05/06/06 Western

[new2cruise]

I will try and make this as short as possible. Overall we (Me, DH, DS11) had a good time. There was the great, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Day 1
Was very rushed and hectic. Two rough flights and 2 hours stuck in the airport due to what was later said to be a bomb threat , we boarded the ship at 3:55. After having our name said over the PA we were instructed to run up to our room and join the safety drill A.S.A.P.. So it lost some of it's magic - but that could not be helped. We then went to the sailaway party where we FINALLY started to relax. If you buy drinks at the party ask about the glasses - we didn't find out until the 2nd round that the glasses can be kept. The party was a blast and so much fun that we didn't even realize that we had sailed. When we returned to our room the luggage was there. I started organizing things to get the luggage out of the way and under the bed (over the door shoe organizer saved the day - thanks!) and it was 6:45 before I realized we missed the show so we got ready for 8:30 dinner. We had the LAP rotation and were unsure about eating with other people. We had table 47 and were seated with a younger couple with a DD10 and and older couple (by that I mean older than us) with a DS18. Great people and we all had a great week with them. Our servers were Girish and Amanda and they were terrific. After we purchased the wine package the first night it took a couple of nights for them to figure out that we did intend to drink it - forgetting to bring the list , etc. But by Tues. as soon as sat down they would ask what we wanted. The food overall was very good. And so were the wines that were offered.

 

[new2cruise]

Day 2 - Key West

Because we were not docking until mid-day and because the previous day had been so hectic we decided to try and sleep alittle this day. Unfortunetaly room #7590 is a connecting room directly across from the laundry room ( and when I say directly I mean you open the door and are staring at the back of whoever is ironing) .The laundry room was never a problem all week though but our neighbors were. At 6 am I woke to what sounded like a woman standing right next to my bed yelling - it was sooooo loud it startled me. This continued for the next two hours - very loud talking , banging on the doors and children yelling. I try to be very considerate of people around me so this really bothered me. I left a note asking them to try and be quieter in the a.m. The noise was alittle better after that but still bothersome. I do not know if that is because it's got connecting doors, the people were just loud or both. But I can say that the people on the other side of us had two children and the only time we heard them all week was when we were all out on the veranda...sooo....

We had a sit down breakfast at Lumiere's, which was great and met a nice couple from Boston, England then we wandered into Key West. We walked around some and then took the Conch Train Tour (thanks for the coupons!) The tour was alot of fun. We then went back to the ship and tried to swim, but honestly all those people in that little Goofy pool was madness. I know the space is limited on a ship but never having been on one before - I was alittle surprised by the size of the pool.

 

[new2cruise]

Day 3- At Sea

To be honest I was disappointed in the activities that were planned for sea days. With the pools being so over crowded there didn't seem enough to do. But, we made do with ping pong, foosh (sp?) ball etc. I also found the kids activities for the 10-12 group to be lacking. It seemed there was always something for the little kids groups but the 10-12 group was more "free time in the lab" - DS can play on the computer at home I wanted him to be entertained. But, that just meant he spent most of his time with us which was just fine with us.

We had formal night at PC which I know alot of people don't care for, but it was fine. Good food, good company and everyone looked great.

 

[new2cruise]

Day 4 - Grand Caymen

We took the Island Tour which was good, not great, but good. Highlight was DS getting to hold a turtle at the farm. The Rum Cake "Factory" was not what I expected. Basically a store where you can sample pieces of cake and purchase one or some rum - but it was still fun.

Day 5 - Cozumel

We did the Tropical Jeep Safari Tour.This tour was a blast. Part of it through the city and then the rest around beach area and "jungle". Ended at a beautiful beach were lunch was served (tacos, fruit, chips, salsa, etc.)

Pirate night was great fun. The deck party was high energy and great. Terrific fireworks and lots of dancing ( as much as you can do with so many people). My one complaint is that some people can be so inconsiderate. We were up in front having a great time and this couple with a baby ( way to young to enjoy all the noise) pushed their way in next to us. The woman was videotaping and repeatedly hitting me with her bag - I just dealt with it , as there were just alot of people there. Then she moved behind me and I get hit in the head and my bandana is pulled off. She smacked me right in the head with the video camera and never even said , " I'm sorry" !!???? Just plain rude. After the party we stayed and watched Pirates on the big screen. Fun being out under the stars watching a movie. Sort of like the Drive-In from when I was a child.

 

[new2cruise]

Day 6 - At Sea

We spent a lazy day relaxing on the outskirts of the pool. Playing ping pong, foosh ball and listeneing to music. DS spent some time in the arcade and then he went to the towel folding demo while I watched the ice carving. We then saw "Eight Below" in the threatre. It was alot of fun.

