mitsguy2001
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2006
- Messages
- 597
As I've mentioned before, I was on the 4 night Wonder cruise from April 30 - May 4, 2006. I am a 26 year old male, and was cruising with my 27 year old girlfriend. The weather was beautiful during the entire cruise, and we had a truly wonderful time; 4 of the best days of my life.
The day before the cruise, we flew on Southwest airlines and stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. Despite the anxiety that I had mentioned in other posts, we decided to use Disney's Magical Express luggage handling. That worked out very well. Although the luggage took longer to arrive than expected, I'd still use the service again. Port Orleans Riverside was a beautiful resort. My girlfriend has previously stayed at several other Disney resorts, ranging from value to deluxe, and Port Orleans Riverside was her favorite. I won't comment much on it here since this is really a cruise report, but I do very highly recommend it!
Day 1: Sunday, 4/30: Port Canaveral
The next day, we used the Disney transfer to Port Canaveral. They picked up our luggage in the morning; despite the anxiety that I had mentioned in previous posts, that worked out very well. The Disney transfer got us to the port at a perfect time. Since my girlfriend is a Castway Club member, we used the Castway Club line, which had no wait at all. We got on the ship at 1:30; a perfect time since it was exactly when our stateroom was available.
We then found out that our assigned rotation was the 8:30 PM rotation, PTTA. As adults, that is the rotation that we expected. We were very happy with that; the 8:30 time was very convenient for us, and we liked having the adult rotation, and we liked having formal night in Triton's. The only negative was that we had our Palo reservations on Night 4, when we were scheduled for Animator's Palate, but it seemed that Palo was more important. And, our Palo reservation wasn't until 9:00, so we could spend 30 minutes in AP that night.
We first went to our stateroom to drop off our carryon bags. We had a Category 9 room on Deck 2 midship. This was actually a wonderful location; it was very convenient, and was very quiet; both of us would very happily stay again on Deck 2. We opted to have lunch at the Beach Blanket buffet, so that we could eat outside on deck. We spent most of the afternoon exploring the ship and hanging out on deck. We had a nice time at the sailaway party. We did not go to the ventriloquist show that night; but we did have 2 more opportunities to see him. We just wanted to spend that time on deck enjoying the ocean.
Dinner that night was at Parrot Cay. My girlfriend wore a beautiful tropical dress, which was appropriate for the theme of that restaurant (and that was one of the reasons why we were happy with the PTTA rotation, despite missing AP). Our tablemates were very nice, and we hit it off very well with them. One was a couple celebrating their honeymoon, the other was a couple celebrating their 25th anniversary. Unfortunately, the sea was unusually rough that night. One of the couples said that it was even rougher than during a hurricane cruise. Our assistant server was seasick that night, as was one of our tablemates, who did not eat anything and had to leave early. I was feeling slightly dizzy, but was still able to enjoy the dinner.
The captain said that the seas would calm down around 11:00. My girlfriend and I relaxed in our stateroom until 11:00, when it did calm down dramatically. We then went to Wavebands, and danced the night away!
Day 2: Monday, 5/1: Nassau
The next day was Nassau. The weather was beautiful, and the seas were calm, and they had no trouble docking. We opted to have breakfast at Parrot Cay, which we liked because of the tropical theme. We were on the Catamaran Sail and Reef Snorkelig excursion. We enjoyed this very much, and felt that it was a wonderful experience. The boat ride was very nice, and there were a lot of beautiful fish and coral. We were very glad that we did that excursion. We returned to the ship for lunch. The port security guard told me to take good care of the beautiful lady I was with! We had lunch on deck at the Beach Blanket Buffet.
We then headed out again, with the intentions of going to Cable Beach. When we left the port, a cab driver asked us if we were going to the beach. We assumed he meant Cable Beach, and got in the cab. However, we misunderstood; the other couple in the cab was going to Atlantis. So, we went to the public beach at Paradise Island, which was very nice, and we enjoyed ourselves there a lot. The cab ride for our trip back to the port was very entertaining. It was rush hour, so we got stuck in a lot of traffic, especially on the bridge going back to Nassau. However, it was entertaining, since the driver played junakoo music on the radio. And, it was entertaining to see a lot of people riding in the back of pickup trucks, which seemed quite dangerous.
