DonnaDavid
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2000
- Messages
- 310
Here's my payback to everyone who offered such great info when I was researching this cruise.
This was our 4th cruise and our 2nd DCL cruise. I sailed with my DM (70ish), DH, DD (8), DS (5), and DD (almost 2). Our previous cruises were with Regency (now defunct), RCL (the Majesty of the Seas), and the 4 nt. Wonder.
We flew into Orlando the Fri. before our cruise, rented a car with Avis, and stayed at the Radisson the night prior. The Radisson was nice and we were happy with it. My only tip for those of you who are planning on taking the Radisson's shuttle is that you have to make a ressie to be taken over to the port on their shuttle. We took the Avis shuttle over as the Radisson's shuttle didn't have space for us until 2 pm. This was a spring break cruise and the hotel was packed with cruisers - certainly that could have affected their volume.
Embarkation was fine. We were stopped across the street and our documents checked before we were allowed to enter the terminal. We arrived at the terminal about 12:15 and had a speedy check-in at the Castaway Club line. As we arrived, there was a fairly long line to board the ship; but as we finished checking in, the boarding had started, and we had no line.
I had no desire to eat at Palo, and although I've heard the massages are fabulous, I received bad news from the IRS man the week before the cruise, so I didn't book any massages either. Therefore, my group split up with my DH and DM taking the kids to explore the Club and the Lab, and I went to Flounders to make ressies for Grace for the evenings after our shore trips.
From there, we went to explore the ship and checked into our cabins at 1:15. We had cat. 9, connecting rooms as that was all that was available when I booked last June. For the people who worry about this, I would have loved to have had a balcony as we did have to spend some time in the cabin with sleeping kids (of course, I booked this before that IRS thing happened). We booked our room through Costco travel (very uneventful experience - didn't receive the super service like DU, but we got a better price through Costco), and were very surprised to find a tray of chocolates and sparkling apple cider in the room upon arrival. We ate at Topsiders and then attended the sail-away party. This was one of two times that I was very aware that we were on a sold-out cruise; it was packed.
The only other thing that I would recommend for you about the 1st day is that you attend the "Welcome Aboard Variety Show" with Michael Harrison and Chuck Gunter. Harrison is a ventriloquist and Gunter is a juggler - they are both excellent. Unfortunately, I talked my kids into going into the kids' club, but they would have loved them. Hercules the Muse-ical has never appealed to me because I didn't like the movie, and I didn't bother with "Who wants to be a Mouseketeer?" Morty the Magnificent was okay - my 8 yr. old DD and I saw it, and she thought it was okay also, but I'm sure my DS would have been bored. Of course, Disney Dreams is fantastic, and I would recommend that everyone attend. I didn't like the other performers as much. We were wiped out and didn't attend any of the late-night deck parties; and my DH and I turned in with the kids, so I can't comment on any of the late-night adult stuff either.
One of the big disappointments of the cruise was that my kids didn't like the kids' programs as much as I thought they would. They are both fairly shy, and neither of them made any friends the 1st night; so I had trouble getting them to attend the kids' programs. My DD had e-mailed a couple of kids prior to our cruise and she spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out where she could meet up with these girls. Also, the pools were packed - there was barely enough room to stand in them. Fortunately, there are plenty of other things to do with them. My DS loved the arcade and the ping pong tables. My DD fell in love with bingo; unforunately for her, her DM found bingo to be mind-numbing. Good thing her grandma was willing to go with her.
The food was better than I remembered on the last DCL cruise. We usually ate breakfast and lunch at Topsiders, and dinner down in the dining rooms. We ordered room service once - sandwiches that we put in a cooler for our St. Martin trip.
For our shore trips, I decided to rent a car in St. Martin and St. Thomas rather than take a shore excursion for a couple of reasons. For a party of our size, it was more economical to do it on our own. Also, my youngest DD and my DS are still in carseats/boosters, and I knew that the only way to strap them in is to rent our own minivan. Also, I thought a rental car would give us more flexibility if the weather was bad. It worked out okay, but I don't know if we would do it again. First, I researched shore destinations at www.cruisecritic.com - I would highly recommend this site to anyone researching shore excursions. We rented minivans from Budget at both islands. Budget in St. Martin wasn't very good. Budget in St. Thomas was fine. Most people say that driving yourself isn't that hard; I would have to disagree.
