Kissimmee_Family
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2005
Still getting used to the idea that if we want to eat we have to actually cook and wash dishes again.
1) Sea legs. Not sure if our cruise started out super rough but I'm guessing it was getting up there. Two thoughts come to mind. a) Avoid activities that require eye concentration, reading, fiddling with camera settings etc. b) When you are walking in high seas, focus at the furthest point ahead and don't look at the floor just in front. You will walk straighter and feel less queasy.
2) Yes, when you get ashore it is normal for the ground to keep moving.
3) If you hear "Bright star alert" on the Public Address system, someone has had a medical emergency. Sadly we have since learned that a loved one passed away that night. His family is in our prayers and I want to believe he is in heaven sharing happy memories with Walt.
4) Consider wearing a VERY large Button in St. Thomas that reads. "NO THANKS, I DO NOT NEED A TAXI BACK TO THE SHIP YET".
5) Room layout and boat motion. We had two rooms. In our inside cabin the bed was oriented from side to side. Since the motion of the ship is predominantly a rolling movement, the effect is like your bed is on a teeter totter and alternately your head is below your feet and then vice versa. If you have ever dangled upside down you will instantly recognize the blood rushing to your head feeling. By contrast the bed in our Navigator Veranda cabin was head to bow and feet to stern. In this case the rolling motion rocked the bed from side to side, a much more pleasant sensation. If you are expecting rough seas or fear you might be susceptible to motion sickness consider how your room is laid out.
6) If you own a cell phone (sprint PCS in my case). Keep tabs on the passing Islands. You will often be within range of service even if land is not visible. I used a hand held GPS with map display to plot the passings, alternatively they are often posted in the navigator with approximate times. Be sure to check with your cell provider which Islands are available and what if any cost is added.
7) I did not use the on board internet as my cell also doubles as a digital modem but I did chat with the internet manager and she confirmed that there are about 20 terminals between crew and passengers and they all share a single 512 kilobit satellite connection. It was $89 for the 7 day cruise and at least one PC had a web cam and a few others had headphones. No way to plug in a USB device or read digital film, not even a CD drive.
8) Very hard to fly kite from deck. The winds are very turbulent around the ship and it is all but impossible to launch a kite from the deck.
9) When you board if you get some bread from the bon voyage buffet and toss it in the air as you leave port the seagulls will fly up and take it from your hand or if you prefer they will catch it in the air.
10) Silly bread trick number two. Put some bread in a baggie before you go snorkeling at castaway key/cay. Knead it into a ball and then release small bits of it in the water and watch the fish swarm around you.
11) I was expecting every other cabin door to have a welcome magnet. In fact, maybe only a dozen doors had one. In case you are not sure what I'm talking about, you buy an 81/2 x 11 printable magnetic sheet at a stationary store (Wal-Mart too) and print it in your inkjet. The doors on the Magic and Wonder are steel and make excellent refrigerators, for magnet purposes. Special note: the hallway ceilings are also steel and the magnets stick there as well.
12) I was lead to believe that each room had a full mini bar filled with items to purchase. I guess Disney has given up that idea and now you have an empty fridge to store your own items. Milk, cereal, Danish, lox, cream cheese etc all found a home in ours.
13) Disney conveniently provides a health club on each floor in the elevator lobbies. They're called stairs. Use them.
14) Bridge tours are only offered when the ship is in port. Almost as good or even better to some is to go to the exercise room full forward in the spa during docking or getting under way. The health club looks down into the bridge and you can even read the instruments.
15) Apparently food service to the crew is either inconvenient or timed poorly for some of them and many will kiss your feet for a plate of fries and chicken tenders from the deck 9 counters. Be discrete and ask them first.
16) Flat soda. A chronic problem was flat soda. I guess the CMs don't taste the cola so if you don't say anything you'll keep getting flat soda.
17) Near Shutters there is a new "burn your 3D portrait in an Acrylic Block with a Laser" booth. Check it out.
18) If your children are resisting going to the clubs and they are 9 and older, try giving them sign out privileges along with clear rules. Part of the problem with my DD was that she felt trapped in there and hence resisted going. Once she had sign out rights she loved to go there.
19) If your read the original #19 ignore it. I mixed up the story.
20) Avoid the Duty Free World store at the St. Maarten pier. It is in the large corner shaped building right at the exit to the ship. I posted the why, elsewhere.
21) Do not sit in the left front row of the Walt Disney Theater during the BumbleSquat show unless you want to boogie with Mrs. BumbleSquat on stage.
22) You are on one of the most expensive vacations of your life. Your server wants you to enjoy every meal. If you order something you dont care for, tell them and select something else.