We enjoyed our time in Nassau a lot. We have heard horror stories of people being harassed by vendors. We did not find that at all; we found it to be fairly low key. There was a vendor at Paradise Island beach trying to sell us drinks, but he did not really bother us. We also discussed how any port is all about what you make of it. It is important to have a plan like we did. I know that some people on this board don't particularly like Nassau. We suspect that if you arrive there with no plan, and just walk around aimlessly, you might not like it. However, if you book an excursion, such as a snorkeling exursion (the Bahamas is one of the best places in the world for snorkeling), and if you do things that you like to do, such as going to the beach, you will enjoy your time there. However, it appeared that people (such as one of the couples at our table) who did the city tour exursion were given a very negative impression of Nassau. We were glad to have avoided that. We would very happily go on another cruise with Nassau as a port of call.
The show that night was Hercules, which we enjoyed very much. That night was formal night, and it worked out very well that we were in Triton's that night. I wore my suit, and my girlfriend wore a beautiful formal dress. However, many people, such as some of our table mates, were dressed very casually. That did not bother me too much, since it was their vacation too, but it did slightly bother my girlfriend. Dinner that night was great; and we talked a lot about what we did in Nassau. We told them about how we had such a wonderful day. As I said before, the couple who did the city tour was somewhat disapointed. The other couple did the Atlantis tour, which they seemed to enjoy. We went to Wavebands again that night, and danced the night away at the 80s party!! Since we both grew up in the 80s, we enjoyed that very much.
Day 3: Tuesday, 5/2: Castaway Cay:
Once again, the weather was beautiful, and the seas were calm! I was very excited to hear the announcement in the morning that we docked at Castaway cay!! I was looking forward to this day for a long time, and it seemed obvious it was going to be a beautiful day. We had breakfast again at Parrot Cay. And then we left the ship to go to Castaway Cay! This was truly an island paradise, and it was every bit as beautiful as others on this board had described! We first spent time at the family beach, which we enjoyed a lot, and had a very festive atmosphere! We took a walk, and went to the gift shop, and had intended to go to the post office to mail some postcards. Unfortunately, when we got to the post office, we find out that it was closed for lunch; we were given no indication of this before we walked there. That was the only negative in an otherwise wonderful day. We did not mind too much, since I did get a nice walk with my girlfriend on a beautiful island with beautiful weather. We had lunch at Cookie's, which we enjoyed very much. As a side note, the navigator said that Parrot Cay was open for lunch; As nice as PC is, we cannot figure out why anyone would want to eat lunch there that day, when they could have lunch at Castaway Cay like we did; but we realize everyone has their preferences. After that, we took the tram to the adult beach, which was very nice and peaceful. We were 2 of the last people to leave the water; it felt like the 2 of us had our own special section of he ocean; that was a wonderful feeling. The only negative about the adult beach was that the water was very rocky; although we were able to avoid that by finding an area that was very soft. We took the last tram of the day back to the family beach, where we hung out for a while; it seemed that we were also 2 of the last people to leave there. When we left there, we took the tram back to the ship.
That night was pirate night, and the show was Golden Mickey's. My girlfriend was very much into the theme nights and restaurant themes, so of course we had pirate outfits for that night. However, some people in the Deck 2 hallway (mostly crew members) appeared unaware that it was pirate night, and gave her a strange look. We enjoyed Golden Mickey's very much, and we enjoyed the pirate dinner at Tritons. I have read on this board that some people felt uncomfortable with pirate night in Triton's. We both actually thought that pirate night worked very well in Triton's. It seemed that all of our tablemates love Castaway Cay.
That night, we went to the pirate party, and we saw the fireworks show, which was very impressive. But the most impressive of all was Mickey swining on the line between the two smokestacks! After leaving the party, we went to the adult commedy / ventriloquist show at Wavebands. Michael Harris was very good-he and "Mr. Tennis Ball" were exceptionally funny! This was followed by a band, High Frequency, which we also enjoyed. It was supposed to be followed by kareoke night, but unfortunately, most people had already left the club for the night, so that kind of bombed out. That was a slight disapointment, but it was such a wonderful day that it didn't even matter.
