Any trip reports from those just getting off the MR cruise that sailed 2/20 to 2/27?

[sletcr]

Hi all,

Just checking to see if anyone had a cruise report from the last Mexican Riviera cruise that just got back 2/27? We're going in a week and would love to hear the great and not so great about the cruise. Also, would love to hear about sea conditions (rocky or not) and whether or not anyone noticed more sick kids than usual on a cruise for this time of year.

Thanks!!

 

[Bruins]

We literally got off the 2/20- 2/27 cruise a couple hours ago. I know that one Dis-boarder is planning on doing a trip report- hopefully he will post when he gets home.

To answer a couple of your questions- the ship was rocky the first night and somewhat rocky the last night. Otherwise no problems.

The weather was beautiful in Cabo and Puerto Vallarta. We packed some cold weather clothes, as there have been record cold temps in the LA area. The only time we needed any cold weather clothes was for the first night on deck in San Pedro.

We didn't notice any significant amount of sick kids on the cruise.

 

[mnsweeps]

Slectr I was just going to post a thread on TR for folks who did MR cruise last week I PMed you my details for Mar 6 trip

 

[sletcr]

Thanks! We are so excited to leave next Sunday the 6th. Just hoping for nice weather, sea conditions and fun for all!!

 

[mnsweeps]

Slectr I was just going to post a thread on TR for folks who did MR cruise last week I PMed you my details for Mar 6 tri

 

[Bruins]

There was no princess tea on the cruise- my wife was talking to one of the cast members about it. I'll have her post on it.

 

[Bruins]

It was A LOT of fun!

More random thoughts...
Debarkation did not start till about 9:30 or so today. We were part of the Goofy group, and we didn't get off till about 10:45 or so.

There was a party at Edge (Deck 2) late Thursday or Friday night- apparently it got loud enough where there were complaints from rooms in both Deck 1 and Deck 2.

There are a lot of new people working on the Wonder, and they are still learning on the fly. Dining room service was a bit spotty.

Although there are lots of new castmembers, some are great- one night, we were hanging out in the Cadillac Lounge waiting for a show to start in Wavebands. We met a server named Modesto from the Dominican Republic- this was his first cruise and his second day on the job when we met him . Even though we didn't order anything, he was incredibly friendly - he just hung out and talked to us about all kinds of things, including baseball in the Dominican Republic.

 

[LKFan]

I'm Bruin's wife. The process of getting off the ship took a long time. Unlike PC, in LA, they disembark by character (Daisy, Mickey, Chip/Dale, Goofy, etc). Like my husband said, the ship didn't get cleared by customs until 9:15 and we were in the last group (Goofy). We weren't out of the terminal until 11:30 am. I think Disney is going to have to work on the LA disembarkation process. They could have easily had groups in the theaters doing Disney trivia, etc rather than jammed into the atrium outside of Tritons.

I posted it on the main board but there was no princess tea on our cruise. We took a ship tour and were told that they had received uncharacteristically poor reviews in the first few cruises and they are trying to figure out how to address some of the complaints. One area they are trying to address is character interaction. Since they did a princess tea and also had a princess autograph session later in the day, it was, according to him, princess overload.

Other notes.... We were on the second floor (not near the Edge) but walked down the hall to go to the elevators and it was LOUD. There was a large group of boys playing Mario Cart, yelling and cheering for each other. Unfortunately, it was next to the cast member door which isn't sound proof. It sounded like they were screaming directly into the hall across from room 2566. The same sound could be heard just across from room 2062 as there is an emergency exit door that isn't soundproof.

I saw some people leaving their room (2556) and asked them if it was loud. They said not only was it loud because of the screaming but there were often kids running around the corner and down the hall which made a lot of noise. The Edge is open until midnight so that can get old really fast. Our room was farther down the hall (closer to the aft elevators) and didn't hear kids running at all.

Friday night, the Edge has a "homecoming dance" that runs from 11:45 pm - 1 am. Our daughter was at the party and said that they got noise complaints in the first 10 minutes. I spoke to one of the counselors the next day and she said that people on the first floor asked that the kids not jump up and down when dancing. I believe there were also complaints from the 2nd floor. The CM said that this was a really good group of kids (meaning well behaved) but they had a lot of fun doing the activities and it got loud.

