IrishCowboy
DIS Veteran<br><a href="http://www.disboards.com/s
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2001
- Messages
- 5,883
About our trip – We have sailed 13 times on DCL prior to this trip. There were a few negative things, but overall, this trip was AMAZING!!!!
The first week would be DW (Vicki) and me. We had never cruised before without our children and we were anxious to see how an ‘Adults Only’ cruise would work out for us. We were also looking forward to ‘Double Dip’ at Castaway Cay for the first cruise. This is our favorite itinerary. Spending the first day of your cruise at CC is the best way to start a vacation. I wonder why DCL doesn’t do it more often.
For the second week, we would be joined by our children, DD(21) and DS(15), my dad and step-mother, and my brother , his wife and sons, 11 & 8.
Friday, Nov 11 – Pre-Cruise
We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites and Purchased the Cruise and Park Package. Total price was around $135. Not bad, considering we got to park car for 14 days.
Room was nice and clean.
Saturday, Nov 12 - Port Canaveral Western Caribbean Cruise Day 1
CI&S Breakfast was subpar, not much of a selection and what was available did not look very good. Shuttle to Port was very well organized. We had shuttle time assigned to us when we checked into hotel at front desk. Driver was very entertaining and we were dropped off at terminal in just a few minutes. Because of our extended cruise, we had extra bags and one of the porters gave us extra luggage tags. DD and DS would be joining us in 7 days and we brought their luggage with us.
We arrived at DCL terminal around 10:45, quick check-in and given #1 boarding card. The boarding process began around 11:40 and had our ‘Welcome Aboard’ photo taken and off to Parrot Cay for lunch.
After lunch, we headed over to Rockin-Bar-D to see if our request for a specific server was granted. Unfortunately, we had been assigned to another server and we were put on a waiting list. I know some folks may think this is trivial, but I believe that a great serving team can truly enhance your cruise experience. I will get into more detail later.
Afterwards, we made our way up to the Adult Pool on deck 9. We’ve never got to spend much time at the adult pool on previous cruises, so we were really looking forward to spending a lot of time there this week. We had the entire pool to ourselves. After about 45 minutes in the pool, a family with a teenager and pre-teen showed up and got in the pool. 5 minutes later, a CM showed up and explained that this area was for adults only. We were very happy to see that DCL would enforce this throughout the cruise. We also met Jennifer and Jerry from Maine at the adult pool.
Around 1:30 PM, I gathered our carryon bags (all 5 of them!) and placed them in our stateroom. We had an inside cabin on deck 7 midship. Great location and a fantastic stateroom host. Inside, I discovered our Castaway Club gift and something from our TA.
Lifeboat Drill was held in Animator’s Palate, nice not having to stand outside.
We were late departing Port Canaveral. We were standing on back of deck 7 and watched as a DCL bus pulled up to terminal at 5:30 and 4-5 folks scrambled from bus to terminal. Guess they must have had the DCL transportation package.
We were seated with 6 other adults for dinner. Jennifer and Jerry, our new friends from the pool, Matt and Teresa from Columbus (Go Buckeyes) and Pamela and Karen from Memphis (Go Grizzlies!) AKA MemphisMickey
Our serving team was average at best. We were always one of the last tables finished each night. However, food was very much improved.
Next Up, First Stop at Castaway Cay
The first week would be DW (Vicki) and me. We had never cruised before without our children and we were anxious to see how an ‘Adults Only’ cruise would work out for us. We were also looking forward to ‘Double Dip’ at Castaway Cay for the first cruise. This is our favorite itinerary. Spending the first day of your cruise at CC is the best way to start a vacation. I wonder why DCL doesn’t do it more often.
For the second week, we would be joined by our children, DD(21) and DS(15), my dad and step-mother, and my brother , his wife and sons, 11 & 8.
Friday, Nov 11 – Pre-Cruise
We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites and Purchased the Cruise and Park Package. Total price was around $135. Not bad, considering we got to park car for 14 days.
Room was nice and clean.Saturday, Nov 12 - Port Canaveral Western Caribbean Cruise Day 1
CI&S Breakfast was subpar, not much of a selection and what was available did not look very good. Shuttle to Port was very well organized. We had shuttle time assigned to us when we checked into hotel at front desk. Driver was very entertaining and we were dropped off at terminal in just a few minutes. Because of our extended cruise, we had extra bags and one of the porters gave us extra luggage tags. DD and DS would be joining us in 7 days and we brought their luggage with us.
We arrived at DCL terminal around 10:45, quick check-in and given #1 boarding card. The boarding process began around 11:40 and had our ‘Welcome Aboard’ photo taken and off to Parrot Cay for lunch.
After lunch, we headed over to Rockin-Bar-D to see if our request for a specific server was granted. Unfortunately, we had been assigned to another server and we were put on a waiting list. I know some folks may think this is trivial, but I believe that a great serving team can truly enhance your cruise experience. I will get into more detail later.
Afterwards, we made our way up to the Adult Pool on deck 9. We’ve never got to spend much time at the adult pool on previous cruises, so we were really looking forward to spending a lot of time there this week. We had the entire pool to ourselves. After about 45 minutes in the pool, a family with a teenager and pre-teen showed up and got in the pool. 5 minutes later, a CM showed up and explained that this area was for adults only. We were very happy to see that DCL would enforce this throughout the cruise. We also met Jennifer and Jerry from Maine at the adult pool.
Around 1:30 PM, I gathered our carryon bags (all 5 of them!) and placed them in our stateroom. We had an inside cabin on deck 7 midship. Great location and a fantastic stateroom host. Inside, I discovered our Castaway Club gift and something from our TA.
Lifeboat Drill was held in Animator’s Palate, nice not having to stand outside.
We were late departing Port Canaveral. We were standing on back of deck 7 and watched as a DCL bus pulled up to terminal at 5:30 and 4-5 folks scrambled from bus to terminal. Guess they must have had the DCL transportation package.
We were seated with 6 other adults for dinner. Jennifer and Jerry, our new friends from the pool, Matt and Teresa from Columbus (Go Buckeyes) and Pamela and Karen from Memphis (Go Grizzlies!) AKA MemphisMickey
Our serving team was average at best. We were always one of the last tables finished each night. However, food was very much improved.
Next Up, First Stop at Castaway Cay
