Maddysdaddy

is there a benefit to using a TA or booking through Disney directly?

DCL offers one price for everyone, whether you book through a TA or through them directly.

Certain TA's may offer you an on-board credit, but that comes from their commission.

On our first cruise (our daughter was 7), we did not tell her ahead of time that we were going on vacation.

We picked her up from school and scheduled the call to arrive when we were driving to the airport to hop on the plane (inspired by all of those internet videos of kids going bananas when they hear that they are going on a Disney vacation).

Unfortunately the call didn't come in at the scheduled time, so I very slowly took the long way to the airport, waiting for Mickey to say "Hi Pal...". It did come in about 15 minutes late, so we got to live the experience with her (my wife with the video camera in hand) and me with my eyes on the road hearing the "omg omg omg OMG!!!!!!!!! Wait a second... did you pack my stuffy?" coming from the back seat.

Maybe I should splurge & do a dinner at each. I finished booking the rest of our port excursions today, so heck, what's another $50 - $75 + ;)

We have a winner!!!!!

Now just to make it more confusing for you, in case you weren't aware, you can also have brunch at Palo and Remy, so now you have four possible dining options to mix and match.

On my family's last cruise on the Fantasy, my wife and I had brunch at Palo, the Champagne Brunch at Remy and dinner with the wine tastings, also at Remy. Palo was good, not great - and by that, I mean that we would do it again, but wouldn't be heartbroken if we couldn't get a reservation. Remy, at both brunch and dinner, was out of this world and if we were unable to do both again on our next Disney sailing (whenever that may be...), we would be extremely disappointed.

Much like you, my wife and I pretended that we were judges on the Food Network, and as declasse as it might have been, at dinner, she ordered the menu created by Arnaud Lallement and I ordered the menu created by Scott Hunnel, and we shared each other's plates and voted after each course as to which was the winning dish (not that there was a losing dish, as both were fantastic).

Ultimately, no matter what which restaurant you choose and for which meal, there really isn't a bad decision to be made in this situation.

As a youngish cruiser I had an on topic question. I dress nice, although this almost always includes black jeans instead of slacks, sports jacket, button up collared solid color shirt, dress boots and rarely a tie. Every cruise I have taken has never had a real solid formal night so I wonder if people just won't get it and think "ah slob in his 30's," thoughts?

You will be more dressed up than a good percentage of your fellow passengers. The bar is pretty low on a Disney cruise, and anything more formal than jean shorts for guys and sweat pants with 'juicy' across the rear for women, and you'll be just fine (and quite frankly, you'll see lots of those as well).

Looking to rent a condo in Fort Lauderdale for 4-5 days before our cruise.

Any and all suggestions and recommendations for areas of the city to stay in would be greatly appreciated.

We will have children (toddlers to a tween) and will be renting a vehicle.

Thanks.

My personal philosophy has always been that it is better to be overdressed than underdressed. Nobody ever felt bad about themselves by looking good. Plus, what Partner (of either gender) isn't going to feel better about themselves walking next to a guy in a tux.

And let's be honest (for all the female readers on CC) I'm willing to wager that in the last 50 years, there isn't a man in a tuxedo who hasn't walked by a mirror, done a quick turn to look into it, and then made "finger guns", pretending to be James Bond. Every time I wear a tux, my wife knows that she is going to be referred to as Moneypenny the whole evening.

That being said, while I did pack and wear my tux on our first Disney cruise, given that we had Palo and Remy reservations booked on our second cruise, I left the tux at home and just packed a suit and ties. That decision had more to do with not wanting to pay extra baggage fees, than not wanting to wear my tux.

And now 4 paragraphs into this response, let me answer your question - my best guess of what percentage of male passengers wore a tux on Formal Night of the two 7 nighters I've been on, is probably 10-15 percent. 25% wore suits. 25% wore sport coats. And the balance were men in a dress shirt (with or without a tie) or other casual clothing.

My family stayed in 5022 on the Fantasy last year (same room as CruisinBlues, just on the other side). It's a category 8A room (otherwise known on this and other Disney cruise forums as the mini-suite).

There are very few of these rooms and they tend to get booked quite quickly, but if you have the chance to grab one, you should.

The room itself is much, much larger than other rooms of the same category. My understanding is that they originally were intended to be handicapped accessible rooms, and then DCL changed their mind for some reason.

Some of the 8A's are one large square with a support pole in the middle of the room, and others are square shaped, but have a wall separating the bedroom from the rest.

The other thing you should be aware of is that these rooms do not have the split bath, so that may or may not be an issue for you. For us, having all of the extra space was well worth creating a Sheldon Cooper - Morning Ablutions Schedule.

