Back from our May 8th cruise, few comments... (LONG)

[DreaminDisney]

Had an awesome time

Sasha and Maria were our servers. Sasha is GREAT!
Had late dining. Our kids are 4 and 7. This worked out perfect for us. Would request late dining again.

Palo was nice. We did both the dinner and brunch. DH and I both said we liked the brunch a little better but dinner was still good. All I can say about the brunch is YUM! That stolen bread is very good as well as most everything else they had out.

REAS Pkg worked out great also. When I booked pkg, I asked if I could do spa taster and DH do well being massage. Debbie said no. It had to be one or other. However, when in room getting massages on cruise, they asked if I would like the spa taster so I had that while DH had well being. I loved getting a facial too.

DH did wave runner excursion at Castaway Cay. It's an hour long, guided tour. There were 2 guides (one front and one in back) and 2 other people on wave runners beside DH. All I can say is if anyone is intrested in doing this, DO IT! DH said this was the BEST! It was 95.00 for the hour and DH said it was just great!! DS couldn't do it because you have to be at least 8. What else can I say about CC that hasn't already been said? The place was beautiful and it was all our favorite port. We rented bikes there too. That was so fun. I miss the place already.

I went to guest services to have a couple itmes signed for kids from characters. I was informed by guest services they no longer did this. We didn't get a signed pillowcase or t-shirt signed.

If you have your kids in kid club night of PJ party, they will get a pillowcase they colored in to keep. Both my kids got these and it's is a nice keepsake from our cruise.

We stayed at the Radisson the night before cruise. I was a little nervous after reading some posts about the place on this board. All I can say is WOW! We had a one bedroom whirlpool suite and it was really nice. I didn't feel the place was dirty or run down at all. I'd stay there again. They also had a friday night buffet dinner and kids ate free. It was very good. Kids also LOVED the pool they had there. DH and I thought the place was nice and a great way to start off our vacation. Anyone planning on staying there, I recommend it. We were also on a shuttle list so that was not a problem at all either.

SPH room was nice too. I'd try and get another one of those if I could next time.

Kids loved the Goofy pool the best. DS liked the Mickey slide too. Kids liked the pools a lot.

Overall, great trip. Comments or questions?

 

[traycie2201]

Glad you had a great trip, will you be posting a day by day trip report ?
also anything you recommend as a don't miss or dont bother ?
thanks
Traycie

 

[Bbgrizzle]

Glad you had such a great time! What was your favorite memory of the trip?

 

[EmmasGrammy]

Thanks for posting. I really love to read trip reports to get me through the waiting!! Sounds like you had a great time. What did you think of the food quality and how were the shows?

 

[skyhawk]

Thanks for the insight - going on the Western in August. What excursions did you do in Cozumel and Grand Cayman? We are up to that point where we want to plan those. I also cannot wait until the midnight dessert buffet - what night was this on ?(I need to plan this kind of stuff you know !).

Thanks for the help!

 

[DreaminDisney]

I have a lot of favorite memories of our trip. One is when we pulled up to Port Canaveral and our driver saying, "There it is!" We all got excited. Also, seeing my kids interact with the characters was cute. Also seeing my kids expressions when we said YES every time they wanted ice cream by the pool *priceless* OH, also when they announced our name while boarding. My kids thought that was very cool! And the sail away horn.... LOL, Just a lot of great memories.

The shows were excellent, except we missed one of the best we were told. "The Golden Mickeys" This was on formal night and we waited too long in line to get a formal picture of the family. BUMMER. We heard it was excellent. We loved 'Disney Dreams' It made me cry.

