RellingTwin
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2000
- Messages
- 1,956
10/11/03 Trip Report
DH, DD11, DS9 and myself left Charleston S.C. very early for our trip to PC. We stopped at the Publix grocery store for a few munchies, and breakfast items before getting to the Radisson.
The Radisson and the DIS Meet
The Radisson was very nice. Our room was a King Suite. Clean, well maintained good service. The DISers started gathering about 6:00pm and we had a ball. As each group arrived we introduced ourselves and chatted about the next days cruise. I think we had about 15 families attend.
Boarding the Ship
At 10am Sat morning we headed over to the port in our car. The plan was to drop off the kids and I and the luggage, then DH was to return to the Radisson and return on the shuttle. The guard at the port would not let us into the drop off area until 10:30, and directed us to the parking area where we lined up in our cars, parked and got out to chat! It was mostly DISers in line! Once the luggage was dropped off the kids and I went into the terminal where I was stopped due to my beverages! The new policy is you can bring alcohol on board, but it has to be out of sight. The security guard gave me a plastic bag to wrap around the 12 pack of beer so it was hidden. There were already A LOT of people on line. I would say there were 100 people ahead of us. While the kids waited on line (with my sister) I checked in. The first thing the CM asked me was had anyone in my party been sick recently? I said no, she then handed me a letter from DCL, which said they had the right to deny boarding to any passenger who might be ill! I checked in for myself and the kids, explaining my DH would check in for himself when he got back from parking the car. We all sort of expected we might get to board early since there were no passengers getting off the ship. This was not the case. We began boarding about 12:15pm.
While DH took the kids upstairs, my sister and I headed to Palo for Brunch and Dinner reservations. The system they have here is just plain terrible! 2 different lines (one for Brunch one for Dinner) both moved VERY slow. Since several of us were trying to get tables of 6 for the DIS Brunch the young man taking the reservations was very distressed!
While I was waiting on that line another Diser made my dinner reservations for me (Thanks Doug!). FINALLY, all the reservations were made, and we were off to join the rest of the family. DH had made the Spa reservations for the Suirel Bath and we got our 2nd choice of day/time (more on that later).
Time for lunch! Buffet was very good, but I was too excited to eat much. At 1:00pm my sister and I went to see if the cabins were ready and they were! Time to unpack!
Cabins: My sister had a cabin on the opposite side of the ship from us, just across the midship elevator lobby. For the 1st tome in 4 cruises we had a veranda! Room 6056. Sis had 6558.Very nice rooms, with only minor changes from last year. New ice buckets with insulated buckets were nice! No condensation keeping the dresser top wet! Thanks Disney! Also there is a nice clock in the room. Ours did not work however, but since we all wore wrist watches, I didnt think to tell anyone about it. There is a little note next to the clock offering it for sale in the gift shop and saying if the one in the room was missing, youd find a 39.95 charge on your bill! Also new is a note in the bathroom, explaining the importance of proper hand washing. Our cabin host was Kenneth from Jamacia. He did a good job and always had a smile. Since my sister and I are identical twins I think he was pretty confused a few times!!!He finally saw us both together and
He laughed pretty hard. I didnt think about the fact that we both were in and out of each others rooms very often and he must have thought I changed clothes 3-4 times a day!LOL!!
Lifeboat drill! Diser to right of me, Disers to the left! Drill was short and painless.
Sail away Party! There was just no way to count but I think there must have been 60-70 DISers with Cruistoberfest T-shirts, and another 30+ in other garb. We passed out our small gifts, chatted, and had a sail away cocktail while we waved goodbye to PC!
Meals!!!
Breakfast each day was room service (coffee, juice and rolls) followed by Mommy (yup me!) going to Topsiders for some fresh fruit, and bacon, and bringing it back to the family. We did not do the Character breakfast this year, since the kids were not interested. They had the arcade in their sights!
Lunch for DH and I was either topsiders or fast food from deck 9. DD was into room service BIG TIME. She ordered from room service at least 2X a day! She said the burgers were better, and the chicken fingers were better.I didnt mind as long as she was tipping the waiter with her money (which she was).