I asked a couple of CM what they were going to do with the Edge after dry dock and they both said, "MAJOR changes." One CM said that it might not even be in the same location. The other CM said she thought it would stay on the 2nd floor because that is were it is on the Magic. She also hoped that they change the flooring so that the kids don't have to worry about spilling on the very cool carpet (originally in the conference room).

With all that said, our 11 year old absolutely LOVED the Edge! Our 8 year old was just so so with the lab (played Mario Kart the whole time) but our 11 year old was in heaven!

Also, two of our daughter's friends were 10 years old. Both had birthdays within 2 mos of our sailing. We heard of a 10 year old boy who was also allowed in the Edge for the same reason.

Another note for those of you who are planning, they changed our pirate night from PV to the first Cabo night. We had itinerary A and did back to back days at Cabo. We were told that the reason they changed it was because it was less windy so Mickey can go down the zipline and give a better show.

More later....

 

[mnsweeps]

We are in 2074 next week. it's midship and I assume kids place is away towards the aft.

 

[sletcr]

We are in 2064 and 2066. Is that near the Edge or other noisy areas?

 

[LKFan]

A few more tidbits....

We live 15 minutes from the port and were pacing around the living room Sunday morning, trying to figure out when to leave. We decided to just go to the port and wait there. We arrived at 9:15 and I dropped my husband, kids and luggage at the curb while I parked the car. The porters didn't arrive and the terminal doors didn't open until 9:30 am. Check in is supposed to start at 10 am but it started around 9:45.

Once checked we walked past an area where they were setting up a back drop for photos before we went through security. We thought about waiting for the photo but then decided to continue through to the other side.

Once past security, they tried to seat us by boarding number but that didn't work. They had Disney Channel playing on a large TV. They also had a place to check in for the kids club. The workers were there but they didn't have the bracelets (had to be brought off of the ship from the previous cruise) so couldn't check people in. I think they finally started issuing bracelets around 11:45 am. They also had Mickey/Minnie against a backdrop with a photographer near the kids club registration line.

Boarding started at 12:15 am, lifeboat drill was at 4 pm, Sail-Away party was at 4:30 pm and we left port around 5:30 pm. Everything was 30 minutes later than planned.

The Sail Away party was very very cold and they were selling frozen drinks. It didn't take long before they were offering "2 for 1" on the Drink of the Day so, if you aren't in a rush for your drink, wait 15-20 minutes and get the better price.

I was up early this morning as we pulled back into Los Angeles. Surprisingly, the Cove Cafe was open and they were making drinks and charging them to KTTW cards (even after people closed their accts). I think they said that they were open until 11 am or so and then closed until the next cruise began.

Other things I noticed (because of previous poor reviews).... The walls were really creaking on the first night out and on the last night back. It was quite loud. It was much better once we made it down the coast, closer to Cabo.

Whales - the ship's captain pulled close to Cabo the morning of the second day at sea in order to look for whales. We didn't see any but got some great shots of Los Arcos as well as many dolphins. As we arrived at our first port day at Cabo, we saw whales off the back of the ship.

Los Arcos - Someone, somewhere, asked how close you get to it on the ship. Answer: you get very close. It is nice to take a boat ride out to see them closer but, if you get plenty close on the boat for easy visability and great photos.

Fruit and Veggies - They had TONS of fruit, everywhere you looked. It was almost comical. At the beginning of the BBB buffet they had watermelon, pineapple, cantalope, honeydew melon, oranges, grapefruit, berries (on occasion), apples, bananas. I think I even saw someone eating mangos (although I didn't see them on the buffet myself).

Goofy's Galley had three glass cases - the first had bowls of green salads, the second had sandwich wraps and the third had assorted fruit. I saw many people snacking on fruit and eating fruit as dessert.

Speaking of dessert, there was a large dessert buffet in Tritons on the semiformal night, after dinner. I didn't see it listed in the navigator.

Clayton was our cruise director.

I'm sure others have more to add. We had a large group from the Dis boards on this cruise.

ETA: I was disappointed to see small choc chip cookies on the buffets. The larger cookies, however, are still available from room service.

 

[LKFan]

We are in 2074 next week. it's midship and I assume kids place is away towards the aft.

The Edge is midship, where the conference room used to be. 2074 is closer to the action than where our room was so you should be able to give better perspective on noise levels than I can.

