BoardwalkBabe
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2003
- Messages
- 717
We're back from our first Disney cruise and we had a great time! The ship is just beautiful and the cast and crew were all very nice. We loved our room steward - always had a smile, was interested in how our day was going and endured my endless questions; dining room servers were just okay. No problems, but nothing special either.
We were in Cabin 6500, which is an oversized cabin due to being handicapped accessible. It was nice to have the extra space and one giant bathroom, but it was kind of a pain to have a flooded bathroom floor every time you took a shower! I think we used more towels on the floor than on ourselves. Also, while the cabin is all the way at the end of the hall (facing forward, starboard side), it was noisy in that there were two doors for crew members right there and that's where the housekeeping carts come in and out of twice a day, as well as some other things. Not a huge deal - it certainly didn't keep us awake or anything like that - but for those who are keeping tabs on noisy cabins it could be of interest.
We're two adults with no kids who spent the majority of the time snoozing by the adult pool or on an excursion. The excursions were a disappointment. We did the island tour and stingray snorkel in Grand Cayman and it was just chaotic and someone in our group came within inches of being run down by a boat and/or chopped up by a propeller (not our boat - another one that appeared and tried to cram into our space). The Cozumel Fury catamaran excursion was a joke - the snorkel spot was a dump, the beach was nothing great and we ended up getting soaked to the skin and freezing on the way back in during a very strong storm. The skies had been black for quite some time; not sure why they didn't bring us back to port before the bad weather hit. So, for the next time, we'll either skip excursions entirely or book them privately.
Some quick thoughts:
The suction cup hooks were perfect for drying wet bathing suits and I'm glad I brought them.
I had hangars for the majority of our clothes, which was great because it helped get things into the closet and eliminate digging through suitcases. I had a gigantic duffle bag with me and the empty hangars were just stuffed into it for the trip home.
Was a bit freaked out about not being able to find Safe Sea, but if you go to Key West, there is a dive shop on Green street and they sell plenty of it there. We put it on for our Castaway day, but it was too cold for me to swim (water was only 70 degrees and it was windy that day), but DH went in and was fine.
The extension cord for the hairdryer was a must have. Also, I have a medium sized personal organizer from LL Bean and it comes with a hook. It was perfect - I hung it up on the towel rack in the bathroom and all my toiletries were there without cluttering up the small area around the sink.
Brought cloth laundry bags and put them on a hangar in the closet. It was very easy to just stuff dirty clothes in them and then put the whole thing back into the suitcases.
We brought our own snorkel gear and used it three times; it was worth taking with us -- especially after seeing the condition of some of the rental gear.
If you think you are going to do any shopping at all, be sure to attend the first shopping talk that Allan gives for Key West and then watch the others on the TV. He's got freebies to hand out during the talks and has plenty of info on where to go and where not to go! I was not shopping for anything big, but I did follow his recommendations and everything went smoothly.
We brought one six pack of diet coke and six bottles of water with us. Didn't buy the soda package and did just fine without it, but we could have reduced the number of water bottles. Two would have been enough because I ordered a pitcher of ice water from room service every night and just refilled them.
Remember when I said I'd win the prize for overpacking? Well, DH wore everything I sent along in his luggage and I wore everthing except for four extra shirts, one sweater and my exercise gear (I was very bad). I also didn't need to bring along beach towels, six million ziploc bags or a small handbag. None of these things took up a lot of room (it really was a gigantic duffle bag for the non clothing items), but they weren't necessary.
What else... Cameras! My Canon underwater camera died during our Cozumel excursion, so I was very happy to have had three extra throwaway underwater cameras with me. Figured I'd use the Canon and DH would take a throwaway on each excursion and that's what we did. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure I have lost my pix from Cozumel (we have DH's) and it left us with just one camera for Castaway Cay, but we managed.
Castaway Cay was just unbelievably wonderful and we both wished we'd have gone there for the entire week!
Food was just average. Nothing bad, but nothing outstanding either. I do not eat seafood, so the dinner menus were a bit limiting for me. However, they brought me a bday cake on our last night and it was SO delicious!! They should put those cakes on the menu because I would have had it for dessert every night!
Guess that's it for the moment... can't think of anything else right now. We truly had a wonderful time and would like to try the Eastern route the next time. It was a very relaxing trip, we have great tans, and now I have to get working on my scrapbook!