Dinner : Our servers Leroy (Jamacia) and Joseph (Philippines) were excellent ! The menus were very different from previous cruises. Some of our favorite items were: Pan fried veal, cheese cannelloni, grouper, mixed grill, rib eye , sweet cream of onion soup, beef tenderloin, cream brule(sp)turkey with dressing, lobster,filet mignon, celebration cake, deep dish apple pie, cherries jubilee, and amoretto cheesecake.
In Palo on Tuesday night we had Andrew as our server. He said we were expected at 6:30 not 7:00!I had the reservation in my hand! Not to worry, he said, we still can find a place for you! (did I mention the reservation system in Palo needs some work?)DH and I both had the special salad a meal in itself if you ate the whole thing!Great fresh greens with big pieces of grilled white meat chicken on it. YUMMY! DH had the filet mignon, I had the cheese cannelloni with spinach. We both had the Chocolate soufflé.
On Cozumel night we skipped dinner and went to a nice restaurant for some local fare. We had a late lunch and were tired from snorkeling most of the day, so we sat at an outside table of a small place in the plaza and ate some wonderful appetizers, and drank ice cold Mexican beer. The kids were on the ship enjoying a movie, so we had an adult dinner, which was very nice.
Key West, we had so much fun here, thanks to the efforts of DISer Tina (Hopkins). She organized a scavenger hunt with a company called The Southernmost Scavenger Hunt. We all met to be briefed and to get our list of clues, then we were off! About 50 of us running in every direction. We chose to rent an electric car for the duration of the hunt, and STILL came in last place AND were late getting back! The object of the hunt was to solve the clues, write the answers on the form provided, and meet in a mystery location by 4pm. The clues took us all over Key West and were an absolute riot! Papa, and GoofyNuts team were the winners, and Dan and Scott found Pinky the flamingo coconut! Key West was HOT! We walked around a little after the hunt, but I headed back to the ship for a shower while DH went in search of cigars. We watched the sunset from our veranda.
Grand Cayman, we took Captain Marvins Sting Ray tour. It was an unforgettable experience. We chose the ½ day trip, which included 2 stops to snorkel as well as Sting Ray City. Again lots of other Disers on our tour, and again a wonderful time was had by everyone.DD and DS would not get in the water at Stingray City, but had fun throwing squid off the boat and watching these amazing animals eat it. Our guide was wonderful, holding a large stingray while we took pictures, and then letting each of us take a turn holding it. I bought the video that was offered, and am looking forward to getting it in the mail in a few weeks.
Cozumel, the highlight of the cruise for me! I booked a snorkel/dive trip with a company called Eagle Ray Divers when I booked our Western cruise. I had done some research and had read many great reviews about this company. It looked like a great trip. I e-mailed ERD and got a quick reply. Since we had 3 divers and 7 snorkels Chillie (one of the owners) customized a trip for us. I sent her sizes and equipment requirements for the divers as well as a deposit. The deposit is fully refundable if the ship is unable to make port. Just prior to our departure for Florida I e-mailed ERD for directions to the marina, which I printed out so I could show the cab driver.
When we got to Cozumel at 10:30am and we found a van/taxi to take the 10 of us to the marina. $7.00 per person. The cab driver knew the folks at ERD and expresses pleasant surprise that we would try a non-cruise ship sponsored tour. The cab ride was about 15 min.and we asked to be picked up at 5pm.
When we got to the marina I was a little worried. This was NOT a luxury type marina with fancy boats and docks. It was more a working marina with older fishing boats, including the ERD boat. The boat is an older Cozumelian fishing boat, refitted to accommodate divers. Since I was the one who booked this trip for my family and friends I worried about this first impression, but my fears were very quickly put to rest when we meet Chellie and her staff. Once the business was done (payment made and equipment put on board) we were off. While the captain took us out, Raoul briefed the snorkelers while Arturo briefed the divers. A cooler full of water, soft drinks and beer (I had requested some diet drinks which were also in the cooler) were also on board.
