Disney Cruise without kids.....would you sail again on Disney?

[5kitty]

We are childless and are considering doing a Disney Cruise for the first time.  We have sailed on Princess many times and Norwegian.  For those of you who have sailed on at least one Disney Cruise, would you choose Disney again or another cruise line?  Why or why not?  Thanks so much.

[gometros]

We've sailed DCL 17 times, four with kids, although the last two were when they were all adults. So that should answer your question right there.

 

Having said that, there are itineraries that we want to do, that I may look outside of DCL for, since they are slowly pricing themselves out of the market for us. I would stick with DCL on cruises where there are a number of sea days, but for port intensive itineraries, probably not.

[1025cruise]

If you want to, why not. But I can cruise twice with other cruise lines for the cost of a Disney cruise.

[Shmoo here]

8 hours ago, 5kitty said:

We are childless and are considering doing a Disney Cruise for the first time.  We have sailed on Princess many times and Norwegian.  For those of you who have sailed on at least one Disney Cruise, would you choose Disney again or another cruise line?  Why or why not?  Thanks so much.

We've done 12 DCL cruises.  2 with "children" (adult aged).  So, yes, I would choose Disney again.  

 

We primarily pick cruises for itinerary, so we look a several different cruise lines and Disney is still in the group.

[gatour]

We have done three Disney cruises sans children nor traveling with people with children.  Just the two of us.  We would do so again, except the prices have gotten out hand.

 

I think it does help if you are a bit of a Disneyphile.

 

 

 

[Bad Pink Tink]

Im solo, no kids over 40 and I have just booked my first Disney cruise and I can't wait. I also go to Disneyland California every year solo.

 

To me , the choice other than price is do you want a DISNEY cruise experience or just a cruise experience. 

 

 

[jajsmom]

We have sailed Disney more times without our now adult kids than with them.  We have sailed other cruise lines too, and like to sail Princess for their great itineraries.  But when we want a cruise to relax, or with lots of sea days, we always choose Disney.  Yes, it costs more, but there is a reason for that.

[cantgetin]

We started cruising DCL with a 7 year old in 1998.  Needless to say, that 7 year old is now much older, and we've explored other lines.  There are things that are by far the best on DCL, things that have gone up and down over the years (food), and things that are basically the same as other lines.  The one thing that has gone up and up are the prices.  We LOVE DCL, but we did 14 nights in a window suite on Princess for less than what 7 nights in a cat 6 on DCL would have cost.  We cruised in Japan, which we can't do on DCL.

 

Yes, we'd happily do DCL again if and when we can find an itinerary we are interested in at a price we are willing to pay.

 

[Nightrythm]

My spouse and I went on a Disney cruise several years ago. It was a lot of fun, and we were travelling with friends who had kids. The biggest drawback for us was the schedule. We like to stay up late and sleep in when we're on vacation. They closed the buffet at 10:30am to reset for lunch and had no food options for late risers other than floppy pizza and tasteless burgers. The bars also closed early. It may have been midnight, but it felt like 10pm. The drinks in the Cadillac bar however, were amazing! Our bartender was fantastic. It was pricey, so we generally pick other cruise lines that mesh better with our schedule. I'm not saying I wouldn't try again though. 

[3monkeys4me]

On 10/3/2019 at 4:53 PM, Nightrythm said:

My spouse and I went on a Disney cruise several years ago. It was a lot of fun, and we were travelling with friends who had kids. The biggest drawback for us was the schedule. We like to stay up late and sleep in when we're on vacation. They closed the buffet at 10:30am to reset for lunch and had no food options for late risers other than floppy pizza and tasteless burgers. The bars also closed early. It may have been midnight, but it felt like 10pm. The drinks in the Cadillac bar however, were amazing! Our bartender was fantastic. It was pricey, so we generally pick other cruise lines that mesh better with our schedule. I'm not saying I wouldn't try again though. 

 

It has been a long time since we have cruised on DCL (7 years) but we wouldn't and this is mostly why.  Without the kids DCL just doesn't fit our schedule/traveling style. We have been avoiding DCL because our youngest wasn't interested in the clubs but now that she is almost 11, we are planning on giving it another go and hoping for more evening activities.

 

That being said, if you want to give it a try then do! Plenty of adults travel on DCL and love it. 

[MarLieb]

If you want an immersive Disney experience and you like the itinerary, yes, I would do it without kids.  If you are simply looking for a nice ship, comfortable, well-designed stateroom, good food and entertainment, no, I wouldn't do it.  You are paying a significant up charge to be surrounded by Disney 24/7 on a DCL cruise and you can find equally lovely ships with, IMHO, better itineraries, on other lines.  I'm a huge Disney fan (40+ trips to WDW, several DL trips and 7 DCL cruises) and my husband and I would never sail DCL on our own.  He is absolutely bored stiff at night on DCL as he has no interest in the Disney productions and there is no casino on board.  For major cruise lines, we have switched over to X (nice, smaller kids club for our son and shows and casino for us in the evenings).  We have also now sailed on Lindblad and Paul Gauguin and will probably be doing a Crystal cruise within the next year or so.  

