10 Days in Wonderland. The good, the bad and the ugly! updated part 3. post #30

[Amlee]

I've enjoyed your report so far - it sounds like your DISmeets were a lot of fun. I know we really enjoyed getting to know our fellow DISers last October when we sailed.

May I offer one suggestion? It would be a lot easier to read your reports if you had some paragraph breaks rather than presenting it as one long paragraph. It may just be me and the poor eyesight coupled with the post-surgery pain killers I'm still taking...but it's a little hard to read.

Otherwise I'm really enjoying your tale and appreciate the time you've taken to share with us all. I have a co-worker who honeymooned in St. Lucia and he raved about the whole rainforest / volcano experience...of course he and his wife didn't have to share it with 300 other people!

LOL I didn't even realized I had made it into one big thing. Thanks for pointing that out to me. I'll go back and fix that. Grammar and Spelling have never been and will never be my best subject!!

Oh I didn't mind sharing it with everyone. It just wasn't very well planned out, but I don't think Disney or the tour operater thought it would be so popular. If we had of gotten into port earlier and they could have broke up the tour into a morning and afternoon it would have made things better. Sadly if they could have cut off the number of people who went. I know from some of the people who did complain to Disney were told that the shore excurison people hadn't physically gone on the tour, so they were unaware of the walks, and the uneven stairs.

 

[oybolshoi]

Oh I didn't mind sharing it with everyone. It just wasn't very well planned out, but I don't think Disney or the tour operater thought it would be so popular. If we had of gotten into port earlier and they could have broke up the tour into a morning and afternoon it would have made things better. Sadly if they could have cut off the number of people who went. I know from some of the people who did complain to Disney were told that the shore excurison people hadn't physically gone on the tour, so they were unaware of the walks, and the uneven stairs.

I think excursions in general are better and more enjoyable when the number of people participating is kept to a managable number (just don't ask me what the magic number is supposed to be! ).

I'm glad you pointed that out about the stairs, especially. I'll keep it in mind for the day that the hubby and I finally make it St. Lucia (soon, I swear it's gonna be soon!).

BTW - if you're ever looking for a self-deputized member of the grammar police, give me a shout!!

 

[Amlee]

I think excursions in general are better and more enjoyable when the number of people participating is kept to a managable number (just don't ask me what the magic number is supposed to be! ).

I'm glad you pointed that out about the stairs, especially. I'll keep it in mind for the day that the hubby and I finally make it St. Lucia (soon, I swear it's gonna be soon!).

BTW - if you're ever looking for a self-deputized member of the grammar police, give me a shout!!

I'm not sure what the magic number is either, but I felt like we were stepping all over each other.

If you ever get a chance GO, they also had a very nice looking straw market down town. I sadly watched them setting up as we drove out of town and sadly watch them closing down as we drove back into town.

I didn't go up the uneven stairs, but Sally said one step might be a little step and the next step was a huge step. She said they were very uneven.

LOL I don't mind my grammar mistakes being pointed out to me. I'm alway up for learning from my mistakes. Just do it nicely!

 

[kaseyC]

I'm not sure what the magic number is either, but I felt like we were stepping all over each other.

If you ever get a chance GO, they also had a very nice looking straw market down town. I sadly watched them setting up as we drove out of town and sadly watch them closing down as we drove back into town.

I didn't go up the uneven stairs, but Sally said one step might be a little step and the next step was a huge step. She said they were very uneven.

LOL I don't mind my grammar mistakes being pointed out to me. I'm alway up for learning from my mistakes. Just do it nicely!

I am really enjoying your trip report and it sounds like you all had an absolute blast.

I agree that smaller groups on shore excursions can enhance the experience. When we were on the NCL Jewel Med cruise last May they offered what I thought was an excellent option for most of the major ports. They we called "Exclusive Tours" and were limited to no more than 12 people with transportation in a mini bus. They were a bit more expensive than the "big" bus tours but DH and I found it an excellent option for our tours of Rome, Florence and Pisa. We got to really interact with our guide as well as getting to see and do alot more than the huge tour groups.

 

[J&K'sPrincessMommy]

There was TONS of extra stuff. I thought only Disney would take the art of Towel folding and turn it in to marketing!

Wasn't that AWFUL! Every night it seemed too...
I LOVE the detail you are putting in your excursion reviews- we were limited to things you could do b/c most excursions were for 5 yr olds and older, and Kate only turns 4 on the 26th (Tuesday).

