My first Disney Cruise was beyond amazing, and one of the best vacations I’ve taken. While I’m quite familiar with planning for and traveling to Disney’s parks, cruising definitely has its peculiarities. Hoping that it might help you, I thought I’d pass along some of the things I learned.
Check in can seem daunting, especially when you’re in a different country. For our Alaskan cruise, our departure city was Vancouver, B.C. in Canada.
LOTS of people, but everything is super organized, and the lines do move fairly quickly.
The lines can be long, and are separated between first time cruise guests and returning guests. Here’s a tip – if anyone in your party has cruised before, use the returning guests line. There were six of us in our traveling party, and since my parents had previously cruised with Disney, we all took advantage of this line, keeping our party together.
Guests passing the time with a smartphone game. Loved this!
During check in, it was helpful to learn that multiple credit cards can be connected as payment options for a single stateroom. My aunt and I were sharing a cabin, but were able to have our credit cards applied to our individual Key To The World (KTTW) cards.
Keep this card handy throughout your cruise!
It might come as a surprise to you that cash is not used on the ship, with only a couple of exceptions. Cash is used if you order room service for tipping your server. If you plan on ordering room service, it’s helpful to plan ahead and bring some small bills just for tips. Also, cash is used if you’d like to leave extra tips, above and beyond the standard amounts, for your cabin host and servers at the end of your cruise. Envelopes are left in your stateroom for these types of cash tips. Everything else, including excursions and standard tips, will be charged to your KTTW card…even laundry!
Speaking of room service, it’s included in the cost of your cruise and is available 24 hours a day! Here’s a tip – for mornings that you’re arriving in a cruise port, order room service on the cards provided in your stateroom. Simply hang your card on your door knob the night before, and an early breakfast will be delivered to your cabin. Also, while you might not see them on the menu, Mickey’s Premium Ice Cream Bars can be ordered from room service, or as an alternative dessert at any of the ship’s restaurants.
I’m beyond not a morning person, but having food delivered to our cabin lessened the blow of early port arrivals. Good morning, Ketchikan!
While getting settled in your stateroom, be sure to make use out of the storage UNDER the bed!
I love Disney toiletries! We actually requested “extras” each day, and were usually rewarded for our efforts by our excellent cabin host, Vikash. I do suggest that you bring your own hair dryer, however, as the ones onboard our ship left much to be desired.
Alcohol is not included in the cost of your cruise, and Disney charges a premium. However, a complimentary drink is included with a Palo reservation, and drinks were handed out at the Captain’s Reception one evening during our cruise.
I encourage you to make reservations for one of the premium restaurants onboard your ship.
Unlike PhotoPass photographers found in the parks, photographers on board are not as obliging to use your camera to take pictures. Photos on your cruise are actually big business for Disney, and an entire store is devoted to them. Not to be discouraged, you are welcome to snap your own pictures.
Shutters is the place to find your family’s photos taken by the professionals onboard your cruise.
Like all things Disney, organization and appearance are key. Onboard Disney’s ships, quick service meal locations and restaurants are located at one end, while entertainment venues are located at the other. These “groupings” help to ease navigation onboard.
Animator’s Palate was the restaurant I was most looking forward to, and there’s one onboard each Disney ship. It was also fascinating to learn that the ceilings of the floor where children’s clubs are located are lower, as are the port holes. This design gives kids a boost of confidence, as the area is scaled for their size.
Don’t feel like you must take the stairs to avoid large crowds at the elevators. There are multiple sets of elevators located onboard (i.e. forward, mid, and aft). We were traveling with my grandfather, who would have had great difficulty using the stairs. If one set was busy, we were always successful by simply walking to another set of elevators.
Speaking of Grandaddy, he wasn’t always keen to the adult menu options. We asked for a kid’s menu and problem solved! Your servers onboard are wonderful, and will make any reasonable accommodation for your group. Most nights we actually mixed and matched for him from both menus without any trouble.
Our group and Pluto at Parrot Cay.
In all of the ship’s restaurants, each table is numbered. Your table number will be yours for the length of your cruise. Our number was 55, which is the same year that Disneyland opened, making it easy to remember. Your table number is also printed on your KTTW card.
Don’t feel like you’re missing out by eating at a particular restaurant in your dining rotation. There are lots of themed dinners onboard, and on these nights everyone eats from the same menu offerings.
This was Pixar Night and our menus were in 3-D!
Drinks and snacks are available for purchase before shows and movies, but you are welcome to bring in your own. Here’s a tip – order bags of popcorn from room service to have handy for taking to a movie, or fill up reusable cups with soda at the fountains onboard. These are easy ways to save you from swiping your KTTW card.
I hope some of the tips will come in handy for you on a future Disney cruise. It was a bit of a learning curve, but what a fun one!