{"id":88,"date":"2012-03-06T08:58:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T08:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/"},"modified":"2012-03-06T08:58:00","modified_gmt":"2012-03-06T08:58:00","slug":"12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Tips for Thriving on a Disney Cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A week back from Tuanapalooza 2012 on the Disney Wonder, I\u2019m back to my normal weight and happy to say it was a wonderful time. \u00a0Here are my initial reflections on how to go cruisin\u2019:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The whole family minus my husband who
we missed very much<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Go for a family reunion.\u00a0 <\/span>Or friend reunion.\u00a0 <\/span>But go with someone other than your own immediate family.\u00a0 <\/span>Because unless you\u2019re splurging on a concierge suite, the whole lot of you will be stuffed into a little tiny room and all the normal bickering that happens at home will just sound louder.\u00a0 <\/span>If you\u2019re there with family\/friends, you will see each other surprisingly often.\u00a0 <\/span>There were 20 of us and we bumped into each other at meals, at shows, or even just walking around the ship.\u00a0 <\/span>So much more fun to have adult conversation, kids playing with one another, older cousins watching younger ones, etc.<\/span><\/div>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Exercise every day.\u00a0 <\/span>This usually means waking on the early side.\u00a0 <\/span>I also resolved to only take the stairs\u2014even forcing my almost 80-year-old father to walk with me.\u00a0 <\/span>As a result, I only gained 3 lbs\u2013most of it from salt!\u00a0 <\/span>(My blood pressure did rise by 10-15 points on both numbers\u2014saw my internist the day after the cruise!)<\/span><\/div>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Pace yourself on the food, only eat what\u2019s absolutely delicious.\u00a0 <\/span>The chocolate lava cake one night and the wild mushroom risotto and chocolate souffl\u00e9 at Palo were completely worth the calories!<\/span><\/div>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Get Po-Po & Gong-Gong (or Grandma or Grandpa, or rich Uncle & Auntie) to book a concierge suite where the whole family can hang out.\u00a0 <\/span>My parents\u2019 suite became our meeting point, resting point, hang-out place for kids<\/span><\/div>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Book at least one nice adult dinner at Palo, and one high tea as well.\u00a0 <\/span>My father said he wanted to go to high tea as often as possible so my sister booked 3 of them\u2014way overkill.\u00a0 <\/span>We ended up cancelling the last one because we couldn\u2019t stand the thought of eating more indulgent food as a 4th<\/sup> meal.<\/span><\/div>\n
6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Bring seasickness bands\u2014those things work!\u00a0 <\/span>My sister-in-law, who literally gets seasick watching fish at the aquarium, didn\u2019t feel sick at all.\u00a0 <\/span>My 2 queasy kids put them on and got immediately better.\u00a0 <\/span>I rode a tender on a bumpy windy day and didn\u2019t feel a single twinge of nausea.<\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The bridesmaid dress 10 years ago<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Wear a gown or tux for formal night.\u00a0 <\/span>Even better, wear your bridesmaid\u2019s dress from your sister\u2019s wedding 10 years ago.\u00a0 <\/span>You look a little silly, but when else will you get to wear that dress again?<\/span><\/div>\n
8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Bring your own wine on board (along with a corkscrew).\u00a0 <\/span>You\u2019re allowed to bring one glass down to dinner.\u00a0 <\/span>We thought we would all look cheesily cheap doing that, but hey, if you\u2019re wearing a 10 year old bridesmaid dress, you look a little cheesy anyway.<\/span><\/div>\n
9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Give your kids a certain amount they can spend using their Disney key card, and then make them pay for anything over.\u00a0 <\/span>As in all things Disney, there are all sorts of opportunities to spend money, even though it\u2019s an \u201call-inclusive.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>For grown-ups, there are fruity alcoholic beverages offered non-stop from the moment you board.\u00a0 <\/span>For kids, there are Buzz Lightyear lightup cups, popcorn, soda, trinkets and more.\u00a0 <\/span>Ren overspent his limit, but Kai didn\u2019t spend a cent.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
10.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Plan your daily schedule to some degree.\u00a0 <\/span>A next day\u2019s event guide comes the night before, and it\u2019s worth it to take the time to look over what movies are playing, what programs (family karaoke 2x!) are running, and to balance that with fun in the pool and rest.<\/span><\/div>\n
11.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>If you go in February, bring warm clothes!\u00a0 <\/span>While at sea, the temperature was in the 50s\/60s.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve heard from a frequent cruiser that it\u2019s often that warm at sea even if it\u2019s summer.<\/span><\/div>\n
