kiapepito
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2014
So.... after waiting 435 days our trip has come and gone... I woke up this morning so disoriented and longing to walk up to deck 11 for coffee... ugh...
Here is a report on our trip to help others as I found so much help from you all in this board. First of all, my mother in law asked me if the trip exceeded my expectations and I told her that I was 110% happy for all the planning that I put into this trip because I would have felt lost!
Before the cruise, we went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Loved them both. Used tourplans.com for both days and super duper excited that we used them as the longest line we stood in line was 15 minutes!!
I am not going to lie... I cried a little when we were pulling up to the boat.. so much hard work at work and time and patience I could not believe that it was our turn! Hanging out in the terminal felt like it went fast with taking pictures with Goofy. We walked into the boat and were flabbergasted at the beauty of the boat itself.
Our servers were Daniel from Romania and Victoria from Scotland. AMAZING how fast you grow attached to them as feel as though you have know them all your life! The food was great! My husband and I could not get enough of the food that we ate.. Escargot, venison, lamb, duck, seafood... etc... not to mention the wine package we purchased! We did not go to Palo or Remy as we have a 3 and 6 year old and did not feel the need to book a separate dining experience since we loved our rotation so much. We visited Animator's Palate 3 times. Our favorite dining room was Enchanted Garden. What a beautiful atmosphere!
Our room had a verandah and we were mid-ship on the 6th floor next to the elevators. No noise problem at all and awesome for the proximity of everything on the ship. The kids club was on the 5th floor!
Pirate night was sooo much fun!! At times you did not know who were the guests and who were the Cast Members in the pirate show!
Loved all the character pictures and especially how you would "run" into a character. One of my favorite memories is seeing Peter Pan grabbing my 3 year olds hand and taking her down three flight of stairs to see Tiana as she is her favorite princess. It was a Princess Gathering and it did not matter as Peter yelled out to Tiana. She recognized her right away and asked her where her Anna boots were at the moment as she was not wearing them! Many of the characters knew who the girl's were very early on.
Cinderella was walking around and also approached my 6 year old They were spinning and dancing together! My heart melted!
We did receive tickets the first day for Anna and Elsa and Princess Gathering as well as the Disney Jr. Breakfast where they confirmed will be on each sailing from now because of its popularity! Very nice to have them all at the same place! Doc, Jake, Mickey in tux and Sofia.
Cozumel- it was HOTT!!! We were sweating like crazy and walked to the Mega grocery store in search of the coveted kinder surprise eggs as they are illegal here in the US! My girl's went nuts! You can see the Mega from the boat and is a five minute walk! We took them back to the room to open them later that day. As my poor children were sweating buckets (you can rent a stroller free of charge from guest services, however they are a bit crappy!) he took the girl's back as I strolled around town looking for gifts. Everywhere accepts credit cards!
Grand Cayman- not our favorite... too commercialized by big name hotels and Burger King etc... Off the tender we saw drivers holding signs to go to the beach. I had read to go to Public Beach and I let him know... he said he would take us to Sea Grape for $5 as it was a free public beach. We were stuffed into this van like sardines... it is surreal and then they take you off to the beaches. When we got off I quickly realized you needed cash and no credit cards... big mistake as I only took $50 bucks with us... long story short... we walked over to The Westin hotel where we purchased a day pass for $185 which included a room for the day and access to the pools and the ocean. The room was nice! Too bad we only used it for a shower...
After checking "out" of the hotel... we walked over to a grocery store (we love grocery stores as I find it to be full of culture with food, clothes, locals etc..) and then we took a taxi back to port.
Jamaica- So... we were told not to leave the port and go through the forbidden gates because it is a whole different world on the other side... well, I'm a sociologist and I study cultures so how was I not going to go to the "other side..." Girls in tow and one in the stroller we went.. Immediately, a gentlemen that had on an id served as our tour guide and asked where we wanted to go.. wait for it... yup, the grocery store! He walked us over where we bought rum cakes, coco mania rum, Jamaican rum and Jamaican Guinness all for half the price from the port! We fell in love with Jamaica and my husband and I would like to go back without the girls for our 10 year anniversary. The people, yes, are in your face constantly asking if you want to buy this or that... but that is their culture... that is the norm to them (I sound like I'm giving a class lecture now!) After we walked around "the loop" which our guide mentioned is safe for tourists he walked us back to the gate where we went back to port.
Castaway- My husband and I ran the 5k. It was very humid! Before the race began, we dropped the girl's off at Scuttles Cove and put our things down on some beach chairs in the shade. After the race, we picked the girl's up went to the ocean, then went on our bike ride, ate lunch, then went snorkeling, back to the beach and then went back to the boat... whew.....
By now you will have noticed that we did not do any excursions other than the ones we did on our own to the grocery stores and the ones on Castaway! It would have been nice to do an excursion in Jamaica but again, we had been told to be very careful in Jamaica... it also allowed us to go at our own pace. In the mornings we were at the pools and the aqua duck and had both to ourselves for over an hour before we went back to the room and got ready to go into port. We avoided the pools and aqua duck on sea days! With the 3 year old you are also a bit limited on excursions!
My husband and I had spoken before the trip that if we liked it we would return in five years... well that changed as we placed place holder for summer of 2017.. hahaha...
Overall, it was a wonderful experience where you have that moment in your head, "I get it...what all the commotion is about Disney cruising." I told my mom last night that the nostalgia and enchantment that Disney has to offer is amazing for any age... Love it or hate it... Disney makes the world a bit more happier!
