Disney Cruise Tips 101

Things I wish I knew BEFORE I went on a Disney cruise:

1. All of the stores on board are closed whenever the ship is docked in a port.  So if you arrive on the ship on the first day and don’t have sunscreen, you won’t be able to buy it until the ship leaves the port.  Make sure you have those essentials before you board the ship!
2. Everything is charged to your room key card.  When you buy a drink or a souvenir, they’ll swipe your Key to the World card (similar to the room key cards Disney had before they introduced Magic Bands).  You will not have a chance to pay for purchases with cash in the stores on the ship.  At the end of your cruise, you can go to the guest services desk and ask them to apply Disney gift cards to your tab.  At this time, you can also leave extra gratuities for your servers or attendants if you do not have cash to give them and feel you want to give them something extra.
3. Almost everything on the room service menu is included.  We had second dining, so when we went to our room to freshen up before the evening show, we ordered a large plate of fries and a slice of the cake of the day for each of us to snack on.  It didn’t cost anything, but helped us avoid paying for sodas and popcorn during the show.
   
4. You have to visit the kids clubs before the ship leaves port if you want to see them.  For safety reasons, Disney does not want adults milling around with the kids in the kids clubs.  So if you want to see how cool and fun they are, head there to make sure everything is set and your kids are comfortable before the Sailing Away party.
5. On the day you board, you can sign up for all kinds of different on-board activities.  You can plan spa treatments, drink seminars, character passes, etc.  One of my favorite things we did on the cruise was a mixology class.  You can read more about that by checking out my post about drinking on a Disney cruise.
   
6. There is a huge character palooza of sorts in the main lobby on the last night of the cruise.  This is the perfect time to meet Mickey, Minnie, princesses (without a pass), Chip and Dale, etc.  Since it was rather late in the evening, the lines were super short and it was a very cute little last-night show as the characters left.
7. When you order food at the sit-down restaurants, you order all of your courses at the same time and you are welcome to order more than one of each if you want to do so.  The food was excellent and I indulged in more than a few desserts during our voyage.  Be sure to check out the soft-serve ice cream machines and the crepe station if you want a late-night snack!
8. The Disney cruise app makes using you phone the easiest way to find out what’s going on – and as long as you have it on airplane mode it doesn’t cost you anything.  When you leave the port, make sure your phone is on airplane mode, but go ahead and turn the wi-fi on.  The ships have intranet wi-fi which allows you to see which characters will be out for autographs and pictures all the time.  You’ll also be able to check and see which restaurants are serving a sit-down breakfast and lunch each day in case you don’t want to eat at Cabanas every day.
9. Sometimes the best strategy on the elevator is to go down to go up.  Especially on the larger ships, like the Dream, we have found that during peak times it can be tough to get on an elevator going the right direction.  So we would hop on an empty one that was going down and just stay on it until it went back up to our floor.
   
10. Decorating your door is a big deal!  The doors are magnetic, but you’ll need a pretty strong magnet, in order for your decorations to stick to them.  You can do something simple, such as laminated printed Disney characters or round shapes with your names on them.  Or you can do something more elaborate.  For some great ideas, check out my blog post about decorating Disney cruise ship doors.
11. If you book 100% of your trip with a Disney Chase Visa card, you are eligible to receive a $50 on-board credit.  But they will not automatically give it to you – you (or your amazing travel agent) will have to request it!

A few things you will be glad to have on your Disney cruise:

1. A lanyard – it will make keeping track of your Key to the World card SO much easier.  Tons of parents were yelling at their kids for losing their cards multiple times… it’s easier for them to just wear their lanyard. You can buy them on the ship, but you’ll pay Disney prices… If you book through a Wishdrawals agent (like me) we’ll send you one for each person who is cruising as part of your cruise gifts!
2. Cash – small bills are useful for tipping.
3. Dramamine – but if you need it, there’s a sundries shop where you can buy more.  It’s recommended that you take Dramamine one hour before boarding the ship.  If you find that you don’t need it, you can stop taking it.  But for yourself (and kids) it can be tough to shake off feeling seasick once it starts.  I did not need it – even when the seas were at their “roughest”, but everyone is different.
4. Bring a wide-mouthed water bottle for filling at the drink stations.
5. Swimsuit cover-up – since you will probably have to ride an elevator and walk through air-conditioned rooms when you are going to and from the pool and/or beach.  You (and your kids) will be glad to have something to wrap up in as you walk through the ship.  You won’t need to have your own beach towels on the ship and Castaway Cay, but if you are stopping in other ports, you may be glad to have your own.
6. A waterproof camera – for pictures at the pool and on Castaway Cay.  There are statues of Mickey and Minnie underwater to snorkel for and tons of fish that you can swim with at one of the beaches.  Don’t worry – Castaway Cay is enclosed so sharks cannot get in!