beccawes7471
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2005
As some may already know, Day 3 started out pretty disappointing. I got up before the rest of my crew and headed up to the buffet for an early breakfast as I had a spa appt for 0915. I was up on deck 9 abou 0720. I saw several crew members looking out towards Castaway Cay, I then noticed the sea and wind conditions, MUCH worse than when we had gone to bed. I heard a crew member telling another cruiser, "I don't think today." After watching the water for about 5 seconds, I have to be honest in saying I'm glad we didn't dock, cause I was thinking, "man it is so windy," and "man those waves look big". I quickly enjoyed my chocolate mickey waffle with strawberries and whipped cream and then headed back to the cabin to let dh know that I didn't think we would be kayaking, nature walking, or parasailing today. About 5 minutes later Captain Henry came over the intercom to confirm my bad news.
Shortly after, Kara the cruise director, came over the intercom to report that new navigators would be printed shortly with revised activities. Glory Road would be shown at 0945, I was pretty excited...until I realized that my spa appt was at 0915. Speaking of spa appt..a perfect segway...Adam was great, I had a mini facial followed by scalp, shoulders, hands, and feet massages, it was very nice and cost $99 not including tip, not to bad.
After the spa, again we had down time, so we decided to do laundry and start to organize and pack. Once the new navigator came out, ds cast his vote to eat with the kids at AP, so off he went. We big kids decided to do the buffet for lunch, it was really great, lots of options, and everything seemed really fresh. After lunch we did a tour of the galley, it was pretty cool to get a small behind the scenes look at all it takes to get the food out. DH and I found it particularly interesting as we both spent many years working in restaraunts...now we just eat out alot
After the tour dsil and I headed to the final bingo...again no winner for us, however one lucky lady did win $2500.00 so that was cool to watch. Bingo ended and I was super excited to see ds in teh kids show....except much to my dismay, dh had decided to check him out of the club and take him to the arcade.
Nevermind that we had talked several times during the trip about the times of the show and rehearsal. I said," We had it highlighted in the navigator even, I had it written down," to which dh responded, "Like I ever even looked at that thing." I was pretty heartbroken 
cause I had stopped by the club and saw the children practicing their songs and it just looked so cute. DH was very apologetic stating, "I just felt like I hadn't seen him all day, I wanted to spend some time with him." How can you stay mad at that? 
So once again, ds went to dinner with the kids club, and us adults went to Palo 6pm. I know that many think that Palo is over hyped, but if there was one saving grace to our bad day, it was this. This was worth the whole three days, at least the three of us felt. When we arrived there were only three other tables of diners. We had as our wonderful server, Joost. In addition to tremendous service, he really went above and beyond. We each ordered an appetizer, I had the buffalo mozzarella and tomato salad, it was wonderful. When our appetizers came, Joost brought out "two things that you must try, at least to taste." One was the antipasto, the marinated artichoke hearts were mighty tasty, as were the red and yellow marinated peppers. The other was a mushroom pastry of some sort.. I think, I'm not sure cause dh inhaled it so fast. All three of us ordered the filet, mine was perfect medium-rare, succulent. Again, Joost brings out another entree, "some lasagna that you must try since you all are having the same thing," it was great. Then of course is dessert. Joost asks if we are okay with letting him pick our desserts for us, we are indeed. He has yet to steer us wrong. He proceeds to bring out FIVE desserts for the three of us. Three chocoloate souffles with ice cream, one tiramisu, and one custard like dessert with berries. HOLY COW, they were all amazing. Not to mention the tasty Baileys and Coffee with whipped cream I had to go along with it. It was only 730pm and all three of us were ready to be rolled back to our rooms and into bed. I have never had such great service!
After dinner we picked up ds from the lab and that was pretty much it. The boat was really rocking back and forth. We people watched in the atriums from the 5th floor balcony and did some last minute shopping, I managed to pick up a track suit and ds a captain mickey hat and doll. We were worried about ds sleeping in the bunk with the rough seas so he snuggled with dh and i. none of us had any prob sleeping. I had wanted to stay awake to see the 1045pm showing of Glory Road but I think my body was in a food coma and stood no chance.
Overall:
Cons: I think we were disappointed by the lack of activities or maybe it was the way they were timed. There was never much going on in the mornings, then several things all at once in the late afternoon, and of course with our dinner seating, it didn't leave much time.
I was disappointed in the Oceaneers Club. Other than the Professor Goo and Gases in Action, there really weren't any organized activities. It was alot of video games and hide and seek. We don't have video games at home (although he wishes we did), so our son doesn't know how to play any of them, although he is very interested. We noticed that noone seemed to be monitoring the taking turns with the video games, so ds said he never got to play because other kids just kept playing. It seemed like kids just sort of wandered around until they found something to do, I had imagined a more organized set up, with more organized actual activities. Friday nights activity was "To Infinity and Beyond" the description read," Mission control needs help from our space rangers to journey to infinity and beyond." I thought that sounded pretty cool, maybe a scavenger hunt or some sort of group game. Instead when we checked in, some kids were watching the movie Toy Story, while others played with various toys from the movies, potato heads, jesse and woody dolls. etc. I asked if we had missed the activity and was told, "No, this is it." We did realize that what we thought were the coolest activities were the ones for CC, and that was out of any of our control.
