AmyAmy
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2014
- Messages
- 26
A big thank you to DIS for all the great advice leading up to our first cruise with DCL. Our trip exceeded expectations. Before all the fairy dust wears off, I captured our trip. I am sure some items were left out (of this novel) but I'll update as I remember. In summary, this was the best trip our family has experienced thus far. We disconnected from our devices and really had fun. There were so many things to do but I focused on a loose itinerary versus must-see-and-do-everything. Thankfully, we are booked for the same time next year and I hope it will be just as magical. Mods please move thread if this doesn't reside in the right forum.
Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Itinerary
Party
4 adults, 2 children under 6 (boy and girl)
Ports
St. Thomas - pre-booked butterfly garden which we missed because we enjoyed Magen's Bay so much. The water was warm and clear. We watched a school of fish swim around us. The birds weren't aggressive (sometimes) but watching them dive into the ocean for food was entertaining. We followed advice on DIS and walked left down the bay to avoid the pending crowds. While we were the second (??) boat to dock our driver said that two more ships were expected to dock that day including Oasis of the Seas. Toward midday the beach was quite full but probably due to our location, it never felt crowded. Convenient access to restrooms, not clean but available, with changing room, outdoor shower and toilets. Separately, for food and beverage there were sandwiches, sodas, pizza, gyros, etc. which were all good. We took an open taxi to the beach and took a separate open taxi back to port. No issues at all with transportation.
San Juan - we opted out of our pre-booked family beach day due to the inclement weather. DCL gave us a refund and we changed clothes, dumped the beach bag and headed for the forts on foot. Great exercise and education. Our kids thought they were on an adventure and we walked throughout the property. Fantastic views of the beach from the top and great panoramic photo opportunity of San Juan.
Castaway Cay - the day started off gloomy and on our way to the beach we saw several people returning to the boat. We ate first and enjoyed warm food and tastier desserts. The water was a little chilly at first but warmed up as the sun appeared. The water was nice but after having such clear warm, water at St Thomas, I was wishing for Magen's Bay.
The Stingray Experience was great. Our family enjoyed feeding and petting the stingrays (daughter wasn't eligible due to age but got in the water to see them up close). I was able to stand in the water with her and introduce her to the stingrays as well as take great photos of our family members as they fed them and snorkeled.
While para sailing was canceled that day, there was still so much to do (paddling, biking, etc.) but we spent most of our time relaxing on the beach. Like most families, we are busy between the office, school and sports so it was nice to just play and have fun. We rented a few floaties available at the entrance then again by the beach/water slide. We toured the island but mostly stayed in the water. I was dying for a ride on the jet skis but was disappointed to learn it was a tour and not open for free play. I love a good jet ski ride.
Stateroom 8520 Navigator's Veranda - Starboard
I was satisfied with the space for a party with two adults and two small children. To maximize space I followed online advice and purchased a shoe rack door hanger. I stored everything from snacks for the kids for the rare down times we were in the room to small loose items like bobby pins, brushes, ponchos, phone and tablet charges and more. I also applied suction cups to the joint stateroom door. The room has two hooks (knobs) which I used to hold our lanyards and long necklaces. The suction cups provided quick access to caps and hats for the pool and beach.I found the room to be very clean and our attendant was always accommodating when I requested extras of things here and there.
I was not disappointed with the Navigator's Veranda at all. We spent a lot of time on the veranda as we pulled into each port. If offered an awesome view of Castaway Cay and we had a great view of the fireworks from the upper deck as the kids fell asleep prior to the late show. I enjoyed only having just one outdoor neighbor instead of one on each side.
Great access to upper deck to pools, spa, fitness center, and Cabanas. Convenient to stairs during dinner rush hour when elevators were full. Great location between upper deck and lower deck for quick access to theater, shops and more via stairs. I never felt far from Mid and Aft destinations.
I posted the full stateroom report on wdw.