 

[micmse2003]

Day 5 St. Lucia4 Finally we make it to the volcano with about 300 other people. They send us down these narrow stairs to a place where we meet up with another guide. Who gives some great information on the area and the volcano and earthquake activity. She then tells us we have to go up these very steep, uneven stairs. I look at Cheryl and we both have the it’s not going to happen look on our face. So I send Sally up with my camera and Cheryl sends her wonderful husband John up with her. Cheryl and I start the not so easy climb up the other side back to the buses. Ok, where is our bus!? We have to walk where!? Yup, my idea of mild and Disney’s idea of mild just went out the window. So we wait for Sally and John to get back and then we take off down the road to the bus. At least it’s down hill!! But then we have to wade through the hawkers trying to get you to buy the “polished volcano rocks” Hmm is it me or do those black shiny stones look like those they sale in the Bahamas as coral stones!? Oh but the family of 4 hellion’s fall for it at every stop.

We make it back to the bus. What is that oder!? UGH! The tour guide forgot the DO this morning. (Yes I know that in many countries, it’s not a used product. I get that, but if you’re going to be working with people, at least use something that is going to cover the oder.)

Stop #5 Ok now they take us off to have a “lunch” and “refreshment”. Oh was that BAD!! Hard wedged bread, with tune or cheese between it, hot lemonade, and some kind of fish. I’ll pass thank you, where is our pizza!? One of the buses lost its AC on the trip. Now they were some unhappy campers!! We are off for the ship! Back over the mountains, pass the Banana plantation, and a left at the Oil refineries. Oh we didn’t go this way before. Hmm short cut!? Sure enough before long the ship is back in site. It’s almost 5pm and there are several buses behind us. Yeah, we aren’t leaving at 7. Not going to happen

I am the Cheryl that could not make it up the steps to the volcano with Amy. I did give input to the excursion desk after our excursion. There was quite a bit if walking(not stated back in June when I booked excursion) and also told them the difficulty of the uneven steps. DCL said they would make note of my comments to include them for this excursion.

Amy, you are doing a great job . I certainly do not have the patience to write a trip report (nor do I like to proof read what I write).

 

[micmse2003]

Even though I was on the cruise with you.... I can't wait to read the rest of your report! LOL!

I know I will probably never get around to writing one..... Even though I believe that Disney went above and beyond on this cruise! All the special details were amazing!

I may only sail on specail sailings from now on!

I toally agree Stephanie. I vote for only going on the special cruises. There were lots of goodies and great surprises.

 

[anne930]

I toally agree Stephanie. I vote for only going on the special cruises. There were lots of goodies and great surprises.

Thanks for the great trip report. Tell us about the "goodies and great surprises". We're doing the 10-day Christmas cruise in December - can't wait!!!

 

[Stepht5]

Thanks for the great trip report. Tell us about the "goodies and great surprises". We're doing the 10-day Christmas cruise in December - can't wait!!!

A special Don *Ducky* Williams print for everyone on the cruise, special shows (in the theater & dining rooms!!!), gifts at several dinners and just an overall feeling of *special*!

This was our 3rd Disney cruise (in less then a year) and all were quite special but, this one was just above and beyond.

 

[Amlee]

Note about St. Lucia: For some reason I’m starting to get stuffy and a scratchy throat. Also my left foot is starting to swell something awful, so I start icing it down at night.

Also I seemed to have forgot about the tropical party and got my days mixed up. So I’ll add the tropical party as a footnote at the end of the report.

Day 6 Barbados

After the lush forest and mountains of St. Lucia, I was a little disappointed in waking up to find Barbados fairly flat. LOL not as disappointed as the guy who walked off in front of us cussing because he had to walk to the buses. No sir, they aren’t going to meet you right off the ship and pick you up. * roll * We enter the little port type mall and head for the information office. I’m looking for an ATM or bank that would exchange my American Express Cheque card for either real travelers cheque’s or cash. (That becomes the nightmare of the cruise!) She couldn’t help me, ok! I then ask if there is a straw market type place to do some shopping. Not even looking up the women goes Nope, just what you see in this building. Gee think for your wonderful help!

So we head out the door and ask about a taxi. A lady tells us to get in line and wait. It’s not long before a van taxi pulls up and starts putting people in. Before we jump in I ask how much and he says 2 dollars each. (sounds right) so in we go. Now this van looks to only hold about 10 people, and we end up with 17 people, plus a stroller. We take the quick ride to down town. He pulls up at this place with all these men standing around. The driver jumps out and pulls open the door. Before any of us could start to get out, these men start climbing in the van trying to sale us land tours. They wouldn’t let us out and kept blocking the way. Finally I’m like let get us out of here! If we want one, we will talk with you outside. So they move back and let us out. I’m looking for a bank that will help, so I turn Sally toward the first bank I see and this guy is still hounding us about an island tour. I finally tell him, I know where I want to go and walk away.

