3/19/05 Eastern Part 1/2 - Experiences vs. Expectations

[jhorstma]

Cast: DW 39+, DS11, DD9, myself (40) – first time on DCL; DW and I sailed previously on Carnival.
Weather: Chilly in Orlando on Friday and at PC (60s) on Saturday; rainy w/flight delays upon return 3/26; fantastic at sea, in the islands, and at CC (high 70s/low 80s, puffy clouds, nice breeze).
Seas: Slight to moderate swells (1 to 8 feet) throughout with gentle rocking across the Gulf Stream – very nice.
Overall: Absolutely the best vacation ever, but great weather was key.

This long review is divided into 2 parts – the first part covering how our experiences matched up with our expectations, the second part my take on whether DCL is worth the premium price (short answer – it depends on the weather and your family make-up). Expectations were formed based on DCL advertising, DCL price premium, and info from this board and other sources. We didn’t use the spa or DCL shore excursions (booked our own), and we only took in a limited number of evening entertainment activities.

Exceeded Expectations:
- Overall island experiences (St. Maarten, St. Thomas, CC)
- Snorkeling at CC
- Quiet Cove/Cove Café
- Dinner at Topsiders (question – should you tip here?)
- Shutters photography
- Split bathroom efficiency (great design idea – someone was thinking)
- DCL transfers (especially from MCO Hyatt)

Met Expectations:
- Overall service
- Design, layout, cleanliness, and overall appearance of ship
- Stateroom size, layout, condition, and ambient noise (8500 – cat 4 starboard forward)
- Palo
- Rotational dining (barely)
- Deck parties (extra fireworks show on last night!)
- Embarkation
- Entertainment (late dinner seating has a big impact on your evening plans)
- “Special nooks/areas” (Deck 4 track, Promenade window seats, Deck 7 aft, etc.)
- Counselors at Oceaneer Lab
- Movies/Buena Vista theater
- True overall cruise cost (and weight gain)

Missed Expectations:
- Facilities/programming at Oceaneer Lab
- Activities for pre-teens
- Debarkation
- Goofy (family) pool (needed Quiet Cove pool layout)
- St. Thomas ship/excursion access (Crown Bay)
- Bingo (who says there’s no casino on board?)

Pre-Cruise and Embarkation – We flew down the night before and stayed at the MCO Hyatt. Very, very convenient albeit pricy (rooms clean but need a bit of refurbishing – nice pool but too cold to go swimming, not that that stopped others – got a suite but it wasn’t worth the price), with a decent family restaurant (McCoy’s – cute flashing ice cubes in drinks) and good access to the airport food court for a McDonald’s or KrispyKreme breakfast. This option adds about $200 to $250 to your vacation cost (less if you stay off-site, but then you have to schlep your luggage around) but reduces your stress level immeasurably and gets you ahead of the curve with DCL transfers Saturday morning.

Sat. morning we tagged our bags and left them outside our room ($2/bag tip folded in – DCL reps double-check your room number and number of bags to be transferred when you register with them Sat. morning), plunked ourselves down on comfy chairs in the Hyatt lobby 30 minutes before DCL transfer time, and ended up being in the front seats on the first bus to PC, and the very first folks let into the terminal. Registered, signed kids into the Lab, and got into the boarding line in short order – avoided some major lines as a result. Palo ressies were a breeze (Spa would’ve been too) and we were peeling shrimp at Topsiders in no time.

Ship and Cabin – Beautiful vessel, well-maintained and very nice design. Larger than most cruise ships, although dwarfed by the larger Carnival and RCCL boats – more activities on those ships as well. We were in cabin 8500 – starboard cat 4 all the way forward – very quiet w/only 1 neighbor and a great perch next to the starboard bridge wing. The deck 9 overlook is actually closer to the wing, but when we docked at St. Maarten we were at eye level with Capt. Tom as he backed the Magic in (pretty cool to exchange greetings with the captain prior to docking). Starboard view great at PC, St. Maarten, and CC. Loved the split bathrooms; kids far preferred sleeping in the 2 lower bunks after getting a bit creeped out alternating in the upper bunk (Murphy bed does block access to the verandah and to the trunk though – very unwieldy). Smooth seas but we did feel the rocking much more so than on Carnival.

