Mythicalbee
Swiss Family Robinson
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2011
- Messages
- 255
All that's fit to print on our very first Bahamian Cruise, 4-nights on the Dream with our two sons - one week shy of 3 years old and our 4 year old. Mommy details below everything from staterooms to dinner rotation, kids clubs, nursery and more. Hope this helps you fellow cruisers!
BOOK ON BOARD
We booked around lunch on the day at sea, Wednesday, when it was slow. All I told him to do was book us on the cheapest cruise (a three day in November it turns out) and he really appreciated my being quick and to the point - we want to lock in the 10% discount and pay a low deposit. It took less than 10 minutes and now that I'm home we can decide what we want to book in reality -- we're even playing around with the idea of a B2B or a few days at WDW then cruise now that we don't feel we've spent an hour at the future cruise booking desk!
POWER OUTLETS
There are no American Standard outlets to plug anything in, only European Outlets, so the advice to bring your own hairdryer and bring a power strip proved useless. The hairdryer was in the cabinet above the desk and could only be plugged in at the desk and was perfectly fine. Read several reports that standing on the verandah dried hair better, but my experience was the exact opposite. Next time Ill buy an extra battery for my video camera, leave the laptop at home and I actually got lucky that I couldnt find my digital camera and bought a few old school disposable cameras. Otherwise, my digital battery would have run out and I wouldnt be able to charge it. The big amenity is the clock has an iPhone port that CHARGES the phone and lets you use an app at the same time (for us, a white noise program). We used it every night, and I was still able to take pictures with my iPhone since I could charge it in the bed side clock.
WAVE PHONES
There are few clocks throughout the ship, but the wave phones keep the current time. They do beep when the power runs low, and luckily I had read this and knew what the beeping sound was once I heard it and was able to switch them out. The Oceaneers Club and Nursery use them to communicate, and despite a lot of instructions on how to use them from our Stateroom Host, we were able to figure it out and use them.
MICKEY MOUSE DETECTIVE AGENCY
Deck 5 Midship, there are TWO kiosks. One in the hallway leading to the kids clubs, and another on the opposite side behind the elevators, next to a model of the ships steering wheel. My kids had absolutely no interest in doing this, but I was totally fascinated by the technology so went on my own while they were napping. I have no idea who stole the paintings (one of two mysteries to solve), I just enjoyed finding out how my detective badge would interact with the pictures!
OUR FOUR NIGHT CRUISE WITH AN ALMOST 3 AND 4 YEAR OLD
We flew day of, yes, we are totally living on the edge. I think this fact alone got more attention than anything else! Our travel was seamless and we got to the ship smoothly and easily. However, our kids were spent and in our stateroom napping while my husband and I sat on the verandah watching the ship pull out of port. So there are many reasons to fly in the night before, including less kid fatigue, and well do that next time.
We dressed the kids in their swim trunks, so when we got onboard the kids went right to the Mickey Pool and we were able to park our carry-on bag in one of the chairs. Cabanas on Deck 10 was packed, so I was glad we had eaten on the plane and werent starving. After about an hour in the pool and on the AquaDuck, the kids were ready for lunch and we walked right through and got a window seat. Our dining rotation started us at Animators Palate. In the future, I will request that we get to do this restaurant twice, it was THAT awesome. Crush amazingly interacts with the guests and kept us in stitches, making fun of a group from Nashville asking if they indeed had left anyone IN Nashville (their group spanned at least 6 tables.) Our server was great, and was reassuring telling us the first night is always the hardest and when I took out older boy back to bed (at his request, he was exhausted!) my husband arrived thirty minutes later with my dinner in a covered plate. Both boys were asleep by 9:30 their usual bedtime is 8:00pm. My 4 year old sleeps in a bunk at home, the 3 year old sleeps in a toddler bed but they switched for the duration of the trip the 3 year old in the bunk and the 4 year old on the couch that converts to a bed. Both were VERY comfortable (my husband and I took turns cuddling them to sleep) and as for the safety of the bunk, it has a collapsible bed rail and removable ladder. We put the ladder away at night to keep him from wandering about while we slept. Though the verandah has a security lock inches from the ceiling, the stateroom door does not and our kids could (potentially) escape easily. To add some security, we opened the closet door against the stateroom door and wedged the ladder so it wouldnt rattle and would be difficult for a preschooler to remove. If they even attempted to venture out the noise of them moving these items would wake us up.