We go from bank to bank trying to find a place that would exchange the traveler’s cheque for us. So much for being accepted worldwide. * roll * As we are walking down the street, we kept being approached about taking a tour or riding around the island. Now, I’m all for taking an island ride. I have no problem in doing it. But I was way put off with the way these guys were going about it. At one point as we were walking this guy starts yelling at me from up the street. He’s coming toward us, yelling “Hey Lady with the Camera!” I quickly do an about face and start going in the other direction. Now this guy is still yelling and still coming up fast. Sally is walking beside me, when this guy reaches out to grab her by the arm. Ok, I’m fixing to go to jail right here and now! I step between him and Sally so he couldn’t reach her and open the first door that we come and push her in the door. I then turn to the guy and just stare. He’s still on the other side of the door yelling about an island tour. I realize we are in a bank and the security guard steps to the door and the guy walks off. I wait a few moments and we go out again

By this time I’m ready to head back to the ship. This very nice soft-spoken guy asks us if we are ready to head back to the ship. I ask how much and this time it’s 2.50 each. LOL I guess it takes longer to get back to the ship. But again, I’m so ready to go; I would have paid just about anything. I still want to stop at the none existent vender market outside the terminal, so I ask the taxi driver to drop us off there. Which he did. We then walk through the tents looking at the different things. Or I should say the same thing over and over.

At the last tent a lady from the ship was talking to one of the vender ladies about the rudeness of the taxi drivers. She said that they fight all the time with each other, but that the venders wouldn’t do that. She said that we were there during the off-season and that they were jumping all over each other. About that time all hell breaks lose across the road on the port steps. Taxi drivers are yelling and screaming at each other, getting in each other faces and this Disney family was right in the middle of it. I wait until things settle down and then grab Sally to cross the road. About the time we start up the steps the Port Authority security shows up. I’m trying to pull Sally through the mess and she is in her on little world. Doesn’t have a clue as to what is going on around her. We get into the building and the Disney family is standing there very upset. A lady comes by with her kids; the ladies with the family caught in the middle of the fight and myself tell her to take the kids out the side door, as there is a fight outside. Sally wakes up and goes what fight!? * OYE! *

It seems that the Disney family asked the information guy about going to the beach. He gave them a price of 25 dollars for the 4 of them to go. They get out to the taxi driver and he bumps it up to $100 dollars to take the family to the beach. The family goes back in and questions the information guy about the price increase; he takes them back out to the taxi drivers and the taxi drivers’ start yelling at this guy. We leave the Disney family talking with the information guy and the port police to make our way back to the ship. I’ve had enough of that place. So we head up for lunch and some more fishy gift adventures. Sally wants a picture of Barbados from the ship, so I take her down to deck 7’s hidden veranda. Where we run into Buddy! * Thanks for the undies!* They will be given out to the children’s home this Christmas. We get our pictures.

I go back down to enjoy my book and Sally heads for the pool. When it’s time to start leaving the port I head up to find Sally and watch the ship leave port. Rain clouds are moving in and it makes for a rainbow effect around some of the clouds. It’s time to head down and see the show and then get ready for dinner.

Now this was to have been a new show for Disney that I was really looking forward to. While I found it entertaining, I also felt it was lacking. I felt like I was watching a DVD and needed to put in a 2nd disk to finish it up. But Sally enjoyed it!

We run back up to our room to change for supper and then down to PC for dinner. I hated to hear we missed the show in Tritons last night. It would have been something I would have enjoyed. But our head waiter brought over our surprises that we should have got last night, and also ask why we weren’t their. I explain about the food problem we were having with Sally. He then presents her with a kid’s menu and tells her to mix and match what she wants off of the kid’s menu with the adult menu. Which she does!! We have a very good meal and head off to bed.

 

[Amlee]

I am really enjoying your trip report and it sounds like you all had an absolute blast.

I agree that smaller groups on shore excursions can enhance the experience. When we were on the NCL Jewel Med cruise last May they offered what I thought was an excellent option for most of the major ports. They we called "Exclusive Tours" and were limited to no more than 12 people with transportation in a mini bus. They were a bit more expensive than the "big" bus tours but DH and I found it an excellent option for our tours of Rome, Florence and Pisa. We got to really interact with our guide as well as getting to see and do alot more than the huge tour groups.

Thank you! I did and I think Sally did.

I really do believe they should say ok, only this many can go on this excurison and we shut it down at that number.

 

[Amlee]

Wasn't that AWFUL! Every night it seemed too...
I LOVE the detail you are putting in your excursion reviews- we were limited to things you could do b/c most excursions were for 5 yr olds and older, and Kate only turns 4 on the 26th (Tuesday).

While it filled our trash can up every night. If you do the "Keys' To The Kingdom" tour at MK, you will find it funny. Because they teach you while Walt had the ideas and the brains to make his ideas work. Roy was the one with the brains to see that Walt had the money to make his ideas work. He would come up with some off the wall marketing ideas. The "Art of Towel Making" marketing fits right in with some of the ideas that Roy came up with.


