Feb. 20 - 27 MR cruise

[Beachmum]

Here's the thing. I've re-read what I wrote a few times and it sounds like we didn't have a good time. We did. The kids had the best time ever (according to Sarah, my now six year old). We had a good time.

Would we cruise again? Probably not. However, it wasn't that Disney didn't provide a good cruise. It's more that I think we (Brian and I) are happier at a resort.

That said, here's the cast of characters:

Me, 42
Brian 44
Elizabeth 7 (turning 8 in April)
Sarah (turned 6 on the second day of the cruise)

Day 1

Not a good start. The car wouldn’t start. We called AAA and a town car. The town car wasn’t big enough (Brian told them how much luggage we had) and AAA was late. We cancelled AAA and called the guests who were coming to Hill Street Cottage (my guest house) to explain the parking situation.

We arrived at the port at 11ish. There was an enormous line. Brian stood with the girls and the luggage while I stood in line. After a few minutes, Brian called and told me he had found a porter. Why would you spend an hour in line when you could pay a porter? We checked in and were group 14. The ship was totally full, so there were no upgrades.

It was super cold (for SoCal), so we went to Parrot Cay for lunch. Elizabeth had very liquid Mac ‘n’ cheese and a banana. Sarah had some chicken, broccoli and farfalle. Brian had pork schnitzel, beef and cooked veggies and I had a salad. It was fine.

After lunch, we headed to Oceaneer’s Club/Lab and waited for about two minutes for bracelets for the kids. We spent a few minutes in there, but at 1:30 it was empty, so we went to check out our staterooms. The Navigator said the rooms would be ready at 1:30, but a crew member said 2 p.m. They were ready at 1:30.

Elizabeth and I started the ship’s tour, but it wasn’t all that interesting so we gave up. By then, our luggage had arrived so we unpacked. Then was the drill followed by the sail away party. Because we’re small and aren’t hugely into participating, we stood on deck 10, which was perfect for us. We had a great view of what was going on, we got streamers and we weren’t packed into a small space with tall people. We left the party early because of the cold. We might have been warmer on Deck 9 and dancing, but we wouldn’t have been able to see. We warmed up and changed in the staterooms and then watched as we finally started moving. It was very exciting for us to be moving.

Dinner was back at PC, where we had a table to ourselves, right by the window. Elizabeth and I started with the ahi – good for me and we just trimmed the pepper edges off Elizabeth’s. Brian had the asparagus and crab soup. Sarah had the fruit cup. For entrees, Sarah had the chicken fingers (but was fading so she didn’t eat much), Elizabeth and I had the rib-eye (yum) and Brian had the pork chop (also yum). What was interesting was that they just wouldn’t bring us smaller portions. This happened over and over again where we would ask to split an entrée or ask for a half portion and we’d be brought the entire thing. Elizabeth is seven, so she’s not going to be able to eat an 8 – 10 oz. steak. I just don’t eat that much. We asked for half portions and yet they brought us each huge steaks that we didn’t finish.

The kids had Mickey bars and Brian and I shared the lemon meringue pie. The pie was nasty.

Brian went out, but Sarah was so tired (since it was nearly 8 p.m.) that she said she’d rather get a present in the morning for her birthday and just go to bed. (So much for the kids staying up late every night.) I was exhausted and feeling sick too, so it was early to bed for me.

 

[Beachmum]

The kids woke up at 4:20 a.m. (so much for sleeping in). Rather, they woke me up at 4:20 – they were probably up earlier. Everyone went back to bed (and I fell back asleep) and my family woke me at 7:15 – my usual sleep-in time. The kids did a bit of homework and then we went to Tritons for breakfast. It was a total fiasco. Brian and Elizabeth ordered eggs and a meat smorgasbord. I ordered cream of wheat with a half grapefruit and Sarah wanted plain French toast (it had a sauce on the menu). We waited for about 45 minutes for the food. When it came, the eggs were nasty (cooked hours earlier and sat under a steam table), nothing was hot, we were missing two plates of fruit and my half grapefruit was two slices. We were there nearly two hours.

The kids then came with us to the stores so could buy Sarah a birthday present. She wanted the Rapunzel head, so we told her we’d buy it at the Disney Store at home instead and she was ok with that. They wanted to go to the kids club. It was still cold outside, but Brian and I braved deck 10 above the Quiet Cove pool to read. I was bundled up so it was nice.

We had lunch at BBB and, after we ate, found the taco bar – tomorrow’s lunch.

After lunch, Sarah and Elizabeth returned to the club, Brian resumed reading on deck 10 and I went to exercise. The exercise room is gorgeous. I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, without sound, while I ran and walked for 30 minutes. I figure the exercise plus taking the stairs covered breakfast’s calories. Then I caught up with Brian by the pool.

