Diez (10) Noches Calientes en la Riviera Mexicana/17 de abril 2011 (4.17.11 Wonder!)

[Susiesark]

Did anybody else book Hawaii? I see there are staterooms available, but the price is $10,600 for 2 adults and 1 child, too steep for me. And after that rough last sea day, I don't know if I can handle 5 straight sea days across the Pacific Ocean.

 

[szubieta]

Yes thank you everyone for FE the kids loved coming back to all the treats DD met another little girl named Charlotte from Australia I think. She sure misses her she said she got a FE so I think they must be on the boards here so if Charlotte's mommy is here Cassidy misses her and says hi.
Rae

Charlotte's mom is Penny (hopping mad), I will let her know. They aren't home yet.

We (husband and I) had a great cruise. We loved all the dancing done in Wavebands and Promenade Lounge and even by Quiet Cove pool! Our servers Terry and Maggie were wonderful. They made dinner enjoyable each night. We liked the games and activities when we could make it. (Won Match your Mate and loved the champagne.) Favorite show was Dreams. We did the Pirate cruise in PV which was fun and cheesy and nicely pirate-y. Lounging in the sun on the island was great too. Manzanillo was interesting but uneventful except for the stations of the cross procession. Cabo was a lazy day at Nikki Beach. Quiet, and full of mojitos! I enjoyed talking with lots of you on board. We booked for Hawaii, exactly one year away today! Hopefully we can re-create some of the good times we had and have some new ones in Hawaii!

You guys were a joy to watch on the dance floor. Congrats on the "Match your Mate" wish I would have got to see that one.

We have ressies for Hawaii right now and probably won't be able to swing it with Danny's work. It was tough enough to do this one with his work.

 

[LV Disney Fan(atic)]

Hi, everyone! Just wanted to add my thanks for all the great FE gifts - my family loved checking the FE every day and we were amazed at the variety and creativity of the gifts.

We had a great cruise! DH thought 10 days might be too long but we all agree it went by much too fast. We had wonderful servers (Engelbert and Sjvetlana) and of course ate too much. The Outdoor Adventure excursion in PV was a blast and we really enjoyed our Dolphin swim in Cabo with Sandy, Karen, Michelle and their families. The snorkeling in Cabo wasn't so great but the boat ride was fun. In Manzanillo we just wandered around town a bit and then went back to the ship. Sea days were the best - lots of time relaxing and reading at the adult pool.

Really enjoyed meeting so many of you in person; bumping into people you knew really made the trip more fun. And many thanks to Kristi, Connie and Helen for all you did to organize things for us (although Helen, I really owe you one for giving DH that rubber band gun - I've already had to hide it from him or I was going to hit him with it! Boys and their toys....)

Now after two days of laundry and catching up on mail and chores my post-cruise depression has set in. Mostly 'cause I'm going to miss planning and chatting with all of you! It's been a lot of fun hanging out with everyone this past year and I hope we meet again on a future cruise.

Dany

 

[TNShellBelle]

Does everyone have their sea legs back? Not excited this morning to be back at work but have such lovely memories. Had such a good time meeting all of you that I did get to meet. Miss running into you already. Gino looking forward to you TR.

I am still walking around feeling like I'm going to fall over at any moment!

Just wanted to thank everyone for making this our best cruise yet! The girls are ready to live full time on the ship...it really did feel like home after 10 days. And, the friends we made were the icing on the cake (or should I say the Chocolate on the Mickey Bar!). Everything about this trip was awesome for both kids and adults alike (except for maybe that singing show). We're booked for the 7-day version of the same cruise next spring break (first week of April) and have a couple of place holders as well. Now if I can only find some money to pay for them!!

Thanks to all for the great FE gifts and a special shout out to Kristi, Connie, and Helen (and others) for stepping up in the organizing department and making this whole thing happen! You guys are amazing!

Anyway, after a 5-hour drive home yesterday, picking up the dog, wading through 2 weeks of mail, doing 7 loads of laundry, cleaning the pool, and then (after a short sleep) getting up at 3:00 am to go fly 4 times today, I'm still hanging on to my cruise "high"...it was that good. Even found a few minutes today to do some surfing of the cruise sites looking for that next deal. Our best to all and hope to see you again! I'll be lurking on the boards if anyone is out there.