I took a picture of the door number that was directly across from the non insulated Edge door and it is 2062 so, 2064 and 2066 are definitey in the "noise zone."

 

[silence]

Home sweet home!

We had a FABULOUS trip. Our only "negative" was an excursion in Cabo. We did the Pool Resort (Beach Resort was booked, and it was bad too evidently) and the resort was not prepared for us. We felt like second class citizens. A busload and they set out 12 loungers for all of us. 12! It was really bad. I let them know on the ship about our experience here, they credited 25% back. We did the beach resort excursion in Puerta Vallarta and it was the BEST. Oh my, we had a wonderful day here.

We did no shopping in either port though. With our excursions, we just didn't have time. This was a bummer for me, but since I went overboard shopping on board, I guess it helped a little.

As for disembarking, we were in the Promenade Lounge waiting. We heard NO announcements as to which group could get off the ship. Finally we asked and then just went and got in line. Turned out we were one of the first for our section (Minnie), but we were disapointed they didn't have anything playing on the TVs or any sort of announcements in that area.

More later.

 

[sletcr]

Ok, so I'm pretty bummed that we're in rooms 2066 and 2064 and are super close to all this Edge noise? Any advice on what to do? Is that bad every night until midnight and until 1:00am on Friday night. I don't want my 5 year old up all night every night! Were all the rooms in that vacinity pretty upset about the noise? Did Disney do anything about it?

Thanks!

 

[LKFan]

Ok, so I'm pretty bummed that we're in rooms 2066 and 2064 and are super close to all this Edge noise? Any advice on what to do? Is that bad every night until midnight and until 1:00am on Friday night. I don't want my 5 year old up all night every night! Were all the rooms in that vacinity pretty upset about the noise? Did Disney do anything about it?

Thanks!

I only talked to one couple and they said it was loud but they didn't seem upset about it.

I think it really depends on the group of kids who are there that week. This past week was Presidents Day vacation for many schools so there might have been more kids than normal. Plus, all of the kids in the Edge have sign in/out privledges so some may choose to stay and others may just use it as a meeting place. For instance, there was a group of 8-10 boys who played Mario Kart. I don't know how many controllers they had but, as four kids were playing, the others were cheering them on. That just happened to be the dynamic and personality of the kids who were there that week. Also, the Mario Kart noise is on the opposite side from where your rooms are.

 

[sletcr]

Hi Silence,

I just read that you really didn't like the Cabo Resort Beach Getaway excursion. Can you tell me more about that? We have that booked for next Sunday's cruise - the 6th. Is it worth canceling and doing something else or looking for another resort to go to for the day? We want to swim in pools and lay at the beach and just relax. What resort did Disney go to on Medano Beach?

Thanks!

Stacy

 

[talie]

Hi all,

Just checking to see if anyone had a cruise report from the last Mexican Riviera cruise that just got back 2/27? We're going in a week and would love to hear the great and not so great about the cruise. Also, would love to hear about sea conditions (rocky or not) and whether or not anyone noticed more sick kids than usual on a cruise for this time of year.

Thanks!!

Just got back home from our cruise a few hours ago. I discovered that I'm very prone to seasickness and the first and last nights were rough for me. The first night was relatively tame but the motions were very inconsistent so I think that is what really got to me. The ride back home was stormy with 30-40 mph winds and 12 ft swells (or that is what someone told me anyway).

