Archimomma
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2002
- Messages
- 16
Hey all, we just returned from the 1/11 Eastern Magic and had a great time. I read this board religiously before our cruise and was glad to have your advice before we left. I have a few thoughts I would like to share with you in return.
The luggage is no longer taken from your stateroom after you unpack so it would be a good idea to use suitcases that fit inside each other so that they are easier to store when empty. The space under the bed is open and we stuffed some of ours under there but we had taken 2 of our largest suitcases and ended up putting one in the closet and using one for a hamper at the end of the closet/dresser cabinet. It was an upright so we just left part of the top unzipped and stuffed our dirty clothes down in it.
There are no dryer sheets available in the laundromat so bring those from home if you use them. Also, I wished I had brought a stain stick to apply to those chocolate stains from the nightly Mickey bars my 5yo DS ate! The stains ended up coming out without a stain remover but it would have been nice to have.
Make sure you take all the accessories with you for the outfits you pack. I forgot to take a slip with me for one dress and there was nowhere to buy one on the trip. I ended up having enough clothes without it but would have liked to wear that dress.
If you are going to do the hairbraiding, I recommend getting it done on the ship. The girls who had theirs done on the ship had nice looking even braids with colored rubberbands and beads at the ends. After our stop in St. Martin, I saw lots of little girls with tin foil on the ends of their hair under the beads with the ends of the foil showing about a 1/4 inch either side. I'm not sure how the foil was holding the beads in. The braids were also less even and I noticed lots of pieces of hair sticking out of the braids where bangs had been and etc. My DD who is 10 has nearly waist length blond hair but did not want hers braided. The hair braiders nearly drove us insane on St. Martin, they even followed us onto the beach to ask if she wanted her hair braided. I was told later that they don't bother you so much on the French side of the island. I don't know if that is true. The island was beautiful but we went back to the ship at lunch time because of all the harassment over hair braiding and people wanting us to look at timeshares. Ugh!
The one thing I was disappointed in on the cruise was the soda mugs. We bought the mugs and they are 12 oz mugs. Because of the illness, they fill a styrofoam cup and give it to you to put in your mug. They put so much ice in the drink cup (which was the size of a small drink at any standard fast food place), that you only got about two sips of coke out of the mug before you needed a refill. I finally asked them for no ice so I could get a full drink. I am a "Big Gulp" type soda drinker at home so this really bothered me. Also, you can't get soda free at lunch, only at dinner, so the mug was a must for me. I really felt out of place drinking diet coke with all the fancy food being served at dinner but I am not much for wine or other alcoholic beverages. Our servers were very nice and the food was wonderful.
We didn't see anyone getting ill on the cruise, the weather was beautiful and sunny and the sea was smooth. We had a great time but it did take me a few days to realize this was not going to be like our Disney World vacations where we get up and go, go, go all day long. We did alot of laying around, swimming, and EATING.
I'm not sure cruising is really for me but we did have a very nice time and I feel like the staff did their utmost to make sure we were having a nice time. They really work their tails off. I found it interesting that the tip form was worded in such a way that really didn't encourage extra tipping (which we did anyway). For those of you asking about spending money, we managed to spend $700 on souvenirs and beverages while on board and very few of those were alcoholic beverages (maybe 5 the whole trip). The rest of it was from passing the Mickeys Mates shop on the way to the shows each evening! We bought 2 t-shirts each for the 4 of us, a Christmas ornament, a scuba Mickey bobble head figure, 5 small stuffed animals, a Captain Hook playset, several pins and several postcards plus a lanyard/ticket holder, a dry lanyard/ticket holder for the beach and some cold medicine (oh yeah, don't forget to pack your own cold medicine, all they had on the ship for adult cough medicine was Nyquil and I didn't want to spend my day face down on the deck!)
My kids didn't spend much time in the clubs so I really can't comment about that other than that the two mornings my 10 yo DD went to the club, we got asked to consider giving her sign out privileges both times. She was getting turned around easily on the ship at first and got lost on her way to get some grapes from Scoops so we didn't think that was a good idea. Maybe that's where some of those roving bands of unruly children that have been complained about come from.
We had no problems with other cruisers, no one made any attempts on our mugs or floats and there was no undue noise in the halls or rude behaviour anywhere that I saw. Only one kid pushed all the buttons in the elevator during our entire trip. We had a cat 9 stateroom on deck 2 aft on the port side and it was very quiet and nice. I am so glad we sprang for the porthole, it was very worth it to be able to see whether it was light or dark and watch the sea go by. Our toilets did get plugged up during our stop in St. Thomas but it was really not a problem and they gave all of us who had been affected free float rentals on Castaway Cay!
Castaway Cay was really awesome, a bit windy but warm and the food was great. It really is the best part of the trip.
I was impressed by the number of opportunities to interact with characters and the variety. We got some autographs we had not gotten in two previous Disney World trips and some great photos. The character "handlers" did a great job keeping the lines in order, much better than in the parks where there is a fair amount of line jumping that goes on. One evening after dinner, Captain Mickey came by and led my children down the hall outside Shutters and down the grand staircase in the lobby. I had stepped into the bathroom (WITH our camera!) and missed the whole magic moment. You can bet I bought that photo though!
