2010 11 day Christmas Cruise

[mrsnesbit]

11 days of cruising is quite long! We did a 10 day Christmas cruise a few years ago and I don't recall feeling like it was too long. There are two main reasons that I feel like this cruise was too long and I'll get to them eventually. My DH, DS(14), DD(10) and I embarked on our journey from Jacksonville early Saturday morning December 18th.

The port was a mess on arrival day; undergoing all kinds of construction and add to that... pouring rain! At first we were told the terminal wasn't open by the Disney guards. Several of the people working there seemed confused as to where unloading was and steered us in the wrong direction twice. Finally we were told by someone where to go after two loops around the terminal. It was odd to say the least. This was our 9th cruise so we aren't unfamiliar with the usual procedure.

We got inside and drew number 7 for our boarding number. It's the highest number we've ever had, even though we generally arrive about the same time 10 am. The man who checked us in gave us Silver lanyards even though our cards said gold. We actually didn't realize this until we got onboard and they switched them out at guest services. He told us to go pick up our pager for the kids club, but we happily found out that they don't use pagers anymore.

The best new addition to the cruise were the "wave phones"! LOVE THEM! It's like a cell phone you can use onboard. Each stateroom has 2 of them. I asked if we could rent a 3rd (one for each child and one for us to have) but although that is the plan for the future, they didn't have enough phones to do that this cruise. The kids could text eachother with them as well. Imagine how much the teenagers loved that

When we finally boarded we made our way to Rockin' Bar D to request a server. We were told we couldn't switch. That's never happened before either! We were bummed not to get the server we wanted:Genesis, the cousin of our favorite server, Emmanuel. We keep in touch with Emman via email and he was supposed to be on this cruise. Lucky for him Disney granted him his request to go home for the holidays so he told us to request his cousin. We've never had a problem requesting servers before so this was new. In the end we ended up really enjoying the servers assigned to us though! Ketut from Bali (yes just like the one in Eat, Pray, Love) and Daniel from Spain. The Head Server for our section was Wayne from South Africa, and he is honestly the best head server we've ever had. He was very personable and went out of his way each night to engage each table in conversation. Most of the dining servers on our rotation were new because over 1/3 of the veteran servers went over to the Dream.

We were able to book dinner, brunch and Tea at Palo with no problems. PJ wasn't onboard but his replacement (I'm blanking on the name) was just as gracious.

Lunch was wonderful at Parrot Cay as usual and it set the tone for overeating the entire cruise! Unfortunately, DD put her retainer on a plate that was removed by our server while she was up refilling. That was a real bummer!

We ate dinner in Lumiere the first night and met our dinner companions, another family with two boys, similar in age to our children. The man did not stop talking about himself the entire dinner, by the end of it I had a headache. Thankfully they weren't happy with how late dinner went and so switched to an earlier seating. We were not unhappy to see them go.

The next night in Animators, Disney show performers joined us and they were a welcome change. We thoroughly enjoyed their company and also loved spotting them in the shows during the cruise.

Sunday morning, the first sea day found us at Palo for brunch. If you've ever done it, then you know how fantastic it is! If you haven't, then you must! I won't bore you with the details, but we had a wonderful server named Francois and we requested him for dinner as well. There were some new additions to the brunch from the last cruise we took over a year ago so that was nice. Our favorite though is the stollen bread. I will continue this at a later time. I need to do some unpacking and laundry as you can imagine!

 

[Elfinjojo]

Please do continue(once you are all caught up with Laundry)

 

[RebeccaLovesDisney]

I'm really enjoying your trip report! Thanks for posting.

We *almost* went on this cruise. The cruise was booked but we ended up having to cancel. We took a long vacation this summer and DH just couldn't get away from work for another 2 weeks. But I was thinking about you guys!

How fun to get to sit with the Disney performers for dinner! Did they join you for the rest of the cruise?

Looking forward to more...

 

[kimberleeJohnston]

Thank you for posting, can't wait to hear more!

 

[princessnpirate]

Cannot wait to hear more!

