January 8, 2011 - 7 Night Western Caribbean Sailing

[WarrFamily5]

Our Head server Roberto from the Phillipines went above and beyond and played with my daughter every night and every time we walked in , left or he saw her in passing or at Topsiders etc. She would stop crying and perk up every time she saw him. Our server Sompone (probably spelled wrong) we called him Sam was awesome and very accommodating as always. Great with the kids and kept us all well cared for. His assistant I Dewa might as well of not been there. He forgot our drinks a lot, put the wrong drinks on ours and our table mates checks often. didn't clear crumbs or plates as fast as I remember the other servers doing so there was always a pile of plates around us.Was kind of a zombie and didn't know how to react to children at all. The last day he even forgot my dd's milk as she screamed her head off half way through breakfast.
All in all though a good trip and I would do it all over again if I had the money.

Our only issue was with the asistant Server, Dewa, also. Sam (the Server) was excellent and we think he had said that this was Dewa's first month of working on the ship so I guess he is still learning the ropes.

We totally loved the Cruise and the kids (DD9, DS6 and DS4) loved the Clubs. To the point where they did not want to leave at 10:00, 11:00 and 11:30 pm when we would go pick them up. Our last Cruise DS6 was 18 mos and we were not able to utilize the clubs and this Cruise we had so much more time for me and DW!! This vacation is nothing like a DisneyWorld Park vacation as the kids were able to do there own thing and we got to sample Tequila, got to tastings (DW is allergic to fin fish and the Appetizer was Tuna and the Entree was Salmon?!?) go to the Clubs, play BINGO, relax out on the deck. . .!!

The kids loved the Turtle Farm and Dolphin excursion in Grand Cayman and we would highly recommend it!!

We also did the Mayan Ruins in Cozumel and felt the same way about the Stop & Shop at the stores, but this is how they make their living!! Glad to be an AMERICAN!!

This was our first time participating in the FE exchange and the kids had a blast!! Thanks for all the gifts!

But overall we loved our trip and are already looking ahead to our next Cruise as DW has decided that she could get use to this?!?

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

A lot of FE participants put a ton of effort into their gifts! Thank you so much for all you did, our children truly looked forward to checking out the FE's every time we returned back to the room!

Warr, DW says she had a tonne of fun at the Tequila tasting but it was no where near as fun as the Beer, and Margarita tastings we did on the Wonder. My friend Mond and myself went to the Cognac tasting. It was very informative but lacked a lot of the fun stuff from the previously mentioned tastings.

I am still going through the photos and will start posting soon! So far I've only gotten through to watching the Dream leave port...

 

[Sir William]

...DW says she had a tonne of fun at the Tequila tasting but it was no where near as fun as the Beer, and Margarita tastings we did on the Wonder. My friend Mond and myself went to the Cognac tasting. It was very informative but lacked a lot of the fun stuff from the previously mentioned tastings...

We did two wine tastings (regular and sommelier) and I did a whisky tasting. We really liked the wine tastings. We do wine tastings here at home and these were not only well done but the wines were very good.

I was a bit disappointed with the whisky tasting as I was familiar with all the whiskeys we tasted, though I did enjoy having a personal tasting. I signed up for a tasting on the first night but the bartender didn't know anything about a tasting and spent quite a bit of time getting someone to come do it. Two Aussies also signed up but got tired of waiting and left so it was just me when the "guide" finally arrived. When we finished the tasting he asked me what I liked best and I said the single-malt (there was only one offered), so he poured me another measure then added the contents from the two glasses that would have been sampled by the Aussies, so I had a good wee dram of Glenfiddich before heading off to bed.

DW had signed up for a margharita tasting but then realized she was going to have mohitos at brunch, a wine tasting, and then the margharita tasting - all right in a row. Probably a good move on her part...

 

[scrappinsandie]

We all loved the Fish Extender Gifts too!

Castaway Cay was great Eli and I swam all day (Although a CM did come up to us and ask if we were Australian, I said yes, and she said its always the Aussies who swim on the cold days!) The oceans here are cold all year round so it felt nice and warm to us!

We did have a small emergency - at first both kids and I were snorkelling and I was leaving them pretty much alone. Both are excellent swimmers and the floatation devices would have made it hard for anyone to go under the water anyway. At one stage I looked up and couldn't see John. I swam to each life guard looking for him and then got out and returned to our chairs and Peter was gone as well. An elderly lady told me that there had been a problem and they had gone to first aid. Turns out John had seen some pretty blue lights in teh water and swam through them to get a better look - sea lice! He had an allergic reaction and was wrapped in hot towels and rushed back to the ship to be placed in the hot tub to kill the lice. After an hour ior so he was all good again but refused to swim.

The water slides were fun and once you got right out near the sea wall you could swim amongst scores of fish. We thought lunch on the island was awesome.

We enjoyed all our meals heaps and loved our servers. On the last night we had dinner in Palo and it was delicious but very rushed. As soon as one course was removed another was added - we were out in just under an hour - that was not what I had thought it would be like.

Eloise had the best time in the Vibe and even though we missed the meet (sorry) she ended up becoming friends with Laura's daughter!

We were not that impressed with the some of the ports. Key west was ok, but if we went to Grand Cayman again we would just stay on the ship and the rain probably hampered our enjoyment of Tulum. Even with the umbrellas they gave us we were soaked! The ferry ride to the mainland was bad - the ferry ride back was terrifying. We did not get sick at all but the boat did not feel safe in any shape or form.