Children’s Activities – Some expectation resetting was in order here. OC is a hoot and those kids had a blast, but OL was not what my kids had envisioned when they saw the Disney video (no giant Nintendo game, for example). DS only went after he was cut off from the arcade – he made new friends on the sports deck right after the sail away party and we never saw him again. DD didn’t like the smaller size, lack of playground, boring programming (got better as the week progressed), and the fact that most kids her age didn’t have sign out privileges like her big brother had. She only really enjoyed it on the last day – she loved Scuttles Cove, graduation, and the last night activities. She did like the counselors.

The sports deck is big but only has 1 basketball hoop, the Mickey pool slide is a lot of fun but crowded and surrounded with insufficient deck space, and the Goofy pool is too small with too high of a lip (terrible design – you literally have to stand at the edge to keep an eye on your kid, which you really want to do). This is a tough age group (9 – 11), too old really to want to be in OL all week but too young to swim by themselves. Once they’ve gotten tired of the sports deck, exhausted their week’s arcade budget, and taken in the movies they’re pretty much left to race around the ship. I wanted my kids to have a feeling of independence, but I also wanted to keep a close eye on them for obvious reasons when we weren’t doing family activities. This doesn’t result in much relaxation time at Quiet Cove and Cove Café.

Dining – Palo rocks (don’t be scared that the pizza they push on you will fill you up – it’s very light and absolutely marvelous) – we had tenderloin at brunch which melted in your mouth and lobster at dinner (it was lobster night) with an incredible sauce and risotto. Also tried chicken, but that was tough and dry. Topsiders buffets were only ok, but sit-down dinner there was actually very nice. Quiet, very attentive service, same food as dining rooms, and terrific table choices inside and out. My only question is how do you tip the servers there since I didn’t have cash on me (I did leave extra money on the bar bill, but my guess is that this doesn’t go to the server). Pinocchio’s pizza was not nearly as good as the 24 hour pizza station on Carnival, but fast food from Pluto’s and ice cream from Scoops were perfect for lunch and snacks, rounded out with soda from the soda station.

We weren’t all that impressed with the rotational dining. We had late seating which put a serious strain on any sort of evening entertainment plans – we usually were much too tired after dinner to take in any shows, and we couldn’t motivate ourselves to leave the pool deck to take in matinees. We had a table to ourselves and ended up not liking our table location (stuffed in corners, which was really disappointing for the AP show) – each of the first 3 nights we figured table location would improve, so we held off on asking for a change. By the 4th night we didn’t bother asking. The food was hit-or-miss, some selections were quite good and others weren’t (and certainly not nearly good enough for a cruise this expensive). Serving sizes needed to be cut in half in order to encourage self-made “tasting menus”, as I would have preferred our servers bringing extra appetizers and entrees and not extra desserts. The whole “excellent service” spiel got to be very annoying. We had excellent service in Palo and even Topsiders for dinner – attentive and responsive to our needs and requests. In the main dining rooms we enjoyed our servers and what I would call a very smooth dining process, but it wasn’t excellent service. For example after taking our first drink orders it was very difficult to place an order for a glass of wine with dinner. Likewise we really couldn’t request another appetizer out of sequence. As for dessert, I made it clear that they could keep me quite happy by bringing me soufflés every night (which is easy for them the first 3 nights but then only available from Palo afterwards), but instead the last 4 nights we only got the mandatory extra menu desserts. Again this is a smooth process, but not tailored “excellent” service. Don’t worry, I did check “excellent” for service on the comment card.

