safely today. This will be one of those trips you will remember for years.

[KSRBEvans]

Looks like we're gonna stay on board tonight for a second extra night, drive back tomorrow. I'd go back today but my crew would rather stay. It'll be our second free night which is crazy. Did Cozumel and a second port at costa maya. Pretty good trip, really hot and not a drop of rain or rough seas. Nobody took Dramamine after the first night for the record, 5' seas pretty much. They did take on about 5000 tons of water on the way back in to minimize the rockin in anticipation of 12' seas but don't think we saw them. Disney did a top notch job as usual on customer service. They had to lose a ton on the extra nights and the fuel they used up vs the original destination.

We stopped at Costa Maya on our DCL Western Caribbean and really enjoyed our excursion there (ATVs through the jungle and along the coast, then a stop at a beachside bar for drinks/swimming).

Sorry some of it didn't live up to your expectations--DCL costs a lot more than other cruises (so much so that we're probably priced out for future DCL cruises) so I can understand expecting more. But glad it worked out for you and you had a nice cruise overall.