This was my family's first cruise. My wife, my 9 year old son and myself in a nice little Category 11. (cabin 6131)
My wife is unabashed Disney fanatic, I'm usually a little more critical.
Overall we had an outstanding time. We found the service and food to be excellent. Ship is kept in a state of clean that many hospitals don't manage to achieve!
Biggest problem with the trip was Tropical Storm Gamma churning up the water. This being our first cruise we had no idea it was 'rough seas' until we talked to some experienced cruisers. Luckily it didn't bother us much, my wife had to take some meds one night.
Our server, Pairoj (sp) promised us excellent service and food on the first night and boy did they deliver. We had the early seating. On Thurs night my wife had a massage scheduled during our meal. When I told Pairoj why she wasn't there he had me pick out her meal. He personally delivered it to our room within 5 minutes of her return from the spa. Including the lava cake desert!
Warning - if you are a Philadelphia Eagles fan you may wish to skip to the next paragraph.
One of the highlights was watching Monday Night Football in diversions. Being from Rhode Island, I'm a Patriots fan and still have a soft spot for Drew Bledsoe. So it was me and maybe 5 Dallas fans cheering against what seemed to be 3 dozen Philly fans. ( And you know who you are - E - A - G - L - E - S!!!). Watching Philly fall apart in the last three minutes of the game while surrounded by Philly fans was surreal!
Speaking of Diversions, pub night on the last night was hilarious. Talented, talented people in the crew.
For excursions we did the Capt Nautica snorkeling on St.Thomas. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in a casual snorkeling experience.
At Castaway Cay we did the stingray snorkeling. I loved it. However, my wife was completely freaked out and didn't that far out in the water, maybe mid-calf depth.
If I had to complain about anything it would be the following
- Oriental lunch buffet, this should have at least one dish that screams out - wow that is the best <fill in the blank> I've ever had. Dishes were good, but not 'special'
- Seafood lunch buffet. cocktail shrimp not deveined, crab legs not flavorful at all.
- Goofy pool. Closing due to the weather I understand. Closing because of a 'teen pool party' or 'goofy-cize' I don't. Older kids don't want to be in the Mickey pool and can't go to the quiet pool. There were two occasions were my son got suited up, I brought him upstairs and the pool was closed.
If they are going to do things like that, I wish it were spelled out explicitly in the navigator.
Those minor items aside we will definitely do another DCL. Since we are already planning 2 weeks at DisneyWorld for Xmas 06, it looks like it'll have to wait until '07.
My wife is unabashed Disney fanatic, I'm usually a little more critical.
Overall we had an outstanding time. We found the service and food to be excellent. Ship is kept in a state of clean that many hospitals don't manage to achieve!
Biggest problem with the trip was Tropical Storm Gamma churning up the water. This being our first cruise we had no idea it was 'rough seas' until we talked to some experienced cruisers. Luckily it didn't bother us much, my wife had to take some meds one night.
Our server, Pairoj (sp) promised us excellent service and food on the first night and boy did they deliver. We had the early seating. On Thurs night my wife had a massage scheduled during our meal. When I told Pairoj why she wasn't there he had me pick out her meal. He personally delivered it to our room within 5 minutes of her return from the spa. Including the lava cake desert!
Warning - if you are a Philadelphia Eagles fan you may wish to skip to the next paragraph.
One of the highlights was watching Monday Night Football in diversions. Being from Rhode Island, I'm a Patriots fan and still have a soft spot for Drew Bledsoe. So it was me and maybe 5 Dallas fans cheering against what seemed to be 3 dozen Philly fans. ( And you know who you are - E - A - G - L - E - S!!!). Watching Philly fall apart in the last three minutes of the game while surrounded by Philly fans was surreal!
Speaking of Diversions, pub night on the last night was hilarious. Talented, talented people in the crew.
For excursions we did the Capt Nautica snorkeling on St.Thomas. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in a casual snorkeling experience.
At Castaway Cay we did the stingray snorkeling. I loved it. However, my wife was completely freaked out and didn't that far out in the water, maybe mid-calf depth.
If I had to complain about anything it would be the following
- Oriental lunch buffet, this should have at least one dish that screams out - wow that is the best <fill in the blank> I've ever had. Dishes were good, but not 'special'
- Seafood lunch buffet. cocktail shrimp not deveined, crab legs not flavorful at all.
- Goofy pool. Closing due to the weather I understand. Closing because of a 'teen pool party' or 'goofy-cize' I don't. Older kids don't want to be in the Mickey pool and can't go to the quiet pool. There were two occasions were my son got suited up, I brought him upstairs and the pool was closed.
If they are going to do things like that, I wish it were spelled out explicitly in the navigator.
Those minor items aside we will definitely do another DCL. Since we are already planning 2 weeks at DisneyWorld for Xmas 06, it looks like it'll have to wait until '07.
I don't think he's a big fan of either team, but he stayed until the game ended that night.
