3DisneyNUTS
<font color=green>can't think of anything witty!<b
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2004
- Messages
- 1,850
Well we are back from our first trip home and our first cruise. This is broken up in segments so you can read what interests you. So far I only have the cruise part written. I will be adding the DVC part and the room switch report in a link once I complete those 
We flew Southwest and arrived at Orlando Int at 9am. Picked up the rental car (national car rental) and took off. After a little trouble with directions (bad signage imo) we arrived at Port Canaveral around 11:30. After doing the paperwork (yikes) and checking in, we boardedabout 1:30pm. At first we were both so overwhelmed. We actually thought to ourselves it may have been a mistake. It seemed like chaos. We went looking around the ship and we were totally out of our element. I was worried that we were not "cruise people" after all. After we found our room (inside stateroom 6547) We settled in.
Ok first impression on my end "WOW SMALL" then after DH started saying how nice it was (I was shocked he was so impressed, he is usually hard to) I started seeing how really nice it IS. Now aside from being small it was very cozy and the room had alot of feeling of warmth in it from the wood. The bed was really comfortable and while I wish we had a porthole it wasn't really needed. It was very quiet, no problem with noise. The shower was extremely impressive since the shower head was high and normally I have problems with them being too low (I am 6 foot one) water pressure was great. The television placement and storage were amazing with the amount of space they have.
After getting used to the room and the idea of being on a ship we started to explore. Oh my GOSH the ship is beautiful!!!! I couldn't believe how luxurious it is! While walking around we ran into Goofy and we had a family pic done (my favorite). We found something to eat at the beach blanket buffet and just soaked it all in. After we took a break to the room and DS napped. Unfortunately it was close to dinner and we knew we were not going to make our planned time so Dh went to the restaurant and asked to be moved. No problem. We ate at Animator's palate. That was really amazing. Food was great! The company at our table wasn't too friendly but we were transplanted that night so it did not matter. The great thing is we had the server that was the one that we should have ate with earlier. Silvjue (I think I am spelling it right) anyway he was really fantastic!
DS awoke about 6:05pm so we had already rearranged dining plans so we went to see the Hercules show! I cannot say enough about how awesome this cruise was turning into. We were completely impressed with everything. The show was great! The cast memberes were amazing. Everyone was so accommodating and helpful. We were totally impressed.
The next day we arrived in Nassau. We did a little early morning shopping (am I the only one not impressed with the prices?) The we took an excursion to Atlantis for the tour of the aquarium. While we did have fun I did feel like this was one big walking sales pitch on the "guides" part to get us to want to stay at atlantis in the future. NOw the resort was beautiful and we may stay in the future but the way the excursion was described was different than what we experienced. We still had fun though so it wasn't really that big of a deal. We saw some of Nassau's landmarks on the shuttle over to Atlantis. It was a good experience. Even though the excursion wasn't what was expected I would recommend it. That night we ate at Parrot Cay and saw the Golden Mickey's show. Again outstanding. We also had alot of pictures taken.
