Disney Cruise FAQs for Families

My family and my boyfriend’s family went on on a Disney cruise for spring break. I received 100s of questions and wanted to add the most common questions here. Hopefully this post helps you if you are thinking about going on a Disney cruise.

Answering Your Disney Cruise Questions

Top 3 tips for first Disney cruiser. Traveling in Aug. Parents not huge Disney people

1. Join the Facebook group for your cruise and join a fish extender. It is SO much fun, especially for kids. Also, bring pins for pin trading.
2. Find the adult only areas for the sun deck for your parents. It’s quieter and more relaxing than the main pool deck.
3. Best time for water slide is when you get on the boat, when it opens and dinner time.

ABOUT THE COST & PLANNING For A Cruise

How do you afford a Disney cruise? Compared to others, they are so expensive!!

Interestingly, it was more affordable to go on this Disney Cruise than to stay at any of the all-inclusive resorts that we looked at. We saved a lot of money by getting an interior room without a window, booking last minute, and using airline points to fly for free.

Average cost for a family of 4 for a Disney cruise? Was thinking of doing this before a park later?

I would encourage you to talk to a Disney agent because prices vary based on number of days, time of year, destination, and the ship you go on. For the cruise we did, it was around $5000 for my three kids and me.

I would recommend doing a park and then the cruise, not the other way around. We did this for our first Disney Cruise and it was great.

Can you share what is standard for tipping? I always feel like I don’t know what is expected/average!

Disney offers an option to do tipping in advance, and we did that. I just did what they recommended. They do provide envelopes on the cruise if you want to do cash.

Good age to take kids?

This might be controversial to some, but I would not do a Disney cruise earlier than age 6. It is very expensive, and I would want them to be old enough to handle walking the ship, doing activities, doing the kids club without me, etc. Moms of littles on the ship always look absolutely beat.

Do you recommend a certain length?

I have only done 5- and 7-day cruises. From what I have read online, three-day cruises are not really worth it and 4-day are on the border. I really think you need to do at least five if you are going to do it.

Did you use a Disney travel planner?

Yes, I used my friend and vacation planning extraordinaire Whitney Cheshier, who was great at helping us book this last minute vacation. I would never book a Disney cruise directly. Too many moving parts and details. A planner is free and makes for a much smoother experience. Whitney is a single, adoptive mom and I love supporting her and her small business.

SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS FOR A LARGE GROUP

What is the room situation for that large of a group?

We did two adjoining rooms. My boys in a bunk and my daughter and me in the king bed, and then John and his girls in a second room.

The last night the kids wanted a sleepover, so John’s girls slept with Adeline in the big bed and then he and I were in the room next door, with the door ajar. Since it was the last night on the ship, the big kids were out until midnight and we got up at 5, so it was more of a long nap that night – ha!

How many can fit in a room comfortably? 

This depends on the size of the people and the room that you get. The rooms are designed for 3-4 and I think that is accurate. I will say with two teenagers and a tween, our room felt very small. But we booked it not intending to spend a ton of time there, so it was fine.

One helpful hack is that you can shower in the gym showers. They are so spacious and nice. They also are stocked with Elemis body wash, shampoo and conditioner. I showered there once or twice a day and never had to wait. In fact, most days I was the only person showering! This basically doubled our bathrooms.

Do you ever feel claustrophobic?

No, but keeping the room tidy REALLY helps. My kids felt like tornados in the small room, and we spent time tidying every day!

Disney Cruise PACKING TIPS

How do you keep your dressy clothes looking so nice when traveling?

The laundry room has an iron (steamers aren’t allowed on the ship), and I pressed some of our clothes there. I also hung as much as I could as soon as we got to our room. (You can ask for more hangers than what are in the room.) Packing items that don’t get wrinkly also helps (like Spanx Air Essentials).

What do you recommend packing?

I have a full list of what to pack, here. But a few things worth calling out:

Because I check my bags, I do full size sunscreen — and lots of it. I also love these clear cases for staying organized and keeping everything contained in the beach bag.

A hanging toiletry bag is also a must. Cruise bathrooms are tiny and there really isn’t counter space for a toiletry bag there.

A portable sound machine – way better than using your phone and takes up no space.

A pop up laundry basket – this is so handy for keeping your room organized and for doing laundry on the ship. (Don’t forget laundry detergent pods, sheets or powder and dryer sheets).

Do you only do carry-ons for a cruise?

Ha! I wish, but I tend to overpack on a cruise. They give plenty of space under the beds for large suitcases and I like having options. Here are my tips for long trips with carry-ons.

THE CRUISE ITSELF

Which ship?

We cruised on the Fantasy. It was a five-day cruise, with two ports of call in the Bahamas (Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay).

Two years ago, I did a seven-day Disney cruise with the kids, and it was also the Fantasy. That had four ports of call (Cozumel, Castaway Cay, Grand Cayman and Jamaica).

We considered another itinerary so that we could do a different ship, but after a lot of research, I decided the Fantasy was a better option for our group.

Are there always theme nights? Does everyone participate?

I think pirate night is the only always! One night is marked as formal night on 7-day cruises, but is less of a thing on the shorter cruises. I will say that it seemed like nearly everyone did something for pirate night, even if it was just wearing the bandana that Disney provides. Formal night felt more 50/50 (we wore coordinating summer attire.)

What are the character meet and greet opportunities like? 

