2/20/11 President's Week Mexican Riviera Report w/ Lots of Pics UPDATED 3/8

[samily]

We had read so many negative reviews on the MR cruises that I thought I would add our experience to the mix. And for those who don’t want to read through the whole report, we give the trip 2 big thumbs up , with a couple of snags along the way! I did my best to get lots of food and menu photos and I saved my Navigators for you all. So if you stick with my report, your patience will pay off!

Ok, first up let me tell you who was traveling: me, DH, DD13, DS9, DS6, and DD’s BFF12. We have all (except for BFF) been on several DCL cruises but all out of Port Canaveral. We are from New England and this was our first trip to the west coast. When we told the kids where we were going they went crazy! We had sailed on a different cruise line last year, so they were excited to be sailing DCL again as it is their favorite. But they were SUPER excited to be going to California! I think they had images of bumping into movie and tv stars left and right, lol. The more they talked about this, the more nervous I got that they would be very disappointed in LA!

Because this was my DD’s first year of junior high, I didn’t want to pull her out of school for a week, so we were planning for their President’s week school vacation. I had visions of super high airfares and cruise prices, so were thrilled when the KSF special was announced. Because there were 6 of us traveling though, we were only able to get the 2 boys free. I had to pay adult prices for the girls. We also ended up getting very reasonable airfare through JetBlue and Virgin America.

The plan was to fly into Long Beach on Friday the 18th, spend the day in LA on Saturday, and board the cruise on Sunday. When we returned the following Sunday we planned on spending the day outside in Santa Monica and take the red eye home out of LAX that night, landing Monday morning at 5:45AM EST! I was nervous about the possibility of rain on our Santa Monica day, but was told by another Dis’er that lived in Santa Monica that the Oscars were scheduled for that day and it never rains on the Oscars! I hoped she was right.

After months of planning, the day finally arrived to leave. The plan was for the kids to be picked up from school and head to the airport, which is usually about an hour away from us. The traffic that day, however, was horrendous! By the time we got to the airport, through security, and to our gate, the plane was already boarding. We have always had to sit around the airport for a couple of hours in the past, this one was a little too close for my liking!

It turned out that after we rushed to board, we ended up sitting on the tarmac for about an hour before taking off. Due to bad weather in the LA area, they wanted us to land as heavy as possible coming in against very strong headwinds, so we were now scheduled to land and refuel in Denver before heading in to Long Beach. This turned our 6.5 hour flight into a 9 hour flight and we didn’t land in Long Beach until after midnight Pacific time (which was after 3am to us east coasters, aack!). The flight from Denver to Long Beach got very bumpy and people around us were getting sick. I hate to fly anyway, so when the turbulence started I was imagining the worst . Was so happy to finally land, even though we skidded a little on landing. My DS6’s reaction when we landed was “Boy, that was fun!” That’s not exactly what I was thinking! Long Beach is a tiny airport and the rental car places there close around 10 I believe, so we weren’t able to pick up the mini van and had to take a taxi to the hotel. Fortunately it was only about a mile away. We checked in to the Residence Inn quickly and went right to bed, instructing the kids to sleep late in the morning.

The hotel had plenty of room for the 6 of us – there was 1 queen bed and bathroom on the first floor, along with a sleeper sofa in the living area and a full kitchen. Upstairs in the loft area there was another queen bed and bathroom. While it was plenty big enough, it could have been cleaner. I’m one of those people that carry Lysol wipes with me when traveling and wipe down everything – on the airplane, at the hotel, etc. Usually the wipes don’t have any visible dirt on them when I am done wiping down, but here they were a little dirty when I was done. ☹ In the morning, there was a free breakfast which included eggs, potatoes, sausage, bagels, muffins, fruit, cereal, and make your own waffles. Traveling as a family of 6, this was a big money saver.

A few pics at the hotel:

My crew:

The tallest palm tree they’d ever seen:

And the shortest:

The pool:

After breakfast in the morning, we stopped by Target to pick up some snacks for the day and some beer and Malibu rum for the ship We stopped back at the hotel to drop some of this stuff off and then we set out for Hollywood, baby! Here is the first view we got of the Hollywood sign:

Since the kids were set on seeing some stars, we went where they were guaranteed to see some up close: Madame Tussaud’s! Here are a few that the kids thought looked especially real:

Selena Gomez:

Snoop Dog:

Brittany:

After that we walked Hollywood Blvd for a little while and came across this:

How cool is that, that we would actually find Walt Disney’s star!

