I want to start off by saying that our cruise would not have been as fun if not for these boards, the knowledge gained thru them, the friends made thru them. It was so awesome to see all the lime green when we pulled up to embark. Chris, it was so cool to run into you and your family as we got our luggage out of the car! Emily is such a sweetheart! Such sparkly eyes and sweet smile..she's a doll! The Dis'er meet at the Scoops/Mickey Pool was great, but unfortunately, due to embarkation delays for people who arrived later at port (some had to wait 3 hours in line!), not everyone could make it. We made the Martini Party (thanks Ty and Jennifer!), missed the wine tasting, couldn't stay awake for the dancing and was bummed about the champagne party cancellation. It really is hard with everyone doing different things at different times and not knowing ahead of time what the Navigators will have scheduled. Still, it was nice to look across a room and see familiar faces, even just to wave and say hi. Joy and Ed, thank you so much for inviting Grace to Hannah's birthday party. She had a blast and everything was perfect! Lara and Blake, thank you so much for the cute door gifts! It really made our experience so much fun and great momentos! Thank you also for all your hard work on the Lime Green Navigator. Sue, it was great running into you and Kelly all over the place. Kelly is so sweet. Jodi, I'm so glad you recognized Grace at lunch that day and introduced yourself. Unfortunately, I never got your cabin number and never saw you again! Carrie, it was great meeting you and your family and seeing you around! Curt and Susie, nice to of met you two and thanks for such great pics! Ron, nice to of seen you around and still can't believe you are getting ready for another cruise so soon! If I'm forgetting anyone, I'm sorry...it was nice to meet all of you!
I just wish we could of spent more time with everyone.
Ok..anyone with questions please ask. I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
Things we liked:
Our Cabin- booked a Cat 9 GTY..got upgraded to a Cat 6. Don't know if I
could do without a verandah now. HIGHLY recommend it!
Plenty of Character Sightings
Pirate Party was a blast but wish it could've been earlier
The two shows we managed to make it to: Disney Dreams and the Farewell
show were great!
Oceaneer's Club- our daughter was hesitant at first, but we went to "just
go see" and she barely said goodbye, then wanted
to know when she could go back when we picked her up.
She went 2-4 hours a day about 5 days out of 7.
Service- aside from a very few insincere seeming crew members, the service
was great. They really seemed to want to make sure you enjoyed
yourself.
The Merchandise Shops- Great stuff!
---------------------------------------
OK, here we go....I'm just trying to be honest..
Things we didn't like:
The Food--I realize it's difficult to feed a couple thousand people, but we talked to several fellow cruisers who had much better food on other cruise lines. It's hard to describe, but it all tasted very processed and bland. It's like they cooked it and plated it up, but the chef was MIA. The sauces tasted like the kind that come from powdered packets and the desserts tasted like the kind that are frozen, then defrosted. The best thing we ate on board were the baked potatoes. When it comes to food, we are into quality over quantity, but the opposite seemed to be the case on this cruise.
The Mickey Pool- I gotta say, I had imagined my daughter spending much more time in this pool than she did. Thank God for the Oceaneer's Club! She did go in the first day at about 230pm and loved it. However, after that, she never asked to go and we certainly didn't suggest it after seeing how crowded (I understand one fellow Diser had an unfortunate incident with roughhousing unsupervised kids) and frankly, disgusting the water was. It is kept very warm and I don't know if they drain it every evening (it is not even 3 ft. deep), but they should. Whenever I walked by, the water you could see between the bodies was murky and there were always unidentifiable gelatinous "things" floating around.
The Coffee- all of the above would probably of been easier to take, had we at least been able to get a decent cup of coffee. Nescafe is all they had unless you wanted to go buy an espresso or such. For the price we paid for this cruise, we at least expected freshly brewed coffee.
