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Being your first Disney cruise, I would go for 7 nights. I have been on all four ships and the larger ships do have a noticeably smoother ride. From the dozens of reviews I have read, their kids program is top notch and your kids will have a great time. (I don't have kids) That said, more kid play time also means more adult choices for bars to relax in. The Fantasy is my favorite ship, I'd never go back to the smaller ships again.

my BA Visa essentially pays off all my travel related charges. Both the cruise itself and the on board charges have been completely paid off. But my question is...

Does anyone know what the credit card MCC code is when purchasing Disney World Park tickets? Living in Orlando, we want to buy FL resident tickets again but don't know how they are coded.

Thanks everyone...

like everyone else, I am sorry this happened to you. In my opinion, emails can be very unreliable. Many times, roadrunner service has been down and I did not receive emails I know were sent.

This same thing almost happened to me a couple years ago when I booked with a Florida Resident rate. In years past, I only had to show proof of residency when I checked in at the port. Then the policy changed and I had to fax proof to them within a specific time frame or be canceled. When I booked, I never received an email for proof. Then just days before cancellation, I received a warning email with instructions. What a shock. I immediately faxed copies of our driver licenses and followed up with a phone call to DCL customer service.

Now, when I book online using an FLR, I fax the proof AND pay in full right then and there then follow up with a call to DCL to make sure they have everything.

I know people like to use TA but I like to be in control of my vacation & money myself. Once you have cruised DCL, all the info stays in there systems, include your Castaway numbers, previous cruises, passport info etc. Its so quick and easy to book it yourself.

Totally agree! And the cost of a service on the ship is so much higher than a similar service at home that it makes the tip look huge.

that is the point here. My local spa charges less and they do a better job. I was charged $28 tip for something I would tip $15 for at home.

Plus, I don't tip by percentage at a spa. A 50 minute massage gets a $10 tip whether they charge $65 at my local spa or $125 or more at a Disney hotel spa or cruise spa.

Will I keep going to the spa, most likely yes. But I won't pay their preset rate.

last week's cruise was the first Christmas at sea cruise week. There was tree lighting, Santa and other kids holiday activities. The huge ginger bread house was bare when we boarded and complete by the last day. Not having kids, we did not participate in any. I am going to try to post the Navigator here so folks can see what was available during the week.

we've have had several celebrations on board over the years. Whether you are in a dining room or Palo, they have all been the same. In the dining room you will most likely have a big Happy Birthday/Anniversary sing along. Our dining room had several all week and one of the servers sang opera. But in Palo, its a bit more reserved.

As for brunch or dinner, we always book brunch first, dinner next. We enjoy the variety of gourmet goodies and seafood at brunch.

Boy, was I shocked when my spa treatment last week included an 18% gratuity!! I told her I would not pay that. When I walk in, I already know what I will leave for a gratuity and its never that high.

She talked to her supervisor and had the mandatory gratuity removed. I paid my amount instead.

When you check in, ask to have your bill without the gratuity. They will do that. But don't be afraid to speak up if you see it on your bill and have it removed before you sign your name on the bill.

Add to that, I called the Spa 2 times about my treatment and both people I talked to said it was supposed to be 90 minutes. Mine was 70. I shouldn't have left any gratuity at all, but I did leave something.

The blog I read said to asked when you check in. But they said they don't have anything to do with it at check in. Just go online once you are on board and check for it there.

Just an fyi, we just got off the Magic. You still get the tote bags color coded for your level. But the only thing inside was a navy blue and white stripped DCL umbrella. That wasn't a mistake as our friends got the same thing too.

I heard from another passenger, the crossing cruise was the last cruise with the white board and other things inside.

My cabin steward heard me saying I wish I had the white board as its nice for shopping lists on the side of the fridge. On the last night, he found one and put it on my door. What a nice thing he did !! That got him any extra tip from me.

We just came off the Magic. In another thread, I was wondering if anyone tried using DCL internet connections just for checking emails. After a full week, here is what we found.

