2/27-3/6 MR Trip Report

[develizweb]

We had such a blast that writing this trip report will hopefully ease my depression of it being over.

Port: Bring snacks & drinks if you kids are picky...there are only a few vending machines. Bring entertainment for them too, there is 1 tv and it was playing a preteen show...my 2 & 6 year old had no interest. We got there at 10:40ish and were #7, they started boarding at noon I think and it went really fast. Make sure your kids are dressed cute (wish I would of thought of this)...pictures with Mickey at port are a must.

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Once we got on the ship: Went to guest services where we found out Tea with Friends/Wendy was not happening....oh well, weren't really set on it anyway. Turned in my photo mat & sharpies and pillow cases & fabric markers for characters to sign. They allow up to 4 items per stateroom. If you go to the first "Pluto Pajama Party" in the kids club they give the kids pillowcases and have them decorate them. We couldn't get these signed at guest services because we already turned in 3 items.

We went to the Beach Blanket buffet (which by the way almost every time we went there was one side that was kiddie food and one side that was adult food).

Room was ready by 2pm, luggage was already there...nice.

Welcome aboard party was super fun...don't miss this, it is a great way to start your vacation. They give you these sparkler things to wave around.

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Went to kids club and realized that parents get to go in and stay. I liked this in the way that I could take pics and know what was going on. Some of the activities the parents enjoy just as much as the kids. To be honest I was a bit worried about random adults w/o background checks hanging around my kids while I was not around but after searching the entire club I realized there was not 1 square inch that was hidden and there were counselors posted everywhere. They even ring the bell at the bathroom if they are going in to help a child,then another counselor mans the entrance. They do help kids go potty, my almost 3 year old that they let into the club because he was potty trained got a lot of help with snaps & zippers. I know they helped because he had not 1 accident in there. Kids club is very secure, they scan the bulky id bracelets the kids get, ask the family password and scan your ship card.

For those concerned with germs they make the kids wash their hands every time they go into kids club and they give you sanitizing wipes every time you go into a restaurant or the buffet.

Rest of trip in next post....

 

[pthuhges2]

Thanks for writing a TR, I look forward to more!

 

[develizweb]

Day 2: At sea

Mickey pool closed for cleaning (kid had accident)....take few hours to clean. Went to Goofy pool...so nice that Disney heats the pools to 84. Bring a big warm swim robe because it is chilly when you get out (day 1, 2 and 7 were cold by the pool).

Food by pool: pizza and burgers are only okay, 24 drink station is awesome and I thought the free coffee was better than what I paid for at Cove Cafe. French fries & chicken caeser wraps are really good.

Note on kids club: they close the slide area during some of the activities...this really upset by almost 3 year old. So we tried to put him in when it said "sliding fun".

Aloha Luau party in kids club was fun...my kids are still doing the "pineapple dance". Bring luau dress up clothes to make it even more fun for them.

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Golden Mickeys show was great...love the Toy Story song. Practice taking pics with your camera w/o flash now because no flash photography is allowed during shows. No video filming is allowed either.

Day 3: At sea

Character Breakfast: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale all come 1 at a time to your table and take a quick pic....don't think you are supposed to ask for autographs although I saw some people doing that.

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Scrapbooking pary: I popped in got my free gift which is some 12X12 paper and left...I didn't want to hear the sales pitch and the supplies they had out were nothing I would put in one of my albums.

Forgot to mention ice cream station...open 11am to 11pm at pool area. So yummy and dangerous. Has chocolate, vanilla & mixed plus chocolate syrup and caramel syrup.

Note on character experiences: get there before they start, lines get long and they will cut them off pretty quick.

Ricky Kalmon comedy & hypnosis show was great for adults & older kids. Super entertaining, don't miss this. If you want to volunteer get ready to run down to the stage when he calls for help.

Day 4: Puerto Vallarta

We got off the ship, went right and found great beaches in front of the resorts. If you buy some drinks most the resorts will let you sit in their shaded chairs. Beaches were clean and so pretty. Nice warm day...use sunscreen for sure, we got fried. Felt really safe here, only complaint was being asked 1 million times to buy something. There is para sailing off beach for $30-40/person. In Cabo it is done off a boat, not as good from what I have heard. Highlight was seeing dolphins while building a sand castle.