Random thoughts

-LA was cold both coming and going. This was pretty predictable as a cold front had just moved in. I wish I had packed at least one additional sweatshirt. As you got into Mexico it warmed up but could still be quite chilly on the tender boats or other boat excursions. The water was a bit chilly but not too bad. Although my disclaimer there is that I'm from Northern California where ocean beach days are typically foggy, windy and cold and the water is freezing.
- fruit, fruit, fruit - cantelope, pineapple, honeydew, watermelon, bananas, oranges, apples, grapes, blackberries- all readily available at the buffets and Goofy Galley; BBB also had strawberries at breakfast
- rooms creaking - on night's where the seas were rougher the ceiling in our room sounded as though there was rain falling on it. More white noise than anything else but the first night when I was seasick and not sleeping to well it did drive me a bit batty.
- PV - Las Caletas - we really enjoyed this excursion. My kids loved the beach and innertubes that they had were a huge hit. (Adult supervision is definitely needed however as kids were being dumped off of them left and right.) The boat ride back turned into a whale watching expedition with one whale breaching 3x. It was absolutely amazing.
- Cabo - whale watching with Pez Gato - This was a great, inexpensive trip. We paid $60 at the pier for 2 adults and 1 kid (we'd originally booked online but for some reason the paperwork got messed up. In the end this ended up saving us money $21 as they didn't charge for my daughter and after getting seasick on the Las Caletas trip my son was quite happy to stay on ship at the Lab.) The trip was a 2 hour boat trip which takes you past Los Arcos, Lover's beach, sea lion rock, Divorce beach and then out to look for whales. We got really close to a couple of whales and saw them surface repeatedly. No breaching but they stayed very close to the surface so you got to see them quite a bit.
- staff - our servers and room attendants were fabulous. Some friends we met on the cruise didn't have quite as much luck as we did. I do have to say that I got seasick on the first day and ended up getting up and walking out of the dining room after about five minutes. Shortly thereafter dh and the kids got up and left as well as the kids were tired and wanted to be with mom. I think we sent them into a state of panic. dh was approached by the head server as well as the person in charge of dining room to make sure that everything was okay. Our server Miguel actually delivered the meals to our room. Definitely first notch service.
- the Lab - I find the lab an interesting contrast. They have some of the best programming with Flubber, Lava Flow, and the Ratatoullie Cooking School. All of these were packed and the kids loved them. The head entertainment guy in the lab was first notch and did a great job keeping the kids entertained and interested. The contrast for me however was the lack of physically interesting things to do at the lab. My very large 8 year old son had a blast at a couple of activities at the Club simply because they were silly, fun and physical. He loved the Luau and chasing Stitch through the slide area. He also loved the training with the green army men from Toy Story. At the lab if one of the special programs wasn't on he pretty much was either in front of a computer or sitting in front of a TV. It would be nice if the Lab had a slide or other physical component to it other than just computers and TVs.
- breakfast - I'm not sure what they do to the scrambled eggs but they are quite slimy and icky. The waffles in general also tasted weird. We generally opted for the buffet as my kids are picky. We all were able to find food to eat but b-fast is definitely a weak point in the Disney dining experience.

- I'll add more later as I'm quickly fading.

 

[mmmears]

Great to hear about all the fruit!

About the salads at Goofy's -- does anyone remember what they have there?

Glad to hear people are enjoying the Wonder.

 

[LKFan]

Great to hear about all the fruit!

About the salads at Goofy's -- does anyone remember what they have there?

Glad to hear people are enjoying the Wonder.

I didn't look at them in great detail daily but one day it was iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes and corn. Another day it was iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes and red onion. They were pretty generic and you added your own dressing at the end.

The red onion seemed old, as if it had been sliced earlier and refrigerated (kind of light grey on the sides).

The salad bars definitely left something to be desired. They had garbanzo beans, black olives, carrot shavings, tomatoes, red onion and not much else. They could have easily added corn, peas, cucumber, celery, etc as those vegetables were incorporated into other dishes on the cruise so should have been available. We didn't do the buffet often but saw iceberg lettuce, a California type lettuce mix as well as raw spinach.

On the buffets, they had 3-4 marinated salads which I don't care for because they often have too much dressing for my taste.

ETA: It may have been there previously and I didn't notice it but they also offered a salad as a dinner entree each night.

 

[silence]

Hi Silence,

I just read that you really didn't like the Cabo Resort Beach Getaway excursion. Can you tell me more about that? We have that booked for next Sunday's cruise - the 6th. Is it worth canceling and doing something else or looking for another resort to go to for the day? We want to swim in pools and lay at the beach and just relax. What resort did Disney go to on Medano Beach?

Thanks!

Stacy

I'm sorry for the confusion. We did the Resort POOL get away which was horrid. However, we tendered with some ladies that did the Resort BEACH get away on their own and they were so disappointed in it. Plus, when I went up to the Port Adventures desk to let them know about my experience, they said "Let us guess which one you were on, Resort BEACH get away?" I responded with, "no, but close". So apparently those that had booked through Disney had complained as well. The ladies with me said they didn't save money by doing it on their own, they had to pay $12 for the taxi each way plus the tips every time they brought them food/beverages. Sorry I didn't ask specifics of them, but they said repeatedly they wished they had done something else.