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When you book your cruise, you’ll have to choose your meal times: either early or late. The main seating means you have dinner as early as 6, depending on the ship, while the second seating is often as late as 8:30. If you have young kids the early seating works best, although it does mean a crack-of-dawn breakfast time. But I’ve seen preschoolers literally fall asleep at the table at late seatings—active days bring about early bedtimes. Besides, if you want to sleep in, you can always skip the full breakfast and grab something light at the buffet.

Is Bigger Better?

The Dream and upcoming Fantasy, which cover the shorter Bahamian cruises, are Disney’s latest and largest addition to the fleet and have some real bonus features. First of all, they’re 40% larger than the Magic or the Wonder, and they’ve used that extra space for expanded adult and child entertainment areas. Innovations include virtual portholes for inside cabins, art that comes “to life,”a ship-wide detective game for kids, and separate areas for teens and tweens. But the star of the bigger ships, hands down, is the AquaDuck, a full-fledged water coaster. The AquaDuck is essentially a 765-foot Plexiglass tube stretching high above the ship’s highest deck. Jets propel you along, and the track features a “swing out” loop that shoots you over the side of the ship. The ocean—if you dare to look—is 150 feet below. The minimum ride-height requirement is 48 inches, and the rafts allow two family members to ride together.

Not all the dining is formal. A breakfast buffet is available daily on the pool level for families that want to get an early start. You can also find a casual buffet lunch daily, and, in case you don’t want to take even a minute out of your fun, pizza, burgers, salad, sandwiches, and ice cream are served all afternoon out by the pools.

Ports of Call

The three- and four-day cruises spend one day in Nassau, giving you a chance to shop, sightsee, or visit a casino. There are shore excursions designed for families (and kids of all ages are apt to enjoy a horse-drawn carriage ride), but, frankly, the Nassau stop exists mostly to placate the adults on board who miss the presence of a casino. If you do want to try your luck at the slots, or if your children are too young to comfortably take along on a shopping trip to the straw market, you can always leave them on board in the kids’ programs.

Helpful Hint

The older boats, the Magic and the Wonder, will sail from a variety of ports of embarkation and explore a variety of ports of call. For details on upcoming voyages, visit www.disneycruise.com.

The seven-day cruises offer family-friendly shore excursions at every stop such as sailing lessons, snorkeling, and submarine trips. The Alaskan, Mexican, and European cruises also offer shore excursions at every port of call, and the list of possibilities is staggering. A complete list of all shore excursions for every port of call can be found at www.disneycruise.com.

Time-Saving Tip

Once you book your cruise, reserve shore excursions via www.disneycruise.com or your travel agent. This guarantees you can get everything you want and also saves you from having to stand in line at the shore-excursion desk on the first day of your cruise.

Castaway Cay

All the Caribbean cruises stop at Castaway Cay, a private island where you disembark at the pier (cutting out the time-consuming tendering process often required when a large ship stops at a small island) and stroll onto a beautiful beach. Once there you can hike, bike, play volleyball, take a Jet Ski ride, rent sailboats or sea kayaks, or simply sun yourself. Organized excursions for families include a stingray swim and snorkeling tours. Lunch is cooked right on the island, and there are small shops in case you find yourself in need of beach toys, towels, or sunscreen.

Insider’s Secret

Disney has planted a few cute “shipwrecks” and a hidden Mickey or two along the snorkeling paths of Castaway Cay, but the water there is sometimes cloudy, and there