Reader Questions: Second Edition

Welcome to the second edition of my Reader Questions series!  (You can read the first Reader Questions post here).  I get lots and lots of questions from readers via email, Facebook, and comments on my blog, and every so often I like to compile them all in one place for the ease of my readers.  I’ll try my best to answer them. If I don’t know the answer, I will do my best to direct you to a resource that will help.

A huge thanks to all of the readers who sent in questions! I received a lot of great ones, so let’s get started!

We are going on our first Disney Cruise on 11/28 on the Dream…..eeekk! Any can’t miss activities on the ship? My kids are 6 and 3. Can’t be anything late at night because they need their sleep!

If you have a daughter, then you should do the Princess Meet & Greet (meet 3-4 princesses at once) and Frozen Meet & Greet.  Since you cruise is next week, hopefully you have already reserved your tickets (no charge) online (click here to read my post about ticketed events).  If not, try to do it now or go to guest services immediately after boarding the ship and see if they have any left.  There will also be opportunities to meet the princesses individually (except Anna & Elsa) throughout the cruise.  Since you are on a Very Merrytime sailing, I recommend the gingerbread house event.  Tickets are required (no charge) and go very fast, so try and secure these from guest services immediately after boarding.  They cannot be reserved online.  The kids clubs are amazing, so definitely check those out, even if it is only during the open house when adults are allowed.  When we sailed on the Dream, we were so busy that our kids never went alone, but we did check them out as a family during the open house on the first day.  Don’t miss dinner in Animator’s Palate, the show with Crush (from Finding Nemo) is always a hit with kids.  I also recommend going to the shows in the evenings, if they’re not too late for you.  My family loves the shows and they are one of our favorite parts of cruising with Disney.  For more ideas, you can check my recent trip report from the Dream here, and also see the daily navigators here.  While your sailing will be a Christmas one and ours was Halloween, a lot of the non-holiday related events will probably be the same.  Also, last year we sailed on the Wonder for a Very Merrytime sailing, and you can read my trip report here for details about some of the holiday events such as the gingerbread house event.

Can you recommend excursions in Tortola or St Thomas? We have 2 sons with autism (22) who love the Disney cruises but have only done Castaway Cay. I wondered about the land and sea which leaves from the dock, or the shopping excursion at Pursers. Since we have five people the private excursions are more than we want to do. We would prefer a 1/2 day excursion. I’m more comfortable with Disney but would consider companies too. I’m not sure how they would do with the larger excusion groups. We are sailing in July. Thanks.

I have never been to Tortola and when we went to St. Thomas we did an expensive private excursion (read my post about that here), so I can’t offer any first hand advice.  But, I can refer you to a source that I think will help.  The cruise section of the Disboards message board is a great place to ask for advice, and it is where I go when I need an answer to a question.  If you ask your question over there, you will be placing it in front of thousands of people, many of whom can I’m sure offer you some advice.  The only advice I can offer you is some general information about participating in excursions through DCL.  We have done it twice, and both times there was A LOT of waiting and large crowds (you can read about our latest experience in Nassau here, and my post about private vs. DCL excursions here).  If you think this will not work out well for your sons, then I would caution against going through DCL.  In every port though, there are lots of private tour operators who work with much smaller groups of people, and often for less money than DCL.  I use TripAdvisor a lot for finding local tour operators (you can read my post about that here).  Between TripAdvisor and the Disboards, I hope you are able to choose the best excursions for your family!

The airline we are flying with (Southwest) does not participate in the onboard checkin. How do I go about getting our airline boarding pass? Do we do it the morning once we are at the airport or when?

Onboard airline checkin is an awesome service provided by DCL.  You can read my post about it here.  Unfortunately, not all airlines participate and Southwest is one of them.  If you are flying Southwest, you will have to print out your boarding passes after arriving at the airport.  The more difficult part, however, is getting checked in at the 24 hour mark to reserve your boarding group since you will be on a ship with limited internet access.  There are 3 options for this.  One is to pay for early bird check in, and Southwest will check you in automatically 24 hours prior to your flight.  This will most likely get you in either the first or second boarding group.  Another option is to ask a trusted friend or family member back home to check you in at the 24 hour mark.  Your final option is to use the ship’s internet service (this may or may not cost you money – you can read my post with all of the internet details here) to check yourself in at the 24 hour mark.  Lastly, Southwest does have a policy where an adult traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the “A” group has boarded and before the “B” group begins boarding.  So, if you have a child 6 or under, you can just wait and check in for your flight at the airport as it will not matter that you get the last boarding group.  You will still be allowed to board after group A.

My husband and I are going on our first cruise in December. We will be on the Dream. I have two questions.  If we want to ride the AquaDuck when we get on the ship, is there a place to put our “day bag” while we ride, or do we need to wait till our room is ready and leave our stuff there?  Also, we have never been to the Bahamas so we are planning to go to Atlantis on our day there. We want to see the casino and shops. How do you recommend we get there?

Your room will not be ready until 1:30, so depending on what time you board the ship, you may not be able to store your day bag in your room while riding the AquaDuck.  They do not have lockers or anyway to secure your stuff.  I would say that most people probably leave their stuff on a chair or table, and nobody bothers it.  This was our exact situation last month on the Dream, and I chose to buy a lockable KYSS bag (read my post about it here) as a way to secure our stuff since we had valuable with us (passports, credit cards, cash, phones, etc).  We probably would have been fine without it, but it was a risk that I didn’t want to take.  Or, you could just wait until after 1:30 to ride the AquaDuck but the line will be much longer at that point then it will be earlier, say from 11:30-1:00.