Entertainment – Disney Dreams (the only full show we saw) was very well done, but had a little too much lip synching for my tastes. Cabaret shows (comedy, magic, lounge singers, family game shows, etc.) were all top notch – we were early to “Walk the Plank” and DD and I got to be the purple team. She took it seriously, the host and I winked at each other and played it to the hilt, and a good time was had by all. DW might get over her embarrassment sometime this year, I hope. Bingo was too expensive, too fast and intense (DS kept punching the wrong numbers and finally just handed me the cards), and squarely in the “you can’t win” category. The deck parties were outstanding, although I wish Pirates Night was after St. Thomas and not St. Maarten, so that we could actually get some sleep before immigration. We even got an extra “test” fireworks party on the last night!

Quiet Cove/Cove Café – The best part of the ship IMHO. My whole goal during the sea days was to get my kids into safe, monitored kids programs so that I could camp out on the pool deck or in the coffee shop with headphones, and an Irish Coffee or 3, and just unwind. Unfortunately the fates weren’t kind to me in this regard, but at least I got to taste this experience once or twice. Quiet Cove pool is the best on board, especially when you get a little wave pool action. Frankly they need to replace the Goofy pool with a shallower version of this pool.

St. Maarten – 2 words: Rhino Boats! We got a Shoretrips.com version of this – cabbed to Simpson Bay and had a non-cruise ship version. The difference was a slightly wilder ride from what our guide said. If you’ve got a family that can a) swim and b) likes adventure than this will rock your world. Our guide Sone (pronounced Sean, er Shawn) was about 28, on the island’s rugby team, had an impossibly sophisticated European accent, sported an absolutely ripped physique accented by the half wet suit he was wearing, and kept calling DD “princess”. She swooned, as did DW (making me feel totally inadequate). I liked St. Maarten – the whole Dutch/French thing really works to give the island a true international flavor. Phillipsburg is good for shopping, but by all means take a morning excursion elsewhere on the island and then save the afternoon for shopping locally.

St. Thomas – Crown Bay is pretty but way out in the middle of nowhere. Disney needs to pay the right people to secure a Havensight berth. $3.50/person cab ride (think Mr. Toad’s wild ride on steroids, or maybe even the triple decker bus in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, complete with the Jamaican head) to get into town – we saw folks trying to hoof it but yikes! that really seems like a bad idea. Immigration was painless, we were the first ones off the boat and got to watch the Zaandam dock while waiting for cabs to finally arrive. Another Shoretrips.com excursion, this time a half-day catamaran sail and snorkel from near Coki Beach. Totally cool with awesome sailing weather (not for those prone to motion sickness though) – memories I’ll have for a lifetime include “Capt. Mike” plunking himself down next to DW and I in the front of the boat and asking “who’s driving this thing?” Looked back to see DS with one hand on the helm while nursing a soda with the other, all while navigating the rollercoaster waves. Later we cabbed back to Havensight, where we took the skytram to the harbor overlook ($16/adult, $8/kid) – well worth it for drinks and lunch at the mountain-top bar (another $50). One of the top 5 lunches in my life.

One thought on the islands – as RCCL advertises “Get Out There!” You sail a thousand miles to islands you may never see again, you really need to think about taking advantage of the water-based activities offered at each stop. I’ve got family memories for a lifetime. Not cheap though, as we spent probably $300 to $500 on each island for excursions (for us including cab rides), lunch, tips, and souvenirs (t-shirts and the like). Island traffic was very congested, so it was important to get going as early as possible. Also a note about snorkeling – be prepared to snorkel from a boat anchored in about 10 to 20 feet of water in the middle of a cove, not necessarily from a beach. This was a real leap of faith for us snorkeling rookies.

Castaway Cay – Great day with great weather – DS disappeared with his friends to the sports pavilion, DD checked herself in to Scuttles Cove, and DW and I took a banana boat ride (wear goggles!!!) and rented snorkeling gear. Snorkeling at CC is wonderful after wading beyond the murky shoreline. Lots to see, many areas of shallow sand bars where you can stand up (we figured out to roll onto our backs first; otherwise you just trip over your fins), and smooth water. Snorkeling really is pretty effortless, so we were able to cover pretty much the whole lagoon. The highlight was a surprise face-to-face close (hand shake distance) encounter with Barry the Barracuda!!! He’s one huge fish! DW decided that maybe she’d like to try biking! Anyway CC was a tremendous experience and we were very fortunate to dock and have good swimming weather. Again we were ready to go 1st thing in the morning, but waited for the initial crush of people to get off the boat, strolled off (skipping the trams), and still had our pick of the lounges and umbrellas (and hammocks) on the family beach.