 

[kehonuamemano]

I am sorry if I am hijacking your trip report-I am not sure if am I am supposed to start a new thread or add on to this one. However, here are my highlights, so/so, and needs improvement comments from the trip (this is an expanded version from the cruise line meet forum).

Highlights
• Our DD believing we were going to Nebraska until we hit Port Canaveral and saying that this was the “Best Christmas Ever!”
• Great tablemates-it was scary how well we got along. It’s like Disney did a profile and matched the two most likely families together. Were booked our next DCL cruise together.
• Palo Brunch-It’s what everyone has been saying it is and more. Also, it was nice to meet great people of the DIS boards at the brunch.
• Blake’s (DCL staff) role, in Pub Night-a hilarious finale to an exciting cruise. I can’t believe how awesome he was—it really made the skit.
• Speaking of entertainment; John Charles and Ricky Kalmon (adult versions in Rockin D Bar) WOW! These men are very talented. We almost never made it to a regular Walt Disney theatre show because of our afternoon nap so the adult shows were our entertainment.
• The Fabulous FE gifts---this truly surpassed all expectations and our DD was so excited to get each and every item. We had 68 cabins participating so this made for a large FE but it was worth the extra effort.
• Waking up XMAS morning to the smell of freshly baked cookies wafting through Deck 3-hot chocolate, eggnog, a delicious brunch at Lumiere’s and a pic with Santa.
• Lot’s of gifts from DCL including Castaway Bag and water bottles, Ducky Williams 11X17 print, holiday chocolates, and Cars Pixar calendars.
• The food was hit or miss throughout the cruise---the beef was terrible early on but got better as the cruise continued. Parrot Cay however surpassed my expectations from the last cruise, the island menu was delicious. The seafood and continued to be pretty spot on throughout the trip so I mostly stayed with that.

Highlights- Port Days
• Taking the water taxi in St. Marteen (6 USD), and shopping and hitting the beach on our own. No need to go to the French side of the island---the beaches are beautiful on the Dutch side.
• Atlantis submarine in Barbados was well worth the extra cost and just long enough to be interesting. Caution: if you are claustrophobic or prone to seasickness this is not the excursion for you.
• Castaway Cay-it was chilly even for us New Englanders. I think DCL should stop here first before heading to warmer climates at least for any December cruise. However, the BBQ lunch was great-the scenery beautiful and the soft serve ice cream better than the ship ☺

So-So
• Although we were lucky and had seasoned servers on our rotation, Levent from Turkey and Non from Thailand; they were so busy with several other large tables so they barely had time to interact with us. Our requested server is on the Dream. We really missed the level of service we experienced last cruise.
• Our room hostess was also very sporadic-sometimes everything was great-other times she forgot simple things like washcloths.
• The crowds of people- I totally underestimated the amount of waiting in line for everything on the ship. If you are planning a holiday cruise-be prepared to wait in line everything e.g. dinner, shopping, theatre, even the bathroom. The lines were a little better on Port days but not by much. Also, if you do not like crowds of children then the holiday cruise is not for you.

So So-Port Days
• Snorkeling at Cousteau Reservation and Crayfish waterfall in Guadeloupe (DCL excursion). After a longer ride than stated in the port adventure description and a longer than expected glass bottom boat jaunt-we only had 30 minutes to snorkel. Everyone was getting on and off the ship and receving snorkel, mask and fins in the same spot so we maybe spent 15 minutes actually snorkeling. The water was pretty choppy but it was a beautiful spot.
• Martinique-hubby speaks French so we had a better time that most other people on the ship reported. However, they’re wasn’t much to do right off the ship and the shopping was expensive. I did eat three delicious croissants.
• St. Thomas-in hindsight I would have booked an excursion for this port. Not much to do close to the ship unless you love to jewelry shop-then you would have had a blast. Otherwise, 12 dollars to take a taxi to town and a 20-minute walk back to the ship. Beautiful weather and scenery.

