Farris Family's Day Off

Book your Disney Cruise as soon as itineraries get released.

Typically one and a half years out. Disney Cruise pricing will be at its lowest for early booking, then the price goes up as the departure date approaches or room availability decreases. You will be able to make a deposit, leaving you plenty of time to save for the final payment 90 days prior to your departure date.

Choosing your itinerary

If you are a first time cruiser, choosing the right itinerary may be hard to decide on which one to start with.

I would recommend choosing a 3- or 4- night cruise to the Bahamas. This way you can experience the ship and Disney's private island, Castaway Cay (pronounced key). If you decide that cruising is not for you, then you only have to be on the ship for a short period.

Disney offers 3-night up to 14-night cruises. They have itineraries all around the world.

Budget

Depending on the location and the length of the itinerary will determine the cost.

The ships

At the time of this post, Disney has 4 ships (with 3 being built and released in 2021, 2022, and 2023). The ships that are older and smaller, but well maintained and have been updated and enhanced recently are the Disney Magic (the very first ship) and the Disney Wonder. The Wonder offers itineraries on the west coast and the Magic typically is in Europe.

The two newest ships are the Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream. They are larger than the two older ships and have different entertainment and activities on board.

Locations - Ports of call

Disney has itineraries to Alaska, Mexico, Hawaii, Europe, Bahamas, through the Panama Canal, and the Caribbean. They are always releasing new cruises and destinations. Depending on what you want to do, Disney likely has an itinerary for you.

Themed cruises

Are you a Star Wars or Marvel fan? Disney has cruises for you with their Star Wars and Marvel Day At Sea cruises. They really go all out with character appearances from Star Wars or Marvel. Ship takeovers where storm troopers are wondering the ship looking for rebel spies. It's a lot of fun if you are a fan. If you are not a fan and go on one of these cruises, the good news is it's only one day out of your cruise itinerary.

Choose the right stateroom for your family

Choosing a stateroom comes down to a few things. Cost, location to areas on the ship, and size of your family.

Note that for each stateroom type, there are also different categories. Categories are dependent on size and location on the ship.

Inside Stateroom

Standard versus Deluxe

The difference between a standard versus deluxe inside stateroom is the size of the room and the bathroom. The room is slightly larger then the deluxe stateroom. The bathroom in the deluxe inside stateroom is split, which means it has a toilet and sink in one room and a bathtub/shower and a sink in the other one.

An inside stateroom is generally the lowest cost of the stateroom categories. It surely has it's advantages and disadvantages depending on what you're looking for.

The inside staterooms layout is different from the outside rooms. The bed is set towards the rear of the room, which makes the room appear larger. There is a virtual porthole on the Dream and the Fantasy that is definitely worth it if you get an inside stateroom. This virtual porthole can be turned off at night when you sleep. The other advantage is that if you want to sleep in darkness, you can, even in the morning when the sun is coming up because there are no windows. There is typically less motion in these rooms as they are in the center of the ship.

The only disadvantage is there is no window if you need it. For someone that has claustrophobia, it may be better to get a stateroom with a porthole or verandah.

Ocean View Stateroom

The ocean view stateroom is much like the inside stateroom. The layout is a little different in that the bed comes before the living area where the couch, tv, desk, and sitting area are. This stateroom offers views of the ocean with a large porthole window and depending on what side you are on in the ship, you can either see the ports or the water way when in port. There are curtains that can be closed in the porthole when you want the room to be darker. Because the curtains are not completely black out curtains, a nice feature that is offered in all staterooms is a divider curtain from the living space from the bed which can be closed to make the sleeping area darker.

Having an ocean view may also help those of us who tend to get sea sickness.

Verandah

This is probably my favorite one as it offers your own outdoor seating area. It has a similar layout as the ocean view. The only drawback is the space you lose inside for having the verandah.

Concierge

Large staterooms that have a bedroom with a separate living space and a private balcony. Not to mention a lounge for only concierge guests with a TV, snacks, and water. These are by design more expensive and closer to where pool deck and other activities.

Every stateroom has the following:

• Bathroom
  • Toilet
  • Sink
  • Shower and/or Bathtub
  • Shampoo, Conditioner, and Body Wash (H2O+)
  • Shelves for storage
  • Garbage can
  • Hair dryer
  • Tissue
  • One electrical outlet for electric shavers or small items.
  • Drying line for wet clothes
• Closet
  • 2 door closets
  • Electronic safe
  • Ample hangers
  • Life vests
  • Shelves for shoes and other items (we were able to fit a toddler car seat as an example of storage space)
• Queen size bed
  • Raised so you can fit your luggage underneath
  • Each side has a night stand with a small drawer and shelve
  • Alarm clock
  • plugs for phones or other devices
• Single pull out bed in the couch
  • There is also a table / foot rest in front of the couch that opens for more storage.
• TV
  • Disney Cruise Line channels
  • Disney Channels
  • ESPN
  • News Stations
  • On Demand movies and TV shows
• One desk phone and two wave phones
  • Wave phones can be used to call ship services, other stateroom phones, or wave phone to wave phone inside your stateroom. They work throughout the ship.
• Desk with storage
  • Storage shelves
  • Ample drawers for storage (we typically use these for clothes)
  • USB charging ports
  • Electrical plugs
  • Pens and notepads
  • Desk chair
  • mini refrigerator
• Dresser
  • Shelves for storage on top
• Divider curtain that divides the sleeping area from the living area
• For little ones, there is a nightlight in the room that can be turned on at night.

