staceymerrill
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2004
- Messages
- 886
We just returned from the 5/7 Western....weather was just picture perfect all week....the ship was in top form, and looked as good from top to bottom as when we first cruised in 2000...
***We cruised with friends of ours, first timers, and their 3 children, DD-10, DS-8, and DS-7, in addition to me (AA) wife StaceyMerrill and my 2 boys.....we were gratified that by the end of the cruise, our friends seemed to love DCL as much as us, and are planning to go on more.....
***ENTERTAINMENT-We noticed a conspicuous absence of Hercules in the show lineup...However, one night in the Walt Disney Theater they offered the comedy/juggling act of Wilde and Haines, who were absolutely wonderful....According to Rachel, the Cruise Director, these guys were featured on the Tonight Show, and you could tell!!....Also, WWTBAM should really be retired.....it's old, tired, and boring, as evidenced by the 1/2 empty theater....the computer only selected seats up to row M due to lack of filled seats.....Also a great show in the Walt Disney Theater and cabaret was Freddy Fusion....really funny and entertaining....In addition, one night DS and I saw "Hitchhikers Guide" in the Walt Disney Theater...IMO, a movie that should have been made in the 70s - very trippy and very very British in writing and humor.....Overall, the entertainment was great, with mainstays Dreams and Golden Mickeys mesmerizing both us and the family we traveled with - I just think on the 7-night we needed 1 more shmaltzy, broadway quality show....
***FOOD!!!! - OK, I've already read a few posts stating that they liked old menus better......To be blunt, I think the new menus ARE the single most exciting and improved aspect of DCL since we started cruising 5 years ago.....I always thought the rotation menus lagged far behind the cruise industry and were somewhat "amateurish" in both presentation, variety, and taste.....NOT ANY MORE...to borrow a well used phrase, DCL really kicked it up a notch, offering each night a beautifully balanced menu chock full of seafood and meat selections, new and exciting appetizers, as well as great desserts.....the only thing left from the regular rotation style dining is the restaurant itself!!!!! Every night, we had a different menu, which by the way, was colorful and pleasing to the eye.....2 particular menus included a tribute to the Panama Canal Crossing, as well as Pirate Night (on a parchment style paper), and a special Til We Meet Again last night menu (beautifully animated-we took one home for our scrap book)- The Panama Canal menu, featured on Thursday Night for semi formal, had both a lobster tail and prime rib as choices...I had both for a true surf and turf!!!!
***SERVICE- OUTSTANDING!!!! - The best team of CMs we've ever encountered.....We had Anton from Bulgaria, the most highly skilled and competent waiter we've ever had by far....he consistently entertained the kids with numerous magic tricks, jokes, and anecdotes.....Asst Server was Sara from England....young at only 22, very sweet, and very attentive to us...Our stateroom host was Brian....just excellent!!!...and of course, there was Mclean, our old friend who I was hoping we'd see again....great as always...On the night he wore his white dinner jacket I joked with him that he could be "Bollywood's new James Bond"
***GENERAL OBSERVATIONS-The addition of coca-cola products to the beverage station is a welcomed one....as always, everywhere you looked maintenance guys were polishing, painting, and cleaning the ship....Project Mainstreet is definitely alive and well....in Coz, we noticed a Carnival ship that looked filthy on the outside with no one cleaning it...all while DCL CMs were busy power washing the outside of the ship.......I noticed on this cruise that there were many early fitness enthusiasts using the gym facilities...by 7 am, most of the 10 treadmills were in use...also, there were new treadmills with built-in TVs that I do not recall seeing previously...I was told that there were 1200 children on this cruise, and it seemed like an early-to-bed-late-to-rise crowd....often, Topsiders would not fill up until 930-10 am.....
***PORTS - enjoyed Key West very much....took the Conch train tour with DW and DS-4....well worth the $25.00 pp adult charge....lots of great info from the tour guide including history and architecture....I highly recommend this tour.....Did the 2 hour Captain Marvin Stngray City Tour....Unfortunately, rough water made the snorkeling nearly impossible....every time I got my mask on and into the water, it would immediately fill up...so i picked my head up to empty the mask, only to be hit in the face with a wave, swallowing a mouthful of seawater...UGH....feeding and frollicking with the stingrays made up for the snorkeling, but by then I had a really queasy, seasicky feeling (those who read this who went out that day will know what I mean-it was rough out there)....Coz as usual was a great shopping port where we spent most of our budgeted $.....One minor annoyance was the escalator through the shopping mall to get to the street routine.....we went around it and through a small alley.....bought a lot of cool trinkets, including one of those intricate round wooden Aztec calendars.....Sea days were welcome, as they offered time to just relax ....I played bingo Thursday, $35.00 pack....didnt win though...jackpot winner was a guy from Virginia, who won $4000+....