The divers did 2 dives, and the rest of us snorkeled at 3 reefs. The fish were INCREDABLE! It felt like we were in the middle of schools of fish. Raoul was a wonderful guide. He pointed out all kinds of things we would have missed. He kept a close eye on all of us including the 4 children (ages 6-13). We did something called DRIFT SNORKELING which was wonderful. Instead of trying to fight the current and stay with the boat we simply drifted with the current and the boat moved a little distance away. When we were ready to get on board Raoul signaled the captain and the boat came over to pick us up. Since we were going to be snorkeling all day this was important since fighting the current can be very tiring. Each place was even better then the last! The kids had a ball climbing onto the roof of the boat and jumping off while we waited for the divers to get on or off the boat. The divers were very happy with the dives. 2 of the divers were just recently certified and Arturo worked with them so they were able to get the very most of their dive. Id like to mention here that the ships diving trips had one master diver for every 10-12 divers. There is NO way my friends would have gotten the attention they needed with that large a group.
Once we were finished with our diving and snorkeling we were taken to a wonderful little restaurant where we docked and had a delicious lunch. The kids had cheeseburgers and the rest of us had Mexican fare. This was included in the price for the snorkelers, for the divers it was $10.00 extra.
The cost of this trip was in my opinion the best bargain of the entire trip. 6 hours, 3 reefs, including lunch was $60 per person for the snorkelers, and 2 tank dives, with regulators was about $80.
The equipment was all in excellent condition, the crew was excellent and our safety was always the primary concern.
The web site address for this company is www.eagleraydivers.com
I highly recommend this trip if you wish to experience some of the most beautiful underwater scenery in the world.
I would like to mention also, that while waiting for our transportation after the cruise I was talking to a lady who told me they were VERY disappointed in the trip they took with another company. They saw almost NO fish!!! She told me they had snorkeled all over the world and had looked forward to Cozumel, specifically for the underwater scenery. I can only assume the difference between her experience and mine was the crew of our boat!
Castaway Cay, always such a great way to end the cruise! DH and DS did the bottom-fishing trip, and had the same captain as last year. DD caught 9 fish, while DH caught 7. While the boys were fishing the rest of us got 2 chairs and an umbrella and relaxed on the beach. OK I admit it, I was a total slug! I did nothing more strenuous the shop, and fix myself a plate of food. Hey, Im on vacation!LOL!
Dry dock! The funnel is fixed! I visited Diversions during the DVC party and it was not what I expected. It is sort of dull. Mostly beige, with not much personality. I think when I heard a Cheers type club I expected something different. Dont get me wrong, its very nice, just not what I would consider a Pub Type club. I did not get to see The Stack new teen club. I tried several times but it was either closed, or there were a bunch of teens sitting on the stairway. My teen niece did say it was cool. We did spend some time in the Cove Café. Since I had never seen what it looked like before I dont know what has been changed, but I will say it was a nice atmosphere for an after dinner drink. I also liked it better for using the Internet, then the Internet Café on deck 3.
Other highlights! Eric and Anja won a 7 night cruise playing Who Wants To Be A Mouseketeer. I did not see this as DH and I were in Palo, but I did hear that lots of DISers were there to cheer Eric on! There were even 2 DISers on the panel. Fiona (Cdmickeylover) also won the following WWTBAM winning $80, which she split with a little girl she played with. TwinAve (my sister) won $207 at Bingo. My DS won a nice DVC bag during the DVC get together.
Our group picture was taken outside Lumires around the Mickey statue. The DCL photographer was very nice and did a beautiful job making sure everyones face was in the picture. After the photo, Eric was presented with a blow up flamingo (he had bragged for months he was going to win the Scavenger Hunt and take home Pinky so this was his consolation prize!)
The Spa, sorry DCL, this is also a place that needs some work. The shower in the Suriel bath never got warmer the cool. The showers in the steam area are on some sort of timer, so that after about 10 seconds of all 4 heads spraying water, they shut off, and must be started again. The nice large, thick robes have been replaced with thin, small ones. I know a different company runs this area, but DCL needs to address some of the issues since they own the ship and the equipment should work correctly.
