A few days ago I shared the beginnings of my cruise preparations for our upcoming October cruise on the Dream (you can read that post here). Today I am moving onto check list items 2 and 3 on my to do list, which I just completed last week:
My online booking window opened on July 1 so a few days before that I paid in full. I like to pay in full at least 2 days in advance just in case there is any type of delay in processing the payment. Note that because I have gold status, July 1 is 105 days before the cruise and well in advance of my pay in full due date but in order to reserve things online, you MUST already be paid in full.
One thing I did for the first time was use my Disney Visa reward dollars towards my final cruise payment. I usually apply our reward dollars to our onboard account after boarding the ship to cover onboard purchases, but this time we had more saved up than I thought we would use onboard so I put them towards our final payment. If you don’t have a Disney Visa card, I suggest looking into it (you can also read more about it in this post about how I save money on Disney cruises). We save quite a bit of money this way. All I had to do was go online and load my Disney reward dollars to the reward card that I had requested through the mail, and then use the rewards card like a credit card when making my payment. It was very simple.
My payment was processed in a timely manner so at midnight EST on June 30 I logged onto the DCL site to start booking things. The first thing I did was check for a cabana at Castaway Cay. In the past when sailing concierge we have stayed in cabanas 5 & 6 (you can read my review of the cabanas here) and we really enjoy them. But, as I expected, they were all booked already by concierge and platinum members. I am still checking regularly for cancellations so maybe I will get lucky.
Next I noticed that they were offering Palo brunch on Nassau day, which is pretty unusual for a 3 night cruise on the Dream (you can read my post about Palo brunch here). I know they have done it in the past, but I am pretty sure it is not a regular occurrence. Usually it is only offered on the Dream on the sea day of 4 night sailings. I was SO tempted to get a reservation, but I had already decided to actually leave the ship in Nassau (something I have never done on my 3 stops there) and do the Blue Lagoon Beach Day excursion through DCL. I typically don’t book excursions through DCL (you can read more about that here), but honestly, Nassau sort of gives me the creeps and I feel safer doing it this way. I have been to Atlantis before as a land vacation so I have actually experienced the city before and it did not make a good impression. I have even been to Blue Lagoon before, about 15 years ago, but from the photos I’ve seen it looks pretty different now and I think my kids will like it. Blue Lagoon does offer both a dolphin and sea lion encounter, but we have already done a dolphin encounter so no need to fork over the cash to do that again, and my youngest is too young for the sea lion encounter (which I have heard good things about), so we will just hang out on the beach and relax. I was able to book the only available time of 9:15-2:00 so I took care of that.
Although I was tempted to book Palo or Remy for dinner, I decided not to. This is just a 3 night cruise, and I hate missing dinner in any of the main dining rooms so those will have to wait.
Next it was time to choose times for the Frozen Meet & Greet and Princess Gathering. Since we don’t have a sea day on this sailing, the only options were the mornings of both port days with times ranging from 9:00-10:30. Since we are doing the Blue Lagoon excursion in Nassau at 9:15, my only option was to choose the morning of Castaway Cay so I picked the earliest times possible, 9:00 and 9:15 so that we can get of the ship and onto the beach ASAP.
Those were all of the events that I needed to reserve, so then I moved onto the check in process so that I could choose a port arrival time (PAT). The earliest time of 10:30 AM was still available so I chose it. My goal is to get on the ship as early as possible and eat lunch before the restaurants become too crazy. We have had some not so great experiences fighting the masses in Cabanas after boarding so I hope to beat the crowds this time.
The next items I hope to cross off my list are making my packing list and planning a surprise for the kids. I am not the type of person that can keep an entire vacation a secret from my kids and surprise them at the last minute, so I try to do at least one small thing to surprise them either right before or during the trip. I haven’t thought of anything yet, so please let me know if you have any ideas for me!
Up next: Preparing for Cruise #7 Part 3
I love that you can now book Princess meet and greets online! One less line to stand in once we board the ship!
I know! I love it too!!!
We will be on the Dream in early Jan. Are the Frozen characters onboard for all sailings now?
Yes, they are!
Does this include Olaf? I have two boys…
Yes, Olaf should be there with Anna & Elsa.
We are going on our first Disney Cruise this October and will be on the fantasy. My family thinks I’m absolutely ridiculous for already planning and getting stuff together. Found your site and now I feel less crazy and just more organized!!! Love all of your recommendations 🙂
We may be crazy, but we are definitely not alone!!! I have discovered that there are quite a few over-planners like us doing just what we are doing. I think the planning is half of the fun! So glad you are enjoying the blog!
Hi we are going on our first Disney Cruise this October and we are more than excited? We need a round trip transfer to and from Port Canaveral to the Orlando Airport. I know Disney has a bus but our flight home is at 11:50am . From experience, does the Disney shuttle get you to the airport early enough? Or is it better to have a private transfer?Thanks for your help
Hi Melissa! I believe that Disney recommends using their airport transfers if your flight is later than 11:25, so technically you could do it. That being said, I think it would be wise to make sure that you are off the ship as early as possible and on the first bus to the airport. If you could carry all of your luggage off the ship with you, it would go even faster because you wouldn’t have to wait for DCL to get your luggage arranged in the terminal and call your luggage group (you could literally walk off the ship as soon as they open the doors). OR, if you are using onboard airline check-in (rules apply, & only available to those using DCL ground transfers), then your luggage would go straight to the airport and you wouldn’t have to worry about it at all. You would, however, have to wait for the bus to fill before it leaves the port and unloading the bus at the airport can sometimes be a slow process, especially if you are in a hurry. If you think you may worry too much about missing your flight, you could arrange a private transfer but the above advice would still apply about getting off the ship ASAP. If your driver was there on time, you should get to the airport faster because you don’t have to go through the process of loading/unloading a bus with people and carry-ons. I’m not sure what time you would tell the driver to be there, as the time that disembarkation begins varies between sailings. Perhaps a car service who picks up a lot from the Disney terminal would know. I think either option would work, barring any unusual circumstances. I hope this helps and enjoy your cruise!