Disney European Cruise

We did a Disney cruise in the Caribbean last fall with our kids (then 5 and almost 2). My husband and I did a European (Western Mediterranean) cruise before we had kids, so I can give you some advice on both.

First of all, DO IT!!! I cannot begin to tell you how much we enjoyed both vacations and how much I would LOVE to do a Disney cruise in Europe. My son (the older one) had so much on the cruise that he still - 8 months later - repeatedly asks to go back. He talks about the kids club, the water slides, and the other fun activities on board. He had a blast!

My son is allergic to dairy, eggs and all nuts - we avoid them all 100%. We had absolutely no problems at all on the cruise. Our waiter for our normal dinner even personally brought up room service for my son one night to ensure that his meal was correct. We ate breakfast at the buffet every single day and never had a problem, we also frequently had lunch at the buffet. They will cook things specially for you whenever needed. They will have your son order his dinner the day before so they can guarantee that it is prepared correctly.

What ports is it going to? There are so many amazing tours and things you can do. My favorites were Rome (Civitavecchia), Naples (and Pompeii), Athens and Santorini. Others were all great as well, but those were my favorites. In Rome and Naples, we booked all day tours through private companies whose primary business is cruise ship tourism, so they totally understand the need to get back in time, they pick you up at the boat, etc.

Disboards.com is the best place to go for all things related to Disney Cruises. CruiseCritic.com is the best place to go to find out about things to do at the different ports. On both sites, you can join a group specifically for your sailing.

I am so jealous... totally wish I could do this cruise!

We LOVED cruising with Disney. They really know how to make families happy.

I would suggest working with a travel agent. Send me a private message if you want the name of ours. You can also get shipboard credit if you book through an agent.

Have fun!!!

We have been on 3 Disney cruises so far (2 Caribbean and the 1 that went to Hawaii last year) and they are PHENOMENAL. Seriously, we have always had a fabulous time and have never been disappointed about anything. They go above and beyond to give their guests a fantastic experience, the service is top-notch, and the ships themselves are amazing. There is so much fun stuff to do and I don't think there is anything I wouldn't do or would not recommend.

We don't need to worry about food allergies or wheelchairs in our family, so I can't really speak of that, but I know that they are very accomodating of people with special dietary needs - I think you just need to let them know about that when you book your cruise and remind them just to be safe when you get there. Does your mother have her own wheelchair that she could just have brought along?

One great resource for all things Disney (including Disney Cruise Line) is DISboards.com. It's an on-line discussion board and it is broken down by different subjects. You can get a lot of different questions answered on there by folks that have been on the cruises before: http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=9

Also, there is the official Disney Cruise Line website: http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/

Our daughter is now 5.5 - our first Disney Cruise was 2 years ago, and we just most recently went in Feb. She thinks it's just the greatest vacation ever and we would tend to agree! She has tons of fun in the Kids' Club with all their activities and she loves swimming in the pool! She also loves riding on the Aquaduck on the Fantasy and Dream. We like going to the family Broadway-style shows at night, and then just me and hubby like the adult-only shows later (which are still relatively clean, just not anything for the under-16 set). Hubs and I also always try to get a dinner booked at Palo (the adult-only restaurant) as well as a brunch. The brunch at Palo is awesome!

Have fun booking your trip - you won't regret it! Wish I could come with you, we would love to do the European cruise sometime, as well as Alaska!