OK - I never thought I would post a trip report, but I have to because of the absolutely perfect vacation we had!!!!
We had no problems getting to the ship - our flight was on time, our bus left right away, our driver was hilarious. We all gasped when we saw how large and majestic the ship was. Our staterooms were 7505 and 7507. They were absolutely immaculate. Our hostess was Grinda from India and she kept our rooms perfect. Our baskets from the Perfect Gift were waiting for us and they were great and just what we had discussed. However, we had so much food on the cruise that we did not eat many of the snacks . . . Next time I would get more things and less food . . .
We then went to the Spa - Surial Bath was full, but we were put on the waiting list and had an appointment for the next morning by DINNER TIME! We made our Palo's brunch and dinner reservations with no lines, no problems. Then we went to the buffet. The food was good for buffet food, but the fast food on the ship is AWESOME and on our next Disney Cruise we will skip the buffet and chow down on yummy chicken fingers, burgers and PIZZA!!!
We explored the ship, and then headed to Animator's Palate for dinner! The food was wonderful and Tim (from Croatia) and I-Made (From Indonesia) were absolutely wonderful. We always let Tim pick for us and we did not have one bad meal aboard the ship!!!!!
Then the kids wanted to go to the kids club. We dropped them off and changed into our suits and went and watched the sunset from the hot tubs at the Adult pool. We had to drag our kids (especially our 6 year old) out of the club.
Next day we had the character breakfast and it was very organized, my pancakes were yummy and we saw Chip and Dale, Mickey and Minnie, Captain Hook and Goofy. Everyone was wonderfully behaved and the characters got all around the tables.
Had the Surial bath that morning. It was lots and lots of fun. However, the water was scalding and we had to go shower in the changing room and come back. However, to their credit, they had maintenance looking at it as soon as the room was empty. We would certainly do it again!! They gave us the rainforest room for free that day, but we did not use it, because we wanted to spend the afternoon with our kids.
We went to the pools that day (and several other times) and they are crowded which is to be expected. However, the only problem I saw was lack of parental supervision. I had no problem asking kids to not jump on other kids if they did not have parents to supervise. The lifeguard did also interfere with some of the bigger kids that were out of control. The responsibility for the kids is the PARENTS job, not Disney's!!! The pools were not closed any of the times that we were there. We had fun at the pools, but we expected the crowds and did not expect to swim, but mostly to cool off.
We went to Dinner with our children that night all dressed up, but we nibbled on an appetizer because we had Palo's reservations. Our kids went to the club at 8:30pm and we went to dinner.
YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY - do not miss Palo's. TRUST ME!!!! The service is great, the food was freshly prepared and to die for. The lights could have been more intimate, but that is a minor complaint. It is definitely worth going.
We also had brunch with ERIKA at Palo's later in the week and it is also a DON'T MISS!!!! Wonderful wonderful food!!!!
The islands were all great - we liked St. Maarten the best. We spent some time on Long bay (rough undertow, but no crowds) and then went to Friar's Bay and had the best afternoon of our lives. Ate wonderful food at Kali's bar! Played in wonderful gentle water! Just BEAUTIFUL.
We went to Sapphire Beach on St. Thomas and it was rainy. We were glad to go back to the ship after lunch, but the island is beautiful and I am sure with more time to explore we could find a beach more to our liking!
Castaway Cay was GORGEOUS but the family beach is crowded! The BBQ was yummy and the Conch Coolers are very refreshing. We got a paddle boat. Warning stay on your boat - we got fussed at (in a lovely Disney manner) for getting out and playing in the water.
The Captain and Hotel director were super nice and stopped by our table at the Captain's Gala. Answered our questions and made us feel very special.
Special goes to describe this entire vacation. Everyone had a very friendly, upbeat attitude. The kids had lots of fun every day in the club. In fact we were suprised that they wanted to go every day! We usually went for a schedule activity, but they liked the free time there too! The ship was immaculate!!! We ate and ate and ate! I did gain 4lbs. It probably would have been more, but we took the stairs all of the time. The few times we took the elevators, they were not crowded and we never waited even a full minute for an elevator.
The shows were great. We went to Hercules, Who wants to be a Mouseketeer and Disney Dreams. Make sure that you take your kids to Disney Dreams and do not send them with the kids club. My kids were in AWE and I would not have missed their reactions to this WONDERFUL show for anything in this world.
I could keep going on and on, but my fingers are tired and I would be happy to answer any questions, just email me at lstacey1@midsouth.rr.com.
