Just got back...

[immalemon]

Well, I just got back from our 4 night cruise. Let me tell you, I did not want to come home!! I wish more than anything I would have not done WDW first and just done a 7 night cruise. My daughter liked the parks, but loved the cruise and wants to live in the ship, she says. It was the most magical experience ever. From reading these discussions first, I was able to get Palo ressies for dinner and brunch and an open air cabana massage. My daughter got many great pictures with shutters and well, we just had a blast. Our waitor and assistant waitor were great, assistant waitor was the best though!. The shows were absolutely amazing too! My fav was Golden Mickey's/ Well, just wanted to share and if anyone has any questions for me, feel free to ask.

PS the weather was great, not too hot, and not cold at all. Not to humid either.

Also, a funny thing happened. We had a dolphin encounter booked through dolphinencounters.com and we went and had a blast. When we got back to the ship, they had left a message on their voicemail that they were sorry they had to cancell and they credited are credit card. Still not sure what happened, we had went?!?!

 

[tevagirl]

Glad you had a wonderful time and thanks so much for sharing!!

 

[Jillpie]

I am taking particular interest in your post, because exactly one year from now we will take our very first cruise too! We'll be on the April 17th Wonder with our three boys. Thanks for your review! What did you do at Nassau or was that the dolphin excursion? Would you have been happy to just stay on the ship that day? I would like to do the parasailing for me, DH and DS16, did you see lots of that on CC? Any tips you can give me would be great!

 

[OJulie67]

What movies were showing? Glad you had a fun trip!!!

 

[Carol36]

WHAT A GREAT REPORT!!! That makes me even more excited about our upcoming cruise on the Wonder! I do have three questions. What time did you get to the terminal? What time did you scramble for ressies? Did you have time to eat lunch before the ressie scramble? Thanks!!!

Carol

 

[immalemon]

Im so happy to answer your questions:

Jillpie: At Nassau we did the dolphin excursion and my DD4 LOVED that, but if we didn't do that, I would have chosen to stay on board. We did walk around the shops that the shopping in paradise rep told us too, and just were not happy. If I had an extra $1200 to buy this ring I wanted, maybe, but I was not impressed at all by the shopping. Next time, we will stay on board, or maybe take 2 hours to go walk around Atlantis because we got some reviews that it was beautiful and amazing, and some say they could have passed on that as well, but we will see. On CC there was a lot of parasailing and that looked like sooooo much fun. I was too chicken to do it, although my mom wanted me too, and by the end of the day, I wanted to do it so bad but it was too late. You guys will have a blast doing that. Do some snorkeling too, that was awesome, I just did it on my own. One tip, register for the parasailing as soon as you get off the ship.

OJulie67 - The ladykillers played the very first night, which I would have liked to see, but couldnt that night, but the rest of the time they played home one the range, the alamoand I cannot remember the other one. Ill look it up and get back to you.

Carol36 - We took a towncar to the terminal and got there at 10 am, let me tell you, after we got there it filled up fast and we were second in line. I met a family who took the disney transportation and they didnt get there untill 2 pm! They let us on the boat at noon since they were ready early, although the ressies didnt start untill normal time, which is why we were able to be first in line. By the time everyone got on the ship it was already 1230, ressies started at 1, my mom went to get my massage and I went to get Palo. I got there first, and in about 5 minutes the line was already down the hall. A guy walked out asked what time I wanted to go, I got dinner the first night and brunch the last day, and he asked for state room, and I was done. That was it. Then we went to sign my daughter up in the kids program, and we were seated for lunch at 1:20! If you get there early, it goes by so easy and fast. If you get there late, it will take a little. You can eat first, but you risk not having any ressies left. Hope this helps!

If anyone has anymore questions, Ill be glad to help!!

Thanks!

Amanda

 

[Carol36]

immalemon...Thanks for such a quick and thorough reply. This helps me so much! I was not sure what to do as far as lunch. Thanks again!

