Tag Archives: Disney Cruise Line

Disney Planning – Disney Cruise West Coast Land & Sea Adventure

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We love Disney Cruise Line and we love Disney theme parks – There’s nothing better to us that a vacation that combines them both!  What better way to celebrate wedding anniversary #29 than by sailing on the Disney Wonder before heading to Disneyland for the very first time.

Disney Planning – Disney Cruise West Coast Land & Sea Adventure

This vacation was a bit unexpected.  I was in the early stages of thinking about what we might want to do for what has become an annual anniversary getaway.  I’d been imagining Hawaii or maybe someplace else tropical that would not put us too much at risk of yet another hurricane season vacation disaster.  Unbeknownst to me, Raymond was busily shopping the Disney Cruise Line website.Disney Cruise Line / Ship

I remember bringing up the aforementioned potential tropical destination while he was typing away on his computer.  He suddenly got excited about the prices for a repositioning cruise from Vancouver to San Diego on the Wonder…so excited, in fact, that before I knew it, he exclaimed, “These prices are awesome!  This sounds fun!  I’m booking it!” (Okay, if you’ve ever met Raymond, you know he’d never speak with all those exclamations…It’s called artistic license.  I can’t help myself.)  And boom!  Part one of our vacation was in the bag.  We’ll sail from Vancouver for a four-night cruise with a stop in Astoria, Oregon before arriving in San Diego.

Now it was my turn to plan.

I didn’t waste any time.  Researching our options for getting to Anaheim from San Diego and places to stay at Disneyland, I decided on a rental car and a Good Neighbor hotel.  Three-day Park Hopper tickets will hopefully allow enough time for a decent first visit.  Our hotel is within walking distance of park entrances.

I took to Twitter for dining suggestions and booked reservations for breakfast at the Plaza Inn, lunch at Blue Bayou, and dinners at Napa Rose, Carthay Circle, and Steakhouse 55.  I realize there are incredible quick service choices and I know we’ll want to give some of those a try too.

So, it seems like we’re all set.  The biggest challenge so far is packing for both cool and warm weather in one vacation.  My suitcase is nearly packed and I’m proud to say I didn’t go overboard.  (Give me a shout if you’d be interested in what I packed an/or wore for this trip.)

Having never been to Disneyland, we would welcome your suggestions for what you consider the most important things for us to see and do!  Rides?  Attractions?  Snacks?  Shows?  What do we need on our must-do list?  I feel like a complete Disney rookie this time!  If you’ve got tips, I want to hear them.  We’re leaving in just a few days, so please leave your thoughts in the comments or over on Twitter or Facebook.  Thanks in advance for your help.  Can’t wait to tell you all about it when we get home!

 

Disney Cruising – The Disney Dream’s Gingerbread House

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There’s a small window in November to sail on Disney Cruise Line between their themed Halloween on the High Seas and Very Merrytime Cruises.  During this time, guests miss both holidays.  That’s when we sailed.  I was a little bummed about it on account of our cancelled cruise would have been a Halloween on the High Seas cruise and I’d bought us some totes adorbs (as the young folk say) Jack and Sally shirts to wear.  Oh, well.  All was not lost!

The Disney Dream’s Gingerbread House

The morning after we set sail, Raymond and I were up early (as always) and I had time to admire the gorgeous lobby atrium without anyone else there.  Something was off.  There was a wall.  Mysterious!  Later, as I approached the wall, I could very distinctly smell gingerbread – an amazingly delicious aroma that had me practically pressing my nose against that wall.  I detected activity and then saw a man behind the wall measuring something – he was making a gingerbread house!  You know how I am so it should come as no surprise when I tell you that I sort of hollered over, “Hello the Gingerbread House!  When will you be finished?”  A voice responded, “Before this cruise is over.”  I kind of felt like Dory speaking whale, “Thank youuuuuuu!”  And we went on with our vacation.

True to his word, the mystery gingerbread construction guy was right!  The morning we prepared to disembark, the Disney Dream’s Gingerbread House was complete!  And, BOY!  What a creation!  Inside and out, the house was packed with Disney magic.  Have you ever seen the gingerbread houses at Walt Disney World like the ones at the Grand Floridian or the Contemporary maybe?  This one was very unique with lots of details inside and out that captured a more playful, wistful feeling that the ones we’ve seen at Disney World.

As we made our way down the gangplank, Raymond directed my attention to the dock where a virtual forest of plastic-wrapped Christmas trees were being unloaded.  While it would have been fun to see the Dream in all her Christmas finery, we were there for the building and unveiling of the Gingerbread House and that was pixie dust enough for us.