Missing/Needs Improvement
• Getting off the ship—ARRRGGGGHHHHH! We were lucky and our plane was delayed or we would have never made it on time. Not sure what the issue was but they are only letting 40 people off the ship at the same time. DCL is going to need to figure this out before the inaugural Dream sailing disembarkation.
• Speaking of the ship-there seemed to be a lot of areas under construction. Also, when we hit the big waves the night before Castaway Cay-I thought I room was going to literally break in pieces. Needless to say—we had little sleep that night.
• Sounds silly when I write it out but we were very disappointed to miss the full moon lunar eclipse on winter solstice. We completely forgot until the 22nd but I was surprised that the Captain didn’t make an announcement on the 21st. The last time this happened was in 1638 so I don’t think it will happen anytime soon
• Service was not up to par-I had several issues none of them resolved by guest services. Malia’s favorite youth counselors were off train for the Dream. Our favorite server gone to the Dream. Selfishly I think DCL should have waited until after our special holiday cruise to move 40 percent of their seasoned staff to the Dream. However, if you are traveling on the Wonder or Magic in the next month or next year before the Fantasy rolls out-be prepared that the service may suffer.
• And finally, the pre-teens-mostly notably the ones that thought it was funny to hide under the table at the Buena Vista theatre and scare the living daylights out of me every night. On a happy note—they’re several pre-teens who we uncommonly polite and opened doors and interacted with Malia very well. However, it seems like DCL needs to work on the activities for that age. I barely saw a 14-17 except when they were being dragged to dinner, however the preteens were everywhere.

All in all a good trip. We are booked on the Fantasy for April 2012. Although we may move this up depending on hubby’s R&R schedule. Sounds like we should be on the Dream instead.

 

[mrsnesbit]

I enjoyed reading your comments on the cruise above We stuck to the stage shows for entertainment because that's what we like and didn't see any of the "adult" entertainment. Glad to hear it was good though.

Our dining rotation was LAPLAPAAPLA. That means Lumiere's only 3 times, Parrot Cay 3 times and Animator's 5 times. Can anyone explain why we had Animator's 5times? I didn't understand the dinner rotation, why not even it out with 4,4,3?

Dinner Menu each night:
Dec 18th-Let the Magic Begin
Dec 19th-Prince and Princess
Dec 20th-Master Chef
Dec 21st-Lumiere's-French Dinner (love escargot!), Animator's: Show dinner, Parrot Cay: Island Dinner
Dec 22nd-Taste of the Caribbean (we went to Palo)
Dec 23rd-Pirate menu
Dec 24th-same as the 21st
Dec 25th-Christmas Menu
Dec 26th-same as the 21st
Dec 27th-Captain's Gala
Dec 28th-Till we meet again

Show schedule
Dec 18th-Welcome aboard(skipped)
Dec 19th-Showtime with Jeff Civillico(skipped)
Dec 20th-Villains Tonight!(Loved)
Dec 21st-Once Upon A Song(skipped but heard it was fabulous)
Dec 22nd-Changes in Latitudes(didn't like and walked out)-Jimmy Buffet cover band
Dec 23rd-Tron(Loved)
Dec 24th-Showtime with Ricky Kalmon(skipped but the kids went and liked it) hypnotist
Dec 25th-Twice Charmed(Loved)
Dec 26th-Los Pampas Gauchos(skipped)
Dec 27th-Disney Dreams(loved)
Dec 28th-Farewell Variety Show(skipped)

We hit Palo on our 2nd Animator's night Dec 22nd, port day Guadalope. We were able to have Francois as our server again and his French accent was very nice. I just wanted him to keep talking all night! The portebello mushroom appetizer was amazing as was the shrimp appetizer! There was an eggplant parmesan app as well that my husband tried and loved, I thought it was only okay, but Palo has so much good food, you have to pick and chose so you don't get too full. Usually I have the lamp chops, but this time I stuck to filet and it was perfect. DH had 3 desserts, but I stayed with the tiramisu:see picture below. As usual we ate too much but it was worth it.

