Disney Cruise Adult only party-Worth the premium over other lines?

[mevelandry]

I am sure I will be cruising with DCL long after my kids reach 18, but that is because I love Disney, and I genuinely like children (including other people's children). But I do think, contrary to what a lot of others might say, that the latter is important to enjoying yourself on a Disney cruise. There is another post right now that includes a discussion of people in adult areas being annoyed when kids encroach on their space, and DCL not really enforcing the adult only rules. Also, unless you can get a Palo or Remy rez for every night of your cruise (and are willing to pay the upcharge), there will be LOTS of kids in the main dining room and buffet. I don't mind when kids are running around the tables or being loud, but I know that drives some people nuts. The theater is also kid friendly--there will be kids crying at the loud/scary bits, kids leaving early from meltdowns, kids singing along to songs, etc.

As others have said, this all can be minimized somewhat by picking itineraries during times that are inconvenient for school (e.g., September) or routes that don't really appeal to families (e.g. Canada). But I have heard people say you can go on a Disney cruise and never notice children are on board, and I think that's a bit of an overstatement. My sister for instance is one of those people that just really can't be happy when she is in the vicinity of what she calls children being annoying little brats, and what I call kids being kids. She would hate a Disney cruise.

My country is not appealing to families?

We may not have blue water and pristine beaches, nor 90 degrees year round but it's really nice and safer than most Caribbean Islands and most USA's cities. That's a shame.

 

[bobbiwoz]

My 23 year old son has always wanted to do a Disney cruise, but I'm not convinced. We like balconies, and Disney is really expensive compared to other mainstream lines. What are your thoughts about a Disney cruise for an adult only party? Worth it or not? Why or why not? I'd love to hear your opinion.

Try a 4 night cruise. I think that would be a way to find out.

 

[cadien]

My country is not appealing to families?

We may not have blue water and pristine beaches, nor 90 degrees year round but it's really nice and safer than most Caribbean Islands and most USA's cities. That's a shame.

We've taken our son to Winnipeg twice this year, including last weekend, and he loves it. But it's really not different enough to be a capital V vacation country. People with kids generally want beaches. The east coast cruises that end up in Montreal and Quebec are geared very much for adults, even with the excursions.

 

[mmmears]

My country is not appealing to families?

We may not have blue water and pristine beaches, nor 90 degrees year round but it's really nice and safer than most Caribbean Islands and most USA's cities. That's a shame.

I’d love to cruise to Eastern Canada. I think the main issue for families is that the DCL cruises there don’t begin until after school starts, or at least that’s a frequent complaint I see online. Also yes lots of people seem to want a good beach.

 

[MomOTwins]

My country is not appealing to families?

We may not have blue water and pristine beaches, nor 90 degrees year round but it's really nice and safer than most Caribbean Islands and most USA's cities. That's a shame.

I was just going off comments I saw on this board that said there were virtually no children at all on the Canada cruises on the magic this year. Nothing against Canada myself. I suspect it is the combination of cold weather and start of the school year, rather than Canada itself, that resulted in the low kiddie turnout.

 

[mevelandry]

We've taken our son to Winnipeg twice this year, including last weekend, and he loves it. But it's really not different enough to be a capital V vacation country. People with kids generally want beaches. The east coast cruises that end up in Montreal and Quebec are geared very much for adults, even with the excursions.

I guess it depends where you chose to go.

 

[Pens Fan]

My country is not appealing to families?

We may not have blue water and pristine beaches, nor 90 degrees year round but it's really nice and safer than most Caribbean Islands and most USA's cities. That's a shame.

I assure you, Canada is quite appealing to our family! We've travelled there so many times (East, West, the Rockies, and all places in between). While our son is an adult now (20), we've taken him to various places in Canada for years. Given a choice between the Caribbean and Canada? Canada would win every time for our family! (and it wouldn't even be close)

 

[southerngirl528]

My country is not appealing to families?

We may not have blue water and pristine beaches, nor 90 degrees year round but it's really nice and safer than most Caribbean Islands and most USA's cities. That's a shame.

As an adult, I would LOVE to see more of our neighbor to the north, Canada! But I do have to agree with the posts below regarding families choices of cruise destination.

We've taken our son to Winnipeg twice this year, including last weekend, and he loves it. But it's really not different enough to be a capital V vacation country. People with kids generally want beaches. The east coast cruises that end up in Montreal and Quebec are geared very much for adults, even with the excursions.

I’d love to cruise to Eastern Canada. I think the main issue for families is that the DCL cruises there don’t begin until after school starts, or at least that’s a frequent complaint I see online. Also yes lots of people seem to want a good beach.