Debarkation – Maybe we just hit a bad day for this, but the atrium was an absolute zoo with people waiting to debark mixing with people trying to get into Lumiere’s for breakfast. Hurry up and wait was the order of the morning, and Cruise Director Julie, er, Rachel’s comment about luggage being lined up by stateroom # was a bit of polite fiction. Still once past immigration (porter helped bigtime) it was onto the bus and on to MCO in short order. Once at the airport we cooled our heels as bad weather delayed pretty much all flights – we ended up leaving at 5:30 pm. Had a fun crew and a fun college softball team on-board; one player made the mistake of making fun of the flight crew during the safety briefing and they pulled her up front to demonstrate it Tommy Boy style.

Best trip ever! Price-wise last trip ever, well at least for a long, long time. I appreciated the tips from this board on what to pack, but in the end we never used half of the recommended knick-knacks such as the shoe organizer, duct tape, clothesline, etc. Next time we’ll just focus on what clothes, shoes, and toiletries we need and not pack anything else.

 

[natdencro]

So glad you had a great time too. We just did a back-to-back, and although our weather was "hit and miss", we also had a Magical time!

Funny how we all have different opinions on things though:

Cove Cafe was least favourite thing on the ship: as it was chilly inside, we sat out by the windows and got fed up with smokers, noise from nearby pool/kids running by shouting, and the coffee wasnt to our liking. Not the "quiet" place for a cuppa and a "read", as expected, but we understand that many folk DO like it. So, only used it the one time: and also took advantage of the e mail facility in the cafe - which is less well used as the other internet place.

Disembarkation was a "breeze", as it has been on every Disney cruise. Never had any problems with suitcases, and although we never use a porter - we have always got straight through and onto the Disney Bus within 10mins. However, we always leave disembarking until the vast majority of guests have left.

Shutters we find VERY expensive: yes, the photos are generally lovely, but there is nothing to stop you getting other guests to take photos of you and yours with your own camera. If you are on a tight budget, this is the place to cut corners.

However, agree with you wholeheartedly on most other things you said! Yes, Bingo is VERY expensive and dull.
Hyatt was wonderful, as were the DIsney Buses to and from the Port.

Frankly, we would find it very hard to complain about anything of any importance, unlike some people who constantly moan about things - most of which are nothing to do with Disney at all: ie: customs/weather/sea conditions. Yes, there are always some things you would change - but in the great scheme of things they were insignificant.

As we travelled without young children, we enjoyed the 2nd seating in the main dining rooms, and managed to get to most of the shows. We love the dining rotations and found the food excellent - but too much of it!

Palo is just wonderful: Key West Brunch is a highlight (if you are on the Western).Tips are to be added to your bill............the $10 fee is NOT the tip. Just add your tip to the total on the bill and sign. The server will automatically get that tip.Disney do not make this clear enough.You can also tip in cash - should you carry $

I suspect docking in St. Thomas is a result of the Magic going to Calif for 3 months: maybe they have been "relegated" to Crown Bay until after that trip, as priority is given to other "regular" ships. It was a bit of a pain, but you are warned of the $3.50 taxi ride well beforehand. Most people opt for an excursion, so wont need to pay this anyway.

Thanks again for the great report. Makes you feel like you are there again! I WISH! NAT

 

[crhenderson]

John,
Was the topsiders dinner menus exactly the same as the other restaurants?

 

[jhorstma]

John,
Was the topsiders dinner menus exactly the same as the other restaurants?

You didn't get the same menus as what they had in the restaurants, but you could get the same items. They had a basic menu that you could order from plus daily specials, which I highly recommend. Tilapia was the special of the day when I went (went w/DD because she wanted to do an OL activity at the same time as our late seating time) and it was better than any of the entrees I had in Lumiere's that evening. In general if there's a specific appetizer, entree, or dessert you want from any of the 3 main dining rooms they can get it for you if you ask.