Monday morning, the boys slept until 7:30am (theyre usually up by 7:00am.) We had breakfast in Enchanted Garden and watched the ship pull into Nassau. We were off around 9:30, and headed to the Hilton Hotel a few blocks away Guest Services had told us that they charge a $20 fee to use their private beach, so we thought that would be a good place for us to let the boys enjoy their first beach experience. Many people had recommended Atlantis and Blue Lagoon, but at $95 and $55 a person respectively, we felt it was too pricey for the 2-3 hours we planned to spend on the beach before heading back to the ship for naps. Well, Guest Services was way off The Hilton charges $55 a person, which includes a $30 food credit. We declined and walked another few blocks to a public beach. We were there for less than an hour before taking a cab back to the ship the public beach had broken glass everywhere, which was at least tumbled by the sea and not sharp, and had crushed shells so every time the sea pushed you around you got scraped up. We are not shoppers, and until the boys can make use of a full day at one of the resorts, were happy to stay on the ship and enjoy their amenities. When they can hang in for the majority of the day, think Blue Lagoon privately booked (aka not through a Disney excursion) would be our first excursion. The one fun thing we did took all of 5 minutes we got our passports stamped. They were more than happy to indulge us and we like having the momento. We got back on the ship, had lunch, napped, went on the AquaDuck and swam until it was time for dinner in Enchanted Garden.
Tuesday was Castaway Cay Day, and we loved it so much my husband insisted we look at a 5 day so we can do a double dip! As we pulled into port, we sat on our verandah and watched the island crew hard at work bringing in the ship. It was awesome! They literally shoot lead ropes out to the awaiting crew to secure the ship we sat on our verandah and watched for at least 30 minutes. And in true Disney Crew fashion, they waved and jumped up and down when we waved to them, and when a Cast Member caught a rope shot over his head in one go, the whole side of our ship cheered and he bowed in appreciation. It was such an unexpected pleasure to see the 'mechanics' of docking and we were glad to have this side of the ship to enjoy it.
NOTE TO POSTCARD SENDERS: There are two postcards in your stateroom center desk drawer. I spent $30 for 15 postcards in Mickeys Mainsail (ouch!) If youre ok with having Bahama postcards and not Disney ones, you can purchase them in the Nassau shops 3/$1. I asked our post office if US postage works in the Bahamas and she said yes, they do. After I affixed postage to every postcard, I saw on the Navigator that UNITED STATES POSTAGE IS NOT ACCEPTED IN THE BAHAMAS OR ON CASTAWAY CAY. You must buy their postage, 70 cents a stamp. The post office is the first building on your right when you get on to the island, so stop in and purchase your stamps and send them on their way.
We shipped beach toys (buckets, shovels, water shuttle rockets, dump trucks and some little plastic sea creatures to bury and find in the sand) to the warehouse before hand so loved being able to take our own things instead of buying on the island. After the kids were done using them, we found a kid who didnt have beach toys and the parents were delighted to take them off of our hands so it was a win-win for all of us. We were on the beach from 9:00am until 2:00pm, and enjoyed lunch at Cookies. I had seen pictures of fun things the kids could play on the island, and that Oceaneers club was open, but we were all having so much fun on the beach we didnt explore much. We caught Goofy at the pavilion at lunch and was glad I had their autograph books! Good lesson to pretty much keep autograph books and cameras with you at all times. During a stroll down a hallway one night I saw Snow White who graciously signed the boys books and indulged us in a picture. Oh that Snow, she is just SO charming. How any mother type wouldnt be over the moon to have her in the family is beyond me.
The Pelican platform I thought this was for all kids, but its not. My 4 year old was tall enough (hes tall for his age, as tall as most 5 or 6 year olds.) Hes a beginning swimmer, and not strong enough to make it from the beach to the platform. My husband was going to swim him across, but said he just didnt feel comfortable taking him across on his own. I would say the Pelican thing is probably suitable for (at minimum) 7 or 8 year olds who are strong swimmers. There are two slides, one gently plops you in the 6-8 ft deep water, while the other one shoots you out in the same depth of water. It had some other features, but mostly it was just a tease for our boys since it is really designed for older kids. There is an overlook where anyone can use the water cannons to shoot at a few colored wheels. This entertained my 3 year old for at least 10 minutes, and it was kinda fun.
