We are finally home from our WDW / 5-1 Eastern cruise

[hydster]

and I am exhausted! I will be working on my trip report for the next few days. I wrote day by day in a folder so I can remember things. If anyone has anything they would like to ask go for it! The cruise was fun but I don't think we will be going Disney for awhile. If anyone has any questions they'd like to ask I'd be happy to answer. I'm exhausted and didn't get to bed until really late last night so forgive me if this isn't really exciting to read! I will get my trip report done soon with pics.....I now have to go make my own breakfast (can't just walk up to the breakfast buffet in Topsiders which stinks)

Heidi

 

[magic cruiser]

Thanks for thinking of us, DIS friends ! Looking forward to your trip report ! What did you do in St Martin and St Thomas ? How was "Golden Mickey" ? What was your favorite meal ?

 

[hydster]

I don't know that I've ever been so glad to be home in my life. It definitely was not the trip I expected but it was fun.

St. Marten we did Orient Beach in the morning and then some shopping in the afternoon...pretty laid back

St. Thomas we did the Doubloon Sail and Snorkel and it was AWESOME! Probably the highlight of the trip (except that CC was beautiful and warm) but we had a great time on the excursion and would recommend them to ANYONE thinking of going!!!!

My Favorite Meal--hmm...that is hard to come up with. I'm sure I'll get flamed for this but neither hubby nor I thought the food was very good ever. The first night in Lumieres was pretty good and the last night at Lumieres was probably the best of all the meals but in between I'd have to say the food tasted mediocre at best (now putting on flame retardent suit) The brunch at Palo was nice but we were never able to go for dinner. Breakfast is breakfast no matter where you go..there just isn't a lot of variation there no matter where you go or what you do, lunch we thought was the overall biggest disappointment and then the dining room food. Hubby and I don't think we are food snobs as we had great food on the 4 day Wonder and loved it but this food just didn't cut it for us. I don't know I have a whole weeks worth of a report with good and bad stuff but of course I am chicken to post it

Overall fun---but $$$$$ for a child infested out of control group of kids I don't think we enjoyed it like we could have. There was A LOT of sickness on board, lots of coughing and wheezing during shows, some major motion issues for us and just basically not our cup of tea.

I think we'll stick to Cancun without the kids and just Disneyland with the kids for quite some time...it just wasnt as magical as I thought it would be. Maybe we went in with high expectations or something but it truly wasn't our "dream" trip. Oh well..it was fun and at least I wasnt home and now have a killer tan

Heidi

 

[Quirky Cruiser]

Heidi,
Sorry to hear the trip wasn't the "dream" trip - it sounds like you did have some fun though. I followed your May 1st thread, since we almost went on that cruise (going May 29th instead due to vacation days, etc) and I know how excited you were. Don't be afraid to post your trip report - we all know that every trip cannot be perfect. Did your family get sick during the trip? How did you like your category 4 staterooms? You mentioned the motion of the ship - was it rocking a lot? I'm sure everybody here would love to see your pics as well - so if you're willing to share, please do! I just hope the trip was somewhat relaxing for you!

-Tenley

 

[Lori1035]

Heidi, could you tell me what movies are playing on the Magic right now? My kids are 11 and 14 and they love going to the movies while onboard. We will be sailing on 5/22.

Thanks,
Lori

 

[hydster]

Tenley--We did have fun but we had to make our own which we definitely were not planning on having to do. Our kids had TERRIBLE experiences in the kids club, the wind was out of control (I know Disney doesnt control that part but ugh) and our kids had just gotten better from a cold when they went into the 1000 kid germ infested kids clubs. We ended up with all of us sick with sore throats and ear aches (even dh and I) and the kids were miserable! We did however thoroughly enjoy all of the ports which made up for the miserable time on the ship and in the pools. I think we will stick to Disneyland for a few years and then venture to a line with less kids to compete with. A cm in the lab told us that the number of kids on board was 977 officially which if you can imagine the size of the 2 pools was a nightmare! We had fun however....just don't think we had as much fun as the cost we incurred!!!

Lori--That was another thing we were sorely disappointed in this trip! The movies on our sailing were

Saturday
Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen

Sunday
Hidalgo
Brother Bear
The Alamo

Monday
Miracle
Finding Nemo
Pirates of the Caribbean
Hidalgo
The Lady Killers

Tuesday
Confessions
Finding Nemo
Miracle
Calendar Girls

Wed
Brother Bear
Confessions
Home on the Range
The Alamo

Thursday
Finding Nemo
Hidalgo
The Alamo
Pirates of the Caribbean

Friday
Miracle
Calendar Girls
The Lady Killers

We were SO disappointed with the kids shows. WE OWN Finding Nemo, Brother Bear and Pirates of the Caribbean so why would we want to see them now??? Calendar Girls wasn't really appropriate for our kids (10, 9, 5) and no way would they sit through The Lady Killers, Hidalgo or the Alamo. Miracle we would have loved to see but it never played at a convenient time for us.