They are wonderful. You can meet characters every day, at multiple times of a day. Disney always takes a professional photo and is happy to also take with your phone. We did a Pixar cruise and some of the character lines were VERY long for characters you rarely see at the parks, like Bo Peep and Buzz Lightyear. Most lines were pretty quick though. The OG characters (Mickey, Minnnie, etc.) where different costumes throughout the cruise.

How much adult stuff is there to do on a Disney cruise? Like adult specific. 

There are several adult bars and an adult club that has various happenings each night. To be honest, there were many more adult things on the Norwegian Cruise I went on last year. A few nights on the ship, the kids went to various kids clubs and John and I enjoyed the adult entertainment. It was nice that there was an option, but I wouldn’t say we had a lot to choose from.

Must do activities for a 7-year-old?

Meeting characters is very special on Disney cruise ships. I think you have access to more characters and the lines are much faster than in the parks. Also, be sure to sign up for the kids club, as it is perfect for younger kids.

Did the kids do the kids clubs?

Yes, everyone did the kids clubs. In our experience, our kids didn’t love the kids clubs without a buddy. The ages are strict, so Ezra and John’s oldest could only be with John’s youngest when they had open ours in the clubs.

What did your teens love the most?

My teens are all about the teen clubs. Teens love being with their friends and if you can’t bring friends with on a trip, then making new friends is the next best thing. It’s my teens’ favorite part of a cruise.

What is there to do on the Disney islands?

Lookout Cay doesn’t offer a lot. Like most people on the ship, we chose to make it a relaxing beach day.

Castaway Cay does have some excursions, but they book up very quickly. None of them offer more than six on a boat, so for our group, we had to do two different excursions at the same time. I highly recommend doing a fishing excursion. It is so fun to get on the water and catch some fish. We’ve done it twice. The three in one is my favorite (I’ve done both!).

I have a whole list of stuff to pack for a cruise, and for excursion days, be sure to have multiple tote bags (helpful for carrying towels that you are given as you leave the ship + supplies for the day). We also liked having sand buckets and tidal ball, our favorite beach game. Bring plenty of sunscreen too, as it is very expensive on the ship.

Are the shows worth it?

Yes, the shows are wonderful. Definitely buy a popcorn bucket the first day. The refills are like $2. We filled them every day.

DISNEY CRUISE OR…

Which cruise line do your kids prefer – Disney or Norwegian?

I know this is going to surprise many people, but 4 out 5 kids said that they would pick another cruise line. John’s girls went on a Royal Caribbean cruise last year, and we did an Alaskan Norwegian Cruise.

Ezra would pick Disney, but I think it is harder for him to benchmark because of his age and the experiences he has had.

My teens felt like though the teen clubs didn’t seem that different, they had more fun on Norweigian than this recent Disney Cruise. I think some of it is luck of who else is on the ship and some of it has to do with Disney skewing younger in terms of kids on the ship. I think the teen club experience on cruise ships really is so special and fun. If you plan to cruise with teens, definitely encourage the teen clubs and let them enjoy freely!  

I would probably not book another Disney cruise again. The biggest reason is because if you are not into character meet and greets and your kids don’t want to spend hours and hours in the kids club, there is not a lot of other things to do on the ship. Both Norwegian and Royal Caribbean (according to John) had soooo many more activities all day and night.

Now, I love Disney and have loved our experiences on Disney cruises. I would definitely recommend that if you can do one, you should, especially if your family loves Disney like ours does. After doing it twice (for us) and once for John’s family, I don’t think it would be the line to book for our families moving forward.

I would love to do a Disney cruise, but my kids love the rides so much. Still worth it?

A Disney cruise is wonderful, but it is not apples to apples compared to the parks. Worth it, yes. But not a direct swap. It’s a new and different Disney experience for them.

QUESTIONS RELATED TO OUR FAMILIES

I’d love for you to share how you and John have integrated your parenting styles with kids.

John and I are very different people, with John’s personality being more chill and mine being very bubbly and excited. That said, we both have high capacity and travel really well together.

One thing that I really love about John is he is always willing to get in and do something. I remember one afternoon on the cruise, our younger kids were being a bit whiney, he turned the tide by taking them to the splash pad and getting in the water with them. He’s fun and playful, which is wonderful in a parenting partner.

I love and need a plan, so John lets me run with that as often as it makes sense. On the Disney cruise that meant I coordinated pin trading and Fish Extenders for our families. I made sure we had pirate stuff for Pirate Night and nice clothes for the dressy night. He knows those types of things matter and are fun to me, and he is happy to let me handle. Both sets of kids looked to me for the information and details for those kinds of things on the trip.

When it comes to behavior stuff, we generally let the biological parent handle the situation. We are both supportive of the other though in those situations. We also talk frequently about hey, how should I handle this, was it okay that I said this, etc.

How do you handle safety with kids and any teens who want independence?

We feel like cruise ships are very safe. Our teens have phones, text when they get to their teen clubs and keep us posted on their whereabouts. We set times to be back to the room/to meet us and they always follow it.

John and I also felt fine with our younger kids (9-11) going to their kids clubs together (dropping the youngest off, then the two older going together). We were able to also call the kids clubs to verify that they were there.

The younger kids could also check themselves out, but they were always with another kid. We, for instance, didn’t want John’s youngest going anywhere by herself, but if she was with Ezra and/or her sister, we were cool with them going to look for pins or going to get ice cream, etc.

I think a cruise is a great, safe way to give kids some freedom and autonomy in a safe manner. 

I hope this helps you if you are considering a Disney Cruise. For more about Disney cruises, check out these posts!