It’s our first time cruising, and we will be disembarking on from the Dream on December 12 - my husband, me, and our 3 year old. Our flight doesn’t leave FLL until 2:30pm.

I’m trying to sort out what we can do until we have to go to the airport. We won’t have a car seat, so my only solution would be renting a car nearby the cruise terminal and returning it at the airport. Then we will have a place to store our bags.

Any other ideas or thoughts on this? I want to avoid spending all that time in the airport with our toddler, but we’re kind of stuck because we don’t have a car seat or anywhere to keep our luggage.

For those who can access early, how much are the staterooms in the Disney Adventure? Thanks in Advance!

Hi friends, hope someone can clarify, because I couldn't find a definitive answer online.

Which of the above ship(s) + length of trip offers the Drawn To Life show?

All of my Googling, Redditing, and YouTubing has not left me feeling 100% confident at all lol. Most likely, we'll be taking a 4 night cruise, so hopefully there's a possibility for us to enjoy the show?

Please advise! Thank you in advance!

We're going on a cruise with my parents in March and I would like to gift them a couples massage. Availability on our only sea day was getting limited, so I went ahead and booked it under our names.

Can I call Disney and transfer it to my Dad after Christmas? Or should I wait and do it onboard? Or just go with them to the spa at the time of the appointment and tell them that my parents will be using the reservation?

We're looking at cruising on the dream in 2025 and wanted to get advice which deck to book our stateroom. Its 2 adults and 2 kids (5/4). I think mid-ship is probably best and i think there are a number of rooms available between decks 6-10.

I was looking at 10592 but read that it could get noisy from the activities above on 11.

Any thoughts on what would be an ideal deck for us? We're looking at the Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah. I'd be open to the non-deluxe version too if the extra space isnt "worth" it.

thanks!

I’ve seen a lot of posts where people talk about staying on the ship at Nassau, I’ve also seen a lot of meh reports on Lookout Cay. Has anyone opted to stay on the ship that day instead?

I keep reading people are upset with the service on the DREAM ship. I’m going Feb 2025 with a list of allergies for a birthday celebration and this makes me nervous. Any incite if there is actually an issue or is it the case of not being able to make everyone happy?

Hi!

New to cruising so forgive my ignorance.

I want to sail out of Vancouver Aug 2025. I have 6 adults and 2 children (4.5 and 2 at sail). We will all need our own rooms (3 closed doors) Is it more economical to get a suite or should we book 3 inside rooms? Any tips is greatly appreciated.

Which do you recommend for a day pass at Nassau? Margaritaville, British Colonial, Baha Bay or Atlantis? My kids are 4 and 5 so they can't still go on slides. We just want a relaxing day at the resort and a less crowded beach. It's our first time in Bahamas, second time DCL..

Was just aboard the Dream from November 27 - Dec 2. And let me first start off by saying my cruise experience on Magic was AMAZING!! I do know what a fabulous cruise experience should be.

Back to Dream... Most of my concerns are from an accessibility/disability perspective. I felt like most of the crew were not helpful or kind. As a blind person, when asking for directions, the crew would either point "over there" for my 8 year old brother to lead me, or tell me that "my brother could take me". I am the adult. Blind or not, it is not an 8 year old's responsibility to guide me. It is MY responsibility to take care of him, and saying something like "Animaters is down the hallway straight in front of you, and at the end of the hall, turn left" would have sufficed. There was no education on how to interact with blind people, and the expectations of a person with a disability being independent were EXTREMELY low. I wasn't even "permitted" to carry my dessert plate back to my room, a crew member had it sent up for me? WHAT!? Even though all around us, people were getting dessert to go... Anyway, I digress. We only saw our hostess twice in our 5 night cruise. My other brother is blind and has autism, and in the kids club, they let him sit there and stack cups the whole time he was in the club. They didn't try to engage him. On the last cruise, he made all kinds of crafts, and has treasures he still cherishes even now. When the characters were in the kids club, he wasn't allowed to feel any part of their costume, even though in the encounters on the ship, there was no problems. And don't even get me started with the LINES!!! When you have a blind autistic child who begs to meet the princesses, and then has to wait in a 45 minute line? That's pretty much impossible.

Did you know, Disney doesn't offer any kind of audio description for their live shows, even if contacting special services months in advance? I contacted special services well in advance to ask about this, even providing suggestions of companies and people who would provide the live description over the internet to no availe. There was a sign language interpreter throughout this entire cruise, for all live performances, but nothing for those of us who were blind on the cruise? There were at least 5 blind people on that ship who could have benefited. The parks do offer audio description for the shows, btw...

I also felt like Lighthouse Point really wasn't made with accessibility in mind. many times, our family would go down a path from the beach to let's say, the waterpark, or the lunch buffet, to find out that it was the wrong path, and have to turn around and find another path. This is just scratching the surface, honestly. My real question here is... Is it worth complaining and providing feedback to Disney? Could we receive any sort of compensation? I was a DCL enthusiast, and now, I won't sail Disney for a long long time. :(

My massage though? And the rainforest room??? Now those were indeed magical lol. Oh and my fam loved the waterslide into the ocean at Castaway.

This is my first cruise ever and everyone in my family has been seasick both days. Two of us took some medication after the first day and it helped but the drowsiness was almost worse. Thankfully the port today gave us some time on land.

I had heard the rocking of the boat was not even really noticeable normally, have the last 2 days just been abnormally bad? Do people get used to this after a while? Or are we just prone to seasickness?