[Cafedumonde]

No, because a large part of the cost subsidized the kids club.  Why pay so much for something you won’t use?

[5kitty]

Thank you all for your responses.

 

[CalgaryMac]

We have no children and have been on 2 prior Disney cruises. We just booked our third cruise so I would say that we loved our first cruises. The adult only area is quiet if the noise in the family areas gets too much but frankly the energy from the kids and their parents is infectious. We enjoyed watching some of the kids/parents contests during our first cruise.

 

Our last cruise was through the Panama Canal and this one is the same. There are fewer kids on the cruise I think because it is longer duration (2 weeks) and also doesn't coincide with vacation time.

[Missus_Aitch]

No.  We are soon to go on our fourth DCL cruise with child and have one Royal Caribbean booked with child next winter.  We did one European river cruise without children (ours or anyone else’s).  I would do another child-free river cruise as first choice and probably one of the higher end /older skewing lines like Holland America rather than Disney.  

 

I love Disney cruises, but I’m not a Disney fanatic and am not crazy about the family vibe when I can avoid it.

[gometros]

On 1/24/2020 at 10:59 AM, CalgaryMac said:

We have no children and have been on 2 prior Disney cruises. We just booked our third cruise so I would say that we loved our first cruises. The adult only area is quiet if the noise in the family areas gets too much but frankly the energy from the kids and their parents is infectious. We enjoyed watching some of the kids/parents contests during our first cruise.

 

Our last cruise was through the Panama Canal and this one is the same. There are fewer kids on the cruise I think because it is longer duration (2 weeks) and also doesn't coincide with vacation time.

 

Are you on the upcoming WBPC out of New Orleans? See you there!

 

(Never mind. Just saw your other post that you're on the EBPC in November.)

Edited January 27, 2020 by gometros

[BentPicketRanchGirl]

I would go again in a second.  I do not have children and generally do not like to be around children, but I went on a Disney Cruise because I had heard so many good things about it.  I loved it and cannot wait to go again.  The kids were very well-behaved and the productions were great. There are adults only areas, which is where I spent most of my time. Price is a consideration and before I cruised Disney, I couldn't understand why people would pay so much, and now I understand. 

[luckyduck]

We're a childfree couple and we did our first Disney cruise in 2014 and we have another one in June.  So for us, the answer is definitely yes! 

[ForMyBoys2015]

If you haven't sailed Disney I would recommend it even without kids.  It is fun, has stellar service  and it's different then the other cruise lines.  However, with that said, the ships do have a formula with the same restaurants and similar shows so after 5 cruises on Disney I can say I would prefer a more grown up line, but will likely sail Disney at least a couple more times given the ages of my kiddos.  

Edited January 30, 2020 by ForMyBoys2015

[Tapi]

For us, Disney was a one time thing. We wanted to give our children the experience of sailing on this cruise line, and I’m glad we did. It was a wonderful cruise. But it’s not something that we would be interested in doing repeatedly, and definitely not without our kids.

[passion4travel65]

On 10/3/2019 at 8:57 AM, Bad Pink Tink said:

Im solo, no kids over 40 and I have just booked my first Disney cruise and I can't wait. I also go to Disneyland California every year solo.

 

To me , the choice other than price is do you want a DISNEY cruise experience or just a cruise experience. 

 

 

Hi,

I'm taking my first Disney cruise next week as a solo traveler, no kids, and over 40. How was your experience?

Kim

[slightlysilly]

Totally!  In fact, we are waiting for our son to turn 18 before we sail on Disney again.  We love Remy, Palo, Serenity Bay and the adult only venues on the ship.  Disney is VERY strict about keeping the kiddos away. 

September 2021 cannot come soon enough!

[jenushkask8s]

DH and I don't have kids and we're in our early 40s. We've done 2 DCL cruises with a 3rd booked for next year (we're also DVC members and go to WDW frequently)! We love it!

[glam mistress]

We are a childfree couple and have switched to DCL. We just did the repo cruise from San Juan to New Orleans. I booked a placeholder while aboard, so we'll be sailing DCL again within the next two years. 

 

I love the Quiet Cove area (adult pool, bar and coffee bar) and the general attitude of Disney. Good service and no b.s. If something is wrong, Disney will go above and beyond to make it right. 

[cantgetin]

We've done DCL cruises with and without kids, but then started branching out to other lines.  DCL service is the best.  Food is "so so."  Enforcement of adult only areas depends on the area in question and sometimes on the specific cruise.  

 

The first cruise on another line was due to itinerary.  DCL doesn't go to Asia.

 

But the main reason we have started exploring other cruise lines is price.  We booked 2 weeks in Alaska in a suite on Princess for the cost of one week in a balcony cabin on DCL.  A standard cabin on Princess does not compare to a standard cabin on DCL, but a suite with their suite perks certainly does.  So my best comparison is that we got 2 weeks for the cost of one DCL.  The nostalgic moment came when we were in the specialty restaurant on Princess and the Wonder cruised by going the other direction.  But I'd still rather have 2 weeks!