Disney without Children

[ColoradoJuli]

This is probably a really stupid question, but I must ask it. My DH's family are wanting to take a cruise on Disney. My DH and I do not have children and, truth be known, do not do real well around kids. Would we like a Disney cruise or should we just go ahead and stay with other cruise lines?

[kitty9]

While there are adults only areas on the Disney ships, if you aren't comfortable around kids, you really need to go with another cruise line. With so many to chose from, why take a cruise that's geared towards kids. Plus, if you like a casino on a ship, there isn't one on Disney.

[Crystynatheone]

I agree, if you aren't a kid person, don't do Disney, unless you are a Disney person. It is so geared towards kids, we don't have any, and unless my 2 1/2 year old niece wasn't with us, I wouldn't do Disney again. However, what I did appreciate was the hardworking, always pleasant crewmembers, beautiful surroundings onboard. And Disney does everything with quality. SO, if you go, you will feel pampered no matter what. It was a magical experience, that a lot of kids were experiencing the same time I was....

[Ella2]

If you enjoy DISNEY, then YES, go! DCL does a GREAT job of segregating kids and adult areas, way better than MOST cruise lines, actually. They enforce their "adults only" pool and other adult areas, such as the spa and nightclub area. Plus there is a separate adults only beach on Castaway Cay. I've done DCL both with and without my daughter and when I go with adults only and avoid the kid's programming area on Deck 5, I really do not see many kids. OH, and get late seating too if you don't want to see as many kids.

 

BUT...if you are NOT a Disney fan, don't do it. The entertainment is all geared to Disney (and it is very good) but unless you really enjoy Disney I think there are better choices for adults alone.

[momofmeg]

I felt Disney was excellent in keeping adult only areas. It was WONDERFUL having an adult only pool and hot tub area that was ENFORCED-so different from the other cruiselines where the "adult only" areas are swarming with kids. We also found two great lounges-adult only-Route 66 and the Cadilliac-we never went to any of the others as we had a wonderful time at these two-which WAS adult only-no serving of "Shirley Temples" at these two lounges.

 

The broadway style shows are geared toward kids-if you have ever seen any of the "Disney on Ice" shows-these were a similiar feel-so kid oriented but were great shows escept for that Hercules which they had made too scary for the little ones in my opinion-and there were alot of terrified 2 and 3 years olds. (I felt they should have toned it down-instead of giving the little ones night mares.)

 

Palos was wonderful and adult only also and only a charge of $10 for dinner there. Carnival's Nick and Nora's is $25 and RCCL's Chops is $20. I liked that.

 

The staterooms were HUGE-pretty much of the quality of HAL ships if you have ever done a HAL cruise. Lots of storage more even then the RCCL staterooms and larger then the Carnival staterooms. Also no noise carried from your neighbors. No noise coming from the balconies either unless you were out on the balconies the same time as your neighbors. If they were out and you were in you did not hear them until you walked out on the balcony.

 

Still though if you really hate kids and can't tolerate them at all-you would probally do better to go on another line. I myself though have been more irritated by hearing couples fighting late at night in my stateroom on another line where noises carried then the kids on Disney.

Castaway Key was like a private resort-super nice. I always thought Coco Cay was a nice beach but Castaway Key is so much better. It also has an adult private area.

 

It is funny to me though that you read so many posts here with those with families that COMPLAIN about the adult only areas-especially the pool area for adults that they felt should have been for everyone as the family pool was too crowded and not as many used the adult pool. This is true as about half of the passengers are kids-so many parents don't use the pool but stay at the family pool with their kids. I for one thought that it was great that Disney provided a pool minus the kids. I could not understand why more parents did not take advantage of the kid's club and use that feature themselves. My daughter is now grown but I can remember very much needing a break at times to keep my sanity. I always felt the little breaks helped me to be a better mother.

 

Whichever cruise you choose you are bound to have a good time.

[ColoradoJuli]

We do love Disney. We got married at Walt Disney World. We were the second couple to get married there. (Before the chapel) So the Disney theme would not bother us. I am just concerned with the kids. Last cruise we took was during President Week. We were on the Paradise and there were 800 children! They were completely out of control. Parents seem to think that kids can just run free on a cruise ship. It was most annoying. That is my only concern with taking a Disney cruise. I really do not want to deal with out of control children again.It does sound nice that Disney has adult only areas. It is annoying on other ships that the kids take over the hot tubs and the lounges. I guess this is part of my concern, but it sounds like Disney has handled the situation rather well. Are the bars that are adult only very smokey? Are there bars where smoking is not allowed?

