Just back from the 4-night 5/8 Wonder cruise, and I thought that, given all of the valuable information and enjoyment I have received in reading these boards, I should probably try to reciprocate with a trip report, so here it comes:
First of all, as an overview, I should point out that I cannot imagine having better weather/wave conditions as on this cruise. It was bright and sunny every day; two of the three days there were no clouds at all in the sky, including the Castaway Cay day. And while sailing, the waves were minimal. There was a slight swell on Sunday evening and again on Wednesday evening, but nothing that caused anyone any discomfort as far as I could tell.
Arrival: We drove in from I-4 North, to 417 (bring lots of money for tolls if you go this way) and then to 528 East. I was surprised to see so much traffic on a Sunday morning; if you are heading this way from Orlando, it might be wise to leave just a bit early, because there arent a lot of exits or alternative routes that I know of; if theres an accident on this road, I would imagine it would slow things down quite a bit. I was traveling with my wife and DD5, and the route to the ship gives you a little anticipatory thrill when you cross the high Banana River bridge about 5 miles from the port; you can see the ships in the distance, and it makes the last few miles that much more exciting. The route is well marked, with illuminated signs pointing the way to the terminal with no problems.
Upon arrival at about 12:30 p.m., I soon learned that the stories about Disney embarkation efficiency embarkation are all true. Two different people are stationed at the gate, the first to tell you what to expect when unloading your car, and the second to direct you to a designated spot. The porters are all there efficiently unloading luggage and making sure they are properly tagged, etc. I left my family to wait for me outside the doors (where there are benches available) as I parked the car. The lot is huge and within 2 minutes walking distance just across the street. The attendant took the $40 parking fee upon arrival *** one note: I have seen some information on sites indicating that the parking fee can be paid with all major credit cards, but I found they do not take American Express: Visa or MC only.
We went through the metal detectors with no problems and checked in after waiting for approximately 5 minutes. Another note: even if you are not planning on disembarking in Nassau, you must fill out the Bahamas immigration form at check-in. The terminal is big and beautiful, with comfortable seating areas showing Disney cartoons for the kids while they wait. ***Note: keep your passport, docs, and Key to the World card handy throughout the ticketing/check-in/boarding process, as you will be asked to present them several times before you actually board.
Then its on to the ship (through the big Mickey ears), where you have the first of several photo opportunities with the ubiquitous Disney photographers, and finally over the gangway into the atrium of the ship itself, where you are formally announced and the crewmembers applaud your family. Our DD5 drama queen, of course, was most appreciative of this last little feature.
We boarded just before 1:30, which is the time the staterooms are scheduled to be available. We looked around a bit the ship is indeed a beautiful mix of classic art-deco and Disney attitude. We all marvelled at the detail for the length of the cruise.
At this point, I will go ahead and make a global statement about the crew: absolutely fantastic! Everyone, and I mean everyone, is helpful, attentive, smiling, clean-cut, and cheerful. Even Captain John is something out of a novel: a well-mannered, genteel, soft-spoken but confident Englishman who often strolls the ship engaging the passengers in conversation and answering questions.
We then checked out our stateroom 6102, on the port-side just behind midship. Great use of space in the stateroom. Ive heard complaints about the small split-bathroom plan; I could sympathize if I was a larger person. Im 5-10 180 and my wife is 5-4 120, and we both liked the set-up. Ive also heard complaints about the lack of space to put toiletries, but I cant relate. My wife travels with more girl-stuff than I can possibly describe, but there are shelves placed below the sinks and theres a triangular set-up of shelves in the corner: seemed like plenty of space to us. No shortage of hot water, and most surprisingly, we didn't encounter any variation in the water temparature. In other words, you don't get any blasts of scalding or cold water while you're showering, which has been a problem on other cruises.
My favorite, as I knew it would be, was the balcony: I spent a lot of time there just gazing over the side at the sky, the passing ships, and being mesmerized by the swirling water running down the length of the ship. Interestingly, you could see the ships stabilizers jutting out under the water at approximately mid-ship. Theres actually a lot to see during the cruise, and my guess is that its just a crapshoot as to whether a port or starboard stateroom gives you the best views throughout the cruise, as it is my understanding theres no way to tell whether the ship will dock bow-first or stern-first in either Nassau or CC. In our case, we docked stern-first in both Nassau and CC, which gave us a great view of the docks and the city in Nassau, but not as good a view in CC, where we faced the loading-side. Thats not to say the view is terrible; lets face it, either way youre looking out over a Carribean paradise. While the ship is sailing, we were fascinated to watch the progress of several other cruiseships, tankers, and smaller trawlers/sportfishing vessels which crossed our paths throughout the cruise. As for wildlife, we spotted a sea-turtle cavorting near the docks in Nassau, and a pair of dolphins that toyed with us for awhile off the port-side before sunset on our day at sea. I would definitely bring a set of binoculars if you have a verandah room. If you don't have a verandah but would like some privacy while looking out over the open ocean, there are aft-overlooks at the stern of the ship that are accessible by going all the way to the rear of the ship on either decks 7 or 8. There is rarely anyone else out there, and it's a nice private spot to share a quiet moment with your spouse/family.