We spent the rest of the day siteseeing:

Rodeo Drive:

From the Griffith Observatory:

We stopped at In & Out Burger for dinner (everyone told us we HAD to have In & Out Burger!):

We headed back to the hotel and got the kids off to bed. Tomorrow we get on the ship!

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Hi so far great Can't wait for more!!

I have a few questions for you if you don't mind.

I thought when kids sail free only the parents pay? Not sure why your girls had to pay adult fare, was it because you have 2 rooms not one?

Can you give me some tips on when you booked your air last year? This will be our first trip to CA we're going President's week next year. I am a pro at booking airfare in MCO but not CA. I have been looking at the fares for Jan 2012 and they average about $500.00

Again, loveing your report

Thanks

 

[LKFan]

I showed my kids the pictures of your kids. My 8 year old doesn't remember your son but that doesn't suprise me because I don't think he paid attention to who he was racing against.

My daughter, however, recognizes your daughter and her friend from The Edge.

 

[samily]

Hi so far great Can't wait for more!!

I have a few questions for you if you don't mind.

I thought when kids sail free only the parents pay? Not sure why your girls had to pay adult fare, was it because you have 2 rooms not one?

Can you give me some tips on when you booked your air last year? This will be our first trip to CA we're going President's week next year. I am a pro at booking airfare in MCO but not CA. I have been looking at the fares for Jan 2012 and they average about $500.00

Again, loveing your report

Thanks

Hi Patricia,
Thanks for your nice comments.

I went back and looked back at my emails for this vacation - we booked the cruise in June last year, reserved the hotel in August (which when I checked pricing a few months later was sold out), and airfare out to Long Beach in August as well. Initially, I paid 241.00 each on Jet Blue. That was the lowest I was finding and it was starting to creep up about that time so I just booked it. I kept checking prices though, and in the beginning of December the price dropped for a couple of days to 149.00. I called JetBlue and they gave me a travel credit of about 600.00! JetBlue also doesn't charge for the first bag so I thought 149.00 was great!

All the while I had been pricing the flights home and they were way too high - I was getting nervous by this time since it was already December and we didn't have flights home yet! One day in early Deecember I priced Virgin America out of LAX and they were at 129.00! I grabbed them up and was quite relieved to have that done! They do charge 25.00 per checked bag though. So with taxes roundtrip was 300.00, plus the 25.00 ea bag fees on the way home.

I was pricing to/from several different airports. I wanted direct flights, so that limited our choices. In CA, I was pricing LAX, LGB, ONT, SNA, and BUR. I also looked at San Diego.

JetBlue and Virgin were both nice because they have the satelite tv and radio at each seat which kept the kids occupied. Occasionally Southwest had similar prices but they were not direct flights.

Hope this helps - good luck!

 

[samily]

I showed my kids the pictures of your kids. My 8 year old doesn't remember your son but that doesn't suprise me because I don't think he paid attention to who he was racing against.

My daughter, however, recognizes your daughter and her friend from The Edge.

Now that's funny, because DS was in The Lab ALOT, and I don't think the girls were at The Edge much at all! Though maybe I just didn't know it!

 

[samily]

We were hoping the kids would sleep in a little in the morning so we wouldn’t have much time to kill before leaving for the port, but of course they were all up bright and early!

The breakfast area at the hotel was full this morning, so we took breakfast back to our room to eat:

After breakfast, we played a little tennis:

We heated up a pizza we had picked up the day before and fed the kids again to tide them over until lunch on the ship. It seems the kids need to eat almost every hour when we are on vacation!

