New to cruises....need some help

We have never been on a cruise, so I am trying to figure out how to plan it? We are looking at the a 4 night cruise October 2012 to the Bahamas so we have the extra day at sea to enjoy the activities on the ship.

Is it worth spending the extra money for a room with a verandah? Traveling with DH & DS5.

Is it better to let Disney book my airfare or is it better to do it myself, costwise?

If we fly down the day before, is it worth going to a park for the day? Planning on staying at the new Animation resort if it's a value resort.

Also are the excursions worth the time or is there plenty to keep us busy in Nassau and Castaway Cay?

Any information or tips everyone can give me is much appreciated! I bought Birnbaum's Cruise book, but it doesn't give near as many tips and info as the book for the parks!

:sail:For the 3 DCL Carribean cruises we've been on, we've always booked inside staterooms as we are gone all day enjoying the pools and view. Outside is warm and we rarely were in our room only to sleep.

We just got back from Alaska, and you really need a room with a view for that cruise - for sure! Being colder with wetter weather, you spend more time enjoying view from your cabin.

We've always booked our airfare on our own and found deals that disney couldn't match.

We've never flown down the day before, but if it was early enough, I would consider a park. Or, go down to Downtown Disney to shop and dine - that is free! And there is always the resort to enjoy - pools, arcade etc. Depends how much you want to do and when you arrive.

I hope this helps. We began going to WDW when our kids were 4 & 6. They are now almost 12 & 14. We've gone over 6 times and enjoyed 4 Disney cruises. Feel free to PM me questions.

Happy sailing!

After having a balcony, it's tough to go back. What I've found is that if oyu like complete darkness at night, the inside staterooms are your ticket. I like to be able to step outside and enjoy the view, see the weather, get an idea of the temp, etc.

Here's the deal with airline tickets. If you let Disney do it, it's a little safer for you if there's a delay in your flight and possibly missing the ship. If you book on your own, it's up to you to get to the ship. It WILL sail without you. For that reason, we usually arrange our own airline tickets and arrive the day before. The exception to this would be for a cruise that didn't embark from the US. I would let the cruise line arrange for airfare, they will probably give you a better deal.

We've stopped doing shore excursions mostly. We've been to most of the caribbean, so we don't need the help. If you don't know where you're going, I would not fault you for picking some.

Here is a thought exercise for choosing a cabin on a ship: If you don't bother paying extra for a hotel room with a private balcony, and especially if you are OK with hotel rooms with exterior halls (and you keep your drapes closed for privacy), then you don't need a cruise cabin with a veranda.

If, at a hotel, the only time you sit outside is when you are at the public pool or at an outdoor restaurant, well you can so the same on a cruise, so you should be fine with either an outside (ocean view) or inside (no window) cruise cabin.

If you commonly pay extra for hotel rooms with interior corridors and private balconies, and you typically spend lots of time out on that balcony, then a cruise cabin with a private veranda makes sense.

As for the new WDW Animation resort, it is my understanding that some of the rooms will be value sized and value priced (with exterior corridors) and will be themed to "The Little Mermaid." Other rooms will be suites with interior corridors and will be priced at least double the cost of a value room, and will be themed to "The Lion King," "Cars," or "Finding Nemo."

Castaway Cay (on the Disney Cruise) is a beach stop. If you are happy with sunning on the beach, swimming, eating at the BBQ, watching the crab races, and such you don't need to spend more. Also, you can bring your own inflatable tubes (just be prepared to manually inflate them), snorkel gear, beach toys, etc. for free. You only need to spend money if you want more like rented snorkel gear, big inner tubes, a wave runner, etc. Alcohol is also an extra cost.

1. Book inside stateroom...you will love it.
2. I do my flights myself because we don't have many options out of Indy and I like nonstops.
3. Go the day before. I would just enjoy the pool and go to Downtown Disney for the evening.
4. Not only would I say don't do excursions I would plan on either not getting off at Nassau or just getting off for a bit to see the Straw Market. Hopefully more time to enjoy the ship with fewer people.

The best research you can do is at this site and two others...google for them.

We took our first (and so far only) cruise last summer - you are going to have a great time :)

My thoughts:

1. book the verandah stateroom, if you have the extra $$. We were surprised at how much time we spent out on ours - the spectacular thunderstorm the last night was almost worth it all by itself. It also helped me with any motion sickness ... as soon as I could look outside, I was fine.

2. I would book your own flights, you can get the best deal, and the most convienant times.

3. I would arrive the day before (we did), and we went to Kennedy Space Center, since it kept us the "cruise" areas. We've been twice and had a blast!

4. You don't need anything special on Castaway Cay ... the beach day is great ... bring (or rent) a float, but we didn't need anything else (we actually rented bikes, and didn't have time to use them). Nassau is a hit or miss, we didn't do an excursion ... DH and I got off and explored a bit (the Christ church, Pirates Museum, and he went to the Straw Market), while DD and my Mom didn't even bother getting off the ship. For me, a couple of hours walking around was more than enough, and I re-joined them for the afternoon on the ship.

Have a great cruise.

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Originally Posted by DizneyRox

If you let Disney do it, it's a little safer for you if there's a delay in your flight and possibly missing the ship. If you book on your own, it's up to you to get to the ship. It WILL sail without you.

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Yes, this is true. We've always flown in the day of - but we are an hour and a half flight - not long. We've always purchased travelers insurance that covered if our flight was cancelled or delayed and we missed the boat. We found it cheaper to purchase this than to book a hotel. But this was only for cruises out of Port Canaveral. We just got back from a cruise to Alaska - we needed to fly into Seattle the day before the cruise as our flight was 7 hours!

In any case, I highly recommend travelers insurance to cover the trip if anything unplanned or unexected costs you the trip.

I forgot to mention excursions. The only ones we paid for were parasailing and jet skiing on Castaway Cay. Ok, but very pricy. On all other ports of call we "did our own thing" (cab took us places etc) and felt like we saw all we needed to see.

Have fun!

Having been to Nassau, I would probably never get off the ship at Nassau again. Too many people whose whole mission in life is to scam tourists, and not that much interesting to see. We did go to Ardastra Gardens and enjoyed it, but got seriously gypped by a cab driver (even though he was supposedly one of the legitimate licensed ones).

You can walk to Ardastra Gardens - just get a good map. It's a mile or so from the port, I'd guess. Maybe not even.

Better yet, just stay on the ship!

I like having a window, but don't care that much about a veranda. If there was a deal for a free or cheap upgrade or something, I'd take it, but otherwise I wouldn't bother. The window, though, is very helpful for managing motion sickness, and sometimes there are interesting views.

Can't help you with airfare questions -- I live here in FL!! :silly:

Just got off the Dream last Thursday and the boat hasn't stopped moving yet!!

I would not do a cruise without a verandah. It's totally worth the price to be able to get up early and go outside for the sunrise in my pj's.

We did the Discover Atlantis excursion. We had been to Atlantis before and found it a bit run down. If you've never been there before you probably wouldn't even notice. I find the City to be dirty and I don't feel comfortable walking around. I would maybe take a walk down Bay Street and spend most of the time on the ship. You can get right on Aquaduck with no waits while in Nassau.

On Castaway Cay we got the pacakge with the snorkel gear, float/tube rental, and 1-hour bike rental. Totally worth it. We weren't going to use the bike rental, but at the last minute decided to bike over to the observation tower. Glad we did!