[gizfish]

We love the mouse, but don't love the kids. My suggestion is go on a seven day not a three or four day cruise and that may cut down on the numbers of children. Also, plan for a time when kids are in school and take into account that there are holidays in Eurpope and Canada when their kids are out, and they may be on your cruise. (We knew all the US kids were in school on our last seven day, only to find it was Wittsonday holiday in the UK, and the ship was teeming with children anyway.) Also, I would not cruise Disney without a balcony. While it is true that the adult only areas are very well kept that way, the majority of the ship is family and you can only spend so much time at the adult pool and in the nightclub area. You will see kids, and they will be acting like kids, so at least having a balcony will give you respite from that. Keep in mind that you pay a premium for DCL, and you could get a much better deal on another cruiseline and see way fewer kids. You are paying for the Disney attention to detail and the mouse of course. While the food sure will look pretty, in general it doesn't cut it compared to other cruiselines, so you may want to take that and the lack of casino into account too. Good luck deciding.

[TootyJane]

I have to say that while my dh and I have three boys we'd cruise on Disney without them in a heartbeat. Plenty of things to do without kids!!

[Ella2]

Are the bars that are adult only very smokey? Are there bars where smoking is not allowed?

Yes, the Promenade Lounge is completely non-smoking, and there are designated smoking areas in the other adult entertainment venues. It's really NOT a smokey ship overall; smoking is not allowed in staterooms (it IS on private balconies), dining rooms or any of the ship's enclosed areas.

 

If you enjoy Disney I definitely think you will have a great time. :)

[Host Mick]

If you're Disney folks, then you'll love it.

Try to go while school is IN. There are fewer kids aboard and the rates are much lower. The down side to fewer kids means more adults and it's busier in the adult areas. The autumn has better prices if you can tolerate the risk of itinerary changes due to hurricanes.

As far as kids being a nuisance, I'll take a crying kid nearby over a drunken lounge-lizard or partying teens any day. I've seen plenty of each on cruises.

[momofmeg]

We do love Disney. We got married at Walt Disney World. We were the second couple to get married there. (Before the chapel) So the Disney theme would not bother us. I am just concerned with the kids. Last cruise we took was during President Week. We were on the Paradise and there were 800 children! They were completely out of control. Parents seem to think that kids can just run free on a cruise ship. It was most annoying. That is my only concern with taking a Disney cruise. I really do not want to deal with out of control children again.It does sound nice that Disney has adult only areas. It is annoying on other ships that the kids take over the hot tubs and the lounges. I guess this is part of my concern, but it sounds like Disney has handled the situation rather well. Are the bars that are adult only very smokey? Are there bars where smoking is not allowed?

 

Kids will be kids but overall they were well behaved. I did a couple of times hear kids running past our stateroom being a little noisy but it was no big deal-heck I have heard noisy adults talking too loud going past my stateroom on ther lines and much later. We saw no kids misbehaving at dinner, none playing with elevators, none in the hot tubs etc. that you see on the other lines. They do get a litle excited when the characters are out in the atruim area but heck that was no big deal-I kind of enjoyed that and besides that would be an easy fix for me-leave the atruim area. As I aid with the adult pool area, adult lounges and adult area on Castaway Key it is very easy to get away from the kids.

 

True there are plenty of kids-as I said expect half of the passengers to be kids-but I think you will find the experience not to be Carnival Paradise-where you find kids in supposably adult only areas. Disney enforced this on their ship unlike Carnival.

 

I don't remember about the smoking thing and the lounges. We don't smoke though and I don't remember it being a problem and as I am sensitive to smoke if it had been a problem I would remember. I did like the veranda of our stateroom. Our neighbor was smoking when I was out there and I barely got a wiff. On the Miracle I about choked to death when my neigbor was smoking on the balcony and had to come inside. I can only asume Disney has a better design on the verandas or something so smoke or sounds do not carry as much as balconies on other lines.

[ColoradoJuli]

Thanks for all the information. Although, I will admit that I am not sure that it has convinced me to cruise DCL. We will just have to see the next time the subject comes up with DH's family.

