What I would do/not do next cruise

[EPCOTatNight]

Our last cruise, we skipped a few nights in the main dining rooms and it was great. We ate once on deck and once at the casual sit down. It was great to eat at our own pace and not worry about getting all cleaned up.

This is exactly what we plan on doing. Less scheduled dinners and shows. I don't like having to go get changed for dinner when I was happy just sitting on deck and doing nothing. The food in the MDR'S isn't that great anyway.

 

[neg58]

Will Do:



-Pick up some food to take with us to Castaway Cay. We woke up late and ran off the ship to meet Smee (my son's fav) and Hook, and didn't eat breakfast. There wasn't anything to eat on the island until 11:15.

Even though it is a private island and Disney owned and most of the food you are going to eat on the island comes off the ship, it's still a port and you can't bring food on or off the ship. You'd have to eat it before you left.

Nancy

 

[StacyLynn624]

We had some sealed snacks like small bags of goldfish for our toddler. Sealed animal crackers. Things like that we could have brought had we known.

 

[RRZJ]

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!

Is the scavenger hunt an organized activity? How did you learn about it? This is the first I've heard. Thanks!

 

[sunryzez]

Things I will do again
1) Palo- brunch and dinner ( my fave part of cruise)
2) Bingo- LOVED it!!!
3) Rainforest for relax time

Things I have not done but will do next time:
1) Relax more
2) Get coffee at cafe cove every morning( dont know how I had no idea they had good coffee in there)
3) save for more spa treatments
4)take a mixology class
5)Do buffet on disembarkment day

Will not do again
1) Feel that I need to do mdr every night
2) sit down breakfast on disembarkment day. On my last cruise the waiters all seemed completely different that morning, almost borderline rude (and we left good tips). We felt like we rushed downstairs for a nice breakfast and they kind of acted like we have your tips so we dont need to pretend to be nice anymore...
3) go to bed early. I always seem to want to crash early but I really want to try to do more of the adult activities they have at night.

 

[Siblingts]

Disney Dream - 3 night
We would stay on board and enjoy the ship on Nassau Day and enjoy the early Pirate Party festivities.
We would send the kids to kids club and enjoy Serenity Bay at Castaway Cay
Order milk and cookies from room service!
See all of the shows, we thought the Villian show would be too scary, but it was more funny.
Ride the aqua duck at night!
Go in the summer/spring months, the water at Castaway was too cold to enjoy.
If we miss a show, we will watch it on the TV.

 

[Poohbug]

What I WILL do:

order more room service
take a mixology class - very fun
have deporting day breakfast at the buffet
still trying to fit in the Palo brunch


What I will NOT do:

book onboard - I have found it a pain to keep bumping my reservations ahead with my TA. Unless you have definite plans for another cruise, seems to be more hassle than it is worth.

book two rooms for my family of 5 that are not connecting. Kind of like separate vacations.

What I will PROBABLY not do again:

Book Palo for dinner - felt out of my element, I guess we are just not "fancy" people.

 

[dznystar]

subbing!

 

[jasta]

Subbing....33 days!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

Things I will not do:
-Cry if I get severe motion sickness again on the first nigh I totally thought our first cruise was a huge mistake, vowed never to cruise again and debated chartering a helicopter to come get me I felt so awful lol Turns out first night seas tend to be rough and the rest of the cruise was smooth sailing. As for cruising again, after things evened out I was hooked.

I don't know if you were on a Bahamas cruise, but I was having somewhat of a hard time the first day/evening. Thankfully I was chatting with a kid's club CM who mentioned that the first night (under normal circumstances of course) is always the worst, and it calms down by the time you wake up the next morning. He was right! I was so glad because I was seriously off balance that first day.

 

[bumbershoot]

We would...

Take DCL transportation from the airport instead of the hotel, especially with an early boarding time or booking concierge again. Waiting for the bus to get to the resorts and then from the resort was painful. Our extended family had been on board two hours by the time we got on (they drove in from their home), and it just felt like we never caught up.

If I booked concierge I would use the sun deck more.

If not, I would still sit in the sunshine a bit more. Vitamin D is good.

I would only get off in Nassau if I had an excursion booked OR was getting off the ship with people who knew the area. Trying to figure out the walking tour was just too hard without knowing the city.

And I would *ignore* the tour guide gauntlet; talking to them was a waste of our time AND theirs.

I would insist that DS spend more time in the club/lab. He didn't get anywhere near as much time there as I thought he would.