I am definitely going to cruise with Disney again!!!
We had no problems getting to the ship - our flight was on time, our bus left right away, our driver was hilarious. We all gasped when we saw how large and majestic the ship was. Our staterooms were 7505 and 7507. They were absolutely immaculate. Our hostess was Grinda from India and she kept our rooms perfect. Our baskets from the Perfect Gift were waiting for us and they were great and just what we had discussed. However, we had so much food on the cruise that we did not eat many of the snacks . . . Next time I would get more things and less food . . .
We then went to the Spa - Surial Bath was full, but we were put on the waiting list and had an appointment for the next morning by DINNER TIME! We made our Palo's brunch and dinner reservations with no lines, no problems. Then we went to the buffet. The food was good for buffet food, but the fast food on the ship is AWESOME and on our next Disney Cruise we will skip the buffet and chow down on yummy chicken fingers, burgers and PIZZA!!!
We explored the ship, and then headed to Animator's Palate for dinner! The food was wonderful and Tim (from Croatia) and I-Made (From Indonesia) were absolutely wonderful. We always let Tim pick for us and we did not have one bad meal aboard the ship!!!!!
Then the kids wanted to go to the kids club. We dropped them off and changed into our suits and went and watched the sunset from the hot tubs at the Adult pool. We had to drag our kids (especially our 6 year old) out of the club.
Next day we had the character breakfast and it was very organized, my pancakes were yummy and we saw Chip and Dale, Mickey and Minnie, Captain Hook and Goofy. Everyone was wonderfully behaved and the characters got all around the tables.
Had the Surial bath that morning. It was lots and lots of fun. However, the water was scalding and we had to go shower in the changing room and come back. However, to their credit, they had maintenance looking at it as soon as the room was empty. We would certainly do it again!! They gave us the rainforest room for free that day, but we did not use it, because we wanted to spend the afternoon with our kids.
We went to the pools that day (and several other times) and they are crowded which is to be expected. However, the only problem I saw was lack of parental supervision. I had no problem asking kids to not jump on other kids if they did not have parents to supervise. The lifeguard did also interfere with some of the bigger kids that were out of control. The responsibility for the kids is the PARENTS job, not Disney's!!! The pools were not closed any of the times that we were there. We had fun at the pools, but we expected the crowds and did not expect to swim, but mostly to cool off.
We went to Dinner with our children that night all dressed up, but we nibbled on an appetizer because we had Palo's reservations. Our kids went to the club at 8:30pm and we went to dinner.
YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY - do not miss Palo's. TRUST ME!!!! The service is great, the food was freshly prepared and to die for. The lights could have been more intimate, but that is a minor complaint. It is definitely worth going.
We also had brunch with ERIKA at Palo's later in the week and it is also a DON'T MISS!!!! Wonderful wonderful food!!!!
The islands were all great - we liked St. Maarten the best. We spent some time on Long bay (rough undertow, but no crowds) and then went to Friar's Bay and had the best afternoon of our lives. Ate wonderful food at Kali's bar! Played in wonderful gentle water! Just BEAUTIFUL.
We went to Sapphire Beach on St. Thomas and it was rainy. We were glad to go back to the ship after lunch, but the island is beautiful and I am sure with more time to explore we could find a beach more to our liking!
Castaway Cay was GORGEOUS but the family beach is crowded! The BBQ was yummy and the Conch Coolers are very refreshing. We got a paddle boat. Warning stay on your boat - we got fussed at (in a lovely Disney manner) for getting out and playing in the water.
The Captain and Hotel director were super nice and stopped by our table at the Captain's Gala. Answered our questions and made us feel very special.
Special goes to describe this entire vacation. Everyone had a very friendly, upbeat attitude. The kids had lots of fun every day in the club. In fact we were suprised that they wanted to go every day! We usually went for a schedule activity, but they liked the free time there too! The ship was immaculate!!! We ate and ate and ate! I did gain 4lbs. It probably would have been more, but we took the stairs all of the time. The few times we took the elevators, they were not crowded and we never waited even a full minute for an elevator.
The shows were great. We went to Hercules, Who wants to be a Mouseketeer and Disney Dreams. Make sure that you take your kids to Disney Dreams and do not send them with the kids club. My kids were in AWE and I would not have missed their reactions to this WONDERFUL show for anything in this world.
I could keep going on and on, but my fingers are tired and I would be happy to answer any questions, just email me at lstacey1@midsouth.rr.com.
I am definitely going to cruise with Disney again!!!
