Nothing here is Tragic.....We're going on the Magic!

[Brisbanemum]

OMG! I can't believe it! We have officially booked our first ever cruise, and it is on the amazing, magnificent, spectacular, re-imagined Disney Magic.

We are a family of 4 from Australia who have the travelling bug something shocking! There is myself, Ruvae 34, Dh John 37, Ds Sebastian 10 and Ds Jett 7. So far we have visited Hong Kong Disneyland, Disneyland in California and the overwhelmingly huge DisneyWorld..... so a Disney Cruise was definitely the next on the list

We won't be sailing away until December 14 (2014) but I am absolutely obsessed with planning so I thought a pre-trip report was a great thing to do. Great therapy for us 'over the top' planners


Ok, so where to begin?

On Wednesday 13th of November 2013 at 12:58am I made the momentous leap and booked a 1 Bedroom Concierge Suite on the 7 night Western Caribbean Cruise - Itinerary B for my beautiful family. I had spent the previous 3 weeks stalking the Disney Cruise website trying to find the best time to cruise, the best rates, the best itinerary, the best port adventures, the best ship ect ect Sometimes I was on several times a day, re-reading the same information and changing my mind at least a million times. So you can imagine my husbands' relief, when I finally said "let's just book it right now!" I'm so indecisive (my star sign is Libran and I am constantly weighing up all options for absolutely everything lol), yet the one thing I was sure about was not letting this amazing experience slip through our fingers.

I think it was exactly 12:59am when my brain bombarded me with these questions:-

* Did you do the right thing booking the cruise now, BEFORE airfares??? What if the flights to America don't match up with the cruise date? I think you're a little crazy!

* Have you seen how bad the Aussie dollar is against the US dollar? And it's just getting worse

* Should you really have gone Concierge? Is it really going to be worth the extra money?

* What other expenses will the cruise have? Tipping? Ports of Calls? Photos? Souvenirs? Transport? Onboard Activities? Alcoholic Beverages? Pin Trading?

* What if everyone gets seasick for the entire cruise?

* What if the boys hate being on the boat?

* Was this really the right itinerary? Seriously.....when have you ever wanted to go to Falmouth, Jamaica??? Ummm never???

* The cruise begins 2 days after the boys finish school...... will we need to take them out early? What if the school freaks out because it is Sebastian's last year before high school?

Obviously my mind is a little over dramatic at times (ok, all the time) but I guess that's why I always plan everything so far in advance. At least I know, when the time comes, I will be so prepared for absolutely anything, that nothing will stand in the way of us having a sensational holiday

After a very sleepless night with all those questions swirling in my head, a truly magical thing happened! I discovered DISboards!!!!! (insert 'Hallelujah, Hallelujah' music here) It was the greatest discovery to feed my planning addiction and immediately slowed my racing heart and newly cruise obsessed mind. I now am very happy and confident in our booking choice have even joined a wonderful FE group which is building up our excitement levels even more Our ultimate vacation goal is 1 week Disney Cruise, 2 weeks Orlando and 2 weeks at DisneyWorld. This goal is sadly dependant on flights, AU$ to $US exchange rates and ability to save every extra penny all year. But in saying that...... at the moment, things look 100% on track for our dream holiday

Just under 11 months to go!!!!

 

[Brisbanemum]

After searching for hours and hours on all things Disney Cruise Line, I think I have finally completed our budget for all the cruise expenses?

Here is what I have so far:-


*Transport (maybe a Limo MCO-PC-ORL) $400
*Bingo $200
*Palo $60
*Onboard Photos $300
*Onboard Souvenirs $1000
*Alcohol $700 (I doubt we'll come close to spending this much, but have no idea of drink prices onboard)
*Pin Trading $200
*Port Adventures $1800 approx.
*Port of Call Souvenirs $800
*Extra Expenses (mixology, spa etc) $500


Tipping
-Server $112
-Asst Server $84
-Head Server $28
-Stateroom Host $112
-Concierge Hosts $200
-Palo $20
-Room Service $80
-Port of Calls including Drivers,Tour Guides and Food $250


Please tell me if I have ridiculously over or under-priced anything on the list. As complete novice cruisers we are budgeting for absolutely everything we can think of, even if we don't end up doing all the activities. I've heard so many mixed reviews for Bingo on the Disney Cruises so I'm not sure if we'll end up giving it a go?

Is there anything thing else I have missed?

 

[DisneYE]

Is there anything thing else I have missed? [/SIZE][/COLOR]

Very good estimate...Almost bang on...the souvenirs line might be a bit too high but I'm guessing you spoil your kids rotten which is awesome if you can..we limit souvenirs for our DD to $200 on the ship, $100 on POCs.

Your alcohol bill likely will be lower, unless you're big drinkers.
Being in concierge you will access to some complimentary booze here and there us regular shmoes don't have.
We (DW and I) have set ourselves a limit of $100/day for alcohol...which is like 5-8 drinks a day
If you are going to mixology classes, that will also cut your budget quite a bit.
Also, if you bring a couple of bottles/beer packs with you on board and from POCs i'd say you can cut your alcohol bill in half, in case you're trying to cut here and there.

you may want to budget another $100-$200 in small bills ($1 and $5 s) for random tips like room service, additional tips if you really like your servers, etc..

Sounds like a nice well balanced budget...We spend onboard about half of what you budgeted but we're 3.

Have fun on your cruise...

 

[Brisbanemum]

Very good estimate...Almost bang on...the souvenirs line might be a bit too high but I'm guessing you spoil your kids rotten which is awesome if you can..we limit souvenirs for our DD to $200 on the ship, $100 on POCs.

Your alcohol bill likely will be lower, unless you're big drinkers.
Being in concierge you will access to some complimentary booze here and there us regular shmoes don't have.
We (DW and I) have set ourselves a limit of $100/day for alcohol...which is like 5-8 drinks a day
If you are going to mixology classes, that will also cut your budget quite a bit.
Also, if you bring a couple of bottles/beer packs with you on board and from POCs i'd say you can cut your alcohol bill in half, in case you're trying to cut here and there.

you may want to budget another $100-$200 in small bills ($1 and $5 s) for random tips like room service, additional tips if you really like your servers, etc..

Sounds like a nice well balanced budget...We spend onboard about half of what you budgeted but we're 3.

Have fun on your cruise...

Thanks for the comments on our budget On another post, I was slammed a little for the budget until I explained my reasoning for such high prices. As we are coming from Australia, we can't really afford to under budget for anything......we may never have another Disney Cruise vacation and would hate to miss out on any experiences or have to be concerned about $$$ while over there. Plus, any extra money we have left over will go towards the rest of our Florida trip (probably lots of shopping at the discount outlets).

 

[Brisbanemum]

So our flights are now booked!!!!!
I had been religiously checking websites for weeks waiting for our approximate flight dates to be released. When I stumbled across some amazing flights! Usually the flights for our dates (end of the year) to Orlando on average are priced between $8,300 and $10,300.......but I managed to get ours for the bargain price of $6288!

Can you tell I'm happy? lol

Now these 2 Pirates can finally start their official countdown....40 weeks to go!