Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

Which vaca would you pick with a 5 yo and 9yo during a school break? A disney cruise, all inclusive on an island such as DR with a kids club or club med sandpiper? Any other suggestions?

Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

Disney - that is my go to vacation and I can't wait to take ds.

Re: Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

we loved our Disney Cruise!!! It was seriously the most relaxing vacation!

Has the characters which is nice

Its kinda like an all inclusive with all the food and non alcoholic drinks. the alcohol I didn't find too crazy in terms of pricing. But that's because we live in an expensive area.

My then 5yo loved the kids club so much he wanted to go there all the time (we had to tell him NO) but with that, DH and I were able to go to a dinner ALONE, on vacation, and the dinner was beautiful (Palo restaurant, upcharge but so worth it)

Their private island is gorgeous! So much fun!

ETA: my only hesitation would be that you are going on a school vacation! Disney has a lot of kids, but during a break the pricing is going to be ALOT more than other times and there will be double the amount of kids on the ships! So that is something to consider.

Message edited 12/27/2014 11:44:03 PM.

Re: Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

During a school break I would avoid disney bc it tends to be extremely overcrowded & it's crazy.

During the thanksgiving break we went to DR at an all inclusive. The resort was sold out & you would never know it. The resort was huge & you weren't tripping over people yet we had a great time.

Re: Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

With a 9m old I would do a resort. You could bring one of those baby floating boats.

Disney cruise does not allow swim diapers in the pool. I would wait until your little one is potty trained.

That being said, the Disney cruise was our favorite family vacation to date. Can't stop raving about how fun it was and surprisingly relaxing.

I have looked into Club Med Sandpiper many times and never booked. It is not a beach resort and our kids love the beach so we always book elsewhere.

Message edited 12/28/2014 8:24:35 AM.

Re: Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

We have done a Disney cruise and club med sandpiper during break both were excellent vacation with young kids.


I would rate disney cruise first and then club med sandpiper... My kids loved both both have excellent kid centers...

The Disney cruise is phenomena, there is so much to do for everyone... And it is disney so you know it will be great.

The only thing about club med sandpiper is if it rains there I is not much to do... We had phenomenal weather when we were there though... They do not have much of. A beach but there is sailing canoeing paddle boarding pools, phenomenal adults only pool... The kids club is top notch they have trapeze and circus for the kids... The shows are ok....

I would add beaches turcs and Caicos to your list... We are looking into that for end of summer and everyone raves about it...

Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

She is 9 years old (not 9m) so no diaper issue. Where in the DR did you stay? For the disney cruise- is the sleeping very tight with 4 in a room?

Re: Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

Message edited 12/28/2014 11:06:49 AM.

Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

Do u need the balcony?

Re: Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

Disney cruise. No question!! The PERFECT vacation for kids!!

Re: Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

Re: Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

Disney cruise ! But be warned, it's addictive. It has everything a family could want.

The rooms are larger then most cruise lines, and no you don't need a balcony. We had two adjoining rooms (for five of us) without a balcony and it was fine. Although, many people love the balconies since they can enjoy the 24 hour room service even more that way (sipping coffee etc)

To be really honest, we were rarely in our room.... From the crack of dawn to late in the evening there is always something to do. I remember waking my kids up so we can go dance with Jake and the Neverland Pirates at 8 am lol :)

The Disney cruises pretty much always sell out, so don't be afraid to go during a break, as the ship is made to handle the amount of guests at full occupancy. We did the MAGIC and are doing the same ship again. It's a smaller ship then FANTASY or DREAM. The advantage to that is Castaway Cay (private island), can easily handle the guests of MAGIC compared to the larger ships. It was very easy to find chairs etc at the beach.

Message edited 12/28/2014 12:55:01 PM.

Re: Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

I would do the disney cruise

Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

I absolutely LOVE Disney, but I am not over the moon in love with their cruises. The pools are tiny and (in my experience) too crowded to make it worth while. Children are left unattended and running around the spray park area. The character meet and greets are awesome. Lines are manageable, and move quickly, but you don't feel rushed. Castaway Cay is nice, but on a 98 degree day the walk from the ship to the beach is a bit much. The shows are good, but during one show on my last cruise I felt that any child who believed the characters are real had that illusion completely shattered.

Re: Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

Disney Cruise

Re: Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

I do agree the pools are very small, and of course crowded especially when Toy Story or another popular movie is being shown while you are in the water :) This could be an issue if you have a lot of 'at sea' days. The great part though is that the kid's club has so many fun activities, 'swimming' in the pool doesn't get the type of attention it normally does on most of our vacations.

The walk from the ship to the beach at Castaway Cay is long (we did it) but that is because we didn't wait for the tram. There is a tram that will take you ?

Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

We had a porthole room and it was AWESOME! We stayed on Deck 2, which was an amazing location since we could just walk up a flight of stairs to get to the "action", and up a couple more to get to the kid's clubs. We didn't have to rely on the overcrowded elevator unless we were going to swim. The pools ARE crowded, however, if you stay on board when the ship is in port, it's empty. Perfect time to ride the Aquaduck over and over (we sailed Dream). You can also use the pool in the teen club during the open house. We did that, and were the only ones there. The cruise was AMAZING, LOVED everything about it. My kids are begging to sail again!

Disney cruise; all inclusive island; club med sandpiper

I highly recommend the disney cruise. My dc were 8,6, 2 and an infant at the time and we all had so much fun. My dc loved the kids clubs so much, and there was so much going on all over the ship all day long, that they weren't all that interested in swimming in the pools. We travelled during a holiday period, and while the ship was full it did not feel overcrowded. We had connecting balcony rooms, but we really spent hardly any time in the room. The newer ships have rooms with oversized portholes that look really cool. I've asked my kids if they could choose either disney world or a disney cruise which would they pick and they said they would absolutely do a cruise, but a longer one.(we only did 4 days on the Dream, and they want to do a weeklong cruise on the Fantasy).

Message edited 12/29/2014 4:09:18 PM.