Feb 28, 2010 - 4 night Wonder Cruise

[trwprid]

I think the elevator etiquette is going to be hit-or-miss wherever you go. There was the same sort of rudeness on the Carnival cruise I took, and that was a mostly adult cruise. There were lots of folks who disobeyed the "they were here first, so let them on" rule, and lots of people forgetting the whole "ladies first" thing. This time we were on deck 2 so we took the stairs mostly except for when we were going up to deck 9. Never had a problem catching an elevator up, but sometimes had to cram in going back down. I was always amused to see that there were able-bodied people waiting to take an elevator one level up or down.

The only time we had problem with seating during a meal was during embarkation when everyone was eating at the same time and everyone wanted to be indoors because of the wind. We started outside and then stalked a table inside Beach Blanket to finish. The rest of the time, we enjoyed our meals in the full service dining rooms or in our stateroom and didn't have that stress of being loaded down with trays.

I would totally cruise again on deck 2. We were midship and the distance from most everything was perfect.

The weather didn't really bother me so much. I'm always cold, and I guess I went into this adventure expecting the temps to not be so "tropical" given the time of year. DS and DH both managed to get sunburn from Nassau and Castaway days; I can't imagine how crispy they would have been if we'd gone late spring or summer.

 

[trwprid]

Then spoke in their language and howled as they looked at me. So much for small talk.

!!!

The appropriate response would have been to whisper something to your DH and then laugh loudly at your own private joke while looking in your tablemates' general direction.

 

[FLAngie]

Angie, did you ask about stuff received in the FE's? We got magnets, jewelry, scrapbooks, recipes, notepads, pencils, pens, stickers, candy (much of it not shown here b/c we ate it!), carabiners, coasters, card games, cookie cutters, hair stuff, lip gloss, key chains, bookmarks, other mementos, playdoh, lots more! If something you gave us isn't pictured, it's still in the luggage, was probably played with on the airplane! I'm not all the way unpacked yet but wanted to share this pic I took when we got home. Thanks everyone for the AWESOME stuff. The kids loved the FE and we'd do it again for sure!

Wow! What great gifts!

!!!

The appropriate response would have been to whisper something to your DH and then laugh loudly at your own private joke while looking in your tablemates' general direction.

 

[dsneygirl]

I didn't find an issue with the elevators at all. But we were on Deck 5 so we usually just walked either up or down. And we were at 5Aft so we used those elevators the most.

I had a couple small annoyances. I am pretty sure the people in the cabin across from us were smoking, at the very least on their balcony because the hallway smelled of smoke on many occasions. I could not smell it in the room or I would have been on the phone ASAP. Not cool.

Secondly the kids club was so crowded. Last year we cruised in May and DS got such amazing one on one attention in the Club. Several of the counsellors knew him by name. Never got that feel this time. I guess it's the crowds at Spring Break. He still had a ball though.

I too was disapointed in the Sea Day but what can you do? Nassau and CC had amazing weather so we just watched some movies, played at few games in the lounge and all 3 of us had a long nap Wed afternoon, DH said that was a heck of a lot better than being at work and shovelling snow.

 

[Jump4Joy8390]

All in all, we had a fabulous time! Sure, the weather could have been much better, but it could also have been a whole lot worse....

DH said that was a heck of a lot better than being at work and shovelling snow.

Despite the rain on Castaway morning, our parasailing being cancelled, the high winds, and the day being cut short - we still had one of the best days of our lives!!! Castaway Cay is the very best of Disney and we love, love, love it!

The entertainment was top notch, the food was great, our servers and room host were amazing, even the weather was okay but the one thing that we were disappointed with were the counsellors at the Oceaneer Lab. Our daughter is sort of shy so she will tend to keep to herself without some encouragement. I would have expected at least one counsellor to approach her and maybe introduce themselves, ask her how she's doing, something.... But on the 2 or 3 occasions that she went there, not one person spoke to her. I know they're all busy, and some kids are more demanding than others, but come on. That's okay, for now she still loves being with us, so we had tons of fun as a family, anyway!

Just wondering if anyone else's kids had a similar experience, or a totally different one???

 

[china mom]

All in all, we had a fabulous time! Sure,

but the one thing that we were disappointed with were the counsellors at the Oceaneer Lab. Our daughter is sort of shy so she will tend to keep to herself without some encouragement. I would have expected at least one counsellor to approach her and maybe introduce themselves, ask her how she's doing, something.... But on the 2 or 3 occasions that she went there, not one person spoke to her. I know they're all busy, and some kids are more demanding than others, but come on. That's okay, for now she still loves being with us, so we had tons of fun as a family, anyway!