If other posters have had different experiences please chime in.

 

[crhenderson]

Thanks for your response, I have been trying to get more information on the Topsiders dinner experiece for weeks! Do you remember what was on the everyday menu?

 

[DiaLady]

Thanks for the great review! We're headed on an Eastern in only 7 months. I keep wondering which excusions to do. Thanks for the details for that!! Can't wait to hear Part 2/2 .. .

Have a terrific day!

 

[mommommouse]

Jhorstma, did you sign the kids into the lab before you got on the ship? If you did,where did you do it? we're gong May 7th and that would be one less thing to do when we got on the ship.

 

[jhorstma]

Topsiders menu - I'm sorry but I don't remember the exact dinner menu entrees, other than fairly standard fare and the special of the evening - tilapia (mmm, tasty).

Excursions - if I had it to do again I probably would have booked thru Disney and saved the hassle and expense of cabs. I messed up and thought that you booked excursions 60 days out - the right answer is 90 days (if you've paid in full, I believe). When I called they had sold-out on the Rhino Boats, so I booked them independently thru Shoretrips and then just continued on to book a half-day catamaran sail and snorkel thru them at St. Thomas. Booking thru Disney also gives you a wider selection of sailing excursions that include the beach (both excursions we booked had us snorkeling in the middle of coves). In hindsight the cab rides added a lot to our island experience (outrageously yet wonderfully so at St. Thomas), but at the time I remember looking on wistfully at the orderly lines of Disney excursion passengers tromping out to their ground transportation.

OC/OL Checkin - This line is at the far right hand corner of the terminal building, across from the boarding line. After doing our ship registration DW got into the boarding line while I checked the kids into OL - it was all pretty close together next to the ship.

Have fun everyone - wish I was going again! One last thing - bring an extra tube of suntan lotion ($12 on the ship if you run out). Oh, and if you use an underwater film camera look to mail it back home from the post office on CC, as we had ours ruined by airport x-rays (sniff - lost our pix of Barry).

 

[ratfam]

John, I thought both your reports were really well done. We are still having cruise withdrawal. With respect to registering kids for the club, I would add this: we ended up getting to the port much later than planned, around 12:15, due to a much later than planned arrival the night before (or, as it turned into, morning of). We were able to check in very quickly because of being Castaway Club members, and they were already boarding the ship. There was no line to board, but there was a line to register kids. We got right on the boat, made our Palo reservations, then went to the Lab, where we were able to register the kids with no waiting whatsoever. The port checkin makes sense if you have a member of your group waiting to check in or board the boat anyway, but if you are clear to board immediately I would say do so and remember that you can check in on board too.

 

[alexandrew]

excellent trip report.....really well layed out...

 

[jhorstma]

John, I thought both your reports were really well done. We are still having cruise withdrawal. With respect to registering kids for the club, I would add this: we ended up getting to the port much later than planned, around 12:15, due to a much later than planned arrival the night before (or, as it turned into, morning of). We were able to check in very quickly because of being Castaway Club members, and they were already boarding the ship. There was no line to board, but there was a line to register kids. We got right on the boat, made our Palo reservations, then went to the Lab, where we were able to register the kids with no waiting whatsoever. The port checkin makes sense if you have a member of your group waiting to check in or board the boat anyway, but if you are clear to board immediately I would say do so and remember that you can check in on board too.

Hi ratfam! I know what you mean about withdrawal - it's exactly like that Celebrity commercial that shows the older couple going about normal boring life while reminiscing on being treated like royalty on-board. Looking back I have to agree with you about registering on-board for OL, the line there wasn't that bad and you had pretty much all afternoon and evening to do so.

