Bbgrizzle
<font color=green>Tangled with the TF & survived <
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2002
- Messages
- 11,362
Hi everyone,
We are just back from the May 18th 7-day Eastern cruise. I received so much helpful information from these boards that I thought I would post my thoughts and hope they help someone else.
This was our first cruise ever, and we didn't bring our 3 DD's this time. It was just DH and myself. We really loved this cruise! We liked it so much we booked a cruise for next year while we were still on board
(We will bring the kids next time).
The service was excellent! Every crew member we encountered was friendly, helpful, and very courteous. Our servers, Jeevan and Rowan, were the best. Rowan got to know what we liked to drink and brought them out without us even having to ask. Jeevan was very helpful, offering advice on what to order and what to stay away from. We had a 10 year old boy at our table and Jeevan would give him little brain teasers each night for him to solve. They were both just outstanding.
The ship is beautiful. When we were at each port there was a carnival ship docked along side the Magic. The Carnival ships are a lot bigger, but they are big, white, ugly ships. The design of the Magic is much classier and colorful. The inside of the ship is spotless. I loved the cutouts of the characters in the banisters of the stairs in the atrium.
The restaurants are great. Not necessarily the food, but the atmosphere of each restaurant. We had the late seating and our rotation was LAPLAPL. I wish we had dined in Animator's Palate 3 times because that one is so adorable! Even on the night when they don't do the show, it is so whimsical. I like the fact that you sit with other people. You meet some neat people that way. We had a single mom with her 10 year old son, and another couple at our table. The mom and son were great fun to talk to, but they did more of the kids activities, so we only saw them at dinner. We became great friends with the other couple, though, and we hung out together many times. There was a couple in our section sitting alone, who hadn't been assigned to sit with anyone and we felt really sorry for them.
The shows are wonderful! Hercules had me rolling; I thought it was hilarious. But the best was Disney Dreams! That one can't be missed. It was so magical. I must confess that I didn't make it to Morty the Magnificent, as I had a conflicting spa appointment. But DH went and he said it was quite good. The late night entertainment was good too. There was a ventriloquist and a juggler who are pretty funny, but the best was a comedian named Rich Purpura. He was so hilarious! 80's night was very fun as well.
Castaway Cay is so wonderful. We spent a lot of time on Serenity Bay, but I have to say the family beach is much prettier. We had prepurchased the package with the snorkeling, the floats and the bikes, but we did not have enough time to do everything. We swam and laid out a while, had lunch at the BBQ (very good, by the way) and rode the bikes. We didn't have enough time to snorkel or use the floats. Big waste of money. Next time we won't do a package in advance for Castaway Cay.
We had excursions on St. Maarten and St. Thomas. St. Maarten we did the Under 2 Flags tour. It's a great way to see the island, but unfortunately, there is not much to see on the island. There are some places that are green and pretty, but many more that are brown and not-so-pretty. I think Disney should choose a different island for that day. St. Thomas is beautiful, though! Our excursion for that day was the Atlantis submarine. It was really interesting to be underwater like that and see all the coral and the fish. I did hear a lot of people complaining about being claustrophobic in there. The best part was the ferry boat out there. We got soaked and it was going really fast. It was great on a hot day. Next time I think I will do a catamaran excursion--it looked so fun!
Okay, I wasn't fond of the Spa. I got a week pass to the Tropical rainforest and also had a facial done. The Rainforest isn't something you would want to do every day. I only did it once. One of the steam rooms didn't even work. The aromatherapy smelled great though. It was a waste of money for me. I would maybe do it once but not buy the pass. The facial was pretty lame. I have had a few facials in my day and this one was not worth the money. If you have had a facial before, you know that normally, they try to make it a really relaxing experience. The bed is nice and warm, the lights are dimmed, and the goop they spread on your face is warmed. The Vista spa was just the opposite. The extremely bright lights were glaring at me the whole time. The bed was cold, the room was cold, and the goop they put on me was cold. I couldn't relax because I was cold. Also, NO BLACKHEAD EXTRACTION. Basically, everything they did, I could have done at home. Then they try to pedal their beauty products to you afterward. I was not satisfied.
I think there could have been more organized activities for adults. I loved the Art of Entertaining courses. There were two a day on the at sea days. I loved the napkin folding class, the cake decorating class, and the cooking classes. Basically all of them! There were a couple of times I was a little bored. I guess I could have sat out on the deck or something and a few times I did. But more activites for the adults would be nice.
We didn't have problems with other people's kids. Most seemed well behaved. When we went to the movie one afternoon, there was a child who would not stop kicking my chair, and that was annoying. His feet were propped on top of the back of my chair, which is annoying enough, but he kept bouncing his feet up and down. The theater was crowded so I couldn't move to another seat. I turned around and asked him to please stop, wearing a smile, and being very friendly. I know kids don't always think about how what they are doing affects others, so I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. But he still wouldn't stop. And the lame thing is that his mom was right there. She heard me ask him to stop. And I can say that if my child had their feet up on someone's chair I would have put a stop to that immediately. But that was the only time we had a problem with kids.
That's about all I can think of. The cruise is wonderful and I recommend it to everyone. I would not do a 3 or 4 day because I think that would be way too short. The 7-day is perfect. If anyone has any questions, please ask! I love to talk about my cruise!
