When booking your first Disney Cruise it is important to do the research before hand. Follow these 10 tips before crushing for the ultimate Disney cruising experience!

1.Before your cruise make sure to go to the Disney cruise website and grab the Disney Cruise Adventure Book. This will be full of educational information about the ship and activities to do while on the ship. This was helpful to write all the details down and have as a keepsake for years to come. In addition to the adventure book you can schedule a phone call from Mickey himself to get the kids excited for the upcoming cruise.

2.Excursions. If you are interested in taking an excursion off the ship, make sure you book as soon as you can. These excursions fill up very quickly and in our personal experience getting off the ship and exploring on your own does not always work out depending on where the port is compared to what there is to do in the area. Also keep in mind there are not many excursion options to do with young children.

3.Alcohol. Disney does not have an alcohol package but you can purchase alcohol on board. You are also allowed to bring your own alcohol but it can be no more than 2 bottles of wine OR 6 pack of beer per adult. Remember that this does need to stay in your carry on.

4.Debarkation. The night before debarkation the cast members will urge you to put your luggage outside of your room so they can take it off the ship for you the next morning. What they do not tell you is that means you have to wait to get off of the ship and then search for your bag in a sea of all the other bags. We did not know this and waited in the wrong line for quite a while just to find out that line was only for people who kept their luggage with them and we had to wait till they all got off and then we were able to debark.

5.Fish extender groups. Before you cruise you should find a fish extender group on Facebook. You can take part in gifting other cabins during your stay. We also did a get together while on the ship with people that we connected with prior to cruising. Also remember that many people like to decorate their doors with magnets! We did not do it this time around but definitely think we will on our next Disney cruise!

6.Rotational Dining. Before booking the cruise I had no idea how dining worked on a cruise. So we sailed on the Disney wonder and this ship had 3 restaurants that were included in the rotational dining, a buffet, a couple quick service cafes and then a restaurant that was not included with the cruise but could be reserved. Your restaurants are pre-selected ahead of time and you will get a chance to eat at each restaurant as long as your cruise is over 3 nights. If you prefer one restaurant over the other then you can request to eat there multiple times. You are given a table number at the beginning of your cruise and that number will stay with you each evening. That also means that the servers stay with you the entire time as well. This means you really get to know them and they also get to know your family and what you like, such as drink orders etc. You will also be assigned a dining time. One is earlier and one is later. If you are assigned a time but prefer the other, you can request to switch and that is usually not a problem.

7.Kids Club. The main kids club AKA Disneys Oceaneer club and Oceaneer Lab are for kids 3-12 years old. If your 3 yr old is not potty trained then they are not allowed to be dropped off. You are allowed to drop your child off and then check them back out hours later. If anything comes up they send you a message to pick them up or if your child is old enough you can allow them to check themselves in and out. There are also different clubs for teens and tweens that may differ depending on which ship you are on. During the open house times kids of all ages are allowed with their parents in any of the club spaces. Each club had 2 or 3 open house times every day. This was great for us with our little one and helped to keep him busy and have some fun!

8.Disney Cruise app. Make sure that you download the Disney Cruise app prior to boarding. You will use it to see all planned activities and dining on board. It is also a good idea for multiple members of your party to download so you can use as a method of communication while sailing since you may not have cell service.

9.Paying for a cruise. Disney Cruise Line allows you to pay a deposit when booking of about 20% of the balance. You can then customize a payment plan and the balance just has to be paid in full before you cruise. They do allow refunds on most staterooms as long as you cancel at least 120 days prior to sailing.

10. Showtimes. There are typically 2 different showtimes so that way both dining times will overlap with the other showtime giving everyone a chance to attend. Also know that they do play these shows live on the tv in your room if you prefer to watch that way or do not get a seat in the theater as they fill up fast!