Hello Everyone! Hope you all had as great of a cruise as I did! It really flew by, I can’t imagine how I survived only having done 4-night Wonder cruises before, because this 7-night felt like it went so fast. I had planned on being able to do so many activities like spa, seminars, tastings, etc but I didn’t get to do as much as I hoped, probably because I’m a sun worshipper and spent most of my day time by the adult pool…when you know that back home it is freezing cold and will be for the next several months, you just cant help but want to soak up all the sun while you can! I am so excited now to do the 15 night Panama Canal in January to have so many days to have plenty of pool time AND time for the other activities. I’m already counting down until January 6, 2011!
So I’m curious, what were everyone’s highlights of the trips and their opinions on the positives and negatives about the cruise. Here are mine:
Positives:
• Overall great weather—a few clouds here and there, but overall great temps and plenty of sun for a January trip, and so glad our cruise wasn’t the day we debarked—that weather was horrific in Orlando on January 9!
• Improved food—on my 2004 cruise I really didn’t care for the food at all, on my 2009 cruise I enjoyed it much more, and this cruise I enjoyed it even more, so I think it gets better each year!
• Great dining team and table mates—I’ve never had bad servers or tablemates before, just got along fine. This cruise, our servers were exceptional, and our tablemates were really fun—maybe it was because it was a longer cruise, but we seemed to really hit it off and got to know each other better each night and had a lot of fun conversations.
• Loved the adult entertainment—loved all the comedians except that Heath Hyce guy who I thought was terrible, but the others were really fun. Match your Mate, Karoake, and the live music were fun nights too!
Negatives:
• I am still surprised to say this, but I wasn’t that impressed with the ports of call. I had never been to St. Maarten before, but I guess my expectations were unrealistic—I thought it would be really cool having the Dutch and French sides, and some real culture, like the French Riviera (I’ve been to Nice, Cannes, and Monaco, and loved that area). But to me, it seemed just as dodgy as Nassau…same repetitive shopping of duty free liquors, perfumes, jewelry, etc and the tacky tourist stands of the same tshirts and such. We had a private tour guide which was nice to get some more insight to the island, but overall I was not impressed. The beaches were just okay, in my opinion again no different than the Bahamas. I guess I just don’t get how people always seem to criticize Nassau and say how its not even worth getting off the ship, when I feel the opposite—I love doing Atlantis in Nassau, or even just a beach there, but if I did the Eastern again, I would stay on for St. Maarten and St. Thomas. Which brings me to St. Thomas—I was even more disappointed here because I’ve been to St. John for vacation and loved it, so I guess I had unrealistic expectations, because St. Thomas was nothing like St. John. It was much more dirty, rundown, and full of abandoned areas and sketchy people as we drove through town to the beach. St. Thomas was just annoying from the start, having to get herded like cattle into those long taxi trains right off the ship, waiting around to fill it, only to drive less than a minute to another stop where we again had to get off, get in another small taxi bus, and wait again for more people to fill it up, then drive around town making multiple stops along the way. I should have known then to get off and just enjoy the ship for the day. Our first stop was Coki Beach for a family who wanted to go there, and I cannot believe how dirty and sketchy it was!! There was hardly any sand on the beach, the water came all the way up and there was trash strewn everywhere, and a big shack with about a dozen sketchy people hanging around outside, it was scary! I couldn’t believe the family actually got off there. Luckily we got on our way again soon to Sapphire Beach, which was much more beautiful—wider beach, serene waters, servers bringing drinks, and no scary people loitering around. However, a few hours later when more cruises came in, it became really crowded and loud so we decided to call it a day. Unfortunately we were then shown to another taxi again to wait for other people, and again for another 45 minute ride back to the ship. If I did an Eastern again, I would absolutely stay on board for those two ports as it was just a hassle to get around in St. Thomas, and neither St. Thomas or St. Maarten had anything more special to offer than the Bahamas or any other island I’ve been to. I’m curious to hear about your experiences in these ports though?
• Disappointing character variety—I was really, really bummed by this as character experiences are a big part of my love for Disney vacations. On my 4 night cruises we had lots of character variety, so I was expecting the 7 night to be even better—but instead I felt so bombarded with the same “crew” of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald all week long! Don’t get me wrong, I love all characters—but I love meeting different and rare ones too! Every night I would get the navigator and hope for a better selection the next day, and when I saw the same names over and over, I was really frustrated. I really hope Disney improves this on future cruises since I’m sure I’m not the only one who really values the character experience.
Overall I had a wonderful time, and I look forward to many more Disney cruises to come, especially on the new ships which have some amazing new offerings on board. Hope you all had a great trip as well, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts about this one too!
-Nicole
