Welcome back cayley! It sounds like a great time!
I'm thinking seriously about taking a cruise, none of us have ever been on one, and it sounds like SOO much fun. You did the disney cruise thing right? Which one and where did you go? What advice do you have in booking a cruise?
Hi LB. I have only done 2 cruises, and both were disney. I recommend them as highly as I possibly can. They are incredible. They really know how to treat their guests, including at the parks. My husband has been on Carnival cruises back in the early 90's, and he thought disney was much better.
As for advice, I'm not sure. I chose disney because I had such a good experience with them in the theme parks, and because my son was so young. If I did anything wrong during the booking process I don't know about it because everything seemed pretty close to perfect. I guess I'd recommend picking a time of year thats maybe not so busy if you can swing it, this cruise was full and we couldnt get a dinner seating time earlier than 8, which was torture on my 3 yr old, but they had a casual restaraunt that we could go to at 6:30, so we just did that. It wasnt quite as good as if we had our assigned dining rooms, but it was more important to have a happy kid with us. Prices are less during the less busy months too, because it is a pricey vacation. If my mom hadnt given us the money for this we wouldnt have been able to go.
I liked being on a cruise for a vacation mostly because its like a self contained all inclusive resort that goes to interesting places. Our room was never more than 10 minutes away, and yet we could be in the pool in the morning, the sports pub in the afternoon, a nightclub at night, take cooking seminars, there were art auctions and contests...
They had an ABC TV fan trivia contest that I ran too, hoping for some Lost questions, but they only did Desperate Housewives and Greys Anatomy. There was only one other person playing and she was also a Lost fan but we didnt get to talk cause she had just done the margarita and tequila tasting before the contest and was a wee bit out of it.
We went on Disney's Western Carribbean Cruise to Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Disneys own island, Castaway Cay (btw, its actually coincidental that I chose CastawayCayley as a screen name, I didnt mean to name myself after the island) As a family vacation this cruise is fantastic because they have extensive kids programs, where you can drop off the kids and go to the "grownups only" pool, bar, cafe, spa or restaraunt. Plus tons of events, 2 pools and activities for the family to do together. Teenagers get their own club abd activities. I trust the kids counselors because disney puts each potential employee through 4-6 months of extensive tests, psych evaluations, criminal backround checks, and medical exams. One crew member said they wanted tests that he couldnt get in Australia, so they arranged for expensive specialists to be consulted and Disney reimbursed him, even before they knew if theyd hire him.
Another reason I picked disney was theres no casino, and no late night party atmosphere. Only one bar stays open til one am. But I know people who couldnt imagine being on a cruise ship with out the chance to stay up til 4 drinking and gambling, so it's a matter of perspective, I guess, when you choose your cruise.
Also I looked up disney on a site called cruise.com (I think) that lists every incident that happens on any cruise ship, and found only 3 things ever on a disney cruise (1 case of gastrointestinal flu outbreak in 2000, and 2 crew members arrested for sexual harrassment of young passengers.) BUt the other lines have pages and pages of much worse things.
Also, as far of Dept of health inspections, most top cruise lines have a rating in the 70's, but didneys rating is 99. I didnt know that before this cruise, but Its really reassuring.
I could talk about this forever! so if anyone has any questions or if I didnt answer LB's questions satisfactorily please ask!!