The Brunch my sister worked so hard to put together did not turn out like we thought it would. The plan was to have about 7 tables of between 6 and 8 at each table. After all the reservations were made (almost all) my sister was asked to meet with Palos manager. He said we could NOT do what we planned on and must break the group up to 2 different days. This would have been fine, except we all thought we had reservations so we booked other things (like Spa, babysitting ect) based on our Brunch reservations. My sister did try to contact DCL ahead of time to make arrangements but they would not allow any pre-cruise arrangements. SO now my sister has to call half the Disers and ask them to move to a different day! By now it is 6:30 and of course she cant reach everyone! I felt so bad for her, she tried so hard to make the Brunch work, but it wasnt to be. As it turned out, most of us DID get to eat together, at 3 large tables at different ends of Palo. And about 10 DISers dinned on another day.I would encourage future cruisers to avoid trying to put together any large groups for brunch. Palo is just not set up for large groups.
I only went to 1 show (Hercules) since I had seen all of them several times. Instead we went to lots of movies (Finding Nemo, Cold Creek Manor, Under the Tuscan Sun, Pirates of the Caribbean, Holes) enjoyed the peace and quite of our veranda, played on the Internet, and chatted with other passengers. It was a relaxing, fantastic vacation. The best cruise so far. I have booked with DCL for the Antigua Eastern Cruise next October and am counting the days!
The weeks and months leading up to this cruise have been so much fun. Several pre-cruise meets were planned and carried out in Minnesota, Ohio, Maryland, Florida and Germany. Dinning times/tables were linked together and excursions and get togethers planned. Many of our children met prior to getting on board so it was instant friends for many of the kids. It still amazes me that so many people from so many different walks of life can meet via the internet and the wonderful DISboards and enjoy each others company on this most Magical Ship!
DH, DD11, DS9 and myself left Charleston S.C. very early for our trip to PC. We stopped at the Publix grocery store for a few munchies, and breakfast items before getting to the Radisson.
The Radisson and the DIS Meet
The Radisson was very nice. Our room was a King Suite. Clean, well maintained good service. The DISers started gathering about 6:00pm and we had a ball. As each group arrived we introduced ourselves and chatted about the next days cruise. I think we had about 15 families attend.
Boarding the Ship
At 10am Sat morning we headed over to the port in our car. The plan was to drop off the kids and I and the luggage, then DH was to return to the Radisson and return on the shuttle. The guard at the port would not let us into the drop off area until 10:30, and directed us to the parking area where we lined up in our cars, parked and got out to chat! It was mostly DISers in line! Once the luggage was dropped off the kids and I went into the terminal where I was stopped due to my beverages! The new policy is you can bring alcohol on board, but it has to be out of sight. The security guard gave me a plastic bag to wrap around the 12 pack of beer so it was hidden. There were already A LOT of people on line. I would say there were 100 people ahead of us. While the kids waited on line (with my sister) I checked in. The first thing the CM asked me was had anyone in my party been sick recently? I said no, she then handed me a letter from DCL, which said they had the right to deny boarding to any passenger who might be ill! I checked in for myself and the kids, explaining my DH would check in for himself when he got back from parking the car. We all sort of expected we might get to board early since there were no passengers getting off the ship. This was not the case. We began boarding about 12:15pm.
While DH took the kids upstairs, my sister and I headed to Palo for Brunch and Dinner reservations. The system they have here is just plain terrible! 2 different lines (one for Brunch one for Dinner) both moved VERY slow. Since several of us were trying to get tables of 6 for the DIS Brunch the young man taking the reservations was very distressed!
While I was waiting on that line another Diser made my dinner reservations for me (Thanks Doug!). FINALLY, all the reservations were made, and we were off to join the rest of the family. DH had made the Spa reservations for the Suirel Bath and we got our 2nd choice of day/time (more on that later).
