DVDizzy Forum

I've been wanting to go on one for forever! Is it as good as the planning DVD makes it out to be? Haha. What are the super mega high points and are there any low points? How still is the boat (my Dad and sister are afraid of getting sea sick)? What movies are shown in the movie theater? How amazing are the stage shows? Wow, lots of questions. Haha. Thanks!

They are better than the vacation planning video makes them out to be. I have been on two so far. I did a 4 night on the Wonder and a 7 night on the Magic. There are so many high points. The big ones that come to mind are the shows, which are all fantastic, the restaurants are exquisitely decorated and the food is to die for, the state rooms are wonderful and spacious for a cruise ship, and I could go on and on forever. What I would consider the lows aren't actually Disney's fault, but the lows happen when you are off the ship. When you go to port at the destinations, the level of service automatically decreases and on my second cruise, I made a new rule where if I wasn't enjoying myself after an hour on whatever island we docked at, I would just get back on the ship where I was guaranteed a good time. Castaway Cay is wonderful, though. That is Disney's private island, as you probably know from the vacation guide.

The stillness of the ship depends on the weather and how fast you are going. It is mostly very calm, especially on the 4 night cruise, which only makes two stops so they don't have to go fast to get between them. On the 7 night, there was one rough night where we had to race to make it to the next port in time. However, they have two ways of combating this. The first is that they go around bad weather if they have the time to do so. The second is that the ships have stabilizers. They look like airplane wings and they can extend them or retract them, so if the waters are rough, they stick them out and it reduces the side-to-side movement of the ship.

Disney shows their most recent films in the Buena Vista Theater. Typically, it will be anything that was released within the past 6 months from all of Disney's film divisions, including Touchstone and Miramax. On longer cruises, they will also play some classic Disney films in the theater as well. They also play movies on the giant screen by the family pool. That's a lot of fun.

As I said before, the stage shows are a highlight of the Disney Cruise. They currently have 4 regular show between the two ships. Both ships have The Golden Mickeys, an awards show in which famous scenes from classic movies are performed and given awards for their category, and Disney Dreams, in which Peter Pan helps a little girl learn to fly through messages found in classic Disney stories. On the Magic, they have Twice Charmed - A Cinderella Story, in which Lady Tremaine's Wicked Fairy Godfather reverses time to make it so that Cinderella and the prince never fall in love. The plot is similar to Cinderella III, but the show is much better than the film. On the Wonder, they have Toy Story: The Musical, which I haven't seen but I heard it's great. Longer cruises offer other shows as well. The first show on the week long cruises is about a family starting their vacation aboard your ship and the things they hope to do. The finale show provides the conclusion of their journey. Other shows vary during week long cruises and incorporate the talent that has been selected for the week, including comedians and other performers.

They also have deck parties with the characters. The really famous one is called Pirates in the Caribbean, during which Pirate Mickey swings from the top of one of the smoke stacks to the other right before fireworks are launched out at sea. An interesting fact: they try not to do the fireworks in the same place twice because other cruise ships used to pull up near the Disney Cruise and tell their viewers to look to the left to see fireworks. lol.

I'll see you guys in a week. Haha, I wish. That sounds absolutely amazing! I shall tell my family and propose this as a vacation...

I want to go on a Disney Cruise anyway, but this summer, Disney stars will be on Disney Cruises, and Corbin will be on a 3-day cruise, and I think a 4-day cruise (?) this month, and a few weeks ago I asked Bobby if we could go, but he said it's cheaper to do a longer cruise later, when it's not peak season. I'm very upset. I want to mingle on a ship with Corbin... (where is that drooling emoticon, people? 100 pink elephants to whoever makes one!)

Lol. Bobby is right though. The two cruises I've been on were in January, when they are at their cheapest. The next one I'm going on is in September 2010. In the summer of 2010, the Magic is doing very expensive week long cruises in Europe, but their return trip was very cheap. I am going on the 14 night cruise that makes 3 stops in Europe, heads across the ocean and makes 3 stops in the Caribbean, including Castaway Cay. The total cruise cost us $1,000 for two people in an inside state room and the flight to get us to Barcelona, where our cruise starts, was around $600 per person. We got a discount since we booked our trip when we were on our last cruise, but to put this in perspective for you, if you went on a 4 night on July 12th, an inside state room would cost you $1,948 for 2 people and if you needed air fare to get there, that isn't included in that price.

That seems like such a great price for a 14-day European cruise!!!!!!!! And, wow, a 2-week cruise sounds amazing!!! Unless dogs are allowed on cruises, where the owners can hang out with them, then I wouldn't ever be able to go on such a long one, since I'd miss my doggies! But it sounds like it'll be so fun!

Of course the Disney stars are cruising during peak season, so Disney can charge whatever they want and people will still pay for it.

I, too, REALLY want to go on a Disney Cruise, so thanks for asking questions, Zack, and thanks for answering them, goofystitch!

That European cruise sounds AWESOME! I hope you have a great time and make sure to take lots of pictures!

Which of the Disney cruise ships is your favorite?

I have been on one. The movies change often. Checking www.disboards.com will help. Often people post recent daily newsletters there.

The shows were hit and miss. Some of them were totally lame some of them were absolutely amazing. This was several years ago though. The one they did based on Hercules was the best.

