From the Far East to MEXICAN RIVIERA Updated 1/31 with pics!

[JJsmama]

Day 1

As I said, Long Beach was lovely in the downtown area and near the port – at least during the day. Sorry I don’t have pics. We crashed out pretty early that first night and were definitely awake too early the next morning, but we were excited.

The drive to the port was super easy and parking was right next to the door into the port building and the ship. Dh dropped us and the luggage off and went to park and we were inside in 5 minutes. We went to the Concierge line and the first thing the CM there asked me was if I had brought my printed documents. I said, “No. I did them online.” She told me I was supposed to print them and bring them anyway. (I did have my little booklet with me.) I said, “The online registration said ‘Registration Complete!” so I thought I was finished. The CM gave me a little grunt or something. Really, I was not feeling the Disney Magic from this lady despite the fact that we were literally standing on a red carpet. Luckily we got away from her quickly and did not let her sap our excitement.

We went into the Concierge lounge to wait and were only there a very few minutes before we were allowed to board. This was probably 11:30 or so. The Concierge lounge itself was somewhat disappointing because there was no CM there to welcome us and no drinks or snacks offered. Also, you could not hear the announcements in there and you could not see the characters that were in the general waiting area, so all in all, it felt more like punishment than a perk to wait in there. Oh well. I didn’t matter at all as we were soon on our way onboard. This was definitely a perk as we were boarded before anyone else, along with the other concierge families who were there. I didn't really feel the need to be 'first' but not having to wait a long time was lovely. (Later in the report, I will have a special Concierge section where I talk more about the differences. )

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Oldest DS is apparently very suspicious of this photographer.

We had Late Seating Dining because we had booked only about 6 weeks before the cruise and first seating was full. I had not asked for it to be changed because I thought it might work with our jet lag, but after being up so early the first day, we knew this was a bad idea and wanted to change it. Dh was freaking about changing it at this point and kept trying to stop and ask every CM he saw, but I kept saying ‘Follow me to Cadillac lounge and concierge will change it for us.” Off we went and were greeted by Todd, who we immediately asked to change the dining. He said he would get back to us. Long story short: it never was able to be changed despite boarding first and concierge, so if you think you want early dining, stay on the waiting list before sailing. Definitly disappointing, but I knew I had to take some responsibility for not asking for it to be changed from Shoreside Concierge. It is just so hard to predict A) how much sleep anyone will get on the plane, and B) how jet lag will affect the group for the whole trip.

We relaxed for a few minutes in the lounge and DH booked a haircut, etc and we got DS4 registered with the Club by a nice CM. We had a couple bites of something, but were not really hungry yet. However, if you are hungry, go on to Parrot Cay because the concierge snacks will not be enough. It was nice to have a non-crowded spot to relax though since everyone on the ship had extra baggage with them that day, us included.

We went up to Deck 9 and tried the buffet anyway, mostly just to sit in the sun, then we moved up to Deck 10.

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My two Tween boys wanted to explore the ship. Since we had not gotten in the room yet, we didn’t have the wave phones so I told them I was not sure how we would find each other again. My Dh waved me off and told me not to worry and he was right. They knew the room number and could just meet us there later, so they happily went on their way. DS4 was tired and cranky and so we found some chairs on Deck 10 in the sun. (The sun and warmth felt sooo good to us! We have very grey (polluted) winters here and that California sky was gorgeous!) As soon as I sat down and put DS on my lap, he was out cold. Thus, DH and I were ‘parked’ for a while, which really was a blessing because it forced us to just slow down and relax.

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It was so nice to be onboard and not overly crowded yet. The rooms were supposed to be ready at 2:00 and we went on down there right at 2:00 because it was beginning to get pretty crowded up on deck and I wanted to lie DS down. The suite was lovely. The verandah was really huge. We enjoyed hanging out there most of the afternoon. We missed the Sail Away Party because DS4 was just waking up and DS13 preferred to watch the sail away from the verandah. Ok with me! It was lovely out there

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This must have sailed by just to remind us of home:

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We had to do some chasing around to find out if the dining times had been changed or not. Unfortunately not, and it had been a long day for us. We knew we would not be able to start dinner at 8:15, so we had them send up the menu from Parrot Cay and we dined in the room. This worked fine, but makes for a most of dishes in the room when the whole family is dining. All the food this night was "ok."

