18 Helpful Disney Cruise Tips for First-Timers
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Hi, Disney friends! We're back from our first-ever cruise with Disney Cruise Line and had so much fun! This new Disney adventure reminded me of my first time at Disneyland. I was excited to get on the ship and explore but overwhelmed by not knowing what to expect (even though we watched YouTube vlogs of seasoned Disney cruisers on other ships for “research”).
We sailed a four-day cruise from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas on the Disney Wonder, Disney Cruise Line's second-oldest ship. We paid about $1,380 for our Disney Cruise reservation for two people, which included a stateroom with a porthole (window), food and drinks for four nights (minus food and drinks from specialty restaurants, like Palo, and alcohol), and most activities and entertainment.
Now that we sailed our first Disney Cruise, here are 18 helpful Disney Cruise tips for first-timers based on our experience.
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18 Helpful Disney Cruise Tips for First-Timers
Book your cruise EARLY. We discussed going on a Disney Cruise when Disney Cruise Line resumed sailing post-pandemic. The price to book a cruise for two people was surprisingly affordable, and we liked the idea that I could get my Disney fix and my husband, Angel, could get his travel fix. We wanted to do a cruise in November for Angel’s birthday, but we waited too long to put down a deposit. When our first choice sold out, we booked the Very Merrytime Disney Cruise in April for December. We put down a $250 deposit to book our cruise and paid the balance off in increments in the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app.
Book a midship stateroom. Our friend who sailed on the Disney Wonder before told us the best room to stay in was midship (middle of the ship). Rooms near the loft and aft can be loud, and you can feel the vibrations from the ship’s heavy equipment. (If you’re on the Disney Wonder, you’ll notice the vibrations when you eat at Cabanas, Palo, or Tiana’s Place.) We stayed in a midship room with a porthole on deck 2, and it was nice and quiet. I sometimes felt the ship moving through the waves, but I chalked that up to having a sensitive body due to my motion sickness. (More about motion sickness remedies below.)
Download the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app. The Disney Cruise Line Navigator app is where you’ll pay off your cruise, do online check-in, book dinners and port adventures, review activity schedules, and more. It’s also where you’ll communicate with your friends and family since there’s no service to text one another.
Drop your bags off HOURS before your embarkation time. I wish I had known earlier that we could check our bags with the porter hours before our embarkation time. Angel and I arrived at the pier three hours before our check-in time, and we dragged our bags around for two hours before we realized we could’ve checked our bags with the porter as soon as we got there. Attach the luggage tags Disney Cruise Line mailed you after you completed your online check-in to the bags you want to check in and drop them off with the porter. If your embarkation time is later, you can kick off your vacation with food and drinks at a restaurant near the pier. We sailed out of the Port of San Diego and enjoyed a lovely brunch at Miguel’s Cocina. (We highly recommend it!)
Pack a carry-on bag with your essentials. Disney Cruise Line will share this same tip with you, but I want to reiterate how important it is to pack a carry-on bag with your essentials, especially medication for motion sickness, if you have that. It'll take about three hours for your stateroom and checked bags to become available, so you don't want any essentials left in those bags. Other items to pack in your carry-on bag: sunglasses, swimsuit, slippers (flip-flops), jacket, phone charger, extra pads, tampons, menstrual cups, or whatever you use to manage your menstrual flow (if needed), medication for headaches or body pain, and anything else that's essential to you.
Don’t buy the internet package. I wanted to keep you all updated on our Disney Cruise adventures while onboard, but I quickly learned there was no cell service and internet connection when the ship left the pier. Because I knew I would write this blog post, I purchased the onboard internet package that was best for posting to social media to see if it was worth buying. I spent the MB I bought in five minutes uploading ONE Instagram (video) Story. I'm no internet expert, so I'm unsure what the amount of internet MB translates to when surfing the web or uploading content to social media. But after spending all the MB I bought in five minutes, I realized the internet package wasn't worth it, and I accepted this as an opportunity to unplug and enjoy my vacation.
Learn how to change your phone's clock manually. We learned about this tip on a YouTube video but didn't think anything of it because we were sure our phones would update automatically, like when you fly on an airplane. Unfortunately, we found ourselves an hour behind the following day, which almost caused us to miss breakfast! Here's how to change your phone's clock manually if you have an iPhone: Tap Settings > tap General > tap Date & Time > uncheck “Set Automatically" > tap today’s date and time > manually increase or decrease time to set.
Join a Facebook Group specifically for your cruise’s dates. I joined a Facebook Group specifically for our Disney Cruise dates after we booked our cruise. It was helpful to talk to avid Disney cruisers about our questions, especially with those that cruised before and after the pandemic. The Facebook Group is also where you'll sign up to participate in gift exchanges, like Fish Extenders. (More on gift exchanges below.)
Bring cash for tips and other out-of-pocket expenses. Included in the cost of your Disney Cruise are food (except Palo), water, soft drinks, all-you-can-eat soft serve, activities and entertainment, and more. Additional purchases like alcohol, photos, BINGO cards, port adventures, various onboard activities, and gratuity for your servers and stateroom attendant (housekeeper) are charged out-of-pocket or to the credit card connected to your stateroom. If you're like Angel and me and prefer to leave cash for tips, withdraw cash (small bills) before embarkation day because there’s no ATM onboard. You can opt-out of having gratuity for your servers and stateroom attendant charged to your credit card with Guest Services to leave a cash tip in the envelopes provided at the end of the cruise instead. I know that leaving a money tip is a personal preference. We recognized how hard our staff worked to make our experience the best, so in addition to the gratuity charged to our card, we gave a cash tip to our servers and stateroom attendant to thank them.
