HELP!! Romantic Escape at Sea

[Princess49]

We are going on our first cruise, its a 3nighter. We are a little nervous about the seasickness so we decided to do a short one first in case we hate it!!(I'm sure that's not even possible!)

Well, I was reading my passporter guide & jumping around the DCL web site & I came across the romantic escape at sea package. But there are some differences that are confusing me... here's what they say:

Passporter:
- romantic gift basket
-fresh flower arrangement,
-priority seating at Palo one night
-one hour of aromatherapy body massage in the Vista Spa(one per person)

DCL:
- Romantic gift amenity delivered to your stateroom (one per package)
- Couples massage at the Vista Spa & Salon
- Priority seating at Palo for one night
- Romance turndown service (one night)
- Champagne breakfast in bed (one morning)


We are both of age so that's not in question, but here are my questions:

-To me there is a dfference between a one hour massage each & a couples massage, I wouldnt want it to be one at a time, so which is it?
-Do they make the appointment for you? If they do, do you get to choose when? If they don't & there are no more appointments left do you loose your money?
-Do you get to choose which night to go to Palo? Since we are only going on the 3 night I don't want to miss Triton's or Animators Palatte. Can I choose which night or is it chosen for me? Do I have to go make the reservation or is it made in advance for me? Also, is the fee for eating at Palo included in the package price?
-Same question with the champagne breakfast, do they choose which morning this is?

-And at last.... is it worth it? I know we both want to eat at Palo & he definately is going to want a massage, I may not have spent the money on one myself but since it is a short trip I'd like to spend as much time as possible together & I'm sure it's great. And I was going to have something sent to the stateroom whether it was a DCL basket or something from gifts of a lifetime. So when you add in the costs of everything, plus (if my assumptions are correct) the convinience of having both the spa & Palo reservations made for you & not having to run right there as soon as on ship... it seems worth it to me! I appriciate any opinions OR feedback!!! Thanks!!

 

[jkovick]

Hi! I asked about this same thing yesterday but didn't get any response. Hope someone has an answer cause I am curious about this package as well. Good Luck!

 

[Kimnicki]

I spoke to Disney about this not too long ago.

- The massage is together, not one at a time. Not sure about how the appt. process goes.

- You do get to choose the night at Palo. You actully get to make the reservation prior to boarding. That was the main reason I considered this package. I believe the fee IS included in the package.

- You also get to choose the morning of the breakfast, as long as it's not the day you disembark.

I'm not sure whether it's worth it or not, I guess it depends on how set you are on having the massage, breakfast, gift and Palo. If it's something you would've done anyway, I'd do it!


Kim

 

[two-foxes]

We booked this for our Sept cruise, so although we haven't done it yet, this is some of the info we recieved from our TA at Dreams.

-The spa treatment is 50 minutes total and you have a choice of the aromatherapy massage or the spa taster, which is a 25 minute massage (back, legs, neck) and a 25 minute facial.
-Our TA told us to provide her with the day and time we'd like to do it and she'd make the ressie for us.
-She also told us to provide her with the day and time we'd like for dinner at Palo, and in addition, DCL (as a courtesy) would also let us make our high tea and brunch ressies AND choose our dining rotation. (BIG plusses, in my opinion!)
-She didn't specify if we should provide her with the day and time of the breakfast in bed, but I did anyway. But I also understood that any morning was fine, unless it is disembarkation day.

Lastly, here's how I look at the cost....when we went on our 4-nite Wonder cruise, our cabana massages that cost more than the romance package. We are will not have a sea side massage, but we are getting alot of waiting in line out of the way, a nice welcome gift AND the same massages we had before at Castaway Cay (just in the spa now), for less than what we paid just for the massages. To me, it is a good deal!

 

[ronandot]

Great info...thanks. Do you know if it is too late to get the package if we sail 2/7? Do you have to use your TA or can you just add through DCL?

 

[disneybride96]

We just did this package on the 1/25 Wonder.

Is it worth it? Well--- yes and no.

For the money - No.
For the Convenience- Yes.

We did get to make our Palo and Massage reservations in advance. (Palo fee was included) However, we still had to do the lines to make our Brunch and Surial Bath reservations. Since it was our first Disney cruise it was nice to have the peace of mind that we had reservations for our most important things out of the way.