That illustration is cool. What size is it? I'd definitely frame it.

It's around 2' x 3' (maybe a little smaller) - Ducky was doing his drawings on a flip chart (the kind that stands on an easel).

And yes, we did have it professionally framed under museum glass. Since the paper is so cheap and thin, we wanted to ensure that it would survive as long as possible. Here's another picture of it in the frame (before we unwrapped it to hang it).

My wife, daughter and I all wore pirate costumes on pirate night during out last cruise.

We didn't dress like pirates on our first DCL sailing and were so blown away by how many people put in a lot of effort, that on November 1 of that year, we went to the Halloween store and each bought a half price pirate costume (the day after Halloween is the absolute best time to stock up on costumes for the following year).

We sailed on the Fantasy over Valentine's Day in 2014.

To the best of my recollection, there was a small box of chocolates and maybe a flower given to my wife at dinner. The Senior Chocolatier from Godiva was also on board and there were chocolate tasting and Q&A sessions throughout the week.

The best part for us was that Ducky Williams (Disney's Senior Illustrator) was also on the sailing and did a presentation during which my daughter won a sketch of Jiminy Cricket (although I think that the timing of his being on board was simply coincidental with VDay). We were lucky enough to run into him a few days later and he was kind enough to personalize it for her.

Unless things have changed in the last year, you could have done your online check in quite some time ago. I would expect that at this late date, the availability of 'early' birding a times is likely slim to none. Maybe you'll get lucky (or maybe they have changed the procedure since I last sailed).

Sorry to be the bearer of potentially bad news.

When we sailed last year, the internet was reasonably reliable for non-intensive uses such as email.

Depending what time of day I tried to log onto Citrix so I could access my server at the office, it was very hit and miss. Middle of the day and middle of the night worked best for me to get work done.

Hi all.

MY family has always sailed out of Port Canaveral (DCL), so the time we spend and activities we do pre-cruise have always been quite easy to plan.

On our next cruise, we are sailing on NCL out of MIA, so are now thinking about flying into MIA or FLL 4-5 days early (because you just never know how long you might get stranded flying from Canada in the winter, so we'd rather play it safe and have that buffer).

Having never been to either, I've been trying to research both cities on the net, to see if one has "more" to do for families than the other, and the sense I'm getting is that while FLL is more laid back and MIA has more to do, neither are particularly family friendly in terms of things to do with an almost 12 year old girl. We're going to have 7 days on the ship doing nothing but enjoying the sun and fresh air, so spending time on the beaches pre-cruise does not hold a heck of a lot of appeal.

As well, I think I have convinced friends to join us, and they have 3 year old twin girls and a 6 year old boy, so I would ask that you please also factor that into any response.

Am I wrong on this (I hope I am)? If so, all advice and comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone.

My family and I were fortunate enough that on the 2014 Valentine's Day cruise, Ducky Williams was a last-minute featured guest on board.

We attended his talk on his history with Disney and his transformation from bank employee who drew sketches, into Disney's senior animator.

At that talk, my 10 year old daughter was lucky enough to win one of his poster-sized sketches at that presentation, and a few days later, she and I ran into Ducky, who was gracious enough to personalize it for her.

Given our love for all things Disney, and how special the moment was for all of us (yes, I felt like a kid when I met Ducky), my Wife and I went and had the sketch framed and put under museum glass, so hopefully - even with it being cheap paper - it should be something that our daughter can treasure for many years.

OP - as someone who has yet to take their first cruise on NCL and therefore much less versed on the history of the company than are most of the posters on CC, I sympathize with your confusion and would argue that the way in which the offer has been presented is confusing (at best).

I booked a 2016 cruise a few days prior to the Kids Sail 1/2 price offer, and spent hours on hold with NCL the Saturday the 1/2 price + UBP offer came out, only to find out that my daughter's 1/2 price fare was virtually identical (about $40 less) than what her full price fare had been prior to the sale.

To quote my late grandfather, "Figures lie and liars figure". Either way, we're getting a mini-suite with a large balcony for significantly less than what we would have paid for an oceanview room on DCL, so I'm not too fussed at the end of the day, but I have to say that NCL didn't leave a great first impression with me as a result.

If anyone can respond with one or two sentences about this, I'd greatly appreciate it! Many, many thanks! :)

Here's my one sentence answer:

"If any company is going to go above and beyond to keep my child safe and happy, it's Disney."

Here's my second sentence addenda to that:

"I fully acknowledge that they are charging me a premium for that peace of mind."

