Day1:
After completing our 4 day land at the Poly we were on the last of two buses from the Poly to Port Canaveral at about 11:40AM ( We would have been on the first bus but DD has stomach issues and needed an extended potty break!) We made a pick-up at the WL and off to PC we went. Arrived at PC right around 1:00PM. Waited on line to clear the security checkpoint for about 15 minutes and upstairs we went. We made a brief potty break for me and then took some pictures inside the terminal. Once we made it on to the ship, they had opened the cabins which was real nice. Two of four pieces of luggage were already at the cabin. We also found our dining tickets for early seating which we were waitlisted for. (5:45 TAP)
We mad a quicj change into swimming attire so that the kids could go play in the pool after we grabbed a bite to eat in BBB.
We first stopped to confirm our DD and DS in the kid's club. We were able to meet one of our DS counselors Gareth from South Africa who took an immediate liking to our DS.
Got the pager (On vacation and have to carry around the same pager I use for work(argh!!!)) and off to Beach Blanket we went.
Finshed lunch at Beach Blanket and let the kids play in the pool until it was time for the lifeboat drill.
Proceeded back to cabin to get ready for dinner.
Off to dinner we went and hoping to get kids into camp so that we could enjoy the first night show.
Our server was Watt and our assistant server was Diana.
DD(6) started to complain that she was tired and did not want to go to camp after dinner. My DW and I were able to determine that this was because DD stomach was bothering her and really just needed to go to the bathroom so we took DD back to cabin to let her go to sleep. We alternated exploring the ship after we put DS in camp for the evening. After this episode from DD I needed a drink so I went to Route 66 to get a nice buzz going. I came back to cabin so DW could explore ship and pick up DS from camp and made it an early night. DD finally was able to get her stomach right once she laid down and went to bathroom.
Day 2:
Docked at Nassau and let DK's sleep in. We were starting to feel the winds from Dennis. Had a late breakfast at Beach Blanket. Since we are cruise veterans and have been to Nassau before, no need to explore alot of Nassau so we just went to Hard Rock for some souveniers and we were back on the ship to drop kids off at camp. DD wanted to make cookies with the 5-7 group. DW and I went to the quiet pool for some alone time and a few drinks and some rest without the kids. DW and I then had lunch at Beach Blanket. Received a page from camp that DD wanted to be in group with her brother (3-4) because she wanted to stay with him. The counselors were very accomodating about moving DD down to lower age group to be with her brother.
We picked the kids up and took them to the pool for about an hour. We all had some ice cream and back to cabin for a rest.
Dinner at Animator's Palate was faboulous. DD and DS could not wait to get back to the camp. After dinner we dropped kids off in the Oceaneers Club and DW and I were off to Diversions for the sports trivia contest and to sit by the window as we pulled away from Nassau.
Sports trivia contest was a blast as my wife has a pretty good depth of sports knowledge and helped us come in second answering 19 questions correctly. We won a souvenier DCL golf ball and DCL tees. Actually all particpants received the ball and tees but the contest was so much fun.
Before heading to the Golden Mickey's we stopped by the future cruise desk to get a quote on a future cruise. Recieved an amazing quote for the Magic on 5/20/06 and told Jocelyn that we had to sleep on it and would get back to her tomorrow.
Went to watch Golden Mickey's and were really enjoying it until the pager went off half way through the show. DS was tired and wanted to be picked up.
Back to the cabin we went and called it a night around 10:00PM.
Day 3
I was up around 6:30 hoping to watch the ship dock in Castaway Cay so I went up to deck 9 with a magazine and settled down with a cup of lemonade and a danish. It was very windy so I knew we were in for some fun. Kept an eye out on what the ship was doing and it was pretty clear Captain John was not going to make it on the first pass.
I went back to the cabin around 8:00 to see if all were awake and they were just getting up and let them know that we might not make Castaway Cay. Shortly thereafter Captain John came over the intercom and said he had to wait for the winds to calm a little before making another attempt. He said the next attempt would be around 11:00AM.