The following morning was Castawy Cay! We were off the ship early after having a quick breakfast at Triton's. We were able to claim a hammock and set up camp there. THE ISLAND IS AMAZING. Honestly if the cruise would sail there and dock overnight and head back I would be completely happy with two days at Castaway Cay cutting out the trip to Nassau. Castaway Cay was AMAZING! I cannot say it enough. We had beautiful weather and we just hung out all day on the beach. Now this is where the bad starts coming in. DS (4) was napping on the beach (in the hammock) alot. We thought it was just because he was worn out from traveling and doing Nassau the day before. He has epilepsy and he had a few small seizures the day before so sometimes that makes him sleepy. Nothing mind blowing or a need to call the doc it is just something we deal with unfortunately everyday. He woke up and played in the water with DH and I he seemed to be enjoying himself. Well after dinner that night we go back to the room and he starts to cry telling us his ear hurts. Within 10 minutes you could tell he was in alot of pain. We called the desk and were told that the doctor fees were $150, this was fine not even an issue, my concern was that they would be able to give us a perscription if need be. We spoke to the nurse on the phone and she said they have a full pharmacy with them. So she said she could meet us at the doctors office in 5 minutes. We went and they opened the entire office for us it was almost 8pm and the doctor came down and saw my son. As we were waiting (maybe 10 minutes) he started getting a fever. You could feel him burn up in our hands. She checked him out and he had a double ear infection. So she gave him some antibiotics and we went off to the room. He had his first ear infection of his life right before we sailed but his ped cleared him for vacation since he was done with his antibiotics and was not sick when we left. Well the ships doc said that even a very small amount of infection can linger and inflame again. Unfortunately this is why Chris was so sleepy. His body was trying to stave off an infection while in the midst of having fun.His body lost and that is when the infection took over So needless to say we stayed in that night giving him his proper meds.It was the last night on the ship so now normally we would have called the vacation quits after the cruise but the doctor explained to us that he could not fly until the infection cleared up . Thank God for DVC since our room had a fridge and everything we would need to keep him in for a couple of days while being able to refridgerate his medicine and stuff.
The amazing part of the cruise (aside from being blown away at the beauty of Castaway Cay and the ship) was the staff. This could have been a horrible experience on top of how bad it is to already have our son sick on the ship. The staff made the experince so much better than it could have been. My son was treated so well and guest services called to check on him while we where still in the appointment with the doctor. Everyone was absolutely wonderful. I am definitely writing a letter telling them how great they were to us
BTW we found the food to be fabulous. I have read some posts that complained about the food and I couldn't disagree more. I tended to go with the server's recommendations and it was outstanding. I am currently looking to book again immediately. I met with the person on the ship and she would only discount the 7 night. I am interested in either the 4 night or the 7 when they start visiting Castaway Cay twice. SO the incentive to book wasn't offered on anything but the 7 night. The 3-4 were given an onboard ship credit of $100 but no discount. Does anyone have any suggestions I am currently talking with dreamsunlimited and looking at travel o city. Anyone have any suggestions on who to book through and where to get the best deal?
We flew Southwest and arrived at Orlando Int at 9am. Picked up the rental car (national car rental) and took off. After a little trouble with directions (bad signage imo) we arrived at Port Canaveral around 11:30. After doing the paperwork (yikes) and checking in, we boardedabout 1:30pm. At first we were both so overwhelmed. We actually thought to ourselves it may have been a mistake. It seemed like chaos. We went looking around the ship and we were totally out of our element. I was worried that we were not "cruise people" after all. After we found our room (inside stateroom 6547) We settled in.
Ok first impression on my end "WOW SMALL" then after DH started saying how nice it was (I was shocked he was so impressed, he is usually hard to) I started seeing how really nice it IS. Now aside from being small it was very cozy and the room had alot of feeling of warmth in it from the wood. The bed was really comfortable and while I wish we had a porthole it wasn't really needed. It was very quiet, no problem with noise. The shower was extremely impressive since the shower head was high and normally I have problems with them being too low (I am 6 foot one) water pressure was great. The television placement and storage were amazing with the amount of space they have.
After getting used to the room and the idea of being on a ship we started to explore. Oh my GOSH the ship is beautiful!!!! I couldn't believe how luxurious it is! While walking around we ran into Goofy and we had a family pic done (my favorite). We found something to eat at the beach blanket buffet and just soaked it all in. After we took a break to the room and DS napped. Unfortunately it was close to dinner and we knew we were not going to make our planned time so Dh went to the restaurant and asked to be moved. No problem. We ate at Animator's palate. That was really amazing. Food was great! The company at our table wasn't too friendly but we were transplanted that night so it did not matter. The great thing is we had the server that was the one that we should have ate with earlier. Silvjue (I think I am spelling it right) anyway he was really fantastic!
