Would you do a Disney Cruise with no Kids?

[RedSox68]

I just wish their prices weren't so high. We've moved away from Disney over the years just because of pricing, but still love their brand and service on their ships. Hope to be able to afford to sail in the future, but as retirement approaches we will be watching prices for sure and looking for better deals.

 

[mevelandry]

DH and I have done 3 DCL cruises as adults only. There is enough activities for adults to fill up at least 1 cruise (after that, we thought it was becoming a bit repetitive).

The Quiet Cove (adult only section/pool) on the ships are very nice and quiet... So is Serenity Bay on Castaway Cay.

They have great mixology classes/alcohol & wine tasting classes.

Dining at Palo and Remy.

We enjoyed seeing the shows on the first cruise. We find those to be a bit too children oriented for our taste but on the first cruise, when you feel the magic a little more, it's easier to swallow.

Best time to go: during the fall when the kids are at school and prices are lower.

 

[lilmc]

Other things we love is the lack of a casino, partying/clubbing, drinking/smoking. Many less drunk people and a more PG-rated environment which fits this couple just fi

This is exactly my take on it as well. I would most definitely cruise without kids on DCL. It fits more with my relaxed vacation style and prefer to avoid the casinos, smoking, and partying. A bit off topic, but I go to a conference that is located in Vegas and I complain every time, “there are Vegas people and there are Disney people and I am Disney people”

 

[AnnaS]

We have cruised with the kids as young kids and with the kids as adults and without kids, adults only.

 

[ImDMous]

We've done 5 DCL cruises with no kids, hoping to do #6 sometime in the future. We don't have any kids and I find the adult areas of the ship have plenty to keep us occupied on vacation. We love going to the shows at night, going to late dinner and then hitting the clubs for the night-time entertainment. We go to Palo several times, go to mixology, wine tasting, martini tasting, shopping, hang out in a deck chair in the sun, see movies, to the spa. We never have enough time to do everything we want to.

 

[RAD]

If you can take the extended time off look into a reposition cruise. Just got off the WBPC which was 14 days and I don't remember the exact number but there were less then 400 kids on the cruise IIRC. This allowed DCL to offer more adult type activities, including opening the kids spaces to adults at certain times. This was our 10th DCL cruise with only 1 of them being with our grandkids.

 

[Dug720]

If you can take the extended time off look into a reposition cruise. Just got off the WBPC which was 14 days and I don't remember the exact number but there were less then 400 kids on the cruise IIRC. This allowed DCL to offer more adult type activities, including opening the kids spaces to adults at certain times. This was our 10th DCL cruise with only 1 of them being with our grandkids.

20.

My parents were on there and they said Natalie said 20.

 

[jtntx34]

I love this thread. I am taking my first DCL trip in December. It will also be my first solo trip (though technically it’s not completely by myself since I have friends onboard).

To me, I felt like a cruise was less challenging to plan than a solo WDW trip and offered a lot more relaxing atmosphere. I am doing a Christmastime cruise in early December, so I’m looking forward to the festivities. Plus, I get my Disney fix AND my cruise fix at the same time.

My friends are going on the same cruise with their adult daughter and son-in-law. They have taken several adult only DCL cruises and rave about them for many of the same reasons listed above: Disney theming and those magical Disney touches, adult only areas are kept adult only areas, high quality entertainment that is family oriented vs Vegas style content, all-inclusive nature so that they can budget trip and pay out over time, etc.

 

[Travel60]

We are Disney World vacationers and have never done a Disney Cruise. I have only done one cruise in my life and that was many moons ago on Carnival.

With booking DW they have discounted rooms at certain times does DCL do that as well? I have no clue where, best time, ship anything.

For you Cruisers out there where should I start? Use a travel Agent? Best time to go? If anyone could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. I'm not even sure this is something we will do, so I would love any feed back.

DH and I have done 4 Disney with youth/teens, 1 Disney with adult kids, 5 Disney as adults alone, one other company large-ship cruise, and 3 small-ship cruises (100 cabin).

The other large-ship cruise had a great itinerary and was a lovely ship but for reasons previously mentioned (smoking, bars everywhere, casino) was one we would not repeat.

The small-ship cruises were amazing with ports large ships could not get into, first-class service and meals, lots of staff attention. Entertainment was possibly not as good but that could be European vs American tastes.

Disney cruises can bring out the best, or worst, in people. They've paid a lot of money and are hell-bent on enjoying every minute despite stepping on other people, dragging crying children on excursions when they need a nap, (also seen at parks). But, there is that Disney magic: great entertainment, good food, smiling cast members. We have a Disney European and a riverboat scheduled (a first for us) in 2020.