 

[JJsmama]

Day 2 and Day 3

Day 2 and 3 are somewhat of a jumble in my mind because they were two sea days in a row. These were not my favorite days of the cruise. I was looking forward to the sea days and remembered lots of activities and imagined the kids doing all sorts of things. Reality was not like that.

On the positive side, the weather was gorgeous! It was much warmer than we expected (much warmer than even the captain expected, he said.) and it was a great day to be on deck! Unfortuntely, the whole ship was up on deck and the pools were absolutely overflowing with people! We had two nice loungers that we had found earlier, but other passengers around us could not find a place to sit and passengers were being somewhat rude and snippy to each other. That is not DCL's fault, but I do wish they would put out some more loungers.

Since I don't have lots to report for these days, I will give my view of the kids clubs.


I tried several times on these days to get DS4 to go to the club. He was willing at first and tried it a couple times for very short periods, but he always felt abandoned in there instead of excited about what was going on. I was very disappointed in the Oceaneer Club staff. They seemed so distant and non-involved. Never once when I went into the clubs did they ever welcome my child, encourage him to come in or interact with any of the kids who were already in there. I never actually saw a fun activity going on in there. It always seemed to be transition time or 'later' they would be doing something fun. All the kids just seemed to wander about since they were just expected to watch on of the movies that was always on. I know this is not what my child was expecting and I am sure others were not either. This was the biggest disappointment of the whole trip (and maybe why so many kids were in the pool.) Seriously, from what I saw, the counselors seemed to make almost ZERO effort. (On our last cruise 5 years ago, they were great and excited and welcoming with lots of fun activities!) I had recently been reading about people having this feeling on the recent cruises, but I was hoping it would not be our experience too. It was.

The Tweens had a fabulous time though! The Edge counselors were out and about with those kids and they were having a blast! My 11 year old wanted to be at the Edge all the time! Then they would go together to do Scavenger Hunts / races/ games and you would see the Edge counselors really having fun with the kids. Way to Go Edge!

One more commentary while we are at it: The reports of LOTS of new CMs is definitely true too. We saw this all over and it did affect our experience. The service just seemed to have gone way down all over the ship and so many CMs seemed to have lost their Magic (or maybe they just didn't have it.) Other CMs, who may somesay be really great, just didn't seem to know anything. It was like they were hired too fast and not trained properly. I think MANY of them had only been on the ship a couple weeks if even that long, and honestly, we could tell. We had lots of things not in our suite and had to keep asking and it was as if no one had explained to our steward what should be in the room. (We never did have ANY pen or paper, a Do Not Disturn sign or Service Please sign, our glasses were not replaced after we used them. Only after asking did we get room service menus, ship information book, and bathrobes...)

Here is a rare view of the suite with both beds open in the living room for anyone who might be curious. Before cruising I wanted to see how much space there would be and could not find a photo like this. There was ample space and the boys were all comfortable.

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Dh and I spent a good bit of time in the sun loungers on these days as it just felt so nice to be out there. The boys really did not swim at all. We tried the Mickey pool for a short while but it was insanely crowded/ busy, so not much fun. What else did we do on these days? We went to see the Muppets in the Buena Vista Theatre and that is always fun. We went to the mid day showing of Golden Mickeys on day 3 when we needed to get out of the sun for a while. DS13 and 4 tried one of the animation classes. DS13 took DS4 to the Open House in the club and they had a good time. (The Open House was empty whenever they went there, so I am wondering if it will last...I am not really a proponent of it, but since it was happening anyway, it was a good thing for them to go do.) DS11 really enjoyed meeting friends on these days and seemed to make them instantly. He stayed busy with Edge events and we would have to 'call him home for dinner' every day.

