hackif

I think it's unlikely. Even when they had this service in US ports or in the WDW resorts, it was only for US-based domestic flights so being in Canada we were never able to take advantage of it. If you are crossing the border, it's not available.

We've booked a GTY at about three months that got assigned just a couple of weeks later. I booked a VGT a month out, which was assigned within the week before the cruise. I just booked another VGT for the end of January, so I figure that we probably won't hear until the last week before. We always used to pick our room, but we're finding this kind of fun, and it gives us a chance to try out other locations that I might be hesitant to pick on my own, but for $500 less, I'm okay with whatever we get.

The bars on all of the railings - on the verandah and all over the ship - are on the outside of a large piece of plexiglass. You can't reach them at all. As you can see in the photos, there's a small (2-3" high) gap at the bottom between the plexiglass and deck and about 1-2" between the plexiglass and posts. You can't get between the bars and you can't even stand on a bottom one to lean over the top.

Just because of the logistics of multiple cabins and a resort stay, and that you've never booked a cruise with DCL before, I'd suggest you work with a TA who has experience with DCL. It will just make it so much easier and they can spend the time on the phone if necessary, not you. Just make sure you let them know clearly what your criteria are for rooms - proximity to each other, type of room you expect (size, beds, etc.), whether they need to be connecting, etc. Let them do the legwork.

I don't know about the insurance companies you're looking at, but when we book flights using points, the insurance we get onlys cover the non-reimbursable costs if we had to cancel which usually includes the port fees or a cancellation charge (depends on the flight). I would expect that this might be the same, i.e., the insurance would only cover fees you might have to pay to get your points back should you cancel or reschedule. They don't impute a cost for the points.

Our first DCL cruise was in early May, but most have been in late November/early December, which we prefer. It can be a little windy at Castaway Cay in early December, but we do love the Christmas decorations. It's still definitely warm enough to swim in the pools on the ship. We have been to WDW in May - over the Victoria Day holiday - but it is hot, so that's another reason why we prefer the Very Merry Christmas cruises.

Our first cruise with DCL DH & I were in our late 30's - no kids. Twenty-three years and 11 more DCL cruises later, we're still fans, still no kids and I'm planning #'s 13 and 14. We're both Disney fans (our very first vacation together when we were dating was to WDW) so I can't speak to how well tolerating/liking will mesh with a DCL cruise versus being fans.

There are not a lot of things you really need to book on the Wish. Palo dinner, brunch, Enchantee dinner and brunch do require reservations but if this is your first cruise with DCL, I'd definitely suggest skipping those so that you can do the whole main dining room rotation including Pirate night (for the 4 days) rather than doing specialty dining. IIRC the Princess meet and greet is open to everyone at 30 days so prior cruisers don't have any advantage there. Yes, if you want a cabana on Castaway Cay it seems that only concierge get those, but there's plenty to do and experience without having a cabana. And we've never had any issue getting a chair or lounger on the beach. We did our 12th cruise on the Wish, didn't book anything and still didn't get a chance to see and do half the things we planned and we didn't even get off the ship. You really don't need to book anything to have a full and fun cruise.

We sailed on the Wish on Jan 30 with friends arriving around 11 or about 10 minutes after once we parked. Porters did not ask about PAT, just took the bags. We had a PAT of 12:45 (boarding group 17), and our friends had an 11:15 PAT (boarding group 5). Because we had our reservations linked and we were arriving together, we initially asked as we got to the entrance about getting into the terminal together, and they said they weren't even looking at PATs, and everyone was to get into the same line (instead of splitting into different lines outside based on PATs which I know they had been doing the week before). When we got into the building, they split into separate lines for Platinum (which we all were), Gold/Silver and first-time cruisers. As we checked in, we asked about aligning our PAT, which they did for us (after first checking something on the computer) so all of us had boarding group 5. We boarded about 12:05 pm. After going through check-in, security, You won't "miss" your boarding group. If your boarding group has already been called, you can board any time afterwards. In fact, they announce boarding group 1, then boarding groups 1 and 2, then boarding groups 1-3, etc. until they reach open boarding.