June 5th "Magical Cruise"

[misty9960]

Cast of Characters: Myself, DH, DS (10), & DD (7) -Cabin 7520
Mother - in-Law & her twin sister- Cabin 7522


First off let me begin by saying that we had an amazing time. This was our first cruise so I didn't know what to expect but, after months of planning and anticipation it turned out to be all that I thought it would be and more. That being said I will do my best to put our vacation experience into words.

Our flight left Birmingham at 7:15 a.m. DH informed me we would need to leave our house around 5:00 a.m. to get to the airport in plenty of time. This would mean that I would need to get up at about 3:30 a.m. It was now 9:00 p.m. and I am still doing laundry and ironing. Suitcases are out but, their is nothing in them and as you can imagine the kids are WILD with excitement. Needless to say, I did not go to sleep that night.

Arrived at the airport without any real problems except for the fact that it didn't dawn on me while I was packing ALL of our stuff that it would be DH and I that would have to tote ALL this luggage in throught the airport to the baggage area. We had 3 suitcases, 2 hanging bags, 2 duffle bags plus 2 carry on bags. What a sight we must have been. Who would have ever guessed that we were only going on a 7 day trip??? After changing planes in Charlotte we arrived in Orlando at about 1:30.

Then we found the Disney rep and were loaded onto the shuttle bus headed for the Disney Cruise terminal. We arrived about 2:30. The terminal was pretty much emptied out by then so I didn't take us any time to check in. By the time we got on board Parrot Cay was no longer serving lunch. So we went up to Topsiders for a quick snack as it was about to close at 3:00. So lunch was pretty rushed. I had read so much about how great the food was on the buffett but, didn't find this to be the case. The shrimp was good but, didn't really like anything else except for the cookies.

Then it was off to see our cabin. My first impression was that it seemed smaller than it had appeared in pictures but, very quaint. Then it was off to the lifeboat drill. I found this to be less painful than I had imagined it. Then we went to sign the kids up for the Oceaneers Clubs and to get Palo reservations. We were able to get a reservation for dinner & brunch without any problems. Then it was off to the SailAway Party. It was moved indoors due to the rain. It was still a lot of fun. Then we explored the ship until it was time for the Welcome Aboard Show.

After the show we had late dinner seating in Lumiere's for the first evening. Our servers were Glenn & Carlos. Very nice and great with the kids. Enjoyed the magic tricks. I wish I could remember what we all had for dinner that night but, I must say that overall we were disappointed in the food. There wasn't a lot of variety. Many nights it was cold and it just didn't taste fresh.

Then as you can imagine everyone was exhausted so it was time to turn in for our first night at sea.

 

[misty9960]

Sunday - Key West

We had breakfast at Topsiders. Breakfast was probably the best meals we had. Then we decided to stay on the ship and enjoy the pools since most of the people were getting off the ship. Very nice not crowded at all. Had pizza from Pinocchios's for lunch. Kids enjoyed going down the Mickey slide. No line. Then we headed to the room to get ready for dinner. Decided to skip the Who Wants to be a Musketeer show tonight and go into Key West and do a little shopping. Our DS chose to go to the kids club and skip Key West. DD wanted to go with us. Very interesting place. It is very pretty but, we saw a lot of weird people doing all kind of crazy things. We did a little shopping and decided to go back on board. Dinner was Animator's Palate. Excellent show even though the food wasn't all that great. Then we decided to go back to our room and order our nightly ritual of cookies and milk. Delicious! Then we sat out on our balcony watching all the crazy fools running back at 12:00 hoping not to miss the ship. Their were even some that came back at 12:10. Pretty entertaining! Then it was once again off to bed and get rested up for our first official day at sea!

 

[traycie2201]

Thanks for posting, can't wait for the rest of your report, what did you find dissapointing about the food ? Did you do any excursions and do you recommend any don't miss / don't bother things ?

 

[kathymike]

Thanks for writing...I was starting to get trip report withdraw...very excited to see a new report posted!

 

[Ker-Bear]

Can you tell me what about the food made it bad? My hubby is a very picky eater and he gets it from his dad. With both of them on the cruise I was wondering what I could expect.