HTH
Heidi

 

[karebear1]

I'm so sad to hear you didn't have a fantastic time! I'm getting an inkling of why you feel like you won't be doing Disney for a while. maybe going at a time when everyone is not out of school would be more enjoyable for you???? What happened in the kids clubs?

 

[Quirky Cruiser]

Heidi - so sorry to hear about the earaches and the sickness - I know for me, I am a baby when I get an earache - and then to have to fly home with one - UGH!!!!

I'm single and young right now (well, I guess 24 is young) so I don't have any experience with the kids clubs. I was however onboard this past presidents week with my family(3-day Wonder) and I have never seen more kids in my life. They never bothered me (went to the adult pool) but when I saw the kids jumping on top of one another in both the Mickey and Goofy pools, I thought to myself this is out of control! I have a coworker who had a similar experience to you - he has 4 young kids and his trip was a bit of a nightmare - kids got sick, pools were packed, kids didn't want anything to do with the clubs, and it just wasn't what they were expecting for the money they paid (they had to get 2 staterooms) - he did say however, he will try it again when the kids are older.

So I take it you won't be cruising on DCL out of CA next year??? Seems a bit pricey to me - but that's just my opinion! Hope you're feeling better!

-Tenley

 

[hydster]

You know I never thought THAT many kids would be out of school at this time in May. I figured with spring break over with and Memorial day coming up we might hit it at a time when there were less kids on board..WHOA betty was I wrong!!!! It was never ending with kids everywhere. When we went on the 4 day I think we had a false impression because we stopped at a port every day and we weren't on the ship much and if there were a lot of kids then we didn't notice it because we were too tired at night and had my inlaws with us to notice. I definitely feel that for us Disney didn't suit our needs which makes me really sad. We were so looking forward to this trip and while we did have some really great times for the most part it was a yawn'er for us.

Tenley--You know the sore throat was much worse than the ear ache but it was all miserable. Sitting in Hercules the whole family behind us were coughing and the kids were SO croupy! The mother seriously no joke had a lap full of drugs she was pounding down that family so it's no wonder we all got ill. She had sudafed, robitussin, triaminic, ibuprofen and something that resembled nyquil tabs and that's just all I saw in a quick glance. I definitely think we will go on a cruise line that does NOT cater to so many kids like Carnival or RCCL because I think it was pretty obvious that Disney isn't for us.

Well I'm off to get ready for the Survivor finale!
Heidi

 

[Luv2Dream]

Heidi, I can understand what you are feeling completely. Don't feel bad. Sometimes it just doesn't all click. We were on the 4/17 Eastern and the wind was horrible. I was seasick for 2 1/2 days as were so many people on board. Apparently this year has been awful for the sea conditions. I swore I'd not get back on a ship again but I did book for the 8/20/05 repo cruise. Call me crazy. Anyhow, I also wasn't impressed with the food at all. I've been on Carnival and RCCL and I thought RCCL food was way better. My food wasn't even that hot when I got it most of the time. I thought the food choices were just o.k. Nothing really exciting. The movies that played also didn't play at very convenient times for our family as well and we aren't picky. As you can see, I can totally see where you are coming from. I'll be much more realistic on the 14 day cruise and tone down my expectations a bit. Disney is still the ship for me at this point because of my DD. Once she is older, we'll move on.

 

[Mjasp]

Now I'm getting scared that our cruise may be packed with kids. We are going on the 8/28 cruise, and we booked it thinking most people are back in school except the East Coast, but now if you put in 4 people in the DCL search, there are no available cabins.

I'll let you know when I get back.

 

[MariettaC]

Heidi, I feel very bad for you and your family I will be going on my second cruise June 26 with my DD, DGS, and DGD. My DH was on our October cruise and opted out of this one. Our ship was full at that time and of course there were a lot of kids. The only problem we had was when parents allowed their children to run through the halls making unnecessary noise. Don't get me wrong I think everyone should have a great time, but shouldn't we respect the other passengers? I hope you will give Disney another chance in the future.

 

[CheapMom]

Heidi- welcome back- hope you are feeling better. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. It is really useful, valuable info.
I too am curious about the kids clubs. Other than the germs what were the negatives?

