mom x4 grandma x4
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2005
- Messages
- 21,392
Hi everyone,
Well our trip was great but it was a stressful start this time. Our main route to the port was closed due to the smoke from the brush fires, so we were routed to another road which after driving several miles was closed too. They had road closed signs, but NO detour signs, so we wernt sure which way to go. We just kept driving through tons of construction and heavy traffic heading towards the coast line. It was going very slow, but finally we saw DCL buses behind us full of people, so we knew we were going the right way!!! Thank heaven for those buses!!!! Eventually we got to a spot where we pulled over and let the buses get in front of us and we followed them the rest of the way. I was really getting stressed until we saw those buses. We usually get to the port from 10 to 11, but this trip it was close to 2:30, by the time we set foot in the terminal. We wernt alone, it was packed in there. Let this be a warning to any of you who are cruising very soon, allow extra time, call 511 to check road closures since these brush fires will be burning for several weeks.
As soon as we got on the ship we dropped off our carry on bag and DH headed for the buffet since it was to be closing in 5 minutes, but they were lined up out the door since so many people were running late, so they stayed open late that afternon. I rushed to the Promenade lounge for a 3 o'clock meeting with dis board members.
I barely made it on time. Others had been running late too, so i didnt feel to bad. Everyone made it to the meet accpet one family, so we hope they made it on board ok. I think they were using disney transportation, if so then I know they made it ok.
So Brian and family if your reading this we missed you!! Hope you had a great cruise. I met so many nice disers
and it was fun to run into them over during the cruise and to hear what each one had been doing and what they thought about their cruise. For most it was a first cruise, so that made it extra special. 
Of course next was the safety drill. The new style of life jackets are much more comfortable and easier to put on too.
Next is the sail away party.
High Frequency was the band this time. Our ship wasnt full this time so even though there were a lot of people it was not crowded like our past cruises were. They were a good lively group of guests. For anyone who may be interested Charles Marshall band is no longer employed by DCL.
The ship pulled out 15 minutes late due to everything running late that day.
No dolphins following the ship this time, but plenty of pelicans and one bald eagle who swooped down over us as we were going out the channel. Lots of people were along the shore waving this time too along the channel. There were several small boats that the harbor patrol had to go after to get them to move over to the side of the channel. If I saw the Wonder headed our way you wouldnt have to tell me to move!! The Captain even blew our horn extra to get their attention.
We had late dinner so we stayed on deck for a long time as we pulled out. If anyone check out the 2 palms web cam I was the one waving on deck 10 at all of you.
WE enjoyed a nice restful evening after all the stress of getting to the port. We had some great food and then relaxed to the music of Don and Tommie in the Promenade lounge and we visited with them after the show for awhile. Then off to check out the boarding picture at shutters then to the gift shop to see what was new since our last cruise. I did find some coasters which I bought and a magnet, that was all I bought from them this time!! DH got off easy this trip!
Then some more music before turning in about midnight. We had to stay out long enough to grab some of those late night snacks around the clubs too!!
Up around 6 a.m. so we watched us pull into Nassau. Ate breakfast at the buffet and strolled the decks for awhile before getting off the ship. It was a beautiful sunny day. We didnt do any excursions this time as we have done most of them at Nassau before, so we just strolled around and did some shopping. For anyone thinking of going to the straw market it is a little better than it was last May when we were there. I guess they had a fire and when they put up a new tent they made it higher with more fans for keeping it cooler, plus they have one wide isle right in the center which is much nicer for those who have kids or strollers. The other rows are still quite narrow, but still alittle wider than before. I also noticed they have added some new items that I had never seen before. we bought some hand carved wooden fish, crab, sting ray and a large wooden ship to hang on the wall. They were quite nice too. I know some of the quality there can be bad, but it was very good for what we bought. Also we noticed a few of the stores closest to the straw market had come down on their prices of several items to match the price in the straw market. Also most of the people who worked in the straw market wernt as pushy as they were before. Only a few were, most were a lot quieter. We have been many times but this was a different experience for us than our past experiences.
Then we went back to the ship for a late lunch and to relax on deck 4 for awhile. We watched ice carving by the family pool too. This time it turned out to be a dolphin. It was amazing to watch.
We did notice that they have changed some of their smoking policies on the open decks from our last trip. On all open decks where you use to be able to smoke accept by Mickey pool, now you can smoke on the Port side only!! Accept by the Mickey pool There is NO smoking on the starboard side. This is nice for families who want to hang out by the family pool with the kids but dont want the smoke, they can sit on the starboard side and not have to think about it and those who want to smoke can sit on the Port side and not have to worry about bothering anyone. The signs were small and hard to see but it was listed in the Navigator. I thought it was a good compromise from them. it seemed to work pretty good for everyone.