Budget in St. Martin had given away our minivan by the time we got off the ship, and we had to go in two separate cars - very beat-up cars that barely made it up the hills. We were very lost and wasted about an hour driving around. We finally made it to Dawn Beach and parked outside Scavenger's Bar. The beach was nice, and I would recommend it for familes with little kids. There are some waves, but not very high when we were there. There is a bathroom (not the cleanest, but at least it was free) and salt-water showers. You can also rent umbrellas and chairs. My DD was very anxious to see nude people on the beach (this has to come from her father's side of the family - I'm sure there are no voyeurs on my side.) There was only one topless woman there. We stayed for a few hours and then shopped briefly at the markets before returning to the ship. I had planned on visiting the butterfly farm, but we had wasted so much time being lost that it didn't happen.
In St. Thomas, we visited Magen's Beach. We also got a bit lost driving there, but once we got out of the town, it was pretty easy. Driving on the left side of the road was definitely an adventure, but it wasn't too hard. Magen's beach charges admission, but it also has nicer facilities. The wait for food was over half an hour - we hadn't brought food off the ship for this one, but I wished I had. The water is very calm and shallow. We rented chairs and floats for the kids, and we had a good time. My only complaint is that the beach was very crowded - it started to get fairly overwhelming around noon. On the way back, my DD and I stopped so that she could spend some money in town. We had planned on taking the tram up the mountain, but we had stopped en route to Magen's, and I didn't think the view would be much better from the tram.
Castaway Cay was very nice, as always. Once again, I felt how full the ship was as the beach was packed.
Disembarkation was extemely easy. We rented a car from Avis again, and drove to Downtown Disney for shopping. At this point, we were all exhausted. My kids can always manage a bit more energy for shopping, however. We stayed at the Swan Sat. night and loved it. We've stayed at the Poly and AKL in the past, and this hotel was their favorite. We walked over to the Boardwalk Sat. night and rented a surrey bike - great fun.
I know that a lot of people spend a lot of time comparing RCCL and DCL. I talked to a family on the Explorer of the Seas. They had never cruised DCL, but they said they loved the shopping and the atrium on the Explorer. I asked about the rock-climbing wall and the skating rink. They said that they were doing things mostly at night (teenagers), but that the line for the rock-climbing wall was over an hour. Once again, this is a Spring Break cruise.
Overall, we had a great time, and my kids (who have done DL and WDW a lot) rated this their favorite vacation by far. I'm sure that I've forgotten something important, but my computer has this endearing little trick of erasing my work randomly when I hit the backspace button, and this is way too long to do over. Hope this helps!
Donna
This was our 4th cruise and our 2nd DCL cruise. I sailed with my DM (70ish), DH, DD (8), DS (5), and DD (almost 2). Our previous cruises were with Regency (now defunct), RCL (the Majesty of the Seas), and the 4 nt. Wonder.
We flew into Orlando the Fri. before our cruise, rented a car with Avis, and stayed at the Radisson the night prior. The Radisson was nice and we were happy with it. My only tip for those of you who are planning on taking the Radisson's shuttle is that you have to make a ressie to be taken over to the port on their shuttle. We took the Avis shuttle over as the Radisson's shuttle didn't have space for us until 2 pm. This was a spring break cruise and the hotel was packed with cruisers - certainly that could have affected their volume.
Embarkation was fine. We were stopped across the street and our documents checked before we were allowed to enter the terminal. We arrived at the terminal about 12:15 and had a speedy check-in at the Castaway Club line. As we arrived, there was a fairly long line to board the ship; but as we finished checking in, the boarding had started, and we had no line.
I had no desire to eat at Palo, and although I've heard the massages are fabulous, I received bad news from the IRS man the week before the cruise, so I didn't book any massages either. Therefore, my group split up with my DH and DM taking the kids to explore the Club and the Lab, and I went to Flounders to make ressies for Grace for the evenings after our shore trips.
From there, we went to explore the ship and checked into our cabins at 1:15. We had cat. 9, connecting rooms as that was all that was available when I booked last June. For the people who worry about this, I would have loved to have had a balcony as we did have to spend some time in the cabin with sleeping kids (of course, I booked this before that IRS thing happened). We booked our room through Costco travel (very uneventful experience - didn't receive the super service like DU, but we got a better price through Costco), and were very surprised to find a tray of chocolates and sparkling apple cider in the room upon arrival. We ate at Topsiders and then attended the sail-away party. This was one of two times that I was very aware that we were on a sold-out cruise; it was packed.
The only other thing that I would recommend for you about the 1st day is that you attend the "Welcome Aboard Variety Show" with Michael Harrison and Chuck Gunter. Harrison is a ventriloquist and Gunter is a juggler - they are both excellent. Unfortunately, I talked my kids into going into the kids' club, but they would have loved them. Hercules the Muse-ical has never appealed to me because I didn't like the movie, and I didn't bother with "Who wants to be a Mouseketeer?" Morty the Magnificent was okay - my 8 yr. old DD and I saw it, and she thought it was okay also, but I'm sure my DS would have been bored. Of course, Disney Dreams is fantastic, and I would recommend that everyone attend. I didn't like the other performers as much. We were wiped out and didn't attend any of the late-night deck parties; and my DH and I turned in with the kids, so I can't comment on any of the late-night adult stuff either.