Time for lunch! Buffet was very good, but I was too excited to eat much. At 1:00pm my sister and I went to see if the cabins were ready and they were! Time to unpack!
Cabins: My sister had a cabin on the opposite side of the ship from us, just across the midship elevator lobby. For the 1st tome in 4 cruises we had a veranda! Room 6056. Sis had 6558.Very nice rooms, with only minor changes from last year. New ice buckets with insulated buckets were nice! No condensation keeping the dresser top wet! Thanks Disney! Also there is a nice clock in the room. Ours did not work however, but since we all wore wrist watches, I didnt think to tell anyone about it. There is a little note next to the clock offering it for sale in the gift shop and saying if the one in the room was missing, youd find a 39.95 charge on your bill! Also new is a note in the bathroom, explaining the importance of proper hand washing. Our cabin host was Kenneth from Jamacia. He did a good job and always had a smile. Since my sister and I are identical twins I think he was pretty confused a few times!!!He finally saw us both together and
He laughed pretty hard. I didnt think about the fact that we both were in and out of each others rooms very often and he must have thought I changed clothes 3-4 times a day!LOL!!
Lifeboat drill! Diser to right of me, Disers to the left! Drill was short and painless.
Sail away Party! There was just no way to count but I think there must have been 60-70 DISers with Cruistoberfest T-shirts, and another 30+ in other garb. We passed out our small gifts, chatted, and had a sail away cocktail while we waved goodbye to PC!
Meals!!!
Breakfast each day was room service (coffee, juice and rolls) followed by Mommy (yup me!) going to Topsiders for some fresh fruit, and bacon, and bringing it back to the family. We did not do the Character breakfast this year, since the kids were not interested. They had the arcade in their sights!
Lunch for DH and I was either topsiders or fast food from deck 9. DD was into room service BIG TIME. She ordered from room service at least 2X a day! She said the burgers were better, and the chicken fingers were better.I didnt mind as long as she was tipping the waiter with her money (which she was).
Dinner : Our servers Leroy (Jamacia) and Joseph (Philippines) were excellent ! The menus were very different from previous cruises. Some of our favorite items were: Pan fried veal, cheese cannelloni, grouper, mixed grill, rib eye , sweet cream of onion soup, beef tenderloin, cream brule(sp)turkey with dressing, lobster,filet mignon, celebration cake, deep dish apple pie, cherries jubilee, and amoretto cheesecake.
In Palo on Tuesday night we had Andrew as our server. He said we were expected at 6:30 not 7:00!I had the reservation in my hand! Not to worry, he said, we still can find a place for you! (did I mention the reservation system in Palo needs some work?)DH and I both had the special salad a meal in itself if you ate the whole thing!Great fresh greens with big pieces of grilled white meat chicken on it. YUMMY! DH had the filet mignon, I had the cheese cannelloni with spinach. We both had the Chocolate soufflé.
On Cozumel night we skipped dinner and went to a nice restaurant for some local fare. We had a late lunch and were tired from snorkeling most of the day, so we sat at an outside table of a small place in the plaza and ate some wonderful appetizers, and drank ice cold Mexican beer. The kids were on the ship enjoying a movie, so we had an adult dinner, which was very nice.
Key West, we had so much fun here, thanks to the efforts of DISer Tina (Hopkins). She organized a scavenger hunt with a company called The Southernmost Scavenger Hunt. We all met to be briefed and to get our list of clues, then we were off! About 50 of us running in every direction. We chose to rent an electric car for the duration of the hunt, and STILL came in last place AND were late getting back! The object of the hunt was to solve the clues, write the answers on the form provided, and meet in a mystery location by 4pm. The clues took us all over Key West and were an absolute riot! Papa, and GoofyNuts team were the winners, and Dan and Scott found Pinky the flamingo coconut! Key West was HOT! We walked around a little after the hunt, but I headed back to the ship for a shower while DH went in search of cigars. We watched the sunset from our veranda.
