As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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We've sailed on DCL twice. Once was a 3 night and second was the Mexican Riveria on a 7 night. Both trips were an inside cabin. I've booked again for this summer on a 7 night western with an inside cabin. I'm considering upgrading to a verandah because I really felt like I would like some fresh air on last trip without having to go out of our cabin to do so. I wasn't claustrophobic, just felt at times like fresh air would have been nice (porthole would do nothing for me). It's 1700.00 for the upgrade though. My concerns with a verandah are:
-additional noise from neighbors on adjoining verandahs
-what if someone smokes on another verahdah, will we be able to have door open, my son has respitory induced asthma and the Dr. said if he happens to have a cold, even walking past smoke could induce an asthma attack. I just don't know how often people run into other smokers on verandahs.
-is there a lot of light let in from the windows - we plan to stay up late and sleep in. We've always had the pitch black room and love that.
-is weather on western itinerary nice enough to sit outside (it was really cold in June for our Mexican Riveria cruise-we couldn't sit by the pool unless all covered up with clothes or towel!).
I'm wondering if it's worth the extra money to upgrade? I've always wanted a verandah but don't have lots of extra money! Any thoughts would be appreciated.
We loved our verandah the last time we cruised!! I don't recall too much noise from other passengers! There was a lot of light let into the room with the drapes open, but they are heavy drapes and I don't recall too much coming in during the early morning (we pulled them tight every night). We never left the door open, for too long anyway. I just opened it and closed it when I went to sit out on it (I was the major user in the family)!! So I'm not sure how it would affect your DS, but with the door closed, I don't think you'd see any effects!
I'm going to assume the weather is going to be warm enough to sit out on. The Gulf of Mexico has very warm water (upper 70s to low 80s that time of year) compared to the Pacific Ocean which I think is only in the 50s/60s (so there would definitely be a temperature difference with the sea breeze). We didn't have any cool spots last time, but that was only Nassau and CC.
There have been times we've left the verandah door open, but the room became very humid. Also, the room isn't built for cross-ventilation, so you won't really get a good breeze through the room. If you're looking forward to the fresh air, think in terms of going out on the verandah, rather than leaving the door open.
Smokers have never really been a problem for us, but it doesn't mean you wouldn't get unlucky. Still, since you'll probably choose to keep the verandah door closed anyway, it may not be a problem.
Sometimes you can hear fellow passengers on nearby verandahs, but only if you're out on the verandah. Sound doesn't travel well around corners, so even if the verandah door is open, it's not likely someone indoors would hear the neighbors (or vice versa).
The blackout curtains in the stateroom do work very well. They overlap a solid section of wall, so if you close them securely you'll just get a little bit of light around the edges.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
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I just wanted to add my personal experience with smokers. With a chronic dry-eye condition and allergies, smoke is something I need to avoid. Only once (out of 4 verandahs) have we been next to a smoker and they were very understanding and didn't smoke if I was out there. I know not everyone would necessarily be that accommodating, but I like to think that they would (especially for a medical condition).
Also, outdoor smoking is only permitted on the port (left) side of the ship on decks 4, 9 and 10 (in addition to stateroom verandahs). When we've had port-side cabins, I have noticed drifting smoke from other verandahs or even from the outdoor deck smoking areas - especially when docked. Consider a starboard-side cabin to less this possibility!
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Lynn
Yes, I am a Disney Addict... and I'd rather be cruising!.
I only have one cruise to draw experience from, and most of your questions were answered by the others, but I will add my 2 cents, too.
-We did notice noise from the kids in the room next to us when they were on their veranda, but only when we were on our veranda.
-We were on the starboard side and did not notice any smoke. I don't know if any smokers were next to us or not. I would not have noticed it, I don't think, but DW probably would have, she has asthma, too.
-We were reprimanded (kind of severely for vacation ) for leaving the veranda door open. Our housekeeper said to keep it closed because of the humidity and air flow on the ship. He said they could tell which ones were open, too. I did notice that when the cabin door and veranda door were open at the same time, there was a terrific rush of air through the cabin.
-There is a lot of light from the veranda when the curtains are open... but as Marnie and Dave pointed out, the curtains are heavy and block out almost all the light when closed. I don't believe you will get pitch black during the day, but it will be too dark to read.
-We were on the Western in October and were on the veranda day and night all week. It was never cold, at least for me, I think DW may have put on a light jacket or sweater a couple of nights when it was damp or drizzling outside.
-Is it worth the extra money? To us, yes! DW says she will not cruise without a veranda, and I certainly would not want to. On the starboard side we were on the scenic side in every port. I'm not sure if we were just lucky, or if that is the norm, but we were on the "island side" in all four ports and the "pirate ship/beach" side at CC.