It was so nice to meet you and your family. The girls were so good with Macy and she cried when she realized that she didn't say goodbye, so sad.

No one in our family got sick on the cruise. But Virdis has come down with something now that we are back. Luckily he has taken the rest of the week off, but he is sick in bed coughing up a lung. If it weren't for his illness, I'm sure he would be on the disboards and the DCL site looking for the best fares and cabins for our next cruise. Pray for his speed return to health.

It was such a pleasure to meet all of you. For many of you are paths crossed several times (Kristi, Gabriela, Cayla, Jennifer W., and Susie) and for others we saw in passing. My family and I had an amazing time. We look forward to cruising again and hope that we see you again on another cruise or somewhere else.

Hate that I didn't get a chance to meet you Ann and that I only saw your hubby once. Hope he feels better soon.

Michelle, wish I ran into you guys more. It seems like a saw some of you a bunch of times and others never ran into.

I know, it just seemed so crazy with the kids at times.

The Outdoor Adventure excursion in PV was a blast and we really enjoyed our Dolphin swim in Cabo with Sandy, Karen, Michelle and their families.
Dany

We had so much fun with everyone at the dolphin swim also.

 

[LiserAnn]

I was a tad disappointed in our servers and stateroom host. They did their jobs but did not add the special extra touches that I like on a cruise. Our asst. server asked every single night what we wanted to drink. One of my favorite things of a cruise is to come to the dinner table and have my iced tea waiting for me. Also, we did not get the fun hats made out of napkins for the character breakfast. I did notice about half the restaurant got them and half did not. I felt our waiter had his hands full taking our orders and getting the food out, he did not really have time to be too personal. Our stateroom host I saw like 1 time the entire 10 nights. Again, our rooms were cleaned quickly and well, he just did not add any personal touches. I think for our next cruise I will get recommendations of excellent serving teams for the boards and request them. That makes a big difference for me.

Kristi - who were your severs? Kaylee and our families had the same let down as you described! No beverages, no cute hats, and no bandanas on pirate night!!! Our servers were Daniel and Inna...both nice people but did not seem to have the DCL technique down. On our previous two cruises we always had our beverages waiting for us upon entry to the dining room and this cruise we were lucky to get water by mid meal and it was rarely refilled. It was crazy. Our server always looked stressed (sweet man though) yet we never got our meals before 9sih!!!

Not to complain, we had a wonderful cruise and would do it over again. Incidentally I did request servers for our cruise but we didn't get them.

 

[Jareds_mommy]

Kristi - who were your severs? Kaylee and our families had the same let down as you described! No beverages, no cute hats, and no bandanas on pirate night!!! Our servers were Daniel and Inna...both nice people but did not seem to have the DCL technique down. On our previous two cruises we always had our beverages waiting for us upon entry to the dining room and this cruise we were lucky to get water by mid meal and it was rarely refilled. It was crazy. Our server always looked stressed (sweet man though) yet we never got our meals before 9sih!!!

Not to complain, we had a wonderful cruise and would do it over again. Incidentally I did request servers for our cruise but we didn't get them.

our main server kind of sucked too, our asst. server was great but our main one all but ignored DD, she didn't like the kids meals and the main menu was a bit to much for her so if she asked for pasta and butter or grilled chicken and veggies he out right said no it was not on the menu, finally figured out at the end to go around him and ask the head server for our section.

 

[Sacdance]

our main server kind of sucked too, our asst. server was great but our main one all but ignored DD, she didn't like the kids meals and the main menu was a bit to much for her so if she asked for pasta and butter or grilled chicken and veggies he out right said no it was not on the menu, finally figured out at the end to go around him and ask the head server for our section.

I am sad to hear that everybody didnt get great service. We had hats a running joke with the whole table about hidden Mickeys everywhere (we started to bring our own in and stick them to the walls). We even had shrimp cocktail and Filapino chicken made special for folks at our table. Enough for all 8 of us to share both times. Our assistant server was a bit like Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter but so very sweet no one minded if she had a few oops moments. I want to request them both for my Hawaii cruise.