Thanks for starting your trip report. I love to see everyone's experience

 

[misty9960]

Tuesday - Day at sea

We had our character breakfast at Parrot Cay. The breakfast was good. I especially liked the mickey waffles. We got lost of great pictures. They move the characters pretty quick which is understandable considering all of the people, They were really good about seeing that each character makes each table for photo opportunities. Then we decided to head out to the pool to soak up some sun rays. The weather was beautiful. We couldn't find a lounge chair right by the Goofy pool so we went up to deck 1o which overlooks the pool and found a nice place there. My DH stayed there while I went with our DD to the Goofy Pool. It was so crowded I didn't feel safe with her swimming there by herself. So I sat on the edge of the pool watching her. This worked out well as I was able to grab a couple of lounge chairs by the Goffy pool as soon as they became available. We spent all afternoon at the pool. There were some cute games out by the pool for the kids and the characters came out and danced. Then they had a ice carving. It was very interesting. DH really like that. Then we went back to the room to get ready for the show. I believe it was Golden Mickeys. The show was excellent! After the show DS wanted to go to the kids club and we took DD to get some pictures made with the charaters. She loved going to the atrium each night to see what characters she would find. Dinner was at Parrot Cay. This was my favorite restaurant. I had some kind of seafood dish which was good. They had banana bread which was delicious. DD had ordered strawberry shortcake the night before for dessert and went to order it again until I told her that they didn't have it tonight. And much to her surprise our waiter performed some magic and brought her strawberry shortcake. How kind was that?!! After dinner we went back to our room. It had been a great day at sea!

 

[misty9960]

Previous post should have said Monday not Tuesday. SORRY!

 

[misty9960]

Tuesday - Grand Cayman

We had breakfast at Parrot Cay again. Enjoyed the ham & cheese croissant. They also will make omelet's for you. DH liked these. Then we decided to get off the ship in Grand Cayman. It was beautiful. We didn't have an excursion booked but, decided to do some shopping. Then we took a taxi to the beach. I believe it was 7 mile beach. Not too crowded. The water was so clear and pretty. Spent a couple of hours there then decided to get some lunch before heading back to the ship. The show tonight was Hercules. It also was fantastic. Dinner was at Lumiere's. This was our least favorite restaurant. I had the lobster bisque soup and I did not care for it at all. Had steak for dinner. It was very tough. Had some kind of potatoes with it and they weren't very good either. Had apple tart for dessert. It was ok. DD & I decided to go see confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen after dinner. It was good. Then back to the room for another night at sea.

 

[misty9960]

Wednesday - Cozumel

We had breakfast at Parrot Cay again. Then we went to the arcade for a little while. We had booked the Dolphin Discovery Excursion for 1:00. This was excellent. We got some great photos and a video. The park where this is is beautiful. My only regret is that I wish we could have booked it earlier in the day so that we would have had more time to snorkel and explore the park after finishing our excursion. We didn't have but about 30 minutes before it was time to head back to the ship. DH & I had reservations for Palo's at 6:30. We took DD to kids' club and of course our DS practically lived there. The food at Palo's is excellent. The pizza is wonderful for an appetizer. DH had steak and I had tilapia. Then for dessert I had some kind of chochlate souffle. The best dessert I have ever had. The service at Palo's is really nice. It's especially nice to have some alone time with other adults. Then we walked out on the deck before picking up the kids. Then it was back to the room for another night at sea.

 

[misty9960]

Thursday - Sea Day

We had breakfast at Parrot Cay again. Then pretty much spent the day out by the pool. The band is really great that plays out by the pool. DH & I both really enjoyed hearing them. Today was kind of sad knowing this would be our last day at sea. We were really looking forward to CC though. Dinner was at Parrot Cay. I don't remeber what I had. I should have taken notes. You wouldn't think you would forget but, I did. We went to Studio Sea. That was a lot of fun. It was Karoke night. There were some really cute performers and then their were some really bad performers. I admire the ones that get up there and sing but,you couldn't help but wonder what Simon would say if he were there. It was hard to keep a straight face at times. Don't get me wrong all of the kids were great it was only some of the adults that had you scratching your head. We had some good laughs! Then it was you guessed it back to the room for another night at sea!

