Disney 4-Night Cruise Archives - Living a Disney LifeLiving a Disney Life

Considering a Disney Cruise? Why a Four-Night is Just Right!

If you’ve never taken your family on a cruise before, choosing the right one may make or break any future cruise potential. Think about it. Will anyone get seasick? Will there be enough activities to make everyone happy? Will the accommodations be sufficient for your family size? All legitimate first-time cruiser questions. I really worked hard to talk Raymond into that very first Disney cruise and it was only for 3-nights! He was worried about all of the above plus thought a day-at-sea sounded like a hostage crisis. Choosing an itinerary that offers the best chance of a successful first Disney cruise experience is crucial to success!

Four-Night Itineraries are like the Momma Bear’s stuff in Goldilocks and the Three Bears. A three night cruise is too short. Just when you get your bags unpacked and figure out where everything on the ship is located, it’s time to go. A seven night cruise is too long for the first one. It’s a pretty big commitment of both time and finances for trying something new. For extreme seasickness sufferers, I imagine seven nights would feel like a month. Four nights? Just right!

The best things about Disney cruises – the service, the food, the characters, the shows, the gorgeous ships – it all takes time to explore. Getting used to using the Disney Cruise Line app and the Personal Navigators to plan activities takes a day or so. Your dining room servers stay with you in every dining room for every dinner service and they want to make you happy! They try to anticipate your every need. After a day or two, they know what your kids want to drink, they know what kind of wine you like, and they adapt to any food preferences/restrictions you have. Four nights gives all this a chance to come together.

Finally, the four night itineraries out of Port Canaveral are perfect for combining land and sea vacations! Spend some time at Walt Disney World either before or after your first cruise. Best of both worlds! We’ve done this several times and have enjoyed every minute!

Have you taken your family on a Disney Cruise? What itinerary to you like best?

I am so stoked about our upcoming Disney Cruise. Sure, I have a little weekend at Walt Disney World first during which I need to run 19.3 miles, but hey! Once that’s behind me, Raymond and I are off to Port Canaveral to catch our ride…uhm boat…I mean SHIP for our first cruise aboard the Disney Dream.

This will be our 7th Disney Cruise, but the first one sailing from Florida since 2010. We’ve missed the Disney land-and-sea combo! We’ve missed Castaway Cay! I’m admittedly feeling a teeny bit apprehensive about sailing on one of Disney Cruise Lines newer, larger ships. All of our previous cruises have been on either the Magic or the Wonder. Will the Dream seem foreign? Will I get lost? Will I like it as well as our two favorite ships? We shall see. I am, however, really excited about our plans. So today I’d like to share with you the five things I’m most looking forward to!

Disney Planning – Disney Dream 4-Night Cruise

Dining at Remy! If you’ve read any of my previous cruise trip reports then you already know that we are HUGE fans of the adults-only dining aboard Disney Cruise Line. We always have at least one meal at Palo (this cruise is no different). Since this will be our first opportunity to check out Remy, we decided we should have both brunch and dinner there. In the interest of research. For you. We are totally doing it for you. (Seems awesome now that we have Remy in our kitchen in the form of cruise art we purchased a few years back on another Disney Cruise.)
Nassau. We are looking forward to this port of call because we are staying on the ship! We have no excursion plans. We are hoping all our fellow cruisers will get up and go…right off the ship so we can have the place to ourselves. We’ve booked dining and spa treatments and personally, I’m planning to rest my feet with this in mind…
The Castaway Cay 5k. I’m a little disappointed that there’s no runDisney, post-Glass Slipper Challenge, official Castaway Cay 5k the way there was last year. It meant an extra medal and was a very cool deal. In fact, if I remember correctly, Raymond thought we should book this very cruise just so I could take advantage of the opportunity should it again be offered. Oh, well, the regular 5k on Castaway Cay (Disney’s private tropical island paradise) should still be available and I bet Raymond will run it with me to keep me company…which will be excellent. (Love you, Honey!)
Senses Spa – We’re spoiled. We love the Senses Spa and also the on-board exercise facility. This cruise, we’ve once again booked a couples massage. After the Glass Slipper Challenge and the Castaway Cay 5k, this will be such a welcome treat!
All the rest – the special, unique, magical Disney Cruise components that keep us coming back for more. The adults-only areas of the ship, the shows, the roomy stateroom, the rotational dining – all of it! This will be our first cruise alone. I know we’ll miss our kids – especially since we had such an incredible time last year on the Disney Magic as she made her inaugural trip through the fjords of Norway. In contrast to that epic, action-packed, fun-filled, super busy vacation, this one will be more low-key, but with new and exciting elements for us to experience for the first time.