Chuckaluck
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2014
- Messages
- 12
Ok, first things first I like Disney, I really do but I dont LOOOOVVVEEE Disney like many of the posts Ive seen. I booked Disney cruise because I knew it would be kid friendly and Ive always wanted to do it, but it wasnt out of some deep love of the mouse
just a strong like.
This was our first real family vacation. I chose this itinerary after watching a really neat program on Stingray City in Grand Cayman with the kids. The look of wonder and awe on their faces sealed the deal. After some research we discovered the Western Caribbean, Itinerary C was the answer for us. A cruise seemed like the perfect match for our 3 kids ages 14, 7 and 8 months. We booked a Family Oceanview Veranda room 4a in March for our October 11, 2014 cruise.
I live in Alaska so the travel from here to Florida is an exercise in torture add kids to the mix and you might as well buy yourself an auto eye-stabbing machine. We didnt want the kids to miss too much school so we only planned one day in Orlando on each side of the trip. 20 hours of travel down on Thursday, Friday to recover and Saturday to hit the cruise. We decided to stay at Cabana Beach Resort and hit Universal Studios parks on Friday for our recovery day (what can I say we suck at recovering). Everyone really enjoyed the day though and the hotel was great. On the return we stayed at the Airport Hyatt and that was a blast. I was really happy with both locations.
Now the cruise I dont want to go into excruciating detail but heres an overview
Food/drinks:
MDRs Food was pretty good, not horrible but I didnt write a letter home to the family about it. The servers were fantastic . We had Henry and Phenom for late dining and they were great
Cabanas If you really enjoy fighting with other people to get to food you will love this place. Buffets are not my cup of tea so Im probably not a good reviewer. The food was ok
Remys we did Brunch and Dinner both DH and I gave a win to the Brunch, it was INCREDIBLE! The dinner was amazing too. Olivier took amazing care of us and it was truly a lifetime experience.
Maybe Im a booze hound but these folks cannot make a drink for nothing. Stick with the beer, wine or scotch but leave the mixed drinks for the kiddies. With only one exception (see below!)
Kids Club/Nursery/Teen Club:
Kids Club was a hit for my 7 year old she asked to go every single night and many days. My best advice to you let them go
The nursery was fantastic. I never felt a moment of doubt when leaving my little one here. I made reservations in advance and had to switch some around after we got on the ship and they were great. Every time we came by he was sleeping or happy and the kids seemed to have a good time. It cracked us up when we went to pick him up he would have a sticker on his back with his name and pick up time.
Teen Clubs Meh they didnt do much for my 14 year old not much at all.
Ports:
Cozumel stay on the ship. The merchants were pushy and the atmosphere was just kind of scuzzy. Use this time to enjoy the pool deck!
Grand Caymen our favorite, the big kids and dad did Stingray City and snorkeling through DCL port adventures and I just did a walk through town with the little one. We all LOVED it!
Falmouth Our family adventure was High Tea at the Hope Estate, I chose this because we could all participate. It was super hot, the food was ok and the tour was alright. It was a nice view of the island. I did not particularly like this port.
Castaway Cay Ok I will say it I thought the adulation everyone has for this place was people high on the Disney brand kool aid. I.was.wrong! This place is amazing, the beach is perfect, we didnt make it past the first one and we had a BLAST! The little one stayed on the beach for half the day then he went to the nursery so we could snorkel with the older kids. The boys did parasailing and loved it. And Konk Coolers are the bomb diggity dawg! Get an extra shot of rum for that bad boy and you are cookin with fire!
Miscellaneous:
Bibbiddy Bobitty Boutique This was really cool, my suggestion is to get a dress from Etsy so your little one doesnt look like every other girl on the ship and go for the crown package. The fairy godmother in training was a hoot and so nice!
Royal Court Tea - $270 for tea, let me repeat, $270 flipping dollars for TEA! But the look on her face when she realized what it was and who she was going to meet was amazing. The invite ahead of time was awesome and the attention from the princesses was divine. Mine was a smidge old for this (but she still enjoyed it) 5 years old would be perfect!
Bingo I would say this was too expensive and a little silly except we WON! Both times we played. First time $190 and we scored a gift bag and second time $263 so as of this writing Bingo was really great!
Pool deck The pools are too small, the deck is too crowded and forget about any of the events like Pirate night or Sail Away the population on this ship is greater than the town I am from too many people for us. The splash zone was neat and sparsely populated.
Aquaduck AMAZEBALLZ really a hoot. Do it as much as you can.
The shows We went to Aladdin and Believe they were both really good. Go to the shows its a good time! The audience effects were really cool! We really thought it was snowing on us for a few until the kids tried to catch the soap with their tongues hahaha!
FE Did it, loved it, probably wont do it again. Too much stuff! But Im glad we participated.
