Disney Fantasy Cruise in July???

[kandjrolls2]

I was thinking of booking the Fantasy in May 2013. My DD would be 2 months shy of turning 3 (birthday is July 2nd). But after doing some research, I realized she could go to the camp for free after she turns 3. So I was thinking of booking for July 2013. The cons for waiting until July is (much) higher prices and more crowds (I assume). The price for this 7 day eastern caribbean cruise is already so much higher than what we have ever paid for a cruise including our 12 day Mediterranen cruise I am starting to wonder if it is even worth it. I would like to have another baby sometime in late 2013/early 2014 and I do not want to travel with a newborn so I wanted to do something magical with DD beforehand. Anybody care to share their opinions if I should sail during premium travel season and pay premium prices? Is Disney really worth the extra bucks?

 

Thanks

J.

[6rugrats]

Disclaimer - I've never sailed on Disney.

 

I honestly don't think Disney is worth the money. It's awfully expensive. But I like to travel and do it as cheaply as possible, which means I can travel more. Everyone has different priorities.

 

It does not have to be Disney to be "magical".

[Tggrtoes]

We've struggled with the Disney cost issue too, so haven't done it yet although we keep getting close and then end up booking something else ultimately. We have done Disney World before cruise and still were able to do a 7 day cruise in a suite after that for the same price as if we just did a balcony room on Disney cruise So, i can't really comment on the Disney cruise experience. But you might want to consider a cheaper cruise out of Orlando port and spending a couple of days at Disney.

 

However, I'd say that I have heard repeated over and over that Disney always sails full and there's always tons of kids, just because of the nature of their product. Thus, I don't think that July will be THAT much worse capacity wise than if you did the earlier one.

 

Should you wait until she can go in club? that really depends on what YOU want out of the vacation. For us, we do long weekend stints where we're all "togetherness" and so our cruise is a bit of a time for everyone to have balance between togetherness and alone time. So for me, I'd wait until she could go into club. But I do think Disney has good babysitting hours (double check this - again, I'm not an expert) so that might solve that problem and you'd still get the best of both worlds - go at your preferred time and still get the full Disney experience - if that's what you want.

[Friend100]

Go to the Disney board or disboards and do more research there. We did 2 cruises on dcl and loved them. The price of a Disney cruise in low season is well worth it IMO. Summer cruise on dcl is too expensive for us.

[kandjrolls2]

Thank you for your replies. I think I am leaning now toward doing a shorter(3 or 4 day) cruise on the Dream. That way if we love it we will book a 7 day on the Fantasy in 2013. If not, we haven't wasted thousands and thousands of dollars. Now I just got to pick a date for the Dream.

[TheCalicoCat]

Is Disney really worth the extra bucks?

.

 

IMHO - NOPE!

But I have never even considered a Disney cruise - I am not into the licensed characters, nor the very kid centric/kid full cruise.

 

My 3.5 year old will be on his 3rd cruise this June on HAL. The quieter atmosphere will be better for ALL of us.

[Friend100]

IMHO - NOPE!

But I have never even considered a Disney cruise - I am not into the licensed characters, nor the very kid centric/kid full cruise.

 

My 3.5 year old will be on his 3rd cruise this June on HAL. The quieter atmosphere will be better for ALL of us.

 

What if it cost the same? What if it is 20% more, or only 10% more? What cruiseline/ship comparing against? What if only a small sacrifice like OV instead of balcony, or 5 days instead of 7 days, or boring itinerary instead of exciting ports? There are sometimes good deals from dcl that I have to do some homework or I have to be flexible with vacation time or I may not get the cabin or ideal itinerary that I want, but they are there.

[TheCalicoCat]

What if it cost the same? What if it is 20% more, or only 10% more? What cruiseline/ship comparing against? What if only a small sacrifice like OV instead of balcony, or 5 days instead of 7 days, or boring itinerary instead of exciting ports? There are sometimes good deals from dcl that I have to do some homework or I have to be flexible with vacation time or I may not get the cabin or ideal itinerary that I want, but they are there.