A NOTE ABOUT CABANAS on Castaway Cay. At $500 a cabana WOW but I can definitely see how a family in July would really see this as a smart expense. You get your own private beach, sand bar and the cabanas are spacious. On our cruise, there were maybe 4-5 families over there, and while it was quiet and nice looking, it was super fun and festive on the family beach. Kids played easily together, parents were more than happy to scoop up a shovel that floated away or toss a toy back to the players. Everyone was in a good mood and totally pleasant. I was glad we opted to stick to the family beach, and highly recommend walking all the way to the end next to the cabana cut-off. Youre a short walk to Cookies, and the sand bar is there. Also, it seems that they provide a lounge chair and two sitting chairs per family. Everyone left the lounge chair and instantly dragged the sitting chairs into the ocean to cool their heels and read, watch the kids play or enjoy a beverage. It was a great, great day.
Our dinner was in Royal Palace that night, Pirate Night. This was the ONLY dish I had that didnt wow. My husband ate two servings, though. We changed into our Pirate gear (eye patches, foam swords, glow sticks, bandanas provided by our Stateroom Host) and went to the Pirate Party 15 minutes early and got a great seat right up front. People instinctively sat down when the show started allowing everyone a great view of the battle between Mickey and his pals and that dastardly Hook. It was totally corny and totally fun I would say do not miss this if you have little ones. They were absolutely captivated by the story, special effects, and cheered on Mickey as if their support meant the difference between sweet success or agonizing defeat. We weaved our way up to Deck 11 and enjoyed a spectacular fireworks show.
Wednesday was our day at sea, they literally park the ship in favorable conditions and for us it was off of the Bahamas. We loved having this lazy day we got to the pools and AquaDuck first thing in the morning and waited 5-10 minutes to ride the Duck. As it got busy, we headed up to Goofy Golf around 10:00am and it was just starting to get busy. It was VERY windy that day but it was fun to watch the boys practice putting (were all golfers) and laugh at the silly greens. We hit the Arrrcade and for $10.00 got to play about 5 games. It was pricey, but the games were awesome!!! We took them back to the stateroom for an early nap, and went to the 5:15pm showing of Cars 2 in 3D. This was the same time as first seating for dinner, so the theatre wasnt crowded. About ¾ of the way through the movie, our youngest was getting restless and I loved being able to give him a choice finish the movie or go swim in Mickey. He opted for swimming (and watched Mulan on the TunnelVision while relaxing in the curve of Mickeys ear) and thanks to the wave phone Dad and big brother knew where to find us.
We ended our night at Royal Palace again, and before bedtime we took the kids for a walk along the Promenade.
NOTE ABOUT THE KIDS CLUB
I had very high expectations of care at the kids club and gotta say, I was disappointed. We have two special needs kids, and I had discussed their needs at length with Disney prior to the cruise. They assured us that our son with ASD (PDD) and our hard-of-hearing son would be well cared for that they were aware of their needs and would make sure they were engaged and comfortable. When I noted this on the first night, the response from the club was of disinterest. It looked as if each kid was on their own, and if they wanted to participate in what the CMs were doing, fine, but cant say there was an apparent effort on their part to include and welcome the kids. Since we had talked it up so much, our boys were excited to play in Andys Room, so we agreed to one hour before we came back. After 45 minutes we got them and they were more than happy to leave it was absolute mayhem in that area. We asked them if they wanted to go back the next night, and the kids said they didnt want to go, so we kept them with us. We also looked at our wave phone the next morning and saw a text message from the club from the night before - yes, it sounds naïve, but they didnt tell us to have a wave phone with us even though we spent 10 minutes registering the kids.
It wasnt until Wednesday afternoon (over lunch time) that we tried again, but this time we booked nursery time for the 3 year old and took the 4 year old to a specific activity Toy Story Boot Camp. Only then did they seem excited to go the nursery was quiet and Fritz was able to hear, there were toys and an environment appropriate for a 3 year old (it wasnt just baby stuff) and the staff was wonderful and VERY care taking. Fritz ran in and immediately a Cast Member got on his level and asked for his help in getting the lunch ready for the little ones. Awesome. Then we walked the 4 year old to the Oceaneers Club, and there were about a dozen kids there it was calm and enjoyable. He ran in and got right to playing in the Monsters Inc. room (there are one way mirrors outside of the club so you can spy on your kids in Monsters Inc. and Andys room.) In fact, after dinner at the Royal Palace they both sat up in their chairs and said can they please please please go play with the kids. And our younger one reminded us no big kids, I be with babies.
