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We have had 2 amazing Disney Cruises and I would go back in a heartbeat but due to the increased costs, I’m not entirely sure when that will be to be fair! I today wanted to share with you 5 things I DISLIKED about our most recent Disney Cruises, some things that are out of Disney’s control entirely some that aren’t.. there are still things that we personally were a little annoyed about, disappointed in or didn’t know until it was too late!
Disney Cruise hint & tips
Disney Cruise gratuities
It’s worth noting that these don’t have to be paid but it is customary to ‘tip’ over in America in recognition of good service which you do get on board a Disney Cruise so obviously we do however the fact you have to
It’s calculated per guest per night of the Cruise and covers your server ($4), your servers assistant ($3), your head server ($1) and stateroom host ($4) at the very least.
You should also expect an 18% gratuity to be added to any Spa service and anywhere you create a ‘tab’ with discretionary gratuities that cover dining manager, room service, signature restaurants & any port adventures.
You can pay the gratuities when you pay your remaining balance which is something I will seriously consider doing next time. I believe we will receive the same high standard of service either way we do it but it will just allow us to budget the full cost of the trip rather than getting the bill at the end of the cruise and realising either you still need to pay x-amount of money on the last day of the trip or you know you will get home to a credit card bill with the full amount.
Shops onboard are closed when the ship is in port
Sometimes you don’t want to get off the ship when it’s in port; well don’t expect to shop! The stores are closed when the ship is docked due to local
The Rainforest Spa costs!
It’s to be expected that you pay for treatments in the spa but I didn’t expect to be charged to just enter the spa and sit on their seats, have a sensory shower or relax in their steam room! You can get day/week passes but I still
One place you can go to relax on the ship for free is the Adult area .. there are no children around, they have their own small pool and it’s a lovely place to just chill!
Disney Cruise fireworks are too late!
Not all itineraries include fireworks and/or Pirate Night but the 3n & 4n Bahamas cruise we’ve been on have an evening where we are all ‘Pirates IN the Caribbean’. There are two pirate shows featuring the ‘fab 5’ (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald & Daisy) early on in the evening with a MASSIVE break of nearly 2 hours before the fireworks at sea at 10:30pm!
I originally thought the fireworks show on our May cruise were after 10pm because it got dark later in the Bahamas but then when they were on at the same time in November and it was dark a lot earlier I realised that that wasn’t the reason at all!?
Because we have small children we have early dining meaning we have dinner around 5 and early breakfast around 8am because the kids are kids that get up early whatever time they go to sleep! Ours aren’t the only ones that can’t make it to 10:30pm either…. in comparison to a few hours earlier at the Pirate party there are very few kids out on deck watching the fireworks which is such a shame!
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You make it sound like these (non)issues are only Disney Cruise ones. Not so.
-Gratuities: Um. Yeah. Whatever. I don’t see the problem – (other than the cruise lines should pay the cast members more and not have a gratuity.) -All cruise lines
-Shops closing: Tax law demand that onboard concessions close down when the ship is in territorial waters, so when you come into port, ship stores will be closed. -All cruise lines
-Paying to enter the spa: All of the cruise lines charge for this – even the cheapo Carnival. They are all run by One Spa Corp and are about the same.
-Fireworks shows are too late for kids: I was just on the Magic in November. The pirate show started at 7:30 and fireworks right after and were over by 8:15 – just in time for second seating dinner. (https://disneycruiselineblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Personal-Navigators-Magic-6N-REPO-Day-4-At-Sea-20181127.pdf)
-Getting off: I couldn’t get off my Carnival cruise fast enough. I’ll pay the premium and do Disney anytime. Not even a big fan of Princess, Norwegian or Royal Caribbean (talk about extra fees!).
Cheers!
I can’t comment on other cruise lines as we haven’t been on any cruise other than Disney 🙂
I mentioned that it is to do with the law re the closing of the stores… it’s still annoying and something that I disliked because not everyone gets off the ship when it’s in port… we didn’t want to get off in Nassau.
Obviously each trip is different because the Fireworks on San Diego one is also late for children.. I don’t like the idea of not knowing when they are going to be… you don’t know until you are onboard which is disappointing 🙁
I believe the primary reason for the fireworks being late is that the late dining time is 8 pm. That means that they are going to be in dinner until about 9:30. On our recent Disney Cruise on the Wonder, we were told that the pirate party began at 9:45 and it did. I believe all Disney cruises have the time in the Navigator, and the phone app.
Gratuities, shops and spa costs— yes, those are issues on ALL cruises. You can pre-pay gratuities and a professional travel agent would advise of that option. The lack of shopping in port is frustrating, but that is totally out of the cruise line’s control.
One of the positive aspects of Disney over most family cruises is that they do not charge for soft drinks. That is one of my pet peeves with all but the luxury lines.
Yes they do you are correct but you don’t find out about times until you are actually on the ship which is a little annoying. We have never been on any other cruise but Disney so can only comment on what they offer and my opinions of it. We don’t book through TA’s over here in the UK as they are over inflated.. we do it ourselves via Disney or a US TA we’ve used once in the past but it was easier to just book when we wanted to. I will look at pre-paying gratuties for sure next time though! Thanks for your heads up about the soft drinks too.. thats crazy that they charge!]
The DisneyBlog has an archive of past Personal Navigators. (https://disneycruiselineblog.com/category/cruise-planning/personal-navigators/) The times for upcoming events ‘should’ be close to past ones. One-off itineraries are a little more challenging. 🙂
All cruise ships are required to close their shops and casino in port! This is common knowledge!
Best what you can get from drinks , is Water !