Cursing with No Kids?

Hi All,

We are not new to cruising but have never been on a Disney Cruise but are big Disney fans. How is doing a Disney cruise without kids? Looking at one of the Halloween cruises. We usually do the MNSSHP and have a blast. Are there other guests without kids? Thanks in advance.

Sorry typo CRUISING with no kids!

If you like MNNSHP, you should love the ship. There are designated "adult only" areas, but some of them are better enforced than others. If you don't mind a zillion kids all over the place, you'll love DCL. If you want to sit in an adult only area with a book and not see kids there, forget DCL!

The only real problem is the "entitlement parents." You know, the ones who think that because they are on vacation, they can take a break from parenting or believe that their 10 year old should be able to behave himself while running around the ship with no accountability are the issue. Well, maybe he SHOULD, but he often doesn't. We prefer the cruises during the traditional school year because there are far fewer teens and tweens on those sailings. The young kids--too young to run around without an adult--are not a problem most of the time. Don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't do what you wish in terms of character meet and greets, etc. Enjoy the interactions and all things Disney.

Yes, we've cruised many times without kids. We are, however, selective about the cruises we do.

My husband and I have been known to take an anniversary cruise or two without our young daughter on Disney. :) shhh... don't tell her. She hasn't figured out yet why we are platinum and she is still a Gold level member. [emoji23]

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our kids haven't been kids for years, and we still love DCL..

for that matter, our 32 year old daughter who is married without kids, also loves DCL...

she and her husband went on royal caribbean for their honeymoon cruise to alaska 5 years ago..

and then on the allure a few years later....

and then royal to alaska again 2 years ago..

but then last year, they tried DCL....it was a return to DCL for my daughter, but the first time for my son in law..

it was love from the moment they boarded (actually already from the terminal in barcelona)..

they love DCL and already have two more DCL cruises scheduled..

and they and we are not alone..

you'll meet lots of adults without children who LOVE DCL..

.

What is it about dcl that you love so much?

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What is it about dcl that you love so much?

 

 

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I'll answer that for our family. DCL has the cleanest ships, the prettiest ships, the friendliest crew, and the best entertainment of any of the lines we've cruised. They also have the nicest cabins we've experienced. And of course, no one else has the Disney characters or whimsy.

We've had isolated good entertainment on other cruises, but it would be one act or group, while DCL is pretty much all good. On other lines we've had better food (subjective, I know), better itineraries, better adult activities, and better guest services and port excursions personnel.

We now tend to choose cruises based on itinerary and date. With young kid(s), we chose DCL based on kid programming and fun for kids. But our first DCL cruise was almost 19 years ago, and a child who adored the OC then is now an adult.

We've only had four cruises on carnival but I know dcl price is more expensive than others

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I was gonna say, without kids, there is nothing to curse about!!!

We've only had four cruises on carnival but I know dcl price is more expensive than others

 

 

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Very true. Depending on the cruise, DCL is often 2-4 times as expensive as other lines. Yes, we originally booked a British Isles cruise on DCL. We later found almost identical ports on a Princess cruise. An inside on Princess was 1/4 the cost of an inside on DCL (which we had booked due to cost!). We got a balcony on Princess for half the cost of an inside on DCL. This is an unusual amount of difference, but DCL cruises are often twice the price of other lines.

I wonder why is it because they know people will pay it or is dcl that superior to others

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I wonder why is it because they know people will pay it or is dcl that superior to others

 

 

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I think it is a combination of the two. DCL operates a very costly kid program which is basically subsidized by the fares for the first two guests in the cabin. This enables them to keep the 3rd and 4th person fees low. Whether this is a good or bad thing for those cruising as "adults only" is debatable. DCL has the name and the reputation. It is their job to maximize profits for their stockholders, and at the current costs they are doing that well. But they were also making a profit 4 or 5 years ago when the cruise fares were MUCH less than they are now. In fact, DCL is the only division of Disney that has always made a profit each year. They know what percentage of the ship needs to be filled with "full pay" guests, rather than CM or TA discounts. As long as they get that percentage, they can keep pushing the fares. And they don't need to care whether the "old timers" come back or not; there seems to be an almost unlimited number of new cruisers out there. They know that the shorter the cruise, the higher the per diem on board expenditures and the fewer cruises the guest has done, the more they spend on board. Obviously there are exceptions to these averages, but in general they make more profit from a first time cruiser on a 3 or 4 night cruse than from a platinum cruiser on a 7 night.