-----------------------
The cruise seemed to have too much of a "scheduled" feel to it. Even if you want to just kick back in a deck chair, you still needed to have that Navigator handy to check the times for any event you might want to do. Upon entering an elevator about 4 days into the cruise we saw a family who were trying to set their schedule.." our Flounder reservation is at 10, the wine tasting is at 230pm, oh, but then Sally wants to see the characters in the lobby at 245pm, oh, but we have our spa reservations at 230p too...etc." The father just looked at us and said, " I can't wait to get back to the office...it's less stressful" and the wife said, " Yeah, and I'll be left to de-program the kids after all these time changes, late nights and sugar!".
-------------------------------
Recommendations - Embark early!
Plan on spending lots of money at Shutters
Somehow, someway, get a verandah room
Have passports for everyone in your party
Have a credit card on file for room charges
Bring a sweatshirt and nice sweater or jacket
Any questions, please ask.
I just wish we could of spent more time with everyone.
Ok..anyone with questions please ask. I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
Things we liked:
Our Cabin- booked a Cat 9 GTY..got upgraded to a Cat 6. Don't know if I
could do without a verandah now. HIGHLY recommend it!
Plenty of Character Sightings
Pirate Party was a blast but wish it could've been earlier
The two shows we managed to make it to: Disney Dreams and the Farewell
show were great!
Oceaneer's Club- our daughter was hesitant at first, but we went to "just
go see" and she barely said goodbye, then wanted
to know when she could go back when we picked her up.
She went 2-4 hours a day about 5 days out of 7.
Service- aside from a very few insincere seeming crew members, the service
was great. They really seemed to want to make sure you enjoyed
yourself.
The Merchandise Shops- Great stuff!
---------------------------------------
OK, here we go....I'm just trying to be honest..
Things we didn't like:
The Food--I realize it's difficult to feed a couple thousand people, but we talked to several fellow cruisers who had much better food on other cruise lines. It's hard to describe, but it all tasted very processed and bland. It's like they cooked it and plated it up, but the chef was MIA. The sauces tasted like the kind that come from powdered packets and the desserts tasted like the kind that are frozen, then defrosted. The best thing we ate on board were the baked potatoes. When it comes to food, we are into quality over quantity, but the opposite seemed to be the case on this cruise.
The Mickey Pool- I gotta say, I had imagined my daughter spending much more time in this pool than she did. Thank God for the Oceaneer's Club! She did go in the first day at about 230pm and loved it. However, after that, she never asked to go and we certainly didn't suggest it after seeing how crowded (I understand one fellow Diser had an unfortunate incident with roughhousing unsupervised kids) and frankly, disgusting the water was. It is kept very warm and I don't know if they drain it every evening (it is not even 3 ft. deep), but they should. Whenever I walked by, the water you could see between the bodies was murky and there were always unidentifiable gelatinous "things" floating around.
The Coffee- all of the above would probably of been easier to take, had we at least been able to get a decent cup of coffee. Nescafe is all they had unless you wanted to go buy an espresso or such. For the price we paid for this cruise, we at least expected freshly brewed coffee.
-----------------------
The cruise seemed to have too much of a "scheduled" feel to it. Even if you want to just kick back in a deck chair, you still needed to have that Navigator handy to check the times for any event you might want to do. Upon entering an elevator about 4 days into the cruise we saw a family who were trying to set their schedule.." our Flounder reservation is at 10, the wine tasting is at 230pm, oh, but then Sally wants to see the characters in the lobby at 245pm, oh, but we have our spa reservations at 230p too...etc." The father just looked at us and said, " I can't wait to get back to the office...it's less stressful" and the wife said, " Yeah, and I'll be left to de-program the kids after all these time changes, late nights and sugar!".
-------------------------------
Recommendations - Embark early!
Plan on spending lots of money at Shutters
Somehow, someway, get a verandah room
Have passports for everyone in your party
Have a credit card on file for room charges
Bring a sweatshirt and nice sweater or jacket
Any questions, please ask.
Margaret
Good to know about the coffee...do you think they'd allow those small 1 cup coffeemakers on board? Not that we don't have enough to pack already. 