On Embarkation Day only, there is a wireless option for 50mg for free. You must sign up and select the plan that day or you won't see it the other days, at least we didn't.

If you just want to check emails, the key is downloading your emails to your device. (pop and smtp to pull things down and back out) Then immediately disconnect the wifi (we have a switch). You can take your time reading your emails. And you don't need to worry about an email which could connect you to a website and chew up mg. If you need to reply, create the reply in Draft, then turn on the wifi to send the email. Disconnect.

The downloads were really fast. We checked email 3 or 4 times a day, replied a couple of times. I can't say for sure how much we actually used. But I can say we received a DCL email saying we used 25% or our allotment. We never did receive the second email which comes at 75%. So for us, this was a perfect way to stay in touch with our office staff and our house sitters. :D

There is no way to know how long this Embarkation Day special will run, or if it is on other ships too. I found out about it from another cruise blog site.

Now, if you are someone who only reads their emails directly from a website, this won't be free. You will go over the 50mg. My husband uses Thunderbird which is quite portable between his laptop and desktop machines. He just has to move the laptop folders onto his desktop pc and everything is in place. Hope this works for you too.

You make a good point. Although there is no sync programs on our laptop, I will make sure nothing else is running when we do a check. We already disabled auto load so it can only retrieve when we click it to do so.

We run a small business and want to keep in touch with our employees via email. I know all the advertised costs.

But has anyone just used the internet access to only suck down emails to their laptop? We tested an average week of emails for size, and figured the .25 per MB should be fine for us. We have no use for using a browser at all. Just want to get emails in case we are forced to answer a customer or if our house sitter has questions.

Also, if you did just use email only, what was your final cost for a week?

In all our cruises, we have never did this before. I'll post my final cost when we return in case others are interested. (I tried doing a search but didn't find anything related to this.)

Thank you all.

7 night Fantasy--they claimed to be not selling single day because they were "too busy' date='" but they were happy to sell me a 3 day pass. VERY odd. If there are too many people wanting to use the space, how is it better for me to use it 3 times?

 

Magic--no problem getting single day..[/quote']

 

that is exactly what happened to me, but on the Dream.

This just in from a cast member friend.... these are the movies appearing on the Magic this week and next, maybe longer.

I am not sure if these will be on all the ships. But this still is a good list for those sailing soon, LIKE US!

my experience has been the RF day passes were no longer available when I got on the Dream/Fantasy. Could be because it is so much nicer than the older ships that the one days get bought out fast.

Just to be safe, but one online then you will know you have at least one day. I have been doing that ever since I couldn't get a one day pass on one of my cruises. I am leaving Sunday for another cruise and I bought 2 RF passes.

about 8 years ago my husband and I both got the norwalk type stomach virus on a 4 day cruise. Ever since then, I pack Lysol spray in my carry on bag. The first thing we do when we get to our cabin is spray every surface, inside drawers, telephones, remotes, door handles .. everything.

You never know what causes that stomach virus, but its 10 times worse on a moving ship, I can tell you that first hand. We know its just a crap shoot when it comes to catching things on a ship, but wash your hands frequently like everyone says.

I have a friend who cruises 3 times a year and she gets sick at least once a year. Its mostly colds, like many of the other here have written about. Not much you can do about it.

Dining times on all the ships vary. But in general, our late dining has always been either 8:15 or 8:30. Whether it is too late for you family is up to you. But I will say early dining goes fast, is usually crowed with lots of kids and can be noisy.

If I were you, with 5 adults, go second seating and let the kids sleep thru dinner. The adults will thank you. Also, second seating dinner means early shows. A bonus for you kids.

I see you are in Florida. DCL offers a Florida resident rate, FLR. It doesn't apply to all cruises but to ones it does, it is a great discount. In fact, when I have checked my FLR rates against other travel sites that boast ship board credits, the FLR rate was always better.

A couple times I had "cruise dollars" on credit cards and had to use their travel agency. Before I booked with them, I checked for the best DCL rate and made sure that the agency's quoted rate was the same or better than the FLR rate. If it isn't, just ask. Many times an agency will guarantee there rates.