Thanks again for everyone's patience and assistance in answering all of my pre-trip questions. You are a terrific bunch of people and the knowledge you provided really did go far in making this such a smooth trip. <hugs>
We were in Cabin 6500, which is an oversized cabin due to being handicapped accessible. It was nice to have the extra space and one giant bathroom, but it was kind of a pain to have a flooded bathroom floor every time you took a shower! I think we used more towels on the floor than on ourselves. Also, while the cabin is all the way at the end of the hall (facing forward, starboard side), it was noisy in that there were two doors for crew members right there and that's where the housekeeping carts come in and out of twice a day, as well as some other things. Not a huge deal - it certainly didn't keep us awake or anything like that - but for those who are keeping tabs on noisy cabins it could be of interest.
We're two adults with no kids who spent the majority of the time snoozing by the adult pool or on an excursion. The excursions were a disappointment. We did the island tour and stingray snorkel in Grand Cayman and it was just chaotic and someone in our group came within inches of being run down by a boat and/or chopped up by a propeller (not our boat - another one that appeared and tried to cram into our space). The Cozumel Fury catamaran excursion was a joke - the snorkel spot was a dump, the beach was nothing great and we ended up getting soaked to the skin and freezing on the way back in during a very strong storm. The skies had been black for quite some time; not sure why they didn't bring us back to port before the bad weather hit. So, for the next time, we'll either skip excursions entirely or book them privately.
Some quick thoughts:
The suction cup hooks were perfect for drying wet bathing suits and I'm glad I brought them.
I had hangars for the majority of our clothes, which was great because it helped get things into the closet and eliminate digging through suitcases. I had a gigantic duffle bag with me and the empty hangars were just stuffed into it for the trip home.
Was a bit freaked out about not being able to find Safe Sea, but if you go to Key West, there is a dive shop on Green street and they sell plenty of it there. We put it on for our Castaway day, but it was too cold for me to swim (water was only 70 degrees and it was windy that day), but DH went in and was fine.
The extension cord for the hairdryer was a must have. Also, I have a medium sized personal organizer from LL Bean and it comes with a hook. It was perfect - I hung it up on the towel rack in the bathroom and all my toiletries were there without cluttering up the small area around the sink.
Brought cloth laundry bags and put them on a hangar in the closet. It was very easy to just stuff dirty clothes in them and then put the whole thing back into the suitcases.
We brought our own snorkel gear and used it three times; it was worth taking with us -- especially after seeing the condition of some of the rental gear.
If you think you are going to do any shopping at all, be sure to attend the first shopping talk that Allan gives for Key West and then watch the others on the TV. He's got freebies to hand out during the talks and has plenty of info on where to go and where not to go! I was not shopping for anything big, but I did follow his recommendations and everything went smoothly.
We brought one six pack of diet coke and six bottles of water with us. Didn't buy the soda package and did just fine without it, but we could have reduced the number of water bottles. Two would have been enough because I ordered a pitcher of ice water from room service every night and just refilled them.
Remember when I said I'd win the prize for overpacking? Well, DH wore everything I sent along in his luggage and I wore everthing except for four extra shirts, one sweater and my exercise gear (I was very bad). I also didn't need to bring along beach towels, six million ziploc bags or a small handbag. None of these things took up a lot of room (it really was a gigantic duffle bag for the non clothing items), but they weren't necessary.
What else... Cameras! My Canon underwater camera died during our Cozumel excursion, so I was very happy to have had three extra throwaway underwater cameras with me. Figured I'd use the Canon and DH would take a throwaway on each excursion and that's what we did. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure I have lost my pix from Cozumel (we have DH's) and it left us with just one camera for Castaway Cay, but we managed.
Castaway Cay was just unbelievably wonderful and we both wished we'd have gone there for the entire week!
Food was just average. Nothing bad, but nothing outstanding either. I do not eat seafood, so the dinner menus were a bit limiting for me. However, they brought me a bday cake on our last night and it was SO delicious!! They should put those cakes on the menu because I would have had it for dessert every night!
Guess that's it for the moment... can't think of anything else right now. We truly had a wonderful time and would like to try the Eastern route the next time. It was a very relaxing trip, we have great tans, and now I have to get working on my scrapbook!
Thanks again for everyone's patience and assistance in answering all of my pre-trip questions. You are a terrific bunch of people and the knowledge you provided really did go far in making this such a smooth trip. <hugs>