We ate at Tritons night two and it was good. This is my favorite restaurant onboard (of the main 3.) We had a good table with a window and lovely servers. The next night was to be Tritons again, so Dh and I went to Palo. We did actually send the kids to the dining room without us since we had asked the servers the night before. The boys were game for the adventure, so we tried it and it seemed to go fine. Palo was lovely. I had a fantastic beef tenderloin and the chocolate souffle and we were very happy with it! They had let me purchase the 3 night wine package (on the 7 night cruise) since I am the only wine drinker. Well, our wine was apparently mis-labled or misdirected or something and it was not in Palo and it took a few minutes to be located. This caused the head waiter and our server much more pain than it caused me, and other wise, my wine followed us around just fine.

In Tritons, DS4 decided he did not want to be photographed, so we have a picture as a family of 4 which is almost identical to the one from our cruise 5 years ago. Funny!
This year:

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2006:

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[cnj]

Thank you for posting this. Were you in a midship long suite? How was Todd?

 

[JJsmama]

Thank you for posting this. Were you in a midship long suite? How was Todd?

Yes, we were. You are booked in the same suite as us ( i see from your previous question.) Location was Fabulous! and I loved the layout! All that beautiful wood really creaks though - Loudly when the ship is really moving.

Todd was ok, but mostly all he could talk about was that he was moving over to the Fantasy on the day we disembarked. He was training his replacement and he just seemed distracted, so I am not sure we got the best of Todd. The replacement is either Mike or Marcos (the other is the name of the concierge CM for the other side of the ship.) Whichever it is, I actually liked the replacement better, so you will have him

More on Concierge coming up in the TR.

 

[Deluzy]

Thanks for posting your review! Looking forward to reading about the rest of your cruise.

 

[JJsmama]

Day 4 Puerto Vallarta

This day was a turning point for us. This was the day we really started to relax and enjoy ourselves. The trip to LA had been a long, stressful one and it takes a while for that to wear off sometimes. On this day, we were really settling in and learning how to take it easy.

We had slept quite late (about 10:00) this morning. The boys could have kept sleeping but I had to rush them in order to get breakfast, which was over by 10:30 most days. This sounds like a good time for me to do another side commentary. Today's Topic: Dining Time

I don't know what DCL could do differently, and I am sure they have looked into it, but the dining times can really affect your cruise experience. In the end, the late dining ended up being ok for us and our jet lag, but it definitely caused some restrictions. 5:45 is too early, but 8:15 is a long time to wait to even start dinner.

The PROS of late dinner in our experience is that it lets you have a longer afternoon and not be rushed to finish your activities, excursions. Also, between 5:00 and 7:00 the pools, chairs, movies and activities are almost empty with all the early people getting ready for dinner and dining.

The CONS of late dining are that, well, it is Late. If you go to dinner at 8:15 and stay until at least 9:30-10, then have a little activity (or not) then have a little winding down time, you are probably not going to sleep much before midnight - if that early. Ok, fine. BUT, if you then choose to sleep in the next morning, you risk missing breakfast altogether, missing a lot of activities and not being able to get a seat at the pool. It is also very difficult to do early excursions. One morning Dh and tweens did a snorkeling excursion that left at 7:15, which meant they had to get up at 6:30 to rush to breakfast after going to sleep about 12:30. They were dragging that night. Also, the boys had to have a late snack every afternoon because they were starving so they never really had room for for healthier choices at dinner because they were still full on hot dogs....
I could go on, but let's call that End of Commentary and on with the report!

So, back to PV. We slept in and woke to this beautiful view

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While this may not look beautiful in these photos, it really was in real life. The weather and temperature were prefect and there were tropical birds down below making all kinds of beautiful noise!

Waking up each day was really like opening a gift. I am very motion sensitive and even I could not feel Captain Fabian docking the ship each morning. He really knows how to handle his ship well! We were in such good hands with him

We went up on deck and were surprised to find that we were almost the only ones up there! It was wonderful
We did not have plans because of the sleeping late / early excursion thing and because of a planning mistake on my part, but it turned out great! DS4 had really been wanting some Mickey Pool time, but it had been too crowded to enjoy. Now was his chance!

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Then we headed to the Goofy Pool where the we had the place almost all to ourselves for hours!

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By the late afternoon, DS13 was wanting to go ashore, so he and DH walked around port and the mall next door. (This may sound lame but good malls are a luxury for us and DH said it was lovely.) I stayed and enjoyed the verandah while DS4 had a nap. DH and DS brought us some treats from town. Some Vanilla, some yummy Gummy Bears (Panditas), some questionable strange candy called ACIDitas , and some yucky chocolate raisins. They get credit for the effort though!

