aalan
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2001
- Messages
- 261
my wife and i (both 42, no kids) went on a 7 day eastern last year and enjoyed it so much that we decided to go on the western this year. instead of a day-to-day report, i'll talk about the good, the bad and the different from last year.
i first want to agree with most of what was posted about the sunday nite with the rough seas. it really was awful. people were dropping like flies at the early seating. when you get 20-24 foot seas there's not much you can do. the boat rocked so much that in the morning the water in the toilet and from the faucets was brown! we flushed, and ran the faucets, called guest services, and someone came in 10 minutes, tested the water, said it was safe, and that things had gotten stirred up. i guess. i wish my wife and i were the type who dont get seasick, but unfortunately that wasnt the case. we do laugh about it now, it certainly made the trip memorable.
we had the early seating this year versus the late seating last year. we're still not sure which is really better. we hated getting stuffed so late last year, but sometimes we felt a bit rushed to get to the 6:00 seating, especially on formal night. we took late naps one afternoon, and didnt make it to our rotation. we had a really nice dinner at topsider's that night. i reccomend everyone try this one evening: at night, topsiders is transformed into a nice, intimate restaurant without the crowds of the rotation restaurants. the food and service was excellent.
speaking of food, the menus in the main restaurants have been improved. there are more choices now, which is great. most of the portions arent huge, which is fine with us, and overall, i think the quality and presentation has gone up since last year. it seemed to be a lot noisier in the dining rooms, i think this was due to there being a higher percentage of children onboard compared to last year.
palo was excellent as always: dalibhar was our server and he was great. we did have some minor issues with palo, however. when we made reservations after boarding, we werent given anything in writing as a reminder (unlike last year). on the day of dinner, we couldnt remember the exact time, so i went to palo to find out, and was met with indifferent waiters who said they couldnt tell, and that the manager would call when he came in (it was 5:30). the manager did call and confirm our time a little after 6:00. it wasnt that big a deal, but certainly not magical.
we had a navigator's veranda this year, versus the full veranda last year, and we really liked the navigator's veranda. it cuts down on the wind, but you still get plenty of fresh air. and its less money. ernesto was our room attendent, and he did an excellent job keeping our place clean and providing towel animals. he told me he was responsible for 14 rooms, these people really earn their money!
on sea days its still dog-eat-dog for the loungers around the pools. people seem to think that by leaving a personal item on them that they have the right to use the chair all day. something should be done about this, but i'm not sure what. i would love to see a non-smoking section in all the pool areas.
$7307 was the record bingo jackpot, which i didnt win.
but the crew made it a fun event each time i attended, even though they push the sales of those jumbo packs. i have yet to see a movie onboard, but i did poke my head in to check out the theatre while the latest harry potter movie was showing, and the buena vista theatre is no wimpy little screen. the sound was excellent as well, so i will definately have to see a movie there someday.
we use the cruise as a time to relax, so we only saw "disney dreams" and "hercules" again, both excellent shows. my wife loves the rainforest at the spa, and the open air massage on castaway cay. it was also nice on the first and last night to spend time on deck four watching the lights from the florida coast go slowly by...
as for ports of call, we didnt go anywhere on the day we were supposed to except for castaway cay, and that was just fine. in cozumel, we did the jeep excursion, which is a lot of bouncy fun, and had a nice lunch at a secluded beach. our guides shelly and martin were great. we couldnt go to grand caymen becuase of weather and went to another port in mexico called costa maya. it didnt look like much, but actually was a nice, new area designed just for cruise ships. we enjoyed the place, and thought it was too bad the weather was so bad because there was a good beach area there. key west was interesting, a mix of victorian architecture with lush tropical landscaping. we missed the sunset/nite life stuff, but we saw enough to make us think we'd like to vacation there someday.
thankfully, the day at castaway cay was perfect. we spent the day at serenity bay, and it was beautiful. i didnt snorkel, but i still saw sand dollars, starfish, a stingray, and 4 or 5 types of fish. next time i will snorkel there. at one point in the afternoon, the water was like glass, it was so calm, it was amazing. and new compared to last year: at lunch, there was a soft ice cream machine (strawberry or cookie dough). way to go disney! thankfully, there were no banana boat rides or jet ski rentals at the adult beach area as was posted on the boards. that just wouldnt be right. after having pretty so-so weather for most of the cruise, no one wanted to leave castaway cay. it was a very special day.
there was always someone cleaning, painting, staining, etc. on the boat, and it looks good until you look real close. i think the magic is scheduled for dry dock in sept., and it is time to redo some things and freshen up. the crew works very hard, and i cant imagine what living on the boat and working must be like. when the weather was bad, disney scrambled to add entertainment and get out new navigators. while we had perfect weather last year, this year we did not, but we still enjoyed the cruise (except for the rough seas on sunday nite). it was dissapointing not to be able to get to grand caymen, but you cant blame anybody for poor weather. the only sad thing was that the second time around, the 7 day cruise seems to go by even faster!