We needed to drop off the minivan at the airport and get to the port – we decided to have my DH drop off me and the kids and the mound of luggage at the port, return the car and take a shuttle back to the port. We missed a turn and ended up in downtown Long Beach and not in San Pedro. It was very pretty but I didn’t get any pics. After getting turned around and headed over the right bridge, we got the first glimpse of the ship:

We followed the signs for the World Cruise Port and soon were getting dropped off:

We were directed to a drop off spot by the sidewalk and we got everything unloaded. I was expecting a porter to come right over and grab our stuff as they do in Port Canaveral, but I didn’t see any porters in sight (I’d say this was around 11am or so). I asked a security person where we were supposed to go and he pointed down the sidewalk where there was a looong line of passengers and luggage waiting for porters. I’m thinking in my head there is no way I’m gonna be able to get all the luggage down there without DH, when nice security man asked where our luggage was. I pointed it out and he grabbed a porter and sent him right over to us. So I apologize to anyone who was waiting in that line. It seemed silly that they would direct us to be dropped off at the front of the line, rather than at the end! It seemed more unorganized than in Port Canaveral, but maybe that is because it was unfamiliar to me. This was taken right before we walked into the terminal:

We headed in and got in the Castaway Club line:

The line was a couple of rows deep and went quickly. We checked in, got our security pics taken and our KTTW cards. I had DH’s passport so I was able to check him in too but she said he needed to come by and pick up his card and get his pic taken when he got to the terminal. I also had to ask for our lanyards (she wouldn’t give me DH’s either). The woman checking us in was very nice, but I think she’s still trying to get the hang of things.

One thing I do want to mention, I really don't like the different colored lanyards - I liked the old black ones better and ended up using an old one for this cruise. I think the kids used the gold ones, but to me they seem a little pretentious.

We sat down to give DH a call to see where he was – he was on the shuttle at the airport just about to leave for the port. I instructed him on what he had to do when he got the terminal and me and the kids headed through security. By this time, the check in line was getting long. Oh, by the way it was 35.00 for the shuttle from LGB to the port, it would have been 45.00 for a taxi. Turns out my DH was the only one on the shuttle so it was like his own taxi ☺

Some pics of the terminal on the check in side:

This was taken from the Castaway Club line of the First time cruiser line:

After security your embarkation photo is taken:

And this is the waiting area after checking in and going through security:

Captain Mickey came our for pics and my DD said she was not going to wait in that long line to get her pic taken; however, the long line she was seeing was for the kids club check in. We avoided that and walked right up to Mickey! Shortly after Minnie came out too.

Boarding began shortly after we sat down, but we were waiting for DH. He called me to tell me he was in a long line at check in – he was told that because I didn’t have his KTTW card, he needed to wait in the whole line, otherwise he could have just had his pic taken quickly. He wasn’t too happy with me, but I had asked the check in lady for his card and she told me she couldn’t give it to me??

Just as I hung up with DH, one of the cast members must have seen us sitting there for a while and she came over to see what we were waiting for. I explained we were waiting for DH and she was confused as to why he had to wait in the long line and as to why the check in lady didn’t just give me his KTTW card. She told me to call DH and tell him to meet her at one of the doorways. She escorted him to get his card and photo taken and through security. Before we knew it, he was done! Big thanks to Rosie! This is why we love Disney! Everyone we came in contact with was always so nice!

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Hi Patricia,
Thanks for your nice comments.

I went back and looked back at my emails for this vacation - we booked the cruise in June last year, reserved the hotel in August (which when I checked pricing a few months later was sold out), and airfare out to Long Beach in August as well. Initially, I paid 241.00 each on Jet Blue. That was the lowest I was finding and it was starting to creep up about that time so I just booked it. I kept checking prices though, and in the beginning of December the price dropped for a couple of days to 149.00. I called JetBlue and they gave me a travel credit of about 600.00! JetBlue also doesn't charge for the first bag so I thought 149.00 was great!

All the while I had been pricing the flights home and they were way too high - I was getting nervous by this time since it was already December and we didn't have flights home yet! One day in early Deecember I priced Virgin America out of LAX and they were at 129.00! I grabbed them up and was quite relieved to have that done! They do charge 25.00 per checked bag though. So with taxes roundtrip was 300.00, plus the 25.00 ea bag fees on the way home.

I was pricing to/from several different airports. I wanted direct flights, so that limited our choices. In CA, I was pricing LAX, LGB, ONT, SNA, and BUR. I also looked at San Diego.

JetBlue and Virgin were both nice because they have the satelite tv and radio at each seat which kept the kids occupied. Occasionally Southwest had similar prices but they were not direct flights.

Hope this helps - good luck!

Goosh, thank you so much, this is all the information I have been searching for.