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Toy Story Musical was sooooo good. We surprised our kids with new Toy Story shirts to wear to the show. This was one of the highlights of the cruise for my little Toy Story lovers. Only bummer is that you don't get to meat any of these characters at any point during the cruise.

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Note on alcohol: Daily special drinks are $4.25 by pool and at bars...but the ones you get at the restaurants are only $6ish...I thought this was pretty good considering I have paid up to $12 for a Pina Colada in Vegas. You can also bring your own on board, buy plastic bottle and you can put in bags you check. Glass has to be carried by hand on board. They also have great deals on alcohol on board in shops.

Note on medicine: Bring everything you think you may need. We ended up paying $8 something for children's ibuprofen at guest services....worth every penny but not the greatest deal.

We were also told that you can see a nurse on board for free but the Dr costs....good to know.

Day 5: Cabo San Lucas

Took tender in, really fast & fun process. Tender ride is a free boat trip.

Shopped a bit, felt really safe no problems at all. Got some great deals.

Now for the busiest night of the cruise...Pirate night.

Dress up in our pirate gear and head down to dinner...

5:45 dinner (everyone gets a bandana) sneaked out of dinner early to get in Pirate Mickey picture line.

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8:30 watched Gnomeo & Juliet in 3d

9:45 Pirate deck party (don't worry if you get to this a little late, it is basically dancing for 1 hr with a surprise at the end) we had great weather so Mickey was able to make his grand entrance from up above and we had a great fire work show....did you know Disney is the only cruise line allowed to set fire works off... $ is power

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Day 6: Cabo San Lucas

Went whale watching on the "Pez Gato" which we booked on our own and saved a lot of $. We saw about 15 humpback whales, so awesome. Did more shopping and got back on the ship.

Dreams Enchanted Classic was great, this was the only show that had 3 performance times. The rest were either 6:15 or 8:30 but this one had a 3:00pm time as well. Get to shows early if you want fab seats or have a big party. The Disney Theater is actually great in that there isn't really any bad seats, unlike Royal Caribbean & Carnival theaters that have huge pillars that block your view.

Day 7: At sea

Enjoyed the Mickey pool even though it was really chilly.

Note: there is a really cute show called "Friendship Rocks" where your kids get to go up on stage and sing & dance for you. They get tshirts to keep as well. Make sure you check your kids into the club or lab in time to participate in this...ours was 4:15pm-5:30pm.

Remember the Magic show, another great performance but a bit emotional....really sad is almost all over.

10pm last night there is a "Till We Meet Again" character experience where they all pretty much come down the stairs in front of Triton's, wave high and go to different locations on deck 3 & 4. You then book it to the ones you want to get in line to meet. Ask the crew before the show where each character will go and then you can just go there and be first in line.

We loved our cruise so much we booked another on board...they gave us $200 on board credit ($100 on board credit for cruises less than 7 days) and 10% off online price. They said it was totally transferable and we could push it off if we need to. The deposit is half what is it normally, difference is due at final payment. So we booked the 4/15/12 MR cruise, our deposit for 4 people 11a stateroom was only $251. I am praying for a KSF to come up. I would do your research online before your cruise if you are planning on booking on board. You can pretty much just subtract 10% from whatever price the Disney website quotes you.

Add more magic: do the Fish Extender exchange...so much fun. My kids loved going back to the stateroom to see what they got and loved passing our gifts out. Also, bring magnets to decorate door and a lanyard w/ pins for trading. You can trade at official trading times listed on navigators or with crew at Mickey Mates & Guest Services. There are also crew members at random times wearing pins for trading.

Please feel free to ask any questions....hope by report is helpful.

I apologize for the poor quality of the pics...my hubbie is buying me a new camera before our next cruise

 

[cidymom]

Develizweb - thanks for your detailed and helpful TR! A couple of questions: (1) when you went shopping in Cabo, did you use pesos or US$? (2) did you notice if they sold magnets of each of the ports? I always buy a magnet of each place I visit as a souvenir. (3) at the "Til We Meet Again" party, do you remember which characters were there? (4) what time did the ship arrive back at San Pedro port on Sunday? What time did your family disembark? Sorry for all the questions. Thanking you in advance for your time.

