alexandrew
<font color=purple>Keep posting, you'll catch up!<
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2001
- Messages
- 1,797
Cast - me (Alexandrew), DW, DS-2, DS-7....friends and first time DCL cruisers Mark and Steph, and their DS-7 mos.
**Had great anticipation for this cruise, since I convinced our friends who live close by to go with us on this one. They are newbies to DCL cruising, and couldnt understand why i was counting down the days to embarkation(they ultimately understood)...it was fun playing tour guide for them...they said that it was great for them, since they were able to take advantage of our prior experiences....
**Arrived via car to port at 11 am....at embarkation, was informed at check-in that we were UPGRADED to a cat. 5 verandah from our usual cat 9.....2nd time in 3 mos.!!!we were lucky enough to get an upgrade back in Oct as well....ship was pretty full, so I guess demand exceeded supply for cat 9's....was slightly concerned that our friends stateroom would not be near ours since we were upgraded....sure enough, they were upgraded too(their res was cross referenced with ours)....right next door...not bad for first timers!!!! I informed them that upgrades are few and far between, and we were just exceptionally lucky...
**embarkation photo had new, more substantial backdrop vs the old lifesaver...
**For the first time in 5 previous cruises, we were assigned PTA rotation...all other cruises, we always got APT/APL, so I assumed this time as well....this required a slight change in plans to reserve Palo for first night....we chose to skip PC because we wanted friends to see AP show (even though I hate the menu there...more about that later), and we love Tritons (mmmm), and besides, our friends would get to see PC at embarkation.
**very disappointed with embarkation buffet at PC....no carving stations, limited hot food selection,and a 20 minute line upon entering at 12 noon...I wonder if everyone was directed to PC vs BBB at embarkation, since weather was sort of chilly (60 degrees)
**re-assigned to stateroom 7084- mid point between aft and midship elevators, port side....usually like to be closer to elevators but hey, we got a free upgrade, i wasnt complaining
**Ronald was our stateroom host....we had him as well on our 3-day last year....excellent service....I think he made a mistake though in our friends favor-they received beach towel and pins in their staterooms -usually reserved for Castaway Club members...
***had the M&M guys as Server and Asst Server...Mark from St Vincent and Marlon from Costa Rica...both excellent, although we didnt have a whole lot of time to get to know them well since they only served us twice....
**Palo is beyond excellent!!!! Our friends and us were simply blown away....had calamari, fish soup (with a whole lobster tail!!!)filet with port wine sauce (vs gorgonzola)...dessert was, you guessed it, chocolate souffle (as well as a sampler of the other items for our party)
**Shows were simply outstanding....a few new one-liners in Herc kept it fresh....our friends just could not believe that you get 3 consecutive Broadway quality shows on a 3-day cruise...didnt have time or inclination to see any movies in Buena Vista theater...nothing really appealed to us...they did have 2pm premear one day of Teachers Pet....great movies on channel 42 though, particularly Matchstick Men...
**was very excited with the pin selection on this cruise...on all previous cruises, we were always shut out of limited edition, and particularly artist choice pins - one very nice addition to DS's collection was January AC pin with door of Walt Disney Suite that opens up to reveal Mickey.
**CC was great as always, albeit a bit cool, especially in morning...water was freezing cold...ate at Cookies....love the meat -falls-off-the-bone ribs and the cookie dough soft ice cream. New and tasty was a red kidney bean and vegetable dish...upon debarkation at CC noticed something new-a CM handing out mounds and mounds of chocolate chip cookies....
**some other culinary highlights include escargot and duck at Tritons...chicken tenders and bratwurst at Plutos, and Scoops vanilla with M&Ms on top...chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies to die for...
**I really do not like the menu at AP - DW ordered maple glazed salmon...very fishy tasting (yes, it's fish, but fresh fish shouldnt taste and smell fishy)....I ordered a very tough, hard to cut, sinewy veal chop....also, goat cheese and duck flatbread and shrimp and lobster wrappers IMO lag behind apps in other 2 restaurants - I sincerely hope they change the menu there, as DCL has done at PC- we would have chosen to skip AP in lieu of Palo, but I felt that our friends should see the AP show as first timers....
**DW is crazy about Captain Henry(he reminds her of Cmdr. Von Trapp from Sound of Music)...she had him sign my 1/2 price Captain Mickey bobble head ($10.00!!!), as well as the captain trading card (whatever happened to those-they stopped giving them out). Captain Henry told DW that he is going on vacation soon, and returning in May-June
**In addition to the pins we bought at the cart, there was a nice variety of new '04 merchandise....bought new scrapbook with '04 logo....also bought small '04 water globe...was a little disappointed that they didnt have small magnet frame with '04 logo-we have one from every cruise with pic of DSs-
**enjoyed the "Until we Meet Again" in the atrium on the last night of cruise at 10pm - in addition to great photo opps with all the characters, we met and spoke to the actors from the shows - we enjoyed speaking with Peter pan and Ann Marie from Dreams especially...
In Conclusion-
It was another great cruise, although way too short...it makes sense for us here in S Fla from a financial perspective to take an additional 3-day cruise in January vs going to the parks and staying on-site...the cost is really comparable....Our friends had an amazing time, with the experience far exceeding any description i tried to articulate to them....we are really looking forward to our next voyage on the Magic in September,with stop in Puerto Rico ....
