Your guests: 2 thirty something adults from NJ. This was our pre-wedding/pre-honeymoon vacation. We joined DVC less than a year ago and this is was already our second trip using DVC points and our 3rd trip under DVC will be to Euro Disney for our honeymoon.
Figured I would post our thoughts about the cruise since there may be individuals who do not have children and are wondering if this is the cruise for them. I also received a lot of info about the cruise from the boards and wanted to return the favor. I have traveled on Carnival twice (my fiancé once) and this was our first cruise on Disney. We had a wonderful time and would choose Disney over any other cruise-line in a heartbeat. I would say that the 2 main reasons for this were because of the entertainment offered and Castaway Cay. Some further thoughts below:
As mentioned by mmouse37 who was on the same cruise, when we arrived at Port Canaveral (12:00pm) the check-in lines werent that long but it takes a lot longer to get through the lines when individuals do not fill out there documents before arriving at the counter. Isnt this one of the reasons why Disney sends out the documents weeks in advance of the cruise. With no exaggeration, the 2 groups before us must have averaged about 15 to 20 minutes at the counter while we were in and out in less than 5 minutes. I understand that with children it will take longer but it was mainly because the paperwork was not filled out and the Disney rep allows them to fill it out at the counter instead of moving on to the next person. This was the only frustrating part of the trip for the 2 of us.
We had a cat11 inside stateroom. For a small room, we both loved the way it was decorated. Since we were both on cruises before, we expected a small room and had no problems with it. With no children, anything larger to me is just a waste of money since we spend so little time in the room. Food throughout the cruise was excellent but Palos was the best. As recommended on this site, we made reservations as soon as we boarded the ship and had no problems with getting the night and time we wanted. The entire staff on the ship was excellent!!! What makes the cruise so relaxing is that everyone who works on the ship, is always so pleasant and smiling, it tends to put you in a good mood.
Entertainment One simple word Fabulous. We went to every pre-dinner show at 6:30 and each show was unique and wonderful. My favorite was Hercules because of some of the adult humor thrown in. Dueling Piano players were great (especially at the adult only shows)!!!! Their shows were very entertaining and we only wished we had seen more of them. There was a juggler and magician/ventriloquist act on board that were both fantastic.
St Maarten - Excursion: Rhino Rider Since this is a newer excursion for Disney, I wasnt able to receive much info about it off the boards so I figure I would post some info about it for people looking for details. I figured we would take the chance and go on it since it sounded similar to an excursion I want on in Cancun and had a great time. Im very glad we did. It wasnt cheap (80 per person), but we had a great time and it was the only excursion we went on. You are bussed out to a bay where you get on your own 2-seater mini-boat and go out on a 30 min ride. Once you reach your location, you go right off the boat into the water to snorkel. You could also swim to a beach which is close by. You are given about 30 mins before taking the boat back to the bay. Total time was about 3 hours.
Neither one of us cared for the shopping at St Maarten and only went out for about an hour or 2. The only item we were looking to buy was a watch for myself but none of the deals seemed to be that great. With the explosion of the Internet, I am able to find just as good as deals on the Net if not better than I was in St Maarten or St Thomas (at least on watches).
St Thomas - shopping district is nicer than St Maarten but still takes a toll on you when each store owner is trying to drag you into their shops and then once you enter they will not leave you alone. My fiancé and I love to shop but really get turned off when the salespeople will not get off your back. Im not the haggling type and this is NOT a good trait when shopping at the islands. I did enquire about the same watch at 2 different stores on St Thomas but the stores were a chain. Just so happened that at one store is was on sale for 10% while at the other it was 20%. Just be careful when shopping.
Castaway Cay This was just a beautiful island and a lot more than I expected. After leaving this island, both my fiancé and I had said that we wished we had went there in place of St Maarten and St Thomas for the other 2 stops on the cruise. We spent time at the adult only beach and the family beach.
Adults & Children Disney does an incredible job creating and separating areas for children and adults. For the times we spent at the adult pool, there were never any children in that area and it made it very relaxing when you just wanted to veg out. Children were well behaved on the ship and neither my fiancé nor I had any issues at all with them. If anything, we had more issues with some of the adults on board then the children
To top off a great vacation, Disney made the disembarkation extremely easy. We were able to eat breakfast and then check our bags for our continental flight home even before leaving the Port. This was that little extra nicety offered by Disney.