Anyway, that's my rambling thoughts on the cruise. Take what you wish from it! Thanks for your help and advice!
The luggage is no longer taken from your stateroom after you unpack so it would be a good idea to use suitcases that fit inside each other so that they are easier to store when empty. The space under the bed is open and we stuffed some of ours under there but we had taken 2 of our largest suitcases and ended up putting one in the closet and using one for a hamper at the end of the closet/dresser cabinet. It was an upright so we just left part of the top unzipped and stuffed our dirty clothes down in it.
There are no dryer sheets available in the laundromat so bring those from home if you use them. Also, I wished I had brought a stain stick to apply to those chocolate stains from the nightly Mickey bars my 5yo DS ate! The stains ended up coming out without a stain remover but it would have been nice to have.
Make sure you take all the accessories with you for the outfits you pack. I forgot to take a slip with me for one dress and there was nowhere to buy one on the trip. I ended up having enough clothes without it but would have liked to wear that dress.
If you are going to do the hairbraiding, I recommend getting it done on the ship. The girls who had theirs done on the ship had nice looking even braids with colored rubberbands and beads at the ends. After our stop in St. Martin, I saw lots of little girls with tin foil on the ends of their hair under the beads with the ends of the foil showing about a 1/4 inch either side. I'm not sure how the foil was holding the beads in. The braids were also less even and I noticed lots of pieces of hair sticking out of the braids where bangs had been and etc. My DD who is 10 has nearly waist length blond hair but did not want hers braided. The hair braiders nearly drove us insane on St. Martin, they even followed us onto the beach to ask if she wanted her hair braided. I was told later that they don't bother you so much on the French side of the island. I don't know if that is true. The island was beautiful but we went back to the ship at lunch time because of all the harassment over hair braiding and people wanting us to look at timeshares. Ugh!
The one thing I was disappointed in on the cruise was the soda mugs. We bought the mugs and they are 12 oz mugs. Because of the illness, they fill a styrofoam cup and give it to you to put in your mug. They put so much ice in the drink cup (which was the size of a small drink at any standard fast food place), that you only got about two sips of coke out of the mug before you needed a refill. I finally asked them for no ice so I could get a full drink. I am a "Big Gulp" type soda drinker at home so this really bothered me. Also, you can't get soda free at lunch, only at dinner, so the mug was a must for me. I really felt out of place drinking diet coke with all the fancy food being served at dinner but I am not much for wine or other alcoholic beverages. Our servers were very nice and the food was wonderful.
We didn't see anyone getting ill on the cruise, the weather was beautiful and sunny and the sea was smooth. We had a great time but it did take me a few days to realize this was not going to be like our Disney World vacations where we get up and go, go, go all day long. We did alot of laying around, swimming, and EATING.
I'm not sure cruising is really for me but we did have a very nice time and I feel like the staff did their utmost to make sure we were having a nice time. They really work their tails off. I found it interesting that the tip form was worded in such a way that really didn't encourage extra tipping (which we did anyway). For those of you asking about spending money, we managed to spend $700 on souvenirs and beverages while on board and very few of those were alcoholic beverages (maybe 5 the whole trip). The rest of it was from passing the Mickeys Mates shop on the way to the shows each evening! We bought 2 t-shirts each for the 4 of us, a Christmas ornament, a scuba Mickey bobble head figure, 5 small stuffed animals, a Captain Hook playset, several pins and several postcards plus a lanyard/ticket holder, a dry lanyard/ticket holder for the beach and some cold medicine (oh yeah, don't forget to pack your own cold medicine, all they had on the ship for adult cough medicine was Nyquil and I didn't want to spend my day face down on the deck!)
My kids didn't spend much time in the clubs so I really can't comment about that other than that the two mornings my 10 yo DD went to the club, we got asked to consider giving her sign out privileges both times. She was getting turned around easily on the ship at first and got lost on her way to get some grapes from Scoops so we didn't think that was a good idea. Maybe that's where some of those roving bands of unruly children that have been complained about come from.
We had no problems with other cruisers, no one made any attempts on our mugs or floats and there was no undue noise in the halls or rude behaviour anywhere that I saw. Only one kid pushed all the buttons in the elevator during our entire trip. We had a cat 9 stateroom on deck 2 aft on the port side and it was very quiet and nice. I am so glad we sprang for the porthole, it was very worth it to be able to see whether it was light or dark and watch the sea go by. Our toilets did get plugged up during our stop in St. Thomas but it was really not a problem and they gave all of us who had been affected free float rentals on Castaway Cay!
Castaway Cay was really awesome, a bit windy but warm and the food was great. It really is the best part of the trip.
I was impressed by the number of opportunities to interact with characters and the variety. We got some autographs we had not gotten in two previous Disney World trips and some great photos. The character "handlers" did a great job keeping the lines in order, much better than in the parks where there is a fair amount of line jumping that goes on. One evening after dinner, Captain Mickey came by and led my children down the hall outside Shutters and down the grand staircase in the lobby. I had stepped into the bathroom (WITH our camera!) and missed the whole magic moment. You can bet I bought that photo though!
Anyway, that's my rambling thoughts on the cruise. Take what you wish from it! Thanks for your help and advice!
