It can be on all the lines, I fear. Like you have to pay for WiFi and whichever drink package you may want (we like the ones that include coffee - or offer coffee cards).
I have done NCL, Carnival, RCCL and DCL (and Princess, but you didnāt mention that one).
Iāve never had a bad cruise, but I also think we are generally easy going & I am pretty quick to put complainers in their place.
My go to is Carnival bc I usually have a pretty modest budget and Iād rather splurge on excursions. And I like lots of active things like ropes courses and golf, etc., and they have lots of ships with those items. With that said, one of our favorite family trips was an older, smaller ship out of NOLA. We packed games and loved watching the movies at night under the stars.
We did NCL Getaway in 2016 with kids roughly 16, 14, 12, 10, 6 & 3 and it was so much fun. There was a lot to keep us busy and entertained during the day. We prefer late dinner and usually just went to bed after. I have found that I have to have very low expectations for cruise shows other than DCL. I do know many have been happy with RCCL PM entertainment, but that wasnāt the case for us.
DH and DS23 just did NCL Escape in May and had a fabulous cruise. I would 100% do one again if the price point and dates fit well. My only beefs with NCL is I like set dining and they donāt consistently show movies. My family loves to watch movies.
The year we did NCL we had 4 free specialty dining for everyone in the stateroom (they do not offer than anymore than I have seen) and it was a lot of fun eating in the French restaurant and the Teppanyaki and the Churrascaria. We also did the magic show for free because we booked it for the first night. (We also did their Italian place but it was very meh.)
I probably should use AI to clean up my all-over-the-place post, but whatever.
Anyone booking a DCL cruise when late 2027 itineraries drop this week? Iām Silver so Iām planning to book this Thursday 9/3! Mine is a 4-night on the Dream from Fort Lauderdale in December 2027.
I saw @Ali_Ababwa has a Transatlantic cruise in mind.
Exciting! I also can never plan that far ahead, but I am actually looking at a
for 14-18 December THIS year.
Is yours also a Very Merrytime Cruise going to the two private islands? Iām debating between this one and a 4-night Very Merrytime on the Wish (stopping at Castaway Cay and Naussau). The former has a better itinerary, but would mean flying into Miami/Ft Lauderdale, whereas the latter would allow me to fly into Orlando and build in a night or two at WDW. Iāve watched a bunch of videos on each of those two ships and am happy to say they both look great! Weāve only done the Magic so far and loved it.
This would be a birthday/Christmas gift to my mom, probably just the two of us (or maybe one of my sisters, if they can get the days off) - kids will still be at school and DH has to work. I got a green light yesterday from my boss for the time off, so I think Iāll put down a deposit this week!
Yes this is the itinerary we are looking at! We have been on the Wish and loved it, but we were supposed to do the Dream in 2020 so we are excited to finally circle back to that one. Iāve heard some people like it better than the Wish.
I was pleased to see that direct flights to Ft Lauderdale from Phoenix were similarly priced and even cheaper than flights to MCO. We might even do PHX > MCO, FLL > PHX with a drive in between before our cruise.
Glad to hear you loved the Wish - I remember your trip report, but think Iāll re-read it if we go for that itinerary!
Definitely think that would help (at least one way) - would you be going to WDW before/after?
I didnāt realize until I started looking into this December cruise that Disney does not offer transport to Port Everglades/Fort Lauderdale! Having that is another plus for the Wish/Port Caneveral itinerary for me.
We would possibly do a very short stay at WDW before our cruise and fly directly home afterward. Christmas vacation is a tough time for a cruise since we have so many family activities so we donāt want to prolong our trip, but itās hard to resist at least one day at Disney!
Perhapsā¦but they have had cruises posted through the end of 2028 for quite a while now. So, Iāll just keep checking. We want to book an Alaska cruise on the Royal Princess in May 2029. That SEEMS like it is far away, but really, only 2 1/2 years.
Disney Dream December 20-24, 2027 FLL > Lookout > Castaway > At Sea
Annoying: I did not know that pre-bookings are limited to one stateroom per account, so I actually had to book one stateroom with my wifeās account.
Any ideas what problems this could cause?
It seems like everything should be able to be worked around. In fact, it may actually streamline the check-in process since I could be logged into both reservations at the same time on different browsers and check in simultaneously. I can also link the reservations, I believe.
But is there any reason I should try to move my wifeās stateroom to my account after bookings open to the public?
As long as you link the staterooms you wonāt have any problems. We frequently book 2 staterooms for our family and have never had an issues whether they were book initially under my account only or booked under 2 different accounts (mine and my DHs). Once the cruises are linked I have always been able to see both rooms on my end and pay/ checkin/ book excursions and activities for both staterooms. You shouldnāt have any problems.
The one thing I wasnāt sure about is if this would make it harder for me to get a single Photo package covering both staterooms. Have you had trouble doing that?
I havenāt. I only just book 1 under my name and then everyone in the family just uses that room number. Even if they donāt and scan a keycard or Magic band you shouldnāt have a problem since all of your children are minors. The official policy is you are share for immediate family with minor children. 2 of my kids are over 18 now so not sure what will happen on our next cruise next summer but I am going to try it anyway!
I actually think that once the cruise is booked from the DCL end they donāt know who booked it but only who is in the room so the second stateroom belongs to your DW anyway according to DCL. I suspect this because of hassles I have had when trying to cancel a cruise when we switched dates. DCL didnāt want to cancel my second room that my DH was in without his permission even though both were booked under me using a placeholder I had booked (so the rooms could only be booked together due to the placeholder). We were okay with losing the placeholder by cancelling instead of rebooking because we had already rebooked a different cruise at a discount rate we could use the placeholder for anyway. DCL kept telling me my DH had to call to cancel the second room until a supervisor let them cancel both once they realized it was my spouse and kids in the second room:
So it seems Iāve talked both my mom and my sister into a short Very Merrytime Cruise! Iāve booked the 4-day Bahamian itinerary on the Wish from 14-18 December (and have exactly 9 days till pay-in-full date, in case either decides to back out, though Iāll get the trip insurance in any case).
Itās my momās birthday the week before Christmas so this will be her holiday gift. We all love the Christmas season and since we were little my mom has played this Disney Singalong video for us every year (strictly enforcing the singalong part, including from our foreign spouses) - so in my dreams itāll be a little bit like being inside one of those videos for her
I hesitated briefly between this itinerary and the Dream (the latter stops at both islands, which I would have preferred -though we are lucky enough to have visited both already). I went with the Wish because it leaves from Port Canaveral (the Dream leaves from Port Everglades), which allows me to sneak in 2 nights at WDW before departure.