Day 4: Wednesday, 5/3: Day at Sea
Another beautiful day! We slept later that day, since it was a relaxing day at sea, and we had been up late the night before at Wavebands. As usual, we had lunch at Parrot Cay. We then spent almost the entire day up on deck, mostly swimming in the Quiet Cove pool, and watching the ocean. We enjoyed the Quiet Cove pool a lot, and the water was very warm. The ocean was extremely calm that day. Most people we talked to said that other than Sunday night, this cruise was the calmest that they had ever seen the ocean. We had lunch at Pluto's Dog House, which we enjoyed, and we ate it by the Quiet Cove pool. We were very glad that we chose the 4 night cruise rather than the 3 night cruise, since we really enjoyed the day at sea.
The show that night was Disney Dreams. It was a very beautiful, very moving story. Of all the shows, this one was our favorite, although we did enjoy all of them. After that, we went to Michael Harris's family ventriloquist / magic / commedy show. We enjoyed both this family version, as well as the adult version on Tuesday night. We did not go to his Sunday night show (since we just wanted to be on deck and enjoy the ocean), but I heard that it was also excellent.
Because we had Palo that night, I wore my suit, and my girlfriend wore another beautiful dress, even though it was a casual night. We went to the first 30 minutes of our regularly scheduled Animator's Palette dinner, so that we could see the restaurant, and chat with our tablemates, and give the servers our tips. One of the couples also had a Palo reservation that night, so they were not there. The other couple had originally booked Palo that night, but cancelled it, since they did not want to miss Animator's Palette.
Dinner at Palo was excellent!! We both enjoyed it very much, and our server was excellent! Palo was every bit as good as others on this board have said! The reason why we booked the latest possible Palo time on the last night of the cruise was so that we would have something to look forward to until the very end of the cruise, and so that we could end with a romantic dinner for the 2 of us at an exclusive restaurant! Where else can you get food like that for only $10 per person, plus drinks! We were the last couple to leave Palo on the last night of the cruise. My girlfriend was previously considering cancelling our Palo reservation when we found out that we had the PTTA rotation, but we were very glad that we did not! Luckily, the water was very calm that night. I overheard one of the servers saying that on Sunday night, most of the people cancelled their Palo reservation. That was a shame. We did notice that a lot of people were dressed very casually at Palo. While I can somewhat understand casual dress at formal night (since it was not well publicized, and dressing up might not be for everyone), but we do feel that people who don't like to dress up might prefer not booking Palo.
The only negative to having a late Palo reservation on the last night was that we missed the 11:00 time to have our luggage packed. Luckily, we were able to make special arrangements, so it worked out fine. Guest services told us to just call them after we had packed. That worked out well. That night, before going to bed, we spent some time just looking out the porthole of the room watching the ocean; it was so beautiful, and we did not want the cruise to end.
Day 5: Thursday, May 4: Getting kicked off the ship
Obviously, this was the worst day of our trip. We had to get up early. Luckily, since we had the late dinner seating, we had the latest breakfast. This breakfast was at Animator's Palette; I was glad that we did have the opportunity to have one meal there. AP also worked out well, since we had picture to pick up at Shutters. After breakfast, we did not want the cruise to end. So, we took a walk around the Deck 4 promenade, and stayed just about as long as we could before we had to leave.
The luggage system at Port Canaveral with the character tags worked out very well; we found our luggage immediately. And, the Disney transfer back to the airport worked very well. I am very glad that I listened to my girlfriend and used the Disney transfers and their luggage handling! It worked out very well for us. Although, I realize that for a large family it might not be the best option, but it worked great for us!
General comments:
As I said, this trip was 4 of the best days of my life! It had so many wonderful aspects that I cannot possibly choose just one favorite part. And, I can really not think of any negatives. Of course, the weather was perfect, and the seas were exceptionally calm (except for a few hours on Sunday night), so I realize that perhaps others might not have quite the same experience. We were lucky that the only rough seas were on Sunday; it did not interfere with formal night, pirate night, or our Palo reservation, nor did it interfere with any ports of call; and it was just a distant memory by the later part of the cruise.
