What I would do/not do next cruise

[carmie3377]

What I will do again:

• Bring over the door shoe rack for toiletries - so convenient will probably do for all trips more than a few days.
• FEs - The kids and I really enjoyed this.
• Rent car for transportation to/from port
• Order room service more.
• Arrange on our meet thread to have dinner with other families with girls our daughter's age. She met some great friends and so did we!!!

What I will do for the first time:

• Arrive at the port earlier. I was really stressed out arriving around 2.
• Bring hanging shoe holder for shoes
• Eat lunch/breakfast in the dining rooms - not everyday but some.
• Enjoy a dessert buffet
• Bring our own alcohol
• Exercise and run CC 5K- broght workout clothes last time, just never made it the gym
• Use the navigator on sea days. I feel like we missed so many activities not paying attention to the navigator.
• Attend the "Till be meet again" party. The kids and I love character interaction.
• Bring pop up hamper - saw this suggestion on here somewhere so THANK YOU

What I won't do again:

• Palo - yes, it was good but not so much more than the dining rooms to warrent the extra costs
• Overpack - well, we'll just have to wait and see!
• Forget snorkle gear
• Rent a car on a mountainous island. I was so nervous on St. Thomas I had a hard time enjoying myself
  

I am sure there are more for each list! Can't just think of them now!

 

[Eeyore3838]

What I will do again:
Bring some alcohol on board
Arrive at port early
Spend time in the Outlook Cafe
Use the hot tub at the Quiet Cove pool
Lunch at Beach Blanket on Nassau day (they have stone crabs!)
Palo Dinner
Let DH nap every afternoon
See a movie on board
Check out Atlantis
Order Mickey bars from room service
Make door magnets
Wine tasting
Book our next cruise on board (and EARLY before the line gets crazy)

What I will do for the first time:
Everything on the Dream!
Bring a highlighter for the navigator
Bring our own digital clock
Check out Cadillac Lounge/Sessions
Martini tasting
Room service for breakfast
Possibly a spa villa treatment?

What I won't do again:
Palo brunch - hubby was not impressed, so we will stick with dinner.
Majority of the shows - but we love Toy Story
Bingo - it is really expensive, and you don't even get to have the fun with the electronic cards
Pirate Party/Dessert Buffet - this is the one area I feel Disney does not do a good job with crowd control.
A 3 night cruise

 

[lucky1]

Ok... Here is mine. I only posted what is I haven't read on this tread..

What I will do again:

• Let DCL pick out tablemates: We were paired with a wonderful family that had a similar situation as us and after the 2nd night, we ran into each other all the time and spent time together. Now FB buddies! our DD are good friends.
• Order Coffee and Bagels the last night at 10pm. Pot of coffee was warm the next morning and much needed before the early morning get off the ship and depart.

What I will not do next time:

• forget to write on my SPA information sheet that I don't want a product sales pitch.
• forget to look around the port. I was so busy trying for an upgrade, getting pictures and looking for DIS folks that I missed the ship model and the details in the lobby.

 

[JKSWonder]

Ok... Here is mine. I only posted what is I haven't read on this tread..

What I will do again:

• Let DCL pick out tablemates: We were paired with a wonderful family that had a similar situation as us and after the 2nd night, we ran into each other all the time and spent time together. Now FB buddies! our DD are good friends.
• Order Coffee and Bagels the last night at 10pm. Pot of coffee was warm the next morning and much needed before the early morning get off the ship and depart.

What I will not do next time:

• forget to write on my SPA information sheet that I don't want a product sales pitch.
• forget to look around the port. I was so busy trying for an upgrade, getting pictures and looking for DIS folks that I missed the ship model and the details in the lobby.

Oh, you just reminded me! Definitely will order coffee the night before debarkation. I didn't even know this would work (that the coffee would still be warm) until after we got home and I read it on the DIS.

I'm am also right there with you about looking around the terminal. I was so busy organizing my family, checking us in, I barely remember what the place looked like!

 

[trwprid]

Will Do Again:

-Drive down to Orlando instead of flying. Saved us from a lot of stress and kept money in our pockets.
-Pad in a day before and after the ship to stretch out the vacation.
-Eat breakfasts and lunches in the full-service dining rooms.
-Do a load of laundry mid-trip to have fresh pajamas and underwear
-Abide by DCL's suggested dress for dinner. It made character photo opportunities more fun and it's the only time in recent memory I have pictures of DH where he's not wearing blue jeans and tennis shoes.
-Book a room on a lower deck to avoid waiting around for elevators all day.

