Browns vs. the Mexican Riviera, March 4-11, 2012 (completed 3/20; added Navigators)

[Dinotrex]

Erin,

You are quite the blogger. And a great photographer to boot.

It was our first cruise, so we were not so adventurous at the port of calls...we did enjoy quiet time on the ship.

We will be prepared for our next cruise on the Disney Fantasy in November 2013.

Cheers,

Joel

 

[papamouse1]

Great trip report! I'll be on the 4/1 MR cruise, and this has really helped me get even more excited for my trip



Was Golden Mickeys the only show that a matinee was offered, or did they do that for every show?

They usually do a matinee for "Dreams" on Friday night as well, but not for any other shows

 

[jetskigrl]

Thank you so much for the awesome trip report!!!! We board the Wonder in 2 1/2 weeks so being able to see the recent navigators (and your experiences) has been wonderful.

 

[robmeme]

Thank you so much this was a GREAT trip report. We leave in a few weeks and you have given us so much to look forward to.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We live in San Diego, so we decided to drive up a day early and stay in a hotel in order to alleviate some of the stress the morning of the cruise. I followed the instructions I found on the Dis and got a room at the Crowne Plaza for $65 (plus taxes making the total around $82).

Oh, I did not see this. Please share how to get a $65 room at the Crowne Plaza.

 

[GooniesAndy]

Was Golden Mickeys the only show that a matinee was offered, or did they do that for every show?

There was also a matinee performance of Dreams, but the rest just had the nighttime performances. We loved being able to go in the afternoons, because 8:30 was just a bit on the late side for the kids, and the two matinees were far less crowded than the late performance of Toy Story.

 

[GooniesAndy]

Oh, I did not see this. Please share how to get a $65 room at the Crowne Plaza.

I did it through Priceline, the name your own price section. You can enter San Pedro, CA (it may end up saying something like "Port of Los Angeles", I can't remember), and then I entered that I wanted a 3 star or greater hotel, and put in $65 for the price. I would have been fine if I'd gotten another hotel, because I really just wanted the peace of mind that doing our traveling the day before would give me, but I was aiming for the Crowne Plaza. I checked other sites and saw that the room would have been about $180 plus taxes if booked directly.

 

[GoCruiseDaddy]

I have to thank you for passing it forward as you stated earlier. You get an A++. Not only did you pay it forward for those of us about to cruise you get an A+++ for being the best DIS poster of all time. I am a certified Project Manager and I have to say you managed every detail of your cruise with some serious skills. And how you found time to think of us simply amazes me. Thank you so much for the excellent pictures and passing it forward.

 

[skoi]

Thanks for the great trip report. Not taking a MR cruise- but we're doing the PC in December and were wondering what it's like cruising the West Coast.

Did you like your serving team? Would you recommend them? We don't know anyone on the Wonder and are looking for server recommendations. Thanks.

 

[papamouse1]

When we got back to our room, we found the black 9" Vinylmation we'd dropped off at guest services the first day waiting for us.

Quick question, what kind of pen did you use for the silver signatures on these vinylmations? We ordered the black 9" and are going to get them signed as well for anniversary keepsakes from our cruise

 

[GooniesAndy]

Did you like your serving team? Would you recommend them? We don't know anyone on the Wonder and are looking for server recommendations. Thanks.

We loved our serving team! Banjo and Phapakorn were really great and took excellent care of us. I miss them!

Quick question, what kind of pen did you use for the silver signatures on these vinylmations? We ordered the black 9" and are going to get them signed as well for anniversary keepsakes from our cruise

I just used a fine-tip silver Sharpie. I didn't feel like trying to get too fancy, and I knew the silver would look good.

 

[skoi]

We loved our serving team! Banjo and Phapakorn were really great and took excellent care of us. I miss them!

Thanks. It sounds like they were great. We've sailed the Magic and the Dream and had regular servers after our first two cruises. We're going to miss them this time.

 

[GooniesAndy]

Thanks. It sounds like they were great. We've sailed the Magic and the Dream and had regular servers after our first two cruises. We're going to miss them this time.

I would absolutely request them on a future cruise. The only time we had any trouble was the first night when things were slow, but from reading other reports, everyone had that issue and it had nothing to do with the servers. This was our first DCL experience, so I don't have anything to compare against, but I felt like it was just the right amount of extra interaction without interfering with the actual process of eating dinner and conversation and all that.

 

[Joshecho]

Thank you so much on your TR, I enjoyed reading and looking at your pictures. It really brings back memories on my family's MR cruise last January 2012.
Cheers!!!

 

[DCW]

I can't tell you how much my family appreciates your Trip Report. We are on the April 22 cruise to the MR which is the last one until October. Your Pics are fantastic and we can see your kids had a blast. They will take these memories with them for the rest of their lives. We especially like the pics of the kids falling asleep from pure fun/exhaustion.

I was able to get the same Dining Rotation (PTTAPTA) that you had and we think it wil work perfectly with our existing PALO reservations.

We can't thank you enough for all your help.

We are on the April 8th sailing,
how did you get your dining rotation? I would love that info for planning ]I called disney and they said they could not tell me.
please help

 

[DCW]

great report, great pics,

were you able to put the tips on a credit card? or charge it to the kttw card?

 

[papamouse1]

great report, great pics,

were you able to put the tips on a credit card? or charge it to the kttw card?

If you are talking about the onboard tips for servers, etc, they can be charged to your onboard account and then you pay for that account however you choose.... credit card, Disney cash cards, whatever

 

[GooniesAndy]

We are on the April 8th sailing,
how did you get your dining rotation? I would love that info for planning ]I called disney and they said they could not tell me.
please help

I just called them up and told them I'd like to request the specific rotation. They didn't guarantee anything, and it didn't show up on our reservation or anything, but we did get the one I requested.

great report, great pics,

were you able to put the tips on a credit card? or charge it to the kttw card?

Yes, we asked them to charge our tips to our room, which we paid for with a credit card. You could also just pay with cash if you preferred to do so, but it seems easiest to pay it all at once!

 

[luvslikepi]

It has been an absolute pleasure to read your TR and view all the fantastic pictures of your family. Thank you for sharing!

 

[twindaddy]

I just called them up and told them I'd like to request the specific rotation. They didn't guarantee anything, and it didn't show up on our reservation or anything, but we did get the one I requested.



Yes, we asked them to charge our tips to our room, which we paid for with a credit card. You could also just pay with cash if you preferred to do so, but it seems easiest to pay it all at once!

Wow, your servers sounded great. We will be onboard in a few weeks, did they mention how much longer they would be on the ship? Maybe I should ask for them! I will tell them you said hello!