Hawaii b2b ers

[dclpluto]

did DCL have the same entertainers as the first cruise?
How much weight did you gain?
I was on the first cruise than 8 nights at aulani I gained 13 pounds. Heard the ship was less crowded on the way back. Is that true? It's a shame I would like to do that cruise again but it didn't sell good.

 

[jujubiee4]

I was on the 2nd cruise. It was the emptiest i have seen a ship. They probably lost money on that cruise. However because of the
weather combined with kids being in school i can see why not many booked. To me it was a cruise mostly of DVC members older people
cast members and some families mixed in. Kauai to my family was the best island. The others were ok but i may be biased as i have been
to hawaii several times before. Our first time at Aulani and i thought it was alright. Daughter really enjoyed it though. Reminded me strongly
of our stays at Animal Kingdom lodge.

Vancouver shocked me. I thought it was stunning and didn't want our tour there to end.

The Wonder is not my favorite ship and after that cruise still not however the service/crew was outstanding. They sent up bottle of wine
and plates of deserts and left extra leis in room. So hard to top Disney's service!!

**The only time i ever saw many people were at MDR's and Star wars Movie nights! Those were awesome.

 

[ImprovGal]

I was on the second cruise only as well. Occupancy was comparable to other longer cruises I've sailed (shoulder season panama canal and transatlantic). For both Hawaii cruises and the upcoming EBPC sailing, one dining rotation isn't being used in the second seating.

I suspect lower occupancy on the Honolulu-Vancouver sailing was partly because it overlapped in dates with the Magic's WBTA. There are many repeat cruisers who book those longer sailings, and the two sailings in schedule conflict means that those in the longer cruise sailing fan base had to choose one.

 

[mmouse37]

What do you mean one rotation won't be used on the upcoming EBPC?

 

[sweetpee_1993]

What do you mean one rotation won't be used on the upcoming EBPC?

This was also done on the WBPC in May. One dining room was not in use during the 2nd seating. Can't speak to first seating. Maybe they had one closed then, too.

 

[Flossbolna]

WBPC in 2014 had it as well.

It meant that during second seating not all three rotation had people. So, for example APT and PTA had guests, but TAP did not. Hope this makes sense now...

We actually thought that this lead to very overcrowded dining rooms for the second seating and we were not fans.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

On our Hawaii cruise in 2012, the late seating on our rotation wasn't used. Our servers only had one dinner service for the whole cruise.

We didn't find the dining room crowded. In fact, we weren't aware of the unused seating until well into the cruise, one night when we passed by the dining room that we had been in earlier and saw it was closed. We asked our servers about it the next night, and they told us there weren't enough people onboard to run 6 seatings.

 

[lorimay]

Just got back late last night, we were on the second cruise. We had an amazing time. I feel they put on excellent entertainment throughout the cruise. Aulani was beautiful, can't wait to get back there again.

Yes, our server told us on each Hawaii cruise, they only had 2 dining rooms open for late seating. There were less than 500 kids onboard.

 

[eeyorefanuk]

We are just back from hawaii
Aulani was beautiful
Loved the cruise. Worried re sea days but loads to do
Would book again

 

[mmouse37]

Thanks, now I get what you mean about one rotation not being used!!

MJ

 

[eeyorefanuk]

Think they do every three years

 

[DHofShmoo]

Sorry, wrong place.

 

[collectoraholic]

I was on the first Hawaii and a lady told me (she had kids on the sailing; we didn't) that she'd been told there were only 32 or 37 (can't remember which) kids on that sailing. Don't know if that is true or not, but thought I'd share. It was a fantastic cruise. Can't wait to do another one and wished we would have booked the return to Vancouver one as well. Maybe next time.

 

[dclpluto]

I was on the first Hawaii and a lady told me (she had kids on the sailing; we didn't) that she'd been told there were only 32 or 37 (can't remember which) kids on that sailing. Don't know if that is true or not, but thought I'd share. It was a fantastic cruise. Can't wait to do another one and wished we would have booked the return to Vancouver one as well. Maybe next time.

Maybe 132 or 137 definitely more than 37

 

[collectoraholic]

Maybe 132 or 137 definitely more than 37

Like I said, I don't know if it was true or not, but she definitely said 32 or 37. LOL! I thought the number was a bit low, but out of the 30 Disney cruises I've done, that cruise had the fewest number of children I've ever seen on a DCL cruise.

