If you know me or read this blog or listen to any of my podcasts regularly, you know that when I get into something I really get into it. While my current obsession is the wonderful country of Japan, I’m having this issue where I can’t stop thinking about Disney Cruise Line. I know, you either love it or hate it, but I love it so wanted to get some things off my chest about why I love Disney Cruise Line. These may not be the best things about Disney Cruise Line (to everyone at least), but they are things I love the most.
What got me thinking about Disney Cruise Line after returning from Japan was Disney’s announcement of Summer 2020 itineraries (Disney is going to Greece!). They’re bookable today, Monday March 4th, if you’re Platinum, March 5th if you’re Gold, March 6th if you’re Silver, and on Thursday, March 7th for the general public.
So, here are some reasons I think Disney Cruise Line is special.
Disney Cruise Line crew members take great care of guests
Obviously, if you work in hospitality, you’re expected to be hospitable. I find that Disney Cruise Line crew members are a notch above when it comes to taking care of guests and their needs. Regardless of whether you’re in the most expensive concierge stateroom or an inside stateroom down on the second deck of the ship, you’ll be treated like a VIP.
Across my two trips on Disney Cruise Line, I have yet to come across a Disney crew member that I wouldn’t give a 9/10 or above. Vacationing can often be stressful, but aside from the hectic nature of embarkation day, Disney Cruise Line just lets me relax. That’s in large part because of how hard the crew works to take care of my family and myself.
On both our cruises, our stateroom attendants were superstars. They always made sure we had what we needed (especially for the kids) and they also handled a variety of (self inflicted) cleaning issues we had in our cabins. It’s great to know that your room will be cleaned and when it will be cleaned. It’s even better to feel like you don’t have to worry about anything on your vacation.
Rotational dining takes the stress out of mealtime
Speaking of not worrying, Disney Cruise Line’s rotational dining system makes dining a pleasure. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept (which has since been adopted by other cruise lines), you have the same serving team rotate with you throughout your cruise. So you have the same servers every single night at dinner if you dine in the main restaurants.
While this works really well for your average family, rotational dining really shines when you’re dealing with food allergies. Not only do the restaurants do a great job handling allergies, but since you get to know your servers so well they can get you food faster and more efficiently. Again, this really helps with stress because you don’t have to worry about what you or your family is going to eat. You can even pre-order meals the night before.
And I, of course, am just happy that I have a Diet Coke sitting at my table when I arrive for dinner every night.
Disney Cruise Line’s entertainment options are awesome
One thing I love most about Disney Cruise Line is their onboard entertainment. For starters, you can have your fill of movies at pretty much anytime of the day. There’s an extensive on demand selection you can watch from your stateroom if you don’t want to leave your cabin. But there also are movie theaters and movies showing on the “Funnelvision” (a gigantic screen on the top deck by the pool). Best of all, movies release on Disney Cruise Line at the same time as they release in theaters so you can watch the latest films – especially useful for busy parents. Who of us hasn’t spent thousands of dollars to “save” $15 on a movie? 🙂
Beyond the movies, there’s lots of adult entertainment and bars if you’re into that scene. But where Disney Cruise Line really shines is in their live entertainment. Disney’s shows, which are mainly based off of Disney movies (though many have stories of their own), are as close as you’ll get to Broadway without going to New York City. The singing and acting in my experience matches Broadway, but the sets come a little short. You’re on a boat, after all.
That being said, the more recent shows, Frozen and Beauty and the Beast, have done some really creative things with puppets to round out the experience. These shows are not to be missed and really enhance the overall experience of the cruise.
Your kids will be well taken care of on the cruise
Shockingly, Disney is pretty awesome with kids! From the kids clubs, to character greetings, to restaurants like Animator’s Palate where animation comes to life, your kids will not be bored on Disney Cruise Line. They’ve even been improving their options for older kids – we ran into a bunch of tweens who had become good friends on our last night (causing a ruckus, those kids! I jest).
I’ve waited until the back half of this post to talk about the family aspect of Disney Cruise Line, but for families, I think it’s something you should try at least once. And since you can use stuff like City National Bank or Citi Thank You points, the cruise can be more affordable than you might think. Also, if you’re a family of five like ours, you can’t even fit your whole family into a cabin on Royal Caribbean, so the cost difference gets a lot smaller.
Final Thoughts
This is sort of a silly post since if you read to the end, you’re probably already interested in Disney Cruise Line. And if you’re not interested, you probably closed the post immediately. But, thanks for indulging me, I really enjoy writing about Disney Cruise Line. If you’re on the fence, I definitely recommend it and I’d recommend getting in early if you’re thinking about summer 2020. My daughter enjoys Disney Cruise Line more than Disney World itself and my wife prefers it too. If you enjoy Disney but don’t enjoy the stress of Disney World, maybe DCL more fits the bill.
If you’re interested in getting a better feel for what Disney cruises feel like, I’d highly recommend the DCL Podcast – one of only two Disney Cruise Line podcasts that I know exist and the only one that releases content regularly. And note I didn’t even mention Castaway Cay, Disney’s amazing private island. You get a lot of great experiences on DCL!
Do you have experience with Disney Cruise Line? I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Feel free to tell me why I’m wrong. 🙂
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Featured image by David Roark courtesy of dclnews.com
My family prefers DCL over the parks as well! We went on our 7th cruise in January. However, our next cruise is on Royal Caribbean. Our kids are getting older and they are intrigued with all the recreation on RCCL.
Ice skating and stuff like that does seem pretty cool…
Do you book a suite or two conjoining rooms with 5 total? We also have 3 kids and it seems exorbitantly priced as a family of 5. Any thoughts? 😎
The only way to make it feel un-exorbitant is to go during school times or off times. We like to book two adjoining rooms but I think as the kids get older we might combine into one (needed a separate one for the baby). It isn’t cheap, but paying for the cruise partially with points really takes the sting off (which I do almost every time)