If you do use an agent that offers ship board credits, make sure you take their name and phone number with you on the cruise. One time on Royal Caribbean, only half the credit was appearing on my statement. After 3 days of getting no where on the ship, I called the agent about the problem and with in a couple hours, the credit appeared on my statement. There was no way I was going to over pay and then wonder if it gets resolved when I got home.

Which ever way you go, do you own price checking.

When we first cruised, we were fortunate to be with a couple who had been on a couple times before us. And they were both cast members who guided us thru the process.

Even then, after 4 or 5 cruises, we still found moments when "I didn't know that was there". Reading these cruise blogs really do help a new person with knowing what goes fast and what doesn't. I don't know how many cruises I was on before I learned I could buy a Rainforest pass ahead of time, online, in my DCL login area under Gifts. After a couple cruises of not being able to buy a day on board, I started buying them before I cruise.

You already have a good start on knowing what is ahead of you.

We tend to be more casual at Palo brunch than dinner. Husband never wears a jacket to brunch, only to dinner. And even for dinner sometimes, he doesn't wear a jacket, just dress pants and a nice shirt. We women always wear dresses at night being more casual for brunch. Remember for brunch you are getting up and down to grab yummy items off the buffet so dress comfortable.

The best time to go to the Rainforest is on shore days. Most people go into town, we do a quick couple hours in the AM then head back to the ship to relax in the RF. I do that on Castaway day too. After I eat lunch, we head back to the ship. Its a great time to do the new water rides as well as the RF.

At sea days are the worst. I can't even get a bike for 15 minutes because the gym is packed too.

Yes you can purchase the scrubs separate. I did that on my last cruise. I pre-bought my Rainforest day pass in the Gifts section of my DCL login. Then I purchased the scrub for $9. Honestly, they game me so much scrub, I had plenty to take back to the room to use another day. Your skin feels so soft, I wasn't going to let any of that go to waste.

I already bought 2 passes for next month's cruise. Not sure if they improved or expanded the Magic's RF or not. The Dream and Fantasy is a much better experience, more chairs, 2 spa tubs. We'll see if I use them both or not.

Thank you eroller for a great review of the Magic. For someone who has been on so many other cruises, also with no kids like us, I really enjoyed your point of view.

We're going on our 15th DCL cruise next month. But it is also our 10th on the Magic after our last 3 on the newer bigger ships. Most of the reviews of the re imagined Magic seem positive. This will also be our first cruise with a Navigator's Veranda after most our cruises with a regular veranda. Glad to hear you liked it.

Funny you mentioned something as simple as towels on the pool deck. We cruised another line that gave you only one towel per day for the pool. Heaven help you if you didn't return your color coded towel or you would be charged. How ridiculous is that!

We too love the rotational dining as well as Palo for brunch and dinner. And the DCL servers are so friendly and fun instead of the other line's serious and boring servers. Some 12+ years after our first DCL cruise, our server from our very first cruise came running up to us to say hello. I couldn't believe he remembered us.

We are fortunate to live in Orlando just down the street from Disney World. It allows us quick access to Port Canaveral and advantage of Florida resident rates on last minute cruises. I'll post my thoughts on being back on the Magic again when we return.

Looking forward to viewing your photos. Thank you.

the only place I don't like on formal night is Animator's Palate on the Magic/Wonder. It was like eating dinner in a diner in formal wear, done it more than once. On the newer ships, its a much nicer dining room so you don't feel too out of place in formal wear.

We are back on the Magic next month after 3 cruises on the big ships. With my luck, I'll end up at Animator's on formal night, again.

DCL changed their policy a few years ago to avoid problems with checked luggage. For us, my husband and I both have our water bottles and liquor in our carry ons, items we used to pack. A little heavy since we have 2-3 bottles of proscecco, vodka, scotch and at least 6 20oz water bottles. But we are thankful DCL allows us to do this. (I have heard horror stories about some lines taking any and all packed liquid bottles that are not factory sealed, including mouth wash.)