 

[Ofinn]

I was on the first Hawaii and a lady told me (she had kids on the sailing; we didn't) that she'd been told there were only 32 or 37 (can't remember which) kids on that sailing. Don't know if that is true or not, but thought I'd share. It was a fantastic cruise. Can't wait to do another one and wished we would have booked the return to Vancouver one as well. Maybe next time.

My kids were in the Edge there were 30 kids in the Edge, and I think about all of them were homeschooled. There were lots of small children and I saw a few vibe aged. An officer told me there were 365 kids on the cruise which seems about right from what I saw on pirate night. I read that most Panama and TA sailings have about 200. There definitely wasn't the 1000+ that the Port Canaveral cruises have. My kids had a great time. It seems like every time I walked past the Edge all 30 kids were in there. It always seemed packed.

 

[Sparky47]

I can't give figures but I will say that there were definitely A LOT more children on the Hawaii to Vancouver sailing than there were on the 2014 WBTA or the 2013 EBPC cruises (which had under 250).

 

[collectoraholic]

My kids were in the Edge there were 30 kids in the Edge, and I think about all of them were homeschooled. There were lots of small children and I saw a few vibe aged. An officer told me there were 365 kids on the cruise which seems about right from what I saw on pirate night. I read that most Panama and TA sailings have about 200. There definitely wasn't the 1000+ that the Port Canaveral cruises have. My kids had a great time. It seems like every time I walked past the Edge all 30 kids were in there. It always seemed packed.

Maybe she meant there were 32 or 37 kids in the group where her kids went. I know it didn't seem like very many in general compared to regular cruises.

 

[southerngirl528]

I was on the Hawaii to Vancouver cruise and like Lorimay, I thought the service and entertainment were great. We could not do all the things we wanted because there was so much going on! I asked a crew member and they said they thought there were around 20 or so unsold staterooms. Tablemates that are frequent DCL cruisers, particularly for B2B's and long cruises said they had been told we had a little under 300 kids on our sailing. I saw a good number of kids of all ages, but certainly not nearly what one would see on a cruise during school vacation times. I do know the kids' clubs were quiet enough that at least once they allowed the adults to come in and "play" in one side (not sure whether it was "Club" or "Lab") for a short time.

We spent 2 nights at Aulani pre-cruise ( Aulani is my very favorite Disney resort anywhere! I've been a DVC member for more than 20 years.), the 10 nights on the Hawaii cruise then a few days in the Pacific NW to see family and believe it or not, this not-at-all skinny gal actually lost a pound or 2! LOL!! Truly! I credit that with taking the stairs a LOT, eating lots of seafood, and being busy enough that we never made it to breakfast!

I was on the 2012 Fall Hawaii cruise so this was my 2nd DCL Hawaii cruise and I can tell you that I definitely plan on doing it again if/when DCL goes back to Hawaii! Service is superb and we LOVE the Wonder! She has been beautifully maintained is still quite the Grande Dame IMO. Several of the Hawaiian classes like lei-making filled up so quickly that folks were turned away. We tried to get into the "Match Your Mate", and there was absolutely NO seating in Wavebands. Same thing for Karaoke there. We found out that if you snooze, you lose. LOL! And of course one would see lots of DVC Members on ANY DCL cruise. DVC books more cruises than any other travel agency anywhere. One would never see as many younger families on a cruise during the first month of back to school. I have spent the equivalent of several months vacationing in Hawaii and I loved the cruise. Granted it is a "taste" of Hawaii as you only have one day per island, with the exception of our overnight on Maui, my personal favorite.

 

[lorimay]

Southern Girl, Good Morning!
The back of my thighs are are still a bit sore from taking the stairs as my exercise throughout the cruise. LOL
We loved seeing Hawaii this way, hoping they offer it again in a couple years so we can do it again. We did a Disney excursion everyday while in the ports, really enjoyed the 5 sea days we had to relax at the back end.
OMG Aulani, there are no words, I completely agree its our favorite Disney resort now too. The Monday morning we were there we went for a walk to the Marina at the end of all the Lagoons, it was beautiful. As we were walking just past Aulani, we thought there was a wedding going on at 7am, but as we got closer it was the duet couple and there ukulele player that sing "I Lava You", the short from The Inside Out Movie making a you tube video. It was so amazing to see them and watch them singing the song live on the shoreline of the ocean. It was a definite highlight for me.
Anyone who wants a quiet vacation, Ko Olina is the place to go. So different from Waikiki.