It sounded and looked like we were going to have a day at sea because after the second attempt we got real close to the pier (within 100 yds) he aborted the docking attempt.
Well we finally made it to Castaway Cay at 1:00PM for a five hour stay. It was still very windy and since I am not really a beach person we decided we would just spend the day on the ship letting the kids play in the pool and relaxing. My DD insisted that we play ping pong even thought the winds up on deck 9 really prevented us from having an actual game. However is was some alone time for me and my DD.
Dinner was in Parrot Cay and again the DK's could not wait until they got into the Oceaneer's Club.
We ended our dinner with a cake for our anniversary and off to the Oceaneers club we went.
Met Jocelyn to put down the deposit for the Magic Western (Castaway Cay once) on 5/20/06.
Met the Captain on deck 4, went to shutters to choose photos from our cruise, off to the Disney Dreams show in the WD theater. Got a page half way through the show from OC but it was DD sending us a page that they were letting her be an "Counselor in Training" and she was helping the staff sign people in and out. She was having such a blast!!!.
Day 4
Docked in Port Canaveral at 6:00 AM. Let DK's sleep as long as possible and we went up to breakfast at BBB around 8:00 AM. Since we had a 2:00 PM flight home we felt no need to get off the ship in a hurry.
Left the ship around 8:30 and was on the bus to OIA at 8:45.
Summary
Here is my summary about DCL compared to other cruise lines (RCCL and Carnival). My DW and I have taken 4 other cruises (3 on RCCL and 1 on Carnival) two of them with the kids:
Food - Comparable to RCCL
Service- Excellent
Kids Camp- Blows away anyone else
Debarcation process- Amazing- could never imagine a process as smooth as this on RCCL.
We were so impressed by how DCL has figured out what cruising is all about that we booked the Magic for May 06 even though it is out of Port Canaveral and we would miss out on seeing my parents for a few days had we sailed out of Ft Lauderdale or Miami on our next cruise.
Hope you enjoyed this review.
After completing our 4 day land at the Poly we were on the last of two buses from the Poly to Port Canaveral at about 11:40AM ( We would have been on the first bus but DD has stomach issues and needed an extended potty break!) We made a pick-up at the WL and off to PC we went. Arrived at PC right around 1:00PM. Waited on line to clear the security checkpoint for about 15 minutes and upstairs we went. We made a brief potty break for me and then took some pictures inside the terminal. Once we made it on to the ship, they had opened the cabins which was real nice. Two of four pieces of luggage were already at the cabin. We also found our dining tickets for early seating which we were waitlisted for. (5:45 TAP)
We mad a quicj change into swimming attire so that the kids could go play in the pool after we grabbed a bite to eat in BBB.
We first stopped to confirm our DD and DS in the kid's club. We were able to meet one of our DS counselors Gareth from South Africa who took an immediate liking to our DS.
Got the pager (On vacation and have to carry around the same pager I use for work(argh!!!)) and off to Beach Blanket we went.
Finshed lunch at Beach Blanket and let the kids play in the pool until it was time for the lifeboat drill.
Proceeded back to cabin to get ready for dinner.
Off to dinner we went and hoping to get kids into camp so that we could enjoy the first night show.
Our server was Watt and our assistant server was Diana.
DD(6) started to complain that she was tired and did not want to go to camp after dinner. My DW and I were able to determine that this was because DD stomach was bothering her and really just needed to go to the bathroom so we took DD back to cabin to let her go to sleep. We alternated exploring the ship after we put DS in camp for the evening. After this episode from DD I needed a drink so I went to Route 66 to get a nice buzz going. I came back to cabin so DW could explore ship and pick up DS from camp and made it an early night. DD finally was able to get her stomach right once she laid down and went to bathroom.
