Rather than give you all a play by play on our trip, I thought I would give you all feedback on some of the tips I gathered from this board as well as things we really enjoyed. We are a family of me (39), DH (41), DD (9) and twin DS(7).
Room: We had connecting rooms (7016 & 7018), category 5 with verandas. Loved the location on the 7th deck--2 floors up to pools, 2 floors down to kids clubs. Front of the ship was fine--didn't notice any extra movement there. The rooms were not loud at all being next to the elevators and we liked being away from the busy mid-ship elevators. Also, Magnets!!! I actually had Pat do them for us (a DISer that does them for you for a donation) and this was the best thing I did. I just had to print them out and voila! One important note--hardly anyone had these. From reading the boards, it seems like everyone will have a door magnet and I saw maybe only 2-3 others, that were very simple. Do not stress yourself out over this. Although I liked having ours, I am so glad I did not spend unnecessary time on this and had someone else do them for me.
Items in room: They had door stops for connecting doors and we propped open the closets with luggage (to keep from banging), so no need to bring bungee cords. I brought large binder clips to clip curtains together to prevent sunlight from peeking in--great idea! We loved having a cooler that we brought for water bottles and beer--our room attendant brought ice daily for it. Definitely glad we brought an extension cord.
Dining:: We had 8:00pm dining per our request and loved it! We did not have to rush in the afternoons to get ready for dinner and enjoyed being with older kids and not so many babies/toddlers. We were done by as early as 9:15 some nights and only had 1 night where one son was falling asleep, but it was worth doing it at this seating overall! Also, we had requested the dining rotation of TAAP and scheduled Palo for the last night, so we missed Parrot Cay. We ate at this restaurant for breakfast and lunch, so really didn't mind missing it for dinner. Palo is not to be missed--I was pleasantly stuffed! We also went to Parrot Cay when we got onboard for lunch and enjoyed the easy atmosphere more than Beach Blanket Buffet.
Also, we noticed that not many people were dressed up for "Dress-up" night. My husband wore a jacket and tie this night and also to Palo--no one else at Palo with a jacket, surprisingly enough. Several in short sleeved polo shirts. Interesting...personally, I love a chance to dress up!
Activities: Sunday--Sail away party was a bit exhausting in all honesty! After the stress of just getting there, I would have rather explored the ship.
Monday--We stayed aboard at Nassau as our catamaran/snorkeling excursion was cancelled due to winds/rough surf. This was a great day as the kids spent 5 hours in Oceaners' Lab and we spent the day by the adult pool! Our 7 yr old twins were told by a CM that they could go "try out" the Oceaners' Lab (for 8/9 yr olds) and they ended up staying in that one all week.
Tuesday--The far end of the family beach is definitely the place to be at Cataway Cay. Plenty of extra chairs/hammocks and quiet! Get snorkle equipment and snorkle early. Kids loved the scavenger hunt. At night, we had Pirate t-shirts for Pirate night and were just fine. I worried about not having Pirate costumes and had extra accessories like tattoos, earring, etc... and that was perfect. Some people didn't do anything at all except wear the bandanas that the ship provides. Pirate party was fun--you could come towards the end right before the fireworks (around 10:15)and not miss much. Very similiar to the Sail Away Party. We were told to stand on the forward right side of deck 10 for the best view of the fireworks.
Wednesday--At sea, also Halloween. I would never book this cruise again over Halloween. We lost our relaxing, sea afternoon with all of the Halloween craziness. As other DISers mentioned, it was so chaotic and not worth it at all. I would have loved for this day to have been a pure day at sea.
Misc tips: We all took Bonine (& Bonine for kids) every morning and night when aboard the ship. I started everyone on it the night before we boarded and was so glad I did that. We had some rough seas at times due to Hurricane Noel and no one felt sick at all. Definitely start it ahead of time as a preventative measure!
The Country Inn & Suites was a perfect location to stay the night before the cruise--we left the rental car there and took their shuttle to/from the ship. Worry-free and so close!
The kids loved playing Bingo--so much fun! In particular, they loved Michael, the comedien/ventriloquist on the first night. My one DS was literally holding his stomach and falling off his seat from laughing so hard! Now, several adults were falling asleep--so depends on your level of humor, I guess--we thought it was so funny!
The Hot Stone Massage was pricey, but so worth it--truly the best massge I have ever had!
I dropped off the photo mat at guest services at the beginning of the trip with markers and candy. They had me choose between "Princesses" and "All-Stars" to sign it. I just put a label on the back telling them which side was up and they returned it to our room at the end of the cruise--perfect!
We also went to Disney World after the cruise--booked it on our own and it was nice to have something to look forward to at the end of the cruise and not have to go straight home--that would have been too sad! However, the kids would have preferred to stay on the ship and have missed Disney World (?!). While a 4 day cruise was great, a 3 day would have been way too short and a 7 day cruise, instead of WDW, is probably the way to go.
Things I would have done differently: Let the kids stay in the kids' club as long as they wanted without going to pull them out in order not to miss the next show or activity. They were having a great time and sometimes I felt strange not being together as a family--until the next time they started beating each other up! Also, I would have taken time to just relax more and soak it all in instead of paying so much attention to The Navigator, making sure we weren't missing out on anything! Finally, I would have brought address labels with me to avoid filling out 9 luggage tags on the last night!!!