Thanks for listening,
Bonnie
We are just back from the May 18th 7-day Eastern cruise. I received so much helpful information from these boards that I thought I would post my thoughts and hope they help someone else.
This was our first cruise ever, and we didn't bring our 3 DD's this time. It was just DH and myself. We really loved this cruise! We liked it so much we booked a cruise for next year while we were still on board
(We will bring the kids next time).The service was excellent! Every crew member we encountered was friendly, helpful, and very courteous. Our servers, Jeevan and Rowan, were the best. Rowan got to know what we liked to drink and brought them out without us even having to ask. Jeevan was very helpful, offering advice on what to order and what to stay away from. We had a 10 year old boy at our table and Jeevan would give him little brain teasers each night for him to solve. They were both just outstanding.
The ship is beautiful. When we were at each port there was a carnival ship docked along side the Magic. The Carnival ships are a lot bigger, but they are big, white, ugly ships. The design of the Magic is much classier and colorful. The inside of the ship is spotless. I loved the cutouts of the characters in the banisters of the stairs in the atrium.
The restaurants are great. Not necessarily the food, but the atmosphere of each restaurant. We had the late seating and our rotation was LAPLAPL. I wish we had dined in Animator's Palate 3 times because that one is so adorable! Even on the night when they don't do the show, it is so whimsical. I like the fact that you sit with other people. You meet some neat people that way. We had a single mom with her 10 year old son, and another couple at our table. The mom and son were great fun to talk to, but they did more of the kids activities, so we only saw them at dinner. We became great friends with the other couple, though, and we hung out together many times. There was a couple in our section sitting alone, who hadn't been assigned to sit with anyone and we felt really sorry for them.
The shows are wonderful! Hercules had me rolling; I thought it was hilarious. But the best was Disney Dreams! That one can't be missed. It was so magical. I must confess that I didn't make it to Morty the Magnificent, as I had a conflicting spa appointment. But DH went and he said it was quite good. The late night entertainment was good too. There was a ventriloquist and a juggler who are pretty funny, but the best was a comedian named Rich Purpura. He was so hilarious! 80's night was very fun as well.
Castaway Cay is so wonderful. We spent a lot of time on Serenity Bay, but I have to say the family beach is much prettier. We had prepurchased the package with the snorkeling, the floats and the bikes, but we did not have enough time to do everything. We swam and laid out a while, had lunch at the BBQ (very good, by the way) and rode the bikes. We didn't have enough time to snorkel or use the floats. Big waste of money. Next time we won't do a package in advance for Castaway Cay.
We had excursions on St. Maarten and St. Thomas. St. Maarten we did the Under 2 Flags tour. It's a great way to see the island, but unfortunately, there is not much to see on the island. There are some places that are green and pretty, but many more that are brown and not-so-pretty. I think Disney should choose a different island for that day. St. Thomas is beautiful, though! Our excursion for that day was the Atlantis submarine. It was really interesting to be underwater like that and see all the coral and the fish. I did hear a lot of people complaining about being claustrophobic in there. The best part was the ferry boat out there. We got soaked and it was going really fast. It was great on a hot day. Next time I think I will do a catamaran excursion--it looked so fun!
Okay, I wasn't fond of the Spa. I got a week pass to the Tropical rainforest and also had a facial done. The Rainforest isn't something you would want to do every day. I only did it once. One of the steam rooms didn't even work. The aromatherapy smelled great though. It was a waste of money for me. I would maybe do it once but not buy the pass. The facial was pretty lame. I have had a few facials in my day and this one was not worth the money. If you have had a facial before, you know that normally, they try to make it a really relaxing experience. The bed is nice and warm, the lights are dimmed, and the goop they spread on your face is warmed. The Vista spa was just the opposite. The extremely bright lights were glaring at me the whole time. The bed was cold, the room was cold, and the goop they put on me was cold. I couldn't relax because I was cold. Also, NO BLACKHEAD EXTRACTION. Basically, everything they did, I could have done at home. Then they try to pedal their beauty products to you afterward. I was not satisfied.
I think there could have been more organized activities for adults. I loved the Art of Entertaining courses. There were two a day on the at sea days. I loved the napkin folding class, the cake decorating class, and the cooking classes. Basically all of them! There were a couple of times I was a little bored. I guess I could have sat out on the deck or something and a few times I did. But more activites for the adults would be nice.
We didn't have problems with other people's kids. Most seemed well behaved. When we went to the movie one afternoon, there was a child who would not stop kicking my chair, and that was annoying. His feet were propped on top of the back of my chair, which is annoying enough, but he kept bouncing his feet up and down. The theater was crowded so I couldn't move to another seat. I turned around and asked him to please stop, wearing a smile, and being very friendly. I know kids don't always think about how what they are doing affects others, so I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. But he still wouldn't stop. And the lame thing is that his mom was right there. She heard me ask him to stop. And I can say that if my child had their feet up on someone's chair I would have put a stop to that immediately. But that was the only time we had a problem with kids.
That's about all I can think of. The cruise is wonderful and I recommend it to everyone. I would not do a 3 or 4 day because I think that would be way too short. The 7-day is perfect. If anyone has any questions, please ask! I love to talk about my cruise!
Thanks for listening,
Bonnie
)