So what we took from the experience: We will go ahead and register our kids on the first day and get their Mickey bands. Well wait until the next day to talk with a manager in the Oceaneers Club and find out when they are least busy, and look at the Navigator for that day to coordinate a specific activity for our kid(s) to enjoy. Oddly enough, they use an FM system in the kids club my sons hearing aids have a port for an FM boot that we could have used. Ill talk to them next time about linking the technology.
YOUR ON BOARD ACCOUNT AND STICKER SHOCK
Alcohol. We brought a bottle of vodka on board, and I bought my husband a 6-pack of Boddingtons. We were struggling to finish what had by the last night. We got a couple drinks of the day which ended up being cheaper than a mixed drink we could get at a restaurant locally, about $5 including the automatic 15% gratuity. On Wednesday late afternoon we got a bottle of champagne at Pink to celebrate our wedding anniversary a few days early - and when we showed up at dinner that night, our bartender at Pink had sent two complimentary glasses of champagne to our table. We drank more than we usually do, but we dont habitually have an alcoholic beverage at noon on the beach (ha ha) We never felt like we were drunk but did have on average 2-3 alcoholic beverages throughout the day which is not our usual. In fact, I can say that I saw most adults drinking alcohol and not once did I see anyone drunk or visibly impaired from drinking too much. Everyone was festive but responsible.
Spa. I asked for a polish change and got a manicure which I didnt ask for. Frankly, I got a mani/pedi two days before we left on our vacation and it was likely the worst Id ever gotten, so in the end I was fine with it. In the future, though, I would be crystal clear when sitting down and say exactly what service you want. The manicure was $45 for shellac nails which I think is very competitively priced and it was the BEST manicure Ive ever gotten. And I got to space out to crystal blue waters at the edge of Castaways beach. I signed my husband up for a razor shave and facial treatment, but be aware that the Senses Spa is contracted out by Disney so they have different rules if you cancel your appointment within 24 hours you are charged 50% of the cost of the service. You can apply this to another service though. My husband wasnt sure about a spa experience, but I insisted that he do something pampering for himself. When he came back, he thanked me over and over again and bought over $100 in products so he could keep feeling so smooth and pampered!
Merchandise. We bought the boys a Woody doll and Buzz Lighyear. These same items at Toys R Us were $60, they were ½ as much on the ship. The guy at checkout kindly removed the Toy Story buddies from their boxes and we tucked them into the boys beds for a surprise. My husband bought a shirt in XXL, they run quite small, and I was eligible to purchase a DCL tote bag ($11.95 with a $20 purchase, very nice sturdy canvas bag) The postcards were outrageous at nearly $2 a shot.
We had about $250 in OBC from a combination of Disney Visa Rewards, OBC from booking with DCL, and having bought gift cards every month or two for the 6 months between booking and cruising. Our final bill was $250 with those credits applied, and we didnt feel like we held back in spending since we had a pretty generous budget (we only spent ½ of what we had budgeted for)
TIPPING
We got $30 in $2 bills, and $20 in $1. While we used these for porters and room service, we also used them throughout the ship, a $1 here and there for drinks and such.
FISH EXTENDERS
In a word, DO IT. I shipped my FE gifts, extender, kids life preservers, over the door organizer, kids beach toys, and a few other things to the warehouse. The box was HUGE and cost about $15, and as expected it arrived in our Stateroom along with our luggage. It was such a convenience! The only catch is that you cant have any food or liquid in your box, so if you were going to include candy in your gift you cant ship it to the warehouse.
We loved every single gift we got from fun facts of Newfoundland to the personalized autograph books to the movie candy and pirate gear. We had a nice large group, 70 people and 19 staterooms.
ROOM REPORT 10010
Seasickness. Never had it in my life, but theres a first for everything. Luckily I brought the patch, Dramamine, and Altoids Ginger. My husband gets crazy seasick and only took Dramamine twice, so I would say be prepared. For me, the patch set me straight in 30 minutes and lasts 72 hours.
Our room was awesome since we were so far forward there was little to no foot traffic, we were sandwiched between concierge rooms above and staterooms below, and the nearest staircase led us up to the spa and entrance of the adults only area. If you keep going up from the adults area theres a family area and we could go up there and enjoy the view.