 

I did not mean to discount it for anyone else, but I am not into the characters & that seams to be the whole point of a DCL cruise... & I am not willing to pay "the same or more" to see them, but then again, I am also not paying $20 to get into the parks to see them.

 

I've not been on a cruise ship or with a cruise line that I was not able to enjoy myself (CCL, RCI, P&O so far. HAL booked).

 

I have also decided for the time & effort involved, that I am only willing to go on 7+ day cruises (free is different but I have not been offered a free cruise yet...)

 

So far, I have never been bored in port - or in the ship while it was in port & aside from my upcoming Alaska cruise, none of them seem to be very exciting...

 

Disney does not go where I want to go in Alaska - Glacier Bay & does not leave from the port that I want to leave from so it was never in consideration.

 

I just did a quick check for grins & giggles & the Disney cruise that does not go where I want to go costs $700 more that the cruise that does... (I am assuming that the rooms are similar...)

[Friend100]

I did not mean to discount it for anyone else, but I am not into the characters & that seams to be the whole point of a DCL cruise... & I am not willing to pay "the same or more" to see them, but then again, I am also not paying $20 to get into the parks to see them.

 

I've not been on a cruise ship or with a cruise line that I was not able to enjoy myself (CCL, RCI, P&O so far. HAL booked).

 

I have also decided for the time & effort involved, that I am only willing to go on 7+ day cruises (free is different but I have not been offered a free cruise yet...)

 

So far, I have never been bored in port - or in the ship while it was in port & aside from my upcoming Alaska cruise, none of them seem to be very exciting...

 

Disney does not go where I want to go in Alaska - Glacier Bay & does not leave from the port that I want to leave from so it was never in consideration.

 

I just did a quick check for grins & giggles & the Disney cruise that does not go where I want to go costs $700 more that the cruise that does... (I am assuming that the rooms are similar...)

 

This is fine. Disney has a cruise product that is quite different from other cruise products out there. Different people have different preference, and this is one of the reasons I enjoy cruising as a means of vacationing as there are some many choices available.

 

Under a different circumstances I will choose other cruislines over DCL, and vice versa. We just came back from the Nieuw Amsterdam holiday cruise to the Caribbean, parents and children all had a great time. For the same total cost of this cruise, I could also either do a 4-days W Caribbean on the Liberty of the Seas for still 6 of us, or we could do the Disney Dream for 4-days but parents had to stay home :(. We chose HAL.

 

Will I want to do a HAL again? Absolutely! We met passengers from the Prinsendam at Grand Cayman who were beginning their 2-months long journey to the Panama Canal, South America, Antartica and Amazon River. What a dream cruise! I doubt Disney will ever has a cruise like this, and in fact they shouldn't be. But at this point of my life, I know I won't be able to do something like this yet.

[Rob_Jen]

We are booked on the Fantasy for this November.

 

We have been on 10 cruises. 2 with Disney. We really enjoyed the whole Disney experience on the ship. The kids liked it more and found more kid friendly activities on the ship and especially at night. Other cruise lines most entertainment is Adult only after 9 PM and the camps close at 10 (Disney 1 AM) so you have to pay for babysitting. On Disney the main shows are also kid oriented enough so the kids will enjoy the Broadway style shows unlike other lines where the kids are not into the comedians, Caberet's, etc.

 

We found the food to be very similar on ALL cruise lines. Some are better at some things and some at others.

 

We were on the new carnival Dream 2 years ago and while it was a nice ship and we had an OK time for us it did not live up to the Disney Magic the year before. We went back on the Disney Magic last year.

 

We were on RCCL ships in the past (Pre-kids) and enjoyed them as well but the prices on the newer ships are almost as high as the Disney ships and for our kids (7 and 4) Disney still is better for us. In a few years when they are older I can see us going on some RCCL ships instead.