How was NYE?

[scrapbookjulie]

Any pictures or reports from the NYE cruises a few weeks ago? I'll be on the Dream NYE cruise this year.

 

[Shanti]

I wasn't on one of them this year, but two years ago I sailed the Magic over New Year's and it was great. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Enjoying a lively, family-friendly party with fireworks at the stroke of midnight, then being able to simply walk to our stateroom afterwards rather than sit in gridlock traffic for an hour, was awesome. We spent the next day at Castaway Cay, which is a wonderful way to begin the new year. And because we sailed over a major holiday, we got a cute New Year's themed DCL lithograph.

 

[MUN]

We were on the Wonder for the most recent NYE cruise and it was a lot of fun. The NYE party on deck starts at about 10:30 with lots of music, dancing, and character appearances. Near midnight, waiters come out with trays of complimentary Champaign, faux Champaign, and hors d'oeuvres. DCL provides party hats, and every stateroom received a DCL print.

Two years ago we were on the same cruise and Broadway performer Susan Egan (original Belle on Broadway) was on the cruise as a featured entertainer. She was great! This year we had Mark Wills who is a washed-up country musician.

 

[lorenni]

We did NYE on the Fantasy this year. We are early to bed people so we took DS (6) to the kids club for their open house New Year’s Eve party – New Year’s was at 8 PM. Chip and dale showed up in disco outfits and the kids club counselors had a dance party. Only three kids came – so DS basically got to dance with Chip and Dale for half an hour all to himself. He had a ball and Later that night one of the CMs left him a baseball cap and a certificate for having amazing dance moves on our fish extender.

We would absolutely do it again – we have found that with kids it’s hard to do New Year’s Eve – impossible to find a babysitter and hard to find things to do together as a family. The ship gave us great options to celebrate together and not have to keep him up till midnight.

 

[lucky1]

We were on the Wonder for the most recent NYE cruise and it was a lot of fun. The NYE party on deck starts at about 10:30 with lots of music, dancing, and character appearances. Near midnight, waiters come out with trays of complimentary Champaign, faux Champaign, and hors d'oeuvres. DCL provides party hats, and every stateroom received a DCL print.

Two years ago we were on the same cruise and Broadway performer Susan Egan (original Belle on Broadway) was on the cruise as a featured entertainer. She was great! This year we had Mark Wills who is a washed-up country musician.

We were on this cruise as well. I had never heard of Mark Willis before or any of his songs. (Guess I didn't realized he was washed up ). On NYE he only sang Auld Lang Syne, but Aaron Lotzow (piano player from Cadillac lounge) and the Brace boys (Jazz band from Tiana's Place) were fantastic. Love seeing Father Time (Goofy) and Baby New Year (Donald) This was our 2nd NYE cruise, the first being New Years 2011 both have been fantastic , would do one again in the future, the best party one can go to on NYE.

 

[NJMermaid]

Thank you, I will be on this years NYE cruise on the Dream. How was Castaway Cay, and did any of you go to Disneyworld after the cruise, how were crowd levels, etc?

 

[scgustafson]

We were on the Wonder for the most recent NYE cruise and it was a lot of fun. The NYE party on deck starts at about 10:30 with lots of music, dancing, and character appearances. Near midnight, waiters come out with trays of complimentary Champaign, faux Champaign, and hors d'oeuvres. DCL provides party hats, and every stateroom received a DCL print.

Two years ago we were on the same cruise and Broadway performer Susan Egan (original Belle on Broadway) was on the cruise as a featured entertainer. She was great! This year we had Mark Wills who is a washed-up country musician.

We were on the same cruise, and the deck party was the best part of the cruise. The deck party was hosted by Jo, the club host, and featured the onboard duo O&A who did several cover songs; a guest DJ; a sing along lead by pianist/singer Aaron Lotzow, who was performing at nights in the Cadillac Lounge and is amazing; the band from Tiana's then played with Aaron; we had a few cuts to the ABC Rockin' New Year'e Eve in Times Square; and finally country artist Mark Wills and William, his keyboardist, performed until the countdown followed by an extended fireworks show. We liked it so much, we booked the same cruise for this coming NYE.

 

[MUN]

Thank you, I will be on this years NYE cruise on the Dream. How was Castaway Cay, and did any of you go to Disneyworld after the cruise, how were crowd levels, etc?

We were at Castaway Cay on New Year's Day. I thought it was a great way to start the new year. I thought the weather was great (mid 70's and mostly sunny) and the water was warm enough. The Dream and the Magic sailed by while we there and all blew their horns. It made for some great photos.

Two years ago we took the same cruise and we were on Castaway Cay on NYE and Nassau on NYD. We caught the tail end of the Junkanoo parade on NYD morning. A local told me it started at 2am and ran until about 11 am. It was fabulous! I would recommend checking out the Junkanoo parade if you find yourself in Nassau on NYD or Boxing Day as I understand they have the parade the day after Christmas as well.

MUN

 

[oumagic]

This thread makes me even more excited for our NYE Wonder cruise this year. The Wonder itinerary has us on castaway cay on NYE followed by sea days on 1st and 2nd.

 

[MUN]

We were on this cruise as well. I had never heard of Mark Wills before or any of his songs. (Guess I didn't realized he was washed up ). On NYE he only sang Auld Lang Syne, but Aaron Lotzow (piano player from Cadillac lounge) and the Brace boys (Jazz band from Tiana's Place) were fantastic. Love seeing Father Time (Goofy) and Baby New Year (Donald) This was our 2nd NYE cruise, the first being New Years 2011 both have been fantastic , would do one again in the future, the best party one can go to on NYE.

OK, perhaps it's kind of mean to refer to the musician as washed up, but, he kind of is. Two years ago we had Susan Egan on the NYE cruise,who has a strong Disney connection, and she was terrific. I don't think Mark Wills has released an album in nearly 10 years, and I think he is in his early 40's, so it's not like he's super old.

I agree with others that the NYE deck party entertainment was terrific and the weather cooperated! I was sort of surprised Mark Wills only sang auld lang syne at the deck party, but I'm not complaining.

 

[lucky1]

This thread makes me even more excited for our NYE Wonder cruise this year. The Wonder itinerary has us on castaway cay on NYE followed by sea days on 1st and 2nd.

Ohh having a sea day after NYE sounds fantastic. It was kind of Rough waking up for the Castaway Key 5K and my daughter's teen excursion the next morning. You will have a blast! I am jealous

 

[jlynch924]

We were on a NYE cruise several years ago and it was fantastic! Very festive, great deck party, lots of fun. You will have a blast!

 

[Jkpark]

We were on the Fantasy when 2015 became 2016 and it was by far the best New Years for a family. We were on Castaway on the 1st - and started the year off with the 5K. The Dream and Magic came by that day which was very cool. Then we spent the 2nd once we were off the ship and the 3rd until our flight home in the parks. We used FP+ wisely and did the things that were most important to the kids. The parks weren't Christmas level crowds as I think many people were flying home that Saturday or Sunday morning.

This year we are sailing on the Magic out of Miami for New Years, get back on the 2nd and will do a few days in the parks. Our schools in AZ don't start until the following Monday so I think we have an advantage over families with kids back in school the 2nd or 3rd. Here is hoping anyway!