DD MAGIC_ 7/22 First Time DCL Cruise

[disneymum2]

Hello Everyone-
I know how much I enjoyed reading the trip reports before I set sail, so I thought I would share my first DCL cruise experience.
Let me say, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the cruise "WOW" Now I know why people keep going back.

Only Disney can go the extra step to get it right.

Cast members: me , DH, DD (8) and DS (6)

Day 1

Got up bright and early 4 am. Finished last minute packing, woke the kids and hubby and set off for the airport. We had a 7 am flight and as luck would have it - it was on time!
I hadn't slept at atll that night as I was worried about the thunderstorms that were delaying the flights that day.

This was our first time flying with Jet Blue and I can say it won't be our last. Each seat has a personal tv with lots of kids channels (good thing since we didn't pack our portable DVD player). Kids entertained, flight landed safely, we're on our way!

Arrived at airport about 10 am and we were on the second bus to leave for the terminal. It was about a 45 min ride to the terminal and they showed a short film about characters going on the cruise - kept kids busy - and we got to see more of the ship.

Well, we were finally at the terminal I was so excited I could hardly contain myself. We arrived around 11 am and got boarding pass #11. Waited in line to check in (that took about 20 mins) as it was very crowded at the terminal. Took pictures with Goofy's son and Minnie. Checked kids in club, (since they were just boarding #8 at the time). That took a while - we had pre-registered them on-line, and that line took longer than the other one. By the time we were done, they were boarding pass #13.

Walked in and took our "potrait" then one with the map background. Walked into the atrium and the crew members introduced us (makes you feel very special and delighted the kids).

First things first : literally ran to Rockn' Bar D to change my dinner rotation to the early seating. We were placed on a wait list and told that someone would call us later that day. Our dining rotation was ALP - thought that was a good rotation from what I read on line, however, really wanted that early seating. Next made resis for Palo. Was able to get a 6pm seating for Wed night (Pirate Night).

Ok - now off to Topsiders for lunch. We were very impressed with the buffett and Topsiders. Many choices even for my DS who is very picky (pasta, pasta, pasta). Had a quick lunch, and off to look at the pools. Of course, my kids wanted to jump right in, however, since it was already 1:20 at this point, convinced them to go to the room first. We were on the 7th deck in a Verandah cabin and can honelstly say the cabin was big. We've sailed RCL and Norwegian, and cabins are much smaller. There is a split bath when you walk in , followed by queen bed, privacy divider and sofa (that turns into bed, and bunk bed comes down from ceiling). Plenty of room to unpack as well. Closet is big. Verandah has two chairs and a little stool.

Sunblocked the kids and off to the Mickey pool. The DIS meet was at 3pm, however, it was so hot and the kids were loving the pool so much,we didnt' make the meet I tried to look up at deck 10 from the pool, but didn't see any lime green t-shirts!

Finally, at 4 had to literally remove kids from slide and go into cabin to get ready for the "drill". That was quick and efficient. Very well run.

Went back to room where a message was waiting. Dinner was switched to early seating. Bad news :rotation switched to PLA (Parrott Cay not one of my favorites).

Got ready for dinner at 5:45 - went down to deck 3 and low and behold - there were characters taking pictures. Of course, we couldn't miss a photo op - stood in line for only about 5 mins and had a picture with Minnie and Mickey.

I was a little nervouse about who we would sit with at dinner. We wound up with a wonderful couple (a bit older than us) and their 7 yr old daughter. They were great table company. This was their 4th DCL and had a lot of helpful tips and advice.
MIdway through dinner, my DD face changed - her stomach was upset. I was upset since the boat really wasn't rockin' and she was already sea sick. Went back to cabin and gave her a children's Bonine and put on her sea-bands. After laying down for 30 mins she was up and ready to go to the kids club.

It was family night, so I stayed with her to make sure she was ok. They had a group activity followed by free time. then we went to the club (5-7 yr olds), where both my kids had a blast. They have a tree house with a slide. It was about 10pm - a long day for all of us - so we turned in for the night. What a first day ! Decided to give the kids the queen bed, so I had the sofa and DH had the top bunk.

Everyone was asleep but me - the next morning was Castaway Cay - can't wait!!!!

 

[Babs417]

What was your cabin no.

 

[disneymum2]

What was your cabin no.

Cabin 7552 -Wish I was in it now

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Fun TR so far! Thanks for writing...can't wait for more!

 

[roysbrew]

Sorry we missed you at the meet. our kids were hot and wanting the pool. In hindsight some of us agreed we should have met near Goofy's Galley.
Professorandmom suggested by the Walt Disney Theater so it would be cool, empty, and quiet.

What nice parents to take the bunk beds.

 

[disneymum2]

Day 2 _ Finally CC _ I couldn't wait

After hearing all the good things about CC I could hardly wait to get off the ship. MY DK were up bright and early - 6 am and were full of spunk. Tried to get them to settle down since it was sooooo early, however, it took a knock from the next cabin to get them quiet quickly

Went straight to the Verrandah, what a sight CC was We also saw the Flying Dutchman that I saw in so many Disers pix Couldn't wait to get off that ship.

Went for a quick breakfast at Topsiders and straight down to get off the ship. We were amongst the first to get off. Headed straight for the family beach and got the chairs with the hammock. I don't DH and I had a chance to put our things down and our kids were in the water. What a beautiful island - it was so very clean and the ocean was like a giant pool. DH went to get out tubes and we stayed in the water until it was time for lunch. Of course the kids loved the little water park with the ropes - DS decided he couldn't swim in the ocean because the salt water went up his nose. Needless to say, I had to carry him over there- no small feet when you're how shall I put it - not in great shape

Had lunch at the BBQ and the food was decent. I had the burger, kids had the hotdog and DH had the ribs. Typical BBQ food. Of course, the kids had icecream. I opted for the freshly cut fruit. They had a stand where you chose your fruit and a man would cut it up for you. Truly delicious. only downside was the wait. Next stop at CC, fruit was already cut up for you and that elimanated the long wait.