*** On Thursday,I had 2 very disheartening things happen - first, I hit one button on my new digital camera that completely wiped out every picture that I had taken throughout the week...all 150+.....The nice staff at Shutters attempted to retrieve the pics, but informed me that I had inadvertantly "reformatted" the memory card, wiping out all memory stored....all I was looking to find was how much memory I had left and how many pics I had stored...poof, gone in a flash...that left me 2 days to scramble to get ship pics etc....Unfortunately, I lost all the pics taken of my DSs 4th birthday party taken on Pirate Night -Nevertheless, the family we traveled with took many of the same pics, which they will make doubles of... Second, I got sick - After 5 days of what seemed like every child coughing and sneezing in my proximity, I came down with a wicked sore throat....which, in my case always travels south to become bronchitis or pneumonia....Thus, Thursday and Friday were a combination of feeling bad for ruining our pics, and feeling sick.....as I am writing this, I still feel miserable....
***Missed Castaway Cay Friday because I wasnt feeling well, but I was told by DW and the friends we traveled with that it was great...nice weather...DW took pics there
***OVERALL - The 5 out of 7 great days I had were better than 2 weeks anywhere else, that is for sure....I think this cruise was a bittersweet one for me, since DW will be giving birth to our 3rd child later on this year.....as such, we still have plans to cruise in the future, but it wont be in the same manner we've grown accustomed to, which was to wait for FL res discount to be announced, and book that day, perhaps as little as 60 days prior...I think we will have to plan more diligently and book further in advance, in order to secure adjoining staterooms since we will soon have 5(preferable to us than a cat 4)...
***Since our last cruise, but prior to this one, I read Mitch Albom's book "The 5 People You Meet in Heaven"......In the book, the main character Eddie realizes that your heaven can be anything you want - he ultimately chooses Ruby Pier, the amusement Park he worked at all his life.....This of course had me thinking....If I were to die tomorrow, I would want my heaven to be the Disney Cruise....just one big never ending cruise, to be eventually joined by my wife and kids and all the friends who have cruised with us over the past 5 years.....I think in my 39 years here on earth, other than my wedding and the birth of my boys, I truly believe these cruises have created the greatest memories and the happiest of times in my life.....
AA
***We cruised with friends of ours, first timers, and their 3 children, DD-10, DS-8, and DS-7, in addition to me (AA) wife StaceyMerrill and my 2 boys.....we were gratified that by the end of the cruise, our friends seemed to love DCL as much as us, and are planning to go on more.....
***ENTERTAINMENT-We noticed a conspicuous absence of Hercules in the show lineup...However, one night in the Walt Disney Theater they offered the comedy/juggling act of Wilde and Haines, who were absolutely wonderful....According to Rachel, the Cruise Director, these guys were featured on the Tonight Show, and you could tell!!....Also, WWTBAM should really be retired.....it's old, tired, and boring, as evidenced by the 1/2 empty theater....the computer only selected seats up to row M due to lack of filled seats.....Also a great show in the Walt Disney Theater and cabaret was Freddy Fusion....really funny and entertaining....In addition, one night DS and I saw "Hitchhikers Guide" in the Walt Disney Theater...IMO, a movie that should have been made in the 70s - very trippy and very very British in writing and humor.....Overall, the entertainment was great, with mainstays Dreams and Golden Mickeys mesmerizing both us and the family we traveled with - I just think on the 7-night we needed 1 more shmaltzy, broadway quality show....
***FOOD!!!! - OK, I've already read a few posts stating that they liked old menus better......To be blunt, I think the new menus ARE the single most exciting and improved aspect of DCL since we started cruising 5 years ago.....I always thought the rotation menus lagged far behind the cruise industry and were somewhat "amateurish" in both presentation, variety, and taste.....NOT ANY MORE...to borrow a well used phrase, DCL really kicked it up a notch, offering each night a beautifully balanced menu chock full of seafood and meat selections, new and exciting appetizers, as well as great desserts.....the only thing left from the regular rotation style dining is the restaurant itself!!!!! Every night, we had a different menu, which by the way, was colorful and pleasing to the eye.....2 particular menus included a tribute to the Panama Canal Crossing, as well as Pirate Night (on a parchment style paper), and a special Til We Meet Again last night menu (beautifully animated-we took one home for our scrap book)- The Panama Canal menu, featured on Thursday Night for semi formal, had both a lobster tail and prime rib as choices...I had both for a true surf and turf!!!!
