A couple of observations from a newbie cruiser

[DisGirl819]

Thank you for the post. I am a first time cruiser and I know nothing about all this. All of this information is great to know. If anything I like to be over prepared

 

[harrisb1964]

Brought my own hair dryer, no problem with the plugs on the Wonder.

 

[MagicBeginsAtHome]

This was helpful if for nothing else than the hairdryer tip about the outlets. We've sailed on the Wonder before but it was a 3n and wasn't long enough for me to bother with a hairdryer lol!

Our next cruise is a 7-night... 3 or 4 nights is WAY too short IMO, especially if you are traveling from a long distance for it. We did the short one first for budget reasons... now we just wait a little longer and save up a bit more so we can have more time. Personal preference, though, for sure. If I lived in FL I'd probably do the shorter ones.

 

[GoofyforDisney3]

If I recall correctly, the most important part is to listen and do what you are told. The actual activity in an emergency situation may differ from situation to situation, so it's not realistic to outline all possibilities in the muster drill. It's a drill to make sure that the cruisers get to the right location. When everyone is in their location, they are to be quiet and listen to the crew member instructions for whatever's next.

But that was part of the problem. There was so much stuff going on around, people not listening and talking. To me, IMHO, the finding the station part of the drill is only part of what it is for. You also need to understand what happens after you get there and put your life vest on. Again, that what happens after part wasn't very clear. I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree on this because obviously have a different opinion than everyone else on what this drill is supposed to be. LOL

 

[cgolf]

But that was part of the problem. There was so much stuff going on around, people not listening and talking. To me, IMHO, the finding the station part of the drill is only part of what it is for. You also need to understand what happens after you get there and put your life vest on. Again, that what happens after part wasn't very clear. I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree on this because obviously have a different opinion than everyone else on what this drill is supposed to be. LOL

I hope that this was an anomaly, or that you had a group of CM's that weren't taking this as seriously as they should. One thing that might help though is to have everyone come down to the muster station, so they know the route and location, and then only have first time DCL cruisers stick around for the rest. Not sure if the coast guard would sign off on that though. If I had to guess the people that were talking had been to the drill multiple times before and might be able to recite it if asked. Now common sense and courtesy would say these people should be respectful and not talk, but that usually doesn't happen.

We sit through the presentation and don't talk each time and listen, but now that we have seen it 9 times it is just something we want to get over with quickly.

cgolf

 

[CurlysGirly]

We're a week home from our 1st ever cruise and I know two things:
1. I will bring my own hair dryer next time Thankfully I had it braided at CC so it dried faster on the last day.
2. I, too, need to go longer than 4 days!

 

[kgoodb00]

Just finished our very first cruise (ever!) Friday morning on the Disney Magic. It was awesome and I will definitely would love to cruise again. It was a 4 night sailing and during those few days I tried to write down a few things that I don't remember seeing mentioned / asked a lot around here.

1) Be aware that some of the assembly stations can be IN a restaurant and not just out on deck. We had assembly station T and it was madness trying to find it! Why was it hard? Because it was IN Animators Palate. Because we had never cruised before we did start to the assembly station early, even before the assembly teams had started to them. Because of that we didn't really have anyone to ask. DH and DD went up to guest services and they told him it was aft and port side. Well, first he got the port and star board side mixed up. Ok, no big deal, we just would walk around the circle of the ship, right? We did and still couldn't find T and I asked a crew member who was holding up a sign with a different letter on it that was in front of the doors going back inside. He said "oh, it's right there and pointed" I look and saw it was the direction into the restaurant, so I said "it's inside Animators Palate?" and was told "yep!". At this point I was frustrated and irritated. I put a note on the survey to let them know this wasn't expectable. For something to be mandatory and for my safety they should make it easier to find the locations. Also, wasn't very impressed with the way the directions of what to do in an emergency was presented. I feel if we really had needed to depend on that information in an emergency I would have been screwed.

2) When you return to the ship from an excursion in Nassau, you have to go thru a building that is called the Festival Place. You need your KTWC and ID at this point and it is checked before you are allowed back into the port area. I didn't know this and it was a little confusing.

3) Be prepared for a longer than normal port stop. We got to stay in Nassau until 2 a.m. the next day. Nice for the crew and some passengers I'm sure, but I didn't know enough about the island to feel comfortable going back out after dinner. We ended up just staying on the ship, which was fine since they had more than enough activities to keep us entertained. Just would have been nice to be prepared.

4) The Magic does have the new hair dryers, but they aren't great. Never really got hot and didn't dry my hair very easy and my hair is short (like pixie short) and dries in no time normally. Next time I'll bring my own hair dryer.

5) If you are going to use your own drink cups, please, please, please fill them and then move to the side to deal with getting the lids on, etc. I just wanted a little water, but ended up waiting behind someone filling 3 big mug things, using the paper cup, and then took forever to get the lids back on.