 

[szubieta]

We too had a less than steller service team. Ours were Johanna & Jorge. Very nice and they seemed to try most of the time. Johanna was on an extended contract so she could see Alaska and we believe that Jorge was very new. Although the new kitchen staff had something to do with meals being wrong and very slow at times. The food in my opinion was very good expecially the pork at dinner.

 

[lizac]

Just got onto my laptop...
Want to thank everyone for their thoughtfulness and for including us ... It really made my girls days even that much more exiting!!!... I only got to meet a handful of you all and it was great to meet you...I gave out bags to some who had posted their staterooms even though we were not a part of the FE list...Hope your kids enjoyed it...AS for the cruise.. it was just ok for us.. my daughter and I were very sick the last 2 days... and my one daughter got extremely sick on the Pirate cruise in PV...
Didn't really care for Manzanillo..
however, LOVED CABO!!!..

Not sure if I will be taking a cruise anytime soon since it was so bad the last 2 days... and our flight back to the EAST was pretty bumpy since they were trying to avoid all the crazy weather (tornados)...
Now back to reality....

 

[CasaMartinez]

We loved all the FE’s, they were awesome and fun. Helen, my kids used your bags to hold all of their gifts in. They are having fun going through all of their treasures at home. Thank you to everyone for such thoughtful and fun gifts. Also thank you to Stacey, Gabriela and Penny for the wonderful birthday presents for Isabelle, that was too sweet of you girls.

I was a tad disappointed in our servers and stateroom host. They did their jobs but did not add the special extra touches that I like on a cruise. Our asst. server asked every single night what we wanted to drink. One of my favorite things of a cruise is to come to the dinner table and have my iced tea waiting for me. Also, we did not get the fun hats made out of napkins for the character breakfast. I did notice about half the restaurant got them and half did not. I felt our waiter had his hands full taking our orders and getting the food out, he did not really have time to be too personal. Our stateroom host I saw like 1 time the entire 10 nights. Again, our rooms were cleaned quickly and well, he just did not add any personal touches. I think for our next cruise I will get recommendations of excellent serving teams for the boards and request them. That makes a big difference for me.

Glad your kids enjoyed the bags!! They took some time but it seems well worth the effort.

I completely share your sentiments about the servers. Our main server Hernan seemed overwhelmed. He didn't interact much with the kids and only seemed to open up and relax once the meals were all done and we were getting ready to head out. Our assit. server Ceci was better. She really took to the kids and although I could tell she was new she made the effort. We didn't get the character hats made but I asked her mid way through breakfast and she was happy to make them. Overall the servers were a bit disapointing compared to my last cruise (excellent servers Igor/Melody on the Magic) but we still had a great time.

And, Helen....I am with Lisa....please PM me your address and I will get you $$ for the lanyards. Sorry we missed you...
!

No worries. Sorry I didn't get to meet you on board.

Really enjoyed meeting so many of you in person; bumping into people you knew really made the trip more fun. And many thanks to Kristi, Connie and Helen for all you did to organize things for us (although Helen, I really owe you one for giving DH that rubber band gun - I've already had to hide it from him or I was going to hit him with it! Boys and their toys....)

Dany - so glad your husband liked it. I enjoyed the Secret Mickey exchange and am glad that he could experience some of that as well.

Not to complain, we had a wonderful cruise and would do it over again. Incidentally I did request servers for our cruise but we didn't get them.

Ditto! Connie looked on the board for recommended servers and put in a request but we did not get them. However, on our last cruise she requested the servers she had before and it was honored. Perhaps, that is the difference. It seems they are big and keeping you with the same servers if possible. Which reminds, we had Tony at Palo and he was excellent. We hit Palo 4 times (2 dinner, tea and brunch) and loved all of them.

our main server kind of sucked too, our asst. server was great but our main one all but ignored DD, she didn't like the kids meals and the main menu was a bit to much for her so if she asked for pasta and butter or grilled chicken and veggies he out right said no it was not on the menu, finally figured out at the end to go around him and ask the head server for our section.

Yes our head server Taktash (sp) was great! He saved the day a few times for us.

