You heard it here first folks, MrsMJ and I have booked our first Disney cruise. We’ll be joining our good friends and their family next March aboard the Disney Fantasy. Some of you may remember that my first visit to Disney World came on the occasion of my 40th birthday. I wouldn’t want you to think that I didn’t have shoes or had to walk to school when I grew up, but suffice it to say that trips to Disney weren’t in the budget during MJ’s formative years. I really enjoyed my first Disney World experience, and something tells me I’m in for a similar treat for my first Disney cruise.
We’ve been toying with the idea of a Disney cruise for a while, and were happy we could finally get our schedules lined up with our friends, who are experienced Disney cruisers, to give this a try. It’s a little early to begin planning every experience of our trip, but you can expect a “DINKS Cruise Disney” series throughout the whole process, and for the cruise too! This will be different, and we are looking forward to it!
-MJ, April 20, 2013
One word. PALO. As you never know your dining rotation ahead of time, you are at risk of skipping a particular restaurant. However, Palo is better than any place you’ll miss. We also ate at Remy, but Palo was better IMHO.
What category room did you book? There are a few hidden gems in some categories – if you’re interested, I’ll see if I still have my list. 🙂
@TWFL, Category 5C. 🙂
We cruised on Disney several times on the Magic, and on the Fantasy this past December. Our experience mirrored KateFromCA’s experience so I’ll add a few more tidbits.
The Fantasy is wonderful new ship, with a lot nice “tech” touches. Make sure you make your dinner at Animator’s Palate. It may seem really corny at first, but it’s actually pretty cool (I won’t spoil the surprise). We went in December for my Grandparent’s 60th aniversary, and the staff went out of the way to make it special for them. My sister and I are both 20 something now, and we still were never bored. The service is excellent, food is good and plentiful, and everything is very clean.
The only hiccup is the disembarkation process, which is a complete mess. From what I hear, it’s like that for both of the new large ships (Dream and Fantasy). Anyways, I think you’ll enjoy it, and I look forward to hearing your opinions.
Excited to hear the trip reports! My husband and I did many Disney World and Disneyland trips as DINKS before our little one was born and always had a blast, so I can imagine a cruise would be just as great.
Their service is excellent, on par with some of the better disney resorts. Food is good and entertainment is good.
We are 30-something DINKS who live in Southern California about an hour from Disneyland but haven’t bothered to go there in about 10 years. We are not really into the “Black Rat”
We just got back from our first Disney cruise and we absolutely loved it! We went on a 3-night Bahamas cruise on the Dream (we wanted it to be short this time, just in case we hated it) and I felt like there was not enough time to enjoy the boat (we had no days at sea).
There is ample opportunity to meet Disney characters if you so desire but they are absolutely NOT in your face and it doesn’t feel like you are in Disneyland all the time. We only crossed paths with a character once, when we were walking back on board at Castaway Cay.
I felt that the separation between kids and adults was much better than on other cruises. I also felt that the kids were generally much better behaved than on some other cruises (Carnival for sure), perhaps because they truly were well taken care of. The food is very good, the ship is exceptionally clean and is being scrubbed continuously, the stateroom was spacious, and the staff was very kind.
I loved the experience, wished we booked a longer cruise, and am looking to book my next cruise already – on Disney.
I think you’ll enjoy yours!
Can’t wait to read about it in 2014!
A Disney cruise sounds like my idea of torture. Why are you doing this? I love Disney, but being trapped on one of their boats sounds like something I would do for my kids, but not without them.
@smitty,
We will see how it goes. I’ve got a good feeling about it.