OC_stacylace
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2008
- Messages
- 114
Hello everyone!
Thanks for taking an interest in our first ever cruise AND trip report. I have gained so much over the past few years from reading about other's past experiences, I feel it's only right to pay it forward. A warning about our trip report for you...there are no food pictures. Sorry in advance!!
We are the Shaffer family, and include my hubby and I, plus our two sons, Dylan, who is 11, and Gavin, who is 5. We are from southern California. We've enjoyed going to Disneyland and WDW so much, so it was time to try out the Disney Cruise Line!
My DH is a former submariner, and spent almost half of his 10 years under water. That said, his only stickler for our first cruise was that we had to get a cabin with a verandah. He wanted fresh air, and how could I complain! We were fortunate enough to end up in cabin 8014, which is a cat 4 room. Here are some pics:
Some thoughts on our room and its location:
1. Our room was in the Forward Section of the ship and on the eight deck. We loved the location! Our hallway was the one the officers used to head to the bridge, so we ran into them often walking outside our door. We were just one level down from the pools, and a quick elevator trip down to the Walt Disney Theater, Wavebands, Diversions, and the Cadilac Lounge.
2. There were only 4 of us, so we didn't need the 5th bed in our room. I don't think I'd get a cat 4 room again, as the cat 5 and 6 are much more affordable for those rooms with a balcony.
Alas, I skip ahead of myself. We live in Southern California, so we had a short, less than an hour, drive to the ship's terminal at the Port of LA. Everything at the port was easy to find. And while we had a check in time of 12:30 pm, we arrived early around 10:30, and this is what we saw...
We used the porters to take our bags for us, and after parking our car ($84 dollars for the trip duration), we headed up to the check in area.
Check in was very easy, and quick. After getting our Key to the World cards, we headed next thru security to the boarding area. We got boarding group #10! They started calling people on board at around 11:30. There was a long line for the kids' bracelets, but we decided to just get our son's bracelet on board. We did ask a worker if we had to do wait in line, and she said if we didn't do it here, that there may be a delay if we wait to get in onboard. There was none. In fact, when we went to the Oceaneer's Club, it took about 1 minute and no standing in line to get the bracelet for our 5 year old.
After walking onto the ship, we weren't sure exactly where to go. Crew members were there to greet us, and one ushered us to the Parrot Cay. It wasn't a very warm day, and we decided to eat at Parrot Cay instead of heading up to the buffet on deck 9.
Lunch was good and quick. We were really quite anxious to see our room and explore the kid's club areas, so as soon as we were done, we headed out. A note about the kid's areas...the crew members who work there are quite nice and friendly. Even though my older son was 11 and could be with the tween group in the Edge club, they told him he was more than welcome to come and visit his younger brother or to come by himself if that was what he wanted to do. He just had to check in with them and get a green paper band for his wrist. Here are the two of them checking out the Oceaneer's Club...
During our cruise, it seems the older kids tended to like the Lab while the younger ones the Club. I think our 5 year old preferred the Club because it was hardly ever crowded, and he loved the pirate play set. Most of the time we went to pick him up at the Club, there were usually around 30 to 40 kids in there. At the Lab, it was not unusual to see 140 kids. There is a display on the crew member's computer with the total amount of kids in the areas.
Next post...we leave port and head south to Baja, California!
Thanks for taking an interest in our first ever cruise AND trip report. I have gained so much over the past few years from reading about other's past experiences, I feel it's only right to pay it forward. A warning about our trip report for you...there are no food pictures. Sorry in advance!!
We are the Shaffer family, and include my hubby and I, plus our two sons, Dylan, who is 11, and Gavin, who is 5. We are from southern California. We've enjoyed going to Disneyland and WDW so much, so it was time to try out the Disney Cruise Line!
My DH is a former submariner, and spent almost half of his 10 years under water. That said, his only stickler for our first cruise was that we had to get a cabin with a verandah. He wanted fresh air, and how could I complain! We were fortunate enough to end up in cabin 8014, which is a cat 4 room. Here are some pics:
Some thoughts on our room and its location:
1. Our room was in the Forward Section of the ship and on the eight deck. We loved the location! Our hallway was the one the officers used to head to the bridge, so we ran into them often walking outside our door. We were just one level down from the pools, and a quick elevator trip down to the Walt Disney Theater, Wavebands, Diversions, and the Cadilac Lounge.
2. There were only 4 of us, so we didn't need the 5th bed in our room. I don't think I'd get a cat 4 room again, as the cat 5 and 6 are much more affordable for those rooms with a balcony.
Alas, I skip ahead of myself. We live in Southern California, so we had a short, less than an hour, drive to the ship's terminal at the Port of LA. Everything at the port was easy to find. And while we had a check in time of 12:30 pm, we arrived early around 10:30, and this is what we saw...
We used the porters to take our bags for us, and after parking our car ($84 dollars for the trip duration), we headed up to the check in area.
Check in was very easy, and quick. After getting our Key to the World cards, we headed next thru security to the boarding area. We got boarding group #10! They started calling people on board at around 11:30. There was a long line for the kids' bracelets, but we decided to just get our son's bracelet on board. We did ask a worker if we had to do wait in line, and she said if we didn't do it here, that there may be a delay if we wait to get in onboard. There was none. In fact, when we went to the Oceaneer's Club, it took about 1 minute and no standing in line to get the bracelet for our 5 year old.
After walking onto the ship, we weren't sure exactly where to go. Crew members were there to greet us, and one ushered us to the Parrot Cay. It wasn't a very warm day, and we decided to eat at Parrot Cay instead of heading up to the buffet on deck 9.
Lunch was good and quick. We were really quite anxious to see our room and explore the kid's club areas, so as soon as we were done, we headed out. A note about the kid's areas...the crew members who work there are quite nice and friendly. Even though my older son was 11 and could be with the tween group in the Edge club, they told him he was more than welcome to come and visit his younger brother or to come by himself if that was what he wanted to do. He just had to check in with them and get a green paper band for his wrist. Here are the two of them checking out the Oceaneer's Club...
During our cruise, it seems the older kids tended to like the Lab while the younger ones the Club. I think our 5 year old preferred the Club because it was hardly ever crowded, and he loved the pirate play set. Most of the time we went to pick him up at the Club, there were usually around 30 to 40 kids in there. At the Lab, it was not unusual to see 140 kids. There is a display on the crew member's computer with the total amount of kids in the areas.
Next post...we leave port and head south to Baja, California!
