NWgoofyfamily
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2009
- Messages
- 35
I'm not really a writer, but I have been reading these boards for months and have really appreciated all that others have shared.
Overall we had a great time. Absolutely beautiful weather in Mexico - sunny skies and warm, 75 degrees or more. (LA was cold when we left and we had rain and cold winds our last night returning to LA). It was so lovely getting a break from the dark skies, rain, and cold that have filled our winter months! We live in the Pacific Northwest. Traveled with my DH and 2 of my kids - both teens. (Our kids LOVED the cruise BTW). This was our 2nd cruise - we went on a DCL 3 day Bahama cruise last year.
The ship was sold out, no possibility of port upgrades.
Dining room food - good. Some was very good, some just good. Servers were great. Enjoyed all of the dining rooms and menus. Our kids are adventurous eaters and also enjoyed.
On our second sea day we sailed close enough to the shore to sea the Arches at Cabo, right around this area we also saw many, many dolphins swimming and jumping in the water. There might have been 50. Very cool. (When we sailed out of Cabo after our second day, we saw 4 whales from the ship).
Puerto Vallarta. Toured on our own. Took the public blue bus downtown, to "el centro." We had one dollar bills and it cost the 4 of us $2. We had a great time riding the bus as it sped through the streets. We did our best to speak Spanish and asked some locals where to get off and where to pick up the bus to go back to the port. (Taking the bus back we looked for one that said "Walmart" on the front). We walked around for an hour or so, then headed to Los Muertos Beach. We ate lunch at La Palapa Restaurant, great ceviche. Used a credit card to pay. La Palapa is right on the beach. The kids swam. I found the water a bit too cold, but they said it warmed up quickly. Vendors came by frequently, but we just said no gracias.
Cabo. Toured on our own. Took a cab to El Modena beach $1 per person. Another beautiful, sunny, warm day. Kids swam again, they preferred the beach at PV as there were more waves there. Rented a beach umbrella for $5 - negotiated the price. Stayed several hours on the beautiful beach, then walked back to the Port, it was about a 10 or 12 minute walk.
Our second day in Cabo we stayed on the boat. We had a lovely view of the Arches and enjoyed relaxing in the sun with the beautiful views all around us.
My kids definitely enjoyed seeing the movies on board, more than the shows. (We had already seen the Golden Mickeys and Dreams on our 3 day). Toy Story was new to us. It was good, but I would rate it behind the other two. We watched all of the shows together as a family before heading to dinner each night. As for movies, we saw Tron, Gnomeo and Juliet, I am Number Four, and Tangled - we liked them all. We brought candy/movie treats from home, you can buy treats outside of the theater but they are expensive and limited supply.
The gym was nice, my dh and I made good use of it.
Our flight left LAX at 12:15 pm. We were supposed to be in the first group to disembark. We were waiting in the Theater, watching cartoons, waiting to be called. The boat was late. I think we were given the ok to disembark around 8:45 or 9 am. When we followed the cast members out of the theater, we found that many other people who had just been sitting in the lobby, were ahead of us to disembark. That was a little frustrating as we were told earlier that we would be in the first group. No matter. We got through customs quickly, went out to the curb and caught a cab. $57 + tip to get to LAX. We were through security and at our gate by 10am.
Well, that was more than I thought I would write. Hope someone finds it useful.
Will we cruise again? Yes.
Would we cruise Mexico again? Yes. It was lovely. The ports were great. The weather was perfect.
Did we miss Castaway Cay? Yes, but not as much as we thought we would. I would choose a cruise depending on our schedule and the price.
Will our next cruise be on a DCL? Yes.
Do we prefer cruises to the parks? No, I think everyone would say they still prefer the parks, but we also think the cruises are great.
Do we prefer Disney to all other vacations? Hmmmm. We do Disney every year, but we also enjoy hiking and camping and visiting the National Parks.
Hope everyone enjoys their cruise as much as we did. Cheers!
Overall we had a great time. Absolutely beautiful weather in Mexico - sunny skies and warm, 75 degrees or more. (LA was cold when we left and we had rain and cold winds our last night returning to LA). It was so lovely getting a break from the dark skies, rain, and cold that have filled our winter months! We live in the Pacific Northwest. Traveled with my DH and 2 of my kids - both teens. (Our kids LOVED the cruise BTW). This was our 2nd cruise - we went on a DCL 3 day Bahama cruise last year.
The ship was sold out, no possibility of port upgrades.
Dining room food - good. Some was very good, some just good. Servers were great. Enjoyed all of the dining rooms and menus. Our kids are adventurous eaters and also enjoyed.
On our second sea day we sailed close enough to the shore to sea the Arches at Cabo, right around this area we also saw many, many dolphins swimming and jumping in the water. There might have been 50. Very cool. (When we sailed out of Cabo after our second day, we saw 4 whales from the ship).
Puerto Vallarta. Toured on our own. Took the public blue bus downtown, to "el centro." We had one dollar bills and it cost the 4 of us $2. We had a great time riding the bus as it sped through the streets. We did our best to speak Spanish and asked some locals where to get off and where to pick up the bus to go back to the port. (Taking the bus back we looked for one that said "Walmart" on the front). We walked around for an hour or so, then headed to Los Muertos Beach. We ate lunch at La Palapa Restaurant, great ceviche. Used a credit card to pay. La Palapa is right on the beach. The kids swam. I found the water a bit too cold, but they said it warmed up quickly. Vendors came by frequently, but we just said no gracias.
Cabo. Toured on our own. Took a cab to El Modena beach $1 per person. Another beautiful, sunny, warm day. Kids swam again, they preferred the beach at PV as there were more waves there. Rented a beach umbrella for $5 - negotiated the price. Stayed several hours on the beautiful beach, then walked back to the Port, it was about a 10 or 12 minute walk.
Our second day in Cabo we stayed on the boat. We had a lovely view of the Arches and enjoyed relaxing in the sun with the beautiful views all around us.
My kids definitely enjoyed seeing the movies on board, more than the shows. (We had already seen the Golden Mickeys and Dreams on our 3 day). Toy Story was new to us. It was good, but I would rate it behind the other two. We watched all of the shows together as a family before heading to dinner each night. As for movies, we saw Tron, Gnomeo and Juliet, I am Number Four, and Tangled - we liked them all. We brought candy/movie treats from home, you can buy treats outside of the theater but they are expensive and limited supply.
The gym was nice, my dh and I made good use of it.
Our flight left LAX at 12:15 pm. We were supposed to be in the first group to disembark. We were waiting in the Theater, watching cartoons, waiting to be called. The boat was late. I think we were given the ok to disembark around 8:45 or 9 am. When we followed the cast members out of the theater, we found that many other people who had just been sitting in the lobby, were ahead of us to disembark. That was a little frustrating as we were told earlier that we would be in the first group. No matter. We got through customs quickly, went out to the curb and caught a cab. $57 + tip to get to LAX. We were through security and at our gate by 10am.
Well, that was more than I thought I would write. Hope someone finds it useful.
Will we cruise again? Yes.
Would we cruise Mexico again? Yes. It was lovely. The ports were great. The weather was perfect.
Did we miss Castaway Cay? Yes, but not as much as we thought we would. I would choose a cruise depending on our schedule and the price.
Will our next cruise be on a DCL? Yes.
Do we prefer cruises to the parks? No, I think everyone would say they still prefer the parks, but we also think the cruises are great.
Do we prefer Disney to all other vacations? Hmmmm. We do Disney every year, but we also enjoy hiking and camping and visiting the National Parks.
Hope everyone enjoys their cruise as much as we did. Cheers!
