Even longer but I do finally wrap it up! LOL
Dining Experience: We loved visiting the different dining rooms and of course the show in Animator's Palate was fantastic. The first AP night (formal) DD got to interact with Crush and that was really cool. Not all around us got to do that. It all comes down to the details such as everyone's uniforms matching the theme, the plates and silverware matching the theme and the gorgeous (EG, RC) and interesting (AP) decor of the dining rooms. We were in AP on formal night and it did feel as if we were a little overdressed for the venue. The dining rooms seemed crowded and very loud! It was hard to talk to each other across the table and as I mentioned I felt like we were on top of the other family particularly in RC when we were at two tables that should've been together.
Not counting the service, I really just can't decide on this one. The shows and details were fun but the crowded and loud experience took away from it. I also really like Anytime Dining on CCL. I never feel panicked or rushed to get to dinner and we just go at our leisure. We found we ended up eating at generally the same time but it was just that feeling of less pressure to get somewhere on schedule. We never waited more than 5 minutes for a table. I would say the later you try to go the busier the dining room and the longer you're going to have to wait. We usually ate between 6-6:30 and never had a problem. This one is a tie.
Stateroom/Stateroom Host: We were VGT and assigned a 5A-#10534 about 12 days out. The anticipation of waiting on our room was sort of fun. As for the room, I found it to be too small and just a tad noisy. There was some scraping (of chairs?) early in the morning. Our biggest issue was the fact we couldn't get our stroller past the bed which was inconvenient because it either had to be folded down or sit in the stateroom hall and be moved 25 times as we tried to get in and out of the bathrooms/closets. Our stroller is just a Maclaren that is built for travel so I can't imagine those I saw that who had travel systems did with theirs!
The balcony/verandah rooms are bigger on CCL. I believe the extra square footage in the
DCL cabin is taken with the split bathroom and honestly can find no extra value in this. Maybe someone can help me out with this because you still have to do your hair/makeup in front of the vanity so unless someone needs to use the restroom while someone else is showering I just can't see what's so great about it. Maybe if I had two older children that needed to change at the exact same time it might come in handy. I did like having the tub to bathe DS. The Fantasy verandah was wider than what we experienced on the Freedom last year and I liked that. I felt all four of us could comfortably be out there on the Fantasy. Room is a tie due to the smaller size room on DCL but wider verandah.
Our stateroom host was efficient and very nice. Most of our requests were met quickly and easily but we had two small situations that I felt could've been handled differently given the expectation for the level of service. We decided the first night we wanted to have our formal wear pressed so we got the form out and filled it out. Not really great instructions given on what to do to make sure it was picked up. We checked the book and I think it told us to call Guest Services. DH called them and was told to leave it on the bed with the form. This was early on embarkation day. I understand lots of other people are trying to do the same thing so I didn't expect it to be picked up right away. I returned to the room to pick something us several hours later and it was still there and Guest Services happened to be calling us. I answered and they asked if was needed for the next day. I answered yes and was told it would be picked up. We came back to the room to get ready for dinner and it still hadn't been picked up. I figured the host would get it when she did her evening routine. We returned from the show and character experiences at about 10pm and it was still there and had been moved from the bed to hang on the wall with the form still attached to the hanger. Not knowing what else to do I used the Wave phone to call the host and she told me she was off duty and to call GS. I told her I was sorry I didn't know that she was off but that we had already talked to GS twice and didn't know what else to do. She said she would take care of it and someone came about 15 minutes later to get it. I don't know what we could've done differently here to make this better.
The other was the last night. I was really disappointed that luggage had to be ready by 10pm. On CCL I believe it is midnight. Between DD and I being almost the last people off CC and getting ready for dinner, I was forced to skip the farewell show to pack. The host showed up at our door at 10:05 and asked if I had luggage ready. I was just getting ready to take it out and I appreciated her checking before assuming we wanted to do express which would be horrible for us! I asked for an extra luggage tag and was told it was too late to get one. I told her ok, we would just carry the bag off. She took our luggage and went off duty. A short while later I noticed in the closet with the safe the bag with our car seats in it. I did not want to carry this off so I went into the hall and saw another stateroom host and asked if it was too late. She said no and I asked for a luggage tag. She went and got me one in less than a minute. I have a hard time understanding why it was such a big deal to get a luggage tag before.
Did these two experiences ruin our cruise? Not at all. My point though was that the expectation of a much higher level of service than CCL was there from everything I've read and heard. It just didn't happen. Stateroom host service would probably go to CCL since I don't think anyone on CCL would ever tell me they were off duty or that they couldn't get me something.