On our first day, we checked out the ship and the sailaway party (fun at the goofy pool, with a band, etc.) and headed to dinner, we had the APTT rotation, so Animators Palate was first on the list. It is a fun place, as has been described so often on these boards, although the color-change gimmick isnt quite as spectacular as I might have expected. (Although in fairness to Disney, that might be solely because its been built-up so much in my mind by reading these boards if I wasnt aware of what was going to happen, I think I would have been much more impressed.) The food at AP was good, but not great, although heres another tip: theres salmon all over this ship, in all the restaurants at every time of the day, smoked, grilled, baked, etc. and IMO it was uniformly excellent -- especially the smoked salmon. I probably ate the equivalent of my cruise ticket in smoked salmon during the four days. So, I had the smoked salmon appetizer at AP, with gazpacho (I have a thing for cold soup), a salad, and (surprise) the baked salmon. This salmon entree was my least favorite of all the salmon I ate during the cruise, because it had a maple glaze, and salmon is a sweet fish anyway, so I thought it was a bit cloying with the maple added. Not a complaint just an observation. Anyway, I actually skipped dessert that night, to the utter amazement of our servers, who almost seemed offended. LOL.
As for our servers, we had Judy from Barbados and Benedicte from France, who made a great team. Judy is a bit bold and sassy, while Benedicte was more reserved but very friendly nonetheless. That dinner had a few hiccups associated with it. First, we arrived with one family already sitting at our table #12, who turned out to be a wonderful woman and her DD4 from New Hampshire. Well, our daughter and her new friend turned out to be soulmates, and they spent much of the cruise together. Her mother was also charming, and we all got along great. Then another family showed up, a family of 4 from Tennessee who were also very nice. But we had already been seated at the table, and no one told us that we should arrange ourselves to accommodate 4 other people (especially since the table was set for 8, not 9). Well, we had to get up and move, which isnt a big deal, except that we had already been eating bread and drinking water, etc., which required us to move our utensils, glasses, etc., with no help, and there was no assistance in terms of a new seating arrangement; we had to figure out how to try to sit 9 people at a table set for 8 by ourselves. The situation was soon rectified, and to his credit, our head server arrived and made profuse apologies, etc., after which I jokingly suggested he comp our meals that seemed to diffuse the tension, and afterwards we all got along fine.
One other slightly unpleasant thing about that first dinner: Its a cruise tradition, as I understand it, that the guests get whatever they wish to eat as many entrees/desserts, etc. as they can stuff into themselves, and children can eat from anything on the menu. Our servers, however, made it a point to suggest that they prefer children eat off the childrens menu. Now our DD5 did so anyway most of the time, but on two occasions we asked for something off the adults menu for her, and we were given a bit of a dissaproving look by our servers. They brought the food, of course, but I was left with just a slightly sour taste in my mouth about that particular service quirk.
We stopped by our room after dinner, to find it transformed into a cozy bedroom with the beds turned down, the lights dimmed, and the customary towel animal on the bed. I'll bet there's not a kid in the world who doesn't shriek with delight at seeing one of those for the first time. Even our DD5's stuffed animals were already tucked in bed: nice touch by Foster, our room host, who was uniformly cheerful, friendly, and efficient. His gratuity was substantially enhanced at the end of the cruise.
We attended that evenings Hercules performance at 8:30, and we were immediately surprised by several things. I still cant figure out how they managed to create such a big theatre within a ships space the facility seems huge and expansive, not like on a cruise ship at all. And the quality of the production is astonishing, even when you consider its Disney. Hercules was probably the most adult-oriented show of the three thats not to say its racy at all, but some of the jokes are ha-ha in an adolescent way, like the Hades character riffing about the pyrotechnics display as a product of passing gas, etc. Regardless, the show is hilarious and offbeat, and we had a great time. If you want a seat front and center, I would recommend arriving 20 minutes prior to showtime. Otherwise, youll get a seat, (there's not a bad ond in the house), but not in what I would consider a prime spot.
The ships motion on this night was a little bit pronounced, and my guess is that it is because the ship has to be travelling pretty fast to get to Nassau as scheduled on Monday morning. We went up on deck 10 to do the Im King of the World Titanic thing from the bow of the ship (or as close as we could get), and the wind was really howling because we were moving so fast. Im guessing the stabilizers arent deployed for this first leg of the cruise to allow for the ship to move faster, and thats probably why it was a little bit bumpy.