We were right behind the bridge of the ship, so got to see them working and often bumped into the Captains as they walked to and from the bridge which was a thrill for the boys.
BOOK ON BOARD
We booked around lunch on the day at sea, Wednesday, when it was slow. All I told him to do was book us on the cheapest cruise (a three day in November it turns out) and he really appreciated my being quick and to the point - we want to lock in the 10% discount and pay a low deposit. It took less than 10 minutes and now that I'm home we can decide what we want to book in reality -- we're even playing around with the idea of a B2B or a few days at WDW then cruise now that we don't feel we've spent an hour at the future cruise booking desk!
POWER OUTLETS
There are no American Standard outlets to plug anything in, only European Outlets, so the advice to bring your own hairdryer and bring a power strip proved useless. The hairdryer was in the cabinet above the desk and could only be plugged in at the desk and was perfectly fine. Read several reports that standing on the verandah dried hair better, but my experience was the exact opposite. Next time Ill buy an extra battery for my video camera, leave the laptop at home and I actually got lucky that I couldnt find my digital camera and bought a few old school disposable cameras. Otherwise, my digital battery would have run out and I wouldnt be able to charge it. The big amenity is the clock has an iPhone port that CHARGES the phone and lets you use an app at the same time (for us, a white noise program). We used it every night, and I was still able to take pictures with my iPhone since I could charge it in the bed side clock.
WAVE PHONES
There are few clocks throughout the ship, but the wave phones keep the current time. They do beep when the power runs low, and luckily I had read this and knew what the beeping sound was once I heard it and was able to switch them out. The Oceaneers Club and Nursery use them to communicate, and despite a lot of instructions on how to use them from our Stateroom Host, we were able to figure it out and use them.
MICKEY MOUSE DETECTIVE AGENCY
Deck 5 Midship, there are TWO kiosks. One in the hallway leading to the kids clubs, and another on the opposite side behind the elevators, next to a model of the ships steering wheel. My kids had absolutely no interest in doing this, but I was totally fascinated by the technology so went on my own while they were napping. I have no idea who stole the paintings (one of two mysteries to solve), I just enjoyed finding out how my detective badge would interact with the pictures!
OUR FOUR NIGHT CRUISE WITH AN ALMOST 3 AND 4 YEAR OLD
We flew day of, yes, we are totally living on the edge. I think this fact alone got more attention than anything else! Our travel was seamless and we got to the ship smoothly and easily. However, our kids were spent and in our stateroom napping while my husband and I sat on the verandah watching the ship pull out of port. So there are many reasons to fly in the night before, including less kid fatigue, and well do that next time.
We dressed the kids in their swim trunks, so when we got onboard the kids went right to the Mickey Pool and we were able to park our carry-on bag in one of the chairs. Cabanas on Deck 10 was packed, so I was glad we had eaten on the plane and werent starving. After about an hour in the pool and on the AquaDuck, the kids were ready for lunch and we walked right through and got a window seat. Our dining rotation started us at Animators Palate. In the future, I will request that we get to do this restaurant twice, it was THAT awesome. Crush amazingly interacts with the guests and kept us in stitches, making fun of a group from Nashville asking if they indeed had left anyone IN Nashville (their group spanned at least 6 tables.) Our server was great, and was reassuring telling us the first night is always the hardest and when I took out older boy back to bed (at his request, he was exhausted!) my husband arrived thirty minutes later with my dinner in a covered plate. Both boys were asleep by 9:30 their usual bedtime is 8:00pm. My 4 year old sleeps in a bunk at home, the 3 year old sleeps in a toddler bed but they switched for the duration of the trip the 3 year old in the bunk and the 4 year old on the couch that converts to a bed. Both were VERY comfortable (my husband and I took turns cuddling them to sleep) and as for the safety of the bunk, it has a collapsible bed rail and removable ladder. We put the ladder away at night to keep him from wandering about while we slept. Though the verandah has a security lock inches from the ceiling, the stateroom door does not and our kids could (potentially) escape easily. To add some security, we opened the closet door against the stateroom door and wedged the ladder so it wouldnt rattle and would be difficult for a preschooler to remove. If they even attempted to venture out the noise of them moving these items would wake us up.
