Disney Travel Guru

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Many things make the Disney Cruise Line unique. If you have cruised before, you will understand all of these items. If you haven’t cruised before, below are what I consider the most important difference between a Disney Cruise and ever other cruise line. Rotation Dining - On a Disney Cruise vacation, you change dining rooms each night. The three primary restaurants on the rotation are Parrot Cay, Animator’s Palette, and either Triton’s or Lumiere’s depending on which ship you are on. Your table mates and dining staff rotate with you. So you still get to share memories of your day with the people you dine with and your dining staff knows all of your special requests and dining requirements. Plus your surroundings change so you will never get bored of the same dining room. Palo - Palo is the over 18, adult only, restaurant on board both Disney ships. What is unique about Palo as compared to other “signature” restaurants on other ships is that you can make a reservation for Palo online in advance. Another unique Palo feature is on 7-night cruises, Palo also offers a wonderful adult only brunch and afternoon tea on sea days. Large Staterooms - The average staterooms onboard both the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder are by far the largest in the industry. The staterooms were designed with families in mind so you will find amble storage, bunk beds that only convert to beds at night and serve as a living space during the day, and privacy curtains that separate the main sleeping area from the living/sleeping area. The stateroom TV offers family friend programming as well as top notch movies. Stateroom Bathroom Design - Although most people would consider the bathroom to be part of the stateroom which is of course true, there are several unique factors to the stateroom bathrooms on the Disney ships that they get their own topic. Most cabins on board the Disney Ships have what is called a split bath design. The split bath is really two separate areas both with their own doors. The first room has a tub/shower and a sink. The second room has the commode and a second sink. The split bath allows for two people to get ready at the same time. Additionally, the fact that each stateroom has a bath tub is very unique. On most other cruise lines, you will not see a bath tub until you get into the higher category of stateroom or in suites. Variety of Food - Between the in-stateroom room service, to the food establishments by the pools, to the casual buffet restaurant (Topsiders or Beach Blanket), to the rotation dining restaurants, to Palo, you will find every conceivable type of food on board. Rest assured that the pickiest or most selective eater to the foodie in your group will find something they like. Start with a continental breakfast delivered to your room each morning, followed by brunch in one of the restaurants, followed by chicken tenders, nachos, pizza, wraps, and paninis by the pool or a four-course lunch in the dining room, followed by a cheese dish on your verandah before dinner, followed by dinner in your rotation dining room or the casual buffet, followed by the last evening snack/desert buffets or fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and milk in your cabin before bed, the dining options are endless. Now most cruise lines do offer the same abundance of food. What is unique to a Disney Cruise is the variety that appeals to children as well as the adults. Disney is also very good about working with food allergies as well. Complimentary Beverages - Disney Cruise Line is the only mass market cruise line to offer complimentary beverages including soda, milk, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate 24/7 at the beverage station located on deck nine aft of each ship. Other cruise lines will usually offer these beverages as complimentary only when dining in one of their dining rooms during meals. Entertainment - All major cruise lines offer high quality entertainment. What sets Disney Cruise Lines entertainment apart is it’s ALL family friendly. Everything is kept at a “D” rating for Disney. Although the entertainment in the adult only clubs in the evening may have a little more adult humor, it rarely goes beyond anything you wouldn’t mind seeing with your grandmother. Disney Characters - It’s a Disney cruise after all, of course there will be Disney Characters onboard! Characters appear daily at specific times and locations. It is up to you to go and see them or not. On 7-night cruises, you can even enjoy a character breakfast one morning. Children’s Clubs - By far, Disney has the very best children’s programming at sea. Other cruise lines have great children’s programs but no one can compete with Disney in this area. Children’s programs start at age 3 and run through age 17. There are four unique areas on board the ship, Oceaneer Club, Oceaneer Lab, Ocean Quest, and Aloft/The Stack for the various age groups so the 14 years old are not hanging out with the 4 year olds. Another unique feature about the children’s clubs is that parents of every child under the age of 11 receives a beeper to be used the length of the cruise. So if your child happens to be in one of the clubs and wants to see you or is ready to be picked up, all he or she does is notifies a counselor and the counselor will beep you. Additionally, Disney is one of the only cruise ships to offer infant and toddler care for children up to the age of 3 at Flounder’s Reef Nursery. There is a nominal fee for this service and reservations are required. No Casino - That’s right; the Disney ships do not have casinos of any kind. Now for some this may be disappointing but for most, it is a welcome feature. The only gambling offered on the ship is the daily bingo game. If you do enjoy gambling, there is usually at least one port on each itinerary that does have casinos so you can still enjoy some casino time! Exclusive Adult Areas - Although Disney certainly caters to families and children, they also knew that adults needed places of their own where they could go and no children would be allowed. Both the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder have an adult only pool area with its own jacuzzis and pool bar. Within the pool area is Quiet Cove Café, an adult only specialty cafe with cigars, coffee drinks and pastries. Just forward of the pool area is Vista Spa, the adult only spa which offers a wide range of facilities and services. On deck 3 forward there is Beat Street and Route 66 the after 9pm adult only entertainment area. For those special romantic evenings, there is Palo. the adult only signature Italian restaurant. While at Castaway Cay, adults can escape to a separate adults-only stretch of beach called Serenity Bay. Each of these spaces are designed just for adults and Disney does a good job of keeping the little ones entertained in their own specific areas so that adults can truly enjoy some adults-only quality time. Castaway Cay - Disney’s own private island that repeat guests call paradise. Many cruise lines offer a beach day but Castaway Cay was built from the sand up to be used exclusively by Disney Cruise guests. The Disney ships pull right up to a birth on the island so there is no need for tendering. The beach is divided into sections for water sports, a separate section for families, another area for teens, and finally a special area separate from all of the other beaches for adults only. The children’s programming continues on the island so parents can still have some time alone maybe to have beach side cabana massages if they choose. Land and Sea Vacation Packages - Port Canaveral is just over an hours ride from Walt Disney World making it very convenient to get the best of both worlds, a Land and Sea Vacation. A Disney Cruise Land and Sea Vacation includes a stay at Walt Disney World followed by a 3 or 4 night Disney Cruise. Disney combines the two trips into one to make things more convenient like the ability to check in at your hotel and be automatically checked in for your cruise or having seamless transportation from the airport to your hotel, from your hotel to the port, and then from the port back to the airport.

So here are some of the major things that make a Disney Cruise unique. There are many, many different cruise lines and cruise vacations out there. Take the time to research your options or find a good travel agent who specializes in cruises before making any decisions. There is a perfect cruise out there for you, and it certainly might be a Disney Cruise! Bon Voyage!!

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November 11th, 2008 | Tags: Castaway Cay, Disney Cruise, disney cruise line, disney dozen, disney magic, disney wonder, family cruise, family vacation, palo, rotational dining | Category: Disney Cruise | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL