festus105
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2007
- Messages
- 88
With a heavy heart I give my trip report...(it's heavy because our cruise is over.) but what a great trip it was. This was our first DCL cruise and only the second cruise personally. We took our 3 daughters DD6, DD4, DD3. They had a blast. I read all the hints and tips from this board and many were put to good use...
Saturday... arrived in Cocoa Beach around 2pm. We stayed at the Quality Inn and Suites. Pro's - Good price, nice hotel room (all are 2 room suites - big bedroom and a living area with a pull out couch). Nice and clean. Cons - no real lobby to speak of, no real pool - what they did have was closed, only one elevator. It's not a huge hotel but still one elevator? They will arrange shuttle service for you which I believe is them giving you a voucher to catch either the Radisson's or Marriot's shuttle's. We didn't utilize it so I'm not sure about this.
Sunday - went to the early service at the First United Methodist Church of Cocoa Beach - literally one block down from the Quality Inn and Suites. They have an 8:20am service which was perfect. It gave us plenty of time to get to the port. We arrived at the port at 10:30am... thirty minutes later than I wanted to but I was waiting on my father-in-law. We still received a number 5 boarding pass. Check-in was a breeze. The on-line check-in makes it so easy. Around 11:20am Mickey appeared and after our girls had their picture made with him it wasn't long before the boarding began. Our number was called before 12noon. Needless to say we were on board by 12:15pm. We immediately headed to the pool. We literally had it to ourselves for the first 30 minutes. It was wonderful. Our girls were the first in and the first down the water slide... thanks to the tip read here on the dis-board! We had lunch by the pool and by 1:30pm the girls were ready to head to the stateroom. It was a perfect start to an awesome vacation.
General Impressions from the rest of the trip and tips we utilized...
Cabin- We stayed in 7602... and my father-in-law and his wife in 7600 (connecting rooms) Pros - Nice Cat. 5 room. We loved our location - aft / starboard side - you can see the fireworks from your veranda, you're usually facing Castaway Cay... It was a quiet hall in spite of the fact that we were right around the corner from the aft stairs and elevator. Very convenient to get up to the drink station, buffet, and Mickey pool. Conrad was our host - very helpful, good towel animals, but nothing exceptional. He did his job and did it well - as expected. Con - the only negative experience with our room was the "creaking" sound you could hear when the ship was underway. It really sounded like an old wooden ship. I don't know if this is heard in other cabins but it we heard it every night... it didn't disturb us but it was enough to annoy us from time to time. Also bring an extension cord it really does come in handy especially if you're plugging in battery chargers and curling irons like we did.
Food - some of it was great, some average. Breakfasts and lunches were average... good but average. Dinner was usually very good, although one crab dish was a little fishy. We didn't eat at Palo's. Our servers were George from India and George from Romania. George from India was very good, he was friendly and paid special attention to our girls. He satisfied every request. He didn't entertain us but he did his job well. George from Romania (the asst. server) had only 3 weeks under his belt in this position. Unfortunately it showed from time to time (forgetting who order what drink etc.) Still he was very likable and we enjoyed him and the other George.
Entertainment - We attended the nightly "show" in the theater each night except Sunday. We skipped Rich Purpura (sp?) What we did see was wonderful. Truly Broadway caliber shows. Kids and Adults alike enjoyed them. I wouldn't miss them. Seating begins 30 minutes before each show. They had an extra 2pm show on Wed. for "Disney Dreams".
Nassau - it is what it is... if you like shopping then go for it. There's plenty. With our three kids we simply took a carriage ride. Make sure to haggle. You can get some great deals. We didn't do any shore excursions on Nassau or Castaway Cay.
Castaway Cay - beautiful island, wonderful beach. In January the water was a little cold (I'm from NC) but not too cold to swim in once you got used to it. We didn't sign up for any excursions but they were still spaces available for just about everything during the day. I asked about several on site and all had space available.
The weather from the entire trip was perfect. High's in the upper 70's and low 80's, 60's at night. I would bring a light sweater for the evenings. It can also be rather windy too.
