10/9/04 Magic-

[allforpooh]

My first DCL cruise and trip report so here goes-

We started out Friday afternoon after DD11 was out of school, off to the airport, direct flight which is very unusual for us. We arrived in Orlando ahead of schedule but it took forever to get bags about 40 mins. picked up Avis rental car then to the Contemporary resort and the MNSSHP....

Highlights:
MNSSHP - will do this again, had a wonderful time, walked on most rides, skipped candy places after the first one, headless horseman story is a do not miss - trip to port the next day was no problem, dropped car off at Avis and a quick Shuttle to Port.

Arrived at Port around 11:15, long lines and very hot in terminal of course we were so excited it really didn't matter.

Didn't make the Dismeet at 4:00, but did meet several diser's throuhout the week...DD11 loved being able to meet several of the Dis kids the first day, they set up their own meet thru email before the cruise.

Romance at Sea package - loved being able to make ressie's ahead of time, gift nice but not a big deal to us, spa average nothing special there. We would probably not do this again, since the only ressie's I would make in the future would be Palo's.

Late seating (worked best for us), APL rotation, Herlan Davis and Paola were our servers - very nice, excellent service - Food just ok, some meals better than others. Palo Brunch was excellent, we did this the day we were at Key West 11:30 brunch then off to Key West to walk off all that we ate. Also Palo Dinner Friday night - what I had was very good and my DH enjoyed his meal.. but I was a little under the weather due to the excessive rocking of the boat and didn't really get to enjoy it. Sasha was our sever and he was wonderful. All I can say is we ate and ate, we rarely snacked since we had such big meals, but I did force myself to visit scoops a couple of times- I loved going to topsiders at lunch getting some of the wonderful cookies to go with the ice cream at scoops.

Also enjoyed going to the cove cafe, loved the atmosphere and the special coffee.

Room hostess - can't say enough - never really needed anything so we only saw him in the hallway, but every night there was a wonderful towel animal. We loved coming back to the room to see what he left us.

The shows were great and we also enjoyed some of the shows in the Rockin D bar after the show and before dinner. We were usually so tired after dinner that we would normally go back to the room to relax....

As for the Kids Lab - DD11 loved it, she loved the independence and the flexability of signing herself in and out. We brought walkie talkies which worked great.. She would look at the schedule the night before and highlight what she wanted to do the next day. She enjoyed most of the activities, if she ever didn't like something she would just hook up with some of the kids she met and they would all go swimming or just sit around the pool and talk. Most nights she would go to the show and have dinner with us, some nights she left dinner a little early. She met a variety of kids so there was always someone to do something with.

Excursions - We did the ruins tour in Costa Maya which we enjoyed, bring bug spray or lotion...We also did the Catamaran snorkel, sail and beach tour (DCL) in Cozmel - this was a great tour and alot of fun - I would do this again...

Being our first DCL cruise it more then met our expectations and we had a wonderful time.

Hi to all the Diser's we met...

Denise

 

[wishstar]

Denise,

My family and I were on the same cruise with you. We ate lunch with you and your husband at Lumiere's after the Chacchoben Ruins Tour. We went on all the tours together and it was fun seeing you around the ship.

To the rest of ya'll, I'm a DIS lurker and thought I would post my comments on the same cruise with allforpooh because our families kept doing the same things and bumping into each other.

We had APL second seating. We initially were disappointed, but it turned out to be the best thing. Our DD8 fell asleep in her soup that first night. But after that things were great. We got to see a lot of the family shows that we would have missed with first seating. We just took a nap every afternoon and the DD would make it through dinner. Our servers were Silvio and Jessie and my DD still misses them. They were great with the kids at the table.

Topsiders was a madhouse on the embarkation day and really turned us off. We found that we liked the food at Lumiere's better than the buffets for lunch, plus it had the added advantage of being a lot quieter.

On at sea days, we got up early and hit the pool. It was never very crowded until about 11:30. After that, it was a sea of bobbing children. I wish I had taken of picture of this from Deck 10. It was quite a sight. If you don't like fried foods (hamburger, fries, etc.) skip Pluto's and go to the Outlook Bar on Deck 10. They serve Panini sandwiches.

At Key West we went to the Mel Fisher Heritage Marine Museum on our own. This was a real interesting place and you were able to see (and buy) some of the ship wreck treasures that he found. There's a short movie that was very good and the rest of the museum took about an hour to walk through. It costs $10 per adult and less for children. All in all, we were there for over an hour and a half.

We really enjoyed the Costa Maya Ruins Tour. That's were I met allforpooh, in the extremely long line to the Ladies room. Eventually that sent us to the Men's room. My DD and I were the first to walk in and were horrified when we saw a man at the urinal, turned out he was the restroom attendent. By the way folks, if you go to the bathroom here, the attendents should be tipped (not much, but at least a quarter). This is a common practice outside the US. The tour itself was very good and to my DD's delight we saw the archeologists at work.

The Cozumel snorkel and beach party was the highlight of my trip. Unfortunately, my DH had caught the cold my DD had just before we went and skipped this excursion. He was so disappointed when he heard the details. My DD was so excited that she was screaming through her snorkel gear with her face in the water and everyone around us was enjoying at her excitement. The water at the beach was so clear you could see your feet even in 5 ft water. We have some great pictures of both of us underwater snorkling and a cute one of the DD. The photographer certainly knew how to capture the children and get parents to buy a picture.

We were disappointed that Castaway Cay was rained out. We were able to get in an hour or so of swiming, but then a huge downpour came and everyone evacuated the beach. We waited for over an hour but it didn't let up. So we went back to the ship. Then wouldn't you know, once we were all cleaned up the sun came out. It wasn't worth going out again, so we just went to see Princess Diaries II. I look forward to going back to that island.

My DD enjoyed the Oceaneer's Lab activities. But she didn't want to spend her free time there. She really enjoyed the planned activities, but my DH and I both work and she goes to aftercare everyday so 'Storming the Lab' wasn't exciting to her. She does that all the time. She's a little shy but once she met someone she had a good time. We always checked her in, but allowed her to check herself out at the end of the activity and go directly to the room. She loved the independence that we gave her.

The food was pretty good overall. We found that some items were great but when it wasn't great it was often just ok. But the waiters would always bring side items if we wanted and help us put together a good meal for the DD. We didn't want her eating fried foods at every meal. We were fortunate not to hear the excellent speech while we were there.

All in all, while Disney is a little pricey I think you get your money's worth. The shows were outstanding. The comediens at the Rocking D were really funny and wonderful with the kids. I've been on other cruise lines and this is the first time that my DH and I felt like there was stuff to do at night since we don't party or gamble.

Great meeting you Denise,

Julia

 

[allforpooh]

Julia,

Great report I had forgotten about the long lines at the restrooms on the tour.

We enjoyed meeting, bumping into and talking with you around the ship. I hope you had a good trip home with better weather, when we deplaned in GR it was 40 degrees......

To add to your suggestion about tipping the restroom attendent, we forgot to bring 1's with us and only had 20's so I had to run out and buy a pop to make change....also for anyone going on a tour with a tour guide and bus driver don't forget to bring smaller bills with you for tipping. Next time I will bring 1's, & 5's with me.

Additional suggestions:

Send out your dress clothes on Sat to be pressed only, we sent out all of my DH slacks and dress/polo shirts and a couple of my skirts to be pressed it was only $20 and everything came back the next day ready to wear for the rest of the week. The lines at the iron were long....

Denise