What was the your experience with reserving things online like? I’m very curious about what you had to do before arrival vs. once on the ship.
Did you find a good way to get to port that you would do again?
We’re heading there this summer, so thank you!
Reserving things online before the cruise was limited to tastings, BBB, Premium dining, and if I remember correctly the Karaoke rooms.
Once onboard in person, you could also reserve any of those things not already fully booked, as well as character meet and greets, and for one cruise you could reserve quick service dining, the hero training game in the arcade, and first night shopping opportunities. The dining, shopping and the hero reservations went away on the next cruise. They were clearly trying to see what works and what doesn't. I was also automatically assigned a show reservation to the stage show Remember, which was not checked at the door either time. All the other shows were first come first serve, and in my experience I was able to walk up just a few minutes before the shows and get "good enough for me" viewing. People were camping out 45 minutes plus before the shows for front row especially for the Duffy show.
The Zero proof tasting (Mocktail) seminar sold out very quickly and was mostly filled with concierge guests who got first crack at booking it. The roller coaster was not working, so I can't speculate on how they will handle that,
Pym's and Galaxy rides during the day time are reservations only which you can book through the app on your first day (in my case the reservations appeared in the app after the Muster drill), and then again each morning. They don't post them at a specific time, leading me to have to check the app often to see what was posted for booking. From 5-9pm each evening the rides are queue only.
The character meets they were experimenting with allowing you to book for all the meet and greets available for the entire cruise on the first day of the cruise, and they next tried the option to have people book each day for that days meet and greets first thing each morning. It seemed they were experimenting with what works. I would expect to see some changes in all the advanced booking options as they test and adjust.
Your options to port are Disney transportation, the MRT, GRAB( Uber like) and a Taxi.
Disney transportation is for guests booked at their suggested hotels.
The MRT is easy to use, but hauling suitcases while allowed and done often, would be a hassle with lots of luggage, especially because the MRT station for the cruise port is probably about 0.5 miles away. It is on a covered sidewalk, but hauling bags that long way will be sweaty and hot work.
GRAB works, but you need to have an account set up, and you will need a local phone number and/or What's App to make it work. Also on debarkation morning the area of people waiting for a GRAB was over packed and looked like it was taking a while.
I used a Taxi both from my hotel to the cruise port and again from the port to the airport. My wait both times was very quick. Even at the port in the middle of a full cruise on debarkation morning my wait was around 15 mins or less. The cost from the Cruise terminal to the airport was around 25SGD (around 20USD). They also have a special stand for large taxi cabs (mini vans). That line looked a bit longer so if you can fit in a standard taxi that is my preference. Payment was with apps, cash or CC.
When I'm hauling luggage to or from a destination my goal is to get there with the least amount of hassle for the amount of dollars spent. Taxi fit that bill perfectly. I was in the airport with my bags checked in and exploring the Jewel 45 minutes after I left the cruise terminal.