The 24 hours after Cozumel were not good for my husband on teh ship - he spent most of it lying down. I enjoyed the rocking but by two days after Disembarkment I was still rocking and over it. I was in the pre show at Tower of Terror on teh Sunday and heard someone say: "The room is about to drop - look that lady is swaying!"

I think the best part of the cruise was spending time alone together because our children were so occupied! We are already thinking of doing another one but maybe a Med one. If the rumours I am hearing aboua 2013/14 repositioning cruise to Australia are true we would also do that one!

Sandie

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

View of our first sunset just leaving Port Canaveral

 

[ddpaints]

view of our first sunset just leaving port canaveral

beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

Here are some pics from the meet. I can't remember everyones name sorry!

 

[TiggerAllie]

I wanted to post a pic of how cute our photo frame turned out with the character signatures:
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Only problem is that the photo hole is 5x7 and Shutters only sells 6x8, so we have to get the photo resized.

We got this cute ornament on the ship, and when we took it to Magic Kingdom to get it personalized, the cast members thought it was so cool because they had never seen it before. You can see what an extra great job they did!

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

I love the ornament! The Frame turned out really well as well! That is impressive!

 

[Sir William]

I wanted to post a pic of how cute our photo frame turned out with the character signatures:
[

Only problem is that the photo hole is 5x7 and Shutters only sells 6x8, so we have to get the photo resized.

We got this cute ornament on the ship, and when we took it to Magic Kingdom to get it personalized, the cast members thought it was so cool because they had never seen it before. You can see what an extra great job they did!

Very nice! I tried to talk DW into an ornament but she wasn't interested.

However, I snuck a Tinkerbell tote bag aboard with me and had it signed by some of the characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Pluto). It was meant for her birthday, which isn't until next week, but our steward delivered it the last night while she was in the cabin so I just gave it to her then. She was totally surprised as she didn't even know about getting autographed items.

 

[ddpaints]

Very nice! I tried to talk DW into an ornament but she wasn't interested.

However, I snuck a Tinkerbell tote bag aboard with me and had it signed by some of the characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Pluto). It was meant for her birthday, which isn't until next week, but our steward delivered it the last night while she was in the cabin so I just gave it to her then. She was totally surprised as she didn't even know about getting autographed items.

Awe how sweet Bill. I got a couple of cloth backpacks at Michale's and ironed on the kid's names and favorite characters and sent them to be signed. It was a hit on the pre school scene when my DS had show and tell.

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

Anyone recognise this guy? And BTW this is the Original Fred the Goat...

 

[cmclaura]

How nice that we're all still talking here and on Facebook! DCL certainly makes friends for life!

TiggerAllie, I love how the mat turned out -- and good to know to prepare for a 6x8 photo, which I would normally forget! I may have to try this next cruise; what kind of markers, if any, did you leave with Guest Relations or do they handle that bit? The ornament is lovely; I'd be so afraid it would break in my luggage I'd probably never do it, but what a great idea to have it personalized.

Scrappinsandie -- Keighley misses Eloise! Are you home now? I know the girls exchanged info so I'm sure they'll be chatting up a storm. Hmmmm, a repo to Oz.....that's one we'd be VERY interested in doing. Here's a question -- did most Americans say "Ozzie" or "Aussssssie"? In England we always used the former but here it's always been the latter. I'm sure the former is the correct....I've watched Neighbors and Home & Away, LOL!

DDpaints -- what kind of markers did you use to have the tote bags signed? Great idea. Our next cruise is the New Year's Eve and I wanted to do something special as a memento.

Daisy14sDH -- Thanks for posting the photos! Can you send me copies for my scrapbook? I didn't even think of taking any pics at the Meet, boo hoo. My email is CMCLaura@aol.com.

Thanks!

 

[Sir William]

DDpaints -- what kind of markers did you use to have the tote bags signed? Great idea. Our next cruise is the New Year's Eve and I wanted to do something special as a memento.

Thanks!

For Eileen's tote, I provided a purple fabric marker (as she likes purple). The bag has a canvas like texture and the purple showed up well against the pink bag. So far I've detected no fading or smudging.

I strongly suspect the bag will be going on our next Disney cruise!

 

[ddpaints]

DDpaints -- what kind of markers did you use to have the tote bags signed? Great idea. Our next cruise is the New Year's Eve and I wanted to do something special as a memento.

Thanks!

I just used Sharpies. I bought a batch of 12 and put 6 in each bag. They ended up using all 12 on each bag. I would suggest fabric markers though if it's something you might be washing or using a lot. The fabric markers were a little too much for my budget after doing all the FE's. I figured I would probably never let the kids use the bags anyway. They will just be decorations.

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

Key West sunset

 

[TiggerAllie]

Laura-- I didn't bring any markers for the photo mat-- Those are just the ones that the characters used themselves. They seem to be medium-size sharpies, and you could ask them to just do it in one color if you want. You can also specify which characters you want (or want to skip). I also gave them a bag of jolly ranchers with the mat for the CMs.

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

Buehler.... Buehler....?

 

[DisneyGyrl]

Anyone?.....................................Anyone?..................................

 

[ddpaints]