Grand Cayman, we took Captain Marvins Sting Ray tour. It was an unforgettable experience. We chose the ½ day trip, which included 2 stops to snorkel as well as Sting Ray City. Again lots of other Disers on our tour, and again a wonderful time was had by everyone.DD and DS would not get in the water at Stingray City, but had fun throwing squid off the boat and watching these amazing animals eat it. Our guide was wonderful, holding a large stingray while we took pictures, and then letting each of us take a turn holding it. I bought the video that was offered, and am looking forward to getting it in the mail in a few weeks.
Cozumel, the highlight of the cruise for me! I booked a snorkel/dive trip with a company called Eagle Ray Divers when I booked our Western cruise. I had done some research and had read many great reviews about this company. It looked like a great trip. I e-mailed ERD and got a quick reply. Since we had 3 divers and 7 snorkels Chillie (one of the owners) customized a trip for us. I sent her sizes and equipment requirements for the divers as well as a deposit. The deposit is fully refundable if the ship is unable to make port. Just prior to our departure for Florida I e-mailed ERD for directions to the marina, which I printed out so I could show the cab driver.
When we got to Cozumel at 10:30am and we found a van/taxi to take the 10 of us to the marina. $7.00 per person. The cab driver knew the folks at ERD and expresses pleasant surprise that we would try a non-cruise ship sponsored tour. The cab ride was about 15 min.and we asked to be picked up at 5pm.
When we got to the marina I was a little worried. This was NOT a luxury type marina with fancy boats and docks. It was more a working marina with older fishing boats, including the ERD boat. The boat is an older Cozumelian fishing boat, refitted to accommodate divers. Since I was the one who booked this trip for my family and friends I worried about this first impression, but my fears were very quickly put to rest when we meet Chellie and her staff. Once the business was done (payment made and equipment put on board) we were off. While the captain took us out, Raoul briefed the snorkelers while Arturo briefed the divers. A cooler full of water, soft drinks and beer (I had requested some diet drinks which were also in the cooler) were also on board.
The divers did 2 dives, and the rest of us snorkeled at 3 reefs. The fish were INCREDABLE! It felt like we were in the middle of schools of fish. Raoul was a wonderful guide. He pointed out all kinds of things we would have missed. He kept a close eye on all of us including the 4 children (ages 6-13). We did something called DRIFT SNORKELING which was wonderful. Instead of trying to fight the current and stay with the boat we simply drifted with the current and the boat moved a little distance away. When we were ready to get on board Raoul signaled the captain and the boat came over to pick us up. Since we were going to be snorkeling all day this was important since fighting the current can be very tiring. Each place was even better then the last! The kids had a ball climbing onto the roof of the boat and jumping off while we waited for the divers to get on or off the boat. The divers were very happy with the dives. 2 of the divers were just recently certified and Arturo worked with them so they were able to get the very most of their dive. Id like to mention here that the ships diving trips had one master diver for every 10-12 divers. There is NO way my friends would have gotten the attention they needed with that large a group.
Once we were finished with our diving and snorkeling we were taken to a wonderful little restaurant where we docked and had a delicious lunch. The kids had cheeseburgers and the rest of us had Mexican fare. This was included in the price for the snorkelers, for the divers it was $10.00 extra.
The cost of this trip was in my opinion the best bargain of the entire trip. 6 hours, 3 reefs, including lunch was $60 per person for the snorkelers, and 2 tank dives, with regulators was about $80.
The equipment was all in excellent condition, the crew was excellent and our safety was always the primary concern.
The web site address for this company is www.eagleraydivers.com
I highly recommend this trip if you wish to experience some of the most beautiful underwater scenery in the world.
I would like to mention also, that while waiting for our transportation after the cruise I was talking to a lady who told me they were VERY disappointed in the trip they took with another company. They saw almost NO fish!!! She told me they had snorkeled all over the world and had looked forward to Cozumel, specifically for the underwater scenery. I can only assume the difference between her experience and mine was the crew of our boat!
