I recently sailed on the Disney Dream with my 19 year old son and 23 year old daughter. They had sailed Disney before. They were bored, bored, bored. My 19 year old watched enviously as the teen club had their own deck space and a myriad of activities throughout the day. My 23 year old did not want to be stuck with the old folks and there was very little for her to do. So, if you are under 30, and want to pay several thousand dollars to do nothing in an admittedly beautiful setting, book your cruise now. Disney is unique with no casino, it seems like it took the casino spaces and at the same time lumped the adult activities in with it. It is kind of nice being on a ship without all the smoke and noise and late night revelry that a casino brings. I know that a casino brings in big revenue for cruise ships so they can charge less. Disney should be able to charge less as well because it provides very little adult entertainment, fewer dining venues, frankly much lower quality food than the other cruise lines, and stuffs them on their ships like no other ship - not even Carnival during Spring Break (been there done that). But all passengers get to pay a higher price to pay for the unlimited free child entertainment - of which Disney does a marvelous job. However, it completely neglects all those above the age of 17 and absolutely disregards families with single parents, adult children, singles, and non-standard families.

Some thoughts:

It would be interesting to do an entertainment space per passenger comparison between cruise ships. Based upon actual ship population rather than a stateroom formula. Remember Disney gets a lot more on the ship with the all of the kids stacked in the stateroom. I do not think I have ever sailed on a ship with fewer venues. Read more