Restaurant Rotation
REARRAE
Restaurant Reviews
I thought all the restaurants were unique (loved Animator's Draw Night) and enjoyed the food options. I had very little hit or misses and especially liked the steak and sea bass. The wine selection was equally good. I am a wine lover but thought I would enjoy breaking out of the norm so we skipped the wine package. By the third night, we had ordered bottles of wine each night at dinner and the package window had expired. Note for next time.
I appreciated how our servers gathered the kids' menu selection first then allowed us to take our time looking over the menu. Options included a garden salad, assortment of kid-friendly dishes like pizza, corn dogs, mac 'n cheese, etc. There are also more healthy options on the menu for both kids and adults.
The servers get to know your taste in such a short time, that their recommendations are quite accurate. Our awesome server, Curtis, never steered us wrong and my husband was satisfied with every meal. I, on the other hand, didn't always follow his advice and had a few meals I just didn't love. Curtis brought me another appetizer or entree to ensure I had a proper dinner.
Cabanas: I thought the food was very good. It's your standard buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nothing exceptional, but tasty for any appetite, small or large. It was very convenient as well, being so close to the pool.
Snacks
We only had a couple of Mickey pretzels so I can't accurately review this option but wasn't disappointed.
Ice Cream Bar
Flavors include strawberry sorbet, chocolate, banana and from there a combo of each. The kids loved it and we let them have more than their share of cones per day. It was vacation, after all.
Palo (booked online 100 days out):
With our anniversary just a week later, this was a special occasion. I don't think there's a bad table throughout this whole restaurant. Our waiter, Ali, was so knowledgeable about the menu and brought several tapas for us to try in between our appetizer and entree. We paired everything with a delicious wine, also recommended. The chocolate souffle was fantastic.
Room Service
We took full advantage of this and ordered cookies almost every night. I am a huge cookie lover so I didn't particularly love them (too hard) but it was still a nice treat. Regardless if we ordered a snack or meal it never look longer than 20 minutes. The food always arrived accurate and warm.
Childcare / Oceaneer Club (pre-registered online)
I was very apprehensive about leaving the children. They are young and one is painfully shy around new kids and counselors. We dropped them off for a trial hour the night before our date at Palo. While at Palo they were there for a couple of hours. We also had our Wave phone with us. When we arrived to scoop them up, they were running around in Andy's Room, playing with the counselor and had a couple of coloring pages to show us. They had a great time. I was impressed to learn that the childrens' bracelets send a ping to their network throughout the facility so they know in which room the children are playing in real time.
Onboard experiences (all booked in advance 100 days out)
Simulator
A hit with my husband and son. My husband had two golf simulator sessions and my son had two basketball/football/soccer sessions. I scheduled them back to back so they were in there together.
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
My daughter absolutely loved it. She's somewhat shy and the stylists made her feel like a princess. They call all the girls princess throughout the experience. She picked her dress, hairstyle and one stylist applied nail polish while the other finished her hair. It was nice watching her get pampered.
Senses Spa
A two-hour treat just for mom following dinner. I booked a massage and facial. I highly recommend Chelsea. I was so relaxed and my only regret was not returning.
Royal Tea Party
Another hit with my little girl. She was served tea (apple juice) as the host and hostess acted and danced throughout the event only taking breaks to introduce Cinderella, Ariel and Tiana who all stopped by each table to greet, hug and take photos with the girls. I was really impressed by the royal servers who walked out one by one to serve tea to the princesses, princes and parents. It all felt very royal. A day after the event, her Royal photo with all three princesses was waiting for us in our stateroom.
Fitness Center
I did not visit often but the few times I did I was in awe of the view as I worked out. I only used the elliptical but found the center clean and never crowded.
Pools
Mickey pool
Not crowded like I expected and read about online. The pool appeared clean the entire time.
Donald pool
Again, our kids are young so we spent most of our time on the slides and in the Mickey pool so we were only in this one once and it was quite crowded. I noticed it was shut down for a short period of time twice during our sail likely due to an incident.