 

[Michelle2]

I have a question about the terminal. I loved your reports by the way, very honest...gives me a better idea of what to expect, so I will not be disappointed if certain high expectations are too high LOL.
Anyways, about entering the terminal. You had said that you were the first ones in, were there not others who were waiting that were dropped off? About what time was your transfers from MCO, and what time did you arrive at the terminal. I ask this because I had heard that the DCL transfers from the airport arrive a little later, and right in the middle of the RUSH..so I didn't consider it. But maybe being dropped off by the DCL gets you in at a point in the terminal that the others can't yet? Sorry, just trying to figure out which is the best way for getting there earliest.

 

[jhorstma]

I have a question about the terminal. I loved your reports by the way, very honest...gives me a better idea of what to expect, so I will not be disappointed if certain high expectations are too high LOL.
Anyways, about entering the terminal. You had said that you were the first ones in, were there not others who were waiting that were dropped off? About what time was your transfers from MCO, and what time did you arrive at the terminal. I ask this because I had heard that the DCL transfers from the airport arrive a little later, and right in the middle of the RUSH..so I didn't consider it. But maybe being dropped off by the DCL gets you in at a point in the terminal that the others can't yet? Sorry, just trying to figure out which is the best way for getting there earliest.

Michelle,
Our experience was kinda interesting - people had arrived by car earlier but had to wait outside the gates to the terminal while we drove by in the DCL bus. I think they opened the gates right after we arrived so those folks were among the first in the terminal (and ahead of the majority of the DCL buses). We stayed at the MCO Hyatt and were told to meet in the 4th floor lobby at about 9:30 for registration - we got there at around 8:30, checkin started a little after 9 (a bit of a crowd by that point), and we were on the bus by 9:30 and at the terminal by 10:30. (Lots of waiting but then the kids were bouncing off the walls before dawn so we really didn't have a choice but to be early. People on later buses could just stroll onto the ship after terminal checkin - I think Palo ressies were still fairly open well into the afternoon; don't know about spa ressies.) DCL reps held a meeting in the Hyatt lobby before dispersing throughout the airport (so checkin started at the Hyatt 1st), so even if you're not staying at the Hyatt if you're early to the airport you might want to meet up w/DCL there.

Have a great cruise!

 

[bratray]

thank you for the honest report- it is nice to read a report that has good and bad points...i, like the other poster dont want to have expectations that are too high i rather be pleasantly surprised if things work out even better then what i expected

thanks for taking the time to post

 

[jhorstma]

A number of folks have recently grumbled about quality of the food. Again I'd like to weigh in that this is an area where Disney could really improve - they do a great job with the dining room designs and a good job with the staff, but they need to deliver better quality food. Moreover they need to reexamine their food preparation processes to so that they consistently offer top-quality food. Merely deluging passengers with extra desserts (tasty yes but nothing more than can be found in the freezer section at Costco) isn't the answer, nor is focusing attention on Palo.

Folks too have complained about having unpleasant experiences with island natives trying to sell them things or braid their hair. We noticed this on the beach side of Philipsburg (and frankly Charlotte Amalie was basically an inner city) but were able to effectively enjoy the islands by getting away from the ship and, in our case, taking to the water. St. Maarten was pretty from Simpson Bay and the Atlantic (Rhino Rider) and St. Thomas/St. John was absolutely amazing by Catamaran (albeit a very bumpy ride, but hey we were sailing!).

 

[Tammy1]

Do any of you know anything about boarding with someone handicap?? My husband is and when we go with Carnival they were very well organized about this and we quickly boarded.. Thank you for any input, and by the way people like me who are new to the boards and DCL (we go in Sept.) your reports are so awesome!! Thanks

 

[jhorstma]

Tammy,

DCL does a great job helping handicapped folks - you'll be preboarded and pretty well looked after during the entire voyage (safety drill, dinners and shows, debarking/embarking at ports, etc.). By and large the ships are accessible, although the elevators are a bit on the small side and can be quite crowded.

 

[Tammy1]

Thanks for the imput it was very helpfull, as much as he's excited about going, part of his problem is a large crowd stuck in one room for a given amount of time. We're taking our 19 DS, 23 DD and 4 yr old DGS. Can't wait

Thank you again

 

[Skatermom23]

Excellent report! I loved reading it!