As I said, we were in a Category 9 stateroom on Deck 2 midship. This was a great location. We were very happy to have the porthole with a beautiful ocean view. If we had a verdanah, we likely would not have used it much, since we spent such little time in the stateroom; although a verdanah might be nice for a longer cruise, or perhaps for a couple or family that was less active than we were. The midship location was very convenient. And, Deck 2 meant that we were very close, and could bypass the elevators and use the stairs to get to the Deck 1 gangway, as well as the restaurants, theater, and nightclubs on Decks 3 and 4. We mostly only needed the elevators to get to Decks 9 and 10; we were convenient to all 3 elevator lobbies. I know that others have posted here that they found the elevators slow. We did not find that to be the case at all. We found that in all 3 lobbies, the elevators arrived very quickly, and once we were in them, they very quickly took us to Decks 9 or 10. I wonder why others found them to be slow. My guess was that since we used them to go to Decks 9 and 10, which not everyone would be going to at the same time, there was no backup; whereas maybe at dinner time, when we did not use them at all, there could have been more of a backup. For that reason, we would very happily stay again on Deck 2. It was a good feeling being at Castaway Cay when perhaps the Deck 8 people were sitting in an elevator lobby!
We liked our stateroom a lot. We liked having the split bathrooms; it allowed both of us to get ready simulatneously. I'm surprised that others here thought that the split bathrooms were a negative.
One thing that was surprising was that it said that whatever key to the world card locked the safe was the only one that could unlock it. That was not a problem for us, since we spent the entire cruise together, and we rarely needed to access the safe (we used it to store our passports and wallets, neither of which we needed to access during the cruise).
I have read here that people talk about a steamer trunk in the room. We are not sure what they were talking about. Did our room perhaps not have one? I'd be surprised at that, since our room was what the Disney website suggested as the best available Category 9 room. Maybe since we were just a couple with no kids it figured that we did not really need a steamer trunk. In any case, it wasn't a big deal; we had ample room for clothes for the 2 of us; but it might have been harder for a family with kids.
Our late seating 8:30 dinner time worked very well for us. Although, I understand that that time might not be for everyone. As expected, the majority of the people in our rotation seemed to be adults, although there were some kids; but they were all very well behaved. In fact, all of the kids we saw on the ship were very well behaved.
It was also great how Disney catered to every age group, including adults like us, by having the adult pool, the adult beach, and the adult nightclubs. This worked very well. I am surprised that others have said that there were few activities for adults without children. We found quite the opposite, that there were a lot of activities for adults. But I guess it all depends on what you like to do. I am also surprised that others have complained about kids using the adult venues. I did not find any of that at all; I did not see any kids in any adult venues. In any case, I suspect that none of the adult venues would have been of much interest to most kids. I also felt that the rotational dining seemed to be mostly geared toward adults. I think that it might have been a little too much for most kids.
You may also remember that I had some anxiety about where to store my license and key card at the beach. I took the suggestion that others had given, and bought a swimsuit that included a water wallet; that worked out very well.
Also, you may remember a thread about boardfirst. I used that for our return flight, and it worked out very well. So it appeared to be safe and reliable. From what I've heard, Southwest does not object to its usage. I liked having the peace of mind that we'd get our Group A boarding passes, and that I could be enjoying myself on the ship rather than having to get to the computer exactly 24 hours before our flight. Since we were on Deck 9, we printed our boarding passes at Cove Cafe when we had a convenient time to do so.
As a side note: I have seen people complain about people referring to Palo as Palo's. However, Shutters referred to it as Palo's. And, the Travel Channel special referred to it as Palo's. So, it seems that either name is acceptable.
Again, this was a great cruise, and we both enjoyed it very much, and I look forward to another cruise in the future! I enjoyed many of the unique Disney touches, such as them playing "When You Wish Upon a Star" before an announcement on the loudspeaker. Also, everyone on the ship was so friendly, and in such a good mood. Most of the negative comments that I've heard about the cruise appeared to be unfounded; although I realize that perhaps others may either have different preferences or a different experience than we did.