I didnt like the layout of the new Navigator. The spread sheet was kind of akward to read and in small print. A lot of the times for entertainment were wrong. Lots of people missed things because of this. I asked some CM's about this and they said it has been wrong since the beginning and they hate it!! I thought that was kind of strange that they hadnt fixed it. It listed the event, but if you didnt know what it was, you had to find it on some other pages to explain what the event was. On the old Navigator it was all together so you didnt have to look for information on it. It is a trial period to see how it works, but I vote NO, just my opinion.
The Pirate deck party was a lot of fun, although it wa slsightly different than the first 2 times we saw it. Fireworks were awesome!! So was the bufffet after the party.
Shows were all excellant as usual. Mostly we stuck to music and food this trip. We wanted to relax and unwind after a hectic 3 months around home.
On CC we did the pirates scavenger hunt and it took about an hour, and it was fun, although some of the clues were very obscure and took some thought to figure out. But in the end we got out pirate booty as our reward.
Then we rented bikes and rode both bike trails around. The new one is 5000 feet long, no benches on it, but on water station is there. It is a good wide flat path, very easy to ride on. Then lunch and it was HOT and everyone was swimming and snorkeling. Later we decided to return to the ship a little early and hit the adult pool and hot tubs before everyone started coming back to the ship. There were 3 people around the pool so it was great!! after we got out and were sitting around a lady who had been in the pool came up to us and handed DH is drivers license and KTTWK. She found them in the bottom of the pool. OOPS!! He forgot they were in his pocket after we got on board. We couldnt thank her enough!! That would be terrible to of lost that.
I packed early so we had all evening to enjoy the ship. While in the Promenade lounge Captain Henry came over to us and said welcome back and shook our hands and talked for about 10 minutes. We had never met him before so it must of been a lucky guess from him that we were repeat
guests. But that made for a nice moment too. Of course I didnthav emy camera, A first for me!
Everything considered it was a great trip. we did book another 3 day next April for Easter weekend which will be fun. But first we have 2 7 day cruises with DCL to do.
I think meeting other dis board members and visiting with them around the ship was one of the great highlights of our trip. You guys are great people!!!
We had more closed roads to contend with as we returned home, but we made it safely and now have to return to reality until september 23rd when we go again!!
mom x4,grandma x4
Well our trip was great but it was a stressful start this time. Our main route to the port was closed due to the smoke from the brush fires, so we were routed to another road which after driving several miles was closed too. They had road closed signs, but NO detour signs, so we wernt sure which way to go. We just kept driving through tons of construction and heavy traffic heading towards the coast line. It was going very slow, but finally we saw DCL buses behind us full of people, so we knew we were going the right way!!! Thank heaven for those buses!!!! Eventually we got to a spot where we pulled over and let the buses get in front of us and we followed them the rest of the way. I was really getting stressed until we saw those buses. We usually get to the port from 10 to 11, but this trip it was close to 2:30, by the time we set foot in the terminal. We wernt alone, it was packed in there. Let this be a warning to any of you who are cruising very soon, allow extra time, call 511 to check road closures since these brush fires will be burning for several weeks.
As soon as we got on the ship we dropped off our carry on bag and DH headed for the buffet since it was to be closing in 5 minutes, but they were lined up out the door since so many people were running late, so they stayed open late that afternon. I rushed to the Promenade lounge for a 3 o'clock meeting with dis board members.
I barely made it on time. Others had been running late too, so i didnt feel to bad. Everyone made it to the meet accpet one family, so we hope they made it on board ok. I think they were using disney transportation, if so then I know they made it ok.So Brian and family if your reading this we missed you!! Hope you had a great cruise. I met so many nice disers
and it was fun to run into them over during the cruise and to hear what each one had been doing and what they thought about their cruise. For most it was a first cruise, so that made it extra special. Of course next was the safety drill. The new style of life jackets are much more comfortable and easier to put on too.
Next is the sail away party.
High Frequency was the band this time. Our ship wasnt full this time so even though there were a lot of people it was not crowded like our past cruises were. They were a good lively group of guests. For anyone who may be interested Charles Marshall band is no longer employed by DCL.
The ship pulled out 15 minutes late due to everything running late that day.
No dolphins following the ship this time, but plenty of pelicans and one bald eagle who swooped down over us as we were going out the channel. Lots of people were along the shore waving this time too along the channel. There were several small boats that the harbor patrol had to go after to get them to move over to the side of the channel. If I saw the Wonder headed our way you wouldnt have to tell me to move!! The Captain even blew our horn extra to get their attention.