 

[ludari]

I'm a solo adult cruiser and I've sailed on HAL twice before I tried DCL and after eight consecutive Disney Cruises I sailed on RCL and later NCL. Comparing Disney to the other cruises lines I sailed on Disney in my opinion is the best when it comes to service and entertainment which are my two top priorities. I also feel that Disney has the largest staterooms although this is not important to me. Now some of the other cruise lines I've been on have some great features that exceed what Disney currently has. If you not a huge Disney fan and are more interested in the destination, length of cruise and cost then I would say selecting another cruise line might be better especially some of the newer ships out there. Good luck with your decision.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

I was about the age of your son when I started to cruise DCL...this after about 9 Carnival Cruises and a RCCL. I can't see myself going back to any other Cruise Line at least right now. DCL does everything that I like the best. That is entertainment and service. As an adult, I can still find plenty of stuff on DCL that I like to do throughout the day. It's usually my Dad and I that cruise together, and he also really likes DCL. However, he has only done DCL with me for the past several years. If he cruises alone, he goes on Princess. I haven't done a Princess Cruise so have no experience there, but he really likes it.

 

[cruiser21]

We've taken our son to Winnipeg twice this year, including last weekend, and he loves it. But it's really not different enough to be a capital V vacation country. People with kids generally want beaches. The east coast cruises that end up in Montreal and Quebec are geared very much for adults, even with the excursions.

Having just got off of a Canadian cruise on Disney I can say it was very much an older crowd, but so were my Alaska and Hawaii cruises in September. Time of year or destination? I’m going to have to have to go with time of year. If the Canadian cruises were in the Summer they’d be full of kids. It is Disney after all.

 

[mevelandry]

As an adult, I would LOVE to see more of our neighbor to the north, Canada! But I do have to agree with the posts below regarding families choices of cruise destination.

As I said earlier in the thread, it depends what you are doing in Montreal, Quebec, Saguenay, etc. There are a lot to do for kids here but those are unfortunately not necessarily offered as excursions by the cruise lines... So one might have to do their homeworks a little bit. Ex: For Montreal... None of the cruise lines seem to offer a day in La Ronde (It's a Six Flags park. So, it's not Disneyland but it's still extremely nice for kids!) ... Not to mention the Biodôme, Insectarium, Planetarium, the Science Center (extremely kid friendly), Parc Jean Drapeau, skating at Atrium le 1000, iSaute (trampoline park). Quebec City: Aquarium, Galerie de La Capitale Park, Village Vacances Val Cartier... I pretty much never see those listed as excursions, which is sad.

I assure you, Canada is quite appealing to our family! We've travelled there so many times (East, West, the Rockies, and all places in between). While our son is an adult now (20), we've taken him to various places in Canada for years. Given a choice between the Caribbean and Canada? Canada would win every time for our family! (and it wouldn't even be close)

Thank you!

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I am sure I will be cruising with DCL long after my kids reach 18, but that is because I love Disney, and I genuinely like children (including other people's children). But I do think, contrary to what a lot of others might say, that the latter is important to enjoying yourself on a Disney cruise. There is another post right now that includes a discussion of people in adult areas being annoyed when kids encroach on their space, and DCL not really enforcing the adult only rules. Also, unless you can get a Palo or Remy rez for every night of your cruise (and are willing to pay the upcharge), there will be LOTS of kids in the main dining room and buffet. I don't mind when kids are running around the tables or being loud, but I know that drives some people nuts. The theater is also kid friendly--there will be kids crying at the loud/scary bits, kids leaving early from meltdowns, kids singing along to songs, etc.

As others have said, this all can be minimized somewhat by picking itineraries during times that are inconvenient for school (e.g., September) or routes that don't really appeal to families (e.g. Canada). But I have heard people say you can go on a Disney cruise and never notice children are on board, and I think that's a bit of an overstatement. My sister for instance is one of those people that just really can't be happy when she is in the vicinity of what she calls children being annoying little brats, and what I call kids being kids. She would hate a Disney cruise.

I am not sure I agree with all of that. I have yet to see a kid play or try to swim in the adult pools. They DO walk through the area to cross the ship - that's more a problem of the layout of the ship, but they are usually polite, cross reasonably fast and don't cause trouble so I have never had reason to have issue with it.

If you choose second dining, there are FAR less children - I see more young kids at Applebees at home than I do in the MDR during second seating (okay maybe a SLIGHT exaggeration, but really not much of one). Same thing with the theater - most of the kids are eating when you are in the show if you are at second seating.

They ARE at the buffet - nothing you can really do about that. They do every now and then run the halls (but usually someone stops them).

But the way you describe it - kids everywhere, "running around the tables or being loud", "DCL not really enforcing the adult only rules" (I don't expect them to stop kids from crossing the area for legit reasons), kids crying at the loud/scary bits, kids leaving early from meltdowns, kids singing along to songs - etc.

Never happened to me really. At least not to where it was overly noticeable. Worst I have seen are some kids running down halls stealing magnets.