Character experiences... our girls enjoyed this the most. They met and had pictures with all that were on board. As far as princesses... there was Cinderella, Belle, and Ariel available for pictures and autographs. The others were only seen in the shows. Peter Pan and Wendy were present along with the usual cast of characters. The best character by far was Alice in Wonderland. She was superb! She would randomly appear and invite children to help her look for the white rabbit. She took our 3 girls down to the Disney Theater area doing this. It was truly a magical moment because there was no one in this area of the ship at the time... so it was just Alice and our girls off alone. I'll post pics when we get them uploaded.
Children's program.... excellent. Our girls loved it. We had no problem getting our youngest into the 3 to 5 year old group even though she wasn't turning until Jan. 12. They even let our oldest who is six stay with her younger sisters. We usually took them to the club when special guests were scheduled. Peter Pan came one day, Wendy another, Mickey too. Each character led the children in an activity. And yes do the graduation. The children get t-shirts and a mortar board. (If your child misses it they can still get a T-shirt.)
Other stuff... we took a framed photo matte and dropped it off by Guest Services on Sunday. They had all the characters sign it and it was returned to our room on Wednesday night.
Bring cash on board with you for your tips, make sure to bring enough 5's and 10's as well... this way you don't have to wait in line at Guest Services for change or cash. It's so much more personal to hand your host or server the envelop in person.
Pool times... best on Sunday afternoon and day in port. Not very crowded at all.
Pirate Party - we tried but after about 5 minutes our girls were just too tired. 9:45pm is late, especially after a big day, even with afternoon naps.
Current movies... Enchanted, National Treasure 2, Ratatouille
Door Magnets and decorations... I saw very little. I didn't go down every hallway but I didn't see very much at all. It sort of made ours all the more special.
Art Auction... I'm not really into this so I can't really comment. What I did see... what I call Disney character "pop art". I'm sure it's from a well known Disney artist but not my style. I only saw a few animation cells. No other Disney related art. Only sport theme item was some Muhammad Ali signed photos and some "trunks" he wore. Nice but I would've like more variety.
I'm sure there's more but after traveling 12 hours today back to NC I'm beat! <G>
I do look forward to doing a DCL again in the future!
Ken
Saturday... arrived in Cocoa Beach around 2pm. We stayed at the Quality Inn and Suites. Pro's - Good price, nice hotel room (all are 2 room suites - big bedroom and a living area with a pull out couch). Nice and clean. Cons - no real lobby to speak of, no real pool - what they did have was closed, only one elevator. It's not a huge hotel but still one elevator? They will arrange shuttle service for you which I believe is them giving you a voucher to catch either the Radisson's or Marriot's shuttle's. We didn't utilize it so I'm not sure about this.
Sunday - went to the early service at the First United Methodist Church of Cocoa Beach - literally one block down from the Quality Inn and Suites. They have an 8:20am service which was perfect. It gave us plenty of time to get to the port. We arrived at the port at 10:30am... thirty minutes later than I wanted to but I was waiting on my father-in-law. We still received a number 5 boarding pass. Check-in was a breeze. The on-line check-in makes it so easy. Around 11:20am Mickey appeared and after our girls had their picture made with him it wasn't long before the boarding began. Our number was called before 12noon. Needless to say we were on board by 12:15pm. We immediately headed to the pool. We literally had it to ourselves for the first 30 minutes. It was wonderful. Our girls were the first in and the first down the water slide... thanks to the tip read here on the dis-board! We had lunch by the pool and by 1:30pm the girls were ready to head to the stateroom. It was a perfect start to an awesome vacation.
General Impressions from the rest of the trip and tips we utilized...
Cabin- We stayed in 7602... and my father-in-law and his wife in 7600 (connecting rooms) Pros - Nice Cat. 5 room. We loved our location - aft / starboard side - you can see the fireworks from your veranda, you're usually facing Castaway Cay... It was a quiet hall in spite of the fact that we were right around the corner from the aft stairs and elevator. Very convenient to get up to the drink station, buffet, and Mickey pool. Conrad was our host - very helpful, good towel animals, but nothing exceptional. He did his job and did it well - as expected. Con - the only negative experience with our room was the "creaking" sound you could hear when the ship was underway. It really sounded like an old wooden ship. I don't know if this is heard in other cabins but it we heard it every night... it didn't disturb us but it was enough to annoy us from time to time. Also bring an extension cord it really does come in handy especially if you're plugging in battery chargers and curling irons like we did.