We would do the Detective Agency again.

Order room service! It totally slipped our minds.

I would try first seating for dining. Second seating made sense on paper for us especially because of the time difference, but ultimately it just disrupted *everything*. And then we weren't hungry for breakfast, which messes us up, and it just spiraled.

We're definitely not afraid to use their laundry *services*. DH got his shirts and khakis pressed, and they looked SO nice. I like the idea of not wasting time/money getting things dry cleaned before the cruise and just sending them out on the first day.

I would do all the things we didn't get a chance to do or forgot to do or it slipped our mind to do, like aquaduck, minigolf, SWIMMING in a pool onboard....

I would definitely do the CC 5K again! I felt such a huge sense of accomplishment and it made the day just wonderful for me!!!




I would not....

Be right in the middle of the Sailaway or Pirate party. DS might feel differently however.

Bother with the fireworks again. DH and I were very very NOT impressed.

DH and DS would spend less time in the arcade on the ship, assuming there would be arcade time at WDW (or Universal).

Book a mere 3 day again unless it was truly the only thing we could do. Even one extra day would have been good. That said, it did help me see that I don't seem to get seasick, and if I DID get seasick that 3 days would have felt like 3 years I'm sure.

 

[snorder]

I haven't seen anyone mention The perfect gift. I always order a sand pail basket for my kids as a Bon Voyage gift. They put drinks, candy, snacks, etc in it. When we get to our room it is there! They open it and we unpack. Then, on beach day in CC, they already have their sand pail for making the best castles on the beach... Make sure Shutters takes a picture too! I love The Perfect Gift!

 

[G'sMaman]

I haven't seen anyone mention The perfect gift. I always order a sand pail basket for my kids as a Bon Voyage gift. They put drinks, candy, snacks, etc in it. When we get to our room it is there! They open it and we unpack. Then, on beach day in CC, they already have their sand pail for making the best castles on the beach... Make sure Shutters takes a picture too! I love The Perfect Gift!

What a great idea!!! We usually do the FE gift exchange, but we are doing a short 3 day cruise next month and I really don't want to spend my short vacation time running around filling bags. My dd5 will be disappointed, but The Perfect Gift will definitely lessen the blow.

 

[murderdoll1317]

Will Do:


-Start buying gift cards at Target now, like $50 or $100 each time I go, so we can pay for the whole cruise with gift cards. Bring about $300 per day in additional gift cards.

What is the advantage of buying gift cards at target over paying in cash or using your key or other forms of payment?

 

[neg58]

What is the advantage of buying gift cards at target over paying in cash or using your key or other forms of payment?

5-10% savings with using Target Red Card and pharmacy coupon.

Nancy

 

[jendeli]

I would buy travel insurance! I'm still kicking myself for the $3000 ER bill in Nassau.

I would bring air freshener for the bathroom.

I would bring mousse or hair gel to scrunch my hair. I have straight hair and the humidity made it frizzy.

I would see all of the shows, and get there early for a good seat.

 

[Munkamamacallie]

-Start buying gift cards at Target now, like $50 or $100 each time I go, so we can pay for the whole cruise with gift cards. Bring about $300 per day in additional gift cards.

WOW - $300 I take it this includes port adventures? That sounds like alot!

-Bring 3 water bottles. We had one for our WDW trip, but we like to drink lots of water at night, and we never had enough. It was a pain to go up to the fountain on Deck 11. We should bring 3 and fill them up before bed each night.[/QUOTE]
Is the water in the room not purified?
THX!

 

[murderdoll1317]

-Start buying gift cards at Target now, like $50 or $100 each time I go, so we can pay for the whole cruise with gift cards. Bring about $300 per day in additional gift cards.

WOW - $300 I take it this includes port adventures? That sounds like alot!

THX!

I have 7 months before my cruise, what if I over buy gift cards to use? Would I get a refund of money in cash or right back on the gift card?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Is the water in the room not purified?
THX!

All the water onboard, regardless of source (drink station, making ice, tap in your room, preparing food, etc), is processed the same way as bottled water - reverse osmosis and filtered.

You can fill you water bottle from the tap in your room as well as the drink station (although at the drink station, they ask that you use their cups to fill your bottle, so that's an extra step).

 

[neg58]

I have 7 months before my cruise, what if I over buy gift cards to use? Would I get a refund of money in cash or right back on the gift card?

Back onto the card.

Nancy