I explained we were waiting for DH and she was confused as to why he had to wait in the long line and as to why the check in lady didn’t just give me his KTTW card. She told me to call DH and tell him to meet her at one of the doorways. She escorted him to get his card and photo taken and through security. Before we knew it, he was done! Big thanks to Rosie! This is why we love Disney! Everyone we came in contact with was always so nice!

Very sweet
~~~Enjoying your report ~~~

 

[cidymom]

Samily, I'm really enjoying your detailed and informative TR. Some quick questions: (1) does Disney give everyone (even first time cruisers) a lanyard when they sign in? (2) did you notice what toiletries are provided in the bathroom? (3) do they have a protective cover on the water spout in case a child falls in the bathtub? (4) you wouldn't happen to have a picture of the tip envelopes, would you? (5) if the cabins aren't ready until 1:30, does that mean you have to lug your carryons to lunch with you? or can you drop your carryons off in the room first? That's all the questions I have for now. I'm sure I'll have more after continuing reading your TR. Many thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[LKFan]

What does that sign say about cameras? Just joking as I was taking pictures in that area too.

 

[samily]

Samily, I'm really enjoying your detailed and informative TR. Some quick questions: (1) does Disney give everyone (even first time cruisers) a lanyard when they sign in? Lanyards are given to repeat cruisers, based on your Castaway Club level. For cruises 2-5, you receive a silver lanyard, 6-10 gold, and over 10 is platinum. There were other lanyards for sale in the gift shop onboard - I think they were around 6.95.

(2) did you notice what toiletries are provided in the bathroom? We received shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and bar soap. They are all from the H20 + Spa line. If you are in a suite, you also receive body wash and solar relief gel.

(3) do they have a protective cover on the water spout in case a child falls in the bathtub? There was not a cover on the spout - not sure if they had them available if you asked. When my kids were little they used to sell inflatable ones that were good for travel, do they still make these?

(4) you wouldn't happen to have a picture of the tip envelopes, would you? I didn't take a picture, but I believe I ended up taking some home, so I will have to look for them for you and take a pic. (We had 2 staterooms, so got 2 sets of envelopes but only needed one set for the dining team.)

(5) if the cabins aren't ready until 1:30, does that mean you have to lug your carryons to lunch with you? or can you drop your carryons off in the room first? Yes, you need to keep your carryons with you, so only carry what you need - send everything else with the porters!That's all the questions I have for now. I'm sure I'll have more after continuing reading your TR. Many thanks for sharing your experience!

Hi Cidymom,
Thanks for reading! I've answered your questions in purple above.

ETA:
Here is a pic of the bathtub spout:

 

[samily]

What does that sign say about cameras? Just joking as I was taking pictures in that area too.

That is too funny! I didn't even notice the sign - it looks like I got it in both pictures too! Weird thing is, there was a security lady who moved out of the shot as I was taking the picture - she didn't say a thing to me! I do remember seeing a similar sign in the actual security screening area.

 

[samily]

Purtypat -
I just realized I didn't answer one of your earlier questions on paying adult fare for the girls. Yes, we needed 2 cabins for the six of us, so I had to pay adult fares for the first 2 people in each cabin. If it had been just the five of us, we could have squeezed into a cat. 4 and gotten 3 kids free. That would have been nice, but it was nice having the extra room and bathrooms!

 

[OurDogCisco]

Great start! I can't wait to read more. We should definitely take a cruise one day as we live about 6 hours from the port.

 

[LKFan]

Now that's funny, because DS was in The Lab ALOT, and I don't think the girls were at The Edge much at all! Though maybe I just didn't know it!

She said something about the redhead having a stuffed animal monkey. Is that correct?

 

[smb6]

Loving your TR so far; looking forward to more!

 

[QuiltTeddy]

Look forward to reading more...our cruise is fast approaching on 04/03.....

 

[NWgoofyfamily]

I'm enjoying your TR! I showed my kids your kids' photo but they didn't look familiar to them. We had the late dinner seating, so we missed you in the dining rooms. We thought about doing LA the day before the cruise too, but ended up at Disneyland/California Adventure - no complaints there Glad you enjoyed your cruise! I also had been getting worried reading all the negative comments before ours, but we had a perfectly lovely cruise.

 

[Mindyjoy]

Thank you for posting pictures of the port! We cruise in April and are so excited!

 

[ll_california]

Great trip report. Looking forward to more...

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Lovin' your report. Can't wait for the next update!