[momofmeg]

Thanks for all the information. Although, I will admit that I am not sure that it has convinced me to cruise DCL. We will just have to see the next time the subject comes up with DH's family.

 

 

Well that is true. This board is for information and not really for convincing. I have found in the past where I read very good things about a particular cruiseship and then when I took my cruise the experience was not so good for me. I have also had the opposite experience-gone on a ship that got bad reviews and I had a great time.

 

A lot depends on how you look at things and really it can go both ways I guess. I do believe though you can enjoy Disney unless you are just sold on one cruiseline and really only want to cruise that line. I myself like variety and enjoy going on different lines-I never get bored that way.

 

Anyway if the family votes for Disney Carnival RCL or whatever you can have a great time for sure. I will say this we have only taken 1 Princess cruise and we did that in the fall but on that cruise there were hardly any children. Also if you stay away from cruising in the summer months and like Christmas and Thanksgiving there are less kids. One thing too you can remember when YOU have kids is how annoying undisciplined kids are. Nine times out of ten they are that way because the parents don't take the time and effort to train them. There are also many well behaved kids too-so they all do not have to be brats-when I see a well behaved child I know this is a child well loved whose parents spend alot of time with that child-that is the key-you spend a lot of time with your kids-they are well behaved-if you ignore them as much as possible-they turn into brats.

[Chloe Girl]

"If you enjoy DISNEY, then YES, go! DCL does a GREAT job of segregating kids and adult areas, way better than MOST cruise lines, actually."

 

We agree with Ella2's comment. We were on the Wonder in 2000 with another adult couple and enjoyed a relatively kid free environment.

 

In fact, the presence of children was more notable on our Mariner cruise in May.

 

We enjoyed our Disney cruise so much we are thinking of taking another on soon!

 

V&M

[wdwlvr]

DH and I don't have children and we'll be going on our 6th cruise this December. If you love Disney than you'll love Disney Cruise Line. I've sailed on other lines as well and to me Disney is the best!

[sierra77]

We were on the Paradise and there were 800 children! They were completely out of control. Parents seem to think that kids can just run free on a cruise ship. It was most annoying. That is my only concern with taking a Disney cruise. I really do not want to deal with out of control children again.It does sound nice that Disney has adult only areas. It is annoying on other ships that the kids take over the hot tubs and the lounges.

I would HIGHLY suggest you try ANOTHER cruise line if you are concerned with "out of control kids"

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this the ONE cruise line where they are more geared towards kids?

 

Just like chuck e cheese: This is the ONE place where a KID can be a KID. And yes there may be some kids who are a little bit more *spirited* than the other kids...but *I* would expect a higher than normal tolerance level with these kids because they are on a kid's ship.

 

Out of all the other cruise lines that are out there:

 

Carnival

Holland

Royal Carribbean

etc.

 

Why would you want to pick the ONE cruise...catered to Kids...and then Complain about the possibility of "out of control kids"? Why? This does NOT make sense to me.

 

You would not go to Chuck E Cheese expecting a "nice romantic dinner" now would you?

[poopie]

Disney does a great job keeping the kids contained. We ran into WAY more kids on other cruise lines that we do on Disney. Disney has the clubs and lots of activities plus they really do enforce the adults only areas and other cruise lines do not.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Disney may have the kids but the camp is open all day and for meals so the kids are kept busy. On other lines the camps close so the kids are everywhere!!

We were amazed how many people had no kids on Disney.

[JUST_CRUZIN]

My husband and I have been on the Disney Cruise twice, Once without the kids and once with. We had a great time (even more so without the kids:o )There are a lot of activities for adults, clubs, dancing, Palo (adult only resturant) even on castaway cay there is an adult only beach. The boat is so big and most of the kids stayed in the kids programs, we hardly noticed the kids.

Disney is by far the best cruise Line we have been on, I would recommed you give it a try, My husband and I are going again without the kids. We love Disney World and their cruises.

 

Peace, Love and Mickey Mouse

[momofmeg]

I would HIGHLY suggest you try ANOTHER cruise line if you are concerned with "out of control kids"

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this the ONE cruise line where they are more geared towards kids?

 

Just like chuck e cheese: This is the ONE place where a KID can be a KID. And yes there may be some kids who are a little bit more *spirited* than the other kids...but *I* would expect a higher than normal tolerance level with these kids because they are on a kid's ship.