6) Get your luggage ready early! If you aren't doing the express debarkment, start early because 10:30 p.m. comes really fast. Plus, you may miss the final goodbye if you don't. I had most of our stuff ready after dinner, went to the 8:30 show and the next thing I know it's 10:00 and I'm not ready. DH had to take DD to the final goodbye they do in the atrium. Not sure exactly what it was since I did miss it, but DD seemed to enjoy it.

7) Do not be afraid to ask for substitutions on dinner entrees. My DD wanted chicken, but I knew she wouldn't like any of the sides since it was sweet potatoes, collard greens and something else unusual. She asked for mashed potatoes instead and they had no problems bringing them to her.

8) The "refrigerator" keeps things colder than you think. I ordered 3 Mickey bars on Tuesday night, about 11:30. One didn't get eaten since I was asleep by time DH got back from the movie and I forgot to tell him it was there. It was still partially frozen on Friday morning. I was very surprised since I had read these didn't keep cold very well.

9) For us, a four day cruise just wasn't long enough. I felt like I missed out on a lot the ship had to offer since we did an excursion in Nassau, but would have felt like I was missing out on port stops if I had stayed on the ship. Next cruise will need to be at least 7 nights so we can get a little bit of everything, including relaxing. LOL

10) The navigator app was pretty cool and since I was using my phone as a camera, it was nice not to carry around the paper. The only issue I had was I kept getting kicked off the Wi-Fi and had to reconnect all the time.

That's all I have notes on, but I'll add on if I think of anything else!

Thanks for all the tips. I am a first time cruiser and planning our cruise is stressful. Most of your points were stuff that I had wondered about. I am an over-planner and I am quite nervous about it all lol

 

[Sandisw]

WOW! You know, it is really a wonder that people want to share experiences on here sometimes. I NEVER said I was complaining, but making OBSERVATIONS and providing information from a new cruiser for other possible new cruisers so they didn't have the same issues I had. Has everyone on here gotten so jaded that any comment that isn't all sunshine and roses is automatically a complaint and it in necessary to practically bash the poster?

I know there was a map on the back of the door, but if you have NEVER been on a ship before the map still doesn't make it all that clear that I had to actually go into the restaurant. I just felt that they could have done a much better job and not just assume that I had even been in my room and saw the map at that point. We did get on the ship fairly early, but what if I had just arrived on board at 3:30 and decided I needed to make my way to the assembly station because they had already started making the announcement?

I knew we needed our KTWC and DL to show to get back into the port, but I did not know you had to go thru that building. That was the point I was trying to make. There are signs pointing you in the direction, but nothing ever really said "HEY! YOU STUPID TOUREST TRYING TO GET BACK TO YOUR BOAT! YOU MUST GO THRU THIS BUILIDNG OF PEOPLE HAWKING THEIR WARES IN ORDER TO GET BACK TO YOUR BOAT!" Sorry if that wasn't clear in my original post.

Again, the reason I mention being prepared for the possibility of the longer than normal port stop was that had I read a little bit more about what times stuff was open, maybe what else there was to do in the evening, that sort of thing I too could have taken advantage of the longer port time. But since I didn't do very much research other than what excursion I wanted to do, I didn't feel comfortable going back out after dinner. I just wanted to point out to NEW cruisers that this can happen so they didn't get caught if it possibly happened to them. I'm not one to just go out into a new area/city with no knowledge and just wonder around and hope for the best.

I used the hair dryer at the desk/vanity out in the room and plugged it into the only plug that it would fit into. I don't know how I could have used it wrong, but I guess anything is possible. *edit to add that the hair dryer worked just fine as it blew air powerfully enough. It just didn't get hot or even really warm. Maybe it is just the type of hair dryer it is, but thought I'd point it out.

As someone who will be gong on her first cruise in July, I appreciate your thoughts and did not see this as complaining, but rather exactly as you intended...to share comments to help those of us.

Now that I know that there is a possibility that we could end up in Nassau longer, I will definitely look into things further, just in case!!!

Thanks for helping someone like me out!!!

 

[BalooLibLady]

Thanks so much for your post. Our first cruise is 20 days out on the Dream. Looking forward to it s much, but a little nervous too. I think it was great that you posted how it could be for a first timer. Thanks.

 

[ptcbass]

Since we just got off the Dream I thought I would share that I wasn't able to use my hair dryer but the one in the room did the job. The plug in the stateroom needed a converter to plug it in. I have a picture but no photobucket account (and they are blocked at work) so if someone needs to see it I will figure out how to post it.

 

[nouche1]

Thank you for your observations. I tend to miss the obvious and appreciate the help.

 

[ptcbass]

Another thing (I am sure there are more I can't think of)- I read where you can order cookies and milk before bed and they are warm and really good so we tried it. Well apparently you need to specify you want them warm or you just get regular cookies. We didn't order them again so I am only guessing that you must be able to request them to be warm. Just another lesson learned from a newbie cruiser.