 

[Travelbee]

Back to reality for us! I think we are the only ones that actually made it to work on the same day as debarkation!

I too want to say it was pleasure meeting and running into friends from the Disboards. It was such a good, fun group! For those we didn't meet, perhaps we'll see you on a future cruise... Paul & Dana - we'll definitely look you up when we're in Vegas! And I agree with PP that Paul's the man! We seem to run into you everywhere!

Ditto what Helen and others said about the servers.

My sis would only try cruising if we do Alaska so we booked it for 6/25/2012. Didn't realize how short the port times are until we got the confirmation but as long as my sis is willing to go, we'll be there. I'm hoping to hook them onto DCL so DD will have her best friend/cousin with her on future cruises! We also booked Caribbean on 11/17/2012 over Thanksgiving and not sure if we'll be able to do both. I'm also hoping to book a dummy cruise to be transferred to 2013 - Russell was too busy to get to us, but he said someone from DCL will call to book it and we will still get the discount and OBC. Haven't have from DCL yet!

 

[TNShellBelle]

Sorry to hear about everyone's servers. The servers we had on this cruise have definitely been the best thus far. Our server was Balwan, assistant server was Tita and our main guy was Tektas (who is interested in wall st. so talked business with dh on a daily basis grrr....). Would love to have these 3 follow up to the Fantasy next year.

 

[HighPriest]

We must have been on a different cruise than most of you. It was the April 17 Mexico on the Disney Wonder? We had a great time!! Our cabin steward was great, quick clean-up in the morning and turn-down while we were at dinner every night. Wonderful towel animals on the bed with the chocolates (except when we left our junk on the bed and then he offered to do it later if we wanted). Our meal servers were great. The milk for the kids was on the table when we arrived and my ice tea was there as soon as I sat down. He did ask every meal, but then again some of our party changed their orders every night. We had a 3 year old and a 1 year old with us. I couldn't believe the mess the 1 year old made at every meal. No complaints, in fact, it became a joke.

Before I went, having read the reviews on the various boards, I wasn't expecting much. I was very pleasantly surprised. So much, in fact, we have booked the same week for 2012.

 

[Jareds_mommy]

Our room host was great, it was our server who wasn't great. He seemed annoyed the whole time and distracted. Our asst. Server made up for him, one night when the server wouldn't let dd have pasta with Alfredo sauce and she only ate banana bread for dinner, our asst server sent her back with a whole loaf and the banana butter. The kids did grow bored of the kids clubs very quick too, dd only went to see her friend and ds was super bored he said he could have stayed at home and played video games and wii,

 

[virdis]

It was great meeting most of you on the cruise. I've been stuck in bed for the last few days with a nasty cold. Of course, I am now feeling better just in time for work on Monday. Funny how things work out

This was a great trip for us. Thanks to all on our FE list. The kids had a blast seeing the gifts when they came back to the room. We also used the possiblity of gifts as motivation for them to leave the kids clubs.

Sorry the poker never materialized. Thanks DoubleTrouble for bring the chips and cards. There was so much going on that I didn't connect to get it going. In a way, it is kind of a good thing because the thought for doing poker was that there would not be much to do. But that was definitely the opposite. Too much to do.

Anyway, off to do a baseball game with the family today (Go Oakland A's). Haven't been out of the house since we came back so fresh air will be welcomed. Happy Sunday everyone Hope to see you guys on a future cruise.

 

[Jareds_mommy]

Glad you are feeling better, we picked up that cold the last few days too, dd ears started hurting today so I will pop her in to make sure there is not an infection starting.
We are finally starting to unpack lol

 

[True Romance]

We must have been on a different cruise than most of you. It was the April 17 Mexico on the Disney Wonder? We had a great time!! Our cabin steward was great, quick clean-up in the morning and turn-down while we were at dinner every night. Wonderful towel animals on the bed with the chocolates (except when we left our junk on the bed and then he offered to do it later if we wanted). Our meal servers were great. The milk for the kids was on the table when we arrived and my ice tea was there as soon as I sat down. He did ask every meal, but then again some of our party changed their orders every night. We had a 3 year old and a 1 year old with us. I couldn't believe the mess the 1 year old made at every meal. No complaints, in fact, it became a joke.