On Monday we headed to Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast a great spread. Definitely take advantage of the Omelette station and (of course) the smoked salmon with bagels, creams cheese, and capers. Weve been to Nassau several times before (a friend of mine used to be an executive chef at the Atlantis), so we decided not to disembark and simply enjoy the ship. This meant the kids pools were relatively manageable, and our daughter and her friend from New Hampshire were able to play in the pool together. To my amazement, my daughter soon mastered the big slide into the pool and spent most of the time scrambling up the stairs to slide down again. My wife and I watched from deck 10 as we sampled the drink of the day (cant remember what it was, but it was a bit sweet for my taste.)
We ate lunch at Beach Blanket Buffet each day, which was uniformly excellent. More salmon (yessss), and plenty of choices of hot sandwiches, tuna salad wraps, a well-equipped salad bar, etc. Its nice to sit outside and look over the stern of the ship.
Sometime during that day (Ive already lost track of time), we were able to meet a boatload of Disney princesses for one marathon autograph/picture session: my daughter got to meet Cinderella, Snow White, Mulan, Alice (and the Queen of Hearts my daughter loved her), and my daughters all time favorite: Belle (in her peasant outfit, not the gold lame number she sports elsewhere in the film).
Later, my wife and I had a date at Palo that evening, which meant we missed dinner at Parrot Cay. We took our daughter to Plutos Dog House and got her some fast-food dinner in the late afternoon she loved the pizza (I tried a bit not my kind of pizza at all must be a kid thing). Then we took her to the Kids club. Our DD5 is gregarious and social, so I knew shed love the club, but even I didnt expect her to look at us with utter disappointment every time we came to pick her up. If it had been up to her, shed have been in heaven if wed left her in there for the duration of the cruise.
Palo was as expected: a cut above from the other restaurants, although I must say the service was a bit slow. We both had the filet mignon, which was very good, if not exceptional, and my Panna Cotta dessert was great (I have a thing for custard). Afterward, we picked up our daugher from the club and got her changed into something more comfortable, got her another bite to eat, and then returned her to the club so she could watch movies with the other children while we continued our date. My wife really wanted to participate in the How well do you know your Mate game in Wavebands that night, but we werent chosen. We played along with the questions, however, and decided we would have finished 2nd anyway. Interestingly, the couple that had been married 50 years finished last, while the couple that was newly married (the day before) won the event. Hmmmmm.
In retrospect, doing Palo on Monday was the way to go, because theres no production show that night, which meant we could have a date that night without interrupting it for the show. In the alternative, Wednesdays another good night for a date with your spouse, because on that day there is a Matinee performance of the show (Disney Dreams).
Tuesday was Castaway Cay day, and it was fantastic. Another planning note: I wasnt aware that photo ID is necessary (along with your room key) to get off the ship in Castaway Cay, so I had to run back to the room to get our passports out of the safe, which didnt work (I knew that only one room key may be used to activate it, but it still didnt work). With Disney efficiency, however, a guest services rep was dispatched to my room immediately and within 5 minutes the safe was open.
Castaway Cay is awesome. I must confess, I didnt have high expectations, as I live in SW Florida and Im used to nice beaches, etc. But the attention to detail at CC is truly astonishing. Its a bit of a hike from the ship to the beach area, so if you have small children the tram (or a stroller) is a must. Another tip: if you want to get away from the crowds, move as far down the beach as you can; most people dont bother walking all the way around the half-moon shaped beach. At the end there is plenty of room and chairs/loungers available, and there are even three hammocks near the bar at the far-end that werent being used at all for most of the day. The water was cool, but fine once you jumped in. I snorkeled through the designated area this wasnt particularly impressive, as there wasnt much to see except the submerged Mickey, a few pinfish, and the occasional yellow snapper except at one point I was all the way out near the far buoys, and the lifeguard stationed there waved me over and told me there was a huge fish just hanging out under his station; I went under and found a grouper that must have been about 50 pounds just staring at me with those funny jagged teeth. We bonded for awhile, and I snapped a few photos of him with a disposable waterproof camera for my daughter.
The food on CC is limited in choice, but very good; lots of BBQ chicken and ribs. If you want to mail postcards from there, you have to plan ahead: bring cash for stamps (you cant charge Bahamanian stamps on your Disney card), a pen (unless you want to pay $3 for a souvenir pen in the shops) and your address book. We forgot the latter, so we were only able to mail cards to people whos addresses we had memorized. Ah, well.
Dinner at Tritons that night was good: I had a scallops/shrimp pasta entree. Interesting story about that dinner; our table was adjacent to another with a family of four, the youngest being an 18 month old boy, who fell asleep during dinner and then magically disappeared. My wife, ever curious, idly asked them where he was, and the husband at the other table said: Oh, he fell asleep so we put him back in the room. My wifes eyes must have gotten really wide, as did our companions from New Hampshire, and the mans wife immediately began whispering to him. Funny, but they immediately left their table, and we didnt see them again not at dinner Wednesday (when they had Judy deliver dinner to their stateroom) or breakfast on Thursday. LOL. I didnt see the look my wife gave them, but Im familiar with it, and my guess is that it was fairly belittling.
