Back from the Eastern with 2 little ones

[FLmomof2]

We just returned from the Magic on Saturday. We had a great time!
It was me, my husband, 4 year old, and 20 month old.

The weather was great!
Our servers were amazing (Beckie and Okim)
The shows were wonderful (especially Disney Dreams)
Castaway Cay was Awesome (Eco tour was great)
The ship was VERY clean and constantly being repainted to look "new"
The CM's were soooooo friendly and always ready to help

One thing I would have done differently was waited till my 20 month old was potty trained. She didn't want to stay in the Mickey ear when her sister was swimming in the pool. She also had a hard time sitting for so long at dinner (but our servers were great!). She also is at that independent stage and wants to walk wherever she wants so one daughter would go one way and the other would run the other way......

We were able to take her as a visitor into the kids club to be with her sister as long as we stayed with her and she loved that!

Just thought I would share!

 

[lg3]

Sounds wonderful. I'm glad you had a good time and the weather was great. Are you planning on doing a trip report? We will have a 4 yr old on the Eastern, so I always enjoy those trip reports.

 

[FLmomof2]

I'm not very good at writing, so I thought I could get away with just my little summary.......

My 4 year old did have a great time, she liked the kids club (as long as one of us stayed with her). She never did the Mickey slide but loved our beach days. I think 4 is a perfect age!

 

[Faith&Hope]

Boy, I could use your help! I am cruising with a 4 year old DD and a 20 month old DD in 2 months! We cruised last year when she was 9 months but boy, I can only imagine how much harder it is now! I agree that it will be easier when she is potty trained and then 3 so they could both go into clubs and we could be alone for a longer period of time!! Not to mention, it would be easier to book things or attend things on board!

Can you tell us what you did on port days?

What are some tips for the little one and/or the big one?

 

[FLmomof2]

Boy, I could use your help! I am cruising with a 4 year old DD and a 20 month old DD in 2 months! We cruised last year when she was 9 months but boy, I can only imagine how much harder it is now! I agree that it will be easier when she is potty trained and then 3 so they could both go into clubs and we could be alone for a longer period of time!! Not to mention, it would be easier to book things or attend things on board!

Can you tell us what you did on port days?

What are some tips for the little one and/or the big one?

We didn't get any alone time...but thats okay.

We weren't too impressed with St. Maarten so we took a taxi to Little Divi Beach which was nice. The kids played in the sand, they had umbrellas and chairs, restrooms, and a few little shops. It was $10 each way for all of us.

St. Thomas, we did the Sunny Liston tour, but skipped the beach part mostly because the girls were beached out from the day before. We also did 3 hours of shopping on the tour, which was WAY too much with the girls. The streets are crowded and have very little room for strollers.

Castaway Cay was GREAT! The girls played in the sand and water (no waves). They napped under the umbrella and it was a really nice day!

My daughter fell asleep during Twice charmed but LOVED Disney Dreams, Do Si Do with Snow White, and Welcome to Wonderland in the kids club was fun. We were able to take my 20 month old in to participate as long as we were with her. And the DCU graduation was really cute (the kids got tshirts and mickey ears).

Dinners were a challenge for us and even though we had the first seating the kids were tired and didn't want to sit for 1 1/2 hours. But we brought little cans of Play Do and so small toys with us.

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Sounds like your trip was great.
How did your children like the characters meets?

There is nothing better than fabulous dinner servers when you have small children! Also how was your cabin steward,..and what was his/her name?

What did Disney do for the super bowl? I thought of this particular cruise all during the game,...I said to DH,..."wow, it sure would be GREAT to be sittin around the dumbotron watching this game right now!!!" I got a very supportive yes,...hmmmm ???? maybe superbowl 09....

So tell us,..tons of food? was the game on the dumbotron? I know you have small children, and may not have been at this particuler event, but any info would help.
thanks.

 

[vic32]

My dh watched the game on the dumbotron. He enjoyed it. My dh was the one that came up with idea Pikey wearing the cheerleaders costume!! We got their picure taken together!
I have 4 yo and 8 yo.My 4 yo dd liked the clubs, ut not after dinner.She did enjoy the pajama party, she is still talking about it.
Us adults went to a movie one night, totally into it and here comes Goofy in his pj's and lays down in front of the screen. You don't find that at the local movies.
My dd loved the Sonny Liston tour, we went to the beach also. She fell asleep on the way back to the boat!

It was our first and we loved it!

 

[weloveDCL]

Hey girl it's Kim.. we keep reliving the singing from the back of the Sunny Liston tour bus... Sunday, Monday, Tuesday...

so great to hear your words.. i just finished my very wordy trip report..lol

It was great meeting y'all..

 

[FLmomof2]

We didn't really go to the Character meets (I know...weird). Usually we would just happen to be at the right place at the right time and a character would appear. My little one would not wait in the long line for the scheduled ones and plus with early dinner alot of them where scheduled during that time!