Experiences: Obviously this goes to DCL since nothing can compare to the character interactions.. Nothing made me happier to see my son running to Mickey (or whoever) and giving the character a big hug and kiss, plop down on their lap for a photo and wave furiously as we walked away. At the Princess Gathering they all kissed him and he had a face full of lipstick kisses. Adorable. DD also had fun interacting with the characters and I have a zillion great photos of all that. I will say DH and I commented that we felt like we were spending a lot of time in line waiting on these experiences. I did meet and get to chat with some really nice people while standing in line. Occasionally we would get really lucky but most wait times were around 15 minutes. Trying to get a photo or see a character between the dinner seating and shows was pretty crazy since both groups were free from their respective activities.
We did BBB on Pirate's Night. We ended up doing the full $99 makeover with the t-shirt and tutu. They allotted 45 minutes but the experience took about 30. DD looked adorable and I was very happy with that. But, just about 15 minutes after we left her bandana kept slipping off her head (it's a silky material) and her face gem tattoo fell off and got lost. We went back down there to ask for some bobby pins for the bandana and a new face tattoo. The bobby pins were not a problem but it seemed the face gem tattoo was. I didn't know she had other face tattoos in her take home bag but was told I should use one of those. She whispered that she didn't think there was another pirate skull and cross bones one so I asked and was told no, there wasn't. Well, could I get one then? Seemed like kind of a big deal to get one. Again, higher level of expectation was there. We did BBB at WDW and were blown away by the service there several years ago.
Pools: They are indeed too small for the amount of people on the ship. Aqua Lab was fun and it didn't seem many knew about it because it was empty a lot. It is sort of awkward as there is no place to stand to keep an eye on your child except a deck above. DD was afraid of Aqua Duck for some reason so I rode alone. It was fun!! Nemo's Reef was fun for DS 1 1/2 and he enjoyed playing there. Due to that experience DCL wins pools even with the space issues. The Aqua Duck and Aqua Lab experiences should be enough to keep kids entertained without needing to "swim" in the pools.
Kids Club: DD8 didn't go wild over the Club and Lab. She probably went for a total of four hours the entire time. She had fun while she was there but was not begging us to go. She said the computers/game systems always seemed to be taken up by the same kids. I will say I liked CCL's approach to the schedule better. They handed out a entire schedule the first day and she went through and found the things she wanted to do so we knew ahead of time. They also gave a quick explanation of each activity and it made deciding easier. I did not like the TV Guide format of the Navigator and not all activities were described. Many of the activities seemed to be scheduled during dinner or the show. One night DD did choose to attend Pluto's Pajama Party instead of the show. She said it was fun.
The care at the It's a Small World Nursery was fine. As mentioned we paid for time we didn't use but that's just their policy and I understand it. The day we did Palo brunch we got a text telling us he was fussy and they were working to calm him. I stepped out of Palo to call and was told they were just informing us and not to worry. I appreciated that.
I tie the clubs since DD didn't seem all that engaged this time. Last year on CCL she was begging to go. The clubs on DCL seem to have a lot more potential but if a child isn't into it then it doesn't matter how great it is. I also think the wide range of ages makes it less fun. I can't remember exactly how CCL did it but it seemed to be a smaller group. Maybe 6-8?
Photos: I decided early on I was buying the photo CD so I made a point to get as many pictures we could. It truly is a great deal to do the add on prints for another $50. We had 265 pictures on our two CD's and all those prints! I am putting a photo book together and will treasure the pictures and memories forever.
I cannot stress enough how much I love, love, love the way they do photos on the Fantasy. Going to your folder and seeing all your photos there was awesome. Didn't have to spend time searching for our faces in the sea of others. Photo experience to DCL hands down.
Castaway Key: What can I say? It is awesome. I have surprisingly never been to CCL's private island but have been to NCL's so can only compare to that. CC blows it away. Seems like we only did a portion of things we could've done there but still had a great time. It got very overcast after lunch and many left leaving the beaches a little less crowded. By 3pm we practically had the beach to ourselves and it was great. DD and I were some of the last to leave at 4.
Ok, so overall we had a fabulous time. Not one of the problems mentioned ruined our cruise. Will we be back? Probably. We didn't re-book on board though. I kept waiting to be blown away by something and I wasn't. I wanted to be swept up by it all and say, we can only cruise DCL now! It just didn't happen for us. I was also searching for the value for the extra cost and I am just not sure it is there for our family. We don't really drink soda so that's no benefit to us. The shows were great but we've seen some awesome shows on CCL including a Beatles one last year. I did not like Believe at all. The baby was fussing so I gladly left.
We cruise for itinerary rather than ship which is why we will probably return to CCL (we have a deposit we have to use for next year) and maybe even try RCCL. We will hopefully fit a DCL in there within the next few years but they have to offer a better itinerary. They do not sail anywhere from the East Coast that I haven't been now. Boo! I would be interested in a CC Double Dip but see they are not offering them in 2013. Hopefully they will reconsider for the coming years.
Thanks for reading and feel free to ask more questions
I did notice I wasn't as wowed with the food as the menus last time.