Slightly off topic, but every time my family has cruised with Disney, about half-way through the cruise, after my wife and daughter have gone to sleep (11 pm-ish) I have dragged our laundry bag to the laundry room, threw clothes into washers, and went out on deck for a late night snack and drink.

I then pop back 30 minutes later, toss everything into dryers, go for another drink and then return as the drying cycle finishes to quickly fold everything and take it back to the room. At that time of night, I have never encountered anyone else in the laundry room (I have seen the laundry rooms packed the last 36 hours of a cruise, with people wanting to return home with clean clothes).

I'm 6' and let's just say that I weigh "somewhat more" than your husband. He has absolutely nothing to worry about. The only issue he may have as a larger/older individual, is getting up and down from the raft if he has joint problems with his knees or hips - it can be done - it may not be graceful, but it can be done.

Read your post this morning and then went online with NCL to ask about it.

The very nice lady on the other end of the chat said that while they won't have final dimensions until construction is done, the 32 sq ft number from the website was incorrect, that a number of people had asked the same question, and that they are being told to tell cruisers that the M6 balcony size should be similar to that on the Breakaway/Getaway.

Hmmm is this correct?

 

 

Mini-Suite with Large Balcony

 

Featuring a king-size bed, sofa bed and some include an additional pullman bed. With a private balcony, these Mini-suites also offer amazing views.

Accommodates: 3-4

Total Approx. Size: 239 sq. ft.

Balcony Size: 32 sq. ft.

 

 

DECK(S)

8

 

LOCATION

Forward

 

CATEGORY

M6

 

 

NCL's website shows an M6 is 32 sq feet, way smaller than the M6's on BA/GA.

 

Not correct?

I did not notice a significant difference in the number of adult activities between the two ships. That being said, if you are anticipating a jam packed schedule of adult activities throughout the day, you will likely be disappointed.

I've sailed on the Magic (pre Dry Dock) and the Fantasy (the Dream's sister) and given the choice, I would choose the Magic, primarily based on size. Of course my next cruise is on the NCL Escape which makes the Dream/Fantasy look small...

Unless you need all of the high tech bells and whistles, my thought is that the significant price difference between the Magic and the new ships really isn't worth it.

Did you just pay a deposit on the weekend. if so, call and have it changed if it is worth it to you. You may not get back the same $$ refund on your charge card based on the exchange rate, but it may very well be worth you looking into this. I know I would give them a call, and give it a try. You've got a bit of calculations to work through, but it may very well be to your advantage!:rolleyes:

Seconded.

I had originally booked the cruise with my normal US based TA with whom I had previously booked by DCL cruises, and was expecting to pay about 28% on the exchange (with the dollar at $0.79 + the bank spread), and then ran across a post on Cruise Critic saying that Canadians could book the cruise themselves directly with NCL and have the cruise priced in Canadian dollars.

If nothing else, I figured that at least I could lock a price down for the cruise in Cdn. money and not have to worry about the dollar sinking any lower.

I called NCL, booked my trip at $1.16 and then emailed my TA who was more than understanding as to why I was cancelling with her (the OBC credit offered by her agency was nowhere near the amount I was saving by booking in Cdn funds) and since she was based in the US, was unable to book for me in Cdn.

The deposit from my TA booking was refunded to me, and I was perfectly content until I ran across this thread yesterday and saw that I could knock another 6 points off of the cost of the cruise simply by calling NCL and having a 5 minute conversation with the sales agent while she repriced the cruise for me at $1.10.

Easy peasy two hundred dollar squeezie - and, I'm still around 20% ahead of where I would have been had I kept my cruise in USD (based on today's exchange).

Great thread :). May I ask what your exchange rate is now? I may call and reprise tomorrow. Thanks in advance.

I went from $1.16 down to $1.10(ish).

Thank you all very much for this thread and sharing the information that the NCL exchange rate had dropped again.

I had originally booked a cruise on Jan 31 and was more than pleased to have received the exchange rate of $1.1628, given that the actual spread was (and still is) significantly higher than that.

After reading this thread, I gave NCL a call and asked them to reprice (and then rebook) my cruise at the current rate, and ended up saving an additional $200 over what was already a great exchange rate.

Very grateful to all of you.

My cruise in March 2016 is - to the penny - the exact same price now with the KS(50%) promotion (inc UBP) as it was when I originally booked it with just the UBP promotion two weeks ago.

I'm satisfied with the fare that I booked at (still 40% less than I would have paid on DCL), but for someone who has just started looking at the same cruise now thinking that KSF is the greatest promotion ever...