Before I went, having read the reviews on the various boards, I wasn't expecting much. I was very pleasantly surprised. So much, in fact, we have booked the same week for 2012.

No one said they had a bad time. Remember everyone has different dinning staff and stateroom attendants. Some are excellent, and some are just okay. It is hard when you have sailed a few times before and had excellent staff and then come and have just okay staff. You cannot help but compare. So glad you booked for next year, DCL is addicting. If you loved your dining staff, you can request them next time you sail.

 

[Double Trouble]

For those of you who experienced "official" quarantine in your cabin, how did that work if you don't mind sharing? I've always wondered...if you go to medical, are they the ones who quarantine you, and for how long? Basically, how does it work?

"Ditto" on the server issues this cruise. Ours did not come close to matching up with our first three cruises, but in hindsight they may have been a little better than some of the ones you're describing. We had drinks (and a few special orders) for the kids sorted out, but no hats at character breakfast, coffee forgotten numerous times, and they always seemed maxxed out and/or confused. Our best 2 days were when our server was out sick and a Palo server, Alex (his real name is "Sacha") from Russia was brought down to fill in. He was awesome and definitely what we were hoping for. We were expecting it to be a bit worse due to them taking half the crew of the Magic & Wonder to staff the Dream just a few months ago (therefore lots of new crew backfilling on our ship). Unfortunately, we'll probably see the same next year with them draining talent to fill the Fantasy. P.S. Our head server, Harry from Jamaica, was outstanding with the kids and truly stood out.

Virdis (etal), Sorry as well the poker never materialized, but we were constantly busy on this trip. I was sad we didn't get to spend more time together with your family and others that we never seemed to hook up with.

I'm trying to hang on to the cruise mindset as long as possible now that we're home, and despite the headaches of post-cruise reality, I have the great memories of all of you to make that easier. I've also jumped on the thread for our 4/1/12 (spring break for us) Wonder MR cruise to "keep the magic going". The girls made some amazing friends as well on this trip and will be doing a little emailing to stay in touch once we get caught up here around the house.

Once again, it was a pleasure to meet all of you and sail together and maybe we'll see each other again. If anyone's heading to Vegas, send me a PM.

As Virdis says..."Hakuna Matata, Baby!" No worries...we're living the dream!

 

[Susiesark]

DH had the 'official' quarantine notice on Day 2, I think. They flagged his KTTW card so they could see if he was trying to do anything he wasn't supposed to. According to the Dr. he should have been cleared for our excursion in PV but they wouldn't let him off the ship. He got into a pissing match with guest services and finally won his freedom, but he plans to file a BIG complaint. And Michelle informed us, that since we have trip insurance, we should be able to be reimbursed for his 2 days of lockup. (Thanks Michelle!!)

Still haven't fully unpacked. I'm suffering from cruise withdrawal (including Mickey Bar withdrawals) near starvation (apparently room service doesn't make house calls) - not to worry, I packed on a 'few' extra lbs., and Royal Wedding overload. Vacation is officially over tonight. Kids tomorrow, ugh.

 

[bitocas]

Hi everyone!finaly at home after a lousy fligth home.
I want to thank you all of you for being so kind to my family
we feel very welcomed.we have a fantastic time,love the food the weather,the ship,the tablemates,the fe gifts,it was alot of fun.
Paul please send a kiss to your daugthers they where great,matilde is still talking about her friends.dd have a blast and for me to see her on stage on friendship rocks dancing like crazy and having the the time of her life was the highligth of my trip,there she was without understanding a word of english and still having so much fun,only disney can do things like that.
We book a dumy date also,no cruise for us next year,but we will came back in 2013(maybe with another member of the family if things work out ok).
Kristi,i like our servers,they were not exelent,but they were fine,and food and drinks came very quick,our hostess angelina was great,she even say some words in portuguese,and kept 2 of our huge bags in her locker,so we can have some space in our tiny room.
Disneyland and legoland where crazy busy but we still manage to have lots of fun,the world of color show was great.stay tune i will post some photos as soon as possible.
Thank you all we have great memories.