Hope some of these are helpful and unique. Enjoy your cruse. We did and the Forums helped us a lot.
1) Sea legs. Not sure if our cruise started out super rough but I'm guessing it was getting up there. Two thoughts come to mind. a) Avoid activities that require eye concentration, reading, fiddling with camera settings etc. b) When you are walking in high seas, focus at the furthest point ahead and don't look at the floor just in front. You will walk straighter and feel less queasy.
2) Yes, when you get ashore it is normal for the ground to keep moving.
3) If you hear "Bright star alert" on the Public Address system, someone has had a medical emergency. Sadly we have since learned that a loved one passed away that night. His family is in our prayers and I want to believe he is in heaven sharing happy memories with Walt.
4) Consider wearing a VERY large Button in St. Thomas that reads. "NO THANKS, I DO NOT NEED A TAXI BACK TO THE SHIP YET".
5) Room layout and boat motion. We had two rooms. In our inside cabin the bed was oriented from side to side. Since the motion of the ship is predominantly a rolling movement, the effect is like your bed is on a teeter totter and alternately your head is below your feet and then vice versa. If you have ever dangled upside down you will instantly recognize the blood rushing to your head feeling. By contrast the bed in our Navigator Veranda cabin was head to bow and feet to stern. In this case the rolling motion rocked the bed from side to side, a much more pleasant sensation. If you are expecting rough seas or fear you might be susceptible to motion sickness consider how your room is laid out.
6) If you own a cell phone (sprint PCS in my case). Keep tabs on the passing Islands. You will often be within range of service even if land is not visible. I used a hand held GPS with map display to plot the passings, alternatively they are often posted in the navigator with approximate times. Be sure to check with your cell provider which Islands are available and what if any cost is added.
7) I did not use the on board internet as my cell also doubles as a digital modem but I did chat with the internet manager and she confirmed that there are about 20 terminals between crew and passengers and they all share a single 512 kilobit satellite connection. It was $89 for the 7 day cruise and at least one PC had a web cam and a few others had headphones. No way to plug in a USB device or read digital film, not even a CD drive.
8) Very hard to fly kite from deck. The winds are very turbulent around the ship and it is all but impossible to launch a kite from the deck.
9) When you board if you get some bread from the bon voyage buffet and toss it in the air as you leave port the seagulls will fly up and take it from your hand or if you prefer they will catch it in the air.
10) Silly bread trick number two. Put some bread in a baggie before you go snorkeling at castaway key/cay. Knead it into a ball and then release small bits of it in the water and watch the fish swarm around you.
11) I was expecting every other cabin door to have a welcome magnet. In fact, maybe only a dozen doors had one. In case you are not sure what I'm talking about, you buy an 81/2 x 11 printable magnetic sheet at a stationary store (Wal-Mart too) and print it in your inkjet. The doors on the Magic and Wonder are steel and make excellent refrigerators, for magnet purposes. Special note: the hallway ceilings are also steel and the magnets stick there as well.
12) I was lead to believe that each room had a full mini bar filled with items to purchase. I guess Disney has given up that idea and now you have an empty fridge to store your own items. Milk, cereal, Danish, lox, cream cheese etc all found a home in ours.
13) Disney conveniently provides a health club on each floor in the elevator lobbies. They're called stairs. Use them.
14) Bridge tours are only offered when the ship is in port. Almost as good or even better to some is to go to the exercise room full forward in the spa during docking or getting under way. The health club looks down into the bridge and you can even read the instruments.
15) Apparently food service to the crew is either inconvenient or timed poorly for some of them and many will kiss your feet for a plate of fries and chicken tenders from the deck 9 counters. Be discrete and ask them first.
16) Flat soda. A chronic problem was flat soda. I guess the CMs don't taste the cola so if you don't say anything you'll keep getting flat soda.
17) Near Shutters there is a new "burn your 3D portrait in an Acrylic Block with a Laser" booth. Check it out.
18) If your children are resisting going to the clubs and they are 9 and older, try giving them sign out privileges along with clear rules. Part of the problem with my DD was that she felt trapped in there and hence resisted going. Once she had sign out rights she loved to go there.
19) If your read the original #19 ignore it. I mixed up the story.
20) Avoid the Duty Free World store at the St. Maarten pier. It is in the large corner shaped building right at the exit to the ship. I posted the why, elsewhere.
21) Do not sit in the left front row of the Walt Disney Theater during the BumbleSquat show unless you want to boogie with Mrs. BumbleSquat on stage.
22) You are on one of the most expensive vacations of your life. Your server wants you to enjoy every meal. If you order something you dont care for, tell them and select something else.
Hope some of these are helpful and unique. Enjoy your cruse. We did and the Forums helped us a lot.