Just wondering if anyone else's kids had a similar experience, or a totally different one???

Yes. DD is very small and shy but everyone who takes a minute to get to know her falls in love with her. When I went to check on her one time, she was sitting by herself in the lab "playing" on the computer. But, since she really doesn't know how to do anything but slide a mouse around and click randomly, I knew she was just killing time. She was all alone. I drug her back over to the club thinking it would be more her speed. Later on, I found her in the back corner of the club coloring with another couple of kids and a counselor. There was no interaction and I could tell her heart was not in her drawing. The first thing she said to me was "can I go to work with you, Mommy" In other words, she thought she was in daycare.

DS was dying to make Flubber so I dropped him off just before lunch. I specifically asked about lunch and I was told that they were just putting the food out. When I picked up DS (He had a great time making Flubber) he said that he had not eaten and didn't kow anything about lunch. I cannot understand why they did not communicate better. Also, the first day, he said he was told by a counselor that he had to stay there all day. Of course that was a misunderstanding on his part but I still wonder how that happened.

 

[atm55]

My granddaughter (7) didn't think it was anything special either. She's usually friendly, but I found her playing with the computer by herself too. She liked making the flubber and face painting and the last day a counselor was showing them how to draw disney characters, but from all the reviews that I had read about how it was suppose to be so great - I was disappointed.

 

[dthogue]

Well reality has set in - going back to work was no fun.

We decided to try the new "Dreams" in 2011 - so we are changing our 7-night in November to the 4-night on 3/27/2011. A whole year to plan and try to pass the time.

My DD also didn't seem to like the club like before. I don't know exactly why, but she didn't want to go, she wanted to stay with us - not sure if it was because her sister was with us or not. We had a great time together as a family, so I'm not disappointed that she didn't like the club. I do know that she didn't like the fact that the "little" kids are now allowed in the same club/lab as the older kids - she did enjoy the "out and about" programs for the older ones though.

Tammy

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

We had higher expectations for the clubs as well, we are hoping that they were lacking due to the high volume of children that they had to deal with. Our daughter did not want to hang out with her brother in the Lab because an older girl said something mean to her. Maybe she was just tired and overly sensitive at the time, we don't know. Luckily her brother made her a batch of Flubber to call her own.

All in all I think that they may have been overwhelmed and hopefully next time its a better experience for everyones Children. My son is a huge gamer, we've done our best to keep gaming time to a minimum, and have actually cut it out of his life over tha last few weeks. Unfotunately the lab personel didnt know and he put a clinic on for the other kids in the lab for Roller Coaster Tycoon 3... I beleive it lasted a few hours!

 

[diane648]

Sorry we didn't get to meet up with ya'll -- too much fun, too little time!

A few thoughts:

CLUBS: Our kids (age 6 & 3) had a great time in the Club, but I think it helped alot that they had each other. They begged to go there as often as possible.

ELEVATORS: We didn't have issues, but we typically tried to use the forward or aft elevators instead of the midship ones -- they weren't as busy. Regarding taking the stairs -- Although I look perfectly "able bodied", I have a bum knee. So, I can go down countless flights of stairs, but going up is very painful. So, if we had to go up more than one floor, we used the elevators.

Honestly, we had the most trouble with the elevators at the Contemporary after the cruise. One time we waited for four elevators as other folks (primarily conventioneers) cut in front of us. Apparently they felt their meetings were more important than our reservation at Chef Mickey's!

SHOWS: We LOVED the shows! My son will not sit thru a movie, but he was enthralled with each of the shows!

We've rebooked two cruises -- the 5 night CC double dip on 5/29/2011, and also another dummy date that we plan to move to 2012.

Happy Sailing!

diane648

 

[dsneygirl]

All in all I think that they may have been overwhelmed and hopefully next time its a better experience for everyones Children. My son is a huge gamer, we've done our best to keep gaming time to a minimum, and have actually cut it out of his life over tha last few weeks. Unfotunately the lab personel didnt know and he put a clinic on for the other kids in the lab for Roller Coaster Tycoon 3... I beleive it lasted a few hours!

That's what I thought. Like I posted earlier our May trip the Kids Club exceeded all my expectations. This time it always seemed like such a zoo, even just dropping off and picking up. I don't know if I would cruise in such prime spring break time again.