***SERVICE- OUTSTANDING!!!! - The best team of CMs we've ever encountered.....We had Anton from Bulgaria, the most highly skilled and competent waiter we've ever had by far....he consistently entertained the kids with numerous magic tricks, jokes, and anecdotes.....Asst Server was Sara from England....young at only 22, very sweet, and very attentive to us...Our stateroom host was Brian....just excellent!!!...and of course, there was Mclean, our old friend who I was hoping we'd see again....great as always...On the night he wore his white dinner jacket I joked with him that he could be "Bollywood's new James Bond"
***GENERAL OBSERVATIONS-The addition of coca-cola products to the beverage station is a welcomed one....as always, everywhere you looked maintenance guys were polishing, painting, and cleaning the ship....Project Mainstreet is definitely alive and well....in Coz, we noticed a Carnival ship that looked filthy on the outside with no one cleaning it...all while DCL CMs were busy power washing the outside of the ship.......I noticed on this cruise that there were many early fitness enthusiasts using the gym facilities...by 7 am, most of the 10 treadmills were in use...also, there were new treadmills with built-in TVs that I do not recall seeing previously...I was told that there were 1200 children on this cruise, and it seemed like an early-to-bed-late-to-rise crowd....often, Topsiders would not fill up until 930-10 am.....
***PORTS - enjoyed Key West very much....took the Conch train tour with DW and DS-4....well worth the $25.00 pp adult charge....lots of great info from the tour guide including history and architecture....I highly recommend this tour.....Did the 2 hour Captain Marvin Stngray City Tour....Unfortunately, rough water made the snorkeling nearly impossible....every time I got my mask on and into the water, it would immediately fill up...so i picked my head up to empty the mask, only to be hit in the face with a wave, swallowing a mouthful of seawater...UGH....feeding and frollicking with the stingrays made up for the snorkeling, but by then I had a really queasy, seasicky feeling (those who read this who went out that day will know what I mean-it was rough out there)....Coz as usual was a great shopping port where we spent most of our budgeted $.....One minor annoyance was the escalator through the shopping mall to get to the street routine.....we went around it and through a small alley.....bought a lot of cool trinkets, including one of those intricate round wooden Aztec calendars.....Sea days were welcome, as they offered time to just relax ....I played bingo Thursday, $35.00 pack....didnt win though...jackpot winner was a guy from Virginia, who won $4000+....
*** On Thursday,I had 2 very disheartening things happen - first, I hit one button on my new digital camera that completely wiped out every picture that I had taken throughout the week...all 150+.....The nice staff at Shutters attempted to retrieve the pics, but informed me that I had inadvertantly "reformatted" the memory card, wiping out all memory stored....all I was looking to find was how much memory I had left and how many pics I had stored...poof, gone in a flash...that left me 2 days to scramble to get ship pics etc....Unfortunately, I lost all the pics taken of my DSs 4th birthday party taken on Pirate Night -Nevertheless, the family we traveled with took many of the same pics, which they will make doubles of... Second, I got sick - After 5 days of what seemed like every child coughing and sneezing in my proximity, I came down with a wicked sore throat....which, in my case always travels south to become bronchitis or pneumonia....Thus, Thursday and Friday were a combination of feeling bad for ruining our pics, and feeling sick.....as I am writing this, I still feel miserable....
***Missed Castaway Cay Friday because I wasnt feeling well, but I was told by DW and the friends we traveled with that it was great...nice weather...DW took pics there
***OVERALL - The 5 out of 7 great days I had were better than 2 weeks anywhere else, that is for sure....I think this cruise was a bittersweet one for me, since DW will be giving birth to our 3rd child later on this year.....as such, we still have plans to cruise in the future, but it wont be in the same manner we've grown accustomed to, which was to wait for FL res discount to be announced, and book that day, perhaps as little as 60 days prior...I think we will have to plan more diligently and book further in advance, in order to secure adjoining staterooms since we will soon have 5(preferable to us than a cat 4)...
***Since our last cruise, but prior to this one, I read Mitch Albom's book "The 5 People You Meet in Heaven"......In the book, the main character Eddie realizes that your heaven can be anything you want - he ultimately chooses Ruby Pier, the amusement Park he worked at all his life.....This of course had me thinking....If I were to die tomorrow, I would want my heaven to be the Disney Cruise....just one big never ending cruise, to be eventually joined by my wife and kids and all the friends who have cruised with us over the past 5 years.....I think in my 39 years here on earth, other than my wedding and the birth of my boys, I truly believe these cruises have created the greatest memories and the happiest of times in my life.....
AA