We got the girls out of the club and went to nap. For a complete shock, both kids fell asleep and slept for about an hour. I guess that’s what happens when they wake up before 5 a.m.

We made ourselves pretty and went for formal night at Tritons. Sarah started with the pineapple, I got the fruit soup (yummy). Elizabeth got the fried ravioli (no sauce). The ravioli was ok, but it was too spicy for her. Brian got the smallest scallops I’ve ever seen. For entrees, I got duck (fabulous), Elizabeth got turkey (with a few modification like the elimination of sauce), and Brian and Sarah got the steak. The steak was nasty, tasteless meat. However, there was so much other food that Brian got enough turkey and duck and Sarah was good with the sides. We had to assure the servers several times that Brian didn’t need another steak. Even the chef came over and Brian promised him that he wouldn’t eat it if it came to the table. They brought Sarah a chocolate mousse with a candle and sang to her for her birthday.

After dinner we took pictures (for formal night) and then did karaoke. Well, we watched. It was fun, but by 8:00 or so we were tired and all went to bed. (I know, we’re not much of a party group.)

 

[LKFan]

Good to see you back on the boards! Can't wait to read more.

 

[Beachmum]

(By the way, I typed most of this as we were doing it. I did bring my laptop and did some work on the cruise. The good news is that I got three new contracts while we were away. The bad news is that I had to do work while I was gone. However, even with my need to work, we totally didn't use anywhere near the minutes I purchased. I'd recommend purchasing fewer minutes and upgrading if you think you need them. Yes, it wasn't that expensive, but I can think of better things -- like drinks -- on which to spend my money.)

We awoke later, and ate small breakfasts at BBB and then took the kids to the club. Of course, later, for us, means closer to 7 a.m. then to 5 a.m. It still wasn’t warm enough to sit out and it wasn’t sunny, so we hung out on our veranda and read (and did a bit of work). We had 11 a.m. brunch at Palo scheduled. Here’s my take: The food was good, but not fabulous. We started with cheese and bread and they had a pretty nice selection. There wasn’t anything surprising nor was there anything I hadn’t had before, but all of it was good. The chef came out to show me what I could eat since I have a shellfish allergy. He steered me away from all of the fish, however, so I had to ask him specific preparation questions such as if the ahi had been seared on its own grill or if it shared one with the shellfish. More on the shellfish challenge later.

Brian ordered the eggs Florentine (spinach and no hollandaise sauce) and the strawberry soup. I ordered the goat cheese and sun dried tomato pizza. Brian thought that the soup would come first (since you simply put it in a bowl), but the eggs came first. He asked our waitress to cancel the soup. Fortunately, she didn’t because he then realized that he had gotten eggs Benedict (hollandaise and Canadian bacon) and not Florentine. As the waitress brought out the soup, Brian told her about the egg mix-up. She said she’d bring him another one. He actually convinced her not to (it wasn’t easy). The soup was too sweet for me, but he liked it. My pizza was really good.

We sampled many desserts. The tiramisu was good, but a bit runny. Others ranged from pretty good to a hard, nasty chocolate pudding-like thing that was inedible. The panna cotta looked good, but I don’t like it so I didn’t try it.

After brunch we picked up the kids, went to our staterooms to get on bathing suits and headed up to the pool. They dined poolside and then we played in both pools. The pools were a zoo, but the kids had fun and hung out with some of their friends that they’d made in the club. It was challenging finding a place to sit other than the pool’s edge, but I’m not sure how that could be fixed.

We watched “The Three Caballeros” while in the pool and then decided to go back to the staterooms so I could nap (I was fighting a cold) and the kids could do some of their homework.

We were at Tritons for dinner. Debbie, our server, had recovered from her ankle injury. The kids shared a plate of fish nuggets to start. They like them. Brian started with the tomato soup. The first one came with an icky skin on it (too long under a heat lamp) but the second one was good. I had escargot. There was too much bread (or maybe it was cheese) on top, but they were really tasty. Again, I had to promise the head server that escargot was not shellfish. Snails aren’t fish and they don’t contain whatever it is that I’m allergic to.

For our entrees, Sarah had oreccio pasta with butter and Elizabeth had the lobster mac ‘n’ cheese. I had a chicken Caesar salad, that was called something else but was definitely a chicken Caesar. Once again, Brian’s meal had issues. I told him to get the duck since it had been so good the previous night. First, Ronald, our head server, brought out a special ‘treat’ from the chef to make up for the previous night’s steak fiasco. The treat, meant for both of us, was shrimp curry. I’m allergic, so didn’t even take any. Brian doesn’t like curry, but tried a shrimp to be polite. He said it was good and cooked nicely. Then his duck came. It was overcooked (it should have a pink middle) but was juicy. He mentioned that it was overcooked but still good and said he didn’t want another one. After he’d eaten about half, they brought out another one that was cooked properly He ate a few bites, but was full at this point. The kids had eaten very little all day, so we decided not to get dessert. The girls and I got up and left Brian to sign for the corkage. Brian came out a minute later with a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and cookies and they didn’t charge us corkage. Brian and I didn’t want dessert and the kids weren’t getting it, so Brian went to the stateroom to deposit the leftover wine and dessert and we went to check out the stores again. (We ended up not eating any of the dessert and out stateroom host threw it out the next day.)