Monday morning, the boys slept until 7:30am (theyre usually up by 7:00am.) We had breakfast in Enchanted Garden and watched the ship pull into Nassau. We were off around 9:30, and headed to the Hilton Hotel a few blocks away Guest Services had told us that they charge a $20 fee to use their private beach, so we thought that would be a good place for us to let the boys enjoy their first beach experience. Many people had recommended Atlantis and Blue Lagoon, but at $95 and $55 a person respectively, we felt it was too pricey for the 2-3 hours we planned to spend on the beach before heading back to the ship for naps. Well, Guest Services was way off The Hilton charges $55 a person, which includes a $30 food credit. We declined and walked another few blocks to a public beach. We were there for less than an hour before taking a cab back to the ship the public beach had broken glass everywhere, which was at least tumbled by the sea and not sharp, and had crushed shells so every time the sea pushed you around you got scraped up. We are not shoppers, and until the boys can make use of a full day at one of the resorts, were happy to stay on the ship and enjoy their amenities. When they can hang in for the majority of the day, think Blue Lagoon privately booked (aka not through a Disney excursion) would be our first excursion. The one fun thing we did took all of 5 minutes we got our passports stamped. They were more than happy to indulge us and we like having the momento. We got back on the ship, had lunch, napped, went on the AquaDuck and swam until it was time for dinner in Enchanted Garden.
Tuesday was Castaway Cay Day, and we loved it so much my husband insisted we look at a 5 day so we can do a double dip! As we pulled into port, we sat on our verandah and watched the island crew hard at work bringing in the ship. It was awesome! They literally shoot lead ropes out to the awaiting crew to secure the ship we sat on our verandah and watched for at least 30 minutes. And in true Disney Crew fashion, they waved and jumped up and down when we waved to them, and when a Cast Member caught a rope shot over his head in one go, the whole side of our ship cheered and he bowed in appreciation. It was such an unexpected pleasure to see the 'mechanics' of docking and we were glad to have this side of the ship to enjoy it.
NOTE TO POSTCARD SENDERS: There are two postcards in your stateroom center desk drawer. I spent $30 for 15 postcards in Mickeys Mainsail (ouch!) If youre ok with having Bahama postcards and not Disney ones, you can purchase them in the Nassau shops 3/$1. I asked our post office if US postage works in the Bahamas and she said yes, they do. After I affixed postage to every postcard, I saw on the Navigator that UNITED STATES POSTAGE IS NOT ACCEPTED IN THE BAHAMAS OR ON CASTAWAY CAY. You must buy their postage, 70 cents a stamp. The post office is the first building on your right when you get on to the island, so stop in and purchase your stamps and send them on their way.
We shipped beach toys (buckets, shovels, water shuttle rockets, dump trucks and some little plastic sea creatures to bury and find in the sand) to the warehouse before hand so loved being able to take our own things instead of buying on the island. After the kids were done using them, we found a kid who didnt have beach toys and the parents were delighted to take them off of our hands so it was a win-win for all of us. We were on the beach from 9:00am until 2:00pm, and enjoyed lunch at Cookies. I had seen pictures of fun things the kids could play on the island, and that Oceaneers club was open, but we were all having so much fun on the beach we didnt explore much. We caught Goofy at the pavilion at lunch and was glad I had their autograph books! Good lesson to pretty much keep autograph books and cameras with you at all times. During a stroll down a hallway one night I saw Snow White who graciously signed the boys books and indulged us in a picture. Oh that Snow, she is just SO charming. How any mother type wouldnt be over the moon to have her in the family is beyond me.
The Pelican platform I thought this was for all kids, but its not. My 4 year old was tall enough (hes tall for his age, as tall as most 5 or 6 year olds.) Hes a beginning swimmer, and not strong enough to make it from the beach to the platform. My husband was going to swim him across, but said he just didnt feel comfortable taking him across on his own. I would say the Pelican thing is probably suitable for (at minimum) 7 or 8 year olds who are strong swimmers. There are two slides, one gently plops you in the 6-8 ft deep water, while the other one shoots you out in the same depth of water. It had some other features, but mostly it was just a tease for our boys since it is really designed for older kids. There is an overlook where anyone can use the water cannons to shoot at a few colored wheels. This entertained my 3 year old for at least 10 minutes, and it was kinda fun.