My advice would be to look at itineraries then narrow down to a ship.

 

[goofynut41]

I have and just did again!!! NO KIDS

 

[AngelDisney]

Aw, this warms my heart because it’s exactly how it see it going for our family! One day we’ll be “kid free” on a Disney Cruise, but that’ll be because our kids have become adults! I keep telling them how we’ll take each of them to Palo on each of our first cruises after they turn 18. And we talk about how one day, we’ll bring them AND their own children. I do also hope to fit in a few longer cruises without the kids when we’re retired though!

Smart minds think alike! I am so looking forward to a 14-day Transatlantic DCL cruise with multiple sea days after I retire too!

 

[cadien]

Smart minds think alike! I am so looking forward to a 14-day Transatlantic DCL cruise with multiple sea days after I retire too!

I'm going for an around the world cruise.

I've noticed some of DCL's Med cruises cost MORE than one.

 

[YawningDodo]

If you can take the extended time off look into a reposition cruise. Just got off the WBPC which was 14 days and I don't remember the exact number but there were less then 400 kids on the cruise IIRC. This allowed DCL to offer more adult type activities, including opening the kids spaces to adults at certain times. This was our 10th DCL cruise with only 1 of them being with our grandkids.

20.

My parents were on there and they said Natalie said 20.

New item on the bucket list.....

 

[KashasMom]

No, I would not. I think there are other ships that have better/nicer Adults Only areas. I'd also like more specialty restaurants and different types of entertainment (i.e. comedians, live music). It all depends on what you like/need.

 

[bumbershoot]

I want to say no, but the moment I do I’m sure my cousin will beg me to change from Princess to January then do the paid castaway 5k.

I didn’t go with DCL for my son. We cruised with them because we wanted to. Then we looked beyond DCL and found things we liked better. For us we like cruising. The sea. So whatever line gets us out there is good (though so far we’ve only done royal). And we’ve found that the service on the other line we’ve done is the same and sometimes better than on DCL. So why would I stick with Disney?

Especially if not with my son, I would want to avoid characters (I’ve always been phobic, and literally only one character ever has gotten me to enjoy the experience, and that wasn’t a Disney character lol), so why pay for one with Mickey on it?

As for booking with a TA -- the con is you don't have control of your reservation and must do everything through them; the pro is they will probably give you onboard credit for booking and maybe some other perks.

You don’t have to do everything through the TA. Name changes and things that change the price of the room are basically it. I’ve requested distilled water for my then-husband’s cpap by calling directly. Dining arrangements and port adventures are done through Disney directly.

And you have to choose your TA carefully. The small mom and pop type TAs by no means always offer credit.

Smoking areas are well hidden on DCL and I love not smelling it.

Become a jogger on Dream and you’ll find it straight away! It wasn’t even open at the time, but with each time around the ship it was just old damp cigarette butts. Jogging track on royal isn’t on the deck with smoking. At least not the ones I’ve been on.

 

[The Green's]

Wife and I did it for our 25th Anniversary. Loved it.

 

[Tasmen]

I think we would especially if it was a themed cruise a la SWDAS or MDAS. We did WDW and DL without kids. I see no reason for the cruise line to be different.

 

[BMDisney]

We don't have kids. And we have cruised Disney in 2017, and we are about to go again in 2019. So yes.

 

[Shir Kahn]

I see it's already been covered by quite a few people, but I'll still give my 2 cents. The wife and I are about to go on our second kidless cruise. We loved the first one and definitely didn't feel like there were too many kids around. It's really amazing that with the amount of people on that ship, it still doesn't feel crowded at all. We're only on cruise #2 but I'm pretty sure we'll be Platinum Castaway members at some point down the road.

 

[logan1_2000]

June Mediterranean will be 2nd DCL w/o kids. When DS was 11 he told me after our 5th DCL Cruise that it was fun but felt a little babyish. Fair enough. So we went over to Royal Caribbean for the next several cruises. 8 years later DS was in college, on his own and I was the one who missed DCL,so DW and I did Alaska, and now Med will be just us. We don’t gamble, aren’t big drinkers, and not having a smoke-smelling casino in the heart of the ship is a plus. Have always loved DCL service and they size and elegance with whimsy of the ships. DCL does a great job enforcing adult only areas. And yes we do sometimes stop and watch the excitement on the children’s faces at the character meet photo ops. Lovely, charming, heart warming. And an hour later when those over-tired, over-stimulated, over-sugared children melt down, not our problem as we’ll be in quit cove, late dining, Palo, that adult only coffee shop, or just enjoying time alone with each other.