After dinner was the Golden Mickeys show, which is set up like an Oscars presentation to some of the Disney classic movies. Again: first class entertainment. Tuesday was also Pirate Night, and there were many people (including us) who had brought Pirate paraphanalia onboard to enhance the festivities. I must say, this was another event that I didnt have high hopes for, but which turned out to be very impressive, with nonstop high-energy family dancing on Deck 9, pirates rappelling from the smokestacks, fireworks, etc. Very well choreographed party by the Imagineers on this one. One thing, though: we found one mother who had lost her child and my wife spent a good part of the party trying to help her find her. While doing so, she found another crying little girl who had been separated from her parents, and turned her over to a crewmember. It would be very easy to lose track of your children in that hoopla, so be careful.
Wednesday was our day at sea. DD5 wanted some time in the club in the morning, so my wife and I decided to check out the Rainforest room in the spa. Amazing to me that they could design such a first class spa facility within a cruise ship. There are three different scented steam rooms, two of which are hard core, meaning the steam gets piping hot, and youd better bring a towel to sit on. Very relaxing, though.
Speaking of hard core, I told my wife about something called the Rasul bath (also known as the "Surial" treatment), which I had read about on the boards. Apparently this is a big bath chamber that the staff locks you into with your spouse for an hour with all sorts of scented muds/lotions, and you have 60 minutes to do whatever you want in there, no questions asked. Well, after mentioning this to my wife as she was lounging in the regular steam room with me, she made it clear she was in the mood (timing is everything) so I sprinted out to the spa reception area to see if they had the Rasul available. Alas it is not offered on the day at sea. By far my biggest cruise disappointment lol.
Lunch featured a seafood buffet at Beach Blanket Bingo, and a matinee performance of Disney Dreams. Another first-class show; the girl in the lead-role is superb, as is the singer who performs the song from the Lion King. Each show lasts roughly an hour, which is long enough to be thoroughly entertained, but not too long for your children to get antsy.
In the afternoon came the only part of the cruise that I thought was poorly planned, although in retrospect Im not exactly sure what could be done about it. Children who want to graduate from Disney at Sea University are asked to come rehearse with the counselors in the Kids Club at around 4:00 p.m. and then they are led to the big theatre where they all go up on stage to graduate with Mickey at 5:00 p.m. (turning tassles with their Mickey mortarboards and t-shirts, both of which they are allowed to keep). The show is great, but the stage was literally crammed with children HUNDREDS of children if you want to get pictures of this with your kids youd better arrive really early and get a seat up front, and then be ready with your camera as your child ascends up to the stage, because its likely he or she will be swallowed up by the crowd afterward. Well, sometime during all this I began to think how are they going to get all these kids checked out of the kids club afterward? Well, I took advantage of a lull at the end of the performance and left my wife in the theatre to sprint back to the kids club to be among the first parents in line to check DD5 out after the show, and Im very, very glad I did. I got her checked out just in time for dinner, and there was a sea of parents still filing into the club when I left. Im guessing it took hours to get everyone out of there.
Wednesday evenings dinner at Tritons was very good: beef tenderloin and a great creme brulee for dessert (still loving that custard), and that evening our daughter asked if she could have a last few hours in the kids club. My wife and I spent some time having a cocktail and relaxing in the stateroom, watching the sunset and a big Russian tanker crossing our path.
One word about communications: we had actually left our other daughter (DD 18 months) at home with relatives, given that this trip was somewhat of a birthday surprise for DD5 for being such a great big sister. Of course, my wife was really missing her little one for most of the cruise, but we didnt want to spend the $7 per minute ship-to-shore phone charges, so we opted to keep in touch with home via internet. Trust me: if youre planning to do this, definitely opt for the $39.00 length-of-cruise option for internet service rather than try to get by with 75 cents per minute. The internet connection is adequate, but its not cable, and those minutes can add up fast while the system is accessing the site. We made that mistake, and by day 1 we already had $20 in internet charges racked up. I went down to guest services, however, and very graciously the staff cancelled our existing charges and allowed us to upgrade to the $39.99 option.
Thursday morning is a bit bittersweet, having to wake up so early to find the ship has already docked in Port Canaveral, and going down bleary-eyed to breakfast (in Tritons) to disembark. I was a bit disconcerted to see people lining up to get off the ship as we were still eating, and I thought it would surely take hours to get our bags, go through customs, etc. But once the line started moving it never stopped. We got up from the table after breakfast at 7:25 a.m., and by 8:00 we were already in the van driving back home. Amazing efficiency.
So thats it. Im sure Ive left a lot out, and Ill supplement if I think of anything important; in the meantime, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask them. Ill check in periodically and respond as best I can.
One final word: you pay a premium to cruise Disney as opposed to some other lines. In my opinion: it is definitely worth it. What you give up in dollars is definitely worth what you save in terms of time and efficiency in travelling with a Disney crew. Id rate the cruise a 9 out of 10 (that no Rasul on at-sea day" was a shattering let-down.)