AquaDuct
The line was quite long the first sail date then died down a bit. One at sea day it was surprisingly short so we took advantage of this. High winds forced people to ride two in a raft which wasn't an issue for us.
Mickey slide
Perfect for my little one. I stood back and just watched as she went up and down several times. We only had one incident of a young boy 5 years her senior trying to jump ahead.
Lifeguards
They always seemed attentive and several times asked children not to bring toys into the pool or kindly asked parents to remove food or drinks from the edge as they watched their children.
Lounge Chairs
It appeared somewhat limited on really nice days but I always found one and it wasn't long before an individual or family left or offered up one of their chairs so I could sit down with the children as my husband and I took turns in the Mickey pool with one of the children.
Walt Disney Theater / Buena Vista Theater
We didn't have an opportunity to catch many movies or shows but our entire family loved Aladdin. Very well done and impressive stage decor and acting. The magician show we caught days later was entertaining. His humor was a bit adult for a family show, but again entertaining.
On our last night, we caught Cinderella on a whim. Just 15 minutes prior to the show and the theater was only half full. I actually thought it wasn't really playing as it had premEARed the evening prior. It quickly filled up after we sat down. I enjoyed the movie as did my children. Husband survived. Theater snacks are a bit limited in terms of candy and the popcorn was warm (sometimes).
Air and Hotel
Another great DIS tip. I reserved a room for the night before and night upon return to shore at the Hyatt MCO. Like other posters said, this is a well oiled machine. The entire staff at Hyatt MCO was friendly and accommodating. We left our tagged luggage in the room the night before the cruise as instructed and next time we saw it all pieces were sitting in front of out stateroom later that day. I was also able to snag a great web rate going to Port and for our return, requested an internet upgrade to a VIP suite, which I snagged for $100 more than a standard double queen room. The suite came with an updated kitchen, dining room, living room, full bath and separate bedroom with two queens and another full bath. The littles used the pull out sofa in the living room for a slumber party. This was a treat since we were back to reality and having so much space after being in a stateroom for a week was an added bonus.
Embarkation / Disembarkation
Very well organized getting on and off. Check in was easy and quick so we snapped photos with Mickey and Goofy while we waited to board which didn't seem long. We were group 3 to board and it moved quickly. It seemed like our keys to the word were scanned, we were snapping a photo and they were announcing our family in seconds. Thumbs up to the family that had The Incredibles announced. Very clever.
Leaving the ship was even easier, sadly. Our luggage was packed, tagged and taken the night before (we packed all of our toiletries, day of clothes and evening laundry in a carry on). We were encouraged to eat in our rotation restaurant where we dined the evening before. Our server gave us a tip that instead of dining at 6:45am when he would basically be trying to get us fed and off the ship as that is their goal, eat in Cabanas. This was a great idea. Husband grabbed breakfast for us. The kids weren't rushed, ate breakfast in bed and by 8:30 we were boarding the bus back to MCO. Upon exiting the ship we navigated to our bags (all coded by color and Disney character). We grabbed our bags and headed the short walk back on the DCL bus to MCO. From there, we checked into the Hyatt.
Princess Gathering
My son convinced my daughter to opt of out of reservation and head to pool so I couldn't convince her to attend though I snagged tickets for both Anna and Elsa as well as all the Royal Princesses. However, between the Royal Tea and their daily appearances we had more than enough photo opportunities.
Shutters Kiosk
Convenient access to photos by scanning your room key and viewing your designated binder. How clever. We had about 40+ photos from which to choose. The last night there was a bit of a line as people were making purchases before the end of the trip.
Theme Night
Pirate Night and Formal Night were tons of fun. I stressed so much about costumes and gowns. Our costumes were a hit and our formal wear turned out beautifully.