A NOTE ABOUT CABANAS on Castaway Cay. At $500 a cabana WOW but I can definitely see how a family in July would really see this as a smart expense. You get your own private beach, sand bar and the cabanas are spacious. On our cruise, there were maybe 4-5 families over there, and while it was quiet and nice looking, it was super fun and festive on the family beach. Kids played easily together, parents were more than happy to scoop up a shovel that floated away or toss a toy back to the players. Everyone was in a good mood and totally pleasant. I was glad we opted to stick to the family beach, and highly recommend walking all the way to the end next to the cabana cut-off. Youre a short walk to Cookies, and the sand bar is there. Also, it seems that they provide a lounge chair and two sitting chairs per family. Everyone left the lounge chair and instantly dragged the sitting chairs into the ocean to cool their heels and read, watch the kids play or enjoy a beverage. It was a great, great day.
Our dinner was in Royal Palace that night, Pirate Night. This was the ONLY dish I had that didnt wow. My husband ate two servings, though. We changed into our Pirate gear (eye patches, foam swords, glow sticks, bandanas provided by our Stateroom Host) and went to the Pirate Party 15 minutes early and got a great seat right up front. People instinctively sat down when the show started allowing everyone a great view of the battle between Mickey and his pals and that dastardly Hook. It was totally corny and totally fun I would say do not miss this if you have little ones. They were absolutely captivated by the story, special effects, and cheered on Mickey as if their support meant the difference between sweet success or agonizing defeat. We weaved our way up to Deck 11 and enjoyed a spectacular fireworks show.
Wednesday was our day at sea, they literally park the ship in favorable conditions and for us it was off of the Bahamas. We loved having this lazy day we got to the pools and AquaDuck first thing in the morning and waited 5-10 minutes to ride the Duck. As it got busy, we headed up to Goofy Golf around 10:00am and it was just starting to get busy. It was VERY windy that day but it was fun to watch the boys practice putting (were all golfers) and laugh at the silly greens. We hit the Arrrcade and for $10.00 got to play about 5 games. It was pricey, but the games were awesome!!! We took them back to the stateroom for an early nap, and went to the 5:15pm showing of Cars 2 in 3D. This was the same time as first seating for dinner, so the theatre wasnt crowded. About ¾ of the way through the movie, our youngest was getting restless and I loved being able to give him a choice finish the movie or go swim in Mickey. He opted for swimming (and watched Mulan on the TunnelVision while relaxing in the curve of Mickeys ear) and thanks to the wave phone Dad and big brother knew where to find us.
We ended our night at Royal Palace again, and before bedtime we took the kids for a walk along the Promenade.
NOTE ABOUT THE KIDS CLUB
I had very high expectations of care at the kids club and gotta say, I was disappointed. We have two special needs kids, and I had discussed their needs at length with Disney prior to the cruise. They assured us that our son with ASD (PDD) and our hard-of-hearing son would be well cared for that they were aware of their needs and would make sure they were engaged and comfortable. When I noted this on the first night, the response from the club was of disinterest. It looked as if each kid was on their own, and if they wanted to participate in what the CMs were doing, fine, but cant say there was an apparent effort on their part to include and welcome the kids. Since we had talked it up so much, our boys were excited to play in Andys Room, so we agreed to one hour before we came back. After 45 minutes we got them and they were more than happy to leave it was absolute mayhem in that area. We asked them if they wanted to go back the next night, and the kids said they didnt want to go, so we kept them with us. We also looked at our wave phone the next morning and saw a text message from the club from the night before - yes, it sounds naïve, but they didnt tell us to have a wave phone with us even though we spent 10 minutes registering the kids.
It wasnt until Wednesday afternoon (over lunch time) that we tried again, but this time we booked nursery time for the 3 year old and took the 4 year old to a specific activity Toy Story Boot Camp. Only then did they seem excited to go the nursery was quiet and Fritz was able to hear, there were toys and an environment appropriate for a 3 year old (it wasnt just baby stuff) and the staff was wonderful and VERY care taking. Fritz ran in and immediately a Cast Member got on his level and asked for his help in getting the lunch ready for the little ones. Awesome. Then we walked the 4 year old to the Oceaneers Club, and there were about a dozen kids there it was calm and enjoyable. He ran in and got right to playing in the Monsters Inc. room (there are one way mirrors outside of the club so you can spy on your kids in Monsters Inc. and Andys room.) In fact, after dinner at the Royal Palace they both sat up in their chairs and said can they please please please go play with the kids. And our younger one reminded us no big kids, I be with babies.
