So excited as this is our first Disney cruise (and cruise full stop!). We are a couple in our late twenties from the north east of England, and are very much looking forward to the trip. If you are on this sailing, or if you have any tips, please let me know! 😊

Edit: I did indeed mean 2025: sorry, I am dyscalculic

Hi there! I am a first time Disney cruiser sailing next February from Sydney, Australia to Honolulu, Hawaii.

I'm curious about what deck parties will be happening. I know there will be a pirate party, but are there any others? Star Wars? Marvel? Frozen? It's a long trip with many days at sea, so it would be nice if we had more than one.

Thank you for any info you can offer!

It’s early so I’m sure I phrased that question weird. Lol

I’m looking at booking a cruise with my husband for next year. I notice there’s a 4-night one on the Magic that only stops in Progreso, Mexico. It is a lot cheaper than any cruise that stops at the private island locations. This would be our first Disney cruise (my first cruise ever!), and I’m wondering if skipping the private island locations is wise? With it being our first Disney cruise, should we prioritize looking at cruises that stop at Castaway and/or Lookout? Or is it gonna be a blast regardless?

I understand that the ship is still being built, but have heard constant issues with vibration issues (first-hand experience on the Magic) with the aft of the first 4 Disney ships. I haven't really heard much about issues with the Wish. I know that the Treasure is the same class as the Wish, so was wondering if it'd be a fair comparison to set expectations for a voyage in late summer of 2025.

If it's helpful; we're going to be on Deck 7 in the mid-aft area.

Anyone joining this cruise from Civitavecchia? We are family of 6 adults and 3 kids.

Would like to form a community to help out each other and have a great time

I just booked a 7 night Mediterranean cruise on the Fantasy for July 2025. It’s my first cruise. I understand that booking priority goes to those who have elevated status. We’re stopping in Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples and Palermo.

Since my daughters (16 and 18) and I are newbies, how low should we set our expectations for getting the excursions we want?

Any excursions you’d recommend highly?

How does the “babysitting” aspect of the DCL work for a 3 & 4 year old?

We just got back from the Wish and the kids are 2 & 3 at the moment and both were able to be together in the “it’s a small world” nursery - *** we are planning to book another cruise for next year but I’m not sure how the babysitting works for the kids if they will age out of the nursery? … is it still considered babysitting? Do we still book them for the older kids center in advance or do they just arrive and we can leave them there for a couple hours? Is it supervised?

Hope this helps some people who are first time cruisers. The place to be is in the middle of the ship. The entire back of the ship vibrates and it gets worst the lower the deck you’re in. The front of the ship is where you’re going to feel more the motion of the ocean.

As first time cruisers and not having any knowledge of this, my wife booked us deck 2 cabin 2146. After the excitement of booking the cruise wore off, I got curious, room 2146 is the closes to the engines, so it’s always vibrating, which you really don’t feel till you sit down or lay down, but it kinda rocks you to sleep, besides you’re going be so tired at the end of each day you’re going to be as sleep before it even bothers you. However, room 2146 is also right above the propellers, or very close to it, and when the ship is docking it feels like you’re sitting on top of the washing machine while it’s on the spin cycle! My wife and kids that sleep like rocks never felt it, but me on the other hand got woken up every day we arrived at a port.

I also read other comments that the room smelled like sewage. That wasn’t the case, I do assume the kitchen for all the restaurants are on deck 2 and every now and then we would get this what I would describe as onions and garlic being sauté in butter smell, for those of you who cook.

Hello! We just got off the Wonder from a 4 night cruise and are looking into future cruises. Would the 7 night cruise on the Wonder have similar plus more evening shows for the extra 3 nights or do they get repeated? Thanks

Hey everyone, normally I wouldn't be the one asking this question. Southwest just changed my flight, I had a reasonable flight leaving MCO at 12:40 and was going to be a total duration of 5 hrs 20 min, of which there was a one hr layover. The flight times look completely different than before, now there is a 10:10 flight with a duration of 5 hr 30 min OR the flights that leave after 2:00 are all 9+ hr durations. Is 10:10 too early for a flight, I think I know the answer but I really don't want to get home this late.