DS awoke about 6:05pm so we had already rearranged dining plans so we went to see the Hercules show! I cannot say enough about how awesome this cruise was turning into. We were completely impressed with everything. The show was great! The cast memberes were amazing. Everyone was so accommodating and helpful. We were totally impressed.
The next day we arrived in Nassau. We did a little early morning shopping (am I the only one not impressed with the prices?) The we took an excursion to Atlantis for the tour of the aquarium. While we did have fun I did feel like this was one big walking sales pitch on the "guides" part to get us to want to stay at atlantis in the future. NOw the resort was beautiful and we may stay in the future but the way the excursion was described was different than what we experienced. We still had fun though so it wasn't really that big of a deal. We saw some of Nassau's landmarks on the shuttle over to Atlantis. It was a good experience. Even though the excursion wasn't what was expected I would recommend it. That night we ate at Parrot Cay and saw the Golden Mickey's show. Again outstanding. We also had alot of pictures taken.
The following morning was Castawy Cay! We were off the ship early after having a quick breakfast at Triton's. We were able to claim a hammock and set up camp there. THE ISLAND IS AMAZING. Honestly if the cruise would sail there and dock overnight and head back I would be completely happy with two days at Castaway Cay cutting out the trip to Nassau. Castaway Cay was AMAZING! I cannot say it enough. We had beautiful weather and we just hung out all day on the beach. Now this is where the bad starts coming in. DS (4) was napping on the beach (in the hammock) alot. We thought it was just because he was worn out from traveling and doing Nassau the day before. He has epilepsy and he had a few small seizures the day before so sometimes that makes him sleepy. Nothing mind blowing or a need to call the doc it is just something we deal with unfortunately everyday. He woke up and played in the water with DH and I he seemed to be enjoying himself. Well after dinner that night we go back to the room and he starts to cry telling us his ear hurts. Within 10 minutes you could tell he was in alot of pain. We called the desk and were told that the doctor fees were $150, this was fine not even an issue, my concern was that they would be able to give us a perscription if need be. We spoke to the nurse on the phone and she said they have a full pharmacy with them. So she said she could meet us at the doctors office in 5 minutes. We went and they opened the entire office for us it was almost 8pm and the doctor came down and saw my son. As we were waiting (maybe 10 minutes) he started getting a fever. You could feel him burn up in our hands. She checked him out and he had a double ear infection. So she gave him some antibiotics and we went off to the room. He had his first ear infection of his life right before we sailed but his ped cleared him for vacation since he was done with his antibiotics and was not sick when we left. Well the ships doc said that even a very small amount of infection can linger and inflame again. Unfortunately this is why Chris was so sleepy. His body was trying to stave off an infection while in the midst of having fun.His body lost and that is when the infection took over So needless to say we stayed in that night giving him his proper meds.It was the last night on the ship so now normally we would have called the vacation quits after the cruise but the doctor explained to us that he could not fly until the infection cleared up . Thank God for DVC since our room had a fridge and everything we would need to keep him in for a couple of days while being able to refridgerate his medicine and stuff.
The amazing part of the cruise (aside from being blown away at the beauty of Castaway Cay and the ship) was the staff. This could have been a horrible experience on top of how bad it is to already have our son sick on the ship. The staff made the experince so much better than it could have been. My son was treated so well and guest services called to check on him while we where still in the appointment with the doctor. Everyone was absolutely wonderful. I am definitely writing a letter telling them how great they were to us
BTW we found the food to be fabulous. I have read some posts that complained about the food and I couldn't disagree more. I tended to go with the server's recommendations and it was outstanding. I am currently looking to book again immediately. I met with the person on the ship and she would only discount the 7 night. I am interested in either the 4 night or the 7 when they start visiting Castaway Cay twice. SO the incentive to book wasn't offered on anything but the 7 night. The 3-4 were given an onboard ship credit of $100 but no discount. Does anyone have any suggestions I am currently talking with dreamsunlimited and looking at travel o city. Anyone have any suggestions on who to book through and where to get the best deal?