We didn't do any excursions in Cozumel. We just walked around and stopped in Carlos and Charlies and picked up some T-shirts. That place looked fun but not for kids. DH is also into Harley Davidson so we went to that shop and picked up some things from there. We also found a T-shirt stand that sold T-shirts from Cozumel for 5.00! What a deal

In Grand Cayman we did the Stingray City Observatory & Island Tour. It was fun. Got to go in a moored submarine and see stingrays come right up to window and then the Island tour where we went to "Hell" and turtle farm. We noticed they drive on the opposite side of road there AND gas was 3.85 a gallon there! Glad we didn't need to drive and get gas while visiting

In Key West we did the Trolley.

We were limited on what excursions we could do because DD is only 4. But they did enjoy what we did. DH just LOVED that wave runner at CC.

The food quality was great. It was neat trying new stuff. We loved the lobster tails on Thursday night the best. Palo brunch had some real good stuff too.

Gala Dessert Buffet was Thursday night (on Western) from
11:15 to 12:15. WE MISSED IT! Bummer Oh well, we'll have to do the things on next cruise we missed doing on this one.

Sorry this is so long. My mind is going faster than I can write

Thanks for you questions and replies

 

[goingbacksoon]

How were the seas... and any terrorizing teens/tweens on your sailing? (Hot topic as of late)

goingbacksoon

 

[DreaminDisney]

Smooth sailing. I didn't notice any out of control teens (Way too busy keeping my eye on my own kids) but I did read about what the other posters had to say. It's a shame.

One day we went to see "The Alamo" and noticed a group of teens sitting together but didn't notice any problems.

 

[gottaluvdis]

It's too bad they stopped allowing items to be signed. We were on the Wonder at the end of April and we got my daughter's pillow case signed. I had to stop by guest services several times before it was ready, but they were very accomodating and nice about it. I'm glad your kids got a pillow case from the PJ party though.

 

[jrydberg]

I agree that it's a shame they stopped allowing items to be signed. One of my daughter's highlights from our recent cruise was getting her t-shirt back covered with signatures.

We had a great time on our cruise, in large part due to the extra attention the staff provided. If they take away those little extras, it'll be hard to justify the added expense of DCL. Not there yet, but I'm definitely reconsidering as far as doing another DCL cruise.

 

[Credit Man]

Thanks for the report.

 

[TChrist05]

Howdy....just wanted to say hello again.....we rode the elevator....we ate two tables apart and had Sasha and Maria.....and met on the street in Cozumel.....we did have one fabulous time...great weather...relatively calm seas....great food....great people....just about everything was top notch....and we booked again for December 4th....so here is my question for you....we are going down the Monday after Thanksgiving and spending 5 nights before we go on the ship....so our plan was to stay 4 nights in Beach Club...our vacation club resort.....and book a cheap room on Friday night at the Sport or Pop Century....but now we are thinking of maybe spending Friday at the parks until about 8 and then driving to the port and staying at the Radisson....and then taking the shuttle back to the port....how expensive was the room for you for the night? It would be nice to wake up and not have to rush to the airport and then take the DCL bus to the port....just a leiisurely bus ride on the shuttle to the ship......any suggestions.....we would really appreciate it...

Tom & Marilou.....

 

[DreaminDisney]

Hi Tom and Marilou! It was so nice to meet you guys! I wish we were going back with you guys December 4th! You lucky ducks!! I know you always request Sasha so you will have to say "HI" to him from us!! My kids were so spoiled by him as he brought them a bowl of cherries every night (yep I said a bowl)

We paid 119.00 for our room. They have rooms without the whirlpool that are less expensive. The shuttle worked out great too. No problems at all. Honestly, after reading some posts right before we left, I was getting very nervous but it all worked out like it ususally does

Deb & Dan

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by TChrist05
t....how expensive was the room for you for the night? It would be nice to wake up and not have to rush to the airport and then take the DCL bus to the port....just a leiisurely bus ride on the shuttle to the ship......any suggestions.....we would really appreciate it...

Tom & Marilou.....