We then took pictures (with very little waiting) with a funny and interactive Donald who tickled both kids. We then did some portraits of the girls (one with them holding Tinkerbelle). We checked out the pictures so far at Shutters and went to see Pluto, who was also funny. Everyone seemed tired, so we called it a night. I put the kids to bed and we finished the wine while reading on our veranda.

 

[Beachmum]

Brian woke up early and watched the ship dock in Puerto Vallarta. By the time I woke up, we were there. We’ve been to PV many times (including last year) so we planned to stay on the ship all day. We put on our bathing suits and sunscreen and went to BBB for breakfast. Then we went to the Mickey pool for about an hour (it was nearly empty) and at ten the kids went to the club. We went to the Quiet Cove pool to read and bask in the sun.

It was nice, warm and quiet and we enjoyed the time. Around noon, we picked up the kids and went to BBB for lunch. After lunch, we all played at the pool since it was nearly empty. The challenge is that Sarah can’t/won’t swim, so someone has to hold her when she’s in the Mickey Pool. She will hold on to the edge for a while, but, supposedly, her hands get sore. So, Brian and I took turns holding her in the pool. They were playing HSM II on the big screen. Essentially, we were watching a movie while we happened to be in the pool.

We had dinner at Animator’s Palate. After hearing how fabulous the show was, I had high expectations. (I tried hard to keep my expectations low for most things, but not this since it was universally praised.) It was a cool looking restaurant and we had a seat right near a screen. Unfortunately, that meant that the kids spent the entire meal watching the screen instead of eating over their plates, but that’s my issue. Brian and I started with the ahi tartar. It was good, but it would have been better had it been more than chopped ahi with nice sauce around it. I expected it to be what I get at home, which is ahi mixed with avocado, capers, mango or something and then piled prettily on a plate. I don’t remember what I ate, but Brian ordered the veal chop and it was nicely done. For dessert, I had an apple cobbler that was hot and tasty and came with ice cream.

After dinner we took more pictures with more characters, but didn’t stay up very late. My cold was getting bad so I went to bed early. (Of course, this is a theme.)

 

[Beachmum]

Brian woke up early enough to watch us arrive in Cabo San Lucas, but I slept in (also a theme for the trip). Once we were all awake, we went to BBB for breakfast and then went down to check out Cabo. Someone (CM) mentioned that the 10:30 line wasn’t much of a line, but that it got busier at around 11 a.m. We decided to go early and we hardly waited at all. Basically, we got to the theater, were seated in a row for a minute or two and then went to our tender. The boat was a bit rough, and Sarah wasn’t so happy, but it was over quickly and she didn’t freak out.

We got our bearings in Cabo and went in search of a snow globe for Elizabeth. We found a dusty, yucky one for $15, but we didn’t get it. We went to Cabo Wabo for lunch because it’s Sammy Hagar’s place. It was tasty but overpriced. I had a jicama salad that was awesome. We then made our way back to the port, stopping in stores along the way. We tried to get Sarah another Senor Frog dress, but the one choice they had was a khaki camouflage, so we didn’t get anything. We did find a nice snow globe and a keychain for each girl’s purse.

We had considered the glass bottomed boat trip, but were not enjoying Cabo so decided to go back and enjoy the emptiness of the ship. I was totally sick, so I went to sleep. The girls and Brian took a rest and then went to the pool. I slept for three hours.

Dinner was Pirate Night at Animator’s, so I tied bandanas around the girls’ heads. They looked really cute. Elizabeth and I started with the pot stickers, Brian got a very strange melon soup and Sarah got the usual fruit plate. For dinner, I got the appetizer jerk chicken salad. (Debbie, our server, was concerned that I wasn’t eating enough and asked if I wanted a larger size.) Brian got a shrimp and scallop pasta. About halfway through dinner, Debbie came over to say that the chef had made Brian a porterhouse steak. Brian refused it even though it was ready since he can’t eat two entrees in a single meal. A few minutes later, Ronald (our head server) brought over the steak. Again, Brian refused. I feel bad about the amount of waste, but honestly, you’d think we were skinny or looked like we were starving. We’re not huge, but neither of us is super-thin either. We both had fruit cobbler for dessert (I like it more than Brian did) and the kids had ice cream.

