Hooray Hooray it’s time for a holiday!!!!!!!!

Yes the summer is finally here, we are off  back to the Magic , our happy place… WALT DISNEY WORLD.

Currently my excitement is in overdrive ready for our 2019 trip to Orlando but my question is……….how long do you spend getting ready for your cruise holiday? (I do not mean the dreaded packing)

I do believe that different kinds of holidays take different levels of planning. This week as mentioned my family and I are going back to Florida, which very much like cruising takes some planning before hand to make sure you can benefit from every experience available to you.

As a self proclaimed “Disney-nerd” we have over the years managed to get our Florida Planning down to a fine art. As from our experience in the past this is the sort of holiday you do not want to miss out on anything and therefore need to be organised before you go.

Over the last few months making sure the whole family get involved to put their ideas in, our planning has involved a lot of research, comparing menus, reading reviews and watching hours worth of vlogs. We have used the planning tools to make sure we plan each day around the park opening hours to include benefits such as “extra magic hours” to hotel guests and planning around the American school holidays too.

So after all our research we now have a very precise (boarding on military standard) plan of how we all want to spend our amazing 3 week holiday. Once all the decisions were made  we were ready to make reservations and earlier last month (120 days prior to our arrival) we were able to book restaurants and then in June 60 days prior to arrival we will be ready to reserve our fast pass tickets using “my Disney Experience” tool. This is where Disney and Cruising are similar as the Disney planning tool is much like a cruise personalizer  which you as customers may be using very soon for an upcoming cruise.

Cruise personalizers are fantastic for planning your next cruise to make sure you get the most from your trip.

To get started you will be asked for some standard information

Mandatory information needed when you first log is :-

Passport details,

Address, phone number and email,

Next of kin,

Insurance

(All of which are necessary to access your cruise documentation)

BUT…….. how else can your cruise personalizer help you make the very most of your cruise holiday before you even step on board. Here are a few tips of thing you may wish to research and pre book to avoid disappointment.

Excursions – Spending some time , researching your ports of call can give you the opportunity to make sure you choose the right excursions for your party. By pre booking these before you travel you will be certain not to miss out on any trip you really want to do, as well as budging for these costs too. Cruise personalizers will give you a number of options to match different interests and levels of ability.

Speciality dining – All cruise lines will off a number of speciality dining options that you can pre-book and pre-pay for before you join the ship. If you are celebrating a birthday or anniversary make sure you pre book restaurants to insure that you are not disappointed if the one you want gets booked up quickly.

Drinks Packages–If your holiday does not already include a drink package,  pre paying for these before you travel allows you to budget for the costs and also gives you the time to weigh up the options of different package instead of being rush to make a decision on board. Also some cruise lines like Royal Caribbean sometimes run flash sales on various facilities  including drinks package so its worth keeping an eye on your emails as these can save money before you travel too.

Spa treatments –  Treatments such Massages, facials, manicures, pedicures and even teeth whitening or even botox are very popular for guests in indulge in during their cruise, therefore don’t be left disappointed that you missed out. Pre book all your pampering packages before on your cruise via the personaliser.

Gifts– If you are celebrating a special occasion on board and would like to mark the occasion you can Pre book a number of surprises on line such as  flowers, wine, celebration decorations, chocolates, birthday cakes etc….. these can paid for before you leave and although will be linked to your booking will be totally hidden so no surprised are not spoiled.

On board activities – Many of the new ships have endless activities available to you, don’t miss out on these experiences including  Indoor sky diving, cooking classes, zip wires, escape room as well as big show productions by waiting until you get on board. Majority of these activities will be very limited on availability and you may struggle to book slots once on board, especially if you are travelling in busy seasons such as school holidays.

So how you do to prepare for your holiday? Do you make sure you plan every day to make sure nothing is missed? Please tell me you are a crazy as me when it comes to organizing a memorable family holiday?

Or are you one to simply go with the flow?

Let me know your tips for getting ready to cruise I am always interested to hear your views.

If I do not manage to speak to you before you go away I hope you have an amazing (well planned) holiday or let me know if you are still looking for that perfect getaway.

Happy Holidays………I will be back in the office Friday 30th Aug 2019

Until then

Mrs Disney aka Marie

xx