My mother and father recently retired and both wanted to try a short cruise. I also have a 3 year old daughter who lives Minnie Mouse. I thought a Disney Cruise would be the perfect fit for all of us. I've been to Disney world in the past and thought it was wonderful and had heard amazing things about the cruise so I decided to book it for Christmas. Turns out this was the biggest mistake I've ever made. The staff that deals with boarding and disembarking the ship are rude and very unhelpful. The cruise itself was extremely overcrowded. You are shoulder to shoulder with people whenever traveling outside of your stateroom. There are no random character meetings as I was led to believe. For any character you want to see you have to stand in a line for upwards of 30 minutes, which is no fun for a 3 year old. I bought the picture package but then was told that I had to hunt down the photographers and that there was no guarantee they would be there at any of the character meetings, or dinners, or shows and that I should also be prepared to take my own pictures just in case. Needless to say after checking my portfolio on day 2 and having zero pictures in it I cancelled the package. The dining rooms are extremely boring for kids. There is no entertainment and the service is so slow every night that the 5:45 seating doesn't finish until 8:00 which leaves you rushing right to the shows. The shows are the only good thing, but get there early because the theater fills up and lines start forming well in advance. The food is also cold and disgusting. The kids club does have many activities, however the kids can only do them if parents leave them there. I was hoping to do that and have no some adult time, however the one time I left my daughter she came out with a huge bruise on her foot which they did not say anything about and couldn't answer to when I asked. The second time I attempted to drop her off I saw little children taking thick plastic buckets and pulling them all the way down over their faces which is clearly a suffocating hazzard. The staff there was just standing around talking to each other and ignoring what the kids were doing. Only when I yelled out to them that it was a danger did they tell the kids to take them off their heads. Needless to say I did not leave my daughter in their care.
The cabins were pretty standard compared to other Cruise lines. The one good thing is that there are two separate bathrooms. One has a tub/shower which is great for kids and one has a sink so it takes some time off of getting ready since two people can get things done at the same time.