Tag Archives: caribbean cruise

Disney Cruise Line Packing Tips

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Dear highly intelligent reader, we know that you can choose your clothes with no problem for your cruise.  That part is usually tricky to be general, because you have to dress for your cruise.  We know you wouldn’t dress for an Alaskan sailing the same way you would a Caribbean cruise.  So here are some other items you may want to consider packing, what to leave at home and what you should carry on for your cruise.

What to bring on  your cruise:

USB plug- This is a simple 2 prong plug that can charge multiple USB devices.  A true must have for the modern family especially on vacation with limited wall outlets.

Refillable Mugs- if you are coming from Walt Disney World bring your mug along.  If you aren’t then consider packing an insulated mug or cup for each person.  I found this nice to carry around since mine had handles which made it easy to carry multiple cups at the same time.  Plus I could carry around a hot beverage and it would stay hot longer, same with the iced drinks too.  What else can the cups do?  Well if you have extra glasses or sunglasses these mugs are perfect for transporting the glasses while you are in transit.

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Soapy Sponges- I know, I know.  You will want a dry sponge and coat it in dish soap.  Let it air dry a day or two then cut it into smaller pieces.  The pieces can go in a baggie and you have something to clean those refillable mugs, or sippy cups or whatever else you bring along.  Then when you’ve used it up, go ahead and toss it.  This is a must for me because I switch from coffee in the morning to water later so I need to get the cup washed out.

Sunscreen- You can purchase on the ship but save yourself big bucks and bring your own.

Bug Spray- You will probably not need it on the ship but if you are getting off the ship you will want to make sure you are covered in this area too.

Sweater/Jacket- this applies more to the warm weather cruises, but the temperatures can drop at night and the dining rooms can be downright chilly at dinner.  I like to stick with basic black, navy or white so I can wear it more than once saving room in my luggage.

Beer or Wine- Yep you can bring that too!  Check out the alcohol policy first but it is pretty nice to be able to enjoy a beverage or two while you relax on your verandah.

Dressy Clothes- You may not have a formal night on your cruise, but you can get some great family picture when everyone is relaxed and having a great time.  The dressier clothes just add some classiness to the cruise.

Gum- if you are a gum chewer you will need to bring your own!

Highlighters- Ideally you will want one color for each person in your party.  You can use these to highlight activities in your Daily Navigator that you want to do.  The colors can help you all differentiate who wants to do which activity.  Much easier than circling then trying to figure out who want to do that (not that I would know anything about that, ha).

Extra batteries- you will be taking a lot of pictures!  If you are using a camera other than your phone you will want to make sure you have plenty of juice to take those amazing photos.

What to pack in your carry on when getting on the cruise ship:

If is it before the time when stateroom are open you may have some time where you will be unable to access your luggage.  It is always a good idea to have a small bag, backpack or carry on luggage until the time when the staterooms are open.

Swimsuit- The best time to get in the pools and on the water slides right is as you get on the ship.  Or even better wear your swimsuit under your clothes and take extra clothes in your carry on.  Towels are provided by the pools.

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Medication- VERY important, always keep this in your carry on.  You never know when luggage services may be delayed so it is key to keep this with you!

Valuables- Jewelry, electronics and any other thing of value should be in your carry on just to be safe!

Sunscreen- It might be worth packing this into your carry on baggage especially if you are hitting up the pool areas.

Extra clothes- Especially with children it is nice to have a change of clothes available in emergencies. Or if you an adult like me who seems to spill things at the worst possible times.

Chargers- Whether you have an external battery source or plan to plug into the outlet this is something that can be helpful to have.

What to leave at home:

Hard liquor- Sorry friends, Disney no longer allows this.  And we wouldn’t recommend trying to sneak it on.  They will find it!

Power Strips- This is on the banned list from DCL.  Go ahead and bring that USB outlet and leave this one at home.

Hanging Organizers- These can damage doors, so unless you have a large party with a lot of small items in tow, this is something you can leave behind.

Snacks- No reason to bring food unless you are on a special diet.  You can get food at all hours of the day and night in the many dining rooms, quick service areas, and room service.  You will not go hungry!

Beach Towels- Disney provides beach towels at each pool area and they are always plentiful.  Of course if you find you want the really oversized towels then by all means bring one.  But this is definitely a waste of space.

Too many clothes- Disney Cruise Line has washers, dryers, laundry soap, irons and large sinks available for guest use.  I believe I paid $3 to do a load of laundry which is downright cheap for Disney.  Just know that you can do a quick load and not waste any time of your vacation and save you the headache of over packing!

As always we want to hear what you think is important for packing for a Disney Cruise!

