Your most important tip for a first time cruise

[jwdisney14]

We don't bring a night light-just turn the TV on and turn down the sound. We use the channel that shows the map of where the ship's been and where it's going.

dk

Similarly, on the Fantasy, there is a "Classical" music channel that loops orchestral covers of classic Disney tunes - my kids call it the "green music channel." We just turn the sound low and leave it on all night.

 

[My2litteprincesses]

I have been on several 'other' cruises in the past and to be honest, we just booked Disney because we have young kids and wanted to take them on the Disney ship before they "outgrew" it.
When we went in May, we were SO impressed with everything about the Disney cruise, that we booked another (longer) one for next Summer!! We are not "Disney" exclusive vacationers, so I was honestly shocked how much we all loved the vaca, and how wonderfully "right" Disney does it.
We booked while on board, and it was worth it. You get to take advantage of the 10% off and the On Board Credit (which you will def need!) You can cancel with no penalty at anytime. Totally worth it!
ENJOY!!! It's spectacular!!

 

[andrencau]

Use the laundry service provided by Disney. You just spent thousands on a cruise. Pressing and laundering are very reasonable. I am not saying have every piece of clothing laundered, but use it. I had a pair of dress pants, a couple of pairs of shorts and boxers. Everything turned our great. Sure beats killing time in the laundry room.

 

[Cruise-n-2015]

I plan on packing light.. Or so I hope using the laundry service is a good idea.

 

[squirk]

I plan on packing light.. Or so I hope using the laundry service is a good idea.

Yes, I think that packing light would be my #1 tip as well.

My wife packs the kitchen sink and nine or ten of her favorite bricks for good measure. One year, a brand-new Samsonite suitcase was literally so overloaded that the handle snapped off as I was lifting the suitcase out of the van and I punched myself in the eye.

The fact that we use maybe 60% of what she packs made this injury all the more troubling.

 

[aggiedog]

Yes to the laundry service. We spent a week pre-cruise in Europe, then boarded for a week long cruise. We sent LOTS of stuff to the laundry, as I didn't want to carry 2 weeks of clothes around, and I wan't about to sit in the laundry room on my vacation. There were 8 of us, it would not have been a quick one load. It cost us $140. Which seems like a lot, until you put it in perspective of the whole vacation. Then it's a drop in the bucket. So worth it.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Don't over do.......enjoy......your on a cruise and better yet a Disney Cruise.

AKK

 

[daneenm]

One thing I learned the hard way is remember to bring lip balm or lipstick that has sunscreen in it. We were on a full day sail & snorkel and although I had plenty of sunscreen o protect my body, I didn't even think about the fact that all I had was regular chap stick - my lips got sooo sunburned that they blistered - they hurt and looked awful, too.

I did this to myself too in St Thomas on our full day sail and snorkel. Besides this day, I kept the sunburns at bay (a miracle given my fair skin), but I got toasted in the places I didn't reapply liberally enough, especially my lips!

 

[The Sasquatch]

Use the laundry service provided by Disney. You just spent thousands on a cruise. Pressing and laundering are very reasonable. I am not saying have every piece of clothing laundered, but use it. I had a pair of dress pants, a couple of pairs of shorts and boxers. Everything turned our great. Sure beats killing time in the laundry room.

this is also my wife's new found secret. These services are very inexpensive and saves you from waiting in line at the iron. The day you get on, take the dressier clothes you want pressed for dinners and send them out. They will bring them back and hang everything for you so you can come back and be ready to go! Its all about relaxing

 

[daneenm]

We just finished our first cruise, so I can completely understand the 'overplanning' feeling. I am a total planner and read and questioned everything before our trip. I just feel better when I feel like I know what is going on!

I echo the laundry commentary. The prices on the ships are very reasonable. The other things that I made note of were...

• Do NOT go early to dinner, lots of unnecessary waiting around
• If you have family members who don't want to be constantly taking pictures, pick one night (we did pirate night) that you go from character to character and photographer to photographer. This mostly one day commitment worked with my camera shy DH and DS14. DD18 and I did some other character photos over the length of the cruise.
• DO go early to the Aladdin show. Seats were hard to come by even 20 minutes before the show
• Boarding the ship is overwhelming and you might think you might never find your way around. If you keep "forward, mid-ship and aft" in mind, pretty much every deck can be thought about in these 3 sections. With that, it is pretty easy to find your way around.
• Do not hesitate to ask for what you want. The crew is VERY helpful from janitorial staff to servers to stateroom attendants.
• Make a list of notes as you read these forums that you can take with you. i kept one on my phone. i used it to remind myself of the things I wanted to try and classes i wanted to sign up for when I got on board.