Day 2:
Docked at Nassau and let DK's sleep in. We were starting to feel the winds from Dennis. Had a late breakfast at Beach Blanket. Since we are cruise veterans and have been to Nassau before, no need to explore alot of Nassau so we just went to Hard Rock for some souveniers and we were back on the ship to drop kids off at camp. DD wanted to make cookies with the 5-7 group. DW and I went to the quiet pool for some alone time and a few drinks and some rest without the kids. DW and I then had lunch at Beach Blanket. Received a page from camp that DD wanted to be in group with her brother (3-4) because she wanted to stay with him. The counselors were very accomodating about moving DD down to lower age group to be with her brother.
We picked the kids up and took them to the pool for about an hour. We all had some ice cream and back to cabin for a rest.
Dinner at Animator's Palate was faboulous. DD and DS could not wait to get back to the camp. After dinner we dropped kids off in the Oceaneers Club and DW and I were off to Diversions for the sports trivia contest and to sit by the window as we pulled away from Nassau.
Sports trivia contest was a blast as my wife has a pretty good depth of sports knowledge and helped us come in second answering 19 questions correctly. We won a souvenier DCL golf ball and DCL tees. Actually all particpants received the ball and tees but the contest was so much fun.
Before heading to the Golden Mickey's we stopped by the future cruise desk to get a quote on a future cruise. Recieved an amazing quote for the Magic on 5/20/06 and told Jocelyn that we had to sleep on it and would get back to her tomorrow.
Went to watch Golden Mickey's and were really enjoying it until the pager went off half way through the show. DS was tired and wanted to be picked up.
Back to the cabin we went and called it a night around 10:00PM.
Day 3
I was up around 6:30 hoping to watch the ship dock in Castaway Cay so I went up to deck 9 with a magazine and settled down with a cup of lemonade and a danish. It was very windy so I knew we were in for some fun. Kept an eye out on what the ship was doing and it was pretty clear Captain John was not going to make it on the first pass.
I went back to the cabin around 8:00 to see if all were awake and they were just getting up and let them know that we might not make Castaway Cay. Shortly thereafter Captain John came over the intercom and said he had to wait for the winds to calm a little before making another attempt. He said the next attempt would be around 11:00AM.
It sounded and looked like we were going to have a day at sea because after the second attempt we got real close to the pier (within 100 yds) he aborted the docking attempt.
Well we finally made it to Castaway Cay at 1:00PM for a five hour stay. It was still very windy and since I am not really a beach person we decided we would just spend the day on the ship letting the kids play in the pool and relaxing. My DD insisted that we play ping pong even thought the winds up on deck 9 really prevented us from having an actual game. However is was some alone time for me and my DD.
Dinner was in Parrot Cay and again the DK's could not wait until they got into the Oceaneer's Club.
We ended our dinner with a cake for our anniversary and off to the Oceaneers club we went.
Met Jocelyn to put down the deposit for the Magic Western (Castaway Cay once) on 5/20/06.
Met the Captain on deck 4, went to shutters to choose photos from our cruise, off to the Disney Dreams show in the WD theater. Got a page half way through the show from OC but it was DD sending us a page that they were letting her be an "Counselor in Training" and she was helping the staff sign people in and out. She was having such a blast!!!.
Day 4
Docked in Port Canaveral at 6:00 AM. Let DK's sleep as long as possible and we went up to breakfast at BBB around 8:00 AM. Since we had a 2:00 PM flight home we felt no need to get off the ship in a hurry.
Left the ship around 8:30 and was on the bus to OIA at 8:45.
Summary
Here is my summary about DCL compared to other cruise lines (RCCL and Carnival). My DW and I have taken 4 other cruises (3 on RCCL and 1 on Carnival) two of them with the kids:
Food - Comparable to RCCL
Service- Excellent
Kids Camp- Blows away anyone else
Debarcation process- Amazing- could never imagine a process as smooth as this on RCCL.
We were so impressed by how DCL has figured out what cruising is all about that we booked the Magic for May 06 even though it is out of Port Canaveral and we would miss out on seeing my parents for a few days had we sailed out of Ft Lauderdale or Miami on our next cruise.
Hope you enjoyed this review.