 

[mmouse37]

As much as we all love Disney on this board....cruising DCL is just not for everyone.....who knows why some have great times and some have ho hum times....it's all individual perceptions of what is fun and what is good.

I am glad you posted and please do post your negatives....it will help others who may have over blown expectations to realize that every cruise is not a "dream cruise or trip of a lifetime". No one should set themselves up for any vacation to be perfect for them....things always happen that are out of our control that definately affect how we enjoy the cruise....the wind on our 2/7/04 cruise was also out of control and had an impact on our deck time....it is something DCL can't control but it still has an affect on your total cruise experience.

Looking forward to your report and hopefully pics.


MJ

 

[hannahandkatesmommy]

Hi Heidi, I am sorry you didn't have the wonderful time you had anticipated. Thankfully, we have a great trip on the 5/1 Magic. Yeah there were lots of kids, but it is a Disney cruise so I guess we just expected that. I will have to say that I am a food snob(self proclaimed) and I was quite pleased with the food. Perhaps it is because I was expecting mediocre food. We have sailed Celebrity(known for their fabulous cuisine), RCCL and Princess. We weren't impressed with RCCL's food. Celebrity was amazing as was Princess. So I wasn't expecting to be blown away and we were all pleasantly surprised.

I have only 2 minor complaints about this cruise which of course are pale in comparison to the positives-the first one, which I was really surprised about, was the kids club. I was appalled at how many children they expected 1 CM to manage! Mostly in the 3-4 age group. My oldest went a few times only becasue we went with friends, my youngest never wanted to go back. I was upset at first because we had Palo reservations for tuesday night so I felt like I needed her to be comfortable before then.. Then I came to my senses and realized that we can eat at a fancy restaurant anytime we want but we can't get this time back with our kids. So I cancelled the Palo reservations, and stopped worrying about them going to the clubs. We had a great time without the clubs for Katie. The older girls went every afternoon at sea for a few hours and 1 evening(tuesday to the Goofy Giggle Gala). They had fun.

My second complaint and the biggest was the air conditioning in the public places. The theater was so hot that I almost couldn't bear to go. I definately had to change out of my dinner clothes before going in. I made sure I mentioned that in my survey! As soon as Hannah goes to school this afternoon- I will start to post my trip report.

 

[Muushka]

I completly agree with you about the food. I was very underimpressed and like you, I am not a food snob, but most meals (except Palo, of course ) was mediocre at best.

We also had the high winds (full gale if you can believe that) and high seas, makes for not too much fun cruising. I am one of the few people that was glad to get off the ship. My husband was the other .

 

[CRB#33]

Hi Heidi, welcome back!

I'm so sorry your trip wasn't perfect . I do hope you made some wonderful memories though.

My kids are teens, so I don't know how much they'll swim and such. I think they'll take part in more of the activities. And probably just eat a lot

Get some sleep and plan for the next trip somewhere

 

[JJsmama]

Originally posted by hydster
A cm in the lab told us that the number of kids on board was 977 officially

Is that an unusually high number of kids onboard? Now I am nervous about the kids club too. My kids are 3 and 5 and I won't want to use the clubs if I feel it is too much for the CMs to safely handle.

 

[hannahandkatesmommy]

My kids are 3 and 5 too. I think the 5-7 age group was easier to handle with more children. The ratio is something like 15 to 1 for the 3-4 age group which I thought was too high. State law here for a daycare is like 1-5 or 6 in that age group. My daughter is kind of clingy and no one tried to help her get acclimated so we ended up staying with her the whole time and decided it wasn't worth it for us or her. there were lots of kid crying bc their parents just left them against their will which I thought was kind of sad, but on the other hand lots of 3-4's were having a ball. It just depends on the child.

 

[jel0511]

Heidi -

I'm sorry you didn't have the "Magical" trip you were hoping for. I can't wait to read your trip reports to get more detail, so I know what to avoid, if necessary, on our Western in November. I'm also going to DEFINATELY pack some cold medicine for everyone, just in case, there are colds running rampant on our cruise!

JJsmama - DCL only allows a certain # of kids in each age group to book a cruise. One of the reasons they ask the ages of the children when booking, to ensure that they can maintain the proper counselor to child ratio that they need to have. Since the kids clubs are basically free (even though we are paying for it with their fare), they have to ensure they don't turn any kids away. One of my friends tried to book a last minute cruise last summer and was told it was sold out, because the ship was at capacity for the age group of her children, even though there were cabins available.