Our room stewardess was Corine and she was great! She knew that we were out early and in early and always left those cute towel animals. My oldest daughter loved the animals my youngest loved the chocolates.

Formal night was changed to Monday, and they showed the Superbowl on the Dumbotron and sold big bags of snacks and had raffles.

So much food! Some nights at dinner I couldn't even eat because I was just so stuffed. But the Chocolate PeanutButter Pie was my FAVORITE!!!

Oh ya we also got a jogging stroller from Guest Services that came in handy and was great off the ship. And we reserved bed rails for girls.

Sunny Liston tour was great! You really got to see the whole island and some beautiful picture taking!

 

[Faith&Hope]

What is the Sunny Liston Tour? I looked online for the excursions and at the passporter but can't find anything on it! I'm interested in looking at this with the little ones!

 

[vic32]

You have to go to Sonny Liston.com. It's not through Disney!

 

[FLmomof2]

What is the Sunny Liston Tour? I looked online for the excursions and at the passporter but can't find anything on it! I'm interested in looking at this with the little ones!

Yes you have to go online and reserve it through his website. It includes 1,2, or 3 hours of shopping (3 was too many with my little ones). Then he takes you sightseeing, and then too the beach. We skipped the beach because it was 2:00 and we were tired so he took us back to the boat.

Its definitely a crazy ride up to the mountain top. We were with his wife and she hit the side of a wall. It was pretty funny (don't let that deter you). Apparently it happens all the time. You are in an open air bus and its pretty nice! The kids liked the drive, and you had plenty of photo opportunities. Its $25 a person and the baby was free.

I reserved this tour after looking at all the Disney excursions and most I couldn't do with the little ones.

 

[FLmomof2]

Useful (to me atleast)
~small battery alarm clock
~play doh for dinner (kids)
~sand toys (kids played with them in the room and on the beach)
~reserved a stroller
~reserved a bedrail
~ziplock bags
~collapsable hamper ($1.50 at walgreens)
~Kids Bonine (my daughter got sea sick one night, I gave her half a pill ever 6 hours and she was good to go)
~Adult Bonine (didn't make me sleeping and I never got sick)
~backpack...it was great on land instead of hand bag (always need two hands with little ones)



Not so much (again to me)

~over the door hanger (neat idea but I just put all our stuff on the shelves)
~small fan for sleeping (it wasn't as loud as the one I have at home)
~movie snacks (we ended up buying popcorn)
~the water package ($35 for 24 bottles...I didn't drink it because it didn't taste very good to me (Evian) the ship water was much better)
~Sea safe lotion (I used it once but the rest of the time I used regular sunscreen)
~Shampoo/Conditioner - The stuff they had in the room was great!
~closepins for the curtains (it was VERY dark in our room and most days we were up before the sun)

I'm sure there is more, since I overpacked on everything from medicine, to diapers..but thats all I can think of right now.

 

[ldeninge]

glad to hear you had a great time!

We just cruised in Jan 2007 with a 5 yo and 20mo. My report is below - I agree with alot of what you said!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

on the Eastern we found 2 excursions that were good for young kids. Our grandkids loved them.
St. Maartin we did the Butterfly farm excursion
St. Thomas Coral world is nice for little kids too.


mom x4,grandma x4

 

[4 mickey]

Hi
We too had becki & okim and think they were the best this was my 5th cruise and till now they both were my favorites .
Castaway is the best isn't it ??

 

[FLmomof2]

Castaway Cay was wonderful! My kids would have stayed there the whole cruise if they could have! Although someone started a fight with us over my daughters bucket, something I wish my daughter hadn't seen. But it definitely was still the best day of our trip!!!!

Beckie and Okim I would highly recommend! They were sweet, and funny, and just went above and beyond to make our dinner the best!

 

[Spike68]

Just got back from the 7 day Western today. We had Beckie as well. She was great. Her assistant was Trent from Australia. They were put together for this cruise because Beckie had Steve Irwin's family at one of her tables. Beckie for her great service. Trent because he's Australian. So, we got to sit next to Terri, Bindi and Robert Irwin (and Terri's mom, Bonnie) for dinner each night.

Just got back this morning, and I miss it already. Disney has a way of making reality look so crappy...

 

[FLmomof2]

Beckie had told us she was asked to serve the Irwin's. Must say something about how good she is! Okim was wonderful too, hard for me to understand, but funny and sweet all the same.

I wonder if they rotate assistant servers all the time or if it was just a special thing for the family?

 

[Magicbound2007]

Beckie had told us she was asked to serve the Irwin's. Must say something about how good she is! Okim was wonderful too, hard for me to understand, but funny and sweet all the same.

I wonder if they rotate assistant servers all the time or if it was just a special thing for the family?

Hi Tracy,
Yes they do rotate servers. I think ours had said every few weeks.