 

[mrsnesbit]

Sorry to keep you hanging on the first post so here it is. Eleven days was too long because I caught a cold as soon as I got onboard. I'm one of those people who is never sick so it caught me by surprise and hit me hard! I had to buy cold medicine and cough drops at Treasure Ketch! I also went to a pharmacy in St. Martin and bought some prescription(although we didn't need a prescription there) allergy medicine and more cough drops. There were a lot of people from the ship in the shop looking for cold remedies.

I got better about Thursday Dec 23rd in time to go snorkling in Barbados but unfortunately all the snorking trips were cancelled that day for rough seas. It was weird though, because we walked off the ship and booked another snorkling trip right at the information booth in the terminal. It was fantastic.

In any case I started getting sick again the last night on board, maybe from the cold air on Castaway? I'm still recovering as I write this! My son also got sick the last 4 days onboard and I took him to the doctor the day we returned from the cruise only to find out he had strep throat!

***and the real reason we were ready to leave after Christmas day
I hope I explain this right and don't sound like a whiner. Long story short...We(all of us) played "Win a Cruise Bingo" on Christmas Day and actually got Bingo for the big prize. Another family did as well and the solution Disney has for that situation is to make you pick a Bingo ball out of a bag. We got N and they got G so they won the cruise and we got nothing. It was a huge let down to think you won a cruise (I yelled Bingo first and was so excited I didn't even realize someone else had bingo too) and then got nothing. All other bingo pots are split evenly. I understand that they can't give out more than one cruise but at least offer some alternate prize like a shipboard credit of some sort??? Okay so I won't whine anymore.

We did appeal to them to perhaps change the policy in the future so another family wouldn't have to have such a let down but they followed the party line of thanks for your input but we are keeping it as is.

After that disappointment I just wanted to go home, it's easy to say don't let it bother you but hard to put into practice.

 

[tink&cinderella]

Hi

I saw what happened to your family and saw the huge dissappointment on everyone's faces, especially the children.

I too don't think it is a fair way to distribute the bingo winnings and the bag with the stuffed Mickey does not make up for it.. IMHO - they should be prepared to offer 2 cruises in this situation....especially since it was the holiday cruise.

I guess this Bingo actually cost Disney money because all the other winnings are taken from the money that is collected from the bingo participants and Disney only takes a small cut from it/

I also noticed that they no longer do raffles in between bingo games which I always enjoyed watching (I never won anything in 11 cruises.... until this one)

Anyhow, I am very sorry for your experience.

Denise

 

[mickey squared]

We were there with ya. We played every session of Bingo except the very first one. We couldn't believe you guys only received a bag of stuffed toys!! My kids would have been bawling!! I could only imagine how you must have felt...

 

[mrsnesbit]

Thank you, I appreciate the sympathy. I'm so glad no one cried, I think we were really in shock! It didn't sink in until later, after dh talked to Brent( I think that's his name) the Asst. cruise director and he told us, sorry but that's how it works and too bad for us.

dh actually got a call from Disney customer service after we got back asking if our questions about the situation were resolved. DH reiterated that it was a very hard situation to deal with and in the future we hoped that Disney might consider and alternate prize so another family wouldn't have to feel like we did. The man became very upset with my husband and told him that Disney had no plans to change the policy. It was rather odd. We are trying to put it behind us but we won't be playing bingo in the future for sure!

 

[kehonuamemano]

Our dining rotation was LAPLAPAAPLA. That means Lumiere's only 3 times, Parrot Cay 3 times and Animator's 5 times. Can anyone explain why we had Animator's 5times? I didn't understand the dinner rotation, why not even it out with 4,4,3?

We had the same rotation and I asked our server why the change (our KTTW cards read LAPLAP....). He said that there was a lot of confusion over the rotations, usually they know months before what the rotation will be but the had to change because if not we would have missed our show dinner in Animator's and would have had 2 French dinners.
I didn't fully understand how that worked but ok it could have been worse I guess.

 

[mrsnesbit]

We had the same rotation and I asked our server why the change (our KTTW cards read LAPLAP....). He said that there was a lot of confusion over the rotations, usually they know months before what the rotation will be but the had to change because if not we would have missed our show dinner in Animator's and would have had 2 French dinners.
I didn't fully understand how that worked but ok it could have been worse I guess.