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This might have been Toy Story Musical day, which we missed. I think I forgot to mention that we did see Golden Mickeys which was fun as always (I love that Stomp-type number!)

That night we had Animator's Palate. The food was pretty good I think, but neither DH nor I like AP. It feels dungeon-like to me. Maybe that is why they did all that with the lights on the walls...?

Continued Next: Concierge Reception

 

[JJsmama]

The Concierge Reception was scheduled for 4:00 on puerto vallarta day. I thought that it was strange that they would plan it for mid afternoon on a port day. It was almost as if they didn't want anyone to be able to come. But they were wrong, and we all turned up anyway. (Or possibly, I was actually wrong and they knew what they were doing with the planning? )

I wouldn't have cared about going but I knew it would be a good chance for character interaction without the line, so off we went.

They had some finger foods and some Mickey rice krispie treats, which we all went crazy for.

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It was too early for me to have a drink, but in the end, I had a glass o wine anyway and we ended up chatting with some very nice folks and having a nice time. Then, we were treated to Daisy!

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This is leading me to another side commentary... This time Concierge

While we were chatting with a very nice family at the Concierge Reception, the mother/ wife of the family leaned over to me like an old friend and asked me what I thought of the Concierge Experience so far. Honestly, it is a difficult question to answer. Let me be clear that this commentary is not so much about whether the suites or the concierge is nice or not. It was lovely. It was more about would we choose to do it again next time. And it was a question we were already asking ourselves on the cruise.

This lady said to me that she had expected more perks and that she specifically would like to see Priority Seating for the shows. While this particular issue was not problematic to me, I did see her point. The rooms were certainly nicer and bigger, but we knew we were paying for that. What was more elusive was what else we were getting. DCL promotes the Concierge as having a heightened level of service but none of us really felt that. The concierge staff was friendly enough but we weren't sure what they were doing for us that we couldn't easily do ourselves. We could have paid a good bit less for two connecting verandah rooms instead. The lady I spoke with was particularly dismayed to discover that the murphy bed in her suite was in the bedroom. She and her husband had not known that beforehand. You can imagine their dismay... (Ours was in the living room, thanks to DiS)
I have read that the Dream has a sundeck reserved only for Concierge and a concierge lounge. Both those things would rank highly on a 'worth it' list since the ship decks can be crowded. I would enjoy those perks but the Classic ships don't have them. Thus I do think I would be inclined to book concierge on the new ships next time, but would probably prefer two verandah rooms on the classic ships. At times, DH and I thought we might have preferred a real door between the two rooms and a real bed for the boys instead of pull- down or fold out. So, since that would be cheaper, that is probably what we would choose again. If we had the suite without the three kids with us, well, that would be super- fabulous!

Actually DH and I had wondered if we had gotten spoiled and our expectations were too high because we had been disappointed in some services and CMs on this cruise, but the fact that the lady asked me about it and she had a lot of disappointments too, meant that it was not just us...
Ok, End of Commentary

I think I have failed to mention the shows so far. We did go see Golden Mickeys which was fun as always. The Welcome Aboard show should have been named Welcome A-Bored show IMHO. We skipped Toy Story because we had plans, so I can't speak for that one. DS13 and DS4 went to Dreams, while Dh and I enjoyed the verandah one night and DS said "It was Great!!" We also saw Muppets movie , Peter Pan, and Beauty and the Beast 3D. The comedians and magicians (family shows) were both fun and so were the game shows. We did Who Wants to Be a Mouseketeer (we won!) and Think You Know Your Family (very funny!) So, lots of fun before dinner most nights.

Here is our prize next to the glass one we won five years ago.

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[JJsmama]

Day 5 Cabo San Lucas


I am going to start today off directly with yet another side commentary Today’s Topic: Snacks and desserts

Warning: Do not Eat the Following

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You may be tempted to eat these chocolate covered Mickey pretzels found in Mickey’s Mates. Don’t do it. Eating even just one of these little mickeys will cause you to immediately lose control of parts of your body (such as your hand and your mouth) and will render you unable to stop eating them until the bag is empty!
(I hope you know I am joking.) Seriously, these things are so yummy! They are the perfect combination of salty and sweet.