Ahhhh I am so excited - we will be on the wish in early September!

Oh- I wanted to ask you all - any experience with blue lagoon sea lion encounter?

We will be taking a DC soon and will be bringing our own snorkel gear. If the snorkel gear will not fit in the bags that we are checking (we are checking smaller airline-style carry on rollers as this is only a 3-day cruise), can we walk onto the ship carrying the snorkel gear (masks / flippers)? Should we plan on stuffing them in a book bag and then treating the book bag as our carry-on? Is snorkel gear even allowed in carry-on luggage? Thanks in advance!

Need a gut check here I guess. We’re flying in to MCO day before cruise. Staying one night at Art of Animation on Sunday and then cruise is Monday thru Friday.

We booked bus transport from airport to AoA and then Disney bus to port Monday and Disney bus to airport Friday. Now I’m wondering if we’d have been better off just renting a minivan?

Travel party is 4 adults and 3 kids. One kid is in booster seat (age 5). Other 2 are in car seats (age 3 and 11 months). We were planning to travel on airplane with at least one car seat for our 11 month old.

Our flight home is on Friday at 7pm. And am now realizing we could end up at airport as early as like 10am? I looked into Hyatt day pass. But it’s $189 plus tax. Sure we can just hang in airport all day. But might be a long day with three kids.

After adding up mears bus to AoA and Disney bus round trip plus day stay at Hyatt (maybe) I’m almost thinking we’d have been better off just renting a car and parking at port. Then on Friday we’d be able to make our way to airport after stopping somewhere for lunch and maybe something else to kill time?

What do you guys think?

Hi! My family booked the Wish for later this month as a graduation present for me and I'm bringing my boyfriend! Very excited because while this is not my first cruise, it is for him. I've cruised both Dream class ships so while I know the best spots for them, I have no clue about the Wish. We're both autistic and under 20 so we can't really do the bars. I know the 1821 club exists, I'm not sure if we want to do it tho since I want to spend the cruise with my family. Are there any must-do places/food/activities that we should do? Additionally, my bf has audio sensory issues so are there any quieter areas that we can use when we need a break from the crowds? Also I already have Castaway completely planned (snorkeling trail, walking to the lookout, cookies bbq and the adult beach, maybe the geocache if it's still there) so unless I'm missing anything I think we're good for that day. We're planning to spend most of Nassau day on the ship so any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hi, wondering how the boutique experience compares on the cruise line versus at Disney World. We’re doing a cruise with my 4 year old on Magic in September and planning World in February (she’ll be 5 then). Any thoughts on which of these trips we should plan for the boutique?

My wife got us a cruise in January on Magic without our kids. We are early 40's and looking for time away together, but I don't know what exactly to expect because everyone I've talked to says how great DCL is for their kids programming. Any experiences are much appreciated!

EDIT: Thank you everyone for your experiences! It's been tough to find info online about it, so everything y'all have said helps give me an idea of what to expect. No doubt it will be fun, just hard to find info.

For those who have been on the Wonder recently. What popcorn buckets did they have for sale?

I'm on a Disney cruise right now, sailing concierge. After a few days, I noticed that people in Cabanas who don't work in concierge are greeting me good morning, and calling me by name.

I never noticed that happening before, and I don't understand why it's happening. I don't remember interacting with them, but they know my name? How does that work? Are non-concierge folks briefed or something? There's an outside chance that maybe, just maybe they remember me from previous cruises, but that's a damned fantastic memory they've got, there.

EDIT: not quite understanding the hate, nor the downvotes. This wasn't some kind of weird flex, or anything of the sort. Just something that had me scratching my head and I thought I'd ask the group. Some of y'all need to take this cruise thing a lot less seriously.

