First time cruise questions

[Clamshell]

I'm sure that these have already been asked a million times before, but here goes!

We are thinking of trying a cruise for the first time next September, probably the Disney Magic on the 9th sept.

Who do people tend to book with? We are a bit clueless about how it all works, so need a bit of reassurance that we aren't ballsing up the timings etc.

If you are sailing from Barcelona, would you stay in a hotel the night before or is it safe to fly out on the morning that we would sail? I don't have a clue what sort of time we would need to arrive at the port!

Likewise, on disembarkation day, what time is the earliest it would be sensible to book a flight for?

I will have oodles more questions so I hope you experienced cruisers can put up with me! I have read the sticky at the top which was very helpful😃

[Gill H]

I am a newbie too and already booked on that cruise!

We booked with Travel On A Dream who have been incredibly helpful. Only down side is you have to pay in dollars, which with the current exchange rate is less of a bargain than when we booked!

We need to pay the balance by May so hoping the exchange rate improves!

We are doing 3 nights in DLP just before, then getting a train to Barcelona and staying 1 night in a cheap and cheerful hotel, probably an Ibis.

Flying back on the last day, probably lunchtime.

Can't book flights and trains yet as DH's leave hasn't been approved, so annoying!

One good thing about TOAD is that if we needed to change dates or cancel there is no charge.

[Clamshell]

That's great, thanks - I'm off to check out TOAD 😃

[arielrocks]

ALWAYS arrive at the port the day before. That way if you have any delays etc you should be fine. We always book directly with the cruise lines.

[Sarah84]

I'm booked on that cruise and I always have previously, I've booked direct with Disney. Get to pay in £ so no worry about dollar rate changing for the worse and have the ease of being able to get deposit back/change dates etc if need be for no penalty

[Bats]

Originally Posted by arielrocks

ALWAYS arrive at the port the day before. That way if you have any delays etc you should be fine. We always book directly with the cruise lines.

See more...

There is no need to arrive a day early unless you have spare money for a hotel and spare annual leave.

We have done multiple cruises from Barca and have never flown in the day before (or more). We book the flight that leaves around 6:30-7am, it's a 2 hour flight so lands (with the time difference) at around 9:30-10am.

We know there are plenty of other options should there be a problem, as there was last year when BA cancelled our flight. We flew with Veuling instead, their partner airline, no worries and actually got there earlier than we would have done with BA.

Some people can't fly in days before and there really is no bother if they don't want to.

[Clamshell]

Thanks everyone- it gives me a lot to think about 😃

[Clamshell]

Bats - I hope you don't mind me asking, I saw somewhere on another thread that you said that by the time you added all the extras to a cheaper cruise, then you'd be close to the price of a Disney cruise.

Are you able to tell me a bit more about these extra costs?

We are just thinking of bringing forward our next Florida trip, so are considering a more economical cruise ... but I'm still really keen to go Disney!

[DIBBadmin]

This thread has been automatically closed as it has not been posted on in 365 days.

[Bats]

Originally Posted by Clamshell

Bats - I hope you don't mind me asking, I saw somewhere on another thread that you said that by the time you added all the extras to a cheaper cruise, then you'd be close to the price of a Disney cruise.

Are you able to tell me a bit more about these extra costs?

We are just thinking of bringing forward our next Florida trip, so are considering a more economical cruise ... but I'm still really keen to go Disney!

See more...

I can only go by the info we found, so this may well be different to someone else.
Most restaurants were an upcharge, ten pin bowling or shuffle board were chargeable, cinema was charged, climbing wall, surf machine - all chargeable. Soft drinks and room service - chargeable. We even looked at one where you had to pay to see certain shows.

That's just some of the differences we found, but others will tell you (perhaps rightly) that other lines always have offers on so that can bring the price down. They have drinks packages on some and that can be worth it if you're a big drinker - I'm not so would never get my moneys worth.

Other ships are beautiful inside, it's just the outside that doesn't look as nice as the classics (DCL, Cunard for instance).

For Mick and I, we like the Disney brand, that's all. We have no desire to try another line all the time we can afford DCL. We were going to try NCL in 2018 along with a fair few other Dibbers as a big group, but we have chosen to do a Panama Canal cruise with DCL instead.

Whoever you choose to cruise with, you'll have a great time I'm sure.