We also tried the Mickey Chocolate covered Raisins, and the kids liked them. I thought they were pretty good (not as good as Raisinets) but not as good as the pretzels. The bagged caramel corn was yummy too – still crunchy and not stale!
Apparently, lots of candy eating going on in our stateroom.

That’s ok I guess because we didn’t eat many other desserts. For one thing, the cookies and other sweets have disappeared from Deck 9. (This may have happened long ago, but I remembered having chocolate chip cookies from Goofy’s Galley and toppings for the ice cream among other things from past cruises. And the dining room desserts were just not very good. They looked lovely, but they just didn’t taste good. (The chocolate soufflé from Palo was yummy. The ice cream sundaes were good the kids said and the chocolate lava cake was pretty good. But that leaves a lot of desserts that were tried between five people over a week that were not good. Also, we had been hoping for and expecting to find more fruit desserts like berries, but they were not to be found.

The trays of goodies brought to the concierge suites were not impressive either. One day, very bland cookies which even kids only took one bite of. Another day little cream puff things so bad that DH actually had to spit it out! (He never does that!) The day after that we got a plate of small éclairs, but they looked so much like the cream puffs that no one would try them…. End of Commentary

Day 5 Cabo San Lucas

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We woke to a really beautiful view today! Once again a surpise silent parking job done by the captain. (Yes, I know it is not called Parking with a ship..) We were again treated to gorgeous weather and sunshine and the perfect level of warmth! It was just lovely to look out and see all the little boats darting around! We went up on deck expecting another empty ship and were surprised that there were lots more people on the ship than the day before. This surprised me as I thought that Cabo would be the more enticing port and that the full day in Cabo would be the day people would go ashore if they only chose one. Well, shows what I know, because lots of people were around, but there was still plenty of elbow room to go around.

We had a great day in the sunshine and then DH and the tweens decided to go into town once again while I stayed with napping Ds4. They guys had an excursion planned for the next day so today they were just happy to tour around some.

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I wasn't sure if we would stay in port that night or do a cruise to nowhere and as it turned out, it was the latter. So, off we sailed into the sunset.

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[JJsmama]

Day 6 Cabo San Lucas Again


We awoke today to an even more beautiful view of Cabo! We were looking right out at Los Archos .

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Dh and tweens had gotten up very early to go on a snorkeling excursion which left at 7:15. Luckily, after transferring DS4 to my bed, we both went back to sleep and got to wake up late and refreshed. We went up to Beach Blanket and had a lovely breakfast for 2. We were all still in our more relaxed state of mind and so we were just going with the flow and enjoying life. I had by this point completely given up on DS4 going to the club and just decided to make the best of it. We spent a lot of time at the Mickey Pool that morning so that he could continue his swimming fun. (The Goofy Pool was just too deep for him unless someone held him. He is a beginner swimmer but likes to be able to put his feet down and rest. Who doesn’t?) Then we hung out at the Goofy Pool and watched a movie on the big screen. I was able to choose a chair in the sun and turn it so that it created a nice shade right behind it so he could look up at the screen better.


DH did not take the camera with him on the excursion because we only had the ‘big’ camera with us and he was afraid it would get wet. He says in hindsight, it would probably have been fine to take it. SO, no photos, but he said it was fun. It was a big catamaran and they sailed out 45 minutes to an hour to get to the snorkeling spot. The said the crew was pretty entertaining and the kids had a great time dancing and jumping around on the front of the boat. The man from the other family we had met at the Concierge Reception was there with his daughters so he and DH passed the time chatting. When they got to the snorkeling spot, DH said the water was COLD! He said DS11 could not tolerate it at all and got right back on the boat and refused to get in again. (Still the DH and DS say this son loved the excursion.) DH said a lot of the kids said it was too cold and couldn’t swim in it. SO, be forewarned.

When they were almost back to port, they noticed a fishing boat next to them with a giant seal on the back trying to steal the fish. It was too funny! Dh did manage to get a photo with his phone.