We had late dinner so we stayed on deck for a long time as we pulled out. If anyone check out the 2 palms web cam I was the one waving on deck 10 at all of you.
WE enjoyed a nice restful evening after all the stress of getting to the port. We had some great food and then relaxed to the music of Don and Tommie in the Promenade lounge and we visited with them after the show for awhile. Then off to check out the boarding picture at shutters then to the gift shop to see what was new since our last cruise. I did find some coasters which I bought and a magnet, that was all I bought from them this time!! DH got off easy this trip!
Then some more music before turning in about midnight. We had to stay out long enough to grab some of those late night snacks around the clubs too!!
Up around 6 a.m. so we watched us pull into Nassau. Ate breakfast at the buffet and strolled the decks for awhile before getting off the ship. It was a beautiful sunny day. We didnt do any excursions this time as we have done most of them at Nassau before, so we just strolled around and did some shopping. For anyone thinking of going to the straw market it is a little better than it was last May when we were there. I guess they had a fire and when they put up a new tent they made it higher with more fans for keeping it cooler, plus they have one wide isle right in the center which is much nicer for those who have kids or strollers. The other rows are still quite narrow, but still alittle wider than before. I also noticed they have added some new items that I had never seen before. we bought some hand carved wooden fish, crab, sting ray and a large wooden ship to hang on the wall. They were quite nice too. I know some of the quality there can be bad, but it was very good for what we bought. Also we noticed a few of the stores closest to the straw market had come down on their prices of several items to match the price in the straw market. Also most of the people who worked in the straw market wernt as pushy as they were before. Only a few were, most were a lot quieter. We have been many times but this was a different experience for us than our past experiences.
Then we went back to the ship for a late lunch and to relax on deck 4 for awhile. We watched ice carving by the family pool too. This time it turned out to be a dolphin. It was amazing to watch.
We did notice that they have changed some of their smoking policies on the open decks from our last trip. On all open decks where you use to be able to smoke accept by Mickey pool, now you can smoke on the Port side only!! Accept by the Mickey pool There is NO smoking on the starboard side. This is nice for families who want to hang out by the family pool with the kids but dont want the smoke, they can sit on the starboard side and not have to think about it and those who want to smoke can sit on the Port side and not have to worry about bothering anyone. The signs were small and hard to see but it was listed in the Navigator. I thought it was a good compromise from them. it seemed to work pretty good for everyone.
I didnt like the layout of the new Navigator. The spread sheet was kind of akward to read and in small print. A lot of the times for entertainment were wrong. Lots of people missed things because of this. I asked some CM's about this and they said it has been wrong since the beginning and they hate it!! I thought that was kind of strange that they hadnt fixed it. It listed the event, but if you didnt know what it was, you had to find it on some other pages to explain what the event was. On the old Navigator it was all together so you didnt have to look for information on it. It is a trial period to see how it works, but I vote NO, just my opinion.
The Pirate deck party was a lot of fun, although it wa slsightly different than the first 2 times we saw it. Fireworks were awesome!! So was the bufffet after the party.
Shows were all excellant as usual. Mostly we stuck to music and food this trip. We wanted to relax and unwind after a hectic 3 months around home.
On CC we did the pirates scavenger hunt and it took about an hour, and it was fun, although some of the clues were very obscure and took some thought to figure out. But in the end we got out pirate booty as our reward.
Then we rented bikes and rode both bike trails around. The new one is 5000 feet long, no benches on it, but on water station is there. It is a good wide flat path, very easy to ride on. Then lunch and it was HOT and everyone was swimming and snorkeling. Later we decided to return to the ship a little early and hit the adult pool and hot tubs before everyone started coming back to the ship. There were 3 people around the pool so it was great!! after we got out and were sitting around a lady who had been in the pool came up to us and handed DH is drivers license and KTTWK. She found them in the bottom of the pool. OOPS!! He forgot they were in his pocket after we got on board. We couldnt thank her enough!! That would be terrible to of lost that.
I packed early so we had all evening to enjoy the ship. While in the Promenade lounge Captain Henry came over to us and said welcome back and shook our hands and talked for about 10 minutes. We had never met him before so it must of been a lucky guess from him that we were repeat
guests. But that made for a nice moment too. Of course I didnthav emy camera, A first for me!
Everything considered it was a great trip. we did book another 3 day next April for Easter weekend which will be fun. But first we have 2 7 day cruises with DCL to do.
I think meeting other dis board members and visiting with them around the ship was one of the great highlights of our trip. You guys are great people!!!
We had more closed roads to contend with as we returned home, but we made it safely and now have to return to reality until september 23rd when we go again!!
mom x4,grandma x4
)