Carol

 

[OJulie67]

Thanks! DD has been wanting to see Home on the range~ I'm sure it will still be playing in a few days!
The countdown is on for us! We are doing the 7 day land/sea too...and I'm sure we will feel the same about wanting to do the cruise only next time!

 

[S.S.WILSON]

Is the transfers different for disney when you do the land and sea? I dont want to get to the terminal that late, but we are doing the 7 day, is there a differnce in the transfers and where there coming from?

 

[PiperG]

Originally posted by immalemon
Our waitor and assistant waitor were great, assistant waitor was the best though!.

Who was your server and asst server?

 

[wahini03]

My son was the same way as immalemon's daughter. My parents took him on a land/sea vacation when he was 6 years old. Two years later when they wanted to take our whole family (I was invited with my son this time!), they asked him what he wanted to do: another land/sea, just land, or just sea. He said, "I just wanna cruise!" That's my boy!

 

[immalemon]

S.S. Wilson, when going from the airport, you leave right away, it is different. Dont worry about getting there that late from the airport.

PiperG - our waitor was Das and our assistant waitor was Ramon from mexico. He was so funny and always so happy. I can still here him say "It's my pleasure" the way he said it....I cannot explain it, but he said it ALL THE TIME and like I said I cannot explain how he said it, he was great.

 

[zeke11]

Is there one location where you go to make all the reservations? Or do you go to individual locations (i.e., the spa area, then the Palo area, then the kid's area, etc.)?

Kris

 

[EmmasGrammy]

Amanda,

Thank You for the great report and for taking the time to answer all of our questions!! I have one question/concern. You talked about the folks you met that used Disney transfers getting to the ship so late, do you know if they were on the buses that pick up the land/sea package from the WDW resorts. We are doing a land/sea and I have heard that the buses pick up late from the resorts. I don't need ressies, but I still don't want to get to the ship that late.

It sounds like you all had a really great trip. You don't sound too depressed which is good. Are you still feeling the Disney- high?

Did you re-book on board?

 

[immalemon]

zeke11, each place has seperate locations. We did the massage ressies at the spa, the palo ressies at wavebands, and the kids club at the kids club. That is why we split up. They make it seperate, I am guessing, so that if some people get palo's, maybe someone could get a massage or something and everyone have a fair chance, rather than everyone who gets there first? Not sure why they do it this way, but it would be easier to do it at one place or even before the cruise.

Emmasgrammy - No depression at all, I absolutely loved this trip, and although I would have loved to book another cruise while on board (Very tempted) I knew I could not come up with a deposit in time at this time. I am on a major Disney Cruise high. Well, a cruise high in general. I would love to try other cruises that go to like Alaska and stuff as well, but I do know nothing will beat Disney's pampering. They went WAY beyond my expectations. To answer your question, the people that got there at 2 were doing the land/sea package transfers. I heard that depending on where you stay, your drop off time is 12 or after. Ususally around 1 pm is the normal drop off time we were told by Disney. We purchased the transfers, but opted to use a town car to get to the ship, but still used them to get from the airport to the resort and from the ship to the airport. I hope this helps.

 

[EmmasGrammy]

Thanks Amanda. That's exactly what I needed to know. We will also only use the transfers from and to the airport and use a limo service to "get us to the ship on time"!

Thanks for sharing that Disney high!! It really helps us "waiting folks" get by!!

Hope you can re-book real soon!! Maybe Disney will be offering an Alaskan cruise for you! Wouldn't that be too cool!?!? (pun intended!!!) LOL!!

Thanks again!!

 

[2xcruiser]

immalemon:

Did you have any luck with arranging encounters with Cinderalla - I recall you posted something about you DD being a big Cinderalla fan?

 

[immalemon]

Thanks for remembering!! We did not get the Cinderella breakfast. But, even better I think, she met Cinderella and got her picture taken and an autograph on the ship, then on the last day, she got her picture taken with Cinderella and the Prince. It was awesome for her. Thank you again for remembering!