11/5 Trip Report - 1st DCL Trip

[love2travel]

Left Philadelphia Friday morning (11/4) and flew to Orlando on Southwest. I love Southwest. Spent the night at Ron Jon, what a great resort! Got up Sat. morning and went to the terminal, how exciting! Got there around 11:15 and received #9 boarding card, we boarded around 12:40ish. A little crowded in the terminal, but not too bad. Had our picture taken and down the gangway to have our name announced as we got onboard, that is really a special little touch! Sailaway party was great, excellent entertainment staff! Off to dinner at Lumiere's, we had LAP rotation. We loved all the dining rooms and loved the FOOD!!! Our servers were Glendene from Trindad and Joy from India, Excellent servers!!! John from Scotland was our head server, didn't see him much! Sunday in Key West, went shopping and walked around the city, still alot of devastation. Monday, day at Sea, seas were a little rocky. I took Dramimene everyday just to be on the safe side. No problems. The daughter absolutely loved the Oceaneers Lab, she LOVED the counselors especially DANI from Argentina. These counselors are really special people and are great with the children! Tuesday, Grand Caymen, we went to 7 Mile Beach, really nice, beautiful water. After the beach, had lunch at Senor Frogs, now that is a fun place. After lunch, did some shopping. Enjoy Grand Caymen! Wednesday, Costa Maya, forget about it! I felt it was a waste of time, we didn't do any excursions, we just went to the shopping village, bought a few knickknacks and that was it. Not impressed!
Pirate Night was a lot of fun, once again great entertainment staff! Loved all the shows!! Gary DeLena was really funny and Taylor Mason was just as funny! Thursday, at Sea, took a galley tour, really interesting! Everything is so organized and CLEAN!!! Played some Bingo, Pike is AWESOME at Bingo, DJ Matteo and Amy also helped with Bingo. Friday, Castaway Cay, I went Parasailing (1st Time) what a GREAT experience, I LOVED IT and can't wait to do it again! AWESOME!!! My entire family, enjoyed Castaway Cay very much!!! Overall, we had an AWESOME TRIP, Great Staff, Great Food, Great Weather!!! Can't wait to go again!!!

 

[lillygator]

thanks for the report...so your #9 boarding number - was it in order of when you arrived? There were that many groups in front of you? You got there only 45 min after they open so I am suprised at such a high number.

 

[love2travel]

I was surprised by #9 also, but when we got there, there were lots of people already there. I am assuming it goes in order. But the boarding goes pretty quickly.

 

[atakaratemom]

Thanks for the nice report! Did you do the 7 mile beach on your own or did you do the DCL excursion? We are trying to decide what to do in GC for our February trip.

 

[love2travel]

We did 7 mile on our own. When we got off the ship, there were plenty of taxis willing to take your wherever. So, for $3.00 pp we went to 7 mile then when we got ready to leave 7 mile there were taxis waiting again to take us back to the ship, on the way back it was $4.00 pp.

 

[sdaniel105]

We arrived around 1PM and did not receive any kind of number. Just walked on as soon as we were done registering. No wait at all.

I guess maybe they are using the numbers if you arrive before the embarkation time.

Sean

 

[WDWLVR]

Thanks for your report. Sounds like your first DCL cruise won't be your last!

 

[love2travel]

It will definately not be our last, planning again.

 

[Jennifer48]

Thanks for sharing your report....my first cruise will be in April. I can't wait!

 

[wenevergrowup]

Thanks for sharing your recent trip. We are leaving on the Dec 3 Magic with another family. At first we were rather disappointed about the change in our plans, but after reading your review on Costa Maya, Nassau is looking better. Never having been to either place, the adventure will still be there. Glad to hear your general experience was terrific. I have been reading some of the posts and statements on how the food is not great, cold and anything else they could complain about. Leaves me to believe that some people are never satisfied and they should have booked passage on the QEII.

I was interested in your view of 7 mile beach. We will more than likely do the snorkling thing. Were there excursions on that beach or do we need to seek elsewhere? It appears that excursions on the island are somewhat more reasonable than those booked thru the ship. Advise?

What was the mode of dress for the Pirates night? Also, the Captains night. We have every concievable dress ready to be packed for DW, DH and DS 18.

From what you said, the embarkation process at Port Canaveral went well. We are flying down on Friday from COLD AND SNOWY IOWA, staying overnight and catching an early bus to Port Canaveral. With our luck and weather, we are ready to leave on Thursday. Any special ideas you would like to share are appreciated. :thewave:

 

[love2travel]

To answer your questions.

Food, like I said, was great, not cold, presented and tasted great! You will never please everybody!

7 Mile Beach, we didnt snorkel, I didn't see anyone snorkeling from the beach but as soon as you get off the pier, there are plenty of people there trying to get you to book excursions. Yes the excursions are cheaper off the boat.
I believe DCL also had a snorkel excursion available, you do what you are comfortable with.

Pirates Night was a BLAST!! My family all dressed in pirate costumes! A small majority of the ship was dressed in costumes. If you have costumes, where them, it was a lot of fun and you get some GREAT pictures, at a cost, but none the less they are great! The pirate party up on deck 9 is FUN!

Captains Night, some people were really dressed up, gowns, tuxs, military uniforms, etc., and then you had most people just dressed nice. Again, use your own judgment.

Embarkation, getting there early is the best idea, next time I will try and get there a little earlier then I did this time. Overall, it was really smooth.

Don't worry! Relax and enjoy the cruise!! Can't wait to hear all about it!
Have a safe trip!

 

[Suzanne]

I have been reading some of the posts and statements on how the food is not great, cold and anything else they could complain about. Leaves me to believe that some people are never satisfied and they should have booked passage on the QEII.
:

Or maybe some people had better servers then others. So people with great servers got hot food quick & people with other servers did indeed receive luke warm food by the time their server made it to them. I don't think it has anything to do with never being satisfied at all. We loved our server, plesant, wonderful attitude, funny, but he did seem to have too many tables. We learned after the first few days to order all our food at once & 2 drinks since we did not really see him after he took the first order. He'd drop the plates quickly & if you asked for something he'd kindly say he'd be right back. Unfortunatly 'right back' was usually a very long time.

Not all servers are the same. Not even on Disney, and someone mentioning it does not make them a whiner.

 

[sdaniel105]

In 4 years on the Magic we have 3 great sets of servers and 1 as Suzanne describes. Besides lacking peronality it took forwever to get drinks and such. The head server the first year only showed up the night before tips. This years cam by and talked with us every night.

Sean