What I would do:
- Fly in the night before. I like to minimize my stress.
- Book Palo brunch. I usually travel with my son and feel more comfortable doing the brunch solo than dinner (although I do love that chocolate soufflé!).
- Book a veranda room - love reading my book with a glass of wine out there!
- Arrive at port around 12:30 - loved going right on and no lines. I'm definitely not an early arrival type.
- Book the stingray excursion at
Castaway Cay - my son loved it and it was amazing to see my new swimmer taking off after stingrays!
- Make sure my son goes to the kids club on the first night/try to match him up with some buddies from the cruise meet page in advance.
- Send out my laundry to be washed rather than wasting vacation time doing laundry.
- Bring clothespins to clip swimsuits to the chairs on the balcony to dry quickly.
- Get something made on Etsy and then signed for my son at guest services.
- Whenever possible, eat breakfast and lunch at Lumiere's or other sit-down restaurant. Cabana's is fine in a pinch but I hate how crowded it is.
- Head out on my balcony at departure time in port to watch the dock runners (of course, I'd feel terrible if anyone didn't make it, but it's fun to see the last few come blazing down the dock - in Key West it sounded like half the boat was out on the verandas cheering for them!!).
- Not worry about getting to the shows. We did almost all of them on our first cruise and none on our last (although we still haven't seen them all). The cruise just seemed more relaxing doing our own thing after dinner.
- If traveling with friends/family, get adjoining balconies that can be opened - loved the larger balcony and it was way better than adjoining rooms as we could tell the kids in the mornings not to knock if the curtains were still closed (if we had adjoining rooms, they would have been pounding on the doors at 6am!).
- Ride the Aquadunk once - terrifying but glad I did it!
- Make sure my son waits in line to meet some characters (and make sure to get pictures of both of us too!).
- Head up to the pool for a movie and soft serve ice cream on the last night after packing.
- Book a placeholder future cruise even if I don't think I'll cruise again.
- Use onboard airline check-in and Disney transport back to the airport. Love not dealing with those bags!
- Book a day room at the Hyatt after the cruise for a relaxing end to the vacation before the late flight home.
Would not do:
- Stop at WDW before the cruise. I love
Disneyland, but WDW just seemed hard as a single parent. Won't try that again until my son is older.
- Book a non-Disney excursion in Key West that starts 30 minutes after our docking time. Even though we docked at the same pier as the excursion left from, we didn't make it due to a medical emergency delaying debarkation. In retrospect, I shouldn't have cut it so close.
- Attempt to watch the fireworks from my balcony (we got a notice telling us not to do this but my son fell asleep and I couldn't leave him - some of the fireworks fell awfully close to the ship and sent me running back inside!).
- FE - who has the time?
- Expect a nightlife - last cruise was the first time I had a friend who was an adult cruising with us and I thought it was my chance to get out and check out the nightlife…but, um, there isn't any! It was a little disappointing. Now that I know that, I'm happy knowing I'm not missing much when I'm alone with my son!