I found myself on a Disney cruise in the Caribbean. But first a cruise memory.
I have only been on one other cruise in my life (Celebrity) and I came away from that with mixed feelings. I could appreciate the convenience and value, but also acknowledged the limitations: The tightly controlled dining experiences -- mostly geared towards all-you-can-eat buffets, crowding (if not overcrowding) in the popular areas such as the pools, and most importantly, limited time and opportunities in port. You see by this time I was experience in Caribbean travel and was disappointed by how little you could appreciate the islands in a 9am - 5pm stop. Cruising was about being on the boat.
Disney changed my tune a bit on this front for a few reasons. First, the food was a cut above. Even the buffet (I usually hate buffets) had decent quality and variety. Second, the service was Disney, and everything that people say about Disney's service quality is true. Lastly, it wasn't that crowded. There were a ton of kids everywhere, yes, but there are also very nice adult only areas -- including a pool, spa, restaurant, and a couple of bars. These were never crowded because 90% of the adults on the boat had kids and could only use them when they could slip away. It's kind of a cool lifehack: go on a kid oriented cruise because the adult areas won't be crowded.
Of course being kid oriented is also a liability. There is no casino on Disney boats. The only thing close to gambling is bingo. Playing bingo they give you a couple of paper cards to play by hand but that's just to occupy your hands, since you typically purchase cards in multiples of ten you do most of your play with virtual cards stored in a little handheld machine that plays them for you. It tells you when you have bingo. It's almost comical, but folks get really enthusiastic over it. Needless to say, it's not really my speed.
Another thing you can't do on a disney cruise is by a drink package. With most cruises your food and soft drinks are included in the price, but hooch is extra. Since there is typically a lot of drinking on a cruise, most lines offer single price package you can by that covers all you can drink. As you can imagine, this will elevate the level of drunkenness on a boat, which is unacceptable to Disney. Hooch is ala carte, but not unreasonably expensive.
The ports on this voyage were Cozumel, Mexico and Georgetown, Grand Cayman. Cozumel is a place I have no particular affection for. It's entire economy revolves around the cruise ships and the port has a density of bars and crap shops like a neutron star. Hawkers everywhere offering everything -- one called out to me "You need a car? Tequila? Girls?" Last time I was here I arranged an excursion to the mainland to see the Tulum ruins. Sadly we weren't in port long enough for me to do that again and I didn't feel like dropping a ton of cash to arrange a beach visit at some resort or snorkel for an hour, so instead I went into Senor Frogs and used their free wi-fi to catch up on email. (Did I mention wi-fi was very expensive on the boat? Something on the order of .25 cents per MB, although there were package purchases that made it slightly cheaper.)
Georgetown was a somewhat better experience. I have previously spent some time in Grand Cayman before. I really wanted to get to a place called Rum Point -- a truly relaxed and laid back beach well away from the hubbub. Sadly, the official excursion was booked, so my plan was to hop off at the dock and hook up with a tour operator there. But the only tours you could arrange at the dock were bus tours of the island. So I hunted for a car rental agency but everyone said I the best place was one of the hotels on Seven Mile Beach (the main tourist spot). I inquired about a cab to Rum Point and was quoted $100 each way, and I had better make arrangements ahead of time to get back, because there are no cab's waiting around for rides at the other side.
So I sighed deeply and grabbed a cab up to Seven Mile Beach where I would have two options: a) rent a car to get to Rum Point, which at this point would have ended up being about 1 hour visit, or b) hook up with one of the major hotels for a day pass to use their services and beach chairs and just relax on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. For the lack of hassle, I chose B. I chose poorly. I stopped in a couple of the resorts, big names like Wyndham and Marriott and none of them would sell me a day pass. This was very weird to me as I thought almost all but the most exclusive resort properties do this, especially in a place like Grand Cayman with all the day-trippers coming off the boats. Feh.
So I wandered a way up the beach and eventually stumbled on a beach bar called Calico Jacks and stopped for a beer and some horrible fried appetizer. Well since I was running out of time, I asked how much for a lounge chair on the beach? $15 for a chair and umbrella or I could get a chair only in the shade of a lovely tree for a five-spot. Done and done. I went for a long swim in the transparent 80-degree gulf then slept for an hour on so in the shade.
I do like Grand Cayman (as opposed to Cozumel). I liked it better last time I was there when I had multiple days to explore. Still, lesson learned: Do Not Leave Your Shore Excursions to Chance. There's just not enough cushion for error.
Back on the boat I fell easily back into the rhythm of things. The tasty food, the spa time, the pool time, some light entertainment in the evenings. Honestly, the over-abundance of children was not an issue at all. I took to having an evening walk to the basketball court to shoot hoops under the stars after everyone was asleep. It's the little things that count.
I still think I prefer a few days at a location rather than a day-visit to a fully commercialized port, but I'm good with cruising and would do it again, including -- perhaps especially -- Disney, surprisingly enough. The hip and fashionable would sneer at both cruising and Disney, but I can see the attraction and wouldn't hesitate to join in now and then.