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Jillian’s DCL Trip Report- Day 4

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After going strong for a few days we slept in this morning.  And dear reader, please forgive me I didn’t take many pictures today. Plus with it being a sea day we knew we had nowhere to be. Breakfast as at Beach Blanket Buffet with your typical buffet food: eggs, Mickey waffles, bacon, sausage, donuts, yogurt, cereal. I personally loved the corned beef hash and chocolate croissants with lots of fresh fruit and coffee.

As usual Petra was back to the kids club and I opted to do “Disney’s Innovations: Theme Parks”. This was put on by Briana who talked about things in Disney Parks that were completely innovative at the time. They were things like a single entry point, hub and spoke set up, single ticket and others. The room was filled by your classic Disney nerds, people like me who are always wanting to learn more about the interesting history of Disney. We were able to ask the Cast Member questions after and I talked to some other guests who were cast members at Walt Disney World.

Next I dragged my family to Wonder Quest. This is an interactive scavenger hunt where your group is given a number and the first person to bring the Cast Member the item he is asking for gets 3 points, the next 2 and everyone else before time is up gets 1. This was a lot of fun even if we didn’t win.

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By this time it was getting close to lunch and so we had Beach Blanket Buffet again then did some more swimming. Do you see a pattern? My daughter pretty much adored going to the kids clubs and swimming! So after our swim we got an appointment for her to have her hair braided and she was ready to go back to the kids club.

With her off doing her own thing it was time for me to check out the “Art of the Theme Show Tour”. We started in Palo and were lead by Mark around the ship taking in all the little details. If you want to know more about the ship you are on like the style, little details or lesser known thing I would suggest you take a similar tour. The ships are a lot like the parks where you have to look up and down and all around and you might be pleasantly surprised at the little things you see that others miss. Mark was very knowledgeable about Disney and I really enjoyed talking to him. While I did this my husband signed up for a beer tasting class. The cost was $15 and it included a very nice cup to take home with you. We both finished up and it was time to get Petra and get her to Deck 9 for her hair braiding appointment. If you have never had it done before, my 5 year old says it does hurt a bit, but she loves the outcome so she suffers through. I believe it was a few dollars per braid.IMG_0814

This was our formal night and were had dinner at Triton’s. So we all went back to get dressed up! We thought ahead and decided to use our dress clothes for our formal dinner and then hang them back up to wear again for our Palo night. This saved us having to pack two nice outfits when we were just wearing them for a total of 4 hours. For dinner I had the breaded and baked brie, farmhouse salad, duck comfit and a dessert trio. Petra had macaroni and cheese (she is a creature of habit!) and a Mickey bar. Chelsey had shrimp, duck comfit, and a chocolate mousse. And I will tell you it was delicious! It was probably one of my favorite meals for the trip.

Per usual Petra was ready to go back to the kids club and off she went. We decided to take a break in the Cadillac Lounge for Music and Martinis with Tom Moss. We did indeed have martinis and listened to some amazing piano music. He played a combination of Christmas and pop music and we enjoyed relaxing a bit. Soon it was time to get Petra though because tonight was the first night she was going to see a show!


We topped off our night with “The Golden Mickey’s”. This is an “awards” show that a backstage cast member takes on even though she doesn’t want to. It was a cute show about conquering your fears but done in the amazing Disney way. Plus you get to see your classic characters throughout the show.

Tomorrow was another exciting day, Castaway Cay and Palo were on deck! Would they live up to my expectations?

Jillian’s DCL Trip Report- Day 3

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If you haven’t read Day 1 or Day 2 check them out!

The third day of our cruise we all woke up nice and early! I apparently wasn’t alone in my “I can’t sleep at Disney” mode.  We were already in port at Cozumel, Mexico. This day we had planned for a special character meet and greet, the Disney Junior characters. This meet had Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins, and Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. If you have a kid under seven years old this is one meet and greet you will not want to miss out on. So again get those tickets first thing when you get on the ship. My daughter was wearing a custom Sofia-inspired dress and Sofia thought that was the bee’s knees! Doc and Jake were great as well and this is a great place to meet these characters as they only appear at Hollywood Studios so it is a rare thing to meet them in the parks.


After our morning meet we went to breakfast at Triton’s. This restaurant ended up being one of my favorites. It was just so pretty and the food and service were exceptional. I had eggs benedict, Petra had Mickey Waffles and Chelsey had something, probably food, but I didn’t snap a picture so I am just guessing.