 

Out of all the other cruise lines that are out there:

 

Carnival

Holland

Royal Carribbean

etc.

 

Why would you want to pick the ONE cruise...catered to Kids...and then Complain about the possibility of "out of control kids"? Why? This does NOT make sense to me.

 

You would not go to Chuck E Cheese expecting a "nice romantic dinner" now would you?

 

 

Obviously you have never Carnival, RCCL and Disney or you would know Carnival and RCCL are famous for out of control kids. HAL is the only safe bet of the 3 lines you mentioned as there are only a handful of kids on that line usually.

 

I cruised Disney Wonder on a 4 day cruise with my husband and 20 year old daughter and never had a problem with out of control kids although half of the passenger list was under 15 years old. The great thing about Disney is the adult only areas are ENFORCED.

 

The closest thing I had to an irritation with kids were a couple of times kids were running in the hallway outside my stateroom before 10 p.m. I found that much more tolerable then my Carnival Miracle cruise where at 2a.m. there was a drunk couple out on the balcony FIGHTING 2 decks above us that we still heard and sounded as though they were in the stateroom next to us. We actually could understand the WORDS they were saying they were so loud.

 

You also seemed to miss a point. They were cruising with OTHER family members who wanted to do Disney and the couple wanted to know if there was anything geared toward adults. They were only concerned about out of control kids because of their Carnival Paradise experience. Then YOU tell them cruise Carnival if they DON'T want to deal with out of control kids. That makes a lot of logic.

[agridealer]

We have cruised as a family (similar to your situation) many times, although never with any kids in our group. My Mom loves the Mouse, so Disney is her big push for cruise lines. By comparison, we have been on Norwegian, RCCL, and Princess. As for class, Disney is top notch compared to the others. The downside, no casino. But back to your concern. The children's programs on Disney are exceptional, therefore, the majority of the time, if you see children, they will be doing one of two things :with the group as part of the program, or BEGGING their parents to let them go back to the program. We never experienced anything less than pleasantness for the most part from all kids (what few we saw). You would be missing a great opportunity to cruise Disney by thinking that kids may make it uncomfortable.

 

We felt the same way the first time we cruised Disney, since we don't have children (yet) but believe me, it was very misfounded. I say go.

[cinderella7104]

Hi,

 

We went on the Magic for our honeymoon and it was wonderful. We went in the middle of the summer and while there were kids on board, Disney does do a great job at kkeping them seperate. The have adult areas such as te pool/hottub, and Beat Street, an entire deck devoted to adult entertainment. They also had beer tastings and wine tastings. It is best to take the later dinner seating. We were seated with another honeymoon couple too....not with anyone who had kids. We noticed that many parents were puting their children in the kids clubs and actually had to drag them out....which made it better for us....kept kids contained. i would not hesistate to go on another Disney cruise without kids. It was first class and even at times made us feel like kids again....(we took lots of pictures withthe characters)!

 

Good Luck!

[Bbethparsons]

My husband, kids, and myself have cruised the Disney Magic 3 times; however, next Sunday, 2/13/05, hubby and I are off on the Disney Wonder for 4 days without kids. We are celebrating our 15 year anniversary. We have cruised RC, Carnival, and Disney. We are going with Disney because of the service, food, and all the great things we love about Disney. It just doesn't get any better.

[Yvonne]

DH and I took our first Disney Magic cruise to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, so we took no kids (ours are grown) and we had a perfectly fantastically WONDERFUL time!! So much so that we took another Magic cruise and a Wonder cruise as well. No kids with us any time. I am not one to "enjoy" other people's children, but LOVED the Disney cruises. Yes, we saw kids sometimes but most of the time they are involved in the great clubs, and in the family areas. Whereas WE spent our time at the adult areas, and the crew does enforce the rules so no problems with kids in the adult areas. And they even have a separate "adults only" beach, so peaceful and relaxing!! The only time we were really around the kids was at the shows, but MOST of the kids were enthralled with the show so behaved just fine. Only ONCE on all three cruises did I have a child sitting behind me who kept kicking the back of my seat. But that can happen at our local movie theater too. So don't NOT go on Disney because of the children. With all of the adult areas I'm sure you'd have a great cruise with the rest of your family.