Didn't Do but Will Next Time:

-Take along an extra pair of adult hands to keep the kid(s) entertained (I admit that DS stressed me out because he wanted to be on the go non-stop)
-Buy ship-specific souvenirs while still on-board (I'm angry at myself for not getting a Wonder Christmas ornament)
-See more movies onboard, even if it means I go by myself after kids are in bed
-See the Rainforest Room everyone keeps raving about
-NOT sit in the middle of the theater unless it's the row with the aisle in front. I'm short, and the seats aren't staggered well for people to be able to see mid-stage unless the person in front of them is very short (or a child). I had a couple of adults in front of me that didn't *get* that maybe I'd like to see, too. One guy switched with his son at the last minute effectively blocking me from seeing "Disney Dreams." I couldn't switch with my 6'5" DH because then he would have been blocking the kid behind me.
-Take along my own sea sickness medication. Boy, did we need it one night.


Won't Do Next Time:

-Book a cruise with Nassau as a port (alternately, I won't get off the ship on that port day)
-Worry about DS being in the kid's clubs. We waited until the last day to take him (we went to Palo that night) and it turned out he was more entertained there than with us
-Leave home without completely planning any excursions or outings we do at port by ourselves. We ended up walking around in circles which put me in a foul mood.
-Let myself get dehydrated again.

 

[Mummum]

I'm sorry to hear you got dehydrated, that can really run you down.

Things I will do again
1. Once on board the ship and after lunch, do a hidden Mickey sacavenger hunt. We learned our way around the ship and saw the areas that are off limits (teen club, nursery, etc) the rest of the cruise.
2. Enjoy the ship on Nassau day
3. Let the kids play at the kids' club for part of the time at Castaway Cay
4. DH and I have lunch alone

Things I will not do again
1. Take a winter cruise. We enjoyed exploring the ship and all the activities offered but next time I want to enjoy the water. Some people enjoyed the water, but I am a cold weather wimp!

 

[laurio]

Things I will do again:

Upgrade to Cat 3 if available
Paolo Dinner
Let the kids enjoy time in the clubs
Buy H2O Products to have at home
Order room service breakfast
Do some laundry mid-trip
Do FE !

Things I won't do next trip:

Paolo Brunch - enjoyed dinner much more
Leave the ship in Nassau - rather relax than shop

Things I will do for the first time next cruise -

Send dress clothes to the ship cleaners
Eat in all three restaurants
visit the Rainforest Room
Find the Cove Cafe
Get Lifestyle pictures

 

[mindy327]

Will not hesitate to buy something I really want... See it buy it.
Not do the spa again. Bad experience and was sold on the upgrade products for over 300.00!
Wont bring bags of costumes for Pirate Night. Small items this time.

Will do, the FEers again. My favorite.
Will go to the buffet when I first get on the ship.
Take my time and relax. Didnt do this last time and needed a vacation from my vacation.

 

[DisneyCruiser2008]

Fun thread!!

Things I Did That I Will Do Again:

• Rent Tuxedos (and shoes) for DH and DS for formal night... much easier than carrying bulky suits onboard and I LOVE the formal family portraits!
• Pack swimsuits in carryon bag! The kids LOVED swimming in the Mickey pool when we boarded the ship.... It was the least crowded of the entire cruise.
• Bring a pop up hamper.
• Send clothes to the onboard cleaners.

Things that I Would Not Do

• Insist that our kids go to the clubs -- they didn't want to. They are only young once, so if they want to hang with us, then that's ok with me.
• Take so many shoes.

Thing that I Want to Do Next Time

• Martini Tasting
• Get a Massage
• Palos for Dinner
• Book my next DCL cruise onboard for the discount
• Try the "drink of the day" every day.

