aalan
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2001
my wife and i (both 41) had a "magical" lst cruise 3-23 thru 3-30. we have been to the resort in florida many times, but had never done a cruise. i wont do a day by day thing, but will hit on the highlights:
thank goodness we stayed at the hyatt in the airport friday nite: originally disney booked a redeye flight for us (from denver) and we said, no way, and they changed it with no problems.
the room was very nice and suprisingly quiet: funny to see all the suitcases outside of almost every room the next morning!
the disney terminal is BIG and has that nice, retro deco feel. even though there is the model of the ship and a couple of t.v.s showing cartoons for the kids, i do feel disney could fill this space with all kinds of displays/exhibits to help pass the time. we arrived early and had to kill almost two hours. of course the anticipation was killing us....
it was so exciting and overwhelming to board the ship the lst time. there was so much going on, they were announcing names, a live band was playing, people were applauding, photographers were taking pictures (the sign was a little cheesy, disney could do much better), mickey was there waving at you, the music was loud. we were just trying to take it all in, and start to learn how to find our way around, which didnt take too long.
we had never been on a cruise before, and were expecting tiny staterooms. at first ours seemed small, but it actually was very comfortable. thank goodness the suitcases fit under the bed! we loved our veranda, and would get one again. the split bathroom is very handy.
it was a little difficult sleeping the lst two nights: you are on a boat that is moving, there is a low rumble and some creaking and lots of movement. i took bonine the lst day as a precaution, but it wasnt needed. after the lst two nights, it was easy to sleep, as we got much sun, and too many drinks of the day! we were also lucky that seas were very flat for almost all of the cruise.
food is always a personal thing: we thought almost all the meals were very good with only one or two average items. the fresh fruit, ice cream, and choc. chip cookies at scoops were great!
the selection for breakfast/lunch at topsiders was very good. and we had to have room service a couple of times, which was also great. the food at palo is better than the rotation dining meals: we did brunch and dinner and enjoyed them both. palo is a great deal for adults. we did our best not to over-eat, but still ate too much. we always took the stairs and long walks to offset some of the calorie intake, but i dont think it was enough. wait, it DEFINATELY wasnt enough....
we had the later seating time, which was o.k. we got a little tired of being stuffed at 10:00 at night. the 2nd formal nite we had room service for dinner. we just didnt feel like a large meal that night (thursday). and by friday, a hot dog for lunch on castaway cay tasted really good! dont get me wrong, we highly enjoyed our rotation dining, but it was time for some basic food.
i rented a tux and was glad to see most of the people in our rotation dressed as suggested: i saw lots of tuxes and nice dresses on formal nite. why dont people like dressing up? i think it helps make the nite more special. its a cruise line tradition.
our servers were liam from jamaica and gregor from slovatkia. they worked well as a team and were very friendly. we over-tipped them the same amount, as i felt they both worked equally hard. lucio kept our stateroom spotless and provided several towel animals which we enjoyed. we only saw our head server, michael, once, and we were tempted not to tip him, but did give him the minimum.
since it was our lst cruise, we booked the disney excursions: the french riviera beach rendezvous in st. maarten was o.k. the bus ride to the beach takes you thru some very depressed and ugly areas of the island. but the beach and water is very nice. the provided lunch was also very good. you also get a lot of beach time . keep in mind you may see topless and/or nude folks on the beach here. we saw a few, and it was no big deal. in st. thomas, we did the 5 star snorkel trip to st. john's trunk bay. this was a beautiful area. it was a 45 min. boat ride to get to trunk bay, so it left only 1 1/2 hours to enjoy the beach and snorkel, which was too bad, because i think i enjoyed this day the most. i saw many fish, and was surrounded by a large school of brilliant blue fish at one point. if we did this cruise again, we would probably take taxis/ferries on our own instead of the disney excursions. the cost is a little less, but more importantly you can control your day entirely, and have more time to enjoy the areas.
we were also lucky to have a really nice day at castaway cay. we spent all day at serenity bay, the adult beach, and it was so beautiful, quiet, and relaxing. we put our beach chairs at the water's edge, ordered some frozen drinks, and said,"ahhhh, this is the life..."
minor dissapointments: on sea days, the lounge chairs go fast. people reserve them as early as 7:00 a.m., which just isnt right. disney needs to try to do something about this. being soda drinkers, we felt it was outrageous to charge $35.00 for a refillable mug. if you can have as much soda as you want with sit-down meals, why shouldn't it be free all the time? disney is being cheap here.
overall, we had a really great time. disney does the cruise thing right, with activities for all age groups. we did see hercules and disney dreams, both which were good, but we wanted to relax and chill. we had planned to attend some of the seminars/tours, but never made it to any. my wife spent a lot of time at the spa, and really enjoyed the rainforest room. you can be as busy as you want, or relax like we did. the boat is nicely themed, the crew friendly, and if you are a disney fan especially, you will have a GREAT time like we did. time to start saving for the western caribbean...