Figured I would post our thoughts about the cruise since there may be individuals who do not have children and are wondering if this is the cruise for them. I also received a lot of info about the cruise from the boards and wanted to return the favor. I have traveled on Carnival twice (my fiancé once) and this was our first cruise on Disney. We had a wonderful time and would choose Disney over any other cruise-line in a heartbeat. I would say that the 2 main reasons for this were because of the entertainment offered and Castaway Cay. Some further thoughts below:
As mentioned by mmouse37 who was on the same cruise, when we arrived at Port Canaveral (12:00pm) the check-in lines werent that long but it takes a lot longer to get through the lines when individuals do not fill out there documents before arriving at the counter. Isnt this one of the reasons why Disney sends out the documents weeks in advance of the cruise. With no exaggeration, the 2 groups before us must have averaged about 15 to 20 minutes at the counter while we were in and out in less than 5 minutes. I understand that with children it will take longer but it was mainly because the paperwork was not filled out and the Disney rep allows them to fill it out at the counter instead of moving on to the next person. This was the only frustrating part of the trip for the 2 of us.
We had a cat11 inside stateroom. For a small room, we both loved the way it was decorated. Since we were both on cruises before, we expected a small room and had no problems with it. With no children, anything larger to me is just a waste of money since we spend so little time in the room. Food throughout the cruise was excellent but Palos was the best. As recommended on this site, we made reservations as soon as we boarded the ship and had no problems with getting the night and time we wanted. The entire staff on the ship was excellent!!! What makes the cruise so relaxing is that everyone who works on the ship, is always so pleasant and smiling, it tends to put you in a good mood.
Entertainment One simple word Fabulous. We went to every pre-dinner show at 6:30 and each show was unique and wonderful. My favorite was Hercules because of some of the adult humor thrown in. Dueling Piano players were great (especially at the adult only shows)!!!! Their shows were very entertaining and we only wished we had seen more of them. There was a juggler and magician/ventriloquist act on board that were both fantastic.
St Maarten - Excursion: Rhino Rider Since this is a newer excursion for Disney, I wasnt able to receive much info about it off the boards so I figure I would post some info about it for people looking for details. I figured we would take the chance and go on it since it sounded similar to an excursion I want on in Cancun and had a great time. Im very glad we did. It wasnt cheap (80 per person), but we had a great time and it was the only excursion we went on. You are bussed out to a bay where you get on your own 2-seater mini-boat and go out on a 30 min ride. Once you reach your location, you go right off the boat into the water to snorkel. You could also swim to a beach which is close by. You are given about 30 mins before taking the boat back to the bay. Total time was about 3 hours.
Neither one of us cared for the shopping at St Maarten and only went out for about an hour or 2. The only item we were looking to buy was a watch for myself but none of the deals seemed to be that great. With the explosion of the Internet, I am able to find just as good as deals on the Net if not better than I was in St Maarten or St Thomas (at least on watches).
St Thomas - shopping district is nicer than St Maarten but still takes a toll on you when each store owner is trying to drag you into their shops and then once you enter they will not leave you alone. My fiancé and I love to shop but really get turned off when the salespeople will not get off your back. Im not the haggling type and this is NOT a good trait when shopping at the islands. I did enquire about the same watch at 2 different stores on St Thomas but the stores were a chain. Just so happened that at one store is was on sale for 10% while at the other it was 20%. Just be careful when shopping.
Castaway Cay This was just a beautiful island and a lot more than I expected. After leaving this island, both my fiancé and I had said that we wished we had went there in place of St Maarten and St Thomas for the other 2 stops on the cruise. We spent time at the adult only beach and the family beach.
Adults & Children Disney does an incredible job creating and separating areas for children and adults. For the times we spent at the adult pool, there were never any children in that area and it made it very relaxing when you just wanted to veg out. Children were well behaved on the ship and neither my fiancé nor I had any issues at all with them. If anything, we had more issues with some of the adults on board then the children
To top off a great vacation, Disney made the disembarkation extremely easy. We were able to eat breakfast and then check our bags for our continental flight home even before leaving the Port. This was that little extra nicety offered by Disney.
