12/09/06 Cruise Continued ~ Pirating Bananas DIS Geekorama Part 2

[lillygator]

oh - and another thing I learned - those adhesive bras DO NOT work....if you have a halter or backless dress just go ahead and buy the convertible bra!

 

[LiserAnn]

oh - and another thing I learned - those adhesive bras DO NOT work....if you have a halter or backless dress just go ahead and buy the convertible bra!

This struck me as funny (I had a visual in my mind of myself trying to use those and what the "failure" would look like, so to speak)...I've heard they don't work!

That really does stink your servers weren't up to par. The other family you cruised with is right--after the first night all your drinks should have been sitting there waiting for you or shortly after arriving. That's what we loved about our DCL cruise, how our servers noted our preferences for drinks, etc...they even noted which one of our kids like Mickey bars WITH sprinkles and which one only wanted a scoop of vanilla ice cream and they were provided to them for dessert every night without anyone asking. I would have to say that your experience was an anomoly, but that really does stink!

You must have loved your upgrade and the amenities of a suite?!?! Did you upgrade at the port or in advance?

Was the water super cold? Our Pacific Ocean water tends to be very cold so I guess that won't be a problem for us (I hope). What was your weather like, temp-wise?

On our July cruise we did have a DIS meet but we were cruising with three other families and I have young kids, so it was really hard for me to do all the activites our DIS group was doing....that kinda made me sad that I wasn't able to get to spend more time with them, given how much time we spent together online, but it is what it is and perhaps that's maybe that's what happened with the people in your DIS group. Sometimes people have the best intentions but all the activities and family responsibilities take over once on the ship.

Thanks for answering all our pesky questions! Glad to hear you had a great time!

Lisa

 

[lillygator]

We upgraded at the port. I am trying to upgrade now but nothing available....
The water wasn't that cold I mean I wasn't shivering or anything and the weather was HOT on St Marteen and St Thomas....definitely hot! We went up the lift on St Thomas - great views of the Island!!

Ask away - I would be happy to answer!

 

[Jhalkias]

Just checking in as we just got back today.

As to water temperature, it felt cool, but with the hot sun, once you got used to it, you were fine. Even for this Ohioan who wears shorts at WDW while everyone is wearing long pants, it took me a while to get the courage to get more than my legs under water!

I must say we had absolutely GORGEOUS weather all the way around - just a bit of rain here and there, that was mostly at night. We were happy with our servers, Wisanu and Paola. We were lucky to get Marco who is one of our favorites at Palo for the brunch and dinner. We dined early too (which is our preference) and got to see all the shows we wanted to see. You do have to go directly from dinner (esp if you have the 6:15 seating like we did) - but most of the time we got front or second row seating.

If you have kids, you will be happy with the fact that the kid's show was moved to Thursday, instead of CC day when we would really have to scramble to make it for the show.

We were upgraded by DCL from an 8 to a 4, which was great for us, but Vanessa's 3 was absolutely gorgeous! I don't think we would ever pay regular full price for it, but it sure looked nice!

As far as the DIS'ers go, it seemed that there was a group of us who got to meet each other several times, but with as big a group as we had, I was surprised that I never got to meet some of the others. It was still better than our '04 cruise though, when we only met a couple of other families.

Oh, and Vanessa, you should have done what I did and go bra-less all week. The stick on would have probably pulled the hair off my chest.

John

 

[DisDawg]

On our July cruise we did have a DIS meet but we were cruising with three other families and I have young kids, so it was really hard for me to do all the activites our DIS group was doing....that kinda made me sad that I wasn't able to get to spend more time with them, given how much time we spent together online, but it is what it is and perhaps that's maybe that's what happened with the people in your DIS group. Sometimes people have the best intentions but all the activities and family responsibilities take over once on the ship.

I had hoped to meet everyone, but the above poster is exactly right. we ended up on the cruise with 13 extended family members. With all of them, and everything else going on on the ship, it was difficult to find time to get everything done.

I had really hope to meet people, but it just didn't work out.

Concerning the servers, we really enjoyed the two we had, or at least our main server Mario. His assistant was sick a couple nights. We had the late seating and would feed the little kids quickly then take them back to the oceaneer's club. That worked well. After that we would just enjoy a leisurely dinner that would last from 8:15 to past 10:30 most nights. Dinner was one of the favorite parts of the cruise for me. But that was partly because we had so many family to enjoy it with.

It feels odd posting on the 12/9/06 board, but I see a lot of names I recognize and you all seem to be discussing the 12/10/05 cruise, so here I am!

 

[lillygator]

hmmm....maybe next time I'll try that John!

 

[lbgraves]

But some TAs "buy" a block of rooms and sell them cheaper than DCL. Then if they don't sell all the rooms by a set date, DCL buys them back. That's how I got my great rate. I'm part of a group rate, but I don't know anybody else in the "group". Hope that makes sense.

That is how we booked this along with JHalkias's family. We got 2 of the last 3 rooms in their "group" and that was back in July 2005.

 

[lbgraves]

Vanessa, your table mates were seated at a table for 4 next to us on Friday night...all 5 of them. DH recognized them from your table earlier in the week. I figured that it had to be pretty bad for them to squeeze in at that small table.

 

[lillygator]

!! Wow!!! we ate at Palo our last night and I made DH go down during dinner to give the tips - I didn't want the servers or our mates thinking we skipped out and then Johnny came back and said we had NO tablemates that night!

 

[lbgraves]

We saw Jon talking with your servers so didn't quite know what was going on. Glad that you got to go back to Palo for another night.

 

[pyramid2000]

Ok Lisa!! Do tell!! How did you like the balcony!!

 

[BuzzBoyMom]

If you have kids, you will be happy with the fact that the kid's show was moved to Thursday, instead of CC day when we would really have to scramble to make it for the show.

Wow! I hadn't heard that! That is so much nicer. I can remember leaving CC earlier than we wanted so that the kids could make the show. But then again on this cruise, we get to do CC twice, so it wouldn't have been too bad. But I love the fact that they moved the show. When did they do that? Guess I've been out of touch for a while.

 

[lbgraves]

I think that was changed a couple months ago. It was a great change! They have also switched the PJ party to the port night that is NOT pirate night. There were lots of other things that have been changed that I will type up when I get the chance.

 

[MrsMork]

The Dec 10 cruise was wonderful! DH and I found the water perfect, not cold for us west coast folks. We had fun snorkeling at Serenity Bay. We had no kids with us so we went directly there. This was the first time we ate lunch at the adult beach.

I'm ready now to get excited about next year's cruise! We met several DISers and as always found they are a great group of people.

 

[lillygator]

So we are down to less than a year away!

Yippeee!!!!

 

[LiserAnn]

Hard to believe it's less than a year away....although you guys that just went are still in the "afterglow"....I'm so jealous!

Lisa

 

[jordanyosh]

Yo. Just rebooked for the Double Dip. Just got off the 12/10 Magic. Had a small, but great group of Diser's on the cruise and as you can see......we're staying together for another year. Believe me you'll be tired of me by the time our cruise comes around.

 

[jordanyosh]

My extended family, my cousin and her DH, her DS and DD and her MIL and FIL are also cruising again. I rebooked the same room 7009.........

 

[jordanyosh]

We are still trying to decide if we're going to keep those dates or try a different time of year. We'll see.

 

[jordanyosh]

It has begun.