Bottom line--I think the fares are "whatever the traffic will bear." If they reach a point when ships aren't sufficiently filling on a regular basis, fares will come down. Just my opinion.

My DS (16) and I went on a 5-night Disney Magic cruise this past February with my sister, brother-in-law, niece (7), nephew (8) and DM. Our very first cruise 13 years ago was on the same ship with both set of grandparents and as well as my DH and older son. My DS remembers nothing of that cruise and finally convinced us to do it again. We have been on 8 Carnival cruises in-between. Everything I recalled about Disney was top notch. After our cruise this past winter, my expectations were met or exceeded with the exception of entertainment activities for adults (and teenagers).

When we sailed in 2004, my boys were young and I was exhausted. So any down time I had, I spent napping or reading a book. I didn't look at the daily activities - unless it was something my boys were wanting to do. This time, my DS, DM and I were disappointed in the offerings. There were gaps in the day when nothing was happening. And it was so odd, sometimes when things were offered, they scheduled multiple events at the same time. To make matters worse, we couldn't dock in Castaway Cay and while they did distribute updated Navigators, I thought for sure, they could at a minimum pack the day with back-to-back trivia contests. Or maybe run movies all day long. Nope. I would have even splurged to play several rounds of bingo.

At night time, the shows were phenomenal - truly Broadway quality. But afterwards, there were really only three venues - an Irish pub, a piano bar and a disco. The disco was dead. We didn't see anyone in there any night. The piano bar is not like a "Howl At The Moon" or dueling piano bar. It is like an old time elevator music piano bar. To be fair, the piano player was good and came around to introduce himself during the breaks and ask how we enjoyed the cruise thus far. The Irish pub was our favorite out of the three. They had an Irish duo that were great. But we only caught them one night - they didn't perform each night.

Usually 5 nights is the minimum I like to cruise. But this time, my DS, DM and I were ready to disembark. My DS and I are going on a Disney Halloween cruise again this October. It was planned before we sailed this past February. But for once, my DS is not looking forward to cruising. There are so many more activities - day and night - for teenagers on Carnival.

I will end on a positive note. My niece and nephew LOVED the cruise, especially the kids club. When we were on shore at the Caymans, they both asked how long until they could go back to the ship. So from their standpoint, it was worth it. I'm glad we did it but don't think I'll do another Disney cruise until I have grandchildren.

we love DCL, but also choose based on itinerary

in alaska, we chose royal because of the itinerary....definitely not cost, since all cruises to alaska are terribly expensive (unless you're able to wait until the last minute when the prices nosedive)..

my daughter was going to go on royal for her med cruise last year, since we do like the royal product...

but then she realized that a med cruise for her (and us) is about the ship, not the ports (we have no interest in most of the european ports), so she switched to DCL....

if the ship is her destination then she'd rather be on disney where the service has that little extra disney whatever that we can't put into words...but suffice to say that on another internet forum my screen name is "disneyholic family"....

when she got back from her cruise, we tried to figure out what it was that made it that much better for us..

we decided that yes, the theater shows are better on DCL, but that's not the reason..

it's the overall quality of service and the overall upbeat attitude of the staff....

Would love to do a land/sea vacation have you done this and your experience

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I was gonna say, without kids, there is nothing to curse about!!!

so true!!

Hi Scoochy:

I'll give your our perspective.

We started cruising in 2008 with our then preteen age kids on a Celebrity cruise to Alaska which we loved. Since then we been on 3 other Celebrity cruises and one on Disney which was a shorter 4 day trip to Nassau and Castaway Cay. All of the cruises included our kids Now young adults)including the last one to the Caribbean.

Although we really like Celebrity I can honestly say that the Disney product was just as good if not better in many regards. The main stage show performers were much more talented on Disney but of course every production is a Disney show. If you are in love with everything Disney of course that will not matter much. The food on Disney was better, the servers better, cabin layout better.

We are booked on the halloween cruise this year on the Magic. It will be our first cruise without the kids. We had a bunch of Disney Vacation Club points we needed to use so this trip works well for us.

Although it will be different without the kids, we are very much forward looking to enjoy the adult only nightclubs/bars. We think we will have a great time. I am sure there will be plenty of adults enjoying the ship without kids.