Have you sailed on Disney Cruise Line for a seasonal cruise?  Which one?  How did you like it?

 

 

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

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Lots of Walt Disney World and Disneyland fans I know have considered adding Disney Cruise Line vacations to their Disney travel lineup.  I wholeheartedly encourage this idea!  While I’ve been a Disney World fan for almost 30 years, it took me a while to see the light and embrace Disney Cruise Line in the same way I do Disney World.  Yes, they’re vastly different experiences, but equally magical in their own way.  A while back I compared the two.  Today I’m offering advice on choosing the right first-Disney-cruise experience.

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.Mickey and Minnie Mouse, DCL

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?

 

 

2017 Disney Cruise Vacation, Version 2.0

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Here’s what we’ve done since our September 9th cruise aboard the Disney Fantasy was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma…

First we were sad.  Sad for everyone and everywhere that experienced Irma’s devastation.  I’d be lying if I said we weren’t a little sad for ourselves too, but seriously, we couldn’t be mad – life happens and there’s way worse stuff than a lost vacation.

2017 Disney Cruise Vacation, Version 2.0

We took a few days to think about our options.  We knew we were getting 100% of our money back from Disney Cruise Line and a 25% discount on a future cruise.  We decided to cancel our time off from work (September 11-15) and try to squeeze those days in sometime before the end of the year.  We’d already registered for a few weekend cycling events and had a 4-day Disney World visit booked in mid-November.

While trying to decide on Plan B, I paid close attention to social media to see what other cancelled-cruisers were doing.  Turns out, a whole bunch of them were being super mad!  Mad at Disney Cruise Line for not refunding their money fast enough (10-day time period).  Also mad they lost their 10% discount and $200 on-board credit for booking their lost cruise while on a previous sailing (even though a 25% discount is much better).  Some were mad that other fall cruises were booked up and all the adult dining reservations were gone.  Others were just mad in general and Disney Cruise Line was a convenient outlet for that anger.  Watching these people come unspooled was not helping our situation, so I gave that up.  We spent a weekend away, rode our bicycles, and thought about what to do.

Time to End the Pity Party

Exactly a week after Irma left us vacation-less, I decided it was time to stop moping around and get busy.  On September 14th, I called Disney Cruise Line and a wonderful woman named Gianna helped me add a 4-day cruise on the Dream to the front of our already scheduled WDW trip.  I knew from information posted on Disney Cruise Line’s website that we would not be eligible to receive the 25% discount until September 18th.  Gianna assured me I could call back then and apply the discount to this cruise.

Next I called American Airlines.  When we cancelled our flights for the original cruise, we were penalized.  We got the tickets back but would pay a $200 change fee to use them again.  I was going to see if I could do something about that.  I didn’t know this until the day I called, but Raymond had booked first class tickets for our trip to WDW as a birthday surprise for me.  If we moved our Orlando-bound flight in November up by four days to make the cruise, there would be a penalty for that too.  First class might have to go.  American Airlines hasn’t always been easy to deal with, so I took a deep breath and chanted, “be nice, be nice, be nice” as I placed that call.

I actually managed to be very nice (shocker, I know) and the young man who answered my call put me on hold while he spoke with his supervisor.  Next thing I knew, I was speaking to the supervisor, David, who had lots of genuinely helpful options for me to consider.  He was patient and kind and by the time I hung up, I’d gotten a penalty-free refund on the cancelled flights to be used towards future travel.  I was also able to move our Orlando-bound flight in November with no extra charge.  Still in first class even!  Shout-out to David at American Airlines for his amazing customer service skills!

The only thing I’m worried about now is that we are flying to Orlando on the morning our cruise sails.  Normally we would never do this!  But we’d already registered for the Bayou Teche Brewery Bike Bash and Giant Omelette Celebration Ride (two-day cycling events).  There’s no way we wanted to miss out on that.  (Can you blame us?  Beer!  And omelettes!)  So Raymond, Joseph and I will bicycle 100 miles over the weekend, then Raymond and I will catch our plane on Monday morning.  I’m thinking it’ll be a great way to burn off some of those cruise calories in advance.  I’ll be trying not to think about all the things that could go wrong and cause us to miss our ship.

I called Disney Cruise Line on Monday (9/18) and they were happy to apply the 25% discount to this new cruise.  So, while not exactly the 28th anniversary celebration we had planned, we ended up with a solid replacement in the form of a sea-and-land Disney vacation instead.

We’ve got to stop scheduling vacations during the peak of hurricane season.