First of all, as an overview, I should point out that I cannot imagine having better weather/wave conditions as on this cruise. It was bright and sunny every day; two of the three days there were no clouds at all in the sky, including the Castaway Cay day. And while sailing, the waves were minimal. There was a slight swell on Sunday evening and again on Wednesday evening, but nothing that caused anyone any discomfort as far as I could tell.
Arrival: We drove in from I-4 North, to 417 (bring lots of money for tolls if you go this way) and then to 528 East. I was surprised to see so much traffic on a Sunday morning; if you are heading this way from Orlando, it might be wise to leave just a bit early, because there arent a lot of exits or alternative routes that I know of; if theres an accident on this road, I would imagine it would slow things down quite a bit. I was traveling with my wife and DD5, and the route to the ship gives you a little anticipatory thrill when you cross the high Banana River bridge about 5 miles from the port; you can see the ships in the distance, and it makes the last few miles that much more exciting. The route is well marked, with illuminated signs pointing the way to the terminal with no problems.
Upon arrival at about 12:30 p.m., I soon learned that the stories about Disney embarkation efficiency embarkation are all true. Two different people are stationed at the gate, the first to tell you what to expect when unloading your car, and the second to direct you to a designated spot. The porters are all there efficiently unloading luggage and making sure they are properly tagged, etc. I left my family to wait for me outside the doors (where there are benches available) as I parked the car. The lot is huge and within 2 minutes walking distance just across the street. The attendant took the $40 parking fee upon arrival *** one note: I have seen some information on sites indicating that the parking fee can be paid with all major credit cards, but I found they do not take American Express: Visa or MC only.
We went through the metal detectors with no problems and checked in after waiting for approximately 5 minutes. Another note: even if you are not planning on disembarking in Nassau, you must fill out the Bahamas immigration form at check-in. The terminal is big and beautiful, with comfortable seating areas showing Disney cartoons for the kids while they wait. ***Note: keep your passport, docs, and Key to the World card handy throughout the ticketing/check-in/boarding process, as you will be asked to present them several times before you actually board.
Then its on to the ship (through the big Mickey ears), where you have the first of several photo opportunities with the ubiquitous Disney photographers, and finally over the gangway into the atrium of the ship itself, where you are formally announced and the crewmembers applaud your family. Our DD5 drama queen, of course, was most appreciative of this last little feature.
We boarded just before 1:30, which is the time the staterooms are scheduled to be available. We looked around a bit the ship is indeed a beautiful mix of classic art-deco and Disney attitude. We all marvelled at the detail for the length of the cruise.
At this point, I will go ahead and make a global statement about the crew: absolutely fantastic! Everyone, and I mean everyone, is helpful, attentive, smiling, clean-cut, and cheerful. Even Captain John is something out of a novel: a well-mannered, genteel, soft-spoken but confident Englishman who often strolls the ship engaging the passengers in conversation and answering questions.
We then checked out our stateroom 6102, on the port-side just behind midship. Great use of space in the stateroom. Ive heard complaints about the small split-bathroom plan; I could sympathize if I was a larger person. Im 5-10 180 and my wife is 5-4 120, and we both liked the set-up. Ive also heard complaints about the lack of space to put toiletries, but I cant relate. My wife travels with more girl-stuff than I can possibly describe, but there are shelves placed below the sinks and theres a triangular set-up of shelves in the corner: seemed like plenty of space to us. No shortage of hot water, and most surprisingly, we didn't encounter any variation in the water temparature. In other words, you don't get any blasts of scalding or cold water while you're showering, which has been a problem on other cruises.
My favorite, as I knew it would be, was the balcony: I spent a lot of time there just gazing over the side at the sky, the passing ships, and being mesmerized by the swirling water running down the length of the ship. Interestingly, you could see the ships stabilizers jutting out under the water at approximately mid-ship. Theres actually a lot to see during the cruise, and my guess is that its just a crapshoot as to whether a port or starboard stateroom gives you the best views throughout the cruise, as it is my understanding theres no way to tell whether the ship will dock bow-first or stern-first in either Nassau or CC. In our case, we docked stern-first in both Nassau and CC, which gave us a great view of the docks and the city in Nassau, but not as good a view in CC, where we faced the loading-side. Thats not to say the view is terrible; lets face it, either way youre looking out over a Carribean paradise. While the ship is sailing, we were fascinated to watch the progress of several other cruiseships, tankers, and smaller trawlers/sportfishing vessels which crossed our paths throughout the cruise. As for wildlife, we spotted a sea-turtle cavorting near the docks in Nassau, and a pair of dolphins that toyed with us for awhile off the port-side before sunset on our day at sea. I would definitely bring a set of binoculars if you have a verandah room. If you don't have a verandah but would like some privacy while looking out over the open ocean, there are aft-overlooks at the stern of the ship that are accessible by going all the way to the rear of the ship on either decks 7 or 8. There is rarely anyone else out there, and it's a nice private spot to share a quiet moment with your spouse/family.
