Feb 24th Wonder -

[jeanie]

We (DH,DD10 and DS8 and me!!) did the land/sea cruise starting a day early in WDW on the Feb 20th.

We decided to add an extra day at the Beach Club because 3 days in WDW just didn't seem to be enough. Also because it was President's week I was expecting the crowds to be huge.

The first day we relaxed and rested (we were up at 3:00AM to catch our 7:00 flight out of Logan) by Stormalong Bay. Kids had a ball! Thursday was a beautiful day and then it rained and rained and rained!!! We wore those yellow ponchos and did MK and MGM. Needless to say there were no lines to wait in and you do get used to being wet! We did everything we wanted to do and the kids didn't mind the rain at all. The rain stopped on Sunday but the seas were a little rough that night. We had the TAPT rotation and my husband missed dinner that night.
The food was absolutely delicious in all the restaurants!
Our servers were great! There are so many things to do each night that we ended up watching or doing a little of each! Also I did not expect my kids to stay every night in the lab so I didn't make Palo reservations. What a mistake. After dinner each night they were in the lab. My daughter is shy and I especially was surprised that she wanted to skip the restaurant dinner the last night to eat with the lab! The program is great! The councilers (sp??) are great! And it was extremely organized!
make sure the kids do the Discover the Magic show also! It is very nice! The kids and councilors did a great job...

On the nassau day we took a land taxi (16 plus tip) to Comfort Suites, checked in and used the express check out so we did not have to go back to check out... and then walked over to Atlantis.
They were filming Regis and Kelly that day but we got there after they were done filming but the equipment was everywhere. Carmen Electra was there somewhere on the beach (I could hear all the guys talking about this!) The day we were there, the beach was closed to swimming (not the cove beach though) because the surf was too rough and it was really windy...The hotel is impressive and the slides and pools were nice, the aquarium was OK. But I am not sure it was worth the money...
My kids loved it but my husband and I we just so so about the day...

The deck party that night is not to be missed! Everyone had a blast; the Charles Marshall band is great...


The next day we slept late and expected that the ship would be empty because we were in Freeport. But it was a little bit more crowded that I wanted it to be.... Again the kids had fun in the pools, the lab and Quarter Masters.

The next day was awesome! Castaway Cay day! We were starboard side and that morning I woke up and looked out at the most beautiful beach! Castaway Cay is everything everyone says it is and more! We went ashore first thing becasue I wanted to get a great spot. We went all the way down to the area in front of the kids play area and it was great! We had four chairs and an umbrella and I have to say it was not a crowded as I thought.. One thing did ruin a nearly perfect day though...... Two hours after we got there the sky turned balck and it poured! Everyone left the beach and headed to Cookie's to wait.... About 20 minutes later the sun was out and didn't see another cloud for the rest of the day! It was great!!!

Alot of people were saying the water was too cold. If you have ever swam in the ocean North of Cape Cod then you would think that the water was warm! My kids were in all day! They thought it was great!


Debarkation was so easy, you have breakfast and then you go and grab your bags which are color code and in numerical orde according to stateroom. It couldn't have been easier!

This was by far our best vacation and we will definately be sailing again!

Thanks to everyone on these boards! I learned so much before we went and was really prepared.

 

[goofysgal]

Glad you had a great trip! Do you by chance have the navigators for your daughters 10-12 age group and would you be willing to fax or e-mail them to me. DS,10 is getting anxious about what there is for him to do.

E-mail to jmccloskey@hardwarespecialty.com or PM me for fax #.

THANKS!!

We will be on the 4/14 WONDER!

 

[idontknow]

I'd love to see a copy of that, too. Would Inkkognito be willing to put the kids navigator on her site? I think that is the only one that is missing.

 

[whalewatcher]

Maybe i missed something, but what was the story with Comfort Suites? Why did you check in and out here?

 

[jeanie]

Hi,

I have been away from the boards for awhile... But I am getting the fever for another cruise so I am back!!

I don't have access to a scanner or a fax machine. I need to figure out how I could get these Navigator's to Barb or Dave sites!



As for the question about checking in and checking out...I guess it was a really weird statement unless you read these boards all the time!!


Instead of going on a Disney excursion to the Atlantis, I reserved a room at the Comfort Suites which gives you access to all the facilities at the Atlantis Hotel. I new that I would never use the room that day (just wanted the pools!!) so we checked in and used the express check out. We never had to return to the Comfort suites to settle our bill.

 

[zurgswife]

Jeanie I had heard about doing that at the Comfort Suites and I was also wondering if it was worth the money to spend the day at the atlantis beaches and slides.

If you could do it differently this time would you do atlantis, do something different or stay on the boat? If money was a factor what would you do???

thanks

 

[cruisnfamily]

How much did it cost to check into that Comfort Suites? Did you make the reservations ahead of time? Did the kids use the Atlantis facilities like water slides? Also, is a tour of the aquarium free as well?

Thanks so much..I have heard about this as an alternative to the excursion it would be good to hear a detailed opinion from someone who has done it.

Give us a trip report within a trip report about Atlantis/Comfort Suites!

 

[dbkelly]

I just recently found out about making reservations at the Hotels in order to use the facilities at Atlantis. I just booked a room at the Atlantis for $265 through expedia.com. To my surprise the Comfort Suites was more expensive $270. I also heard that it is a good 15 to 20 minute walk to Atlantis from Comfort Suites. With all the taxes they hit you up with, the grand total came to $343. I sure hope it is worth it. If I took the Disney excursion it would have cost me $255 for the five of us and we could not use the pools or slides (my kids would hate me for life). Although, the $255 includes transportation and lunch. I figured that transportation would cost me $20 each way and I learned on the boards that you can order sandwiches the night before and pack them in a collaspable cooler. In short, the difference between the room ($343 + $40) and the excursion ($255) does not appear all that bad. I look at it as paying an extra $128 and not $383.

I hope this helps.

D. B. Kelly