whitepicketfence
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2011
- Messages
- 133
My family had a wonderful experience on our first cruise. I would say we were not the typical family on board as our "kids" are 18 and 19, and it was just the four of us. The kids had their own cabin on deck 9 and my husband and I were on deck 5.
I will not do a day by day account. I would probably be embarrassed at how many times I would have to type: "headed up to deck 11 to take a nap in big, round chair in adult area".
We are long time DVC members and use our points at Hilton Head and Vero as much as WDW. We are used to all the special Disney touches and were not disappointed.
Some of the highlights of our trip:
Adult area on deck 11--I have not had that much time to read and sleep and eat and drink in a very long time. Most of Nassau day and Sea Day were spent here. I loved popping into Cove Cafe for a bite or two or the short walk to the area where Flo's was for a plate of fruit. On sea day the pool was full, but I rarely left my chair that faced the ocean. It was bliss.
Tastings--My husband and I did four tastings. These were great fun and actually very educational. We did the champagne tasting in Pink led by George. No more cheap bubbly for us! Next was the beer tasting, also in Pink. We noticed the beer tasting was not on the Navigator. (We had signed up for our tastings as soon as we got on the boat.) We laughed about how weird it would be if we were the only ones. Well, we were--they cancelled it but since we had bought our tickets, held it just for us! Very fun to get to know several CMs and learn about their countries. We did the wine tasting at Meridian which was more traditional. And last was the mojito/margarita tasting at Evolution, which was a smaller, more intimate group. All were fun in their own way and I am glad we tried them. There was also a whiskey tasting and martini tasting, but we had to say no to something!
Castaway Cay--By far the best day of the trip. We were off the boat early, trekking to Serenity Bay. Wow! It is so pretty....you can not see anything but ocean and island. Kids and dad snorkeled and biked and I did my read/nap/relax routine. Lunch was very good--the ribs were great. The kids saw a huge barracuda which kept them engaged (and on edge) all day! We took the next to the last tram back to the boat.
Dining--Our rotation was AERR. While we loved the show at AP, RP was our favorite restaurant. There was just more room to move around and it felt more relaxed. Our servers, Delyan and Andrea were delightful, as was Mario, our head server. Our kids are not very adventurous eaters but Delyan was great about bringing out new things to try along with what they ordered. I think they tried every dessert on the ship and plan on getting dad a torch for Father's Day to make him creme brulee. We had the late seating and it worked great for us.
Float out--We spent a couple of hours on deck 12 as we headed out to sea. All the young children were bursting with excitement and it was contagious. We saw dolphins, tons of stingrays, and turtles galore. It was a great way to start the trip.
Deck 5 overlooking atrium--I loved watching the kids with the characters from up there. It brought me back in time and even convinced my older teens to take a picture with Mickey. It is just fun to see the characters.
Fireworks-Fireworks on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Just cool.
Outlook--I had read here to try and get up to Outlook, a lounge on deck 14. Hard to find, but worth it. It was not open on the 1st and 4th night of the cruise. On CC day, we headed up as the hours on the Navigator said "sunset times". We were the only ones there besides two CMs. Glorious views. The CM got us each a glass of wine, turned on the player piano and they dismissed themselves for a quick dinner. My husband and I had the place literally to ourselves. It was a wonderful break from the busyness of other areas of the ship.
Nothing that would ruin a trip, but there were some things that could be improved.
As others here have said, the boarding process is not Disney-like at all. All those guests parked in front made it very difficult to board when your number was called.
Smoking on verandahs. Yuck. We had to come in more than once because of smokers on their verandahs.
The set up of the elevators/stairs. Everyone who comes up the Forward elevator must walk through adult area on deck 11 and those who come up Aft must go through Cabanas. Not great for traffic flow and hard to explain to a toddler why he can't swim in the empty pool!
Edge should not be directly above Meridian. I don't know how it is at night, but during our wine tasting, it sounded like there was a bowling alley above us. Meridian is such a gorgeous lounge--it deserves better.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip. I would be happy to answer questions if I can. This board was a great resource and we would have missed many things had I not spent (too) much time here!
