Disney Holiday 10-day Cruise report.
My wife and I are middle-aged white folks with a 16-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy. This is our second Disney cruise and our 4th cruise.
We left Chesapeake Beach in Southern MD at 12 Noon Friday Dec 16th and arrived at the Radisson hotel 1 mile from the port at 2AM with 4 stops including a 30-minute dinner break in Lumbar N.C. The Kings Dominion Efile tower is 100 miles and 2 hours from our home. We used an IPOD to listen to music. We found the best frequency to be 88.1 from our home to the Virginia North Carolina border then 95.9 for the rest of the trip.
Gas ran between 2.12 and 2.45 for regular, as Florida and North Carolina were most expensive. On the way home the speed limit in north Carolina is 75 and goes down to 65 in Virginia. It cost me $125.00 at the border to find this out!!
The Radisson staff could not have been friendlier as our key and paperwork were already done. Check out was at 12 but a note was left with the housekeeper we may be later getting out. We signed on for a free tram to the port for 2PM leaving our truck at the hotel saving the $100+ for parking.
Ship embarking went sooth probably because we were so late boarding.
We had the late dinner seating, which actually worked out great. We felt we did not need to rush back to the ship for dinner. This really worked out well in Key West as it rained during the afternoon so my wife and I went on shore later in the day when the weather broke while the kids went to the show
We had an outside deluxe room with a porthole. Very nice except if you stayed out too late light would be in the room in the morning and if we were at port there would be a lot of early morning noise from trucks loading and refueling of the ship.
All the islands were great except Antigua, which were so poor parents would push their kids to you trying to sell peanuts. If I would do anything on this island I would have done an excursion to keep away from the local towns folks. [We did not do any excursions]
Our favorite was St.Maarten. Great shopping and great beaches, very friendly islanders.
The ship experience was near perfect. All employees were more than helpful and friendly. We did find the food to be very good, not excellent and the kitchen and wait service the same [kind of slow].
We would go to the shows, which were great. There were several shows of majic and comedians and a couple of large production shows with the dancing. After the show we would then go to the 3rd deck and have happy hour at the Pomade lounge. This worked out well as the line to one of the dining halls would pass the lounge and once the line was gone we would go to our dining hall and just walk in. [Just what I want to do on vacation wait in a long line for dinner!!!]
My wife and I went to a couple of adult only comedy and magic shows and they were very good and not raunchy just fast paced.
The Internet service on the ship was poor. I spent over $100.00 and could not get my all my e-mail and found out when I got home several e-mails I sent did not get to the recipients. [I was using my own laptop]
Things to remember.
1.Bring a couple of extension cords as there is only one outlet in the room and we had many electronics to plug in.
2. Get a deluxe stateroom it has a shower and a sink in one room and a toilet and sink in another room
3. If you party late get an inside stateroom.
4. If you want to do the dirty deed 
get some afternoon delight as there is only a curtain separating you from the kids. The large lock on the door will lock the door and the passkey will not work!!!!
My wife and I are middle-aged white folks with a 16-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy. This is our second Disney cruise and our 4th cruise.
We left Chesapeake Beach in Southern MD at 12 Noon Friday Dec 16th and arrived at the Radisson hotel 1 mile from the port at 2AM with 4 stops including a 30-minute dinner break in Lumbar N.C. The Kings Dominion Efile tower is 100 miles and 2 hours from our home. We used an IPOD to listen to music. We found the best frequency to be 88.1 from our home to the Virginia North Carolina border then 95.9 for the rest of the trip.
Gas ran between 2.12 and 2.45 for regular, as Florida and North Carolina were most expensive. On the way home the speed limit in north Carolina is 75 and goes down to 65 in Virginia. It cost me $125.00 at the border to find this out!!
The Radisson staff could not have been friendlier as our key and paperwork were already done. Check out was at 12 but a note was left with the housekeeper we may be later getting out. We signed on for a free tram to the port for 2PM leaving our truck at the hotel saving the $100+ for parking.
Ship embarking went sooth probably because we were so late boarding.
We had the late dinner seating, which actually worked out great. We felt we did not need to rush back to the ship for dinner. This really worked out well in Key West as it rained during the afternoon so my wife and I went on shore later in the day when the weather broke while the kids went to the show
We had an outside deluxe room with a porthole. Very nice except if you stayed out too late light would be in the room in the morning and if we were at port there would be a lot of early morning noise from trucks loading and refueling of the ship.
All the islands were great except Antigua, which were so poor parents would push their kids to you trying to sell peanuts. If I would do anything on this island I would have done an excursion to keep away from the local towns folks. [We did not do any excursions]
Our favorite was St.Maarten. Great shopping and great beaches, very friendly islanders.
The ship experience was near perfect. All employees were more than helpful and friendly. We did find the food to be very good, not excellent and the kitchen and wait service the same [kind of slow].
We would go to the shows, which were great. There were several shows of majic and comedians and a couple of large production shows with the dancing. After the show we would then go to the 3rd deck and have happy hour at the Pomade lounge. This worked out well as the line to one of the dining halls would pass the lounge and once the line was gone we would go to our dining hall and just walk in. [Just what I want to do on vacation wait in a long line for dinner!!!]
My wife and I went to a couple of adult only comedy and magic shows and they were very good and not raunchy just fast paced.
The Internet service on the ship was poor. I spent over $100.00 and could not get my all my e-mail and found out when I got home several e-mails I sent did not get to the recipients. [I was using my own laptop]
Things to remember.
1.Bring a couple of extension cords as there is only one outlet in the room and we had many electronics to plug in.
2. Get a deluxe stateroom it has a shower and a sink in one room and a toilet and sink in another room
3. If you party late get an inside stateroom.
4. If you want to do the dirty deed
get some afternoon delight as there is only a curtain separating you from the kids. The large lock on the door will lock the door and the passkey will not work!!!!