So what we took from the experience: We will go ahead and register our kids on the first day and get their Mickey bands. Well wait until the next day to talk with a manager in the Oceaneers Club and find out when they are least busy, and look at the Navigator for that day to coordinate a specific activity for our kid(s) to enjoy. Oddly enough, they use an FM system in the kids club my sons hearing aids have a port for an FM boot that we could have used. Ill talk to them next time about linking the technology.
YOUR ON BOARD ACCOUNT AND STICKER SHOCK
Alcohol. We brought a bottle of vodka on board, and I bought my husband a 6-pack of Boddingtons. We were struggling to finish what had by the last night. We got a couple drinks of the day which ended up being cheaper than a mixed drink we could get at a restaurant locally, about $5 including the automatic 15% gratuity. On Wednesday late afternoon we got a bottle of champagne at Pink to celebrate our wedding anniversary a few days early - and when we showed up at dinner that night, our bartender at Pink had sent two complimentary glasses of champagne to our table. We drank more than we usually do, but we dont habitually have an alcoholic beverage at noon on the beach (ha ha) We never felt like we were drunk but did have on average 2-3 alcoholic beverages throughout the day which is not our usual. In fact, I can say that I saw most adults drinking alcohol and not once did I see anyone drunk or visibly impaired from drinking too much. Everyone was festive but responsible.
Spa. I asked for a polish change and got a manicure which I didnt ask for. Frankly, I got a mani/pedi two days before we left on our vacation and it was likely the worst Id ever gotten, so in the end I was fine with it. In the future, though, I would be crystal clear when sitting down and say exactly what service you want. The manicure was $45 for shellac nails which I think is very competitively priced and it was the BEST manicure Ive ever gotten. And I got to space out to crystal blue waters at the edge of Castaways beach. I signed my husband up for a razor shave and facial treatment, but be aware that the Senses Spa is contracted out by Disney so they have different rules if you cancel your appointment within 24 hours you are charged 50% of the cost of the service. You can apply this to another service though. My husband wasnt sure about a spa experience, but I insisted that he do something pampering for himself. When he came back, he thanked me over and over again and bought over $100 in products so he could keep feeling so smooth and pampered!
Merchandise. We bought the boys a Woody doll and Buzz Lighyear. These same items at Toys R Us were $60, they were ½ as much on the ship. The guy at checkout kindly removed the Toy Story buddies from their boxes and we tucked them into the boys beds for a surprise. My husband bought a shirt in XXL, they run quite small, and I was eligible to purchase a DCL tote bag ($11.95 with a $20 purchase, very nice sturdy canvas bag) The postcards were outrageous at nearly $2 a shot.
We had about $250 in OBC from a combination of Disney Visa Rewards, OBC from booking with DCL, and having bought gift cards every month or two for the 6 months between booking and cruising. Our final bill was $250 with those credits applied, and we didnt feel like we held back in spending since we had a pretty generous budget (we only spent ½ of what we had budgeted for)
TIPPING
We got $30 in $2 bills, and $20 in $1. While we used these for porters and room service, we also used them throughout the ship, a $1 here and there for drinks and such.
FISH EXTENDERS
In a word, DO IT. I shipped my FE gifts, extender, kids life preservers, over the door organizer, kids beach toys, and a few other things to the warehouse. The box was HUGE and cost about $15, and as expected it arrived in our Stateroom along with our luggage. It was such a convenience! The only catch is that you cant have any food or liquid in your box, so if you were going to include candy in your gift you cant ship it to the warehouse.
We loved every single gift we got from fun facts of Newfoundland to the personalized autograph books to the movie candy and pirate gear. We had a nice large group, 70 people and 19 staterooms.
ROOM REPORT 10010
Seasickness. Never had it in my life, but theres a first for everything. Luckily I brought the patch, Dramamine, and Altoids Ginger. My husband gets crazy seasick and only took Dramamine twice, so I would say be prepared. For me, the patch set me straight in 30 minutes and lasts 72 hours.
Our room was awesome since we were so far forward there was little to no foot traffic, we were sandwiched between concierge rooms above and staterooms below, and the nearest staircase led us up to the spa and entrance of the adults only area. If you keep going up from the adults area theres a family area and we could go up there and enjoy the view.
We were right behind the bridge of the ship, so got to see them working and often bumped into the Captains as they walked to and from the bridge which was a thrill for the boys.
Just the hairdryer didn't in our room. I would of died without my hair straightener 
Well...at least we are IN DISNEY 
I DO wish we were back at 
Can't beat the Caribbean waters