 

[1Goofy]

Really a great topic!
Will do again..
#1) rent our own vehicle to get from the airport to the cruise port and back.
#2) call the cruise line the day before we sail and if there are rooms available at a category above ours, get to the port at about 9:30 to get in line to try for a port upgrade.
#3) attend the ‘til we meet again’ character gathering in the atrium the last night of the cruise.
#4) Palo’s dinner
#5) Book any island tour / activity on our own.
#6) get off the ship at castaway cay right away, as soon as you can to get a great spot and get some photos of the empty beach.
#7) Fly in at least one night before the cruise.
#8) Bring our own wine onboard.
#9) Use a Google pop3 email account + my laptop, log on, send / receive emails, log off then compose replies, repeat. I got my work done and had a grand total internet expense of only $17 versus more than a hundred!
#10) Book next cruise onboard to take advantage of the 10% discount offer.


Will not do again..
#1) Palo’s lunch. I know many love Palo’s lunch. I don’t like cold cuts, even high end cold cuts. Had our fist and last Palo’s lunch / bruch in January of this year.

Thinking about brining wine and beer onboard...do you just tote a bottle down with you to dinner if you want to have it with dinner? How does that work?

 

[Marty Moose]

Thinking about brining wine and beer onboard...do you just tote a bottle down with you to dinner if you want to have it with dinner? How does that work?

You can take it to dinner with you, but there is an $18 (I think) "corkage" fee! Not sure how expensive bottle of wine in the dining room are...I would think they'd have to be pretty expensive to make it worth paying for the bottle at home and then tacking the $18 on?

 

[Kaizen]

You can take the bottle on board, have it in your room, pour yourself a glass and take it down to dinner with you to avoid the corkage fees.

 

[annielance]

Ok what is FE that everyone is talking about. we are doing the wonder cruise in 2011 from Los Angles.

 

[lafa]

one thing i would do next time (if there is a next time)...
change our dining rotation if the character breakfast is the morning after pirate night. my kids were exhausted from being out late at pirate night! they had so much fun but they were so tired the next morning at the breakfast and the pictures show it!

oh yeah, another thing i would do again is order BLT's from room service-yummy! i think i ordered them 4/7 days on our recent cruise!

 

[disney 2010]

Things I will do again

• • Order coffee from room service in the morning
  • relax by the pool and let the kids swim
  • Order the drink to the day everyday
    • • Arrive early and board the ship right away
      • brought a case of bottled water
  • Brought our own alcohol.

Things I wish we did

• Palo brunch
• explore the port: kids rushed us back to the ship to swim
• Watched a movie or two....never saw any
• Explore the ship
• take a longer cruise: 4 days-not enough time for everything
• Make the kids spend some time in the clubs

Things I won't do again:

• get off at castaway Cay later- The day went so quickly
• book a 4 night...just wanted more

 

[disneylove69]

Ok what is FE that everyone is talking about. we are doing the wonder cruise in 2011 from Los Angles.

There are a lot of threads but basically you hook up on the cruise meet thread for your cruise and sign up. Close to your cruise date you get a list of those participating. You hang and extender outside your door and people will deliver special little gifts and place inside. You do the same. Gifts are inexpensive such as candy, magnets, home made items, toys, etc. It's fun to get back to your room and see the surprises.

 

[Mtopher4]

Thanks for the tips.. this is our First cruise.
The only excursion we have is the dolphin encounter in Nassau

 

[Tink rules]

I will....

Try to never book a cruise under 7 days (unless I'm adding onto a WDW vacation.) I did the WB Panama cruise in '08 and 15 nights were not enough.

Book onboard again.

Bring the digital clock with me

bring small gifts (chocolates) for my dining team and room host

take the busses from MCO and stay at the Hyatt unless I'm at WDW before.

Not rush onboard the ship. I was able to get on with enough time to change my Palo ressies and then hit Topsiders for the buffet AFTER I was able to put my carry on IN my room at 1:30

Join the thread for my cruise. I made so many friends and we have stayed friends for over 3 years and we are planning on traveling together and there are over 40 of us who talk every day.

FE - had a blast getting something each day

Palo Brunch... I want to see what everyone's reaction would be if I just picked up the tray of King Crab and walked off with it. oh.. and the Veal Salmtimbucco is to die for!!!

Not pack as much and put my suitcases under the bed for storage.

Hit Cove Cafe every afternoon for those yummy treats.

If possible, link dining with other Disers - we had a blast and are still best friends.

SPA & Rainforest Room

Mickey Bars from Room Service & in the dining room for dessert.