On our first day, we checked out the ship and the sailaway party (fun at the goofy pool, with a band, etc.) and headed to dinner, we had the APTT rotation, so Animators Palate was first on the list. It is a fun place, as has been described so often on these boards, although the color-change gimmick isnt quite as spectacular as I might have expected. (Although in fairness to Disney, that might be solely because its been built-up so much in my mind by reading these boards if I wasnt aware of what was going to happen, I think I would have been much more impressed.) The food at AP was good, but not great, although heres another tip: theres salmon all over this ship, in all the restaurants at every time of the day, smoked, grilled, baked, etc. and IMO it was uniformly excellent -- especially the smoked salmon. I probably ate the equivalent of my cruise ticket in smoked salmon during the four days. So, I had the smoked salmon appetizer at AP, with gazpacho (I have a thing for cold soup), a salad, and (surprise) the baked salmon. This salmon entree was my least favorite of all the salmon I ate during the cruise, because it had a maple glaze, and salmon is a sweet fish anyway, so I thought it was a bit cloying with the maple added. Not a complaint just an observation. Anyway, I actually skipped dessert that night, to the utter amazement of our servers, who almost seemed offended. LOL.
As for our servers, we had Judy from Barbados and Benedicte from France, who made a great team. Judy is a bit bold and sassy, while Benedicte was more reserved but very friendly nonetheless. That dinner had a few hiccups associated with it. First, we arrived with one family already sitting at our table #12, who turned out to be a wonderful woman and her DD4 from New Hampshire. Well, our daughter and her new friend turned out to be soulmates, and they spent much of the cruise together. Her mother was also charming, and we all got along great. Then another family showed up, a family of 4 from Tennessee who were also very nice. But we had already been seated at the table, and no one told us that we should arrange ourselves to accommodate 4 other people (especially since the table was set for 8, not 9). Well, we had to get up and move, which isnt a big deal, except that we had already been eating bread and drinking water, etc., which required us to move our utensils, glasses, etc., with no help, and there was no assistance in terms of a new seating arrangement; we had to figure out how to try to sit 9 people at a table set for 8 by ourselves. The situation was soon rectified, and to his credit, our head server arrived and made profuse apologies, etc., after which I jokingly suggested he comp our meals that seemed to diffuse the tension, and afterwards we all got along fine.
One other slightly unpleasant thing about that first dinner: Its a cruise tradition, as I understand it, that the guests get whatever they wish to eat as many entrees/desserts, etc. as they can stuff into themselves, and children can eat from anything on the menu. Our servers, however, made it a point to suggest that they prefer children eat off the childrens menu. Now our DD5 did so anyway most of the time, but on two occasions we asked for something off the adults menu for her, and we were given a bit of a dissaproving look by our servers. They brought the food, of course, but I was left with just a slightly sour taste in my mouth about that particular service quirk.
We stopped by our room after dinner, to find it transformed into a cozy bedroom with the beds turned down, the lights dimmed, and the customary towel animal on the bed. I'll bet there's not a kid in the world who doesn't shriek with delight at seeing one of those for the first time. Even our DD5's stuffed animals were already tucked in bed: nice touch by Foster, our room host, who was uniformly cheerful, friendly, and efficient. His gratuity was substantially enhanced at the end of the cruise.
We attended that evenings Hercules performance at 8:30, and we were immediately surprised by several things. I still cant figure out how they managed to create such a big theatre within a ships space the facility seems huge and expansive, not like on a cruise ship at all. And the quality of the production is astonishing, even when you consider its Disney. Hercules was probably the most adult-oriented show of the three thats not to say its racy at all, but some of the jokes are ha-ha in an adolescent way, like the Hades character riffing about the pyrotechnics display as a product of passing gas, etc. Regardless, the show is hilarious and offbeat, and we had a great time. If you want a seat front and center, I would recommend arriving 20 minutes prior to showtime. Otherwise, youll get a seat, (there's not a bad ond in the house), but not in what I would consider a prime spot.
The ships motion on this night was a little bit pronounced, and my guess is that it is because the ship has to be travelling pretty fast to get to Nassau as scheduled on Monday morning. We went up on deck 10 to do the Im King of the World Titanic thing from the bow of the ship (or as close as we could get), and the wind was really howling because we were moving so fast. Im guessing the stabilizers arent deployed for this first leg of the cruise to allow for the ship to move faster, and thats probably why it was a little bit bumpy.
On Monday we headed to Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast a great spread. Definitely take advantage of the Omelette station and (of course) the smoked salmon with bagels, creams cheese, and capers. Weve been to Nassau several times before (a friend of mine used to be an executive chef at the Atlantis), so we decided not to disembark and simply enjoy the ship. This meant the kids pools were relatively manageable, and our daughter and her friend from New Hampshire were able to play in the pool together. To my amazement, my daughter soon mastered the big slide into the pool and spent most of the time scrambling up the stairs to slide down again. My wife and I watched from deck 10 as we sampled the drink of the day (cant remember what it was, but it was a bit sweet for my taste.)
