Just back from first Mexican Riviera trip - Any questions?

[MrSanderz]

Was there a tea with Wendy? or Alice?

Yes, they offered Tea with Alice two times during the cruise but Our family did not go.

 

[MrSanderz]

Do you know what time the terminal opened? I know someone said they arrived at 10:30, but is that when the terminal opened, or did it open at 10:00 am?

I am confused about holding the boarding group 2....sounds unfair. I know they hold aside boarding group #1, but I wish I knew what the 2s were for, and if they are doing that for every cruise.

We got to the terminal at 9:35, dropped the luggage off curbside and a porter took it right away. DH went to park and was back in just a few minutes. They let us into the terminal but the check in counters were not opened until 10:00 so I waited in line. We were the third group in line for the Castaway Club check in. After we checked in and got our KTTW cards, then we went to another part of the terminal and that is when we recieved boarding card #3. We did not go through security until right before we boarded the ship. We were on the ship before noon. Very easy process. We did have to wait in a long line for kids' club check-in but were able to get our pagers before we got on the ship.

As far as boarding groups went, someone told me that the suites got groups 1 and 2. After boarding some of the suite guests, the announcement was made to board groups 1-3.

 

[Caropooh]

I'm interested in knowing what time the DCL shuttles started running from LAX! Our flight arrives at 8:40AM, will we be able to get right on a shuttle?

 

[JoiseyMom]

To answer everyone who has asked so far:

I read someone else is going to try to scan or photograph their navigators. Mine are still packed, but I'll try to do it if someone else doesn't get to it first.

Didn't do zipline tour (wanted to, but it was my daughter's birthday that day and she was too young to go, and we didn't want to ditch her), nor the one you mention in Cabo.

We did do the 4 hour private driver tour in Puerto Vallarta. Highly recommended. We had Bernardo. Very sweet guy. He appreciated that we were interested in what life was really like there, enjoying the differences and not being upset that it wasn't "just like the U.S."

My DD is 7 and my DS is 4. They enjoyed the Oceaneer Club quite a bit, though they still spent most of their time with us. We also sailed courtesy of my mom and stepdad. There's no way we could afford this cruise otherwise!! We went with them, plus my sister and her family. It was great to know other people on the boat.

We waited an hour or so (didn't measure) in the terminal. But they had a movie on for the kids, and a good but too loud band playing.

Our character breakfast was on Friday. Overrated, I thought. It was just regular breakfast food with lots of characters dancing around and keeping the kids (and some adults) from eating their food.

Evening shows - most were just so so. Disney Dreams was nice, and I really enjoyed Twice Charmed. Those were the only two that seemed like cohesive shows to me.

Someone else listed movie times in another thread, and we didn't see any, so please refer to the other threads.

Storytime with Belle was great, in the kids area. Though it may have been for the group that you don't have a kid for! Parachute time is always good. Fragile Forts was a great one. We enjoyed the Pirate night party a lot more than the Sail Away party. For much of the Sail Away party, we were at the front of the boat watching ourselves leave port. It was great! Mostly, we just enjoyed spending a lot of time with our children. Oh, and the napkin folding activity was great with my 7 year old.

How much was the PV 4 hour tour?? Was it through DCL??

Thanks.

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

We got to the terminal at 9:35, dropped the luggage off curbside and a porter took it right away. DH went to park and was back in just a few minutes. They let us into the terminal but the check in counters were not opened until 10:00 so I waited in line. We were the third group in line for the Castaway Club check in. After we checked in and got our KTTW cards, then we went to another part of the terminal and that is when we recieved boarding card #3. We did not go through security until right before we boarded the ship. We were on the ship before noon. Very easy process. We did have to wait in a long line for kids' club check-in but were able to get our pagers before we got on the ship.

As far as boarding groups went, someone told me that the suites got groups 1 and 2. After boarding some of the suite guests, the announcement was made to board groups 1-3.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Now I can book my transportation plans.

 

[theporterhouse]

Thanks for the info!

 

[traceye]

Yes, they offered Tea with Alice two times during the cruise but Our family did not go.