12.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Plan for extra expenditures:\u00a0 Port Adventures in Mexico sponsored by Disney all cost between $35-100\/person.\u00a0 At the end of the cruise it\u2019s customary to tip about $100\/person for all the folks who wait on you (they\u2019re truly great and<\/i> underpaid).\u00a0 Professional photographers will be snapping shots throughout the cruise, and even though I thought I wouldn\u2019t buy any, I ended up with 10 8x11s!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Most importantly, enjoy!<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week back from Tuanapalooza 2012 on the Disney Wonder, I\u2019m back to my normal weight and happy to say it was a wonderful time. \u00a0Here are my initial reflections on how to go cruisin\u2019: The whole family minus my husband who we missed very much 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Go for a family reunion.\u00a0 Or friend reunion.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n12 Tips for Thriving on a Disney Cruise<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A week back from Tuanapalooza 2012 on the Disney Wonder, I'm back to my normal weight and happy to say it was a wonderful time.  Here are my initial\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"12 Tips for Thriving on a Disney Cruise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A week back from Tuanapalooza 2012 on the Disney Wonder, I'm back to my normal weight and happy to say it was a wonderful time.  Here are my initial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wordy Nerdy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-03-06T08:58:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-YQvX62iaewQ\/T1YTWxEMseI\/AAAAAAAACEM\/-T1Kg49lgAA\/s320\/IMG_6879.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kathy Tuan-MacLean\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kathy Tuan-MacLean\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/\",\"name\":\"12 Tips for Thriving on a Disney Cruise\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-03-06T08:58:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-03-06T08:58:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/6c6dda68d7ed6c26af1b35b058709a90\"},\"description\":\"A week back from Tuanapalooza 2012 on the Disney Wonder, I'm back to my normal weight and happy to say it was a wonderful time.  Here are my initial\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"12 Tips for Thriving on a Disney Cruise\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/\",\"name\":\"Wordy Nerdy\",\"description\":\"Musings on faith, motherhood and thriving in our multi-cultural modern world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/6c6dda68d7ed6c26af1b35b058709a90\",\"name\":\"Kathy Tuan-MacLean\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/298d6554af3ccf7dc0d5c597a5c183d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/298d6554af3ccf7dc0d5c597a5c183d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kathy Tuan-MacLean\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/author\/ktuanmaclean\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"12 Tips for Thriving on a Disney Cruise","description":"A week back from Tuanapalooza 2012 on the Disney Wonder, I'm back to my normal weight and happy to say it was a wonderful time.  Here are my initial","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"12 Tips for Thriving on a Disney Cruise","og_description":"A week back from Tuanapalooza 2012 on the Disney Wonder, I'm back to my normal weight and happy to say it was a wonderful time.  Here are my initial","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/","og_site_name":"Wordy Nerdy","article_published_time":"2012-03-06T08:58:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-YQvX62iaewQ\/T1YTWxEMseI\/AAAAAAAACEM\/-T1Kg49lgAA\/s320\/IMG_6879.jpg"}],"author":"Kathy Tuan-MacLean","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kathy Tuan-MacLean","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/","name":"12 Tips for Thriving on a Disney Cruise","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-03-06T08:58:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-03-06T08:58:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/6c6dda68d7ed6c26af1b35b058709a90"},"description":"A week back from Tuanapalooza 2012 on the Disney Wonder, I'm back to my normal weight and happy to say it was a wonderful time.  Here are my initial","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/03\/12-tips-for-thriving-on-a-disney-cruise\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"12 Tips for Thriving on a Disney Cruise"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/","name":"Wordy Nerdy","description":"Musings on faith, motherhood and thriving in our multi-cultural modern world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/6c6dda68d7ed6c26af1b35b058709a90","name":"Kathy Tuan-MacLean","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/298d6554af3ccf7dc0d5c597a5c183d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/298d6554af3ccf7dc0d5c597a5c183d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kathy Tuan-MacLean"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/author\/ktuanmaclean\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}