Castaway Club

If you have never cruised with Disney Cruise Line before and this is your first time, congratulations! Once you have cruised with Disney you will be a Castaway Club member!

You will begin to get designated colored lanyards to show your loyalty. It also has certain perks. Such as how early you can book excursions and activities and how early you can book cruises when they are released.

There are certain on-board gifts you will receive as well for being a member. Yay!

The tiered system is broken down below:

• First-Time Guests: no perks, but you will certainly have lots of fun!
• Silver Castaway Club Members: Cruised 1-4 times
• Gold Castaway Club Members: Cruised 5-9 times
• Platinum Castaway Club Members: Cruised 10-24 times
• Pearl Castaway Club Member: Cruised 25+ times

Book Excursions and On-Board Ship Activities Early

Disney will allow you to book excursions a certain amount of days prior to departure based on how many times you have sailed with them. This is going back to if you are a Castaway Club member or not and at what level you are. See above for details.

• First-Time Guests: 75 days prior to sail date.
• Silver Castaway Club Members: 90 days prior to sail date.
• Gold Castaway Club Members: 105 days prior to sail date.
• Platinum Castaway Club Members: 120 days prior to sail date.
• Pearl Castaway Club Members: 123 days prior to sail date

Important cruise documents and luggage tags

You will receive these together in a packet after you complete your final payment and closer to the sail date.

Make sure to bring the docs with you just in case of any issues checking in, but Disney Cruise Line will have all your information digitally.

The luggage tags are such a magical thing. It’s one of the things that make your vacation magical. Put these on the luggage you will check in at the airport you’re leaving from. If you’re headed straight to the cruise from the airport, your bags with these luggage tags will automatically show up in front of your stateroom on the ship. You don’t have to worry about your luggage. It’s amazing!

Download the Disney Cruise Navigator app

Google Play Store | Apple App Store

If you are like my family, we always have it on our devices. Why? Prior to your cruise it is a fun countdown timer. You likely have seen screenshots of other people’s countdowns on social media.

More importantly, the app “comes alive” when you board the ship and connect to the ships WiFi. Once you do that, the excursions you booked, your personal itinerary, and what’s happening on the ship day-to-day are all accessible through the app.

One additional feature is the ability to message other devices throughout the ship who also have the app installed. This is handy if your family is like mine and will have plans to do their own thing from time to time.

Key To The World card (KTTW)

Your KTTW card is used to not only access your stateroom, but also to get on and off the ship.

As well as purchase items from the gift shops and other places on the ship, so be careful. What may seem like an easy swipe of the card will come to you at the end of the cruise in your total spending.

Arriving on the ship

Besides taking in the atrium's grand beauty, most people head to Cabanas, the buffet on the pool deck, for lunch. There are also other restaurants on the ship that will be open during that time for food as well.

Between 2-3pm local time, your staterooms will be available. They may not be ready prior because the room attendants are finishing up the final touches of your staterooms. Setting up any gifts you have. If you had a wine and cheese package for example, this is the time they would be setting that up for you in your stateroom. Also prior to this time, they are putting any necessary documents in your stateroom, like excursion tickets and welcome packets for your family.

The bags you had the luggage tags on prior to your airline departure will arrive sometime between 3-4pm in front of your stateroom.

Access to the outside world while on the ship

I highly recommend that you sign up for the free 50 MB of WiFi on your first day on the cruise. It will not be offered for free after the first day. It may not be a lot, but it can certainly be used to check email or maybe check on social media.

You can sign up for it through the Disney Cruise Navigator app and it's per email address when you sign up.

Pro tip: If you like to check social media or maybe post a picture or two while you are away, you can stretch your free 50 MB of data across your entire cruise. How? I recommend not using the social media apps on your device, like Facebook or Instagram. As soon as you open the app, it will immediately consume almost half of your free 50 MB of data. I have learned that using your web browser on the device your are on, will consume a lot less.

Also, to conserve data, make sure to log out of the WiFi as soon as you're done. Make sure to turn off background data on your phone or tablet as it will consume your data as well. Things like iOS updates will not be good. Especially since something like that is well over 50 MB.

More information can be found on the Disney Cruise Line website.