I will not do a day by day account. I would probably be embarrassed at how many times I would have to type: "headed up to deck 11 to take a nap in big, round chair in adult area".
We are long time DVC members and use our points at Hilton Head and Vero as much as WDW. We are used to all the special Disney touches and were not disappointed.
Some of the highlights of our trip:
Adult area on deck 11--I have not had that much time to read and sleep and eat and drink in a very long time. Most of Nassau day and Sea Day were spent here. I loved popping into Cove Cafe for a bite or two or the short walk to the area where Flo's was for a plate of fruit. On sea day the pool was full, but I rarely left my chair that faced the ocean. It was bliss.
Tastings--My husband and I did four tastings. These were great fun and actually very educational. We did the champagne tasting in Pink led by George. No more cheap bubbly for us! Next was the beer tasting, also in Pink. We noticed the beer tasting was not on the Navigator. (We had signed up for our tastings as soon as we got on the boat.) We laughed about how weird it would be if we were the only ones. Well, we were--they cancelled it but since we had bought our tickets, held it just for us! Very fun to get to know several CMs and learn about their countries. We did the wine tasting at Meridian which was more traditional. And last was the mojito/margarita tasting at Evolution, which was a smaller, more intimate group. All were fun in their own way and I am glad we tried them. There was also a whiskey tasting and martini tasting, but we had to say no to something!
Castaway Cay--By far the best day of the trip. We were off the boat early, trekking to Serenity Bay. Wow! It is so pretty....you can not see anything but ocean and island. Kids and dad snorkeled and biked and I did my read/nap/relax routine. Lunch was very good--the ribs were great. The kids saw a huge barracuda which kept them engaged (and on edge) all day! We took the next to the last tram back to the boat.
Dining--Our rotation was AERR. While we loved the show at AP, RP was our favorite restaurant. There was just more room to move around and it felt more relaxed. Our servers, Delyan and Andrea were delightful, as was Mario, our head server. Our kids are not very adventurous eaters but Delyan was great about bringing out new things to try along with what they ordered. I think they tried every dessert on the ship and plan on getting dad a torch for Father's Day to make him creme brulee. We had the late seating and it worked great for us.
Float out--We spent a couple of hours on deck 12 as we headed out to sea. All the young children were bursting with excitement and it was contagious. We saw dolphins, tons of stingrays, and turtles galore. It was a great way to start the trip.
Deck 5 overlooking atrium--I loved watching the kids with the characters from up there. It brought me back in time and even convinced my older teens to take a picture with Mickey. It is just fun to see the characters.
Fireworks-Fireworks on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Just cool.
Outlook--I had read here to try and get up to Outlook, a lounge on deck 14. Hard to find, but worth it. It was not open on the 1st and 4th night of the cruise. On CC day, we headed up as the hours on the Navigator said "sunset times". We were the only ones there besides two CMs. Glorious views. The CM got us each a glass of wine, turned on the player piano and they dismissed themselves for a quick dinner. My husband and I had the place literally to ourselves. It was a wonderful break from the busyness of other areas of the ship.
Nothing that would ruin a trip, but there were some things that could be improved.
As others here have said, the boarding process is not Disney-like at all. All those guests parked in front made it very difficult to board when your number was called.
Smoking on verandahs. Yuck. We had to come in more than once because of smokers on their verandahs.
The set up of the elevators/stairs. Everyone who comes up the Forward elevator must walk through adult area on deck 11 and those who come up Aft must go through Cabanas. Not great for traffic flow and hard to explain to a toddler why he can't swim in the empty pool!
Edge should not be directly above Meridian. I don't know how it is at night, but during our wine tasting, it sounded like there was a bowling alley above us. Meridian is such a gorgeous lounge--it deserves better.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip. I would be happy to answer questions if I can. This board was a great resource and we would have missed many things had I not spent (too) much time here!
Did you eat at Palos or Remys?