The breakfast is not really a breakfast in bed, just fancy room service. In addition to the regular room service menu, you also could add mimosas, champagne, eggs, pancakes and breakfast meats. They give you a special door tag type menu to leave out the night before.

The couples massage is at the same time. You get a choice of a 50 minute well being massage or the massage/facial combo. Either way it is 50 minutes. That massage room is kind of crowded with 4 people in there. I told my DH that we would do them separtately next time.

The romantic gift was a gift basket with at small photo album, chocolates and champagne. Romantic turn down included rose petals and towel swans. We did not get to book the Brunch, but that would be another plus if that can be worked out.

So, when we put the $$ to paper, it was not a "bargin" but we were not dissappointed either. For first time DCL cruisers, it was a convenience. Next trip we will probably not do this package again.

 

[disneybride96]

ronandot -

We booked on 1/19 for 1/25 sailing.
Yes- If you have booked through a TA, you have to go through the TA. Trust me on this....thought my DH was going to lose it when the Disney agent would not give him any info when we tried to book the package direct. Luckily all turned out for the best!

 

[rae519]

Thank you so much for providing this information for us. We needed to have current information and you came through! Thanks!!!!

Not sure if we are going to go through with it or not - if the Palo reservations included brunch and high tea, I would have gone for it in a heartbeat!


Rae

 

[DreaminDisney]

Originally posted by rae519
Thank you so much for providing this information for us. We needed to have current information and you came through! Thanks!!!!

Not sure if we are going to go through with it or not - if the Palo reservations included brunch and high tea, I would have gone for it in a heartbeat!


Rae

Rae, when I added this pkg, Disney CM said that when we make palo dinner ressies 30-45 days prior to cruise we COULD also book Palo brunch at that time too. But since we have not done it yet, I can't say that's 100% accurate info. I didn't ask about the high tea.

Deb

 

[Princess49]

Thanks so much to everyone who responded- the info is SOOOO helpful! The breakdown for prices is as follows: the couples massage is $179-(passporters price) the Palo fee is $10, the room gift package is $30-50 & the rest is really just romance & convinience- I guess since the food is free you're really just getting the mimosas & the turn down is romantic... so we have--

$299(package)
-$179(massage)
-$40 (happy medium room package)
-$10(Palo fee)
--------------
$70 left over for convinience & romance... not too bad! If that's all correct

Considering that we would have to wait on the lines for the reservations at Palo & appointments at the Spa & the time & research I would have done to have the basket sent to the room... I gues it's worth it-- ESPECIALLY for us 1st timers!!

DISNEYBRIDE96:

What is the surial bath? Do I have to do this, or as long as my appointment is set can I just show up? Also, do I know BEFORE hand what my rotation is so that I wont miss Animators Pallate or Tritons?? Thank you again!!!

 

[disneybride96]

Princess49-

The Surial Bath is something extra we wanted to do, but very fun!
Check it out at:
http://www.castawayclub.com/

We were a little nervous about our ressies, so we wanted to confirm. There was a 1/2 hour change on our massage from what our TA told us, but other than that we were all set to go.

We did NOT know our dining rotation before we checked in. However, ther are some rotation estimates out there that seem pretty good. Your rotation assignment is generally based on the age of guests in your party.

We made our Palo for 6:30 on the last night, went to the late show and still made it to Triton's for dessert on the late seating to give our tips to our servers.

 

[ronandot]

This is all very good information especially for 1st timers. I was wondering if your Palo reservation with the romance package could include a second couple? We are traveling with another family and that was our plan. DW and I had discussed the massage. We also will have DS and DD with us so romantic breakfast may just be breakfast sampler for 4 if they let us do that. The pkg is pricey, but if I could sit back and observe that Palo 500 the first time instead of participating...it might be worth it. Thanks!

 

[Princess49]

So wait a minute.. If I don't know my dining rotation what do I do?? I want to go to Palo the night we are at Parrot Cay- & we are only on the 3nite so I want to make sure we dont miss the other two, can we change it if it's wrong, are there any garuntees? After all you are paying quite a bit for this service... oh no