They offered tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter, on Monday and Friday....However you must go to guest services immediately when you get on the ship to sign up for it. I did not realize I needed to sign up for it ( I thought it would just show up on the navigator) and when I went to guest services on Tuesday I was told the Friday tea was full with 70 people on the wait list and they wouldn't even put me on the wait list. About 10 minutes later I ran into Brent the cruise director and shared my disappointment with him. He took my cabin number and told me he would look into it. 2 days later I had a message in my cabin that a 3rd tea had been added for Saturday and to just show up. I was VERY impressed that they accomodated so many people for this. Another tip, of the teas are full, show up and ask the cast members at the door if you can wait to see if there are any empty seats. I heard they let some people in at the door. However you do risk diappointing your kids if you can't get in. The tea was very cute, and one of my daughter's favorite things she did on the trip.

I never saw that there was story time with Belle. It was probably for the younger kids and I didn't really look at the things that weren't in my kids age groups. My daughter would have been in heaven to go to that.

As for the boarding process, we arrived at the terminal at about 12pm and we were boarding number 17, it only took about 20 minutes to be called, maybe not even that long. I think we were on the ship at 1pm, after checking in and waiting to get our number called.

We went to the kids club to check in on the ship and had no wait at all. This was after standing in line in the terminal for about 10 minutes but my boarding number was going to be called. I just walked right in at the club.

Tracey

 

[traceye]

To answer everyone who has asked so far:


Evening shows - most were just so so. Disney Dreams was nice, and I really enjoyed Twice Charmed. Those were the only two that seemed like cohesive shows to me.

We enjoyed the evening shows VERY much. Each and every one. I was blown away by the entertainment. The Dreams show is NOT TO BE MISSED....fabulous!!! It was a highlight of my trip.

We did not see any movies on board.

We loved both the sail away party and the deck party. My dd and I were at the party, ds and dh were at the front of the ship watching us sail away. I LOVED the deck parties.

Tracey

 

[Deb T.]

They offered tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter, on Monday and Friday....However you must go to guest services immediately when you get on the ship to sign up for it. I did not realize I needed to sign up for it ( I thought it would just show up on the navigator) and when I went to guest services on Tuesday I was told the Friday tea was full with 70 people on the wait list and they wouldn't even put me on the wait list. About 10 minutes later I ran into Brent the cruise director and shared my disappointment with him. He took my cabin number and told me he would look into it. 2 days later I had a message in my cabin that a 3rd tea had been added for Saturday and to just show up. I was VERY impressed that they accomodated so many people for this. Another tip, of the teas are full, show up and ask the cast members at the door if you can wait to see if there are any empty seats. I heard they let some people in at the door. However you do risk diappointing your kids if you can't get in. The tea was very cute, and one of my daughter's favorite things she did on the trip.

Is there an extra charge for the Tea with Alice?

TIA

 

[traceye]

Is there an extra charge for the Tea with Alice?

TIA

No extra charge.. Here's a descrption for those who want to know.

They have the tables set with little place settings and 4 big chocolate chip cookies on a plate. Each table has a little tea pot on it filled with apple juice. Alice and the Mad Hatter come out and do the little unbirthday scene and Alice teaches everyone how to have a proper tea. They whole thing is like a little skit and lasts 30 minutes. They then allow each child (or anyone I guess) to take a picture with Alice and the Mad Hatter. I thought it was cute, and my daughter loved it. But I wouldn't say it was Fabulous, just very cute.

Tracey

 

[Michelle2]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Now I can book my transportation plans.

Me too! Thank you Mr Sanderz!

 

[Weedy]

We sail this Sunday June 7. This is our 5th cruise.
Who was the special entertainment on your cruise?
Did they do special dinning every night (in addition to Pirate Night)?
How was the food. I have been reading it has not been as good?
How was it getting off the ship? We have the later dinner seating, so we disembark later and we have an 11 am flight?
Hope you had a great cruise. We are counting the days.

