Phew still very tired and I plan to do a full trip report starting soon but here are a few of the things I learned on the big cruise.



1) Even on a 14 night cruise you can't do it all. I didn't get in the pool even once and normally I love the pool. I didn't make it to all the dance classes because I had things that conflicted. I didn't make it to Cpt Pucket's lecture's live but I did get to watch them later on t.v.



2) Hearing protection. The Walt Disney Theater can be VERY loud. My hearing sensitive daughter didn't need her mufflephones for Tiana's place but we both needed them for the WDT. I would highly recommend you bring hearing protection for children under two or at least talk to your child's pediatrician about it.



3) I'll probably never try another cruise line. I know this is highly subjective, but the vast majority of people on this cruise were platinum and I talked to many who had tried other lines: RCL, NCL, Celebrity, Carnival, and Princess. Not one of them was interested in going back with one exception. A cruiser with 30 sailings on DCL preferred Princess for Alaska because of the itinerary. However, she was aghast at the food and warned me to bring my own packets of hot chocolate if I chose to try it.



4) Always book another onboard, or at least a place holder. I was lucky enough to be onboard for opening day and booked a 7 night Fantasy and 5 night Dream for September 2020. This will get me to gold and give me the grand-slam before the new ships start arriving in 2021.



ETA 5) Open bar doesn't mean order anything you want. I didn't know this going in. But it was still a lot of fun.