All in all, it was the best family vacation we have ever had--Disney does a fantastic job!
Room: We had connecting rooms (7016 & 7018), category 5 with verandas. Loved the location on the 7th deck--2 floors up to pools, 2 floors down to kids clubs. Front of the ship was fine--didn't notice any extra movement there. The rooms were not loud at all being next to the elevators and we liked being away from the busy mid-ship elevators. Also, Magnets!!! I actually had Pat do them for us (a DISer that does them for you for a donation) and this was the best thing I did. I just had to print them out and voila! One important note--hardly anyone had these. From reading the boards, it seems like everyone will have a door magnet and I saw maybe only 2-3 others, that were very simple. Do not stress yourself out over this. Although I liked having ours, I am so glad I did not spend unnecessary time on this and had someone else do them for me.
Items in room: They had door stops for connecting doors and we propped open the closets with luggage (to keep from banging), so no need to bring bungee cords. I brought large binder clips to clip curtains together to prevent sunlight from peeking in--great idea! We loved having a cooler that we brought for water bottles and beer--our room attendant brought ice daily for it. Definitely glad we brought an extension cord.
Dining:: We had 8:00pm dining per our request and loved it! We did not have to rush in the afternoons to get ready for dinner and enjoyed being with older kids and not so many babies/toddlers. We were done by as early as 9:15 some nights and only had 1 night where one son was falling asleep, but it was worth doing it at this seating overall! Also, we had requested the dining rotation of TAAP and scheduled Palo for the last night, so we missed Parrot Cay. We ate at this restaurant for breakfast and lunch, so really didn't mind missing it for dinner. Palo is not to be missed--I was pleasantly stuffed! We also went to Parrot Cay when we got onboard for lunch and enjoyed the easy atmosphere more than Beach Blanket Buffet.
Also, we noticed that not many people were dressed up for "Dress-up" night. My husband wore a jacket and tie this night and also to Palo--no one else at Palo with a jacket, surprisingly enough. Several in short sleeved polo shirts. Interesting...personally, I love a chance to dress up!
Activities: Sunday--Sail away party was a bit exhausting in all honesty! After the stress of just getting there, I would have rather explored the ship.
Monday--We stayed aboard at Nassau as our catamaran/snorkeling excursion was cancelled due to winds/rough surf. This was a great day as the kids spent 5 hours in Oceaners' Lab and we spent the day by the adult pool! Our 7 yr old twins were told by a CM that they could go "try out" the Oceaners' Lab (for 8/9 yr olds) and they ended up staying in that one all week.
Tuesday--The far end of the family beach is definitely the place to be at Cataway Cay. Plenty of extra chairs/hammocks and quiet! Get snorkle equipment and snorkle early. Kids loved the scavenger hunt. At night, we had Pirate t-shirts for Pirate night and were just fine. I worried about not having Pirate costumes and had extra accessories like tattoos, earring, etc... and that was perfect. Some people didn't do anything at all except wear the bandanas that the ship provides. Pirate party was fun--you could come towards the end right before the fireworks (around 10:15)and not miss much. Very similiar to the Sail Away Party. We were told to stand on the forward right side of deck 10 for the best view of the fireworks.
Wednesday--At sea, also Halloween. I would never book this cruise again over Halloween. We lost our relaxing, sea afternoon with all of the Halloween craziness. As other DISers mentioned, it was so chaotic and not worth it at all. I would have loved for this day to have been a pure day at sea.
Misc tips: We all took Bonine (& Bonine for kids) every morning and night when aboard the ship. I started everyone on it the night before we boarded and was so glad I did that. We had some rough seas at times due to Hurricane Noel and no one felt sick at all. Definitely start it ahead of time as a preventative measure!
The Country Inn & Suites was a perfect location to stay the night before the cruise--we left the rental car there and took their shuttle to/from the ship. Worry-free and so close!
The kids loved playing Bingo--so much fun! In particular, they loved Michael, the comedien/ventriloquist on the first night. My one DS was literally holding his stomach and falling off his seat from laughing so hard! Now, several adults were falling asleep--so depends on your level of humor, I guess--we thought it was so funny!
The Hot Stone Massage was pricey, but so worth it--truly the best massge I have ever had!
I dropped off the photo mat at guest services at the beginning of the trip with markers and candy. They had me choose between "Princesses" and "All-Stars" to sign it. I just put a label on the back telling them which side was up and they returned it to our room at the end of the cruise--perfect!
We also went to Disney World after the cruise--booked it on our own and it was nice to have something to look forward to at the end of the cruise and not have to go straight home--that would have been too sad! However, the kids would have preferred to stay on the ship and have missed Disney World (?!). While a 4 day cruise was great, a 3 day would have been way too short and a 7 day cruise, instead of WDW, is probably the way to go.
Things I would have done differently: Let the kids stay in the kids' club as long as they wanted without going to pull them out in order not to miss the next show or activity. They were having a great time and sometimes I felt strange not being together as a family--until the next time they started beating each other up! Also, I would have taken time to just relax more and soak it all in instead of paying so much attention to The Navigator, making sure we weren't missing out on anything! Finally, I would have brought address labels with me to avoid filling out 9 luggage tags on the last night!!!
All in all, it was the best family vacation we have ever had--Disney does a fantastic job!
Sounds like you had a nice time...Disney really does a great family vacation.
