We had an amazing time aboard the Disney Magic on a Western Caribbean cruise. The cruise stopped at two ports, Cozumel and Costa Maya, as well as having a few days at sea. It was the perfect combination of exploration and relaxation, and today I want to share some helpful tips to maximize your next Disney Cruise Line experience!
Some of the information below includes affiliate links. When you click these links I may make a commission from your purchase.
These are some of my favorite travel items. The travel organizer that expands from a packing cube to become a hanging closet organizer is also exceptionally helpful on cruise trips, we like using this organizer to stow away swimsuits and flip flop sets together – so you can easily see which sets are ready to be used!
Found in photo:
Striped Weekender / Closet Organizer / Travel Hangers / Pill Cases / Jewelry Organizer / Packing Cubes / Luggage Scale / Mesh Toiletry Bags / Carry on Suitcase
Here are some more helpful tips to streamline your cruise planning for your next Disney cruise! These are the same methods that I use when I plan my own Disney cruise travels and it is such a fun part of the process to get everything ready for the trip!
Budgeting
Before you begin your cruise planning, the first crucial step is determining your budget. To do this, you need to evaluate:
- How many people will be traveling with you?
- Will you be flying to port or driving?
- What time of year is optimal for your to cruise?
All of these factors will determine the price of the cruise, as well as how far in advance you can reserve your cruise and whether there are any special promotions you can take advantage of. (Tip: Working with a travel agent can help you determine if any promotions are available for the cruises you are interested in!)
There are additional ways you can narrow down which cruise is the best fit for your situation, including what port you would like to sail out of, if you have a specific itinerary you would like to stick to, if you would like to sail on a specific Disney cruise ship, and the duration of your preferred cruise.
After you have answers to these questions, you should be able to input your most important factors (e.g. 6-day cruise for 2 people to the Western Caribbean aboard the Disney Magic) and it will narrow down both your date and price options.
Itinerary Planning
After you’ve narrowed down your options, this is where itinerary planning begins! After looking at the potential cruise options and selecting your top pick, you’ll want to evaluate how may days at sea you’ll have, how many days at ports you’ll have, and how many excursions you think you will want to book.
There are also a number of onboard extras that you can book, like a lunch at Palo, Wine Tastings (for 21+) and special character appearances!
I find it most helpful to write down each day of the trip on a piece of paper, and fill in our excursions first. These are usually the easiest for me to fill in, because I know which days our port days will be for sure and I generally have an idea of what I would like to do at each port. Then I will look at the days at sea and select on board activities, like spa appointments, to make sure they do not conflict with other selected activities.
After I’ve filled in my time while sailing, it’s time to plan how I am going to get to the ship! I begin looking at flights to arrive in the nearest metro city at least 1 day ahead of the cruise and check that this is an airport that Disney has the option of providing transportation to the port for an additional fee. This is extremely important to plan your travel day ahead of your cruise departure date, because you do not want to miss your cruise because of an unexpected delay happening on the day of your cruise!
In Houston, we stayed overnight at the IAH (Houston Airport) Marriott and Disney Cruise Line transportation picked us up at IAH Airport the morning of our cruise. This worked perfectly for us and my mind was at ease knowing we would definitely make it to port on time!
Navigating the Extras
If you aren’t working with a travel agent already, I highly recommend reaching out to a travel agent to assist you with planning your Disney cruise. They can help you navigate any questions that you have about travel, help set up transportation, onboard activities, and more!
I recently worked with Siera from Spreading Magic (a Destinations to Explore LLC Authorized Disney Travel Agent) to plan our Western Caribbean cruise, and she helped our travel experience go flawlessly!
Siera helped to book our transportation to get from a city that I had never been in, Houston, to the port in Galveston and alleviated a lot of my nervousness about cruising out of a new to us port! She was wonderful to answer questions and the best part about working with a travel agent? There is no cost to you, the consumer! Working with a travel agent is already assumed by Disney within the prices that you are looking at for booking the travel, so at no additional cost to me – I was able to get tons of help and questions answered!
Contact Siera via this contact form: bit.ly/beingmommytravels
Siera was also able to give input on the “extras” of the trip, like alternative types of excursions and which ones might be the best fit for your family!
Prepping for Travel
After you have your travel booked, it’s time to start planning what to bring with you! I’ve found tons of great items to make cruise travel smoother over the years and some of my favorites are magnetic hooks to keep lanyards organized.
These handy hooks will attach to anything that is metal and we use them on the interior of the stateroom door to hold our cruise lanyards, and the exterior bathroom doors to hold toiletry bags. This makes it easy to do things like brush teeth in either open bathroom! And takes up less counter space too!
I also have shared some helpful cruise planning tips in this YouTube video, in case you would prefer to reference the information in video form!
I love finding new and interesting items that help keep you organized while traveling, check out my Amazon Storefront for more ideas! My shoppable video content on YouTube shares more favorites from home, beauty, fashion and more – you can find my review channel here:
** All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. Being Mommy with Style is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com
