CruisinMama33

Thank you all! You're really giving me something to think about. I just priced out Alaska on RC and found it to be much more cost effective with better ports and almost half the price for a 9-night- wow!

In order to do a land/sea combo, do you recommend I use a travel agent or can you book them directly with the cruise lines? I never use travel agents but may need one for this kind of trip? Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Alaska is on our bucket list for 2018, so I was happy to see the 2018 summer itineraries released today. Upon pricing out both cruises, the 9 night will cost us $5K more than the 7 night. This is because of the extra cost of the 9-night, plus we have an on-board ship credit that we can apply to the 7 night cruise to bring down the cost (can't apply it to the 9-night since date is beyond the 2 years allowed for ship credit). My question is: is it worth the extra $5k to do the 9 night, and be able to see Hubbard Glacier and Icy Straight? This is not offered on the 7 night. I want to do Alaska the right way and not feel like I have to come back again... your thoughts?? Our children will be 8 and 10 at time of sailing. Thank you!!

Does anyone have experience with Disney's travel protection plan or is there another insurance provider that you recommend? Thank you.

We are booked on the Fantasy 11-night southern Caribbean in June. I'm still a relatively new cruiser (5x) and have only cruised Caribbean in the winter. Do I have any safety reasons to be concerned with cruising during hurricane season? Is Disney super conservative when it comes to ensuring their vessels are not in rough waters or stuck out in a hurricane? Thanks!

Hi! We started cruising on Disney 3 years ago when our oldest was 3 yrs old and our youngest was only 10 months old. We were hooked. We've gone on a cruise every year since and will be going on our 4th cruise as a family next March. We've also done land vacations at Disney and my opinion is that cruising is SO MUCH EASIER with young children and I think they have more fun. There's no hot parks to walk around all day, no worries about transportation to and from the hotel, no worries about what/when to feed the kids. The cruiseline makes it so easy for young families. It's so easy to go back to your room whenever you need to, food is always available and the chefs will even accomodate the youngest children that are just starting on solid food- pureeing or chopping food for you. The characters are abundant on the ship and it's so easy to see them...we've never waited in line longer than 20 min for a character on the cruise ship. There's plenty of family activities. For our first 2 cruises, we didn't see the value in getting off the ship so it was nice to have a less crowded ship to enjoy on those port days. We did enjoy Castaway Cay. We've done a 3 night, 4 night and 7 night. I think the 3 night is way too short...you're just getting settled in and you have to leave. We are doing another 4 night next year....and combining it with 2 days at the parks. That seems to be the best mix for us. Let the kids see Magic Kingdom, since (for my girls) Disney is all about seeing the castle...and then it's off to is to relax on the cruise ship. I find that (just like Disney), you get something different from the trip each time you go, depending on the child's age/stage of development. We've only stuck with Caribbean cruises at this point...I wouldn't do anything else until they are a bit older so that we can enjoy excursions together. For now, I just enjoy being on the ship and perhaps doing one family focused excursion. Feel free to reach out with any specific questions!