The Pirate Night theme threaded throughout the evening was awesome. Seeing all of the characters out in their garb, the pirate menu and even the early Pirate Show was enjoyable. We missed the late show on the deck but caught the fireworks off our veranda.
Formal night gave us a great excuse to get all dressed up. I haven't been to a gala in years so it was nice to have an excuse to dress up. I saw a mix of formal and semi-formal and some cruise casual. It really was at the discretion of the guest. To We snagged a photo with Minnie in her ballgown and now have a great photo treasure for our wall.
Stores Merchandise
I only wish I spent more time shopping for my souvenirs since most of the DCL items are only on the ship (please correct me if I'm wrong as Disney Store online is no match to the items on the ship). Great selection of merchandise from apparel to girls costumes, toys, souvenirs, etc. Note, I found the princess gowns in the store to not be of the same quality as the ones in the BBB or in Disney Store, yet they were $69. No shoes outside of princess flip flops.
Signature Mat
I bought an 11x14 signature mat from Michael's, added three dark markers of different colors and a post it note thanking the characters in advance (all in a bag so it didn't get separated). It also included our name and stateroom number which they appreciated. I dropped it off at Guest Services upon boarding (it's hard not accidentally bending a signture mat so I couldn't wait to drop it off) and by Wednesday it was waiting for us in our stateroom. I'm using one of our glossy Shutter photos as the picture.
State Room Magnets
I kept it minimal, creating two sparkly Mickey ears and adding my daughter's bow for a 3D effect. This is was easy, light and didn't take up too much room in our luggage (we already took 5 bags and barely had enough room for souvenirs). One of the stores on board also sell Minnie and Mickey themed magnets.
Photos
Sail Away deck party
Sea Day
Inside the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
Magan's Bay, St. Thomas VI
San Juan
Streets of San Juan
Disney's Castaway Cay
View of Castaway Cay from our veranda
Stingray Experience
Captain Hook up to his old tricks during the Pirate Night (this was the early 'kids' show)
Scan your room key to find your portfolio of professional photos taken throughout the cruise. Tip: avoid long lines and don't wait until the last minute to purchase your photos.
Each "book" contains a family's photos throughout the cruise
Spectacular fireworks show visible from our veranda
A few goodies during The Royal Tea
Tender filet at Palo
Amazing chocolate souffle at Palo
Disney Fantasy Eastern Caribbean Itinerary
Party
4 adults, 2 children under 6 (boy and girl)
Ports
St. Thomas - pre-booked butterfly garden which we missed because we enjoyed Magen's Bay so much. The water was warm and clear. We watched a school of fish swim around us. The birds weren't aggressive (sometimes) but watching them dive into the ocean for food was entertaining. We followed advice on DIS and walked left down the bay to avoid the pending crowds. While we were the second (??) boat to dock our driver said that two more ships were expected to dock that day including Oasis of the Seas. Toward midday the beach was quite full but probably due to our location, it never felt crowded. Convenient access to restrooms, not clean but available, with changing room, outdoor shower and toilets. Separately, for food and beverage there were sandwiches, sodas, pizza, gyros, etc. which were all good. We took an open taxi to the beach and took a separate open taxi back to port. No issues at all with transportation.
San Juan - we opted out of our pre-booked family beach day due to the inclement weather. DCL gave us a refund and we changed clothes, dumped the beach bag and headed for the forts on foot. Great exercise and education. Our kids thought they were on an adventure and we walked throughout the property. Fantastic views of the beach from the top and great panoramic photo opportunity of San Juan.
Castaway Cay - the day started off gloomy and on our way to the beach we saw several people returning to the boat. We ate first and enjoyed warm food and tastier desserts. The water was a little chilly at first but warmed up as the sun appeared. The water was nice but after having such clear warm, water at St Thomas, I was wishing for Magen's Bay.
The Stingray Experience was great. Our family enjoyed feeding and petting the stingrays (daughter wasn't eligible due to age but got in the water to see them up close). I was able to stand in the water with her and introduce her to the stingrays as well as take great photos of our family members as they fed them and snorkeled.