We were disappointed in the timing of the character appearances. On Friday, they were 09-0930, 1000-1020, 5-520, 5:30-5:50, 715-745, and 8-820. By the time we got out of dinner each night at 7-ish, the lines were too long, backed up down the hall. Why are they only in 20 minute increments? I'm sure someone on hear knows. The lines were so long every time. Our group felt that there should be characters out pretty much all the time, esp the day we missed CC.
As many have remarked about Disney as a whole, not alot is geared towards little boys. So although there were numerous princessess and little girls dressed as princesses I don't think it is as magical for little boys, at least not ours. Our son stated he would have rather stayed at the parks and done rides. Our party did remark that is was prob pretty amazing for little girls.
Now enough complaining, I'll get on to the good stuff:
PROS: Without a doubt, the service, organization, and cleanliness. I am a nurse in a hospital and I wish our restrooms were as clean as every one I stepped into on that boat. From the moment we parked our car upon arrival to the moment the porter loaded it back up after disembarkation, it was the smoothest transition we had every encountered in traveling. All lines moved very quickly, (with exception of the Kids Clubs, they do need more than one person to check children in and out).
Everywhere you looked there was someone cleaning, scrubbing, I mean with little brushes in spots you wouldn't even think to clean. As usual with Disney service was great. The boat was beautiful, from stateroom on.
I failed to mention that we also took the bridge tour on day 2, that was really cool. A def must do we thought, at least once.
PALO! PALO! PALO!
In conclusion (you thought it would never happen):
Since coming home, dh, dsil, and myself have had several discussions as to what left us feeling a bit disappointed. We can' t really place our fingers on it. As first time cruisers, we've decided that cruising might not be our thing. We've concluded that our 2bdrm villa at SSR and meals at Jiko and Beaches N Cream with less than 400 other diners sort of set us up for disappointment. We've also taken into account that missing CC was a big part of our feeling bored. DS was still asking on Sunday, "when is the beach again?" The only real activities that we were interested in were the ones on the island, parasailing, kayaking, etc.
We also felt the atmosphere was a bit lackluster. It just didn't seem as "magical" to us as did our time at the MK and resort. After spending alot of time on these boards, we assumed it would be a very lively Disney crowd
There didn't seem to be alot of spirit on our boat, maybe we just didn't look hard enough. We only saw one other set of door signs our whole trip. We decided if we do cruise again, it should be on the disboards cruise Thanks for reading, again this is just our opinion, as a whole we still think Disney is top notch and very magical. I plan on writing a trip report for our time spent at MK and SSR if any are interested. Feel free to ask any questions, I'll be happy to answer.- Rebecca
Shortly after, Kara the cruise director, came over the intercom to report that new navigators would be printed shortly with revised activities. Glory Road would be shown at 0945, I was pretty excited...until I realized that my spa appt was at 0915. Speaking of spa appt..a perfect segway...Adam was great, I had a mini facial followed by scalp, shoulders, hands, and feet massages, it was very nice and cost $99 not including tip, not to bad.
After the spa, again we had down time, so we decided to do laundry and start to organize and pack. Once the new navigator came out, ds cast his vote to eat with the kids at AP, so off he went. We big kids decided to do the buffet for lunch, it was really great, lots of options, and everything seemed really fresh. After lunch we did a tour of the galley, it was pretty cool to get a small behind the scenes look at all it takes to get the food out. DH and I found it particularly interesting as we both spent many years working in restaraunts...now we just eat out alot
After the tour dsil and I headed to the final bingo...again no winner for us, however one lucky lady did win $2500.00 so that was cool to watch. Bingo ended and I was super excited to see ds in teh kids show....except much to my dismay, dh had decided to check him out of the club and take him to the arcade.
Nevermind that we had talked several times during the trip about the times of the show and rehearsal. I said," We had it highlighted in the navigator even, I had it written down," to which dh responded, "Like I ever even looked at that thing." I was pretty heartbroken cause I had stopped by the club and saw the children practicing their songs and it just looked so cute. DH was very apologetic stating, "I just felt like I hadn't seen him all day, I wanted to spend some time with him." How can you stay mad at that? So once again, ds went to dinner with the kids club, and us adults went to Palo 6pm. I know that many think that Palo is over hyped, but if there was one saving grace to our bad day, it was this. This was worth the whole three days, at least the three of us felt. When we arrived there were only three other tables of diners. We had as our wonderful server, Joost. In addition to tremendous service, he really went above and beyond. We each ordered an appetizer, I had the buffalo mozzarella and tomato salad, it was wonderful. When our appetizers came, Joost brought out "two things that you must try, at least to taste." One was the antipasto, the marinated artichoke hearts were mighty tasty, as were the red and yellow marinated peppers. The other was a mushroom pastry of some sort.. I think, I'm not sure cause dh inhaled it so fast. All three of us ordered the filet, mine was perfect medium-rare, succulent. Again, Joost brings out another entree, "some lasagna that you must try since you all are having the same thing," it was great. Then of course is dessert. Joost asks if we are okay with letting him pick our desserts for us, we are indeed. He has yet to steer us wrong. He proceeds to bring out FIVE desserts for the three of us. Three chocoloate souffles with ice cream, one tiramisu, and one custard like dessert with berries. HOLY COW, they were all amazing. Not to mention the tasty Baileys and Coffee with whipped cream I had to go along with it. It was only 730pm and all three of us were ready to be rolled back to our rooms and into bed. I have never had such great service!