The day before the cruise, we flew on Southwest airlines and stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. Despite the anxiety that I had mentioned in other posts, we decided to use Disney's Magical Express luggage handling. That worked out very well. Although the luggage took longer to arrive than expected, I'd still use the service again. Port Orleans Riverside was a beautiful resort. My girlfriend has previously stayed at several other Disney resorts, ranging from value to deluxe, and Port Orleans Riverside was her favorite. I won't comment much on it here since this is really a cruise report, but I do very highly recommend it!
Day 1: Sunday, 4/30: Port Canaveral
The next day, we used the Disney transfer to Port Canaveral. They picked up our luggage in the morning; despite the anxiety that I had mentioned in previous posts, that worked out very well. The Disney transfer got us to the port at a perfect time. Since my girlfriend is a Castway Club member, we used the Castway Club line, which had no wait at all. We got on the ship at 1:30; a perfect time since it was exactly when our stateroom was available.
We then found out that our assigned rotation was the 8:30 PM rotation, PTTA. As adults, that is the rotation that we expected. We were very happy with that; the 8:30 time was very convenient for us, and we liked having the adult rotation, and we liked having formal night in Triton's. The only negative was that we had our Palo reservations on Night 4, when we were scheduled for Animator's Palate, but it seemed that Palo was more important. And, our Palo reservation wasn't until 9:00, so we could spend 30 minutes in AP that night.
We first went to our stateroom to drop off our carryon bags. We had a Category 9 room on Deck 2 midship. This was actually a wonderful location; it was very convenient, and was very quiet; both of us would very happily stay again on Deck 2. We opted to have lunch at the Beach Blanket buffet, so that we could eat outside on deck. We spent most of the afternoon exploring the ship and hanging out on deck. We had a nice time at the sailaway party. We did not go to the ventriloquist show that night; but we did have 2 more opportunities to see him. We just wanted to spend that time on deck enjoying the ocean.
Dinner that night was at Parrot Cay. My girlfriend wore a beautiful tropical dress, which was appropriate for the theme of that restaurant (and that was one of the reasons why we were happy with the PTTA rotation, despite missing AP). Our tablemates were very nice, and we hit it off very well with them. One was a couple celebrating their honeymoon, the other was a couple celebrating their 25th anniversary. Unfortunately, the sea was unusually rough that night. One of the couples said that it was even rougher than during a hurricane cruise. Our assistant server was seasick that night, as was one of our tablemates, who did not eat anything and had to leave early. I was feeling slightly dizzy, but was still able to enjoy the dinner.
The captain said that the seas would calm down around 11:00. My girlfriend and I relaxed in our stateroom until 11:00, when it did calm down dramatically. We then went to Wavebands, and danced the night away!
Day 2: Monday, 5/1: Nassau
The next day was Nassau. The weather was beautiful, and the seas were calm, and they had no trouble docking. We opted to have breakfast at Parrot Cay, which we liked because of the tropical theme. We were on the Catamaran Sail and Reef Snorkelig excursion. We enjoyed this very much, and felt that it was a wonderful experience. The boat ride was very nice, and there were a lot of beautiful fish and coral. We were very glad that we did that excursion. We returned to the ship for lunch. The port security guard told me to take good care of the beautiful lady I was with! We had lunch on deck at the Beach Blanket Buffet.
We then headed out again, with the intentions of going to Cable Beach. When we left the port, a cab driver asked us if we were going to the beach. We assumed he meant Cable Beach, and got in the cab. However, we misunderstood; the other couple in the cab was going to Atlantis. So, we went to the public beach at Paradise Island, which was very nice, and we enjoyed ourselves there a lot. The cab ride for our trip back to the port was very entertaining. It was rush hour, so we got stuck in a lot of traffic, especially on the bridge going back to Nassau. However, it was entertaining, since the driver played junakoo music on the radio. And, it was entertaining to see a lot of people riding in the back of pickup trucks, which seemed quite dangerous.