While para sailing was canceled that day, there was still so much to do (paddling, biking, etc.) but we spent most of our time relaxing on the beach. Like most families, we are busy between the office, school and sports so it was nice to just play and have fun. We rented a few floaties available at the entrance then again by the beach/water slide. We toured the island but mostly stayed in the water. I was dying for a ride on the jet skis but was disappointed to learn it was a tour and not open for free play. I love a good jet ski ride.
Stateroom 8520 Navigator's Veranda - Starboard
I was satisfied with the space for a party with two adults and two small children. To maximize space I followed online advice and purchased a shoe rack door hanger. I stored everything from snacks for the kids for the rare down times we were in the room to small loose items like bobby pins, brushes, ponchos, phone and tablet charges and more. I also applied suction cups to the joint stateroom door. The room has two hooks (knobs) which I used to hold our lanyards and long necklaces. The suction cups provided quick access to caps and hats for the pool and beach.I found the room to be very clean and our attendant was always accommodating when I requested extras of things here and there.
I was not disappointed with the Navigator's Veranda at all. We spent a lot of time on the veranda as we pulled into each port. If offered an awesome view of Castaway Cay and we had a great view of the fireworks from the upper deck as the kids fell asleep prior to the late show. I enjoyed only having just one outdoor neighbor instead of one on each side.
Great access to upper deck to pools, spa, fitness center, and Cabanas. Convenient to stairs during dinner rush hour when elevators were full. Great location between upper deck and lower deck for quick access to theater, shops and more via stairs. I never felt far from Mid and Aft destinations.
I posted the full stateroom report on wdw.
Restaurant Rotation
REARRAE
Restaurant Reviews
I thought all the restaurants were unique (loved Animator's Draw Night) and enjoyed the food options. I had very little hit or misses and especially liked the steak and sea bass. The wine selection was equally good. I am a wine lover but thought I would enjoy breaking out of the norm so we skipped the wine package. By the third night, we had ordered bottles of wine each night at dinner and the package window had expired. Note for next time.
I appreciated how our servers gathered the kids' menu selection first then allowed us to take our time looking over the menu. Options included a garden salad, assortment of kid-friendly dishes like pizza, corn dogs, mac 'n cheese, etc. There are also more healthy options on the menu for both kids and adults.
The servers get to know your taste in such a short time, that their recommendations are quite accurate. Our awesome server, Curtis, never steered us wrong and my husband was satisfied with every meal. I, on the other hand, didn't always follow his advice and had a few meals I just didn't love. Curtis brought me another appetizer or entree to ensure I had a proper dinner.
Cabanas: I thought the food was very good. It's your standard buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nothing exceptional, but tasty for any appetite, small or large. It was very convenient as well, being so close to the pool.
Snacks
We only had a couple of Mickey pretzels so I can't accurately review this option but wasn't disappointed.
Ice Cream Bar
Flavors include strawberry sorbet, chocolate, banana and from there a combo of each. The kids loved it and we let them have more than their share of cones per day. It was vacation, after all.
Palo (booked online 100 days out):
With our anniversary just a week later, this was a special occasion. I don't think there's a bad table throughout this whole restaurant. Our waiter, Ali, was so knowledgeable about the menu and brought several tapas for us to try in between our appetizer and entree. We paired everything with a delicious wine, also recommended. The chocolate souffle was fantastic.
Room Service
We took full advantage of this and ordered cookies almost every night. I am a huge cookie lover so I didn't particularly love them (too hard) but it was still a nice treat. Regardless if we ordered a snack or meal it never look longer than 20 minutes. The food always arrived accurate and warm.
