Thank you so much for this TR! I am so grateful for all this information! We are doing our first cruise ever in August on the Dream - so excited! I have a couple of questions:
Your door magnets! They are fantastic. I have no idea where to begin to develop/find those. Can you tell me how you made them and where to start? I really want to do that to surprise my daughters.
Reservations for Palo/Remy: we are first timers so no Platinum CC membership. Will we even be able to get a resv? I really want Remy! Also, I was told that the fee paid to eat at those restaurants includes gratuity. Is that right? I am a firm believer in tipping big for waitstaff. I know how hard that work is, and they deserve it! (Except for that rotten punk you guys got at Palo. He deserves to be tossed overboard.) Do you tip anyway?
This is a random one: did you put your iPhone into airplane mode or something to avoid roaming charges? I don't know how to work this on a cruise. I just turned my phone off when I went to Europe, so that was useless to me for the alarm that I definitely wished I had! I have Verizon, so I can call them to check into this too.
Did you see any Greek yogurt anywhere? I saw regular yogurt at Cabanas and Frozone's for smoothies, but I'm much better off with the Greek kind (less whey, more protein).
Thanks again Cass! You are a treasure to do this report. It has helped me figure out so many things I wondered about!
I made my door signs in Photoshop. A good place to start is the
Door Signs FAQ
As for Remy, I know those are hard to come by...best bet is to try online when your booking windows comes up but if that fails, you can try for them both when you get on board. You will need to go to the designated area (check the navs) well before the time indicated to wait in line
DCL states that the gratuity is included in those meals but if you feel you want to tip extra, please do so. It's all up to you
Yes, I put my phone on airplane mode just in case! That way, I could use it for alarm clock purposes
I'm not a big yogurt person so I never looked closely at any yogurt...sorry. But, it never hurts to ask someone, the worst they will tell you is no!
We're not 100% on the 11/3 yet, just that the itin was different and that is one of the complaints about DCL - same itins every time. So we jumped on this one before rates went up.
The 10/20 works better for school (least missed days) as does the 10/27, but that's a Western. Not sure if we'd do the western though - although it is actually better than 10/20 if we want to do time in WDW before the cruise.
You'll have a blast no matter where you go in 2012. Just spending time with the family away from the regular day to day is worth it. We are looking at getting to Universal one of these years. Especially now with the HP area open.
Maybe we'll bump into each other on a cruise in the future.
That's exactly why I wanted to book that cruise originally! New port
I hate St Maarten.
If we do cruise though, it will either be the 3rd or 10th, so if you end up on the 3rd, might see you guys onboard. We won't know until last minute which is why I will plan for WDW
Can't wait to see WWoHP
And I agree, I don't care where the ship goes, I will be THRILLED just to cruise
Oh well, I know I got video 
...what about at castaway cay??
), i finally got caught up reading