AA
**Had great anticipation for this cruise, since I convinced our friends who live close by to go with us on this one. They are newbies to DCL cruising, and couldnt understand why i was counting down the days to embarkation(they ultimately understood)...it was fun playing tour guide for them...they said that it was great for them, since they were able to take advantage of our prior experiences....
**Arrived via car to port at 11 am....at embarkation, was informed at check-in that we were UPGRADED to a cat. 5 verandah from our usual cat 9.....2nd time in 3 mos.!!!we were lucky enough to get an upgrade back in Oct as well....ship was pretty full, so I guess demand exceeded supply for cat 9's....was slightly concerned that our friends stateroom would not be near ours since we were upgraded....sure enough, they were upgraded too(their res was cross referenced with ours)....right next door...not bad for first timers!!!! I informed them that upgrades are few and far between, and we were just exceptionally lucky...
**embarkation photo had new, more substantial backdrop vs the old lifesaver...
**For the first time in 5 previous cruises, we were assigned PTA rotation...all other cruises, we always got APT/APL, so I assumed this time as well....this required a slight change in plans to reserve Palo for first night....we chose to skip PC because we wanted friends to see AP show (even though I hate the menu there...more about that later), and we love Tritons (mmmm), and besides, our friends would get to see PC at embarkation.
**very disappointed with embarkation buffet at PC....no carving stations, limited hot food selection,and a 20 minute line upon entering at 12 noon...I wonder if everyone was directed to PC vs BBB at embarkation, since weather was sort of chilly (60 degrees)
**re-assigned to stateroom 7084- mid point between aft and midship elevators, port side....usually like to be closer to elevators but hey, we got a free upgrade, i wasnt complaining
**Ronald was our stateroom host....we had him as well on our 3-day last year....excellent service....I think he made a mistake though in our friends favor-they received beach towel and pins in their staterooms -usually reserved for Castaway Club members...
***had the M&M guys as Server and Asst Server...Mark from St Vincent and Marlon from Costa Rica...both excellent, although we didnt have a whole lot of time to get to know them well since they only served us twice....
**Palo is beyond excellent!!!! Our friends and us were simply blown away....had calamari, fish soup (with a whole lobster tail!!!)filet with port wine sauce (vs gorgonzola)...dessert was, you guessed it, chocolate souffle (as well as a sampler of the other items for our party)
**Shows were simply outstanding....a few new one-liners in Herc kept it fresh....our friends just could not believe that you get 3 consecutive Broadway quality shows on a 3-day cruise...didnt have time or inclination to see any movies in Buena Vista theater...nothing really appealed to us...they did have 2pm premear one day of Teachers Pet....great movies on channel 42 though, particularly Matchstick Men...
**was very excited with the pin selection on this cruise...on all previous cruises, we were always shut out of limited edition, and particularly artist choice pins - one very nice addition to DS's collection was January AC pin with door of Walt Disney Suite that opens up to reveal Mickey.
**CC was great as always, albeit a bit cool, especially in morning...water was freezing cold...ate at Cookies....love the meat -falls-off-the-bone ribs and the cookie dough soft ice cream. New and tasty was a red kidney bean and vegetable dish...upon debarkation at CC noticed something new-a CM handing out mounds and mounds of chocolate chip cookies....
**some other culinary highlights include escargot and duck at Tritons...chicken tenders and bratwurst at Plutos, and Scoops vanilla with M&Ms on top...chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies to die for...
**I really do not like the menu at AP - DW ordered maple glazed salmon...very fishy tasting (yes, it's fish, but fresh fish shouldnt taste and smell fishy)....I ordered a very tough, hard to cut, sinewy veal chop....also, goat cheese and duck flatbread and shrimp and lobster wrappers IMO lag behind apps in other 2 restaurants - I sincerely hope they change the menu there, as DCL has done at PC- we would have chosen to skip AP in lieu of Palo, but I felt that our friends should see the AP show as first timers....
**DW is crazy about Captain Henry(he reminds her of Cmdr. Von Trapp from Sound of Music)...she had him sign my 1/2 price Captain Mickey bobble head ($10.00!!!), as well as the captain trading card (whatever happened to those-they stopped giving them out). Captain Henry told DW that he is going on vacation soon, and returning in May-June
**In addition to the pins we bought at the cart, there was a nice variety of new '04 merchandise....bought new scrapbook with '04 logo....also bought small '04 water globe...was a little disappointed that they didnt have small magnet frame with '04 logo-we have one from every cruise with pic of DSs-
**enjoyed the "Until we Meet Again" in the atrium on the last night of cruise at 10pm - in addition to great photo opps with all the characters, we met and spoke to the actors from the shows - we enjoyed speaking with Peter pan and Ann Marie from Dreams especially...
In Conclusion-
It was another great cruise, although way too short...it makes sense for us here in S Fla from a financial perspective to take an additional 3-day cruise in January vs going to the parks and staying on-site...the cost is really comparable....Our friends had an amazing time, with the experience far exceeding any description i tried to articulate to them....we are really looking forward to our next voyage on the Magic in September,with stop in Puerto Rico ....
AA
Thanks for posting your trip report!! It sounds like your family and friends had a great time....Thanks for taking the time to post your report.
whatever do you mean ?? 
xox 
hehe...
