Remysister28
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2022
My bff and I chose this 4-night cruise to see how we’d do. Since we live in L.A. it was so great to have a port in San Diego. We rented a car, drove to the Manchester Hyatt the night before the cruise and dropped the car off. We have watched dozens of vlogs on DCL and read tons of posts here and elsewhere to prepare. We are lucky in the sense we have no kids to take care of and we at least loved the theme parks. Definitely fans of Disney. I really admire all the parents who plan so much for their kids and families!
Well, I discovered a whole New World L O L..
San Diego may not be the greatest port but we managed to get into group 2 and 3 for boarding. We both had our Minnie ears on and the fun was starting. We met young couples who had small ones and it was such fun to get to know them. We were thrilled when our names were announced!
I will skip some details, but we had so much fun visiting the adult areas. As first time cruisers, we wanted to enjoy the MDRs but we also made reservations for Palo brunch and dinner. Our first evening we were slightly frazzled from Embarkation procedures and rushing to get things done so we went to the French Quarter and had two of the yummy cappuccino and vanilla ice cream non-alcoholic drinks of the day! I know it’s meant to be kid friendly, but I didn’t care, they were yummy! Our first night was at Tiana’s Place and it was awesome. I just enjoyed the spirit of the performers and also the dance that everyone does at the end. I think the head server was into me, and he pulled me in to join the dance! I don’t remember all of the food now, but the shrimp was absolutely delicious. We enjoyed our serving team. They had been with DCL for awhile and very knowledgeable. They were really wonderful to watch out for extra things to give us on the other days. We chose the second seating because it was more relaxing, and we noticed that the servers were more relaxed and chatted with us. After reading some negative comments about serving teams on the Disboards, I was relieved that ours at least were experienced and knowledgeable.
Needless to say, we loved our state room host, and the host next-door to him was so funny. They were a great team and we missed them. The towel animals and chocolate were always something to look forward to after dinner. These hosts work hard to please! I was glad to spend some time with them to know about their home countries. Made was our host and he’s from Bali. Ren is the lively host from the Philippines.
Palo was amazing. Sasha or is it Sacha? Was Palo Manager who was so kind and gracious to make the brunch reservation for us after we went on board. My BFF did the right thing and as soon as we got our welcome onboard we dashed up to deck 3 to where Sasha was taking reservations. We thought everything we had was perfect and our server kept coming with desserts, even though we protested LOL. My BFF drank some sort of wine, and she was happy. Duen was our server for both brunch and dinner. It’s an understatement to say she was amazing. No words. She just knew what to do. What fun and we teased her about her Thai taste for very spicy food!
We are lucky in that we each had our own state rooms with veranda located next to one another on the sixth deck midship. We asked Made to remove the divider so we could have the expanded view. We could not live without the Verandas because we need to sit outside and enjoy being out in the ocean either having coffee or just relaxing. It’s just so peaceful watching sunsets.
We had another amazing meal at Palo on pirate night. We did manage to get up to the pirate party at 10 PM and it was amazing to see the fireworks. It was really windy and I was afraid for the performers but the captain stopped the ship so that we could enjoy the fireworks. Backstage, we encountered Minnie, Dale, Captain Hook, and others. It’s a character interaction that no one could have expected or paid for. They were so gracious.
Oh yes, Cove Cafe oh my! So Wayan is the server at Cove Café and he is so funny. I asked what kind of teas he had and he brought out 10 different boxes of loose teas! He said he would brew my tea perfectly, and he did! Later on, we went back for lattes. For sure, I will go back to the Wonder for his tea.
We really did not spend time playing trivia or bingo because this was our first cruise and a very short one at that. We went to some of the adult lounges - Crown & Fin, in particular was great. We just wanted to hang out and it was an amazing experience talking to people and we wished we could’ve gone on to Alaska, but there will be another time for sure!
We had one port excursion in Victoria. I chose the city highlights tour with a stop at Craigdorough Castle. My bff fell in love with Victoria and said she’d be back.
After reading many comments on these boards, I was prepared for the spa. I wanted a massage and I had a magnificent one. Then came the hard sell. Well, I was prepared so I bought two products but she was really good. Her name is Priscilla. My bff had a facial that she said was also amazing. I don’t think I will have any spa treatments on my next cruise though. I have enough opportunities to get them on land.
Neither one of us got seasick, which we were happy about. I did bring Bonine to be prepared. The first two days were kind of rough on the seas, but the last two days were just so wonderful and sunny. It was unusually warm in Victoria and later on in Vancouver for this time of year - mid to high 80’s. The Pacific Ocean is a beautiful blue.
