Group of 20, ages 3-62
There will be several reports from our trip I am sure but here is one more.
Port Arrival
Arrive early it is worth it! We arrived before the port opened (around 9:45) and unloaded everthing at the number loading area. then the men went to return the cars. A few minutes later around the #4 a man opened the gate and loaded up all of our stuff right there. We then just walked into the port and got #2's for boarding and quickly got all checked in. The rest of our group of 20 trickled in over the next hour. They did not seem to call the #'s people suddenly started crowd around the ropes. I made my way to the front and there the woman said they were loading 2's. My entire group of 20 then boarded all together with my #2 boarding pass.
Rotation
I called ahead to request a rotation at first PLA but it had the 5:30 time slot. then asked for the one that had the 6:00 seating which was LAP. Good thing as we had trouble getting there on time. I loved this rotation!!!!!!! Having formal night in Animators was awesome. Everyone in their formal wear looked great against the black and white of the restaurant and the show part of the formal dinner experience.
Rough Seas
If you have any issues with motion sickness take something before you board!!! My husband insisted he never got sick on big boats but that first night had to leave dinner and missed the entire rest of the night because the seas were quite rough. After the medicine got in his system he was fine for the rest of the trip.
Cabin Location
Deck 6 midship #6049. Wonderful location. Convienent to kids clubs and easy hop up to pools or down to restaurants. The only negative was we were hot sleeping at night. about the 5th night I mentioned something to our room steward and he had maintenance come and adjust the temp. I wish I had done this sooner.
Kids club
Check in at port was easy. Make sure you rememeber your password you entered online. I asked there if my son could be moved up from 5-7 to 8-9 and they agreed on a trial basis. He remained in that group the entire time. My kids had a great time in the 8-9's and the others in 10-12. My sisters' 3 year olds were lukewarm about it. My kids loved the camp-out, goofy games, Kim Possible and Ocean Quest Time. Ondeck games were fun also. The 3 year old liked DO SI DO with Snow White.
Palo
As good as all the raving on the board. We requested they private room for the 12 adults for Brunch and dinner( faxed a request in a few months before sailing). We had Brunch Monday and it was great. Some of the very picky eaters in the group were not thrilled about this meal but those of us who like te try new things loved it. Dinner, well that was a highlight for everyone!!!!!! Marco was our server and was amazing. He brought us one of every kind of Pizza and every appetizer (2 of some) and starter to share around the group. Everyone ordered the Prime rib but me, I got the chicken, but Marco also then brought out 3 more dinners for us to share and try. Dessert, Marco brought everyone a Choc. Souf. and then brought one of every other dessert for us to share!!!!!!!!!! Even the picky eaters left very satisfied!!!
Shows
All very good. If you want good seats send some people right after dinner to get seats.
Movies
Casanova- Great Adult movie in Buena Vista Theater one night at 10:00 the kids went to the club and we had a date night.
The Wild- EVERYONE LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!! The Walt Disney theater was rocking with laughter!
Shutters
So many pictures it was crazy. If you like pictures plan to budget quite a bit for pictures. If there are several in your group consider sharing a package deal as you will save a good bit of money. When you see a picture you think you may want take it right away, you can always exchange it later in the week if you find others you like more.. The pictures are moved quite often and it can be a pain searching for them. The Lifestyle portraits are worth the time!
Pools
Closed the first day for quite awhile due to rough sea, except for adult pool. All the kids in our group loved the Mickey Pool. Even though it was packed on sea days it was amazing that all the kids in the pool got on quite well. The goofy pool was crowded also but everyone managed fine and had a great time. The only negative took place at the adult pool. A couple of people got plastered and brought glass into the pool area, despite others yelling at them to get out with the glass. Well, they broke a glass and the pool had to be closed and cleaned!! To say the least there were some very unhappy people.
Pirate Night
Very fun but by the time the fireworks ended we were too tired for the buffet or the movie.
Ports-
ST. Maartin- Went to Great Bay on water taxi. We had a great time on the beach but the town area certainly left much to be desired. Did get some inexpensive souvineers.
St. Thomas
Capt. Nautica morning excursion was great! Only annoyance was that I did not bring my children as I was told repeatedly after much investigation that a 7 year old absolutely could not do this excursion so I left both kids onboard. I did not inquire onboard further concerning this. Well on the excursion with us was a little boy who had 3-4 kids club wrist band on!!!!!!!!! I do not know how that Dad got th e boy on the excursion except if he registerd for it under anothers name and then brought his son instead. The boy did fine and I soo wished I had my kids with me as they would have loved it.
Sky Tram- The view is wonderful but Paradise point itself was smaller area than expected. If you plan to do this go to the excursion desk onboard and you can get tickets cheaper through the ship than just walking up to the tram.
Castaway Cay
We arrived late and so the lines to get off the ship were huge!!!!!!! We did not get in line until they started letting people off around 10:00. By the time we got to the beach it was already packed. My advice.... keep walking almost to the end. It was much less crowded on the beach and in the water at the far end. We had a great day!!!
Stingray Rays- My kids loved it. Even if you are not doing the excursion walk over to see the rays.
Banana Boat- 14 of us went together. Tons of fun. 5 of us fell off!
Final Goodbye
10:15 on last night in the Atrium. Definitely worth going to. My kids loved seeing the actors from the shows as well as tons of characters. In a matter of 15 min. we made our way around the room to a dozen or more characters. The final sprinkling of Mickey Confetti was a great touch.
Around 11:15 we headed on deck for one last look around. Had pizza and sat to enjoy a movie for a few minutes before we headed to bed.
We all returned home exhausted but we loved it!!!!!!!!
