I was asking for cruise advice all over the place before I went on my first one over Easter...ok I don't know about packing for YOU (girls...take it away)...but...i must confess, I seriously overpacked. I mean, I had enough stuff for the army. My first mistake was letting my dad convince me into taking his ski duffel, which is big enough to fit my ex-girlfriend and her sister. I actually packed a small suitcase with wheels, and put it INSIDE the "body bag"...big mistake. Especially on the final morning of the cruise, when you gotta take your luggage to breakfast with you (i...uh...took the duffel...*LOL*...you shoulda seen the looks I got...).
In general, the
disney cruise is designed to be a lot of fun. When you get there, you check in through a huge terminal, get your luggage checked through security, and walk through the gangway into the huge lobby of the ship. Two pieces of advice here. They take all your family's bags when you arrive...carry a small bag with YOU into the ship with a swimsuit, sunscreen, a camera, and possibly something to wear to dinner that night. You usually board the ship between 12 and 3, and dinner is at 6. Time passes VERY quickly on the cruise, cuz stuff's always happening. Second tip...they take your picture as soon as you walk onboard. Be warned. *laughs*...
As I said, things are always happening in different places on the ship, and if you're one of those people who has to do "everything"...like me...you're !@#%& out of luck. Hee hee...OK...so...are you doing the 3, 4, or 7 day cruise? I did the 3-day, it's NOT ENOUGH!!!! My Mom and I wanted to sign up for another 4 days, but i had school and...uh...it was booked already. *wince*...
They have dinner in a different restaurant every night on the 3 day cruise. I noticed that they sit families with older teens or senior citizens in the "fancy" dining room the first night (Lumiere's or Triton's), Animator's Palate (the restaurant that changes color during the meal) the 2nd, and the tropical dining room the third. Of course, you can eat at other places too...they have a pizza place up top, plus room service, and Palo, an Italian restaurant for the 18-and-older crowd. I had dinner here the first night, it's incredible.
There are 3 pools...1 for little kids, 1 for everybody, 1 for 18-and-overs. I only swam in the "adult" pool...the other two were SO packed because, well, they're not too, too, big...and there are almost 3,000 passengers on board, most of whom are kids. There are also basketball courts at the front of the ship (watch for flying basketballs if you're walking on Castaway Cay or the ports when the ship is docked...a coupla kids threw a coupla balls in the ocean on my cruise)...oh, and note: there's a TV camera above the basketball court connected to every stateroom on board.
They also have Common Grounds, a small, "coffee house-without the coffee" teen hangout near the pool...there are 3 teen "counselors" here who run organized activities (think camp counselors). They have CD's, teen magazines, foozeball, video games, a couple internet computers, chess boards, and a big wall TV showing movies. Cliques form early, go to the 411 meeting on the first day to get in on it all. I didn't do the teen programs because I wanted to be eligible to go to the over-18 clubs and use the spa facilities. I DID pop in Common Grounds the last night...I actually met some great people, most of whom I'm still talking to on IM.
My saving grace that night was that they had a guitar...trick is, you can't take it out of Common Grounds. Tough toenails, I said, so about ten kids and I snuck out and hung on top deck right above the bridge, singing while I played guitar until someone from CG found us. *laughs*...the Captain even came out of the bridge to see (er...hear) what we were doing...
Depending on the cruise you go on, you'll stop at different islands for one day at a time. On my cruise, we stopped at Nassau, Bahamas the second day, and Castaway Cay (pronounced <i>key</i>), Disney's private island.
Nassau is COOL. Well...actually it's hot as hell, but the people are really colorful and if you plan your day right, you can really get a...diverse experience rather than your ho-hum touristy excursion. I kind of did both...Disney has a shuttle boat to the Atlantis Resort (CHECK IT OUT!!!) in the morning; I toured Atlantis with a group, then went around the casino on my own, found my way back into Nassau, almost got my hair cornrowed (glad I didn't...you know, the hair braiders call EVERYBODY who is walking by "pretty lady"...they have no concept of gender. They'll charge outrageous prices to braid your hair...if you get it done, tell them EXACTLY how many braids you want.), and made it back to the ship in time for dinner.
Castaway Cay is like, paradise. It's unbelievable...maybe we just had nice weather, but, maaaaan. My advice, is GET OFF THE SHIP and have fun!!!! I overslept that day and didn't really get out until it was almost time to leave. Doh!!! (hits head with hand)...DON'T stay onboard that day!!! It's too beautiful!!! They have a teen beach, where no adults are allowed (that was kind of funny...I got to the teen beach at the last possible second...apparently I looked older because I had to show them my I.D. and take off my sunglasses to prove my age, and even then I only had less than an hour)...it's all good.
Let's see...oh yeah. They have dancing. Lots of dancing. I don't dance, so I can't give you a report on it. I went to one of the dances, but Amy (one of the girls I met) and I thought it was boring so we kind of...left.
And oh yeah again...if you're looking for a private spot to be where there's a great view and no people *smile*...go to deck 7, walk all the way aft (towards the back of the ship)...and keep walking. There's a door labeled "deck 7 overlook" that leads to a huge "secret" deck.
Hope that covers a lot of it for ya,
JC
"and i wonder who's gonna be president, tweedle dum or tweedle dummer?
and who's gonna have the big blockbuster box office this summer?
...except all the radios agree with all the tvs
and all the magazines agree with all the radios
and i keep hearing that same !@#%& song everywhere i go
maybe i should put a bucket over my head
and a marshmallow in each ear..."
-Ani DiFranco
