Planning a cruise is different than planning a vacation on land.  Are you thinking about, or ready to book, a Disney Cruise Line vacation but you’ve never sailed with Disney before?  Are you looking for the first timer’s guide to a Disney Cruise?  If so, then you’ve come to the right place!  My family and I have set sail on three different Disney cruises, the Disney Wonder, the Disney Magic, and the Disney Dream.  From deciding on an itinerary to entertainment and more, here is the first timer’s guide to planning a Disney Cruise.

The First Timer’s Guide to Planning a Disney Cruise

1. Decide on a Disney Cruise Budget and Itinerary
2. Booking a Disney Cruise
3. Booking Shore Excursions
4. Entertainment on a Disney Cruise
5. Disney Cruise Kids Club
6. Fish Extenders/Stateroom Decoration
7. Disney Cruise Pools
8. Special Theme Cruises
9. Disney Cruise Special Offers

Disney cruises are a lot of fun, but there are several things you’ll want to keep in mind when planning your first Disney cruise.  Otherwise, it can be very overwhelming.  The guide below will help you plan your first Disney cruise!

1.  Decide on a Disney Cruise Budget and Itinerary

I’ll be the first to admit that Disney cruises are expensive.  Some cruises are more expensive than others, though.  For example, Disney sails to Europe and you can expect to pay a premium for those particular cruises.  If you’ve never been on a Disney cruise before and you and your family enjoy the beach, then you can’t go wrong with the Caribbean, especially since many itineraries stop at Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay.  There are also shorter itineraries as well as itineraries that leave from the west coast.  For example, if you live on the west coast, you could save costs by driving to San Diego, instead of flying there. Also, Disney Cruise ships set sail from a handful of countries like Spain, Italy, Canada, England, and Denmark.  But again, expect to pay top dollar for those cruises.  You can click here to see all the different destinations.

Also, the type of stateroom (or cabin) you book will depend on your budget.  There are three different types of staterooms:  inside, ocean view, and balcony.  I’ve stayed in all three different types of cabins and if your budget allows for it, I’d definitely recommend an ocean view stateroom.  It’s not quite as expensive as a balcony, but it allows you and your children to look outside via a porthole window while in your cabin.

2.  Booking a Disney Cruise

As soon as you’ve decided on a particular Disney cruise, you’ll want to book it.  At the time you make your reservation, you will need to pay a deposit.  Also, guests who have previously sailed with Disney Cruise Line are able to book cruises before guests who have never sailed before with Disney Cruise.  Likewise, previous guests can also reserve shore excursions and activities prior to guests who have never sailed before.  Previous guests belong to a membership called the Castaway Club and even then, there is a tier for those based on their number of sailings with Disney Cruise Line.  To see the breakdown of Castaway Club, you can click here.  To see when you can book shore excursions, you can click here.

Dining

There are several restaurants onboard the Disney cruises.  However, when you book your cruise, you’ll be asked whether you want early seating or late seating for dinner.  That’s because main sitting for dinner occurs at two different times:  5:45 pm and 8:00 pm.  If you have younger children, then I recommend choosing the earlier dining time.  However, the early dining slots do book up very quickly, which is one of the reasons you’ll want to book your cruise as soon as possible.  We ended up getting second seating during our Marvel Day at Sea Cruise, however, as soon as we boarded the cruise ship, we were able to get our dining switched for the earlier time.

*Room service is also available on Disney cruises and most meals are included in the price of the cruise!  You can also get Mickey bars delivered to your cabin 🙂

Specialty Dining

Main dining is included in the price of the cruise; however, there’s also specialty dining available on Disney Cruises, thanks to restaurants for adults only, like Palo and Remy.  My husband and I have eaten at Palo before, and I highly recommend it.  While the specialty restaurants cost extra, I do believe it’s worth it since parents don’t have to pay for a babysitter (the kids club is included in the price of the cruise) and the food is excellent.  If you decide you want to eat at these restaurants, you’ll want to make sure that you book your reservations far in advance.  My friend Tania is another fan of Disney cruises and she wrote all about the Palo Brunch here.

Travel Insurance

You’ll want to purchase travel insurance when booking your cruise.  I can’t stress this enough.  Hopefully, you won’t need to use it, but it’s worth it just for the peace of mind alone.  My son has broken his finger before a vacation, and if it had been a cruise, we would probably have had to cancel the trip.  Also, I had an emergency situation myself when I needed to have a kidney stone surgically removed.  You just never know when an emergency is going to arise, and this isn’t something you want to gamble on.

3.  Booking Shore Excursions

Once you’ve booked your cruise, you can book shore excursions within a certain timeframe.  If you aren’t using a travel agent, then I highly recommend that you put on your calendar the date that you can start booking shore excursions.  As a I mentioned above, previous guests can book excursions before guests who are new to Disney Cruise Line.  While this is a nice perk if you have sailed with Disney Cruise Line before, it can be frustrating if this is your first sailing.  I’m a Silver Member through the Castaway Club and even then, I was not able to book excursions that were our first preference because they were already booked by the time our booking window opened.

