Hello Everyone! We just got back on Sunday from our first Disney cruise. We were on the 7night Western cruise. We had a MAGICal time on the Magic! I did a lot of research over the past year and I thought I would post some of the tips that worked well for us. First off there were 5 of us:

Me
DH
DS 13
DS 11
DD 6


We kept this cruise a secret from the kids for just about a year. We went to WDW for 4 nights (Tues-Sat.). On Friday night we took the kids out to dinner to the San Angel Inn in Mexico at Epcot. They thought this was our last night and that we were leaving on Saturday to go home. We had our server bring them a card from Mickey that said:

"Here at Disneyworld I hope you've had fun
But I'm here to tell you the fun's just begun.
Turn to your parents for the big news..."

Then I held up a sign in the shape of a ship that said "TOMORROW WE GO ON A DISNEY CRUISE!" Needless to say they were shocked and thrilled!

We are DVC (Disney Vacation Club) members and used part points and part cash for the cruise. We stayed in a Category 4 stateroom which is the family stateroom with a veranda.

Ok, now for some of the things we brought with us that were very helpful:

- Bring a power strip - There is only one outlet in the stateroom so this was great to be able to plug in our phones, camera charges, curling iron, etc.
- Ladies - Bring your own hairdryer. The ones in the stateroom look like they are from the 1960's or something and barely blow any air.
- Bring an over-the-door shoe organizer - This was AWESOME for keeping all of our stuff off of horizontal surfaces which helped us stay organized and tidy. We used it for sunscreen, brushes/combs, sunglasses, batteries, makeup pouches, jewelry, etc.
- Clothespins - I had originally read to bring these to help keep the curtains on the sliding door closed when the ship was rocking. We ended up using these to help better close the privacy curtain between the bed and "living area" in our stateroom. This allowed us a way to get changed with privacy.
- Pillowcases & Sharpies - I bought 3 new white pillowcases (one for each kid). I placed them in a large ziploc bag with various colors of Sharpie markers and gave them to Guest Services the second day of our cruise. They were returned to us on the last day of the cruise signed by all of the characters!
- Pop-up Laundry Hamper - This stored easily in the closet and was great to toss our dirty laundry in.
- Lanyards for room key - These lanyards have a clear zip-loc type of holder for your Key-to-the-World card. We did not realize how handy this would be! We saw lots of folks with these on the first day of the cruise. We were going to buy some but ended up getting them as a gift from Disney Vacation Club! These were great to grab and put around your neck as we headed out and about.
- Bring Address Labels - This made the last night so much easier! You receive luggage tags (one for each bag) on the last day of the cruise. You have to put your name, address and phone # on each of these as well as your stateroom and number each bag. We had pre-made return address labels with most of this info. All I had to do was place a label onto each tag, add our stateroom # and # each bag. We had 9 bags and this made the process much faster!
- Seasickness - Bring Bonine and Ginger tablets, I got both at Walmart. I was very worried as I do get seasick. I started taking Bonine 2 days before the cruise. I took one tablet twice a day (morning and bedtime) and it worked great!!! One day at sea we were rocking quite a bit and I started feeling a bit queasy so I took a Ginger tablet and I felt much better! I did not feel tired at all and had no effects when I went off of the Bonine after the cruise.
- Bring some Pirate gear - We brought some hats, eye patches, etc from home to dress up in for Pirate Night. Lots of folks were dressed in pirate attire for this event! Pirate Night was a blast!
- Digital clock - Ok, I did not bring one but wish that I had. There is a clock in the room but it is not a digital clock and cannot be seen at night.
- One Dollar Bills - DH went to the bank before we left and got LOTS of $1 bills to use for tipping. This was VERY handy for the porters, room service, transportation, etc.

Other tips:

- Don't overpack - I WAY overpacked. During the days at sea we were pretty much in our swimsuits/cover-ups.
- Get to port early if you need to book Palo or spa services on board. We tried to get there early by using Happy Limo but Happy Limo had to change our time so we did not get to the port until around 12:00 noon. We ended up on the wait-list for Palo but we were able to get in to Palo.
- Speaking of Palo- DO IT! It was such a wonderful meal!
- Kids Clubs - They clubs were great! Be sure to leave time though when dropping off your kids. Many times we had to wait in line to drop off and ended up cutting our time close on a couple of things.
- Shutters - Get to Shutters EARLY in your cruise!! We chose our package and most of our photos about mid-cruise. We wanted to wait to get our last couple of photos after our Castaway Cay day. Shutters was MOBBED on the last night! Many people were there for the first time and choosing their package and such. I was so glad that all I needed were 2-3 photos!
- Christmas Cards - Yes, I said Christmas Cards! We had ours made at Shutters so I am all ready for Christmas! (well, at least my cards are ready). We used a family photo from Pirate Night and it says "Yo-Ho-Ho-Ho! Merry Christmas from the _____ Family!"
- Family Portraits - There is a wonderful background that is all white and it is called a "Lifetime Portrait". The photographer takes several different poses and they look amazing with the white background!
- Veranda - Get one! It was so awesome to sit out there in the mornings with our coffee. The kids loved to go out each morning and see what the ocean looked like and to watch as we entered the various ports.
- Princess Gathering - If you have a little princess there is a "Princess Gathering" in the main lobby where all of the princesses come out at the same time for photos and autographs. Get there EARLY as the line was VERY long! This is a very popular event!
- Topsiders Buffet - We ate breakfast here each morning. Sometimes we brought it back to our stateroom and ate on our veranda and other times we stayed at Topsiders. Try to get to Topsiders before 8:30am to avoid the crowds. It was very peaceful early in the morning!
- Start packing up early - All of your luggage must be out in the hall between 9p-11p on the last night. There are lots of fun things going on the last night so start packing the day before. I did this and finished up after our day at Castaway Cay and was able to then relax and enjoy our last night on the ship.


Fun Stuff:

- DH and I did the martini tasting. This was lots of fun!
- Order Mickey bars, cookies, coffee from Room Service. We ordered a pot of coffee just about every morning. The kids ordered mickey bars and cookies a couple of times and thought this was the coolest thing!
- If you are a DVC member go to the member gathering. This lasts one hour. They give you an update on DVC and we got free DVC hats for all of us as well as DVC pins. They also gave away some cool prizes although we did not win any. They also offered some great incentives for purchasing more points.
- Head up to Topsiders as you are pulling into Castaway Cay for some great photo ops!! You can see the entire island as you pull in.
- Take some time to enjoy the ship. It is just beautiful!
- My kids want me to add to eat LOTS of ice cream! There is a soft-serve machine on Deck 9 that was frequented by our kids (ok, us too! ). You can get some big chocolate chip cookies from Topsiders and then make your own ice cream sandwiches! You can also make your own ice cream sodas!
- My 11 year old DS said to tell you all that the 10-12 year old activities were fun! He really enjoyed the private pool party at the Mickey Pool at 10'oclock at night!
- My 6 year old DD said to tell you that the Mickey Pool is aweome!
- We did not see our 13 year old DS much during the day as he really enjoyed the teen area, "The Stack". They had scavenger hunts, video game tournaments, basketball, dodgeball, oh and of course he loved all of the FOOD!
- Order as much as you want at dinners. On the night of the "Captain's Gala" they serve lobster. DH ordered a second helping. On two nights we got an extra dessert to try. Our servers, Ollie and May, were fabulous! Ollie did several magic tricks for my kids. The kids looked forward each night to see Ollie and May. DD always had a Sprite waiting for her at the table each night and May would ask me each night after dinner if I would like my hot tea. They really made us feel special.

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