We ate lunch at Beach Blanket Buffet each day, which was uniformly excellent. More salmon (yessss), and plenty of choices of hot sandwiches, tuna salad wraps, a well-equipped salad bar, etc. Its nice to sit outside and look over the stern of the ship.
Sometime during that day (Ive already lost track of time), we were able to meet a boatload of Disney princesses for one marathon autograph/picture session: my daughter got to meet Cinderella, Snow White, Mulan, Alice (and the Queen of Hearts my daughter loved her), and my daughters all time favorite: Belle (in her peasant outfit, not the gold lame number she sports elsewhere in the film).
Later, my wife and I had a date at Palo that evening, which meant we missed dinner at Parrot Cay. We took our daughter to Plutos Dog House and got her some fast-food dinner in the late afternoon she loved the pizza (I tried a bit not my kind of pizza at all must be a kid thing). Then we took her to the Kids club. Our DD5 is gregarious and social, so I knew shed love the club, but even I didnt expect her to look at us with utter disappointment every time we came to pick her up. If it had been up to her, shed have been in heaven if wed left her in there for the duration of the cruise.
Palo was as expected: a cut above from the other restaurants, although I must say the service was a bit slow. We both had the filet mignon, which was very good, if not exceptional, and my Panna Cotta dessert was great (I have a thing for custard). Afterward, we picked up our daugher from the club and got her changed into something more comfortable, got her another bite to eat, and then returned her to the club so she could watch movies with the other children while we continued our date. My wife really wanted to participate in the How well do you know your Mate game in Wavebands that night, but we werent chosen. We played along with the questions, however, and decided we would have finished 2nd anyway. Interestingly, the couple that had been married 50 years finished last, while the couple that was newly married (the day before) won the event. Hmmmmm.
In retrospect, doing Palo on Monday was the way to go, because theres no production show that night, which meant we could have a date that night without interrupting it for the show. In the alternative, Wednesdays another good night for a date with your spouse, because on that day there is a Matinee performance of the show (Disney Dreams).
Tuesday was Castaway Cay day, and it was fantastic. Another planning note: I wasnt aware that photo ID is necessary (along with your room key) to get off the ship in Castaway Cay, so I had to run back to the room to get our passports out of the safe, which didnt work (I knew that only one room key may be used to activate it, but it still didnt work). With Disney efficiency, however, a guest services rep was dispatched to my room immediately and within 5 minutes the safe was open.
Castaway Cay is awesome. I must confess, I didnt have high expectations, as I live in SW Florida and Im used to nice beaches, etc. But the attention to detail at CC is truly astonishing. Its a bit of a hike from the ship to the beach area, so if you have small children the tram (or a stroller) is a must. Another tip: if you want to get away from the crowds, move as far down the beach as you can; most people dont bother walking all the way around the half-moon shaped beach. At the end there is plenty of room and chairs/loungers available, and there are even three hammocks near the bar at the far-end that werent being used at all for most of the day. The water was cool, but fine once you jumped in. I snorkeled through the designated area this wasnt particularly impressive, as there wasnt much to see except the submerged Mickey, a few pinfish, and the occasional yellow snapper except at one point I was all the way out near the far buoys, and the lifeguard stationed there waved me over and told me there was a huge fish just hanging out under his station; I went under and found a grouper that must have been about 50 pounds just staring at me with those funny jagged teeth. We bonded for awhile, and I snapped a few photos of him with a disposable waterproof camera for my daughter.
The food on CC is limited in choice, but very good; lots of BBQ chicken and ribs. If you want to mail postcards from there, you have to plan ahead: bring cash for stamps (you cant charge Bahamanian stamps on your Disney card), a pen (unless you want to pay $3 for a souvenir pen in the shops) and your address book. We forgot the latter, so we were only able to mail cards to people whos addresses we had memorized. Ah, well.
Dinner at Tritons that night was good: I had a scallops/shrimp pasta entree. Interesting story about that dinner; our table was adjacent to another with a family of four, the youngest being an 18 month old boy, who fell asleep during dinner and then magically disappeared. My wife, ever curious, idly asked them where he was, and the husband at the other table said: Oh, he fell asleep so we put him back in the room. My wifes eyes must have gotten really wide, as did our companions from New Hampshire, and the mans wife immediately began whispering to him. Funny, but they immediately left their table, and we didnt see them again not at dinner Wednesday (when they had Judy deliver dinner to their stateroom) or breakfast on Thursday. LOL. I didnt see the look my wife gave them, but Im familiar with it, and my guess is that it was fairly belittling.