Day 7 - CC

Got soaked in the rain, but who cares? We were going to get wet anyway. Did the banana boat ride right after the stormed passed, and it was very rough. Don't know if it's always that rough or if it was because of the storm. One whole side of the boat fell off and the kids were being thrown around and some where scared. It was fun but alittle too rough even for me. We had lunch at Cookies which was great and then did the stringray adventure. It was nice, feeding the rays was lots of fun but the snorkeling afterward was way too cloudy to see any.

Spent the rest of the day snorkeling and swimming in paradise. Around 3pm. DH and DS were off snorkeling and I was swimming close to shore. We had 3 chairs with clothes, shoes, etc. all on them. From the water I saw a CM take all our clean, dry towels and throw them in a bag. I got out of the water and said, "you took all our dry towels" and her answer was "I left you one" and she walked away. I spent the next 1/2 hour looking for towels so DH and DS would have something to dry off with. And then I was afriad to leave them - so I stayed at the chairs.

Last show was kind of lame and also sad because it was the last one. But we really enjoyed our last dinner with new friends.

 

[new2cruise]

Other things we did but not sure on which days ( I am old you know ! )
And other thoughts.

We enjoyed bingo but it was pricey.
Shows were for the most part good.
Our stateroom host was Eric and he was great. Always had great towel animals for DS. Got us an extra chair for the veranda and ice whenever we wanted. Greeted us everytime we saw him with a smile.
Got some great pics from Shutters altough alittle pricey.
Thought the entertainment staff was wonderful, espcially for the kids, Belle and Travis and Pikey in paticular.
Did 70's and 80's theme nights in Rocking Bar D and they were alot of fun.
DS got to do "Who Wants to Be a Mousketeer?" which was one of his highlights.

I am sure I will think of other things and if I do I will add them.

In a nutshell it was a very good trip. I only wish I had gotten to meet some of the DIS members that were aboard.

 

[kimsue68]

Thanks for the report!! Sorry you had loud neighbors, that is not fun!!

 

[pppiglet]

We were in 7570 last time we cruised and had Eric also. Nice to know he is still there.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Great report! Sounds like y'all had a great trip. My 9 y.o. was less-than-entertained by the planned entertainment of the children's programming, so we're actually looking forward to him being of the right age to have more "free time" in the Lab on our next trip... although he did enjoy just hanging out in the cabin and going to get pizza and soda whenever he wanted from Deck 9.

Re: the towels at CC. We rolled up a couple of towels and put them in our day bag so we'd have them and no one would take them off before we were ready for them. That would stink to come back to your chair and find that the clean dry towel you thought was waiting for you was gone.

 

[new2cruise]

We really did have a nice time. Not as magical as I had hoped, but still a fun time.

Will we do it again? Probably not, but that's really because we try and take a "been-there-done-that" attitude about vacations and try something different every year.

I should have thought to put the towels in our bag - great idea.

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi Sharon,
Guess who..?
It's Mick and Lyn from Boston UK..
Nice meeting you in Lumiere's, we had the week after the cruise in Orlando and got back home Friday. Work tomorrow so back to reality...!!
Say hi to your family from us..
Best Wishes.

Mick & Lyn.

 

[new2cruise]

Hi Mick and Lyn !
I never thought to ask you if you hung out on the board. Hope your trip was fabulous. Getting back to work is way too much reality for me but had to do it too . Now in my second week back so things are back to normal.
The family says hello.

 

[scottishwee35]

Hi

Thank for your report and it was good and sorry you had a bit rough times with next door and people were rude well. Same with us on 3 days Wonder some people was rude too , a man was asking for hot dog at pluto and throw the plate at waiter and walk away with hot dog in hand!! my husband couldn't believe to see it

But other people were lovely.

Scottishwee35

 

[JeannieH]

Shame you had a noisy cabin, although I spoke to one lady who also was next to one of the laundry rooms and she said they had no probs. Maybe they had a few more cocktails than you and slept better! All the same, ship-life can be tiring so feel sorry if you didnt get enough rest.

We found plenty to do onboard, so always wonder why others dont think there is enough to do. We dont ever sit by the pools on a cruise: we like to see and do as much as possible on a vacation. We attended 5 movies on our back-to-backs, several shows, played Bingo once (that was enough!), played shuffle-board most days, attended various "Art of Entertaining" talks and classes, listening to the live singing each evening in Promenade Lounge (great duo by the way), read 4 books, went to the gym a few times,visited all the ports,watched the stateroom tv movies,learned how to fold napkins/towels, sent e mails, shot a few baskets (at 1am - when no-one was watching................we are over 50yrs old!), and generally joined in all the deck parties (when we had the energy). We had 2 weeks' onboard and still DIDNT get to the Spa/hairdressers/wine-tasting/swimming-pool/late-night cabarets and Midnight Buffet!

We came home for a REST!