jody

Just finished reading all 63 pages of this post after booking a C2 on the July 6 sailing. We are disappointed about the apparent high balcony wall for the cabins on 9, but we are so excited to sail on this new ship! 

You will love the Disney Cruise and as you are experienced cruisers, try a 7 day as the shorter ones are over too quick. We waited on booking DCL due to the cost, but once we booked one, we were ready to do more. We now have 5 under our belt and are sad we didn’t start sooner on DCL with our child. Bon voyage! 

I’ve not done this excursion but all the photos that I see (on DCL website and general googling) show 2 seater vehicles only. We did a tour with the bobsleds and had a blast with that. 

I’m pretty sure the price is the same and once you are on board the bar staff will be happy to sell you a bottled water ‘package.’  We drink the ship water but sometimes purchase a water package to have bottle for our excursions handy. 

Good comparisons and my opinions are similar. Princess and DCL are my current favorites. The split bathrooms on DCL beat the Princess bathrooms every time if you are traveling with more than 2 people in your cabin. While the Princess cabins in some categories are a bit smaller, they are laid out so well and have so much storage it really didn't make a difference. We have had inside, ocean view, balcony and mini-suite cabins, so we have tried mist options. Princess is a bit 'beige' but their itineraries more than make up for it.

Gambee,

Congratulations on your citizenship! That is great. Once again, I am enjoying your review. Thanks for always including your camera info at the beginning. I'm always curious about what people are using. Great photos as always!

Do you have any thoughts on the cabins on the different ships? I know Disney has a great cabin layout with sleeping areas for the kids with a curtain and the split bathrooms. How do the other two compare?

We were on the Fantasy in the Caribbean and the Magic in Norway. While I usually prefer ships the size of the Magic, for me the Fantasy is my preferred ship of the two. There are just more things to do like the Midship Detective and the mini-golf, although it is much easier to get around on the Magic.

Another vote for the Eastern Carib on the Fantasy. We had the ocean view with the large (window seat) porthole and loved it. With DCL, the earlier you book, the "cheaper" it will be, unless you book last minute and not in high season. I'm sure you will all enjoy any of the ships!

kandtq,

Have you made your decision yet? I'm trying to make the same decision. It seems like Alesund has more things we would want to see, so I am leaning towards doing the trip in Molde, but I haven't quite yet committed either way.

We chose southbound so that we would see the best scenery first (before we became tired) and so that the weather would warm up as we go. As noted it was nicer to have the longer flight and travel day at the front end. It will be a wonderful trip either way. We booked a mini-suite on the port side foe southbound, but you really see a lot from both sides of the ship.

As a fan of both Princess (Platinum) and DCL, I am enjoying your review and your thoughts on what you did and didn't like. Nice photos!

jody

Very helpful review! I will be stopping at the last 4 ports you mentioned on my upcoming Disney Cruise this summer and your review gave me a lot of ideas and options for our port days. Thank you!

Great review with wonderful photos! We did the Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy in late March and had the same room category (we were in 8654) and also loved it. We did Palo brunch, which we enjoyed, but we feel no need to do it again personally.

Thanks for sharing!

Many photo spots are in the atrium before and between the dinner seatings. They will have different stations set up and you wait in the lines at the stations you would like. Many have characters and there are photographers at the character sessions during the day and also when you board.

For question #1, we found it wasn't worth it in the end. Our 7 year old (and my husband) became tired of standing in lines for photos so we only had about 64 on a 7 day cruise and several were photos in the dining room with a lot of dirty dishes and other people in the background. The photos are over priced, so unless you are willing to wait in a lot of lines, you may not want to do the package, but just buy a few individual pics if you have some taken and find some good ones.

You'll have a great time. Enjoy!

I can't wait to see your cabin and more pictures of the ship. Thanks for sharing.

I'll chime in to say that the large ocean view cabins with the window seat porthole are awesome. They are very roomy and are a much better value.

The magic bands for the kids club now are great. We paid the fee so our daughter could keep hers. She still wears it as a bracelet from time to time.

Great review and fantastic photos! We loved the Fantasy and can't wait to compare it to the Magic next year.

We found it most affordable to do a one way car rental. It might be worth it to compare the cost.

We found our child preferred the Princess kids club also. We really enjoyed our Fantasy cruise. We are hoping the smaller size of the ship and the itinerary (Norway) trumps the shortcomings of the ship. Thanks for the review.

Congrats! There is plenty of info if you look around, if you want to learn all about the fun on Disney cruises. Gambee did a great review. Also learn about FE's if you are interested in that. Google it if you need too. I know you will all have a blast. Enjoy!

We visited the Space Center pre-cruise with our 7 year old and enjoyed it. I am not sure if you'd have enough time to enjoy it on disembarkation day. MCO airport is always busy with long lines. You need to count on time to drive back to Orlando, gas up the car and plenty of time to wait in the security lines prior to your flight. That will take a good portion of the afternoon. You could squeeze it in, but it might not be worth the cost of the tickets to just be there for a few hours.

I've not been to Norway yet, but I have enjoyed my cruises on Princess. If you can't decide based on the ports of call, I'd definitely give the nod to Princess. Great cabins that are well laid out with a lot of storage and great service. Good luck!

BlueMoon,

I can't comment on the Fantasy for another 2 months, but if neither of your upcoming cruises wow you, definitely give Princess a try before you give up. We've found it to be our favorite line thus far (over Carnival and HAL, although both of those had their pros and cons).

Happy Sailing!