Just back from my first Disney Cruise (11/9)

[adambreakey]

Hi all... we just got back from our first cruise with Disney -- the 4nt Wonder (11/9). We had a great time! I have to say, it was better than I expected. We have cruised with CCL, RCCL, and Norwegian... and this trip was our favorite by far. Our favorite things: Palo, the Oceaneer club (we have a 5yr old), Castaway Cay, Golden Mickeys, and our server JoJo <- he was great!

One nice thing was that during our cruise they were setting up Christmas decorations each night. By the end of the cruise the atrium and all of the dining rooms had christmas stuff up... including the big tree in the atrium. It was a nice suprise. We were able to get formal pics in front of the tree

anyway - if you have any questions - lemme know.

adamb

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Welcome home Adamb! Will you cruise with Disney again?

What was your favorite restaurant? What did your 5-year-old enjoy the most?

 

[Favorite Auntie]

That is cool that they have already started to decorate the ships...I had heard that would start the week after Thanksgiving (the week I am cruising!)

 

[moneypit85]

WOW! That answers question about Xmas decor! We are sailing Dec 24th. I knew they would be up by then, but WOUNDERing, when they would start. This will be our first cruise EVER. Did your 5yr old enjoy the club? did you get enought family and couple time? Nice to hear you had a great time

 

[Little Twin Stars]

Originally posted by adambreakey
anyway - if you have any questions - lemme know.

adamb

Hi Adamb, I have some questions:

1. Were you able to have dinner at Palo? IF yes, what time did you make the reservation?

2. What did you do on the Nassau day: did you join any excursion?

3. Did you son have any sea sickness?

4. Any advice you could give me: we are the first time cruisers and we are going next march. My son is 7 and my daughter is 4.

T H A N K S !

 

[gonna go cruising]

Cool! You got Jojo right after we did. We were on the November 6 Wonder. Jojo was awesome. I told him he was pretty famous around here! I am glad you had a good time. I would go again in a heartbeat if I had the time and money!

 

[adambreakey]

CRSNDSNY - I would say our favorite place to eat was Palo -- but if you are referring to the 'regular' restaurants, I would say Animators Pallete was our favorite. The food and decor really was good. And our daughter loved watching the room change... Although she enjoyed the limbo at Parrot Cay as well Our 5yr old really enjoyed the time in the Oceaneer Club - basically anything they were doing she loved. But when I asked her what were her favorite things today she said: the beach (castaway) and Disney Dreams. She also like the movie time at the kids club late at night.

MoneyPit - our5yr old did enjoy the clubs - we had a hard time getting her to come with us. - Actually, the last night of the cruise (about 11:30 at night) I went to pick her up... she didn't want to say goodbye to her new friends yet, so she asked if she could stay until the end of the movie... she did... I picked her up when it was done, and her only words to me were... "I wish this was a 5 day cruise" - i couldn't agree with her more. --- And yes, we had plenty of 'couple time.' We ate at Palo alone, we saw the comedian/juggler alone, we went to dueling pianos twice alone, etc. there was plenty of time alone

 

[adambreakey]

Little Twin Stars -

1) yes, we did have a meal at Palo. We were third in line to get on the ship, and then went straight to Wavebands to make our ressie. We were able to get 6:30pm on Wednesday (last night) for our dinner.

2) Since we had been to Nassau before we only wanted to do a couple of quick things on the island. We checked our DD5 into the oceaneer club (she was begging to go) and we caught a taxi to Atlantis. I wanted to check out a couple of things there, one is the craps table and the other was the Dale Chihuly art glass installations there (http://www.chihuly.com/installations/atlantis). After Atlantis we shopped for a few quick minutes to pickup a couple of bottles of water and a cheap t-shirt for our DD5 to wear to school. Other than that, we spent the day on the boat.

3) We actually have a daughter-5 (and a son on the way, due in March). She did fine on the ship, which is amazing as the seas were really rough the first day/night. We actually were delayed leaving port canaveral because of the high winds. -- but Amanda, my wife, and myself all weathered the seas quite well.

4) My advice... get the kids involved in the clubs early... most of Amanda's buddies were ones she made the first night. -- secondly, don't force the kids to leave the club to go see the first two shows (Hercules and the juggler) - these two shows are great mind you, but our daughter wanted to stay in the club, so we encouraged that and it worked out well. -- Although, be sure you get them out of the club to see the Golden Mickeys and Disney Dreams. They did a 2:30pm matinee showing of Disney Dreams on our cruise... I wish I would have seen it then and again at the 8:30 show (it was that good) ---- Also, don't miss Palo!

Have a great cruise!

adamb

 

[Little Twin Stars]

Thanks Adamb!

 

[rosemary123]

So glad you enjoyed your cruise. We are sailing on December 7th and wondered what night Golden Mickey's show was on?

 

[adambreakey]

The golden Mickeys were shown on the third night - the order went: Hercules, Juggler/comedian, Golden Mickeys and the Disney Dreams.

adamb

 

[Vivig]

Glad to hear you all had a great time!


You mentioned that you had cruised with CCL...would you be kind enough to provide a comparison of the two lines? Children's programs, Food, Activities, etc...I know that Disney will outbeat them in every category...but how do they compare? We are planning to go during March break and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
It's the Paradise that we are thinking of cruising with..

Thanking you in advance,
Vivian

 

[adambreakey]

Vivan - We cruised CCL on the Ecstasy back in 94 - so it has been a while since we have been on them. But I can do a basic comparison for you. We have only done that one CCL cruise and that is because when we got back we were not impressed with anything except for the price. The food was about the same level of quality as Red Lobster or Olive Garden (not all that impressive), the rooms were very small, the shows were not good at all, and the activities were limited to a small disco club and gambling. When we traveled on CCL we did not have any kids, so I cannot comment on their kids clubs (but I have to imagine that if they provide equal activites for the kids, the Disney ships would still get the nod as they have the characters to interact with in the clubs often.

When compared to the Wonder, all I can say is that their is no comparison.

Here is how I would rank the cruise lines I have been on:
Disney - 10 (out of 10) - <1 trip>
RCCL - 7 - <3 trips>
Norwegian - 6.5 - <2 trips>
Carnival - 3 - <1 trip>

I hope that helps.

adamb