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If you are wondering how big the tender boats are, here is a photo

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and a shot of the last two queing up to catch the ship after we were already starting to turn away.

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As we were sailing out of Cabo, there were whales everywhere! It was a wonderful sight and so fun to sit on the verandah and watch. They were elusive though and I could not get the camera up quickly enough to catch them! Here is an attempt. I have lots of photos like this. But in real life, it was wonderful!

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Tomorrow: the last day: the worst day and the best day

 

[tokyodisneydad]

Glad to see you survived the jet lag. That's my BIG concern for next year. Wish we could do WDW before rather than after the cruise, but oh well.

 

[JJsmama]

Glad to see you survived the jet lag. That's my BIG concern for next year. Wish we could do WDW before rather than after the cruise, but oh well.

In your case to East Coast, I would try for early dining. You will most likely be up VERY early and you will appreciate not having to wait so long for dinner. The good news is that you will have first pick of all the pool loungers in the mornings

 

[JJsmama]

Day 7 At Sea

So, this was the worst day of the vacation because we knew we were sailing back to reality. Even if you try to ignore this fact, they make annoucements and give out paper instructions all day about leaving in the morning...

However, it was such a lovely day when we blocked out the thoughts of leaving. This morning was our character breakfast and eventhough it was the second seating, we did not have to wait long because we had slept in. It was supposed to start at 9:45, but this day it seems a bit slow getting in and seated. (Maybe the first seating went long?) I guess they want to wait until everyone has ordered before they bring out any characters, but it was a long time before any made an appearance. We were almost completely finished eating before they started making the rounds. Dh commented that he thought they were running out of food because the portions were tiny at this meal and DH asks for berries and was told NO. For the first time, the kids meal was a lot more food than the adult meals.

Anyway, we had Minnie first, then Pluto, then Dale.

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At that point we still had three more characters to go but it was almost 11:00 and none of the characters were even in our section. DS11 was eager to get back to his Edge friends and activities and DH and I just wanted to get out into the sun and on with our day, so we decided to leave without meeting all the characters. No one seemed to be able to believe that we didn't want to stay for all of them, but I have three boys and they just aren't that into them. We had a good time there but were ready to move on.

We went and ran some errands around the ship like Shutters, etc and back to the room to consider the packing situation. I really didn't want to start packing but with five people with suitcases and carry on bags for long haul flight to organize, it takes a while. So we pulled out the bags and at least got out the things we thought we needed for the rest of the cruise and dumped a lot of the non-necessities into the bags, then we hurried up to deck.

DS13 packing

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DS4 ready to hit the sun deck.

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Since we had all hit the Really Relaxed state, even DS4 was chilled out. We had bought him some Star Wars figures in the gift shop (Is Star Wars Disney?) and he brought them up and just happily played with them at our chairs while Dh and I soaked up the warmth of the sun. We were still having nice weather but the temperature had dropped and it was windy up there. I didn't change into my swimsuit, but enjoyed the warmth in my clothes. Dh did strip down and said it was fine as long as lying in the sun. Once you got up and walked the 'hallway' areas near the windows on Deck 9, it was like a wind tunnel and very windy and chilly. We all got some lunch on deck and then DS4 wanted a nap. He must have been really worn out from everything because he went right out when we got to the room.

I went out to sit on the lovely verandah for what I thought was a few minutes. I wrapped up in the cosy bathrobe and enjoyed the view and the rocking of the ship and just felt so mellow which is a wonderful feeling which I don't feel very often. Dh joined me and DS kept sleeping and sleeping, so we just watched for whales and enjoyed the peace together. Truly a wonderful day!