That is, though, a lot of extra money. Is that for the Navigator's veranda? The Navigator's veranda might be just the thing for you. It would keep out even more light, be less windy, keep out more noise than an open veranda, and be harder for any smoke to get in, but it would be cheaper and you would still get the fresh air.
Thanks so much for your all your input. I really appreciate it being it's a lot of extra money to spend. Great point about smoking on port side and to choose the starboard side. I would have never thought of that. Well, it's back to disney.com to see what is left on starboard side and whether that's the route we will go!
We LOVED our balcony. It made the room seem so much bigger. We had the door open a good bit because we would go on the balcony a lot when we were in the room. It was also a nice retreat away from family without leaving the room. It was like having a 2 room suite; kinda...
We never heard any noise when the doors were shut, but could hear conversations from the adjoining rooms when we were all on the balconys. (Careful what you say..lol)
The curtains really were great at blacking out light. We came in and took a nap an it was perfect.
We did have some smoking issues. Someone in a room below (and few rooms over) was smoking and it drifted up in our area, espically when he was leaning on the railing and smoking. But I found that a little "coughing" must have given a hint, because he went in. My daughter also has asthma, so I didn't let her go out if I could smell cigarette smoke.
It's good to know about the starboard side being NS. I will save that info for next trip!
For our family, it is definately worth the money. We like to lounge around on the balcony, and in general, take a slow pace. For those families that hit the floor running at sunrise and stay busy all day; I would say save your money.
Hope that helps.
We had a verandah on our 4-night cruise last year and booked a verandah stateroom for our upcoming cruise this year again. I think we've been spoiled and probably won't ever cruise without a verandah For us, it is pure luxury to be sitting outside in the privacy of our own verandah, sipping coffee or soda, and watch the ship pull into port or just watch the wide ocean. It's definitely worth the extra $$ for us. Now, if you know you're usually rather "out and about", having fun at activities and won't want to spend much time on the verandah to relax, I wouldn't spend the extra cash. We did have smokers in the stateroom next to us, and we could smell the smoke on our verandah when they were out on their verandah smoking. We found it a bit annoying but didn't say anything. I hope we'll have more luck this time around.
We`ve sailed three times, twice with an inside cabin and the last time with a verandah. I absolutely loved the verandah, but I can live without it. We did have a few smokers around us, it wasn`t too bad. I agree its difficult to leave the verandah door open, the windows steamed up and you could feel the airflow.
If you don`t want the extra cost, can you get an inside cabin close to the "secret" deck 7 area. I`ve used that alot on my "inside" cruise trips.
We will never again have an inside stateroom. We are also guilty of leaving our verandah door open but unlike Kenny, we did not get yelled at for it! We had coffee out there every morning, breakfast from room service out there once, and on this last cruise, afternoon Asti Spumante and sweet treats courtesy of a fellow Passporter!
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I don't recall too much noise from other passengers! 
There was a lot of light let into the room with the drapes open, but they are heavy drapes and I don't recall too much coming in during the early morning (we pulled them tight every night). We never left the door open, for too long anyway. I just opened it and closed it when I went to sit out on it (I was the major user in the family)!! So I'm not sure how it would affect your DS, but with the door closed, I don't think you'd see any effects!
I just wanted to add my personal experience with smokers. With a chronic dry-eye condition and allergies, smoke is something I need to avoid. Only once (out of 4 verandahs) have we been next to a smoker and they were very understanding and didn't smoke if I was out there. I know not everyone would necessarily be that accommodating, but I like to think that they would (especially for a medical condition).
) for leaving the veranda door open. Our housekeeper said to keep it closed because of the humidity and air flow on the ship. He said they could tell which ones were open, too. I did notice that when the cabin door and veranda door were open at the same time, there was a terrific rush of air through the cabin.
For us, it is pure luxury to be sitting outside in the privacy of our own verandah, sipping coffee or soda, and watch the ship pull into port or just watch the wide ocean. It's definitely worth the extra $$ for us. Now, if you know you're usually rather "out and about", having fun at activities and won't want to spend much time on the verandah to relax, I wouldn't spend the extra cash. We did have smokers in the stateroom next to us, and we could smell the smoke on our verandah when they were out on their verandah smoking. We found it a bit annoying but didn't say anything. I hope we'll have more luck this time around.
We had coffee out there every morning, breakfast from room service out there once, and on this last cruise, afternoon Asti Spumante and sweet treats courtesy of a fellow Passporter! 
, maybe I'll get some respect on this next cruise! 
erm, ok? 
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