Decorate your stateroom door with door magnets. Did you know you can decorate your stateroom door with magnets? I learned about this tip in our Disney Cruise Facebook Group. I bought a set of customized Very Merrytime Cruise magnets and another set of Disney Christmas-themed magnets from Grayson Tags and More on Etsy. PRO TIP: Treat your magnets with care before embarkation day. I kept our magnets in the homemade cardboard folder it came in, so when I stuck them in my travel backpack, it curled the ends, making them difficult to stick to our door. I saw other people decorate their doors with Christmas lights and stockings using these magnetic hooks.
Skip participating in gift exchanges like Fish Extenders. If you're researching or booking your first Disney Cruise, you've probably heard about the Fish Extenders gift exchange program. According to dclfan.com, Fish Extenders was created in 2005 as a way for passengers to get to know each other. Passengers sign up in Facebook Groups or message boards to participate, then bring gifts and place them in participants' fish extenders. This mailbox-type contraption hangs from your stateroom door number depicted by a fish, hence the name "fish extender." After I learned more about the Fish Extenders gift exchange, I decided it was best to skip participating on our first cruise. One of the main reasons we decided to skip the gift exchange was that we had travel plans before and after the cruise, limiting our luggage space. I didn't want to feel stressed about finding or making gifts before our trip. We saw a few family staterooms with fish extenders, which were so cute! I'm glad I skipped participating in the gift exchange for the sake of my mental health. Now that I know more about the program and how it works, I might want to participate in it on our next Disney Cruise.
Pack different remedies to manage motion sickness. One of the things I was most worried about as a first-time cruiser was my motion sickness, which is hit-or-miss. I researched a lot about motion sickness on cruise ships and settled on buying three different remedies to treat and prevent motion sickness. I bought the FridaMom Anti-Nausea Bands to prevent nausea from motion sickness (the bands worked well!) and Less Drowsy Dramamine and hard ginger candy (I like Upspring Stomach Settle) to treat my motion sickness. I don’t recommend the Less Drowsy Dramamine because although I slept well the first night, I felt groggy and slept most of the next day. One of our rotational dining tablemates is an avid cruiser who experiences motion sickness, and she recommended Bonine because it’s non-drowsy.
Don’t opt out of sharing a table during rotational dining. This tip is for kid-free Disney Cruise passengers. Disney Cruise has rotational dining, where you rotate eating at the onboard sit-down restaurants for dinner each night. Disney Cruise Line sits you with other passengers on the cruise for rotational dining, and you’ll eat dinner with them throughout the cruise. You can request a single table for your party, but I recommend sitting with others on your first cruise. We all know it’s hard to make friends as adults, and this is the perfect opportunity to make friends. We sat with two couples: newlyweds and avid Disney cruisers from Arizona and teen-free parents from Northern California. We got off well and had so much fun eating, talking, and playing trivia with them. The newlyweds knew a lot about cruising with Disney and the parks and inspired us to do the Disney Cruise to Alaska next!
Take advantage of the onboard activities (BINGO, trivia, etc.) Port adventures and exclusive onboard classes are booked based on seniority. The more you cruise with Disney Cruise Line, the earlier you get to book. As first-time cruisers, we missed out on booking the alcohol tastings and the good port adventures, and I was afraid we would be bored the entire cruise. But there’s so much to do onboard! Every day there are activities like character meet-and-greets, movies, trivia, BINGO, and more! There’s even an exclusive adults-only area of the ship with bars and hilarious late-night game shows. If all else fails, you could always relax and take a nap.
Make a reservation to eat at Palo. Another friend went on a couple of Disney Cruises with her husband and recommended we eat at Palo. Palo is an exclusive adults-only Italian restaurant onboard the ship. It’s very popular, and you need to make reservations as soon as your window to book dining reservations, and port adventures are available. (It’s usually a couple of weeks after you pay your cruise off in full.) The food there is amazing! There’s a pre-fixe menu and an ala carte menu. We ordered from the ala carte menu, and everything tasted delicious! The chef and staff treated us to a few extra surprises, which was nice. There is a new, more relaxed dress code (jeans with no holes, a blouse for women or a collared shirt for men, and lifestyle shoes), which we opted for, but if I could do it again, I would wear a dress and heels.
Get in line early for character meet and greets. One of my favorite things about Disney is the character meet and greets, and I was so frustrated with how long the lines to meet characters were. (The lines to meet characters on a Disney Cruise are twice as long as the lines in the parks.) Check the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app for character meet-and-greet times, and get in line about 10-15 minutes before then.
Dress up for Pirates Night. Pirates Night is a dinner and fireworks show inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean. Captain Jack Sparrow and his crew of rebel pirates take over the Disney Cruise Line ship, and Mickey steps in to save the day. I saw from YouTube videos we watched that people go all out on Pirates Night, and I regret not dressing up now that our cruise is over. Disney Cruise Line gives you a Pirates of the Caribbean head scarf, but it's not as fun as dressing up like a pirate. If we didn't have plans before and after our Disney Cruise, I would've had more room in our luggage to pack an outfit for Pirates Night.
Find purchased Disney Cruise photos online. Angel and I purchased a few photos from our cruise and needed help locating them after we debarked from the ship. I asked our Facebook Group for help and immediately got an answer! Log in to your Disney Cruise account > click Already Booked in the menu > My Cruise Photos, and you'll find the photos you took with the Disney Cruise photographers there.
If you don’t see your question answered in the blog post above, please comment, email, or DM me on Instagram, @disneywithdaorozcos your questions, and I'll try my best to answer them!