Question for anyone who's recently sailed on any ship other than the Fantasy - how varied were the Disney themed luxury items in the shops? When we were on the Wish last year, I was able to find items in multiple price points, from Lougefly, Alex and Ani, and Pandora, to Crislu, Rebecca Hook, Dooney and Bourke, plus the jewelry at slightly more eye watering prices. There were multiple options in each price range for jewelry and purses. We just got off the Fantasy, and I was shocked at the limited options, especially in the jewelry. There was one Alex and Ani (little mermaid themed, not even DCL), Crislu, and Pandora. Everything else across two shops was Diamonds International and priced accordingly ($3300 for the DCL logo necklace which was the only DCL logo jewelry we saw). There were more generic luxury handbags than Disney ones, which was also surprising. I was wondering if this trend was showing up in all the ships or if Disney is trying to make the shopping unique for each ship so cruisers don't get the sense that they've already "been there, done that"

Anyone stay at the Renaissance hotel on DCLs list? We have 2 kids- age 2 and 4- and so it’s appealing that the transportation might be easier since we can’t taxi w/o car seats.

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!

Does anyone know if the Magic or Fantasy have any family friendly lounges open late like The Bayou on the Wish? It was open until 1 am and allowed us some grown-up time while DD4 slept in her stroller.

I plan on going on the Fantasy in August. Let's say I needed to book another cruise today, before I was able to buy a placeholder. Is there a way to book a cruise today, and yet still get the benefit of a placeholder when I go in August. The reason I'm asking is that it's possible the Oct-Dec 2025 schedule might be released before I go in August, and I'm trying to get a specific room.

Can we rent bikes and/or tubes day-of on Castaway Cay? We booked the stingray adventure, but wanted to see if we could play it by ear for the bikes and/or tubes, or if I should book in advance. Thanks!

I am hoping someone in this subreddit can help me and my fiancé with some questions about a wedding in DCL.

I am going to start out by saying we have may have already made a mistake. We booked our cruise and wedding package on the Dream for the end of Sept ‘25 and wanted to get married in the atrium. These aren’t currently marked as HoHS, but after reading more we realized that these itineraries/HoHS don’t normally come out till next year and the agent didn’t mention anything about it possibly being a themed cruise to us (we mentioned to her about the wedding as we book it through her). We aren’t really Halloween people but would be ok with a fall themed wedding (we are fine with the cruise being themed, we are just both more traditional people when it comes to weddings and didn’t think to ask about general ship decorations if the sailing wasn’t already marked). We are hoping we could find some people who got married in the Dream’s atrium during a HoHS cruise who would be willing to share your experiences (and maybe some photos).

I’ve only sailed on the Magic and LOVED it! We’re planning our next cruise and wanted opinions on which itinerary/ship (2 adults, 1 child-8):

1. Repositioning on the Magic from Galveston to San Juan. 7 night. Stops at Nassau, Lighthouse, Castaway. Pros include the itinerary with both private islands. Cons include it’s almost sold out currently due to being over spring break so crowds may be an issue, and we’ve already sailed the Magic (though loved it so this is also a pro).

2. Mexican Riviera on the Wonder out of San Diego. 7 night. Stops at Cabo, Ensenada, and Puerto Vallarta. Pros- we could explore San Diego before or after the cruise. New ship to us. Easier travel involved. Cons- more expensive than option 1 if we go over spring break. No private islands. I can’t find a lot of information on the ports so not sure what to expect in terms of family friendly activities.

3. Bahamas cruise to both private islands + Nassau on Fantasy or Dream. Pros- try out a different class of ship. Easiest for us to travel to Port Canaveral or Fort Lauderdale vs the first 2 options. Itinerary. Lots of options for dates so better for our budget. Cons- shorter sailing. I’ve heard some negative things about the Dream/Fantasy regarding crowds. Almost everyone on our Magic sailing that had been on Dream or Fantasy preferred the Magic.

Thoughts?

I'm planning to go on the Disney Wonder for a 4 night cruise, and I'm choosing between the interior staterooms. I'm very prone to getting motion sickness and getting seasick, so I'm worried about which cabin to select.

I've read that midship is good, and lower is better. I'm considering between the 11A staterooms (deck 6, ~room 6541) or 10B staterooms (deck 2, ~room 2605).

The 10B ones are lower and closer to the middle, but they cost $150 more, so I'm wondering if it's worth the extra or if the 11A rooms are good enough.

It'll be my first cruise (other than some <1 day ship rides I've taken where I've gotten really seasick), so I'm very nervous about feeling sick for most of the cruise. Any advice would be great! Thanks!