As far as Atlantis goes, the best way to get there is to take a taxi.  I have never taken a taxi in Nassau, but at most cruise ports there is a designated taxi stand/area near the ship with posted prices.  I’m sure as you are walking into the port area you will be able to easily find it.  Be aware that there will probably not be seat belts, and the drivers like to fill up the cars (6-8 people) before leaving.  This means you will likely be sharing a taxi with people you don’t know (unless you want to pay more to make up for the missing passengers), and may make other stops on your way to Atlantis if that is not where the other people are going.  I do think the drivers make an effort to find people who are going to the same place as you, but there is no guarantee.  The taxi will drop you off right at the front of the resort.  There are also several companies that offer water taxis (available from the cruise ship pier), but I have heard terrible things about them and do not recommend it.

I’ve read a couple of blog posts about security breaches in Disney’s Oceaneer kids’ club. In one instance, a child’s wristband was cut off and mistakenly replaced with another child’s wristband. In the second instance, a dad went to pick up his child from the club, but the child was nowhere to be found. Plus, the child’s wristband was “unreadable”, so it took them 45 minutes to find the child! Thankfully, he was ok; he had been asleep in a tunnel of stacked chairs.  So, now this has me concerned about the safety of the kids’ clubs since we haven’t cruised before. Have you ever had any problems? Do you feel comfortable and secure leaving your children there? Do they check their wristbands and make you enter in your password every time you pick up your children? Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

This is a GREAT question as we all know that fearing for the safety of your child is one of the worst feelings ever.  First, I will address the second part of the question regarding my personal experiences with the kids clubs.  In 5 cruises with our kids, we have never had even a single issue with the kids clubs, and I do feel comfortable leaving my kids there.  Every time we have picked up our kids, they have scanned their wristbands and asked for the password.  In addition, every time that I have been in or near the clubs, I have never seen any sort of behavior from the counselors that concerned me.  This is just my personal experience, and I’m sure that there are people who have had issues as nobody is perfect and accidents do happen.  This leads us to the first part of the question, and the 2 alarming experiences you heard about.  While it is very unfortunate that these things happened, I do think it is rare and I hope it does not prevent you from feeling comfortable to try leaving your kids there and enjoying your cruise.  If you take some general precautions beforehand, like instructing your kids not to leave the club without you (just in case of an error), not to hide or hang out somewhere where they might not be seen, to communicate any needs or concerns that may arise to a counselor, etc., I think you could decrease your chances even further of anything unfortunate happening.  Overall, I think the chances of something happening are slim enough that you should not be fearful.  At least give it a try, and then reassess your comfort level after you experience it first hand.

How much for a Castaway Cay wedding?

DCL does not publicize their wedding prices that I know of.  I have heard of people being married both on the ship and on Castaway Cay (we watched a wedding when we were there last month), but I don’t know the prices.  You would have to call DCL to find out.

We will be on the Fantasy this February, and we are trying to decide between early and late seating for dinner. I have heard conflicting stories about early dinner seating. Do they come and take your children to the kids club after they have finished their dinner for the early seating?

Unfortunately I don’t know the answer to this question.  I know that before our first cruise in 2013, our travel agent told us that youth counselors would come around to the dining rooms midway through early dining and take your child to the club.  But, we didn’t utilize it and I don’t ever recall seeing it happen, although I wasn’t really looking.  I have read differing reports online – some people say it happened, others say it didn’t.  If you want to ask recent Fantasy cruisers what their experience was, I suggest posting your question on the cruise section of the Disboards and hopefully you will get some feedback.  But, even if the counselors don’t come to the dining room to get your child, the kids clubs are located very close to each of the 3 main dining rooms, so it would not be much trouble for you to quickly walk them to the club during dinner.  You would probably be gone no longer than 5 minutes.

Which cruise ship is your favorite and why? What length cruise do you prefer?
My favorite ships right now are the Magic and the Wonder.  Until recently it was the Magic because of those 2 ships, she had been remodeled more recently and was more updated.  But, now that the Wonder just finished her dry dock and is now remodeled as well, I would have to say it is a toss up.  I have never been on the Fantasy, but I have sailed on the Dream 3 times and since they are so similar, I don’t think that the Fantasy would be my favorite even if I had sailed on her.  The main reason I prefer the smaller ships is just that – they are smaller.  I realize that this is the exact reason some people like the larger ships better, but for me, a smaller ship equals fewer people and I HATE crowds.  I will go to great lengths to avoid them.  Some people use the argument that there are more people on the Fantasy & Dream, but they are larger ships with more space for the people to spread out so it kind of equals out.  I personally don’t think this is the case.  On Castaway Cay, I can really notice the difference in number of people.  I also prefer the smaller dining rooms on the Magic & Wonder because they don’t seem as noisy and chaotic, and I LOVE the little shows that they waiters do on pirate night and the final night of the cruise, which they don’t do on the larger ships.  I also love seeing pirate Mickey zipline between the funnels on pirate night.  I could go on and on, but I guess my main reasons for liking the smaller ships are fewer people & all the extra little touches that they are able to do because they are smaller ships.

As for cruise length, I have done 3 three night cruises and 4 seven night cruises, and I would have to say that hands down I prefer the seven night.  Three night cruises go by so fast and we  do so much so quickly that they are not nearly as relaxing as the 7 night.  I leave a 3 night cruise feeling tired, but I leave a 7 night cruise feeling relaxed.  In April we will be on the 14 night Panama Canal sailing, and I have a hunch that after that, 14 nights will be my preferred cruise length.  Really, for me, the longer the better!

Thanks so much for all of the great questions and I hope that you found them helpful!  You can always email me with questions anytime at disneycruisemomblog@gmail.com.

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