The food and the waiters were fantastic.

I really never did a vacation like it before and did not like someone else being in control of where I went if that makes any sense. The other thing that was a problem was limited things for small children to do. Once the are toilet trained and old enough for Explorers Club I am sure it is great but it was not good for toddlers.

PeterPanFan asked:

Which of the Disney cruise ships is your favorite?

That question is always hard for me to answer because there are more similarities than there are differences. The decor on the Magic is themed to Mickey and the gang at the Beach, whereas the Wonder is themed more to The Little Mermaid, which is one of my favorites. The Magic has a restaurant called Lumier's, which has a big mural of Beauty and the Beast and all of the light fixtures have a rose in them. On the Wonder, this restaurant is called Triton's and has an even bigger mural of The Little Mermaid. The night club's were a different theme as well.

I sort of like the Wonder better for all of the mermaid references, but I like the itineraries on the Magic more. Comparing the two ships is like comparing night with later that night.

One thing you should do is check out which rooms are good. Some of them are unbelievably noisy(beside engines and nightclubs) Again disboards is a great place to ask.

After reading this thread, I was curious as to how bad the food was because I have heard from others that a Disney Cruise is not the place to go if you want good dining. That's really strange considering how spectacular Disney dining is on land. Anyhow, I looked up a bunch of reviews and as glowing as the majority of the reviews were of the cruise the one common denominator was that the food was always just "okay." One big shot executive woman wrote a lengthy review of every aspect of the cruise from decor to even the manners and dress of the fellow cruise mates. Her food reviews though made the food sound appalling and I'm wondering if it's because she's used to a higher standard of living based on her comments in the review and her occupation.

My favorite comments were that one reviewer stated that the food was very institutional and another said their work cafeteria had better food.

I've never been on a cruise and I would love my first to be a Disney one. One thing I noticed was that some reviewers said a Disney cruise is purely for families while others said they liked it because there was stuff for all members of the family to do: kids, teens, and adults. I know there is an adults only pool and adults only restaurant on the Disney cruise ships, but is there really enough to entertain adults without children? Or rather a group of young adults?

And finally, I hope this isn't a dumb question, but it was hard to tell...is all the food included in the price? I mean, when you're on a regular vacation, you pay for each meal be it a fast food joint, restaurant, or grocery. From what I've read, it sounds like you just go and eat at whatever restaurant or pool bar or food place is on the ship at no extra cost except for some of the fancier places. Is this interpretation correct?

Anything that you eat on board the Disney Cruise Line is included in the price, with the exception of the coffee bar and Palo's, which charges $10. I honestly don't know what the reviewers who disliked the food were talking about. I am used to Disney World style fine dining and I thought the food on the ship was just as good, if not better. Perhaps they simply ordered the wrong thing night after night? Or perhaps other cruise ships have better food? I wouldn't know, since I've only done the Disney Cruise Line (Well, I did Big Red Boat as a kid, but I don't remember it).

Also, I am 23 and I found that there was a ton of stuff for adults to do. It was not just for families, since I don't have kids and wasn't traveling with any. I know some adults complained about there being "too many kids," but there are areas of the ship for adult's only, so you only have to see them at meals (except at Palo's, where they aren't allowed) and shows. I mean, even the movie theater had R rated films just for adults.

Wow, I thought the food was really good. Now I was not ordering what you would call fine dining, so maybe that kind of food is not as good. It was certainly a lot better than what you find in the parks.

I have got our scrapbook out for the trip, One is from Pirates of the Caribbean. I remember having some beef Tenderloin with Mashed Potatoes and Carrots and it was really good. Onion rings and chicken drumsticks for an appatizer with Mr. Smee's Bib Salad for the salad. Actually, I remember now I had two meals that night I also had a Coconut Crusted Red Snapper. Also really good. I would not really call this pedestrian in any way. But niether is it fine dining. They were really good at doing off the menu stuff as well for my extremely picky nephew. I remember being disapointed one out of seven nights with my food and really pleased most nights.

The other thing I did not mention was Castaway Cay. It was an absolute blast. I went on a kayak trip. I own my own kayak and have spent 100s of hours on the water. The wildlife was spectacular however there were some idiot fatassses who decided they would give it a try and could not even complete a 45 minute kayak on flat water. My wife and I ended up towing two of them back. Oh well, more excercise.

The beach was absolutely excellent. This was the year after a big hurricane and supposedly it was even better before that. My wife, daughter and I had a great time, probably the hilight of the cruise. I would like to do a Disney Cruise again when they hit the west coast with the new boats but if they dont have anything like Castaway Cay it wont be as good.

As for the entertainment the first night had a welcome aboard variety show which was not very good. The second night had the golden mickey awards which was also forgettable. The third night had Hercules, the Muse acle which was absolutely fantastic. The fourth night had a choice between the Incredibles and a Pirates of the Caribbean party on deck. I had not seen the Incredibles yet and we went to both. The party was a lot of fun, they gave you bandanas, eyepatches and swords to dress up. The next night was who wants to be a mousekteer which was a take off on millionaire. It was Ok but only a lot of fun if you got to play. The next night was Disney Dreams which was a take off on Peter Pan. It was very good.