i first want to agree with most of what was posted about the sunday nite with the rough seas. it really was awful. people were dropping like flies at the early seating. when you get 20-24 foot seas there's not much you can do. the boat rocked so much that in the morning the water in the toilet and from the faucets was brown! we flushed, and ran the faucets, called guest services, and someone came in 10 minutes, tested the water, said it was safe, and that things had gotten stirred up. i guess. i wish my wife and i were the type who dont get seasick, but unfortunately that wasnt the case. we do laugh about it now, it certainly made the trip memorable.
we had the early seating this year versus the late seating last year. we're still not sure which is really better. we hated getting stuffed so late last year, but sometimes we felt a bit rushed to get to the 6:00 seating, especially on formal night. we took late naps one afternoon, and didnt make it to our rotation. we had a really nice dinner at topsider's that night. i reccomend everyone try this one evening: at night, topsiders is transformed into a nice, intimate restaurant without the crowds of the rotation restaurants. the food and service was excellent.
speaking of food, the menus in the main restaurants have been improved. there are more choices now, which is great. most of the portions arent huge, which is fine with us, and overall, i think the quality and presentation has gone up since last year. it seemed to be a lot noisier in the dining rooms, i think this was due to there being a higher percentage of children onboard compared to last year.
palo was excellent as always: dalibhar was our server and he was great. we did have some minor issues with palo, however. when we made reservations after boarding, we werent given anything in writing as a reminder (unlike last year). on the day of dinner, we couldnt remember the exact time, so i went to palo to find out, and was met with indifferent waiters who said they couldnt tell, and that the manager would call when he came in (it was 5:30). the manager did call and confirm our time a little after 6:00. it wasnt that big a deal, but certainly not magical.
we had a navigator's veranda this year, versus the full veranda last year, and we really liked the navigator's veranda. it cuts down on the wind, but you still get plenty of fresh air. and its less money. ernesto was our room attendent, and he did an excellent job keeping our place clean and providing towel animals. he told me he was responsible for 14 rooms, these people really earn their money!
on sea days its still dog-eat-dog for the loungers around the pools. people seem to think that by leaving a personal item on them that they have the right to use the chair all day. something should be done about this, but i'm not sure what. i would love to see a non-smoking section in all the pool areas.
$7307 was the record bingo jackpot, which i didnt win.
but the crew made it a fun event each time i attended, even though they push the sales of those jumbo packs. i have yet to see a movie onboard, but i did poke my head in to check out the theatre while the latest harry potter movie was showing, and the buena vista theatre is no wimpy little screen. the sound was excellent as well, so i will definately have to see a movie there someday. we use the cruise as a time to relax, so we only saw "disney dreams" and "hercules" again, both excellent shows. my wife loves the rainforest at the spa, and the open air massage on castaway cay. it was also nice on the first and last night to spend time on deck four watching the lights from the florida coast go slowly by...
as for ports of call, we didnt go anywhere on the day we were supposed to except for castaway cay, and that was just fine. in cozumel, we did the jeep excursion, which is a lot of bouncy fun, and had a nice lunch at a secluded beach. our guides shelly and martin were great. we couldnt go to grand caymen becuase of weather and went to another port in mexico called costa maya. it didnt look like much, but actually was a nice, new area designed just for cruise ships. we enjoyed the place, and thought it was too bad the weather was so bad because there was a good beach area there. key west was interesting, a mix of victorian architecture with lush tropical landscaping. we missed the sunset/nite life stuff, but we saw enough to make us think we'd like to vacation there someday.
thankfully, the day at castaway cay was perfect. we spent the day at serenity bay, and it was beautiful. i didnt snorkel, but i still saw sand dollars, starfish, a stingray, and 4 or 5 types of fish. next time i will snorkel there. at one point in the afternoon, the water was like glass, it was so calm, it was amazing. and new compared to last year: at lunch, there was a soft ice cream machine (strawberry or cookie dough). way to go disney! thankfully, there were no banana boat rides or jet ski rentals at the adult beach area as was posted on the boards. that just wouldnt be right. after having pretty so-so weather for most of the cruise, no one wanted to leave castaway cay. it was a very special day.
there was always someone cleaning, painting, staining, etc. on the boat, and it looks good until you look real close. i think the magic is scheduled for dry dock in sept., and it is time to redo some things and freshen up. the crew works very hard, and i cant imagine what living on the boat and working must be like. when the weather was bad, disney scrambled to add entertainment and get out new navigators. while we had perfect weather last year, this year we did not, but we still enjoyed the cruise (except for the rough seas on sunday nite). it was dissapointing not to be able to get to grand caymen, but you cant blame anybody for poor weather. the only sad thing was that the second time around, the 7 day cruise seems to go by even faster!