At this point, everyone wanted to Snorkel. We had not pre-=booked this. No problem, we gave him our KTW card and off we went. Once again, DS had to be carried, but it got worse. Once you could no longer touch the floor DH went into panick mode and stopped. At one point I had to turn around and get him. We went pretty far out and didn't see one fish. We found the hidden Mickey, a treasure chest and not much else. Back we went a little dissapointed that we saw no fish.

We headed over to the side of the beach that has the Volley ball net. DH and DD joined the game. DS befriended two boys and were playing football. Well as I'm sitting by the water's edge - what do I see? A school of these beautiful white fish. Kids came running over - they were so excited to finally see some fish.

It was around 3:30 and we decided to head back to the boat. Of course we stopped at the little shop to get some CC trinkets. I knew from reading these boards that the special DD t-shirts would be put out on Friday so we didn't get any t-shirts.

Once on board, we washed up and headed for dinner at Lumier's. Of course before dinner, we stopped and took our character pictures. I loved Lumiers- it was my favorite. Dinner that night was really good - shrimp cocktail ( I love seafood). Our server was Emmanuel - he was very nice and accomodating when my kids wanted to order from the adult menu.

After dinner we went to "Who want to be a mouskateer". DS very upset that we didn't get picked, but we loved the show. Went to the show that night - it was Rich Purpora - kids very entertained. DH and I liked the show as well. After the show, DS convinced me to go to yet another edition of "Who wants to be a Mouskateer." Guess who's # gets called - DD!
So the 2 of us go up and we win DS even more upset by this even though I gave him my mousketeer pin. By this point I think anything would have upset him he was so tired!

We were exhausted by this point- off to bed we went. I was looking forward to the day at sea - I thought I could relax - boy was I wrong....

Next installment : Very busy day at sea........

 

[Aisling]

We arrived around 11 am and got boarding pass #11.

Wow I thought 11am would be early enough to receive a #2 or #3.

Looking forward to more of your TR!

 

[disneymum2]

Day 3 - an easy day at sea -not quite

I was so looking forward to a nice relaxing day at sea. I felt the kids had enough Mickey Pool time in . We wanted to experiece the Disney Magic. The night before I looked over the Navigator and saw there were so many things to do. We had breakfast at Topsiders again! This was my family's favorite place to eat - the kids love the buffett, because they can pick and chose anything they wish.

After breakfast, headed over to AP where we had fun painting a "fish" wind chime. After that went to the Mickey 500. We were given a potatoe, carrott, 2 toothpicks, 4 wheels and a knife. We split into 2 teams - the minnies and lightning mcqueen (ok not very original). While my husband and DS concoction looked much better than ours, they were eliminated in the first round. DD and I made it to round 2
Of course, we didn't win,but Jeremy made it fun! They then had the "froggie" races in the Lobby. Neither DD or DS won, but it was a good laugh.

After that we were off to the "how to do some magic tricks" seminar. Great presentation - what I didn't like was the fact that the magician then announces you can purchase the tricks in the adjoining store. I saw a lot of parents go to the store and return empty handed because the prices were so high. Told kids they could either buy their present there or they could wait until later and purchase something from the Mickey Mate's store. They opted for the later.

By this time, we were hungry so we went to PC for lunch. I had some yummy seafood pasta. Lunch was ok, nothing great, after lunch I would have loved to sit and rest. That wasn't to be - DK wanted to do more! By now I saw that the club was having a "Lilo & Stitch" party. So we dropped DS off and DD went to the lab - which was at Ocean Quest. Told DD she only had a 1/2 hr as then we had tea with Wendy booked. By the time I went back up to deck 7, it was time to go back down to 2 to get DD. When I went into the Quest, it was free time, and the girls were just sitting around. Some kids were on the computer, but nothing fun was going on. DD came with no problems. DS was a different story. The party was in full bloom. There were a lot of kids, but everyone was involved and the kids were having fun. DD opted to stay there instead of tea with Wendy. Fine by me. I sat and waited for the party to end> DD (8) told me she enjoyed the club better as they got to dance and move around. I'm sure the lab was fun as well, but from what I observed on the Navigator, it was either free time or sports time. Since my DD gets green around the gills, I wouldn't send her to the sports deck while we were at sea, and as far as the "free time' goes, she can play on her computer at home.
THe good news is, there is so much to do on the ship, I never wanted or needed to send her to the lab.

By this point, it was time to shower and dress - it's formal night. Everyone was in their suits and dresses and off to deck 3 we go to have formal pix taken. Well, no one told me there would be a line that took a good 30 mins to get your pic taken. Hello - there are 2700 people on board, it's formal night, people will be taking formal pictures (LOL). Due to my lack of planning, we only took one formal picture. Good thing it came out nice and we purchased it. (Note to everyone - Shutters is always busy, no matter when you go -however it's busiest right after dinner)

There was no way my family was missing the show (the Golden Mickeys). Thank goodness I listened to them and got a good seat. The show was great - won't go into details- don't want to spoil it for anyone.

After the show, we headed over to another show with audience participation - it was a trivia type show - unfortunately, Natalie didn't pick us from the audience, but it was great fun just the same.

By this point, it's around 10:30 - off to bed with us.

Can't wait for Day 4 - Costa Maya - nothing booked, hope to do things on our own......