Have fun! We had a complete blast!

 

[TestingH2O]

I did a pretty good job of navigating the ship except for the atrium area. I just COULD NOT stay oriented there. On the last day I finally figured out that Donald faces forward (ie the direction we are going.) I'm not sure that's true on all the ships, but it would make sense. I know it will help me on the Dream from here on out.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

One tip that I think is too often glossed over is that if you are prone to motion sickness, be prepared with medicine and, better yet, start taking it before you board the ship as trying to recover from seasickness while at sea is difficult. We were told over and over before our first cruise that the ship is so big and so stable that we'd never notice it moving, and so we were not prepared for the fact that the ship never felt like it was not moving! I'm sure the people who don't notice it are telling the truth, but it was not my experience in the slightest.

 

[phinz]

I did a pretty good job of navigating the ship except for the atrium area. I just COULD NOT stay oriented there. On the last day I finally figured out that Donald faces forward (ie the direction we are going.) I'm not sure that's true on all the ships, but it would make sense. I know it will help me on the Dream from here on out.

The elevators in the atrium are forward.

My tip? Don't try and do everything on this cruise. Relax and enjoy it. DCL will be there for your next trip, and anything you didn't get to do the first time will be available the second time. Plus missing something is an excuse to come back and do it again.

 

[squirk]

The elevators in the atrium are forward.

On the Dream and the Fantasy, the atrium elevators are mid-ship. The forward elevators are right by the Walt Disney Theater. I think they are that way on the classic ships as well.

 

[TestingH2O]

On the Dream and the Fantasy, the atrium elevators are mid-ship. The forward elevators are right by the Walt Disney Theater. I think they are that way on the classic ships as well.

I think phinz was trying to give another way to orient yourself in the atrium. I still will use Donald though because I can remember that a "person" faces front much better than elevators.

 

[squirk]

Ah. Gotcha. Yes, the elevators are on the forward side of the atrium.

I don't know if it's just me, but when I walk on the ship, it always feels like the forward part of the ship should be to your left, not your right. Logically, I know how the ship is berthed at the port and how it's going to move out, but my brain always thinks "left=forward". Maybe it's because (in the States), we approach and enter our cars with the forward/front part to our left.

 

[phinz]

On the Dream and the Fantasy, the atrium elevators are mid-ship. The forward elevators are right by the Walt Disney Theater. I think they are that way on the classic ships as well.

I don't think I was clear. In the atrium the elevators are forward in that if you face the elevators you are facing forward. If you face the restaurant, you are facing aft. I'm well aware that the atrium is midship.

I think phinz was trying to give another way to orient yourself in the atrium. I still will use Donald though because I can remember that a "person" faces front much better than elevators.

This.

 

[wcw57]

i may have posted this before...i am old and addled...

read the navigators. plan what you MUST do and what you would LIKE to do. Do your MUST list and, if there is time, or you feel like it, do the LIKE list. Chances are, siting around a bit and watching the waves go by will override some of the things on the LIKE list.........

 

[londonjon]

• Make a list of notes as you read these forums that you can take with you. i kept one on my phone. i used it to remind myself of the things I wanted to try and classes i wanted to sign up for when I got on board.

A couple of years ago for our big WDW trip I started collecting notes in a Word document ... decided it would need to be sorted sensibly ... added a table of contents ... spread it out a bit ... added a couple of pages with our flight reservation numbers, airport directions etc ... and the document ended up running to 128 pages long! So I did the only sensible thing to do (!!! Sarcasm people) -- I had it printed professionally into an A5 book!! [Err, Mrs Londonjon is telling me I should tell people about my OTT researching habits ... whoops]

I have created a book for our upcoming 1st cruise ... it arrived in the post this morning. It's considerably shorter than the WDW book was but still makes me feel far less stressed when it comes to leaving the house next week as I know I have everything I need to hand.

(I try not to think of myself as an overplanner ... we were very flexible from our initial 'plan' on the WDW trip, I just like to have all the info to hand when I need to make decisions.)

And on that note ... thank you to everyone on these forums who has helped me to satisfy my researching OCD these past few months in the run up to our trip. I've gained much insight from the posts and am actually looking forward to a nice relaxing holiday ... book within arms reach of course!

 

[CesD]

It's okay if u don't get to do everything. Really. If the lines are too long for something, skip it. If you're too tired to do somethinf , skip it. Vacations are for resting anyway, right?
On our first cruise, on some nights we were so tired but forced ourselves to go to dinner cuz we didn't want to miss the main dining room experience. But we were so tired that we didn't fully enjoy the meal. In hindsight, we probably would have enjoyed the meal more if we ordered room service and watched a movie in the room.