Childcare / Oceaneer Club (pre-registered online)
I was very apprehensive about leaving the children. They are young and one is painfully shy around new kids and counselors. We dropped them off for a trial hour the night before our date at Palo. While at Palo they were there for a couple of hours. We also had our Wave phone with us. When we arrived to scoop them up, they were running around in Andy's Room, playing with the counselor and had a couple of coloring pages to show us. They had a great time. I was impressed to learn that the childrens' bracelets send a ping to their network throughout the facility so they know in which room the children are playing in real time.
Onboard experiences (all booked in advance 100 days out)
Simulator
A hit with my husband and son. My husband had two golf simulator sessions and my son had two basketball/football/soccer sessions. I scheduled them back to back so they were in there together.
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
My daughter absolutely loved it. She's somewhat shy and the stylists made her feel like a princess. They call all the girls princess throughout the experience. She picked her dress, hairstyle and one stylist applied nail polish while the other finished her hair. It was nice watching her get pampered.
Senses Spa
A two-hour treat just for mom following dinner. I booked a massage and facial. I highly recommend Chelsea. I was so relaxed and my only regret was not returning.
Royal Tea Party
Another hit with my little girl. She was served tea (apple juice) as the host and hostess acted and danced throughout the event only taking breaks to introduce Cinderella, Ariel and Tiana who all stopped by each table to greet, hug and take photos with the girls. I was really impressed by the royal servers who walked out one by one to serve tea to the princesses, princes and parents. It all felt very royal. A day after the event, her Royal photo with all three princesses was waiting for us in our stateroom.
Fitness Center
I did not visit often but the few times I did I was in awe of the view as I worked out. I only used the elliptical but found the center clean and never crowded.
Pools
Mickey pool
Not crowded like I expected and read about online. The pool appeared clean the entire time.
Donald pool
Again, our kids are young so we spent most of our time on the slides and in the Mickey pool so we were only in this one once and it was quite crowded. I noticed it was shut down for a short period of time twice during our sail likely due to an incident.
AquaDuct
The line was quite long the first sail date then died down a bit. One at sea day it was surprisingly short so we took advantage of this. High winds forced people to ride two in a raft which wasn't an issue for us.
Mickey slide
Perfect for my little one. I stood back and just watched as she went up and down several times. We only had one incident of a young boy 5 years her senior trying to jump ahead.
Lifeguards
They always seemed attentive and several times asked children not to bring toys into the pool or kindly asked parents to remove food or drinks from the edge as they watched their children.
Lounge Chairs
It appeared somewhat limited on really nice days but I always found one and it wasn't long before an individual or family left or offered up one of their chairs so I could sit down with the children as my husband and I took turns in the Mickey pool with one of the children.
Walt Disney Theater / Buena Vista Theater
We didn't have an opportunity to catch many movies or shows but our entire family loved Aladdin. Very well done and impressive stage decor and acting. The magician show we caught days later was entertaining. His humor was a bit adult for a family show, but again entertaining.
On our last night, we caught Cinderella on a whim. Just 15 minutes prior to the show and the theater was only half full. I actually thought it wasn't really playing as it had premEARed the evening prior. It quickly filled up after we sat down. I enjoyed the movie as did my children. Husband survived. Theater snacks are a bit limited in terms of candy and the popcorn was warm (sometimes).
Air and Hotel
Another great DIS tip. I reserved a room for the night before and night upon return to shore at the Hyatt MCO. Like other posters said, this is a well oiled machine. The entire staff at Hyatt MCO was friendly and accommodating. We left our tagged luggage in the room the night before the cruise as instructed and next time we saw it all pieces were sitting in front of out stateroom later that day. I was also able to snag a great web rate going to Port and for our return, requested an internet upgrade to a VIP suite, which I snagged for $100 more than a standard double queen room. The suite came with an updated kitchen, dining room, living room, full bath and separate bedroom with two queens and another full bath. The littles used the pull out sofa in the living room for a slumber party. This was a treat since we were back to reality and having so much space after being in a stateroom for a week was an added bonus.