We are a family of four (two toddlers) and doing the 7-night Alaskan Cruise from Vancouver that leaves on May 12. Looks like the temperature range is 30-50F with 20-30% rain.

Our goal (my goal really) is to not overpack, so when it comes to clothing, I'm thinking:

1. No cotton
2. Wool or synthetic base layer (e.g., Smartwool)
3. Synthetic jacket (not bulky but warm, like the Patagonia nano puff)
4. Rain cover (something thin that can be easily put in the side pocket of a backpack)
5. Hiking pants that dry easily
6. Hiking shoes or trail runners
7. Gloves

Multiply all of the above x 2 (except for the rain cover and the gloves) and we're set.

Am I grossly off the mark or missing anything important?

Gracias.

Will the TVs on the wish be better? I’ve been on the original ships for all my sailings. Will be on the wish for my next sailing, and might be in the room more than normal.

Which cruise ship has Pixar Character sightings? I recently sailed the Wish, but as I plan my next cruise I would like to know which ship has Toy Story, Incredibles, etc?

Is there some kind of etiquette? Like should I leave a beach bag on our chair? Is there something I am missing?

My friend loves the hair tool hot mat that is provided in the staterooms. I've not been able to find the brand name and Amazon is not yielding any similar style products (all silicon, instead of the fabric that DCL provides). Does anyone have any idea?

I don’t want to leave the baby onboard, and most of the excursions offered by DCL are not suitable for babies. The only one I’d book is the Blue Lagoon day, but it’s only available at a time that isn’t convenient for us.

Any recos? We are open to book outside DCL options.

I understand that if you don't use the future cruise voucher within 2 years, you'll be refunded the $250 deposit. But what if you transfer it to a travel agent such as Costco? Would you still be able to get a refund if you don't book another cruise in 2 years?

Has anyone had the experience of a closed loop cruise and using their child’s birth certificate as ID? I am guessing we will need to bring it along to the ports-how did you keep it safe and protect it from getting wet?

Welcome to r/dcl!

We’re here to help you plan your cruise and give you as much advice as possible, straight from the reddit community here on this subreddit.

We know you've probably got a million questions for us, so we'd like to take a moment to remind you to check out the FAQ, where you can find many pages about various topics here to help you with your trip from start to finish!

We are about 80 some days away and in the window to start booking excursions. I have a 5 year old and a 10 year old going so the 5 yo might limit some that we can do.

I have 2 questions for recommendations:

1). If we choose not to do any excursions what is there available right in port? Anything walkable that we can book on our own?

2). What are some excursions my kids would enjoy that don't break the bank?

Cozumel Grand Caymen Jamaica

Hello. Looking into staying the night before our cruise in Fort Lauderdale. Anyone have recommendations for hotels in walking distance to the port ? thanks!

I’m sure this has been asked before and I know lots will be at the hotels in Orlando and using Disney transportation to the port. But this time my wife and I will be driving from Georgia to Port Canaveral after we had a really good time driving down to Ft. Lauderdale for a cruise earlier this year. Does anyone have any good recommendations for hotel near Port Canaveral?

Update: Thanks to those who gave some food for thought and advice it’s much appreciated. Travelling to a new country and place is always daunting for some people and I appreciate those who read and replied kindly.

Husband and I are looking at the Jan 13th cruise on the Dream, leaving from Fort Lauderdale. We would arrive the afternoon before and stay at a nice nearby hotel (we like to be early so there’s no flight delays that would lead to us missing the cruise departure!).

We are Canadian and genuinely concerned about safety in Florida in January of 2025. Realistically we wouldn’t be doing all the much outside of airport, shuttle/uber, cruise terminal. Just wondering if any regulars, area residents etc have any advice or general knowledge that we should consider before booking. We would be covered insurance + medical and everything but I’m worried we’d be putting ourselves at too much of a risk visiting such a **dangerous place. No offence intended and thank you for any thoughts or advice 😊

Edit A lot of replies already asking for clarification, so sorry if I’m too vague here. I just didn’t want to give an example that is like some stereotypical headline and cause offence. If I could just point out that as a Canadian, we only get so much news and travel advisories, and I am asking for area specific safety precautions. It’s near the inauguration, for example, and arriving on Jan. 12 is there plans of big events and parties that may affect our planning and decisions? It’s a touristy area from what I am reading but all the same, if there’s a massive convention I’d like to be mindful of that.

**Edit two; dangerous place relative to where we are from, where we have been in the past and based on government travel Advisories we have for US travel as Canadians.

Hello,

So I leave out on a merrytime Disney cruise next week. We have Palo booked the last night and I see it’s $50 a person, I know they have a prix fixe menu but I was curious if I didn’t want the to do the prix fixe menu and instead order specific things a la carte if it would be in addition to the $50 or if it would simply be that I could order a la carte up to that $50 total and simply pay anything extra if it added up beyond that?

Hi All,

We’re going on the Southern Caribbean Cruise out of San Juan, PR next year (HOTHS).

Our ports are:

1. St Kitts
2. Antigua
3. Bonaire
4. Aruba

I’m looking for your help with port day recommendations.

We have two kids, 5 and 4 at time of travel, and our ideal day is time at the beach. We prefer calm waters, somewhat secluded, with a nice bar and restaurant that has a bathroom.

Example: We did the Jost Van Dyke excursion this year, and it was perfect.

Is there anything similar at these ports?

Also, do you have any recommendations for a private boat charter at one of these ports? I’d like something where we can control the timing, and can relax at our pace.

Thanks!

It’s navy and glittery with gold font.