thank goodness we stayed at the hyatt in the airport friday nite: originally disney booked a redeye flight for us (from denver) and we said, no way, and they changed it with no problems.
the room was very nice and suprisingly quiet: funny to see all the suitcases outside of almost every room the next morning!
the disney terminal is BIG and has that nice, retro deco feel. even though there is the model of the ship and a couple of t.v.s showing cartoons for the kids, i do feel disney could fill this space with all kinds of displays/exhibits to help pass the time. we arrived early and had to kill almost two hours. of course the anticipation was killing us....
it was so exciting and overwhelming to board the ship the lst time. there was so much going on, they were announcing names, a live band was playing, people were applauding, photographers were taking pictures (the sign was a little cheesy, disney could do much better), mickey was there waving at you, the music was loud. we were just trying to take it all in, and start to learn how to find our way around, which didnt take too long.
we had never been on a cruise before, and were expecting tiny staterooms. at first ours seemed small, but it actually was very comfortable. thank goodness the suitcases fit under the bed! we loved our veranda, and would get one again. the split bathroom is very handy.
it was a little difficult sleeping the lst two nights: you are on a boat that is moving, there is a low rumble and some creaking and lots of movement. i took bonine the lst day as a precaution, but it wasnt needed. after the lst two nights, it was easy to sleep, as we got much sun, and too many drinks of the day! we were also lucky that seas were very flat for almost all of the cruise.
food is always a personal thing: we thought almost all the meals were very good with only one or two average items. the fresh fruit, ice cream, and choc. chip cookies at scoops were great!
the selection for breakfast/lunch at topsiders was very good. and we had to have room service a couple of times, which was also great. the food at palo is better than the rotation dining meals: we did brunch and dinner and enjoyed them both. palo is a great deal for adults. we did our best not to over-eat, but still ate too much. we always took the stairs and long walks to offset some of the calorie intake, but i dont think it was enough. wait, it DEFINATELY wasnt enough....
we had the later seating time, which was o.k. we got a little tired of being stuffed at 10:00 at night. the 2nd formal nite we had room service for dinner. we just didnt feel like a large meal that night (thursday). and by friday, a hot dog for lunch on castaway cay tasted really good! dont get me wrong, we highly enjoyed our rotation dining, but it was time for some basic food.
i rented a tux and was glad to see most of the people in our rotation dressed as suggested: i saw lots of tuxes and nice dresses on formal nite. why dont people like dressing up? i think it helps make the nite more special. its a cruise line tradition.
our servers were liam from jamaica and gregor from slovatkia. they worked well as a team and were very friendly. we over-tipped them the same amount, as i felt they both worked equally hard. lucio kept our stateroom spotless and provided several towel animals which we enjoyed. we only saw our head server, michael, once, and we were tempted not to tip him, but did give him the minimum.
since it was our lst cruise, we booked the disney excursions: the french riviera beach rendezvous in st. maarten was o.k. the bus ride to the beach takes you thru some very depressed and ugly areas of the island. but the beach and water is very nice. the provided lunch was also very good. you also get a lot of beach time . keep in mind you may see topless and/or nude folks on the beach here. we saw a few, and it was no big deal. in st. thomas, we did the 5 star snorkel trip to st. john's trunk bay. this was a beautiful area. it was a 45 min. boat ride to get to trunk bay, so it left only 1 1/2 hours to enjoy the beach and snorkel, which was too bad, because i think i enjoyed this day the most. i saw many fish, and was surrounded by a large school of brilliant blue fish at one point. if we did this cruise again, we would probably take taxis/ferries on our own instead of the disney excursions. the cost is a little less, but more importantly you can control your day entirely, and have more time to enjoy the areas.
we were also lucky to have a really nice day at castaway cay. we spent all day at serenity bay, the adult beach, and it was so beautiful, quiet, and relaxing. we put our beach chairs at the water's edge, ordered some frozen drinks, and said,"ahhhh, this is the life..."
minor dissapointments: on sea days, the lounge chairs go fast. people reserve them as early as 7:00 a.m., which just isnt right. disney needs to try to do something about this. being soda drinkers, we felt it was outrageous to charge $35.00 for a refillable mug. if you can have as much soda as you want with sit-down meals, why shouldn't it be free all the time? disney is being cheap here.
overall, we had a really great time. disney does the cruise thing right, with activities for all age groups. we did see hercules and disney dreams, both which were good, but we wanted to relax and chill. we had planned to attend some of the seminars/tours, but never made it to any. my wife spent a lot of time at the spa, and really enjoyed the rainforest room. you can be as busy as you want, or relax like we did. the boat is nicely themed, the crew friendly, and if you are a disney fan especially, you will have a GREAT time like we did. time to start saving for the western caribbean...
It's also interesting to hear about the creaking noises whiles sleeping. I have a hard time sleeping in a hotel room for the 1st couple of nights, so sleeping on a cruise ship ought to be a challenge for me! Maybe I'll bring along some Tylenol p.m... 