Thanks

 

[4campers]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1844532

All navigators are posted now

 

[theporterhouse]

My DSIL would like to know if they sell the Princess costumes on the ship? If so is the cost comparable to the one's at DL ($60.00)? Thanks

 

[3Down1Up]

My DSIL would like to know if they sell the Princess costumes on the ship? If so is the cost comparable to the one's at DL ($60.00)? Thanks

Oh yeah they do! Disney wouldn't miss that opportunity! The pricing sounds right. They sell dresses, accessories, wigs . . . I distinctly remember Ariel, Jasmine, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty . . . I am sure Belle was included in that group as well, but I can't remember it off the top of my head.

 

[3Down1Up]

We sail this Sunday June 7. This is our 5th cruise.
Who was the special entertainment on your cruise?
Did they do special dinning every night (in addition to Pirate Night)?
How was the food. I have been reading it has not been as good?
How was it getting off the ship? We have the later dinner seating, so we disembark later and we have an 11 am flight?
Hope you had a great cruise. We are counting the days. Thanks

They had a comedian and a ventriloquist and we didn't see either, so I can't comment on them.

They had a menu for Formal Night, Captain's Gala, "Til We Meet Again" . . . every night we were in Parrot Cay, we had a special menu, so we never had a chance to try the "real" Parrot Cay menu! So it's not every night, but maybe half of the nights have special menus. I have to say, I went in with low expectations about the food, after reading a lot of postings on it, and I was pleasantly surprised. I would say that for the adult food, especially dinners, the food exceeded my expectations but the kids food was pretty bland (I guess that is how to get kids to eat it, right?). But specifically, I thought the chicken tenders were not crispy, the pizza kinda soggy, the hamburgers kinda grey-looking . . . kinda like cafeteria food.

I think for your later seating, your official seating for breakfast would be somewhere around 8:15, but you can get breakfast at Topsider's starting at 6:30am. The key to getting off early is to get in an early group for disembarking (they let people off by group, and those groups are assigned to you at your breakfast seating), and I would think the key to that would be going to Guest Services the day beforehand and explaining your situation. They started letting people off the ship by 8am.

 

[4campers]

We parked at the Doubletree and had a shuttle. Though when we got off the ship, I wished we'd parked at the port! It would have been nice to just go to our car.

We did park at the port and it was very easy getting in and out. We paid $11 each day and we were right up front. Got there around 11:30. We didn't arrive early, so we got boarding #11, but we were just fine with that! She wouldn't leave without us

Love our diser friends

 

[3Down1Up]

No extra charge.. Here's a descrption for those who want to know.

They have the tables set with little place settings and 4 big chocolate chip cookies on a plate. Each table has a little tea pot on it filled with apple juice. Alice and the Mad Hatter come out and do the little unbirthday scene and Alice teaches everyone how to have a proper tea. They whole thing is like a little skit and lasts 30 minutes. They then allow each child (or anyone I guess) to take a picture with Alice and the Mad Hatter. I thought it was cute, and my daughter loved it. But I wouldn't say it was Fabulous, just very cute.

Tracey

We went to the Monday tea with Alice, and it wasn't full, so I second what an earlier poster said, and if you are told that it is sold out, so to speak, go anyway and see if the CM will let you in. Also, they didn't collect tickets from us at all, so I don't know if they were assuming that everyone there already had a ticket or what.

My DD5 loved the tea, mainly because of the Mad Hatter character - he was quite entertaining, I thought. She thought he was very silly. I recommend it - two thumbs up!

 

[traceye]

We went to the Monday tea with Alice, and it wasn't full, so I second what an earlier poster said, and if you are told that it is sold out, so to speak, go anyway and see if the CM will let you in. Also, they didn't collect tickets from us at all, so I don't know if they were assuming that everyone there already had a ticket or what.

My DD5 loved the tea, mainly because of the Mad Hatter character - he was quite entertaining, I thought. She thought he was very silly. I recommend it - two thumbs up!

At the added Saturday tea they were checking the tickets.

Tracey

 

[traceye]

I was also pleasantly surprised by the food. I was expecting the awful food of all the other cruise lines that I've taken and I thought the DCL was very good. It was a nice surprise.

Tracey