 

[develizweb]

Develizweb - thanks for your detailed and helpful TR! A couple of questions: (1) when you went shopping in Cabo, did you use pesos or US$? (2) did you notice if they sold magnets of each of the ports? I always buy a magnet of each place I visit as a souvenir. (3) at the "Til We Meet Again" party, do you remember which characters were there? (4) what time did the ship arrive back at San Pedro port on Sunday? What time did your family disembark? Sorry for all the questions. Thanking you in advance for your time.

1- We used US dollars at both Puerto Vallarta & Cabo
2- Yes they sold tons of different magnets...I know this for fact because I bought one at both ports. Mine were $2 and $4.
3- At the "Till We Meet Again" the characters that I remember were: Mickey, Minnie, Peter Pan, Hook, some performers from the shows, Ariel, Goofy, Daisy, Cinderella, Chip/Dale, and a few more I can't remember.
4- The ship arrived before we woke up on Sunday, we got off at 9ish but we were one of the first tags to be called. Our bags were waiting for us at port when we got off and the customs process took about 10min....all very quick. Note: I would do the buffet that morning, the restaurants were crazy crowded.

Hope that helps...have a great trip

 

[Dawncala]

Great report! Where did you get the wonderful door magnets? I really like the lifesaver ones.

 

[pnwprincess]

Thanks for your great trip report and pics!!

I do have a question for you, we have an excursion that we booked ourselves on the 2nd Cabo day. We are supposed to get to port @ 7:15 and board @ 1:30, is that right? I am worried, because we are supposed to meet at 8:30 and return at 12:30. With the added tender time, do you think this is doable, or too tight?

Thanks so much!

 

[develizweb]

Great report! Where did you get the wonderful door magnets? I really like the lifesaver ones.

I printed the magnets on scrapbook paper and put self stick magnets on the back. I got the designs from this thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2521093

 

[develizweb]

Thanks for your great trip report and pics!!

I do have a question for you, we have an excursion that we booked ourselves on the 2nd Cabo day. We are supposed to get to port @ 7:15 and board @ 1:30, is that right? I am worried, because we are supposed to meet at 8:30 and return at 12:30. With the added tender time, do you think this is doable, or too tight?

Thanks so much!

The question is where is your excursion meeting and bringing you back? If it is close to where the tender lets you off then I think you will be fine. Ours was at Dock 4 which was a 10min walk. Our excursion was 10-12 so we had plenty of time at both ends. Is there anyway you can change it to day 1 in Cabo which is a longer day or do a shorter excursion?

 

[IndianaPrincess]

Loved reading your report! Thanks for posting!!!

 

[gatzsd]

Ha! We are in a couple of your pics! (Mickey Pool is whole family and my daughter next to Minnie in her ariel dress pulling up her yellow shirt at friendship rocks)
We had a good time - but it was a very different experience than our Med cruise we took in September - overall we had a nice vacation, but it may be awhile before we do another Disney cruise. We had great fun doing the FE with you!

 

[develizweb]

Ha! We are in a couple of your pics! (Mickey Pool is whole family and my daughter next to Minnie in her ariel dress pulling up her yellow shirt at friendship rocks)
We had a good time - but it was a very different experience than our Med cruise we took in September - overall we had a nice vacation, but it may be awhile before we do another Disney cruise. We had great fun doing the FE with you!

That is funny...should I get signed permission from you to have them posted.

Interested how it was different than your Med cruise and what you didn't like as much about this one?

 

[gatzsd]

I would say the biggest difference was the amount of people. Although our Med cruise was full, this one felt like there were quadruple the people on board - there were more lines, crowds, busy-ness everywhere, the pools were crazy, the kids clubs were crazy, the shows were packed with people having to stand etc. This was not the case at all with the Med where things didn't seem as crowded. I knew going into it that there would be more kids because of the KSF - but it was way more than I expected.
Also the level of service just wasn't there compared to before. Staff not as friendly, room steward forgetting to do turn down service, assistant server not quite up to par (he was new), bad customer service from guest services, less flexibility with the kids club and *gasp* - horrible service at our Palo dinner. Our brunch server was great, but dinner was not up to the normal standard and in fact had better service at our regular dining.