Please feel free to ask me any questions!
Here is a report on our trip to help others as I found so much help from you all in this board. First of all, my mother in law asked me if the trip exceeded my expectations and I told her that I was 110% happy for all the planning that I put into this trip because I would have felt lost!
Before the cruise, we went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Loved them both. Used tourplans.com for both days and super duper excited that we used them as the longest line we stood in line was 15 minutes!!
I am not going to lie... I cried a little when we were pulling up to the boat.. so much hard work at work and time and patience I could not believe that it was our turn! Hanging out in the terminal felt like it went fast with taking pictures with Goofy. We walked into the boat and were flabbergasted at the beauty of the boat itself.
Our servers were Daniel from Romania and Victoria from Scotland. AMAZING how fast you grow attached to them as feel as though you have know them all your life! The food was great! My husband and I could not get enough of the food that we ate.. Escargot, venison, lamb, duck, seafood... etc... not to mention the wine package we purchased! We did not go to Palo or Remy as we have a 3 and 6 year old and did not feel the need to book a separate dining experience since we loved our rotation so much. We visited Animator's Palate 3 times. Our favorite dining room was Enchanted Garden. What a beautiful atmosphere!
Our room had a verandah and we were mid-ship on the 6th floor next to the elevators. No noise problem at all and awesome for the proximity of everything on the ship. The kids club was on the 5th floor!
Pirate night was sooo much fun!! At times you did not know who were the guests and who were the Cast Members in the pirate show!
Loved all the character pictures and especially how you would "run" into a character. One of my favorite memories is seeing Peter Pan grabbing my 3 year olds hand and taking her down three flight of stairs to see Tiana as she is her favorite princess. It was a Princess Gathering and it did not matter as Peter yelled out to Tiana. She recognized her right away and asked her where her Anna boots were at the moment as she was not wearing them! Many of the characters knew who the girl's were very early on.
Cinderella was walking around and also approached my 6 year old They were spinning and dancing together! My heart melted!
We did receive tickets the first day for Anna and Elsa and Princess Gathering as well as the Disney Jr. Breakfast where they confirmed will be on each sailing from now because of its popularity! Very nice to have them all at the same place! Doc, Jake, Mickey in tux and Sofia.
Cozumel- it was HOTT!!! We were sweating like crazy and walked to the Mega grocery store in search of the coveted kinder surprise eggs as they are illegal here in the US! My girl's went nuts! You can see the Mega from the boat and is a five minute walk! We took them back to the room to open them later that day. As my poor children were sweating buckets (you can rent a stroller free of charge from guest services, however they are a bit crappy!) he took the girl's back as I strolled around town looking for gifts. Everywhere accepts credit cards!
Grand Cayman- not our favorite... too commercialized by big name hotels and Burger King etc... Off the tender we saw drivers holding signs to go to the beach. I had read to go to Public Beach and I let him know... he said he would take us to Sea Grape for $5 as it was a free public beach. We were stuffed into this van like sardines... it is surreal and then they take you off to the beaches. When we got off I quickly realized you needed cash and no credit cards... big mistake as I only took $50 bucks with us... long story short... we walked over to The Westin hotel where we purchased a day pass for $185 which included a room for the day and access to the pools and the ocean. The room was nice! Too bad we only used it for a shower...
After checking "out" of the hotel... we walked over to a grocery store (we love grocery stores as I find it to be full of culture with food, clothes, locals etc..) and then we took a taxi back to port.
Jamaica- So... we were told not to leave the port and go through the forbidden gates because it is a whole different world on the other side... well, I'm a sociologist and I study cultures so how was I not going to go to the "other side..." Girls in tow and one in the stroller we went.. Immediately, a gentlemen that had on an id served as our tour guide and asked where we wanted to go.. wait for it... yup, the grocery store! He walked us over where we bought rum cakes, coco mania rum, Jamaican rum and Jamaican Guinness all for half the price from the port! We fell in love with Jamaica and my husband and I would like to go back without the girls for our 10 year anniversary. The people, yes, are in your face constantly asking if you want to buy this or that... but that is their culture... that is the norm to them (I sound like I'm giving a class lecture now!) After we walked around "the loop" which our guide mentioned is safe for tourists he walked us back to the gate where we went back to port.
Castaway- My husband and I ran the 5k. It was very humid! Before the race began, we dropped the girl's off at Scuttles Cove and put our things down on some beach chairs in the shade. After the race, we picked the girl's up went to the ocean, then went on our bike ride, ate lunch, then went snorkeling, back to the beach and then went back to the boat... whew.....
By now you will have noticed that we did not do any excursions other than the ones we did on our own to the grocery stores and the ones on Castaway! It would have been nice to do an excursion in Jamaica but again, we had been told to be very careful in Jamaica... it also allowed us to go at our own pace. In the mornings we were at the pools and the aqua duck and had both to ourselves for over an hour before we went back to the room and got ready to go into port. We avoided the pools and aqua duck on sea days! With the 3 year old you are also a bit limited on excursions!
My husband and I had spoken before the trip that if we liked it we would return in five years... well that changed as we placed place holder for summer of 2017.. hahaha...
Overall, it was a wonderful experience where you have that moment in your head, "I get it...what all the commotion is about Disney cruising." I told my mom last night that the nostalgia and enchantment that Disney has to offer is amazing for any age... Love it or hate it... Disney makes the world a bit more happier!
Please feel free to ask me any questions!