Food - some of it was great, some average. Breakfasts and lunches were average... good but average. Dinner was usually very good, although one crab dish was a little fishy. We didn't eat at Palo's. Our servers were George from India and George from Romania. George from India was very good, he was friendly and paid special attention to our girls. He satisfied every request. He didn't entertain us but he did his job well. George from Romania (the asst. server) had only 3 weeks under his belt in this position. Unfortunately it showed from time to time (forgetting who order what drink etc.) Still he was very likable and we enjoyed him and the other George.
Entertainment - We attended the nightly "show" in the theater each night except Sunday. We skipped Rich Purpura (sp?) What we did see was wonderful. Truly Broadway caliber shows. Kids and Adults alike enjoyed them. I wouldn't miss them. Seating begins 30 minutes before each show. They had an extra 2pm show on Wed. for "Disney Dreams".
Nassau - it is what it is... if you like shopping then go for it. There's plenty. With our three kids we simply took a carriage ride. Make sure to haggle. You can get some great deals. We didn't do any shore excursions on Nassau or Castaway Cay.
Castaway Cay - beautiful island, wonderful beach. In January the water was a little cold (I'm from NC) but not too cold to swim in once you got used to it. We didn't sign up for any excursions but they were still spaces available for just about everything during the day. I asked about several on site and all had space available.
The weather from the entire trip was perfect. High's in the upper 70's and low 80's, 60's at night. I would bring a light sweater for the evenings. It can also be rather windy too.
Character experiences... our girls enjoyed this the most. They met and had pictures with all that were on board. As far as princesses... there was Cinderella, Belle, and Ariel available for pictures and autographs. The others were only seen in the shows. Peter Pan and Wendy were present along with the usual cast of characters. The best character by far was Alice in Wonderland. She was superb! She would randomly appear and invite children to help her look for the white rabbit. She took our 3 girls down to the Disney Theater area doing this. It was truly a magical moment because there was no one in this area of the ship at the time... so it was just Alice and our girls off alone. I'll post pics when we get them uploaded.
Children's program.... excellent. Our girls loved it. We had no problem getting our youngest into the 3 to 5 year old group even though she wasn't turning until Jan. 12. They even let our oldest who is six stay with her younger sisters. We usually took them to the club when special guests were scheduled. Peter Pan came one day, Wendy another, Mickey too. Each character led the children in an activity. And yes do the graduation. The children get t-shirts and a mortar board. (If your child misses it they can still get a T-shirt.)
Other stuff... we took a framed photo matte and dropped it off by Guest Services on Sunday. They had all the characters sign it and it was returned to our room on Wednesday night.
Bring cash on board with you for your tips, make sure to bring enough 5's and 10's as well... this way you don't have to wait in line at Guest Services for change or cash. It's so much more personal to hand your host or server the envelop in person.
Pool times... best on Sunday afternoon and day in port. Not very crowded at all.
Pirate Party - we tried but after about 5 minutes our girls were just too tired. 9:45pm is late, especially after a big day, even with afternoon naps.
Current movies... Enchanted, National Treasure 2, Ratatouille
Door Magnets and decorations... I saw very little. I didn't go down every hallway but I didn't see very much at all. It sort of made ours all the more special.
Art Auction... I'm not really into this so I can't really comment. What I did see... what I call Disney character "pop art". I'm sure it's from a well known Disney artist but not my style. I only saw a few animation cells. No other Disney related art. Only sport theme item was some Muhammad Ali signed photos and some "trunks" he wore. Nice but I would've like more variety.
I'm sure there's more but after traveling 12 hours today back to NC I'm beat! <G>
I do look forward to doing a DCL again in the future!
Ken