Now I may be nit picky, but I am just comparing the two cruises and the different experiences. On the Med I felt like royalty, but not on the MR. If I hadn't done the Med one before, I wouldn't know what I was missing and probably wouldn't complain at all. HOWEVER we did have an awesome vacation and loved every moment of it - but after the Med I couldn't wait to book another cruise, and after this one I can.....just my 2 cents (don't flame me)

 

[IndianaPrincess]

I would say the biggest difference was the amount of people. Although our Med cruise was full, this one felt like there were quadruple the people on board - there were more lines, crowds, busy-ness everywhere, the pools were crazy, the kids clubs were crazy, the shows were packed with people having to stand etc. This was not the case at all with the Med where things didn't seem as crowded. I knew going into it that there would be more kids because of the KSF - but it was way more than I expected.
Also the level of service just wasn't there compared to before. Staff not as friendly, room steward forgetting to do turn down service, assistant server not quite up to par (he was new), bad customer service from guest services, less flexibility with the kids club and *gasp* - horrible service at our Palo dinner. Our brunch server was great, but dinner was not up to the normal standard and in fact had better service at our regular dining.

Now I may be nit picky, but I am just comparing the two cruises and the different experiences. On the Med I felt like royalty, but not on the MR. If I hadn't done the Med one before, I wouldn't know what I was missing and probably wouldn't complain at all. HOWEVER we did have an awesome vacation and loved every moment of it - but after the Med I couldn't wait to book another cruise, and after this one I can.....just my 2 cents (don't flame me)

I wonder if it has to do with the staffing shift to the Dream. I'm not saying it is okay, but just the fact that a lot of people went over to the new ship.

 

[develizweb]

We had great service and had never been on a Disney cruise before so just assumed they are always that busy....I wonder if the Dream ship is even more crazy because although they have more space there is a lot more people all at the same sail away party, pirate party etc....

 

[develizweb]

I would say the biggest difference was the amount of people. Although our Med cruise was full, this one felt like there were quadruple the people on board - there were more lines, crowds, busy-ness everywhere, the pools were crazy, the kids clubs were crazy, the shows were packed with people having to stand etc. This was not the case at all with the Med where things didn't seem as crowded. I knew going into it that there would be more kids because of the KSF - but it was way more than I expected.
Also the level of service just wasn't there compared to before. Staff not as friendly, room steward forgetting to do turn down service, assistant server not quite up to par (he was new), bad customer service from guest services, less flexibility with the kids club and *gasp* - horrible service at our Palo dinner. Our brunch server was great, but dinner was not up to the normal standard and in fact had better service at our regular dining.

Now I may be nit picky, but I am just comparing the two cruises and the different experiences. On the Med I felt like royalty, but not on the MR. If I hadn't done the Med one before, I wouldn't know what I was missing and probably wouldn't complain at all. HOWEVER we did have an awesome vacation and loved every moment of it - but after the Med I couldn't wait to book another cruise, and after this one I can.....just my 2 cents (don't flame me)

Curious what you mean by less flexibility in the kids club....the only problem we had was I thought it was a bit silly that they didn't have enough staff to keep the slide area open at all times. My almost 3 year old son was not happy about this.

 

[cidymom]

Hi there. As you have children the same age as my son, I thought you might be able to answer this question. At lunch and dinner, do they have kid-size utensils? When eating out, I usually bring the smaller size fork and knife for my DS. Do they have it on the Wonder? or just the adult size utensils? Thanks for your help.

 

[mom2twokids]

THank you SO much for your great trip report! We are getting ready to head to California this week for our cruise leaving next Sunday and I can't wait! I really appreciate you sharing your experiences and tips, it sure makes planning a lot easier!!

 

[develizweb]

Hi there. As you have children the same age as my son, I thought you might be able to answer this question. At lunch and dinner, do they have kid-size utensils? When eating out, I usually bring the smaller size fork and knife for my DS. Do they have it on the Wonder? or just the adult size utensils? Thanks for your help.

I think they do...I honestly don't remember but whatever they gave us my kids did great with. Funny, I didn't even pay attention to that.