Coming back on here to say that we did the tour with Sunfari and had the best day ever!! Our tour guide was amazing! Now that I have pulled up this thread again I realized that we went to the same beaches. It was nice to go to the smaller beaches away from everyone else.
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Yay!
Don’t know how I missed this trip report when it first came out! We did the exact same cruise with our two slightly older teenagers (then 16 and 18) just a few months before you. It was a fantastic trip for us. In fact we are going again, though to St Maarten and Puerto Rico, this Christmas.
Can’t believe how much Savannah has grown up in just a year. I thought she actually looked younger than Bri in these photos but she definitely looks like the older sister in your more recent pictures!
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She’s grown so much!
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I had missed this one too! Loved reading through it today - and truly amazing how much your girls have grown!
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I’m looking at DCL cruises instead of a WDW trip this fall. Is there enough to do on these ships? I’m looking at the newest Carnival and NCL ships too with their ropes courses and coasters and 3D theaters, etc.
I do think we would love the productions. And rotational dining.
But one good waterslide? Vs 3-5 on other ships.
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If you want more active stuff to do, that is probably one of DCL’s biggest weaknesses about their ships. We’ve always found ourselves not having enough time for it all, mainly because we absolutely love trivia. And are still trying to fit in time between it all & the shows & dinner & lunch to still lounging on the pool deck snacking and watching the movies and maybe doing the slide once or so in that time. But our pool deck time mainly seems to be more about dipping in the pools and getting snacks in between lunch and late dinner.
My kids also do a lot of kids clubs and enjoy maximizing their time in there so that can be a bit to juggle between all of the above.
All the ships do have a sports area where there may be some more active fun. On the oldest ships, the Magic & Wonder it’s mainly basketball but might also have some ping pong tables & maybe air hockey. However, since it’s outside, it closes at sundown. The Dream/Fantasy have a similar setup with it being outside, but they also have a very small mini-golf course & Goofy Sports simulator game.
On the Wish they have the most in their Hero Zone that does have fooseball, ping pong, air hockey, basketball, and would sometime pull cornhole (bean bag toss) out. And then on Nassau day they set up an inflatable obstacle course that families can race against each other from like 9a-2:30pm. Then in the afternoon times the tween & teen clubs get their own takeover of the space with the obstacle course up.
And then on the Dream/Fantasy & Wish there is an interactive game with the artwork to play with different missions. The Dream/Fantasy is called Midship Detective and my kids and I LOVED it. It was solving a mystery. We only got through one full story (Muppets themed) in 5 days on the Dream but there was a whole 2nd story that we are excited to try next time we find ourselves on that class of ship. And the Wish’s interactive game is called something different and even though we had 10 days on the ship, everytime we tried it there were glitches, tech issues because it was all through the app on the phone. So we didn’t get very far, but if it had worked I’m sure we would’ve felt similarly to it as we had the Midship Detective game. It was a mission to save the Wishing star and there was an activity in one of the lounges on the last day to see the “finale” of the game. So we’ll have to try that game again when we get the chance to do the Wish again.
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We find them a great balance of things to do and relaxing time. Both cruises we left not doing everything on our wish list. DD13 is shy and didn’t use the kids club much on her own but she did make a friend through our cruise group and they went to the club together a couple of times as well as meeting up for trivia, character meets, ice cream and snacks. While she was occupied, we enjoyed the adult areas and Remy dessert (we also loved Palo brunch on our previous cruise). We did the slide a few times, played in the water play area, went to the theater shows and deck shows, went to some games and trivia, bingo, played Midship, watched the diaper dash, watched a movie in the theater and on funnel vision. If it’s a themed cruise there’s usually themed gathering(s) in the atrium - eg. Merrytime has tree lighting, meet Santa, Mrs. Claus storytime, hot chocolate and cookies, carolers. There were also things we didn’t get around to doing - drawing classes, silent disco, crafts, musical performers. If they’re not the right age for one of the kids clubs, they can still experience it during open house times. If you know what ship and time of year you’re thinking of sailing you can usually find some daily personal navigator examples of the activities they might have on your sailing on the internet.
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@lolabear_la @NoCapes - when I get something booked I’m going to come ask you to help me plan!
I am leaning toward the Wish at this moment bc it has Marvel and Star Wars and my girls are into both.
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What are the ages of the girls that are interested? I know you may? have a younger one still in the Oceaneer range (3-10), if so, then she can access that anytime and I believe can use the provided Oceaneer club band to play the interactive games.
But for anyone over 10, they need to bring their own Magic band+ (or buy the DCL branded one). There isn’t any other way to play the game. If you have kids in the Edge club they do a takeover once a cruise for 30 min if the Marvel space and then I think they one for the Star Wars space too. But it’s so limited that you can’t get much done. There are also open house hours first thing but they do character meets during that time in marvel space the games aren’t available. And the Star Wars will only have 2 iPads out so again very limited & lots trying to do it.
The best time to go is during the Castaway Cay day open house hours. You can level all the way up all on your own playing all the interactive games on Oceaneer, Marvel Star Wars, imagineering, and Frozen. Just setting some expectations bc we were so excited for those games for our kids and ended up needing to pivot for our 12 yo once Disney changed the age range and we couldn’t even really spend good morning open house time or Edge time to get the games.
But yes, once you get to booking, ask ask away! Please!
Oh but the Marvel dinner and character meets in the Marvel space are all cool and Hyperspace is like a less sensory overloaded Oga’s.
We’re thinking of the Wish or the Treasure for our next cruise. Although we ended up on the Fantasy last fall because booking within a few months of sailing, for the 3 of us to cruise in the same week on the Fantasy for 7 nights cost only $700 USD more total than 4 nights on the Wish. We also looked at doing a Marvel day at sea on the Dream as a 5 day cost almost the same as a Wish 4 day. I’m going to do some pricing next week on opening day booking and see how that looks.
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I would always go for longer!
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I saw these posts and then I didn’t get to reply and I have been “answering them in my head” for days - please tell me I am not the only one who does that.
For the most part, I completely agree that more cruise days is always better.
BUT - with more cruise days comes more ports I have to find something to do in. And then that cost can add up. Granted, it won’t add up as much if I am traveling with 4 as am traveling with 8. But… I do have to keep that in mind as DCL has a higher entry price to begin with.
My 4-N Wish in an Interior will be a minimum of $4400, before gratuities and excursions.
I can do 6-N on a new Carnival ship in a SUITE for less than that WITH gratuities.
I can do a 7-N Fantasy in interior for $4700 if I am willing to let the girls miss co-op. That is tempting. Very tempting. But DD14 is taking Chemistry and Spanish. She can easily make up Chem, but Spanish???
I really just have to commit to the Wish and not compare anything else.
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A 7-N on the Fantasy offers a better cost per night, but you are right that more nights means extra costs in gratuities, excursions and potentially other extras. When we chose the Fantasy over the Wish last year I was a little sad to not get to experience the Wish as I do really want to experience its unique offerings at some point. I don’t think you can go wrong with either choice - it’s just a matter of figuring out which works out best for your family for this vacation time.
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