We enjoyed our time in Nassau a lot. We have heard horror stories of people being harassed by vendors. We did not find that at all; we found it to be fairly low key. There was a vendor at Paradise Island beach trying to sell us drinks, but he did not really bother us. We also discussed how any port is all about what you make of it. It is important to have a plan like we did. I know that some people on this board don't particularly like Nassau. We suspect that if you arrive there with no plan, and just walk around aimlessly, you might not like it. However, if you book an excursion, such as a snorkeling exursion (the Bahamas is one of the best places in the world for snorkeling), and if you do things that you like to do, such as going to the beach, you will enjoy your time there. However, it appeared that people (such as one of the couples at our table) who did the city tour exursion were given a very negative impression of Nassau. We were glad to have avoided that. We would very happily go on another cruise with Nassau as a port of call.
The show that night was Hercules, which we enjoyed very much. That night was formal night, and it worked out very well that we were in Triton's that night. I wore my suit, and my girlfriend wore a beautiful formal dress. However, many people, such as some of our table mates, were dressed very casually. That did not bother me too much, since it was their vacation too, but it did slightly bother my girlfriend. Dinner that night was great; and we talked a lot about what we did in Nassau. We told them about how we had such a wonderful day. As I said before, the couple who did the city tour was somewhat disapointed. The other couple did the Atlantis tour, which they seemed to enjoy. We went to Wavebands again that night, and danced the night away at the 80s party!! Since we both grew up in the 80s, we enjoyed that very much.
Day 3: Tuesday, 5/2: Castaway Cay:
Once again, the weather was beautiful, and the seas were calm! I was very excited to hear the announcement in the morning that we docked at Castaway cay!! I was looking forward to this day for a long time, and it seemed obvious it was going to be a beautiful day. We had breakfast again at Parrot Cay. And then we left the ship to go to Castaway Cay! This was truly an island paradise, and it was every bit as beautiful as others on this board had described! We first spent time at the family beach, which we enjoyed a lot, and had a very festive atmosphere! We took a walk, and went to the gift shop, and had intended to go to the post office to mail some postcards. Unfortunately, when we got to the post office, we find out that it was closed for lunch; we were given no indication of this before we walked there. That was the only negative in an otherwise wonderful day. We did not mind too much, since I did get a nice walk with my girlfriend on a beautiful island with beautiful weather. We had lunch at Cookie's, which we enjoyed very much. As a side note, the navigator said that Parrot Cay was open for lunch; As nice as PC is, we cannot figure out why anyone would want to eat lunch there that day, when they could have lunch at Castaway Cay like we did; but we realize everyone has their preferences. After that, we took the tram to the adult beach, which was very nice and peaceful. We were 2 of the last people to leave the water; it felt like the 2 of us had our own special section of he ocean; that was a wonderful feeling. The only negative about the adult beach was that the water was very rocky; although we were able to avoid that by finding an area that was very soft. We took the last tram of the day back to the family beach, where we hung out for a while; it seemed that we were also 2 of the last people to leave there. When we left there, we took the tram back to the ship.
That night was pirate night, and the show was Golden Mickey's. My girlfriend was very much into the theme nights and restaurant themes, so of course we had pirate outfits for that night. However, some people in the Deck 2 hallway (mostly crew members) appeared unaware that it was pirate night, and gave her a strange look. We enjoyed Golden Mickey's very much, and we enjoyed the pirate dinner at Tritons. I have read on this board that some people felt uncomfortable with pirate night in Triton's. We both actually thought that pirate night worked very well in Triton's. It seemed that all of our tablemates love Castaway Cay.
That night, we went to the pirate party, and we saw the fireworks show, which was very impressive. But the most impressive of all was Mickey swining on the line between the two smokestacks! After leaving the party, we went to the adult commedy / ventriloquist show at Wavebands. Michael Harris was very good-he and "Mr. Tennis Ball" were exceptionally funny! This was followed by a band, High Frequency, which we also enjoyed. It was supposed to be followed by kareoke night, but unfortunately, most people had already left the club for the night, so that kind of bombed out. That was a slight disapointment, but it was such a wonderful day that it didn't even matter.