 

[misty9960]

Friday - Castaway Cay

What a beautiful place. We decided to do the jet ski tours. How much fun was that! DS rode with DH and DD rode with me. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. There was even someone to snap a picture of us. Those shutters photos are great but, can get expensive! After riding we had lunch at Cookie. Definitely one of the best meals. The ribs are great! Then we shopped for some souvenirs. DH and DS went snorkeling. It was a little to tough for DD so she and I grabbed a lounge chair and enjoyed the beautiful beach. The afternoon ended much too quickly. The kids wanted to do the Farewell show so we had to head back to the room so they could be at rehearsal at 4:00. We went to watch the Farewell show. I wasn't prepared for the emotions that were about to hit me during this show. They do a slide presentation of the kids that have been participating in Kids club and all the kids are on stage. It brought tears to my eyes. What precious memories we had created. This week had gone by much too fast. Then we had the Disney Dreams show. A truly Magical show. The performers are excellent. Then we had dinner at Lumiere's again. DD cried throughout dinner because she didn't want to leave. How sad was that!!! Then it was back to the room to begin packing. That was a challenge being that I was going home with more than I came with. I think we were the last ones to get their luggage out. I couldn't believe it was almost over. I went up the Lab to get some photos of DS & his new friends. He was also sad to say goodbye.

 

[misty9960]

Saturday

Had breakfast at Lumiere's. The line was pretty long to disembark. It was about 10:30 before we were off the ship and on the bus heading to the airport. It was hard to believe it was over. It defintiely was a Magical Vacation!

Closing thoughts-

I had very high expectations for this trip and I felt like they were met even though there was a couple of things that I felt like could have been better. The biggest disappointment for us was the food. Part of this could be the fact that we eat out a lot and we just didn't feel like the quality of the food that was served on the ship was what we are use to eating. Having said that we do not dine in 4 star dining rooms every night so I do not consider us to be very picky. To us there just wasn't a lot of variety.

On a positiive note I was very impressed with the kids clubs. My dd is very shy and I wasn't sure how she would do being separated from her brother. The counselors were very good. They said to let them know if she wasn't happy and they would see about making a change. Much to my surprise she did great without him. It probably encouraged her to meet other kids as to where if her brother had of been there she might not have. I was also impressed with the control the counselors had with the kids. They are very organized.

I was also impressed with the waiters. They would cut the kids food up every night. They really go above and beyond the call of duty to make your trip magical. We bought my ds a replica of the ship for a souvenir. He just happened to get it out of the box and look at it on Friday night. He noticed that it wasn't signed by the captain. When I bought it in the gift shop the one out was signed by the captain so I just assumed they all were. So when she went to get me one in a box I didn't think anything of it. I went down to the gift shop and the Lady said no I am sorry you have to take it to get it signed. I said no problem I just wanted to check. She got on the phone and called up to the captain and said the captain is already in bed but, if you will leave it with me I will have it signed by him in the morning when he wakes up and then you can come by here and pick it up before you leave. How nice was that!! Disney really tries to make your vacation a MAGICAL one and they certainly did for our family!!!

 

[Credit Man]

Thanks for the great report!

 

[jlawall]

Wow, GREAT reports! Question - what is the jet ski tours at CC? Is that a DCL excursion?

 

[dsncruise lover]

Great trip report. Thank you for posting it like you did. It made it very easy to read. Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

 

[misty9960]

jlawall: I'm sure the jet ski tours are a disney excursion since it is on CC which is Disney's private island. We just happened to notice the sign for the jet ski tour when we were walking to the beach and thought it would be a lot of fun. It is a 45 minute tour. You have a guide that you follow. I believe there were about 8 jet skis in the group. You make 2 stops and at each stop he tells you a little history about the island. The second stop you actually pull up to a little stretch of beach and you are able to get in the water and cool off while he is talking. The scenery from the last stop is absolutely beautiful. I wish I would have taken my waterproof camera. You can see the ship and it is absolutely breathtaking.

 

[Catnip0113]

Loved your reports! Next time I will do mine in the same thread as people seem to like it better. I wanted to do the Western cruise but all the school vacations were the Eastern again which we just did in April. We are going on the Mexican Riviera cruise next summer instead.

 

[farrishq]

Could you please let us know how much the jet ski tour was? This sounds like sooo much fun.

 

[misty9960]

I believe it was $ 80.00 per person. Our total came to $320.00. DH thought that it was $160.00 per jet ski but, I believe that was because we had 2 people per jet ski. When I asked the lady how old you had to be to ride I remeber her telling me 8 but, that the price was the same no matter the age you are. DD rode with DH and DS rode with me.

 

[Luv2Dream]

I agree with you. The big disappointment on our cruise was the food. I'm also not overly picky either, but the food was repetitious and often lukewarm at best. I've been on other cruises and found the food to be much better. That's my only grip with DCL.