After dinner was the Golden Mickeys show, which is set up like an Oscars presentation to some of the Disney classic movies. Again: first class entertainment. Tuesday was also Pirate Night, and there were many people (including us) who had brought Pirate paraphanalia onboard to enhance the festivities. I must say, this was another event that I didnt have high hopes for, but which turned out to be very impressive, with nonstop high-energy family dancing on Deck 9, pirates rappelling from the smokestacks, fireworks, etc. Very well choreographed party by the Imagineers on this one. One thing, though: we found one mother who had lost her child and my wife spent a good part of the party trying to help her find her. While doing so, she found another crying little girl who had been separated from her parents, and turned her over to a crewmember. It would be very easy to lose track of your children in that hoopla, so be careful.
Wednesday was our day at sea. DD5 wanted some time in the club in the morning, so my wife and I decided to check out the Rainforest room in the spa. Amazing to me that they could design such a first class spa facility within a cruise ship. There are three different scented steam rooms, two of which are hard core, meaning the steam gets piping hot, and youd better bring a towel to sit on. Very relaxing, though.
Speaking of hard core, I told my wife about something called the Rasul bath (also known as the "Surial" treatment), which I had read about on the boards. Apparently this is a big bath chamber that the staff locks you into with your spouse for an hour with all sorts of scented muds/lotions, and you have 60 minutes to do whatever you want in there, no questions asked. Well, after mentioning this to my wife as she was lounging in the regular steam room with me, she made it clear she was in the mood (timing is everything) so I sprinted out to the spa reception area to see if they had the Rasul available. Alas it is not offered on the day at sea. By far my biggest cruise disappointment lol.
Lunch featured a seafood buffet at Beach Blanket Bingo, and a matinee performance of Disney Dreams. Another first-class show; the girl in the lead-role is superb, as is the singer who performs the song from the Lion King. Each show lasts roughly an hour, which is long enough to be thoroughly entertained, but not too long for your children to get antsy.
In the afternoon came the only part of the cruise that I thought was poorly planned, although in retrospect Im not exactly sure what could be done about it. Children who want to graduate from Disney at Sea University are asked to come rehearse with the counselors in the Kids Club at around 4:00 p.m. and then they are led to the big theatre where they all go up on stage to graduate with Mickey at 5:00 p.m. (turning tassles with their Mickey mortarboards and t-shirts, both of which they are allowed to keep). The show is great, but the stage was literally crammed with children HUNDREDS of children if you want to get pictures of this with your kids youd better arrive really early and get a seat up front, and then be ready with your camera as your child ascends up to the stage, because its likely he or she will be swallowed up by the crowd afterward. Well, sometime during all this I began to think how are they going to get all these kids checked out of the kids club afterward? Well, I took advantage of a lull at the end of the performance and left my wife in the theatre to sprint back to the kids club to be among the first parents in line to check DD5 out after the show, and Im very, very glad I did. I got her checked out just in time for dinner, and there was a sea of parents still filing into the club when I left. Im guessing it took hours to get everyone out of there.
Wednesday evenings dinner at Tritons was very good: beef tenderloin and a great creme brulee for dessert (still loving that custard), and that evening our daughter asked if she could have a last few hours in the kids club. My wife and I spent some time having a cocktail and relaxing in the stateroom, watching the sunset and a big Russian tanker crossing our path.
One word about communications: we had actually left our other daughter (DD 18 months) at home with relatives, given that this trip was somewhat of a birthday surprise for DD5 for being such a great big sister. Of course, my wife was really missing her little one for most of the cruise, but we didnt want to spend the $7 per minute ship-to-shore phone charges, so we opted to keep in touch with home via internet. Trust me: if youre planning to do this, definitely opt for the $39.00 length-of-cruise option for internet service rather than try to get by with 75 cents per minute. The internet connection is adequate, but its not cable, and those minutes can add up fast while the system is accessing the site. We made that mistake, and by day 1 we already had $20 in internet charges racked up. I went down to guest services, however, and very graciously the staff cancelled our existing charges and allowed us to upgrade to the $39.99 option.
Thursday morning is a bit bittersweet, having to wake up so early to find the ship has already docked in Port Canaveral, and going down bleary-eyed to breakfast (in Tritons) to disembark. I was a bit disconcerted to see people lining up to get off the ship as we were still eating, and I thought it would surely take hours to get our bags, go through customs, etc. But once the line started moving it never stopped. We got up from the table after breakfast at 7:25 a.m., and by 8:00 we were already in the van driving back home. Amazing efficiency.
So thats it. Im sure Ive left a lot out, and Ill supplement if I think of anything important; in the meantime, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask them. Ill check in periodically and respond as best I can.
One final word: you pay a premium to cruise Disney as opposed to some other lines. In my opinion: it is definitely worth it. What you give up in dollars is definitely worth what you save in terms of time and efficiency in travelling with a Disney crew. Id rate the cruise a 9 out of 10 (that no Rasul on at-sea day" was a shattering let-down.)
Glad your weather was good too. Did you rebook??? Thanks again for the great report!! 
That Mickey pool was a lot of fun for DD5, but it looked like chaos when we walked by on Wednesday morning. Seemed like you'd need a shoehorn to pry open a space for your child, lol. 