Okay well that makes sense, I guess. I can't imagine the logistics with trying to make sure everyone gets all the right show dinners.

 

[miatamel]

Was the winning cruise a 7 day? If it was, seems like, before the tiebreaker was done, they could have asked if you both would settle for a 3 (or 4) day a piece instead of someone getting a 7 and the other getting nothing.

I would have been so disappointed, too but more disappointed in Disney not "feeling my pain," so to speak.

We were also on this cruise, by the way.

 

[momssurprise]

I too was in this cruise and I am soo sorry for you. I am very disappointed in Disney and your story reaffirms my experience generally. If you were in the US you would have a decent negligent inducement claim, but I dont know the law on intl waters. You might have a lawyer write a letter in any event.

 

[ricka47]

We were also on this cruise. This was our 4th DCL cruise (19 cruises total) and probably our last DCL cruise for awhile. While we had a good time, we just find that the extra cost (even with Florida Resident Rates) is just not worth it when compared with other cruise lines.

The food, with a few exceptions, was just OK and, in some cases, downright bad - and we are not fussy. We eat anything and everything! But, DCL can overcook fish in so many different ways!

Our servers were great but the service from the kitchen was so slow! We had 8:15 seating and had to skip dessert to see a 10:15 show one night.

The ship, while in overall good shape, had a number of rust issues, dead light bulbs, dirty windows and a host number of overall maintenance issues that should have been corrected. If I was the captain, and saw all of that as I walked around, someone would be having a meeting with me the next morning!

I did hear from a bartender one night that cost cutting has made it difficult to maintain a decent level of quality. In a number of areas (especially food), the comment that my wife often made was "cheap" meaning that the quality just wasn't there.

Our favorite cruise line is Celebrity followed by Royal Caribbean with DCL falling below HAL and Princess. What separates DCL is the Disney characters, music, movies and shows. That is all great and my 10 year old granddaughter loved it as we all did - we love Disney. We are passholders ad WDW and are there often.

But, it doesn't make up for mediocrity in most other areas and I wish that DCL would address this. Take away the "pixie dust" and you have a mediocre cruise line. Elsewhere I saw this cruise described as a “3 Star Cruise at a 5 Star Price” and found that quite apt.

We were in cabin 2134 and had a loud banging noise every night at exactly 11:00 PM and 5:00 AM. It was like someone standing in the cabin and banging two pipes together in our cabin- it was that loud! We called Guest Services every time it happened and visited them every morning. They were nice and promised to fix it but they didn't.

They did give us some on board credit but that did not make up for being exhausted the entire trip. My wife, daughter and granddaughter ended up sleeping until late morning missing much of the trip and were tired all the time. My wife does not go back to sleep easily after being awakened twice every night by such a loud noise - must be a "Mom Thing!"

We had a good time and will probably be back if the price is right but I had to say on the comment card that I wouldn't recommend DCL to others based upon the price to value ratio.

It has been said that, “you get what you pay for.” I believe that this is true at the parks but not true at DCL and this is unfortunate.

 

[mrsnesbit]

Was the winning cruise a 7 day? If it was, seems like, before the tiebreaker was done, they could have asked if you both would settle for a 3 (or 4) day a piece instead of someone getting a 7 and the other getting nothing.

I would have been so disappointed, too but more disappointed in Disney not "feeling my pain," so to speak.

We were also on this cruise, by the way.

No, it was a 4 day cruise for 4 on the Dream in a verandah room with gratuities paid as well. We would've take a 50% discount as a split but that wasn't an option. I'll post the letter my dh wrote to Disney while we were still onboard. They were very hardline about "following the rules". They did not want to hear the personal side of the story at all. They were most concerned about the fact that all participants understood the rules.

 

[mrsnesbit]

new water slide on Castaway Cay

cookie's 2

New covered play area on Castaway Cay

some other ships in St. Maarten