How to Prep for Disney Cruise?

Bring sunblock with you. You can find it on sale at home. It will be twice as much on the ship and three times as much on the islands.

Bring an empty(!!) water bottle. A half liter or 1 liter water bottle will be $5+ on the ship or on shore. You can fill your empty bottle on the ship. Have enough room in your suitcase so that you can bring back souvineers.

Bargain with the shop owners on the islands. Thats their culture. If you don't bargain with them you will pay almost twice as much and will be looked down on by the locals.

Good luck to you and yours. (We had a wonderful time on our Bahamas cruises.)

Goodness where could I start! We love love love Disney cruises! We have been on several. First off I would suggest joining dis boards… www.disboards.com and find your cruise date and make friends! Join them if they are doing a secret mickey! It is one of the best parts of the cruise! You will need to get a door hanger that you can hang from your fish clip and put everyones name on it! Dis boards have a ton of pics! The point is that almost every night you will have a little present put in it from someone. We have done one where people put something from their state/country and them a few that it as just whatever. If you join the dollar store is a great place to get little trinkets! The next thing depends on your son…. But please sign him up for the kids club before you board! I know a lot of families go in thinking that this is a family cruise and they want to spend all their time with family… But the kids club is FANTASTIC! My son went in when they opened right after we left port and we had to drag him out for bed! He woke up the next morning shoved breakfast into his tummy and he was off again for the entire day. I missed him but when we saw what he got to do I decided this was his vacation also so he had lunch at the club and we drug him out for family dinner and he was right back in! They will give you a pager and he is allowed to page you just to say he is ok… he loves you or he is ready to come out! My daughter was very shy and one our first two cruises she was in flounders so she wasn’t in much but once she could go into the clubs she was timid the first time and stuck with her brothers but when we went to pick them up she was off with some girls, a few princesses and dressed up!
As for what to bring. An over the door shoe holder, you know one of those plastic ones that are see thru is awesome, we put all the “stuff” in it like suntan lotion, deck of cards, hair brushes… there isn’t much counter space and this way it was all in one place. We also went the rolling duffle bag route because they fold down and go under the bed! There are nice size closets but not huge. We also put two cases of water we bought before the cruise in one bag and by the time the cruise was over we had an extra bag to bring home our souvenirs. There are Soda machines that are on one deck that are free but the cups are small and well 7 days with only soda can be icky! We bought big 32 oz cups and took them with us! Also all room service is free so take advantage of it! We had nightly mickey bars (a must have for the little ones!) and cookies. We also had them deliver some snacky type foods that we took with us when we were at port. Make sure you budget extra money for tips. You will be well taken care of! The servers are with you at all your table meals from the start to finish and they will get to know your family and what they like! We made our kids try everything food wise but some nights they asked for PB &J, its not on the menu but they have it! The biggest “waste” is the pictures they take but let me tell you they are worth the price. I know I contradicted myself there but its true! Every night take a walk to the picture room and find yourself, we piled them and put them in a corner and the last night we took all of them and picked out our best ones. Its such a waste that they print all these pics and then if you don’t buy them they shred them but most cruise lines do this! If you have any other questions please feel free to message me! With 12 disney cruises under our belt Im happy to give you what I know! Enjoy the cruise!
A.

Start getting your fill at buffets NOW to stretch out your stomach...oh, and learn how to disco!

We did a short one about 9 years ago as part of our own land and sea Disney dealy. I always get motion sickness, but even my hubby and in laws did as the waves were pretty big the first night and into the next day on board.

Consider tossing a package of daytime non drowsy motion sickness stuff in there too (something for everyone or the adult and kids versions), just in case.

Same as the poster said about sunscreen...my in laws ended up having to buy it on board (wouldn't take mine and good thing as I had to share with hubby and 8 year old daughter and had just enough to make us fine and dandy for the short trip), and it was 2-3 times as mch as my drug store package.

Think prevention if you can? I also had a small...very small...first aid type kit we ALL used for something. Bandaids for heel blisters or a stubbed toe my 9 year old nephew got, some cortisone cream for my dd eczema that acted up on her wrist all of a sudden, some benadryl when my MIL got something with a bit of shrimp in it from a buffet (she just gets rashy and uncomfortable and benadryl nips it in the bud...not a killer allergy). Antibiotic first aid gel for a little burn my FIL got when he used the community iron they have on the floors for you to prep nicer dinner clothing, even my sewing kit in a little teency box for a pants button and a sundress hook.

We were prepared and all of it fit into a small make up kit I had laying around.

I also had a little pepto tablets, roll of rolaids/antacids, earplugs, nail clippers, etc, etc. I think almost everything in there was used by one of the 6 of us on our 7 day vacation (land and sea).

We had the option of purchasing a large plastic mug upon arrival to the ship. Wonder if they still do this (remember ours was many years ago)?. They had 3 different color schemes (we had 3 in each of our family sets traveling together), so we paid the high price, figured they were take home keepsakes we could use a while as well (we still ahve 2 we use!). They were free refills on the ship anytime we had them with us (after the intial price paid). So we could get soda, ice tea, milk, lemonade or whatever of those sorts of drinks they offered with these cups.

Not sure how sanitary it was..LOL, but we did wash ours with handsoap several times a day. We also had water bottles with us we refilled for land excursions.

Have fun!

Usually there is a card that you can buy for sodas and such when you first board. Around $50 for unlimited sodas. Buy one. Otherwise, they are $5 a piece.