After breakfast, Petra was wanting to visit the Oceaneer’s Club, but at this time there was an Open House which means you can come and play but parents have to stay with the children. We walked in and she said she wanted to color so we went in and to our surprise there were some princesses in there. Cinderella, Ariel and Tiana were just hanging out coloring with kids. Peter Pan soon joined them and we had a lot of fun just chatting. We learned that Michigan is the first star to the right according to Peter Pan. Soon, a Youth Activities Cast Member asked if they wanted to play Memory Wall. It is basically the game Memory with Disney characters but played on the wall instead of the floor. Petra thought this was pretty neat too as she got to really interact with the princesses and Peter Pan. It was absolutely hands down my favorite part of our cruise. I was probably more excited than the kid.

We decided to drop Petra off at the Oceaneer’s Lab and we would go check out Quiet Cove-the adult’s only pool. I will say it was a cool day but that wasn’t stopping me from getting in the pool and I had the thing to myself! It was quiet and empty and the loungers are beautifully padded. I could have stayed all day long. It was pretty glorious to be on a cruise ship of a couple thousand people and be the only one in a pool. But my kid apparently wanted to swim too so a quick stop to the kids club to pick her up and then another to the room and we were at the Goofy pool watching Aladdin while we paddled around in the very full pool. Not nearly as fun as having it to oneself but the movie made up for it.

The day before we settled on the Ocean View Explorer Tour.   This tour is for all ages, last 2-2.5 hours and costs $47 for adults and $36 for kids 0-9. Our excursion started at 11:45am and we met in Promenade Lounge for our excursion to leave. When they called our group up they also told us the sea was pretty rough so they said we could take the anti-nausea medication and we did pick up two packets just in case. We went off the ship and were immediately greeted by the excursion company employee, Adrian who gathered us all up and walked us to the pier where we were met by our tour guide whose name eludes me. He broke us into groups of 8 and loaded us into taxis. The taxi ride to and from was also included in the price of the excursion. We rode a short way towards another pier and were soon boarding our mini-submarine. You are in a boat about four feet underwater and you take a tour around Paradise Reef. First we went to a shallower reef and we circled it twice so that each side of the boat could see it. After that we went out a little further and again circled it twice.


Once we were done we headed back to the pier. There was a person who took pictures before we got on the boat and when were returned they were selling a framed copy. My daughter refused to look at the camera so we didn’t opt to purchase it. We then loaded onto taxis and returned to our pier. Instead of getting right back on the ship we did a little shopping and walking around. So what did I think of this excursion? I think it was very nice! I liked how it was great for all ages, it was affordable, I didn’t have to pack a backpack full of extra clothes, towels sunscreen and so on. It was short and sweet but so neat! We saw a ton of neat fish and even a giant eagle stingray! I would recommend this one to people with young kids in particular. It is not outside a lot which can help if it is hot or really sunny. The only downside we had was it was pretty rough seas so that made us all feel a little weird even after taking the medication.


On our way back to the ship I walked under something that was dripping grease, I have no idea but the ground was super slippery and I almost fell too so it was time to get back. The laundry was really close to our room so I decided to do a quick load of laundry. I am not one who likes to do laundry on vacations on purpose but it worked out well! It cost $3 including the soap and you can use your key to the world card to pay for it. No one else was there so I had my pick of machines. In the laundry there is also a large sink for rinsing and ironing boards and irons for communal use! So don’t be afraid to take that nice shirt or dress for formal night.

After our excursion we had a late lunch of pizza, hot dogs and drinks. Petra again wanted to go to the kid’s club and they did an activity called “Hats off to Peter Pan” where she met him again. She didn’t last long and soon she wanted to swim so we let her go in the Mickey pool where she made lots of new friends while we tried to stay warm on deck. Soon it was time to get dressed and ready for dinner.  Don’t laugh I am a northerner but it was chilly and the pool emptied quickly.

This night we were at Parrott Cay again but with a different menu. This dinner was much better than the previous night but we were all pretty tired from the medication and busy day. I had the Tuna Salad, artichoke dip, and Creole Crusted Grouper, Petra stuck with macaroni and cheese and Chelsey had a St. Maarten Stack and Slow Roasted Prime Rib. For dessert Petra had a Mickey Bar, I had a warm sticky date pudding and Chelsey went with a sorbet.

After dinner we split up again, Petra to the club (who is shocked?) I went to the gift shop and Chelsey went for a martini. But we were soon together again, tonight was “Toy Story: the Musical” and I knew we would all like it. Who doesn’t love a stage show with singing featuring some of your favorite Disney characters? She said this was her favorite show and I will admit it was a very close second to being my favorite. It was just so adorable! They really make the shows so that the entire family can see them down the littlest ones so they are well worth taking in! And really who doesn’t love to eat popcorn and listen to your favorite sarcastic potato.

Not related to the content but we were all so tired we were about falling asleep during this show so we went straight back to our room since we were all pretty much exhausted and were out in no time at all.  We had another full sea day ahead!  I’m sure you can guess there will be more swimming, kids clubs and food!