I laughed a lot at the title of this thread- thanks for the funny!

That being said, I can say with 100% certainty that I would never, ever sail on DCL without my children. We have sailed DCL twice- once with our daughter who was a mere 8 months old, and once with both kids (20 mos and 5) plus a 6 year old cousin and my mom. We had a nice time, and the ship definitely has its pluses, but at least for me, I would not ever want to be on a ship so... DISNEY and so full of children, to go on an adult vacation.

I don't say that to discourage anyone or state that their choice is not a good one but I think it is important to hear an alternate take. When I want to be alone with my husband (or sometimes in the past, and hopefully again in the future, with my mom) I don't prefer a setting with tons of kids. If I am leaving my own at home, why do I want to be around a bunch of other people's?

DH and I just completed a 10 day Crystal Serenity cruise which offered almost nothing for small children and so there were very few of them which was fine with me. In January we'll sail alone on Celebrity Equinox; expecting a few more children but still not the focus of the cruise.

We MIGHT take our kids again on a Disney cruise in the future; my daughter thought the kids club was too wild and a "free for all" but she was only 5 so maybe in a few years she will feel differently. She actually loved the children's programming on NCL Jade; I did not love the line or the ship but we are going to try again in October on the Escape, in the Haven, which I think will be a better experience. (and probably still cheaper than Disney.)

Without kids, we (mostly me but DH on some) have also sailed Celebrity, Carnival (ugh), RCCL, HAL, Princess, Seabourn, and Crystal. SB and Crystal do not hold any appeal to me with my kids; Disney is the opposite, I suppose.

Something for everyone but to me sailing on an expensive ship full of children without your own seems a little... not my taste. But to each their own!

I sail Disney without children. It's as the others have already explained. The ship is beautiful, the staterooms are excellent, the service is very good and the entertainment is top notch - the type of shows and music that I'd pay to see back home.

The other side is that there aren't many activities for adults only. There are days where there is nothing on the schedule to do for several hours at a time and other times when 3 things are scheduled at the same time. On my last Alaska cruise, there was literally nothing on the schedule during the port days. I did spend my time in the ports, but I know some people don't. There weren't movies playing or anything.

We've been on 15 Disney cruises to date, 11 without kids, although the two recent times with them they were adults. mokismommy hit on most of the plusses, The adult only areas, Palo and Remy. We also tend to cruise during the school year, but I have to say, our most recent cruise last month, had plenty of kids and I honestly have to say I was hardly aware of them. We keep to the adult areas for the most part, and with the exception of kids walking through the adult pool are to get to other parts of the ship (unavoidable the way the Dream was configured), we had no issues. Every once in a while I read horror stories about these entitled parents or kids running through the halls, but thankfully we've really not experienced it, or if we had, I just don't pay attention to it.

I think it boils down to how much you enjoy the characters, music, and shows. Do you just tolerate the Disney culture for the kids or does hearing and seeing all that stuff make you feel like a kid again, yourself? Do you enjoy cruises that don't give you the feeling of it being a booze cruise or do you like that kind of party atmosphere?

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I think it feels like your a kid again, I don't like booze cruises, I just like to relax and have a good time

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We may be starting to paint with too broad a brush here. While there is one particular line known for its booze cruises, it has been somewhat successful in reducing this image on its longer cruises. While the overall alcohol consumption seems less on DCL than the other lines we've cruised, we've seen a significant number of people who have over-indulged, some to the point of having security involved. I think we've seen more drinking on lines like Princess and Celebrity than on DCL, but I've never seen anyone so unruly that the authorities needed to be involved. That could reflect the age of the cruisers or the fact that I go to bed too early....

But the fact that it isn't DCL doesn't mean that it is a "party ship" or "booze cruise."

Hi All,

We are not new to cruising but have never been on a Disney Cruise but are big Disney fans. How is doing a Disney cruise without kids? Looking at one of the Halloween cruises. We usually do the MNSSHP and have a blast. Are there other guests without kids? Thanks in advance.

My adult daughter and I are taking our first Disney cruise soon. We are WDW locals, and practically live in the parks. That being said, we see on a daily basis how much parents don't watch their kids :o I don't expect any issues, but I don't expect a quiet ship either. We are going for the experience of a Disney cruise.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the peace you'll find on the ship. Mainly because it's not a party atmosphere and there aren't any open drunks yelling about. :)

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