So the final question would we recommend this to a friend? Definitely! This was our first cruise, I dont anticipate doing another one soon but I could totally see doing it again in 4 or 5 years. It was a great time and I dont regret a thing.
Got questions? Let me know!
This was our first real family vacation. I chose this itinerary after watching a really neat program on Stingray City in Grand Cayman with the kids. The look of wonder and awe on their faces sealed the deal. After some research we discovered the Western Caribbean, Itinerary C was the answer for us. A cruise seemed like the perfect match for our 3 kids ages 14, 7 and 8 months. We booked a Family Oceanview Veranda room 4a in March for our October 11, 2014 cruise.
I live in Alaska so the travel from here to Florida is an exercise in torture add kids to the mix and you might as well buy yourself an auto eye-stabbing machine. We didnt want the kids to miss too much school so we only planned one day in Orlando on each side of the trip. 20 hours of travel down on Thursday, Friday to recover and Saturday to hit the cruise. We decided to stay at Cabana Beach Resort and hit Universal Studios parks on Friday for our recovery day (what can I say we suck at recovering). Everyone really enjoyed the day though and the hotel was great. On the return we stayed at the Airport Hyatt and that was a blast. I was really happy with both locations.
Now the cruise I dont want to go into excruciating detail but heres an overview
Food/drinks:
MDRs Food was pretty good, not horrible but I didnt write a letter home to the family about it. The servers were fantastic . We had Henry and Phenom for late dining and they were great
Cabanas If you really enjoy fighting with other people to get to food you will love this place. Buffets are not my cup of tea so Im probably not a good reviewer. The food was ok
Remys we did Brunch and Dinner both DH and I gave a win to the Brunch, it was INCREDIBLE! The dinner was amazing too. Olivier took amazing care of us and it was truly a lifetime experience.
Maybe Im a booze hound but these folks cannot make a drink for nothing. Stick with the beer, wine or scotch but leave the mixed drinks for the kiddies. With only one exception (see below!)
Kids Club/Nursery/Teen Club:
Kids Club was a hit for my 7 year old she asked to go every single night and many days. My best advice to you let them go
The nursery was fantastic. I never felt a moment of doubt when leaving my little one here. I made reservations in advance and had to switch some around after we got on the ship and they were great. Every time we came by he was sleeping or happy and the kids seemed to have a good time. It cracked us up when we went to pick him up he would have a sticker on his back with his name and pick up time.
Teen Clubs Meh they didnt do much for my 14 year old not much at all.
Ports:
Cozumel stay on the ship. The merchants were pushy and the atmosphere was just kind of scuzzy. Use this time to enjoy the pool deck!
Grand Caymen our favorite, the big kids and dad did Stingray City and snorkeling through DCL port adventures and I just did a walk through town with the little one. We all LOVED it!
Falmouth Our family adventure was High Tea at the Hope Estate, I chose this because we could all participate. It was super hot, the food was ok and the tour was alright. It was a nice view of the island. I did not particularly like this port.
Castaway Cay Ok I will say it I thought the adulation everyone has for this place was people high on the Disney brand kool aid. I.was.wrong! This place is amazing, the beach is perfect, we didnt make it past the first one and we had a BLAST! The little one stayed on the beach for half the day then he went to the nursery so we could snorkel with the older kids. The boys did parasailing and loved it. And Konk Coolers are the bomb diggity dawg! Get an extra shot of rum for that bad boy and you are cookin with fire!
Miscellaneous:
Bibbiddy Bobitty Boutique This was really cool, my suggestion is to get a dress from Etsy so your little one doesnt look like every other girl on the ship and go for the crown package. The fairy godmother in training was a hoot and so nice!
Royal Court Tea - $270 for tea, let me repeat, $270 flipping dollars for TEA! But the look on her face when she realized what it was and who she was going to meet was amazing. The invite ahead of time was awesome and the attention from the princesses was divine. Mine was a smidge old for this (but she still enjoyed it) 5 years old would be perfect!
Bingo I would say this was too expensive and a little silly except we WON! Both times we played. First time $190 and we scored a gift bag and second time $263 so as of this writing Bingo was really great!
Pool deck The pools are too small, the deck is too crowded and forget about any of the events like Pirate night or Sail Away the population on this ship is greater than the town I am from too many people for us. The splash zone was neat and sparsely populated.
Aquaduck AMAZEBALLZ really a hoot. Do it as much as you can.
The shows We went to Aladdin and Believe they were both really good. Go to the shows its a good time! The audience effects were really cool! We really thought it was snowing on us for a few until the kids tried to catch the soap with their tongues hahaha!
FE Did it, loved it, probably wont do it again. Too much stuff! But Im glad we participated.
So the final question would we recommend this to a friend? Definitely! This was our first cruise, I dont anticipate doing another one soon but I could totally see doing it again in 4 or 5 years. It was a great time and I dont regret a thing.
Got questions? Let me know!