We stayed at the Radisson May 7th also, we just had a standard room and we paid 89.00 for it. That was well worth it. We got there to late to swim that evening but in the morning we were in the pool for 2 hours before we had to get out and get over to the port. It was nice to be able to relax in the morning then get in our car at 10 and drive a few minutes to the port.

 

[DisneyForLife]

I stayed at the Radisson also and would stay there again. The room was very clean and the pool is beautiful. And after all the talk about the shuttle I was a bit nervous about the whole thing but it went very smooth. I had called to put our names on the 10:30 shuttle and it actually left a bit early because we were all there. There is an employee checking to make sure you have a reservation so there is no confusion. There are also a few places to eat close by within walking distance if you don't want to eat in the hotel's restaurant.
For anyone concerned about staying there after all the talk we have seen lately, don't worry, it is a very nice hotel.

 

[fireguy5620]

A few comments about some of the posts:

I too was on the May 8th Western Cruise (I will go into detail under a different post)


I dropped off two pillow cases at guest services, brand new still in the wrappers. If I remember, I dropped these off on the second day. They were more than happy to take them and have them signed. They said they wouldn't be ready until the last Friday and I would have to pick them up. My wife picked them up Friday night, took them back to the room while I was out with the kids and put them on their pillows. When they went to bed, they were elated with JOY....very neat and cute.

Also, we stayed at the Radisson the night before. WONDERFUL hotel. Beautiful pool and nice rooms. I would recommend the two room suite if you have kids. We paid 89.00 for a room that had a king size bed and fold out couch, but when we checked in they put us in a room that had only one bed. I called the front desk and they immediately moved us to a two room whirlpool suite for the same price....that room was great.

We flew into Tampa (only place I had enough FF miles for). Rented a car and drove to Port. Took the car back in the morning and rode the rental car shuttle to Port, very seamless and quick since budget is a hop skip and jump from the Radisson. On the way back, same process...took shuttle bus from Ship to budget and rented a car to drive to Orlando for a few days. I would rent a car, forget about the transfers...it's cheaper, your in control to a point and it's easy.

I'll post my views on the trip in a different post when I have more time....My views are quite different than most I think.

 

[DreaminDisney]

fireguy, I'm glad you were able to get the pillow cases signed by guest services for your kids. I'm sure that made them very happy.

I hope they continue to do this as it is a special disney touch and makes a lot of kids very happy.

My kids were very disappointed. They were looking forward to this. Oh well, It's done and over now.

I guess I just asked the wrong CM at Guest Services about this -Debbie

 

[TChrist05]

Hello Debbie & Dan and all the May 8th cruisers I did not get to meet......how do you get the phone number for this hotel...is there a web site and do you think it is too early to book the room for December 3rd? I wonder if you book real early if the price is a little cheaper or they give you rack rates since it is so far away.....anyway....just talking to my wife and it is hard to believe that our cruise was almost over last week at this time......it sure flys these days.....I think Disney should reconsider the policy if they are not signing the pillowcases or t-shirts....these kids are the next generation of grown adults who will bring there own kids there.....and it is quite special.....Kind of sorry my daughter never got to cruise Disney when she was young since they have such great kids programs.....I will say hello to Sasha for you guys....and I did wonder where that bowl of cherries was going every night when Maria had it.....now I know.....and it is so nice that Sasha calls us "his family"....made us feel even more special.....
Talk to you all soon.....
Tom & Marilou... (Tom
Marilou
(Us getting on the Magic)
(Us leaving the Magic last Saturday morning....

 

[Brittwoman]

Originally posted by DisneyForLife
[B
For anyone concerned about staying there after all the talk we have seen lately, don't worry, it is a very nice hotel. [/B]

I second that motion The Radisson was a VERY nice and CLEAN hotel and VERY convinent to port!

 

[hetherp]

Glad you had such a great time. We are considering using the Radisson the night before the cruise too. Just wondered did you book direct or elsewhere. The $119 dollar rate on their website at the moment is for a standard room.

Thanks



Phil


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