We went shopping on the last day, and it was a good thing I did. I bought the Wonder bronze Little Mermaid statue as a memento of our trip!
Lastly, we decided to buy placeholders for our next cruise. Thanks for all of the suggestions and comments on these boards. We could not have planned it any better without you.
Well, I discovered a whole New World L O L..
San Diego may not be the greatest port but we managed to get into group 2 and 3 for boarding. We both had our Minnie ears on and the fun was starting. We met young couples who had small ones and it was such fun to get to know them. We were thrilled when our names were announced!
I will skip some details, but we had so much fun visiting the adult areas. As first time cruisers, we wanted to enjoy the MDRs but we also made reservations for Palo brunch and dinner. Our first evening we were slightly frazzled from Embarkation procedures and rushing to get things done so we went to the French Quarter and had two of the yummy cappuccino and vanilla ice cream non-alcoholic drinks of the day! I know it’s meant to be kid friendly, but I didn’t care, they were yummy! Our first night was at Tiana’s Place and it was awesome. I just enjoyed the spirit of the performers and also the dance that everyone does at the end. I think the head server was into me, and he pulled me in to join the dance! I don’t remember all of the food now, but the shrimp was absolutely delicious. We enjoyed our serving team. They had been with DCL for awhile and very knowledgeable. They were really wonderful to watch out for extra things to give us on the other days. We chose the second seating because it was more relaxing, and we noticed that the servers were more relaxed and chatted with us. After reading some negative comments about serving teams on the Disboards, I was relieved that ours at least were experienced and knowledgeable.
Needless to say, we loved our state room host, and the host next-door to him was so funny. They were a great team and we missed them. The towel animals and chocolate were always something to look forward to after dinner. These hosts work hard to please! I was glad to spend some time with them to know about their home countries. Made was our host and he’s from Bali. Ren is the lively host from the Philippines.
Palo was amazing. Sasha or is it Sacha? Was Palo Manager who was so kind and gracious to make the brunch reservation for us after we went on board. My BFF did the right thing and as soon as we got our welcome onboard we dashed up to deck 3 to where Sasha was taking reservations. We thought everything we had was perfect and our server kept coming with desserts, even though we protested LOL. My BFF drank some sort of wine, and she was happy. Duen was our server for both brunch and dinner. It’s an understatement to say she was amazing. No words. She just knew what to do. What fun and we teased her about her Thai taste for very spicy food!
We are lucky in that we each had our own state rooms with veranda located next to one another on the sixth deck midship. We asked Made to remove the divider so we could have the expanded view. We could not live without the Verandas because we need to sit outside and enjoy being out in the ocean either having coffee or just relaxing. It’s just so peaceful watching sunsets.
We had another amazing meal at Palo on pirate night. We did manage to get up to the pirate party at 10 PM and it was amazing to see the fireworks. It was really windy and I was afraid for the performers but the captain stopped the ship so that we could enjoy the fireworks. Backstage, we encountered Minnie, Dale, Captain Hook, and others. It’s a character interaction that no one could have expected or paid for. They were so gracious.
Oh yes, Cove Cafe oh my! So Wayan is the server at Cove Café and he is so funny. I asked what kind of teas he had and he brought out 10 different boxes of loose teas! He said he would brew my tea perfectly, and he did! Later on, we went back for lattes. For sure, I will go back to the Wonder for his tea.
We really did not spend time playing trivia or bingo because this was our first cruise and a very short one at that. We went to some of the adult lounges - Crown & Fin, in particular was great. We just wanted to hang out and it was an amazing experience talking to people and we wished we could’ve gone on to Alaska, but there will be another time for sure!
We had one port excursion in Victoria. I chose the city highlights tour with a stop at Craigdorough Castle. My bff fell in love with Victoria and said she’d be back.
After reading many comments on these boards, I was prepared for the spa. I wanted a massage and I had a magnificent one. Then came the hard sell. Well, I was prepared so I bought two products but she was really good. Her name is Priscilla. My bff had a facial that she said was also amazing. I don’t think I will have any spa treatments on my next cruise though. I have enough opportunities to get them on land.
Neither one of us got seasick, which we were happy about. I did bring Bonine to be prepared. The first two days were kind of rough on the seas, but the last two days were just so wonderful and sunny. It was unusually warm in Victoria and later on in Vancouver for this time of year - mid to high 80’s. The Pacific Ocean is a beautiful blue.
We went shopping on the last day, and it was a good thing I did. I bought the Wonder bronze Little Mermaid statue as a memento of our trip!
Lastly, we decided to buy placeholders for our next cruise. Thanks for all of the suggestions and comments on these boards. We could not have planned it any better without you.
