Family Cruise Advisor

Beginning today, you’ll be able to book Disney Cruise Line’s 2010 sailings in Europe. Continue Reading »

During my two decades of cruising, I’ve learned that family vacations can take one of two tacks: Either they are full-on disasters or they go down as one of the “best vacations ever.” Over the years, I’ve experienced both.

On the full-on disaster side, my wife and I had been a little too ambitious, hauling our daughter, not yet six months old, to Walt Disney World and, only a few months later, across six time zones to England. What were we thinking?

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Prominent at Disney’s private island since July 2006 is the Flying Dutchman, the pirate ship used in filming the first of two sequels to Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean.

“It brings a piece of the film to the island,” Jason Lasecki, PR director for Disney Cruise Line, told us during one of two stops at Castaway Cay on a seven-night Western Caribbean cruise on Disney Magic.

My kids, ages 9 and 11 (and fans of Pirates) were awed by the 175-foot ghost ship that dominates a lagoon near where Disney ships dock. But because the ship was designed for filming and not for sailing, it provides little more than a picturesque backdrop (the ship is not durable enough to sustain foot traffic, Lasecki says).

Still, nearly everyone we saw clutching a camera stopped to snap photos of their kids in front of the ship. From the shoreline, details of the barnacle-encrusted ship, only 100 yards or so away, are remarkably visible, from the ragged sails to the monstrous bow featuring menacing eyes and shark-like teeth.

My kids were not disappointed by the larger-than-life spectacle.

There are other tie-ins to the film — a convincing Captain Jack Sparrow look-alike offering photo ops on Castaway Cay and during the evening on the ship.

While a cruise is a vacation that provides a lifetime of happy memories for the entire family, it’s not all fun and games for Mom and Dad, who, no matter how much they may be enjoying themselves, can never entirely escape their parental responsibility for the group’s overall happiness, good manners and, of course, safety. Continue Reading »

I do not like going shirtless in front of people. But one night on a Disney Wonder cruise, I found myself doing just that — in front of a few hundred people. It was 70s night in the adults-only entertainment venue known as Route 66, and Sasha, a young Croatian, came up to me on the dance floor, put a medal around my neck and said, “I’m going to need you in a moment.” Continue Reading »

Ship: Disney Magic

Itinerary: A special seven-night Western Caribbean with not one, but two stops at Castaway Cay, Disney Cruise Line’s private island in the Bahamas. The itinerary is offered only a few times each year. Check with your cruise seller for more information. Continue Reading »