After dinner we picked up ds from the lab and that was pretty much it. The boat was really rocking back and forth. We people watched in the atriums from the 5th floor balcony and did some last minute shopping, I managed to pick up a track suit and ds a captain mickey hat and doll. We were worried about ds sleeping in the bunk with the rough seas so he snuggled with dh and i. none of us had any prob sleeping. I had wanted to stay awake to see the 1045pm showing of Glory Road but I think my body was in a food coma and stood no chance.
Overall:
Cons: I think we were disappointed by the lack of activities or maybe it was the way they were timed. There was never much going on in the mornings, then several things all at once in the late afternoon, and of course with our dinner seating, it didn't leave much time.
I was disappointed in the Oceaneers Club. Other than the Professor Goo and Gases in Action, there really weren't any organized activities. It was alot of video games and hide and seek. We don't have video games at home (although he wishes we did), so our son doesn't know how to play any of them, although he is very interested. We noticed that noone seemed to be monitoring the taking turns with the video games, so ds said he never got to play because other kids just kept playing. It seemed like kids just sort of wandered around until they found something to do, I had imagined a more organized set up, with more organized actual activities. Friday nights activity was "To Infinity and Beyond" the description read," Mission control needs help from our space rangers to journey to infinity and beyond." I thought that sounded pretty cool, maybe a scavenger hunt or some sort of group game. Instead when we checked in, some kids were watching the movie Toy Story, while others played with various toys from the movies, potato heads, jesse and woody dolls. etc. I asked if we had missed the activity and was told, "No, this is it." We did realize that what we thought were the coolest activities were the ones for CC, and that was out of any of our control.
We were disappointed in the timing of the character appearances. On Friday, they were 09-0930, 1000-1020, 5-520, 5:30-5:50, 715-745, and 8-820. By the time we got out of dinner each night at 7-ish, the lines were too long, backed up down the hall. Why are they only in 20 minute increments? I'm sure someone on hear knows. The lines were so long every time. Our group felt that there should be characters out pretty much all the time, esp the day we missed CC.
As many have remarked about Disney as a whole, not alot is geared towards little boys. So although there were numerous princessess and little girls dressed as princesses I don't think it is as magical for little boys, at least not ours. Our son stated he would have rather stayed at the parks and done rides. Our party did remark that is was prob pretty amazing for little girls.
Now enough complaining, I'll get on to the good stuff:
PROS: Without a doubt, the service, organization, and cleanliness. I am a nurse in a hospital and I wish our restrooms were as clean as every one I stepped into on that boat. From the moment we parked our car upon arrival to the moment the porter loaded it back up after disembarkation, it was the smoothest transition we had every encountered in traveling. All lines moved very quickly, (with exception of the Kids Clubs, they do need more than one person to check children in and out).
Everywhere you looked there was someone cleaning, scrubbing, I mean with little brushes in spots you wouldn't even think to clean. As usual with Disney service was great. The boat was beautiful, from stateroom on.
I failed to mention that we also took the bridge tour on day 2, that was really cool. A def must do we thought, at least once.
PALO! PALO! PALO!
In conclusion (you thought it would never happen):
Since coming home, dh, dsil, and myself have had several discussions as to what left us feeling a bit disappointed. We can' t really place our fingers on it. As first time cruisers, we've decided that cruising might not be our thing. We've concluded that our 2bdrm villa at SSR and meals at Jiko and Beaches N Cream with less than 400 other diners sort of set us up for disappointment. We've also taken into account that missing CC was a big part of our feeling bored. DS was still asking on Sunday, "when is the beach again?" The only real activities that we were interested in were the ones on the island, parasailing, kayaking, etc.
We also felt the atmosphere was a bit lackluster. It just didn't seem as "magical" to us as did our time at the MK and resort. After spending alot of time on these boards, we assumed it would be a very lively Disney crowd
There didn't seem to be alot of spirit on our boat, maybe we just didn't look hard enough. We only saw one other set of door signs our whole trip. We decided if we do cruise again, it should be on the disboards cruise Thanks for reading, again this is just our opinion, as a whole we still think Disney is top notch and very magical. I plan on writing a trip report for our time spent at MK and SSR if any are interested. Feel free to ask any questions, I'll be happy to answer.- Rebecca
My kids like the kids club and the video thing wasn't very fair...we also heard from another couple that the girls in the Oceanneer Lab were bored since so much revolved around video games.....they did miss out on the flubber due to dinners...I think they should offer it more than once....they advertise it so much...they did like going to the bridge.... 
