airrn

Yes - you can bring it on in your carry-on. I always carry on a few bottles of cranberry juice myself.

 

As others mentioned, it’s avaible to purchase as well from the bars,

We are new to RCCL, and I had read you couldn't bring any drinks in your carry on. What drinks do they allow? Can we bring water or soda?

We are ok with the new itinerary, just sad we are missing a night. But still a 6 night is better than no nights at all!

DH and I just booked our first Disney cruise. I see all the people talking about requesting certain seating arrangements for their meals. I am unsure how this is done other than in person when you board. Is it a phone call I need to make? Can someone clarify for me?

If you booked directly with Disney, then you can call them and have them put the request on your reservation. If you booked through a travel agency, then just ask your travel agent to put in the request.

We have done Magen's Bay on our own in St. Thomas. After you exit the ship, there are lots of taxis waiting that will take you to Magen's Bay. People over age 12 or 14 (can't remember off hand) pay to get in. Then just enjoy the beach. When you are ready to leave, there are lots of taxis to take you back to the port. Very easy and a lot cheaper than doing Disney's excursion. Plus no age requirement.

We had a 5A under the Spa last October and loved it! It was by far our most favorite location over 5 cruises. Very quiet, only one flight up to the pool and across the ship to Cabanas, and the forward elevators were rarely crowded.

I'm hoping you get an answer regarding the ages too. We have our 7 year old nephew going and were looking at this excursion.

We did this excursion on our honeymoon this past Oct. It was a ball! We had talked about doing this on our next cruise, but we will have our nephew with us and he is too young. It is worth doing, and if we get the chance, we would go with them again. All the employees were a lot of fun!

When we cruised in Oct, we had 3 cabins all linked together (6 of us) and gave us only one ticket for the meet & greets (said that would work since we were linked). I didn't know someone from each cabin needed to be there and Port Adventures didn't ask for someone from each cabin. They gave me the ticket with no issue.

I would agree with pushing your pick up time back a bit. With breakfast, customs, and little ones, I would say 8:30 or so.

Just wanted to say Hi! We are on the same cruise and will be on deck 7 too!

Disney is currently offering half off the deposit, so it is not just a special by that company. If you can't get early dining by waitlisting, as soon as you board, you can go and request a change. You may or may not get it, but it's worth a shot.

We almost always fly Southwest, and I wish they would participate. It's not that much hassle though. We always go outside at the airport to the curb side check as it is much faster than waiting in the line. They do work off tips, but it's worth a tip to not spend our time in line.

We request a table to ourselves. The kids want to spend all day in the kid's clubs or in the pool, so dinner is our "family" time to sit and talk. When it has been just DH and myself, we look forward to a more intimate dinner.

I would be booking the two rooms. The balcony is nice, but the added privacy would be nicer. We have done this, and were able to prop the doors open a bit so that we could still hear the kids.

We have been on 3 cruises without our kids and have loved them. We went on 2 at the end of Jan/start of Feb and one in Oct. There were kids but easy to avoid them by staying to the adult sections. We also requested a table for two. These are just a request, but we have always had them granted. Just don't go in the middle of summer or over popular school breaks.

I second moki'smommy. We still do the gallon ziplock bag packing method for the kids. Something else I will add, unpack when you get into your room. It is very nice for everything to have a "home", put the suitcases under the bed, and forget about them. We take a pop up hamper, and that helps to contain all the dirty clothes.

I do carry meds for my kids. I always take tylenol, Motrin, and cough medicine (every time we go to FL, my son ends up snotty and coughing.....after buying it every time we went, I started just packing it). It is expensive on the ship.

For pirate costumes, we do a pair of black shorts (can also be worn to dinner), a white shirt with cut up sleeves, and the bandanna they give us.

When you are packing to leave the ship, pack the clothes you will need at WDW in one bag so you don't have to access all of them. Being able to just stash them in a corner of your hotel room is nice and keeps you from having to repack everything at the end of your WDW stay.

If you really wanted to do something else, a day at one of the waterparks is a lot cheaper than at the parks. My kids love Typhoon Lagoon.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your advice.

 

I was considering renting a car and parking it during the cruise (4 day cruise/5 days of parking). The rental price is the same as the two one-ways, and parking at an offsite lot is $7/day. For peace of mind, was considering that - to avoid potential mobs at the rental office on debarkation day.

 

Would have to take the parking lot shuttle to and from the port, but thinking it will be a bit less chaotic.

 

thoughts?

 

(fully realizing the things you worry about never happen, it's the OTHER stuff that blindsides you!!!)

 

If I'm overthinking this whole topic and need to let it go, let me know that too.

 

I trust you!

 

thanks much,

Peg

If the cost to rent at hertz is $133, I would just pay the extra $7 and do Disney transport. It's super easy. You just walk outside and buses are waiting. They will put you right onto a bus and off to the airport you go. If your airline participates, you can also have your checked luggage checked in so no dealing with that either. We have done two one way rents, one rental and paid for parking (but parked at the port), and Disney transport. Keeping the car the whole time was nice (but only parking at port so no shuttle), but with the parking cost, it is not always the cheapest.

There are some hotels that also offer a sleep, cruise, and fly package. They will provide transportation from MCO to a hotel in either Orlando or Port Canaveral for a night, transportation to the cruise ship, and then after the cruise, transportation from the cruise back to MCO. We have looked into for this cruise, but we are driving in for the first portion so doesn't save us any. I know Comfort Inn at Cocoa Beach offers one and there is another site that offers several hotel choices.

I have been on both ships and I think they both have PROS to consider.... The Spa on the Getaway was terrific for a pass for the week!! And the Cagney Steak House was scrumptious and my favorite spot... The Fantasy was beautiful and I am very much a die hard Disney person so the atmosphere is never a disappointment.... I am sure you will enjoy whatever you decide!!

Thanks everyone! We ended up going with the Fantasy and can't wait! Fiancé said after reading the replies, it was time to go big or go home lol.

Thanks everyone. We were leaning more towards DCL just because we have never been on the Fantasy (been on all the others). If it was just an adult trip, we would try the Getaway, but since it's our honeymoon, I think we want to make sure the trip is high quality. We just wanted to make sure our perceptions were accurate since we hadn't tried NCL, and it sounds like they are. We will wait till next year to try it out. The kids will get a big kick out of the rope course.

I wasn't sure if I should post this here or under NCL forum to get a good comparison. We are doing a 5 day cruise on the Disney Magic in Oct with our kids and his mom and sister. They are then flying home, and we are doing a second cruise by ourselves. We had pretty well settled on driving up to Port Canaveral and sailing out the next day on a 7 night Eastern Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy in a veranda room. But of course, I have to go play around and find more options. For about $900 less, we can do a 7 night Eastern Caribbean on NCL's Getaway in a Minisuite with a large balcony. Disney goes to Castaway Cay, while NCL goes to Tortola (would love to see the baths!) so both itineraries appeal to us.

We have been on 3 short Disney cruises and not been on any other line. We do have a 7 night booked in Oct 2016 on the Getaway with the kids (got it for half the price of a Disney). I know that NCL has an $8 charge for room service and has several premium restaurants you have to pay for (on Disney, we probably wouldn't do Palo on the 7 night) and would probably only do the steak house. We will get a spa pass on which ever one we go with too. I'm open to trying NCL, but I'm worried being our honeymoon we will miss the Disney quality. I guess what I'm asking is those that have been on both, is there a big enough difference between them that we will notice?