One of the big disappointments of the cruise was that my kids didn't like the kids' programs as much as I thought they would. They are both fairly shy, and neither of them made any friends the 1st night; so I had trouble getting them to attend the kids' programs. My DD had e-mailed a couple of kids prior to our cruise and she spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out where she could meet up with these girls. Also, the pools were packed - there was barely enough room to stand in them. Fortunately, there are plenty of other things to do with them. My DS loved the arcade and the ping pong tables. My DD fell in love with bingo; unforunately for her, her DM found bingo to be mind-numbing. Good thing her grandma was willing to go with her.
The food was better than I remembered on the last DCL cruise. We usually ate breakfast and lunch at Topsiders, and dinner down in the dining rooms. We ordered room service once - sandwiches that we put in a cooler for our St. Martin trip.
For our shore trips, I decided to rent a car in St. Martin and St. Thomas rather than take a shore excursion for a couple of reasons. For a party of our size, it was more economical to do it on our own. Also, my youngest DD and my DS are still in carseats/boosters, and I knew that the only way to strap them in is to rent our own minivan. Also, I thought a rental car would give us more flexibility if the weather was bad. It worked out okay, but I don't know if we would do it again. First, I researched shore destinations at www.cruisecritic.com - I would highly recommend this site to anyone researching shore excursions. We rented minivans from Budget at both islands. Budget in St. Martin wasn't very good. Budget in St. Thomas was fine. Most people say that driving yourself isn't that hard; I would have to disagree.
Budget in St. Martin had given away our minivan by the time we got off the ship, and we had to go in two separate cars - very beat-up cars that barely made it up the hills. We were very lost and wasted about an hour driving around. We finally made it to Dawn Beach and parked outside Scavenger's Bar. The beach was nice, and I would recommend it for familes with little kids. There are some waves, but not very high when we were there. There is a bathroom (not the cleanest, but at least it was free) and salt-water showers. You can also rent umbrellas and chairs. My DD was very anxious to see nude people on the beach (this has to come from her father's side of the family - I'm sure there are no voyeurs on my side.) There was only one topless woman there. We stayed for a few hours and then shopped briefly at the markets before returning to the ship. I had planned on visiting the butterfly farm, but we had wasted so much time being lost that it didn't happen.
In St. Thomas, we visited Magen's Beach. We also got a bit lost driving there, but once we got out of the town, it was pretty easy. Driving on the left side of the road was definitely an adventure, but it wasn't too hard. Magen's beach charges admission, but it also has nicer facilities. The wait for food was over half an hour - we hadn't brought food off the ship for this one, but I wished I had. The water is very calm and shallow. We rented chairs and floats for the kids, and we had a good time. My only complaint is that the beach was very crowded - it started to get fairly overwhelming around noon. On the way back, my DD and I stopped so that she could spend some money in town. We had planned on taking the tram up the mountain, but we had stopped en route to Magen's, and I didn't think the view would be much better from the tram.
Castaway Cay was very nice, as always. Once again, I felt how full the ship was as the beach was packed.
Disembarkation was extemely easy. We rented a car from Avis again, and drove to Downtown Disney for shopping. At this point, we were all exhausted. My kids can always manage a bit more energy for shopping, however. We stayed at the Swan Sat. night and loved it. We've stayed at the Poly and AKL in the past, and this hotel was their favorite. We walked over to the Boardwalk Sat. night and rented a surrey bike - great fun.
I know that a lot of people spend a lot of time comparing RCCL and DCL. I talked to a family on the Explorer of the Seas. They had never cruised DCL, but they said they loved the shopping and the atrium on the Explorer. I asked about the rock-climbing wall and the skating rink. They said that they were doing things mostly at night (teenagers), but that the line for the rock-climbing wall was over an hour. Once again, this is a Spring Break cruise.
Overall, we had a great time, and my kids (who have done DL and WDW a lot) rated this their favorite vacation by far. I'm sure that I've forgotten something important, but my computer has this endearing little trick of erasing my work randomly when I hit the backspace button, and this is way too long to do over. Hope this helps!
Donna
......
I've been impatiently waiting to hear about your exact cruise as we are booked for it next year (3/20/04). I was a bit worried to read how crowded you found it. Is this in comparison to your other cruises at different times of year? We picked this date to celebrate our ann. but could go anytime. I'm starting to get cold feet and think we should have picked May.....Thanks again for taking the time to post and may your laundry be a breeze 
