Feb 28 cruise to st croix

[ESN]

On Dcl transfers back to Mco now

Awesome trip. This was our 4th Dcl cruise. We had great weather and enjoyed all the ports including st Croix. I will post more later when I get to. A better wifi site.

 

[ESN]

Ok. At Mco now.

Brief rundown

We flew in night before on jet blue
Stayed at Mco Marriott which was a fine hotel. The
Shuttle service was slow.. We waited about 45 minutes for shuttle to Arrive after calling. We liked Mco hyatt better

Used tiffany town car to port. Great friendly service. Stopped en route at publifx for sunblock beer etc.

Arrived at port arounmd 11amm . On ship by 12

 

[ESN]

We went straight to pools so kids (5 and 7) could swim. We
Had 6pm dinner. Rotation was plaplap.

Food was good overall - better than in 2007.

Pool was an issue- tons of deck chairs occupied by books and towels but no
People. Very annoying. We just ended up avoiding the pools between 11 and 4.

Kids loved the clubs - as usual

Palo awesome as ever but I miss seeing marco.

We did bingo this year which was something new for us. Fun, but expensive.
We did not win anything.

 

[Had2disneycruz]

We went straight to pools so kids (5 and 7) could swim. We
Had 6pm dinner. Rotation was plaplap.

Food was good overall - better than in 2007.

Pool was an issue- tons of deck chairs occupied by books and towels but no
People. Very annoying. We just ended up avoiding the pools between 11 and 4.

Kids loved the clubs - as usual

Palo awesome as ever but I miss seeing marco.

We did bingo this year which was something new for us. Fun, but expensive.
We did not win anything.

Did anyone win bingo? I hear lots of folks say they didn't win at bingo... but I have never heard, "Hey, I won!" We might skip that on our cruise in April!

 

[Opie100]

I won one of the bingo rounds. $200 or so. We played twice, spending about $110, so came out $90 ahead. I'll be posting a cruise report, hopefully later today, but we bought the machine each time. More chances to win, and everyone that won while we were playing seemed to have one. I think Disney probably makes a decent profit from it, but the staff does a good job making it fun, IMHO.

 

[ESN]

OK - been doing laundry all day - so first chance to get online today.

Many people won at bingo -- just not us! (LOL) They gave away stuff in random drawings (spa things, etc) as well as the winning bingo tix. We saw people win with both the electronic cards and the paper cards.

I read another report from this cruise -- not sure we were on the same trip? We loved this vacation - and did use the kids clubs to some extent nearly every day. We did a couples spa treatment and Palo brunch and dinner - so the kids were in the clubs then, plus all the other times they begged to go in.
Windowless they may be -- but we had to drag our kids out - they loved all the activites, games etc.

St Croix day - we rented a jeep wrangler (prebooked thru Budget) - there was an office right at port. We drove around all day - explored the island, went to the beach, had lunch - toured the fort at C'sted etc -- A great day - the kids absolutely loved it - as did the adults. No problems at all - just remember to drive on the left.

St Thomas/St John - we booked the Barefoot sail/snorkel thru DCL - which we all enjoyed. Catamaran trip was a lot of fun - My 7 yr old son was right up at the front loving it. Snorkeling was good - not fabuluous - but we have been spoiled by some amazing snorkeling in the past so we were biased. My 5 yr old had a bit of trouble negotiating the snorkel - so she just used the mask and still had a blast. ("Mommy - I see Dory!") They let the kids take the helm on the way back to port so had some greast photo ops.

Afterward - we went over to Magen's Bay for a couple of hours - a bit too crowded for my liking - but the sand and water were great - and the kids loved it there.


Pirate Night was fun - we were pretty tired after our day touring St Croix so we did not enjoy it as much as last year - but it may be time for DCL to try something different.

I must say that it did seem that things were a bit stingier this year than in the past. Previously - our toiletries (shampoo etc) were replenished more frequently than this year -- It may have been our stateroom host - but we
definitely did not get resupplied like we did in 2007.

Also - I worked out daily - and used the spa/rainforest area a lot -- the conditioner etc in the ladies locker room was clearly being watered down . I thought it was just the dispenser - but it was like that all week in both showers. Not a huge deal - but little things that indicated that DCL was looking to save a buck.

 

[ESN]

Castaway Cay was awesome -as usual

We sat at the edge of the water - listened to music and had a few drinks - the kids played in the sand and swam -- They enjoyed the play structure in the water -- I really wish they would let adults try it - It looks like a blast -- There should be a weight limit - not an age limit! My son was thrilled to make it all the way across the rope thing twice.

We also rented bikes later in the day and rode around -- Our Kids love to go up the fire tower so this is a tradition for us.

The water was a bit chilly - but even I jumped in two or three times -but we did not exactly spend hours in the water.

We were among the last to leave the beach -- I hated for the day to end



Our servers were good - stateroom host was fine -not the best we ever had - but decent.

We met a lot of really nice people on board - and my only complaints would have to be the chair "reserving" thing and of course - Shutters - which continues to be a royal pain. They at least have the kiosks - which helps some - but the photopass system still is heavily needed here.


The onboard airline check in system totally rocks! In the past we have flown Southwest - but this year we snagged a decent fare on a nonstop JetBlue flight - so we were able to use the onboard check in. It is so great. They put your boarding passes in your stateroom - and You literally put your bags outside your stateroom on Friday night and like Magic they appear at your home airport the next day... Honestly -- how much easier could it get?


We did not rebook onboard - mostly because we are waiting to see what the new ships will be and we will probably wait for them. We would love to do the Baltic or Mediterranean trips but the prices are just so outrageous I can't justify it. For that kind of cash we could stay at a high end hotel in London or Paris for a week and really tour the area well.

Family dance parties were fun - singer in Promenade lounge area was good - we did not see any movies in the theater - but did watch the POTC movies on deck --How can you resist?

I can't think of too much else to add -- We had done Western trips in the past - I like the eastern itinerary better because I thought that having the sea days first was really a great way to relax into "cruise mode" right away.

I did find the ship movement a bit stonger than in the past - not sure if this was due to the weather (we had strong winds one day) - or due to the Eastern vs Western routes - but the motion did not impact anyone in our party of 9. It does astound me how the performers can get up on stage and dance though - simply amazing to me.

I had to laugh - I bought my son a DCL sweatshirt - and when he saw it today at home he said "Mommy - please put it away - I can't bear to look at it - it makes me sad not to be on the boat any more" --- THAT ABOUT SUMS IT UP FOR ALL OF US ---


If you have any questions - feel free to ask - I will do my best to answer.

 

[LindaBabe]

The eastern IS a bit rockier than the western. When you add a windy day, it must have rocked good, lol.

Glad not everyone had the same cruise as the unhappy poster.

 

[jlawall]

Thx for sharing, great reports!