Day 4: Wednesday, 5/3: Day at Sea
Another beautiful day! We slept later that day, since it was a relaxing day at sea, and we had been up late the night before at Wavebands. As usual, we had lunch at Parrot Cay. We then spent almost the entire day up on deck, mostly swimming in the Quiet Cove pool, and watching the ocean. We enjoyed the Quiet Cove pool a lot, and the water was very warm. The ocean was extremely calm that day. Most people we talked to said that other than Sunday night, this cruise was the calmest that they had ever seen the ocean. We had lunch at Pluto's Dog House, which we enjoyed, and we ate it by the Quiet Cove pool. We were very glad that we chose the 4 night cruise rather than the 3 night cruise, since we really enjoyed the day at sea.
The show that night was Disney Dreams. It was a very beautiful, very moving story. Of all the shows, this one was our favorite, although we did enjoy all of them. After that, we went to Michael Harris's family ventriloquist / magic / commedy show. We enjoyed both this family version, as well as the adult version on Tuesday night. We did not go to his Sunday night show (since we just wanted to be on deck and enjoy the ocean), but I heard that it was also excellent.
Because we had Palo that night, I wore my suit, and my girlfriend wore another beautiful dress, even though it was a casual night. We went to the first 30 minutes of our regularly scheduled Animator's Palette dinner, so that we could see the restaurant, and chat with our tablemates, and give the servers our tips. One of the couples also had a Palo reservation that night, so they were not there. The other couple had originally booked Palo that night, but cancelled it, since they did not want to miss Animator's Palette.
Dinner at Palo was excellent!! We both enjoyed it very much, and our server was excellent! Palo was every bit as good as others on this board have said! The reason why we booked the latest possible Palo time on the last night of the cruise was so that we would have something to look forward to until the very end of the cruise, and so that we could end with a romantic dinner for the 2 of us at an exclusive restaurant! Where else can you get food like that for only $10 per person, plus drinks! We were the last couple to leave Palo on the last night of the cruise. My girlfriend was previously considering cancelling our Palo reservation when we found out that we had the PTTA rotation, but we were very glad that we did not! Luckily, the water was very calm that night. I overheard one of the servers saying that on Sunday night, most of the people cancelled their Palo reservation. That was a shame. We did notice that a lot of people were dressed very casually at Palo. While I can somewhat understand casual dress at formal night (since it was not well publicized, and dressing up might not be for everyone), but we do feel that people who don't like to dress up might prefer not booking Palo.
The only negative to having a late Palo reservation on the last night was that we missed the 11:00 time to have our luggage packed. Luckily, we were able to make special arrangements, so it worked out fine. Guest services told us to just call them after we had packed. That worked out well. That night, before going to bed, we spent some time just looking out the porthole of the room watching the ocean; it was so beautiful, and we did not want the cruise to end.
Day 5: Thursday, May 4: Getting kicked off the ship
Obviously, this was the worst day of our trip. We had to get up early. Luckily, since we had the late dinner seating, we had the latest breakfast. This breakfast was at Animator's Palette; I was glad that we did have the opportunity to have one meal there. AP also worked out well, since we had picture to pick up at Shutters. After breakfast, we did not want the cruise to end. So, we took a walk around the Deck 4 promenade, and stayed just about as long as we could before we had to leave.
The luggage system at Port Canaveral with the character tags worked out very well; we found our luggage immediately. And, the Disney transfer back to the airport worked very well. I am very glad that I listened to my girlfriend and used the Disney transfers and their luggage handling! It worked out very well for us. Although, I realize that for a large family it might not be the best option, but it worked great for us!
General comments:
As I said, this trip was 4 of the best days of my life! It had so many wonderful aspects that I cannot possibly choose just one favorite part. And, I can really not think of any negatives. Of course, the weather was perfect, and the seas were exceptionally calm (except for a few hours on Sunday night), so I realize that perhaps others might not have quite the same experience. We were lucky that the only rough seas were on Sunday; it did not interfere with formal night, pirate night, or our Palo reservation, nor did it interfere with any ports of call; and it was just a distant memory by the later part of the cruise.
