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Thread: Parenting in the Parks: Never Bored On-Board

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    Parenting in the Parks: Never Bored On-Board

    Never Bored On-Board by Adrienne Krock

    The Parenting Panel shares their families' favorite activities on board the ships of the Disney Cruise Line.

    Read it here!


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    Registered User missm's Avatar
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    I have been wanting to go on a cruise for a while now and see that Disney cruises leave from Vancouver now which is awesome. So how does the dining work? Is everything really free? That seems too good to be true.

    "It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then." Alice, Alice in Wonderland

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    Yes, most everything dining wise is "free" or included in the price at least! The only exceptions are alcohol, fancy coffees, smoothies. Sodas are free during meals and at the drink station- you pay for sodas at the bar. There are a few pay snacks, like at the movie theater and through room service, but basically all food in included.

    Dining is assigned on a rotation at dinner time, so you can eat at all the main restaurants. Your servers rotate with you so you have the same wait staff each night. If dining room dining isn't your thing, you can eat at a few quick serve places, buffets and other table service through out the ship. Room service is also free- excluding tip.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mermaid View Post
    Yes, most everything dining wise is "free" or included in the price at least! The only exceptions are alcohol, fancy coffees, smoothies. Sodas are free during meals and at the drink station- you pay for sodas at the bar. There are a few pay snacks, like at the movie theater and through room service, but basically all food in included.
    And, I haven't cruised (yet) but - can't you purchase some beverage packages to include beverages on board?

    I've also heard of people bringing some beverages with them and that's allowed?
    Parenting in the Parks[/url]
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    Quote Originally Posted by adriennek View Post
    And, I haven't cruised (yet) but - can't you purchase some beverage packages to include beverages on board?

    I've also heard of people bringing some beverages with them and that's allowed?
    We haven't done it since our first cruise in 2000 since drinks are included now, but that cruise stopped at Key West and we went onshore and purchased a few 12 packs of soda and hauled them to the ship and stored them in our stateroom.

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    Read Everything-Assume Nothing GusMan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by adriennek View Post
    And, I haven't cruised (yet) but - can't you purchase some beverage packages to include beverages on board?
    I've also heard of people bringing some beverages with them and that's allowed?
    They do have wine and water packages available on board. Thing is - the water on the ship is really not all that bad. (Better than the parks, thats for sure.)
    You can bring alcohol on board, but if you open it, you have to consume it on board. Also, if you want to bring your bottle of wine to a restaurant, there is a corkage fee.

    Personally, I let my kids get a couple smoothies throughout the trip and that seems to satisfy them.
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    Quote Originally Posted by GusMan View Post
    You can bring alcohol on board, but if you open it, you have to consume it on board.
    Oh, I could handle that. Hmm... that's giving me ideas.
    Parenting in the Parks[/url]
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    Read Everything-Assume Nothing GusMan's Avatar
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    One last blurb on the topic: Linky to DCL guidelines on bringing alcohol on board.

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    Registered User missm's Avatar
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    That is just crazy. If I would have known food was included we would have cruised a long time ago. I just always thought it was such an expensive thing to do but once you figure you are paying for 7 days of food in that price I'm just floored by how inexpensive it really is. I looked at a 7 night trip out of Vancouver for my husband, Kiki and me and it is only $3800. That's about what we would spend going to DL for the same amount of time and we don't have to fly anywhere. So I get how dinner works but what about breakfast and lunch, and snacks for that matter? Do you get vouchers or just show up for lunch somewhere?

    "It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then." Alice, Alice in Wonderland

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    Read Everything-Assume Nothing GusMan's Avatar
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    For breakfast, and lunch there are a few different options to choose from. You just show up. No vouchers. Heck, you can eat 24 hours a day - its all included, even room service.

    Heck, one time I decided to do lunch at one of the sit down places and I told the server I could not make up my mind between two items.
    He brought both!

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    Registered User missm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GusMan View Post
    For breakfast, and lunch there are a few different options to choose from. You just show up. No vouchers. Heck, you can eat 24 hours a day - its all included, even room service.

    Heck, one time I decided to do lunch at one of the sit down places and I told the server I could not make up my mind between two items.
    He brought both!
    Consider my mind blown. Food is one of my favorite parts about vacation. Now it's time to go talk to my husband.
    "It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then." Alice, Alice in Wonderland

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    Read Everything-Assume Nothing GusMan's Avatar
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    You go on as passengers... you leave as cargo.

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    There are a ton of options for breakfast and lunch.... and you can hit them all in the same day if you want! There are 2 or 3 quick service places up on the pool deck with pizza, burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches etc. There is a buffet that is open for breakfast and lunch and then converts to a menu dinner table service, but one you can come to at any time, not just your assigned rotational time. We found decent munchies in the sports bar towards the end of our trip last year when we went for Sports Trivia one day.

    Since you will have Kiki, there are coolers in the rooms (talking about Wonder here, since that cruises out of Vancouver). They aren't fridges, but coolers that stay decently cold with an ice bucket inside. We would grab a few milk cartons from the buffet in the morning and store them in there for our kids evening and morning milks. This worked really well. But, buffet breakfast was the only place, besides room service to get it in the carton. They did have it at the drink station (along with juice, sodas and hot chocolate) but then you had to put it straight in the cup, which worked too.

    And.... my kids LOVED the nursery. They were 17 and 34 months when we cruised. This was fabulous! It gave us some free time to enjoy the ship and some of the shows. The staff was amazing. I can't say enough good things about our experience with the nursery!

    Why do people go on The Amazing Race without bothering to learn how to drive a stick shift?

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    Ready for MA World Explorers! Drince88's Avatar
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    Parenting in the Parks: Never Bored On-Board

    On my last cruise, one of the people at our table had escargot appetizers. We were second seating. They obviously had leftovers, so the brought him another plate of them. So at that point, I didn't feel bad asking if I could try one, and I had my first snail!
    A table near us had a number of kids, so towards the end of the cruise, they had the kid beverages on the table before they arrived.

    Hmmm, maybe I should schedule a cruise after the marathon...

    Cathy

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    At home in the hills candles71's Avatar
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    On the Celebrity cruise I won, there were a couple of "signature" dining restaurants, that charged for the seating (we were told they weren't charging for the food but for the reservation or some such wording.). Same thing on a Disney cruise? Personally, we don't drink that much, I don't drink soda any more, so we found beverage packages (again not Disney) were a higher cost than just paying for our cocktails out of pocket. And, I don't remember if it was Gusman or Dan that mentioned that water onboard had to match US standard, so we just drank the water onboard.


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    Ready for MA World Explorers! Drince88's Avatar
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    Parenting in the Parks: Never Bored On-Board

    Palo on the Wonder andMagic is the only restaurant with a charge.

    And they have desalinators on the ships for drinking water, so it takes all the yucky tasting stuff (and yucky bad for you stuff) out.

    Cathy

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