Castaway Cay, always such a great way to end the cruise! DH and DS did the bottom-fishing trip, and had the same captain as last year. DD caught 9 fish, while DH caught 7. While the boys were fishing the rest of us got 2 chairs and an umbrella and relaxed on the beach. OK I admit it, I was a total slug! I did nothing more strenuous the shop, and fix myself a plate of food. Hey, Im on vacation!LOL!
Dry dock! The funnel is fixed! I visited Diversions during the DVC party and it was not what I expected. It is sort of dull. Mostly beige, with not much personality. I think when I heard a Cheers type club I expected something different. Dont get me wrong, its very nice, just not what I would consider a Pub Type club. I did not get to see The Stack new teen club. I tried several times but it was either closed, or there were a bunch of teens sitting on the stairway. My teen niece did say it was cool. We did spend some time in the Cove Café. Since I had never seen what it looked like before I dont know what has been changed, but I will say it was a nice atmosphere for an after dinner drink. I also liked it better for using the Internet, then the Internet Café on deck 3.
Other highlights! Eric and Anja won a 7 night cruise playing Who Wants To Be A Mouseketeer. I did not see this as DH and I were in Palo, but I did hear that lots of DISers were there to cheer Eric on! There were even 2 DISers on the panel. Fiona (Cdmickeylover) also won the following WWTBAM winning $80, which she split with a little girl she played with. TwinAve (my sister) won $207 at Bingo. My DS won a nice DVC bag during the DVC get together.
Our group picture was taken outside Lumires around the Mickey statue. The DCL photographer was very nice and did a beautiful job making sure everyones face was in the picture. After the photo, Eric was presented with a blow up flamingo (he had bragged for months he was going to win the Scavenger Hunt and take home Pinky so this was his consolation prize!)
The Spa, sorry DCL, this is also a place that needs some work. The shower in the Suriel bath never got warmer the cool. The showers in the steam area are on some sort of timer, so that after about 10 seconds of all 4 heads spraying water, they shut off, and must be started again. The nice large, thick robes have been replaced with thin, small ones. I know a different company runs this area, but DCL needs to address some of the issues since they own the ship and the equipment should work correctly.
The Brunch my sister worked so hard to put together did not turn out like we thought it would. The plan was to have about 7 tables of between 6 and 8 at each table. After all the reservations were made (almost all) my sister was asked to meet with Palos manager. He said we could NOT do what we planned on and must break the group up to 2 different days. This would have been fine, except we all thought we had reservations so we booked other things (like Spa, babysitting ect) based on our Brunch reservations. My sister did try to contact DCL ahead of time to make arrangements but they would not allow any pre-cruise arrangements. SO now my sister has to call half the Disers and ask them to move to a different day! By now it is 6:30 and of course she cant reach everyone! I felt so bad for her, she tried so hard to make the Brunch work, but it wasnt to be. As it turned out, most of us DID get to eat together, at 3 large tables at different ends of Palo. And about 10 DISers dinned on another day.I would encourage future cruisers to avoid trying to put together any large groups for brunch. Palo is just not set up for large groups.
I only went to 1 show (Hercules) since I had seen all of them several times. Instead we went to lots of movies (Finding Nemo, Cold Creek Manor, Under the Tuscan Sun, Pirates of the Caribbean, Holes) enjoyed the peace and quite of our veranda, played on the Internet, and chatted with other passengers. It was a relaxing, fantastic vacation. The best cruise so far. I have booked with DCL for the Antigua Eastern Cruise next October and am counting the days!
The weeks and months leading up to this cruise have been so much fun. Several pre-cruise meets were planned and carried out in Minnesota, Ohio, Maryland, Florida and Germany. Dinning times/tables were linked together and excursions and get togethers planned. Many of our children met prior to getting on board so it was instant friends for many of the kids. It still amazes me that so many people from so many different walks of life can meet via the internet and the wonderful DISboards and enjoy each others company on this most Magical Ship!
sorry!The bands were Spirit,and Hollywood. I listened to Hollywood several times while in the Internet Cafe. They souded very good. Spirit sounded better they I thought they would. I had heard several people mention the lead singer was not very good, so either they have a new lead singer or I am tone deaf