Thank you, We only did the one, but we both enjoyed it. I just found it all really funny and had a hoot in watching the people. How the tour guides did stuff. Like the "bathroom break", If it really was a "bathroom break" why did the park us 2 blocks from the bathrooms, but right in front of the vender stands.

 

[Amlee]

I am the Cheryl that could not make it up the steps to the volcano with Amy. I did give input to the excursion desk after our excursion. There was quite a bit if walking(not stated back in June when I booked excursion) and also told them the difficulty of the uneven steps. DCL said they would make note of my comments to include them for this excursion.

Amy, you are doing a great job . I certainly do not have the patience to write a trip report (nor do I like to proof read what I write).

Cheryl, the look on your face when the tour guide said "We will continue our tour up the these stairs, but I must warn you that the stairs are very uneven." was well priceless!!

I didn't plan on doing a trip report, but it's a way of keeping myself busy.

 

[Amlee]

A special Don *Ducky* Williams print for everyone on the cruise, special shows (in the theater & dining rooms!!!), gifts at several dinners and just an overall feeling of *special*!

This was our 3rd Disney cruise (in less then a year) and all were quite special but, this one was just above and beyond.

It's amazing how in 10 short days you can come to know so many people. People from the Dis boards, Table mates, or People you just meet and start up a conversation with. To me that is what really made the sailing so special. Yeah the gifts were nice, but it was the people for me.

 

[Stepht5]

It's amazing how in 10 short days you can come to know so many people. People from the Dis boards, Table mates, or People you just meet and start up a conversation with. To me that is what really made the sailing so special. Yeah the gifts were nice, but it was the people for me.

You are right. That was one of the highlights for us. DH & I were both surprised by that! I am a very outgoing person but, in our everyday lives we try very hard to keep to ourselves (we do have family around here so, it isn't like we are hermits). We LOVE spending time with each other so we don't share our personal time with others - kwim?
We really weren't sure if we would like having tablemates but, I linked ressies with another family and it turned out ever better then we hoped for! We really enjoyed seeing them in the evenings!

 

[BUDDY]

so I take her down to deck 7’s hidden veranda. Where we run into Buddy! * Thanks for the undies!* They will be given out to the children’s home this Christmas. We get our pictures.

Amy, I am enjoying your report immensely. Sign up for the repositioning cruise Bring the Magic Back Home and I'll spring for another pair of Mickey Boxers !!

 

[Amlee]

You are right. That was one of the highlights for us. DH & I were both surprised by that! I am a very outgoing person but, in our everyday lives we try very hard to keep to ourselves (we do have family around here so, it isn't like we are hermits). We LOVE spending time with each other so we don't share our personal time with others - kwim?
We really weren't sure if we would like having tablemates but, I linked ressies with another family and it turned out ever better then we hoped for! We really enjoyed seeing them in the evenings!

Usually I just let the cards fall where they may with tablemates. Usually I really luck up with great tablemates, as I did with this cruise. I've had a few bad apples, but not enough to run me off.

Just to show how small the world is. I ran into the lady that was with my group in Scotland on this cruise and my table mate (from this cruise) works with a girl that was in the group to Fiji.

 

[Amlee]

so I take her down to deck 7’s hidden veranda. Where we run into Buddy! * Thanks for the undies!* They will be given out to the children’s home this Christmas. We get our pictures.

Amy, I am enjoying your report immensely. Sign up for the repositioning cruise Bring the Magic Back Home and I'll spring for another pair of Mickey Boxers !!

Thanks! I'll have to see about that Magic trip. I never know what trips pop up on me. I have to say after seeing those Disney Adventure pictures. I'm all for doing that sometime next year. To be able to travel around and have Disney take care of my luggage is really appealing to me!!

 

[Amlee]

I'm going to try and update tomorrow. Things are starting to settle down around here a bit and maybe I can play catch up.

 

[poohluv2u]

Amy, I had to laugh when I read your report about your experiences with the taxi drivers in Barbados .... it's either that or cry We tried to take the shuttle downtown but instead got put in a taxi for the same price of $2 a person. The taxi driver was not happy about it either, even though he had someone else who was paying more to go to the beach. He pulled over when we got into town and told us to 'get out' - literally. All we had was a $10 note, and with as rude as the driver had been, Ed was not going to pay one penny more than what was required, but the guy said he had no change. Fortunately for us, the other passenger made change for us. (Thank you, if you're reading this.) We had just paid him US $4 which amounted to $8.00 Bahamian for a 3 minute ride, what did he have to be sore about??

We had no sooner stepped outside the taxi, than another guy tried to sell us on an island tour. We politely told him no and moved away quickly, but not without him insulting our intelligence on shopping downtown. We were pestered every step we took and finally made our way back to the ship on foot rather than deal with another taxi driver.