4.  Entertainment on a Disney Cruise

Entertainment on a Disney Cruise is top notch and it is my family’s favorite reason for taking a Disney cruise.  Not only are there several character meet and greets on board, but you can also watch the latest Disney movies in a movie theater called the Buena Vista Theatre.  For example, during our first Disney Cruise, a Thor movie had just been released.  For our more recent cruise, Thor was back, this time in Thor:  Ragnarok 🙂  The new releases are included in the price of the cruise, so you’ll definitely want to take advantage of this if time permits.

Before leaving on the cruise, you’ll also want to download the Disney Cruise Line Navigator App on your smartphone.  You don’t need to pay for wifi in order to access the app while on the cruise.  You’ll be able to view the entertainment schedule, daily activities, and more.  Speaking of wifi, though, there is wifi available on Disney cruises.  Keep in mind, though, that the speed of the internet can be slow.  My friend Tania at Lola Lambchops wrote about Disney cruise wifi and you can read all about it here.

Disney’s Personal Navigator

The Personal Navigator is Disney Cruise’s newsletter that is delivered nightly to your cabin.  The Personal Navigator will list the port for the following day, the activities available on board the cruise ship (as well as times), the hours that the restaurants are open, character meet and greets, and the hours of operations for the shops on board the Disney cruises, and more.  It will also state the hours for photography services and the locations.  Definitely take advantage of the photography services while on board the cruise ship.  It doesn’t cost anything to have your photos taken (unless you arrange for special photography sessions), and you aren’t obligated to purchase the photos if you don’t like them.  There are photography packages available, but they can be pricey so if you are interested in purchasing the pictures, you’ll want to incorporate this in your overall budget.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Just like Disneyland and Disney World, the Disney Cruise ships have a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique on board.  It’s not included in the price of the cruise, though, so you’ll also want to keep this in mind for your budget.  You can find out more information about the prices and the packages by clicking here.

Pirate Night and Fireworks at Sea (Based on Itinerary)

My family and I LOVE Pirate Night onboard the Disney cruises.  It’s usually for the Caribbean itineraries and weather permitting, it even includes fireworks in the evening.  It’s quite a performance and what makes Disney unique.  Some people go all out for Pirate Night and bring costumes from home.  If you don’t want to dress up in a costume, though, Disney provides guests with pirate bandanas.  There are also special meet and greets for pirate night, like Chip and Dale dressed up like pirates.

5.  Disney Cruise Kids Club

The kids clubs on Disney Cruises are exceptional and another reason why we prefer Disney Cruises.  All four Disney cruise ships have kids clubs called the Oceaneer Lab and the Oceaneer Club.  There’s even a nursery on board.  During our first Disney cruise, my husband and I dropped our son off at the nursery so we could eat dinner at Palo.  Now that our son is older, he loves going to the Oceaneer Club and partake in arts and crafts, listen to music while dancing, and fly the Millennium Falcon on board the Disney Dream.  Each Disney Cruise has different activities and themes.  To find out which activities and themes are available for a particular Disney cruise ship and age ranges, you can click here.  For example, the Disney Magic has the MARVEL Super Hero Academy whereas the Disney Dream has the Millennium Falcon.

6.  Fish Extenders/Stateroom Decorations

Passengers can also participate in fish extender exchanges while on Disney cruises.  We tried this on our last Disney cruise, and while I’m glad we tried it once, I will likely forego it next time.   It felt a bit stressful buying little gifts beforehand and then dropping them off to the cabins.  Luckily, we had friends on board so our fish extender exchange was more low key.  You can find out about fish extender exchanges by clicking on the articles by friends Sarah in the Suburbs, Mom’s Magical Miles, and Cool Moms Cool Tips.

7.  Disney Cruise Pools

Just like the kids clubs on the Disney cruises, the pools on board Disney cruises are also fantastic.  The Disney cruise ships have splash pads for younger children, but there are also pools and slides available for older children and adults.  And there is even a pool for adults only.  Our family favorite is the AquaDuck Waterslide on board the Disney Dream.  Rafts seat 2 people so it’s perfect for families.  To see what’s available on a particular Disney cruise and height restrictions for the AquaDuck, click here.

8.  Special Theme Cruises

Disney has several special themed cruises, like Marvel Day at Sea and Star Wars Day at Sea.  We’ve been on the Marvel Day at Sea cruise and it’s fantastic!  There are special meet and greets with characters like Thor, Black Panther, Captain America, and even Groot.  There are also special dance parties and fireworks at sea!

9.  Disney Cruise Special Offers

Yes, there are even special offers for Disney Cruises!  You can click on current special offers by clicking here.  To take advantage of the special offers, it helps if you are flexible with your itinerary.  Also, my husband and I booked our first cruise with our Disney Visa card.  As a result, we had 6 months after the cruise ended to pay off our cruise in full, interest free.  I only recommend this, though, if you know you can pay off the entire cruise within that particular time frame.  Otherwise, you’ll be looking at hefty interest fees.

 

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