We did some more character pictures and then went to bed around 8:00.

 

[ll_california]

Nice report. I enjoy reading the details.

 

[smb6]

I'm enjoying your report...

 

[krazy4crusing]

Thank you for an honest review of DCL. It is appreciated.

 

[Mindyjoy]

Great report so far, thank you.

 

[Beachmum]

We woke up ‘early’ to get to our character breakfast in Parrot Cay. The kids were super-excited about it. It was cold. Like really, really cold. Fortunately, we all brought quite a few warmer outfits and tried to avoid going outside for most of the day. The girls got to completely go nuts for breakfast. They ordered chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate sauce. Elizabeth also ate some bacon. Both girls ate some fruit, but it wasn’t much of a breakfast. Oh, Elizabeth also had part of a donut just in case she hadn’t eaten enough sugar, fat and carbs. I had the bagel and lox (wouldn’t you think that they’d serve cream cheese with that automatically instead of waiting to be asked?) and Brian had an egg white omelet.

After breakfast, the kids wanted to go to the club and we went to the Cove Café to sit and read. It was way too cold out to sit outside. We planned to eat lunch at BBB, but there was so much shellfish and people are so careless that I was really concerned that I’d get some cross-contamination and get sick. (Of course, I’m typing this in the early afternoon and am feeling totally sea-sick, but that’s different.) We went to Tritons. Elizabeth had the mozzarella sticks, Sarah had a cheeseburger, Brian had pasta and I had an appetizer salad with duck. All were deemed tasty. The girls got jello for dessert and Brian got the apple cobbler.

After lunch, they went back to the Club, Brian went back to the Cove Café and I went to the cabin to start packing. Between having a totally stuffed-up head and the rough seas, it took me a long time to pack. I also snuck in a nap. I was feeling a bit seasick, but managed to get pretty much everything done.

At some point, Brian got the girls, returned to the staterooms and we changed and went for dinner. I don’t even remember much of dinner because I was feeling awful and was trying to eat something. After dinner, we went to look at more pictures and decided to purchase the CD. We had spent very little on incidentals so figured we’d splurge on this.

Brian wasn’t tired, so I took the girls back to go to bed and finish packing. He went out to one of the lounges.

Here’s the funny story. I was lugging our suitcases into the hallway. I was already in my pajamas and was wearing a sweatshirt on top. I put a rubber stopper in the doorway to keep the stateroom door open. However, just as I got out of the stateroom, the ship lunges and my door swings closed. So, now I’m in the hallway with two sleeping (I thought) kids and a husband who is somewhere. I don’t have a room key and I’m not actually wearing clothes that I’m willing to be seen in. I pounded on my daughters’ door and called Elizabeth’s name. Thank goodness, she answered the door and claimed she hadn’t fallen asleep yet. Yeah Elizabeth!!!! Then I went to bed.

 

[Beachmum]

We woke up and put the rest of our stuff in the carry-on bag. (We forgot a bunch of things, but mostly replaceable stuff like the girls’ shampoo and our extension cord.) Then we went to pick up the CD at Shutters and eat breakfast.

Because of my dead car, Brian’s cousin had said he’d pick us up. We’d asked several people what time he should arrive and were told around 9 a.m. We waited, and waited and waited. We called Brian’s cousin and apologized. They finally started letting people off at around 9:30 a.m. We were in the fourth group, so we got off around 10:45 and finally got our luggage and cleared customs by 11 a.m.


So that's our trip. As I said at the very beginning, we won't likely cruise again for a long time. We're thinking about Alaska, but we'll wait until the kids are quite a bit older and can stay up later.

We gave the trip a solid B. Despite the numerous food challenges, we ate well. For the kids, the highlight was the day they were on the elevator and Mickey and Minnie got in with them. For Brian and I, it was great spending so much alone time where we weren't (for the most part) working.

The over-the-door shoe holder was fabulous, but mostly because I use a lot of products and wear makeup every day. It was also great in the kids' room because it kept their stuff organized. We didn't use the highlighters, but I can see how we might have if we had participated in more things.

I hope this has been a useful trip report. Now I'm going to start putting together the album (I use blurb.com), which should take a while since the girls and I all took tons of pictures, plus the ones from the dolphin swim plus the ones from the CD.

 

[Lissame]

Did you skip a day? Did you have back-to-back Cabo days or split? You mentioned a dolphin swim in your last post, but I don't remember reading about it...If you count the embarkation day and the last day, there are actually eight "days"

 

[cidymom]

Thanks for your TR. I'm sorry to hear that you were not feeling well during your cruise. I was sick too on my first cruise. If it is not too much trouble, I would love to hear about your experience with the Dolphin Swim. Thank you.

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Awesome report!