Any questions please ask.
There will be several reports from our trip I am sure but here is one more.
Port Arrival
Arrive early it is worth it! We arrived before the port opened (around 9:45) and unloaded everthing at the number loading area. then the men went to return the cars. A few minutes later around the #4 a man opened the gate and loaded up all of our stuff right there. We then just walked into the port and got #2's for boarding and quickly got all checked in. The rest of our group of 20 trickled in over the next hour. They did not seem to call the #'s people suddenly started crowd around the ropes. I made my way to the front and there the woman said they were loading 2's. My entire group of 20 then boarded all together with my #2 boarding pass.
Rotation
I called ahead to request a rotation at first PLA but it had the 5:30 time slot. then asked for the one that had the 6:00 seating which was LAP. Good thing as we had trouble getting there on time. I loved this rotation!!!!!!! Having formal night in Animators was awesome. Everyone in their formal wear looked great against the black and white of the restaurant and the show part of the formal dinner experience.
Rough Seas
If you have any issues with motion sickness take something before you board!!! My husband insisted he never got sick on big boats but that first night had to leave dinner and missed the entire rest of the night because the seas were quite rough. After the medicine got in his system he was fine for the rest of the trip.
Cabin Location
Deck 6 midship #6049. Wonderful location. Convienent to kids clubs and easy hop up to pools or down to restaurants. The only negative was we were hot sleeping at night. about the 5th night I mentioned something to our room steward and he had maintenance come and adjust the temp. I wish I had done this sooner.
Kids club
Check in at port was easy. Make sure you rememeber your password you entered online. I asked there if my son could be moved up from 5-7 to 8-9 and they agreed on a trial basis. He remained in that group the entire time. My kids had a great time in the 8-9's and the others in 10-12. My sisters' 3 year olds were lukewarm about it. My kids loved the camp-out, goofy games, Kim Possible and Ocean Quest Time. Ondeck games were fun also. The 3 year old liked DO SI DO with Snow White.
Palo
As good as all the raving on the board. We requested they private room for the 12 adults for Brunch and dinner( faxed a request in a few months before sailing). We had Brunch Monday and it was great. Some of the very picky eaters in the group were not thrilled about this meal but those of us who like te try new things loved it. Dinner, well that was a highlight for everyone!!!!!! Marco was our server and was amazing. He brought us one of every kind of Pizza and every appetizer (2 of some) and starter to share around the group. Everyone ordered the Prime rib but me, I got the chicken, but Marco also then brought out 3 more dinners for us to share and try. Dessert, Marco brought everyone a Choc. Souf. and then brought one of every other dessert for us to share!!!!!!!!!! Even the picky eaters left very satisfied!!!
Shows
All very good. If you want good seats send some people right after dinner to get seats.
Movies
Casanova- Great Adult movie in Buena Vista Theater one night at 10:00 the kids went to the club and we had a date night.
The Wild- EVERYONE LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!! The Walt Disney theater was rocking with laughter!
Shutters
So many pictures it was crazy. If you like pictures plan to budget quite a bit for pictures. If there are several in your group consider sharing a package deal as you will save a good bit of money. When you see a picture you think you may want take it right away, you can always exchange it later in the week if you find others you like more.. The pictures are moved quite often and it can be a pain searching for them. The Lifestyle portraits are worth the time!
Pools
Closed the first day for quite awhile due to rough sea, except for adult pool. All the kids in our group loved the Mickey Pool. Even though it was packed on sea days it was amazing that all the kids in the pool got on quite well. The goofy pool was crowded also but everyone managed fine and had a great time. The only negative took place at the adult pool. A couple of people got plastered and brought glass into the pool area, despite others yelling at them to get out with the glass. Well, they broke a glass and the pool had to be closed and cleaned!! To say the least there were some very unhappy people.
Pirate Night
Very fun but by the time the fireworks ended we were too tired for the buffet or the movie.
Ports-
ST. Maartin- Went to Great Bay on water taxi. We had a great time on the beach but the town area certainly left much to be desired. Did get some inexpensive souvineers.
St. Thomas
Capt. Nautica morning excursion was great! Only annoyance was that I did not bring my children as I was told repeatedly after much investigation that a 7 year old absolutely could not do this excursion so I left both kids onboard. I did not inquire onboard further concerning this. Well on the excursion with us was a little boy who had 3-4 kids club wrist band on!!!!!!!!! I do not know how that Dad got th e boy on the excursion except if he registerd for it under anothers name and then brought his son instead. The boy did fine and I soo wished I had my kids with me as they would have loved it.
Sky Tram- The view is wonderful but Paradise point itself was smaller area than expected. If you plan to do this go to the excursion desk onboard and you can get tickets cheaper through the ship than just walking up to the tram.
Castaway Cay
We arrived late and so the lines to get off the ship were huge!!!!!!! We did not get in line until they started letting people off around 10:00. By the time we got to the beach it was already packed. My advice.... keep walking almost to the end. It was much less crowded on the beach and in the water at the far end. We had a great day!!!
Stingray Rays- My kids loved it. Even if you are not doing the excursion walk over to see the rays.
Banana Boat- 14 of us went together. Tons of fun. 5 of us fell off!
Final Goodbye
10:15 on last night in the Atrium. Definitely worth going to. My kids loved seeing the actors from the shows as well as tons of characters. In a matter of 15 min. we made our way around the room to a dozen or more characters. The final sprinkling of Mickey Confetti was a great touch.
Around 11:15 we headed on deck for one last look around. Had pizza and sat to enjoy a movie for a few minutes before we headed to bed.
We all returned home exhausted but we loved it!!!!!!!!
Any questions please ask.