Embarkation / Disembarkation
Very well organized getting on and off. Check in was easy and quick so we snapped photos with Mickey and Goofy while we waited to board which didn't seem long. We were group 3 to board and it moved quickly. It seemed like our keys to the word were scanned, we were snapping a photo and they were announcing our family in seconds. Thumbs up to the family that had The Incredibles announced. Very clever.
Leaving the ship was even easier, sadly. Our luggage was packed, tagged and taken the night before (we packed all of our toiletries, day of clothes and evening laundry in a carry on). We were encouraged to eat in our rotation restaurant where we dined the evening before. Our server gave us a tip that instead of dining at 6:45am when he would basically be trying to get us fed and off the ship as that is their goal, eat in Cabanas. This was a great idea. Husband grabbed breakfast for us. The kids weren't rushed, ate breakfast in bed and by 8:30 we were boarding the bus back to MCO. Upon exiting the ship we navigated to our bags (all coded by color and Disney character). We grabbed our bags and headed the short walk back on the DCL bus to MCO. From there, we checked into the Hyatt.
Princess Gathering
My son convinced my daughter to opt of out of reservation and head to pool so I couldn't convince her to attend though I snagged tickets for both Anna and Elsa as well as all the Royal Princesses. However, between the Royal Tea and their daily appearances we had more than enough photo opportunities.
Shutters Kiosk
Convenient access to photos by scanning your room key and viewing your designated binder. How clever. We had about 40+ photos from which to choose. The last night there was a bit of a line as people were making purchases before the end of the trip.
Theme Night
Pirate Night and Formal Night were tons of fun. I stressed so much about costumes and gowns. Our costumes were a hit and our formal wear turned out beautifully.
The Pirate Night theme threaded throughout the evening was awesome. Seeing all of the characters out in their garb, the pirate menu and even the early Pirate Show was enjoyable. We missed the late show on the deck but caught the fireworks off our veranda.
Formal night gave us a great excuse to get all dressed up. I haven't been to a gala in years so it was nice to have an excuse to dress up. I saw a mix of formal and semi-formal and some cruise casual. It really was at the discretion of the guest. To We snagged a photo with Minnie in her ballgown and now have a great photo treasure for our wall.
Stores Merchandise
I only wish I spent more time shopping for my souvenirs since most of the DCL items are only on the ship (please correct me if I'm wrong as Disney Store online is no match to the items on the ship). Great selection of merchandise from apparel to girls costumes, toys, souvenirs, etc. Note, I found the princess gowns in the store to not be of the same quality as the ones in the BBB or in Disney Store, yet they were $69. No shoes outside of princess flip flops.
Signature Mat
I bought an 11x14 signature mat from Michael's, added three dark markers of different colors and a post it note thanking the characters in advance (all in a bag so it didn't get separated). It also included our name and stateroom number which they appreciated. I dropped it off at Guest Services upon boarding (it's hard not accidentally bending a signture mat so I couldn't wait to drop it off) and by Wednesday it was waiting for us in our stateroom. I'm using one of our glossy Shutter photos as the picture.
State Room Magnets
I kept it minimal, creating two sparkly Mickey ears and adding my daughter's bow for a 3D effect. This is was easy, light and didn't take up too much room in our luggage (we already took 5 bags and barely had enough room for souvenirs). One of the stores on board also sell Minnie and Mickey themed magnets.
Photos
Sail Away deck party
Sea Day
Inside the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
Magan's Bay, St. Thomas VI
San Juan
Streets of San Juan
Disney's Castaway Cay
View of Castaway Cay from our veranda
Stingray Experience
Captain Hook up to his old tricks during the Pirate Night (this was the early 'kids' show)
Scan your room key to find your portfolio of professional photos taken throughout the cruise. Tip: avoid long lines and don't wait until the last minute to purchase your photos.
Each "book" contains a family's photos throughout the cruise
Spectacular fireworks show visible from our veranda
A few goodies during The Royal Tea
Tender filet at Palo
Amazing chocolate souffle at Palo