Ask the serving team for Mozzarella Sticks for the entire table one night...

Live up by Cove Cafe...

Enjoy the Deck 7 Aft area. I was in Acapulco and literally had the place to myself while waiting for my wash to be done.

Book around the same area I had on the 15 night. Great location.

Get my Disney cup at the sail away party. I forgot to last time.

If you see it, buy it. and early. If it sells out - they won't have more until they restock at the end of the cruise.

Get the water package and bring a small cooler on board with me (LL Bean has a very good small collapsible cooler) I had the room host keep ice in it and the water was cold at all times. We fit lots of water and even a bottle of champagne in there.

Bring lemons back and store them in the room. They don't have lemons up at the drink station for my iced tea.

Bring extra camera cards. If you fill one and you need to drop it off at Shutters it may take a day to get it back. It's best to bring extra ones of those AND batteries.

Bring NYQUIL with you. and Dayquil. They don't have a great selection of meds on board at the gift shop.

Take Bonine starting the day BEFORE you cruise if you get sea sick. I found I didn't need to take it much and only did so on one other occasion on the cruise.

Order room service.

Watch the movies up on the Ariel Screen at night... it's sort of like watching a drive in movie, only at sea... Sometimes they show a Pirates movie, we had more nights so they showed other Disney movies as well.



I will NOT do...

Bingo... waste of money.

Wash. Except things that I know need to be air dryed (my tshirts...) On the 15 night cruise, the best time to do the wash ended up being at about 2 Am, but we DID order room service and drinks and had a little bit of a party.

Bring too many books on board. In 2 weeks, I only had time to read 1. But you can leave any extra books for your room host to bring to the Cast Members... they often trade things like that.

Bring the over the door hanger. It's probably good for families, but we had plenty of room for us.

Burn the bottom of my feet by NOT wearing anything on my feet when I went to get my rented raft. I admit, I was stupid enough to not wear flip flops... my mistake and my feet had swollen up for most of my trip.






I don't travel with kids most of the time, and the youngest in my family is 13 this year, so I'd let him go to his club (I'm going to put him in the Stack because he will be 1 1/2 months short of 14...) but have a curfew.

I'm going to Palo... he's eating chicken fingers.

 

[Missytara]

Would definately... do the Atlantis tour again. Did it the first year in 2000; just loved it.

Would definately not.... wait so long to go on another cruise with Disney!!!! I have been taking friends for the last three years and they have wanted to stay in the parks all week and not go on the cruise. In 2011, I am doing 4 days in the park and the three days on the cruise again.

 

[Girly_Qs]

Ask the serving team for Mozzarella Sticks for the entire table one night...

Get my Disney cup at the sail away party. I forgot to last time.

Ooh! Please share details!

I've only done 1 cruise (just last December), but even hanging around here (enjoying the benefit of those far wiser and more experienced than I, lol) I haven't heard of either of those!


As for mine (so far):

Did, and will do again:
- Palo Brunch. I'm down with 'cold' crab legs, especially when they're King crab, they'll bring me warm drawn butter, AND they do all the work for me (no cracking/digging!); plus, I still crave that (hot) chicken parm over parmesan risotto!
- Have another photo mat signed
- Bring our projection alarm clock; it's dark in those interior rooms and that way we could see what time it was easily
- Extension cord, duct tape, multi-outlet strip; necessities for dh's Bi-PAP
- Rebook on-board early
- Bring a highlighter for navigator (maybe a couple colors, for dh/I vs. kids?)
- Let the kids enjoy the clubs pretty much as much as they want

Didn't do, but will next time:
- Pirate Party buffet, I almost missed those crepes (and I *love* crepes) and will plan accordingly next time, lol
- CC5K
- Bring some alcohol
- Be early for the seafood buffet to guarantee my fill of sushi
- Make door magnets
- Utilize room service more (b'fast, Mickey Bars, etc)
- Bring a pop-up hamper to stick in the closet
- Plan empty bag/space for souveniers!

Did and will not do:
- Bring refillable mugs of any sort; didn't use them once
- Palo Dinner? This one's questionable. It was great last time, don't get me wrong. But, if it's brunch OR dinner (we did both last time) I'm not sure I want to miss a rotational if only for the 'new' experience of the Dream