As I said, we were in a Category 9 stateroom on Deck 2 midship. This was a great location. We were very happy to have the porthole with a beautiful ocean view. If we had a verdanah, we likely would not have used it much, since we spent such little time in the stateroom; although a verdanah might be nice for a longer cruise, or perhaps for a couple or family that was less active than we were. The midship location was very convenient. And, Deck 2 meant that we were very close, and could bypass the elevators and use the stairs to get to the Deck 1 gangway, as well as the restaurants, theater, and nightclubs on Decks 3 and 4. We mostly only needed the elevators to get to Decks 9 and 10; we were convenient to all 3 elevator lobbies. I know that others have posted here that they found the elevators slow. We did not find that to be the case at all. We found that in all 3 lobbies, the elevators arrived very quickly, and once we were in them, they very quickly took us to Decks 9 or 10. I wonder why others found them to be slow. My guess was that since we used them to go to Decks 9 and 10, which not everyone would be going to at the same time, there was no backup; whereas maybe at dinner time, when we did not use them at all, there could have been more of a backup. For that reason, we would very happily stay again on Deck 2. It was a good feeling being at Castaway Cay when perhaps the Deck 8 people were sitting in an elevator lobby!
We liked our stateroom a lot. We liked having the split bathrooms; it allowed both of us to get ready simulatneously. I'm surprised that others here thought that the split bathrooms were a negative.
One thing that was surprising was that it said that whatever key to the world card locked the safe was the only one that could unlock it. That was not a problem for us, since we spent the entire cruise together, and we rarely needed to access the safe (we used it to store our passports and wallets, neither of which we needed to access during the cruise).
I have read here that people talk about a steamer trunk in the room. We are not sure what they were talking about. Did our room perhaps not have one? I'd be surprised at that, since our room was what the Disney website suggested as the best available Category 9 room. Maybe since we were just a couple with no kids it figured that we did not really need a steamer trunk. In any case, it wasn't a big deal; we had ample room for clothes for the 2 of us; but it might have been harder for a family with kids.
Our late seating 8:30 dinner time worked very well for us. Although, I understand that that time might not be for everyone. As expected, the majority of the people in our rotation seemed to be adults, although there were some kids; but they were all very well behaved. In fact, all of the kids we saw on the ship were very well behaved.
It was also great how Disney catered to every age group, including adults like us, by having the adult pool, the adult beach, and the adult nightclubs. This worked very well. I am surprised that others have said that there were few activities for adults without children. We found quite the opposite, that there were a lot of activities for adults. But I guess it all depends on what you like to do. I am also surprised that others have complained about kids using the adult venues. I did not find any of that at all; I did not see any kids in any adult venues. In any case, I suspect that none of the adult venues would have been of much interest to most kids. I also felt that the rotational dining seemed to be mostly geared toward adults. I think that it might have been a little too much for most kids.
You may also remember that I had some anxiety about where to store my license and key card at the beach. I took the suggestion that others had given, and bought a swimsuit that included a water wallet; that worked out very well.
Also, you may remember a thread about boardfirst. I used that for our return flight, and it worked out very well. So it appeared to be safe and reliable. From what I've heard, Southwest does not object to its usage. I liked having the peace of mind that we'd get our Group A boarding passes, and that I could be enjoying myself on the ship rather than having to get to the computer exactly 24 hours before our flight. Since we were on Deck 9, we printed our boarding passes at Cove Cafe when we had a convenient time to do so.
As a side note: I have seen people complain about people referring to Palo as Palo's. However, Shutters referred to it as Palo's. And, the Travel Channel special referred to it as Palo's. So, it seems that either name is acceptable.
Again, this was a great cruise, and we both enjoyed it very much, and I look forward to another cruise in the future! I enjoyed many of the unique Disney touches, such as them playing "When You Wish Upon a Star" before an announcement on the loudspeaker. Also, everyone on the ship was so friendly, and in such a good mood. Most of the negative comments that I've heard about the cruise appeared to be unfounded; although I realize that perhaps others may either have different preferences or a different experience than we did.
see more pics (including unrelated non-disney honeymoon pics) at 