Finally we had to finish packing, but we were missing our verandah peace, so DSs all went to the Remember the Magic evening show and Dh and I had a glass o wine outside and soaked up the last few minutes of bliss. Then it was on to Animator's Palate, which I had a very good beef tenderloin and chocolate lave cake. I always enjoy the the parade of servers and especially enjoy all the nationalities onboard. (We did think it was strange that a non-American carried the American flag though. Shouldn't the flags be carried by their own citizens? )

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cruise by travelingcircusof5, on Flickr[/IMG]

Reflections
Lovely trip! It was a really nice time together as a family. I enjoy the classic ships and wasn't so interested in the new ships before. Now, I would like to try a new ship. As my kids have gotten older, I think we would enjoy the added activities of the new ships. Sometimes on this cruise, we just wanted to DO something and it seemed we did a lot of sitting and watching things (shows, movies, game shows, magicians) and we would have liked more doing. We liked this part of Mexico a lot - better than the ports on the Western Carib. However, I did miss CC!
Would I fly so far to do the trip again if I didn't have extra time in America? I doubt it. Would I fly across the USA (a few hours or so) to do another DCL? Definitely!

 

[Merryweather11]

Jennifer, I had NO idea you wrote a trip report for our cruise! Where have I been all this time! . Too bad we didn't get to meet up--if I had know what you looked like I would have watch out for you.

Your suite looks absolutely amazing--what fun to have room to stretch out and relax. We really wished we had a veranda to get some fresh air and sit in the sun--maybe next time.

We had the late seating too--the poor kids at the table next to ours were almost always asleep in their chair by the time dinner came. We were practically asleep ourselves--we are not late diners. By the time we got out of dinner the majority of us would stagger back to the room and get into bed--sometimes the kids would go to the late movie at the BVT. But the plus side was being able to get ready leisurely for dinner and to stay and chat with the servers afterwards--they were not rushed getting ready for next service.

Overall, we had a wonderful cruise. Just a few things I would have changed. The family pool was a poor design--I don't understand why they didn't construct it like the quiet pool--it was very uninviting and chaotic most of the day. My teens didn't want anything to do with that area. They actually hung out at the quiet pool, reading and sunning and putting their feet in the water. I know that's a no-no, but they were not disturbing anyone and we only let them come on port days when the pool was very empty.

I only got sea-sick on the last sea day--the ship was rocking so much it finally got to me! I took a Bonine and sucked on ginger chews, but it definitely slowed me down. The sad part was we had scheduled Palo brunch that day and I just couldn't eat any of the hot dishes. I still enjoyed it and tried some of the cold dishes--and my husband had lots of fun--but I was still bummed out. Our server Daniel did have us go fill a plate of desserts to bring back for the girls, which was nice.

Your pictures are great! I hope you don't mind--I'll add a couple of pictures--I don't know how to resize them, so they're kind of big:

This is my favorite picture of the four of us--we were on the whale watching catamaran in Cabo. Such a beautiful day!

This one makes me smile--the gals helping with the pictures with Captain Fabio were named Emma and Charlotte--which just happen to be the names of our girls!

And here are our servers Sedat and Yukiko--we just fell in love with these people.

I still feel ground moving beneath my feet at times--but it seems like we returned a lifetime ago. I don't know when we will be able to take another cruise, but this one was very special. The girls are growing up and my oldest will be in college next year--who knows when we will be taking a family trip again!

Thanks for letting me hijackk your trip report, JJsmama!

 

[JJsmama]

Jennifer, I had NO idea you wrote a trip report for our cruise! Where have I been all this time! . Too bad we didn't get to meet up--if I had know what you looked like I would have watch out for you.

Thanks for letting me hijackk your trip report, JJsmama!

No, we didn't meet, but I recognize your girls. I sat next to you at Quiet Pool one day and Yes, they behaved themselves very well. I thought they had just really been graced in the 'looking young' department. You would probably recognize me if I put in a photo of me in my hat. When out on deck, I always had on a black baseball cap and sunglasses. In disguise, you know.

Hijack all you want. It is fun to reminisce! Love the photo - beautiful color!

 

[Merryweather11]

No, we didn't meet, but I recognize your girls. I sat next to you at Quiet Pool one day and Yes, they behaved themselves very well. I thought they had just really been graced in the 'looking young' department. You would probably recognize me if I put in a photo of me in my hat. When out on deck, I always had on a black baseball cap and sunglasses. In disguise, you know.

Hijack all you want. It is fun to reminisce! Love the photo - beautiful color!

