I did it! That’s right, I finally convinced my dear sweet husband to go on a Disney cruise. Ever since I had the amazingly good fortune to attend the christening of the Disney Fantasy, I’ve been dying to take my family on a cruise. Our daughter has

Disney Fantasy in port

begged, I’ve pleaded, but my husband just did NOT want to go. I’m not sure exactly what changed or how I got him to say yes, but he finally did. So I booked our cruise that day before he could change his mind.

We’ll be sailing in April during school break. As we’re first-time cruisers, I thought it might be interesting for other first-timers to follow along on our journey. I’ll be blogging semi-regularly leading up to our cruise, and then of course I’ll give you the whole recap once we get back. I hope our journey helps you plan yours. (And once I get a little cruising experience under my belt, I’ll be glad to help you plan yours as well!)

So to jump right in, the first thing that I did was figure out dates and itinerary. You can either do this yourself on http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ or even better, give your favorite Disney travel agent a call. (Hopefully that’s MouseChow Travel…but if not, make sure you find someone who specializes in Disney, not just cruising.) I knew that I wanted to sail on either the Disney Fantasy or Disney

Senses Spa aboard the Disney Fantasy

Dream, since I had been dreaming about the Fantasy for a year. The two ships have a few minor differences and the Dream is a year older, but the general layout and amenities are very similar. So I found a 4-night cruise leaving out of Port Canaveral, Florida at the beginning of our school break on the Disney Dream. The itinerary takes us to Nassau, Bahamas (a place I’ve visited) and Castaway Cay (a place my daughter is dying to visit.) It seemed like a good idea to start with a shorter cruise since we’ve never been, so it seemed like the right fit.

I went through my favorite travel agent (me) and booked the cruise. Because we will be sailing within just a couple of months, I paid in full at the time of booking. Typically you can put down a deposit and then pay as you get closer to the cruise. But then typically you would book further in advance than I did.

So when starting out, here are four quick questions to ask yourself (and answers to pass along to your travel agent).

1. When do I want to travel and for how long?

2. Who will be traveling?

3. Where would I like to go?

4. What’s my budget?

5. Do I have a ship preference?

Once you’ve answered those questions, you can start looking at potential sailings and itineraries. Then the planning fun really begins. Stay tuned for the next episode – Choosing a Stateroom.

What questions do you have about booking a Disney cruise? Ask in the comments, and I’ll share answers with everyone!