I probably would have recognized you, how funny. Yes, my oldest daughter is just a few months away from 18-- but the younger one is certainly graced with looking young--to her chagrin. They would have liked to do a lot more of the adult things restricted to 18 and up--like the cooking demonstrations and the imagineer lectures (they did go to the family one.) They just didn't click with the teen program--they said that everyone was divided into groups already (riiight) and that the programming was cheezy. I so wish that some family friends could have sailed with us--they needed friends to encourage them to do the teen stuff. They weren't glued to us the whole time, but I think they would have had more fun doing the teen programming.

 

[kimmypie1]

Can't wait for your updates! What room are you in or would you prefer not to say? We are in 8032 in two months. I cannot wait to hear about your concierge experience.

We love Mexico. I am sad that you had so many bad experiences there! We have been on three Disney cruises and our favorite excursion, besides Castaway Cay, was the paradise beach excursion in Puerta Vallarta. It was the first thing I booked when our excursion window opened up. If you do decide to get off the boat, I highly recommend this one!

We are in 8032 in less than 4 weeks!! You will have to keep an eye out for my TR! Ane we are doing paradise beach in PV too

 

[kimmypie1]

Thanks for your great report!
I was so excited to find that you also were in 8032! It was really cool to see the pics of the room and know that it is going to be the exact room we will be in.

I am saddended to hear of your not so stellar experiences with concierge and also the kids clubs. Did you let anyone know that you had bad service?

I hope that people who have bad service let someone know so that it can be addressed and hopefully changed for the better. I know it can't change anything to your experience, but I look at it like a pay it forward type thing. You never know what your comments will do to make a future cruisers trip truly magical. And you never know, someone doing the same thing just might make positive changes to your next cruise!!

 

[JJsmama]

I hope that people who have bad service let someone know so that it can be addressed and hopefully changed for the better. I know it can't change anything to your experience, but I look at it like a pay it forward type thing. You never know what your comments will do to make a future cruisers trip truly magical. And you never know, someone doing the same thing just might make positive changes to your next cruise!!

I did clearly write my disappointment with the kids club staff (but also clearly praised Edge staff) in my comments card.
With COncierge, it is more difficult. Like i said, the staff did a good job and I did not want to complain about them. We just didn't actually feel the perks were great after we were onboard.
For example, one of the perks is being able to have room service from the restaurants delivered to the suite. This was promoted by DCL and a good incentive to us with the jet lag/ kids, etc. But when we tried to order, we discovered that you still have to order at the same time you would be ordering in the dining room. On the night we wanted to order dinner around 6:30 because we didn't want to wait until 8:15, we discovered that we had to still order by 8:15 for delivery at 8:45 or we should have ordered by 5:45 to eat earlier and we had missed it. These restrictions took away the benefit of being able to eat when we wanted, which is what we were expecting.

The suite is lovely though and the location and verandah can't be beat.

 

[kimmypie1]

I did clearly write my disappointment with the kids club staff (but also clearly praised Edge staff) in my comments card.
With COncierge, it is more difficult. Like i said, the staff did a good job and I did not want to complain about them. We just didn't actually feel the perks were great after we were onboard.
For example, one of the perks is being able to have room service from the restaurants delivered to the suite. This was promoted by DCL and a good incentive to us with the jet lag/ kids, etc. But when we tried to order, we discovered that you still have to order at the same time you would be ordering in the dining room. On the night we wanted to order dinner around 6:30 because we didn't want to wait until 8:15, we discovered that we had to still order by 8:15 for delivery at 8:45 or we should have ordered by 5:45 to eat earlier and we had missed it. These restrictions took away the benefit of being able to eat when we wanted, which is what we were expecting.

The suite is lovely though and the location and verandah can't be beat.

Glad to hear you voiced your complaints about the kids club while praising the edge staff at the same time. They also need to know what is going right too!

That is just crazy about the room service for dinner thing. I had never heard that before, but I am SO thankful you mentioned that. It will really help us to plan.

Again thanks and I hope you enjoyed your cruise!

 

[cnj]

Thanks for all of your information! We are looking forward to our vacation. We plan on ordering some meals in our room, so now we know what times we can do that. It seems DCL is cutting corners on the Wonder. I hope they get it together before we go.

Kimmypie, please let me know what your thoughts of the cruise and "our" room are when you return!