We stayed in Orlando on Tuesday night so that we could take the kids to islands of adventure on Wednesday. We pricelined and got the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. Boy this is a beautiful property. Treated us like royalty (even though we paid $100 for the room as opposed to the $249 rate on the internet). The toiletries were all higher end with a eucalyptus fragrance. Highly recommend this resort if you are staying outside the park and want to visit Orlando first.
Wednesday: Went to Islands of Adventure. Boy i cannot NOT recommend this enough. We felt so ripped off. Only a few rides were open because of lightning (which I NEVER saw the whole time). However, if you wanted food or merchandise, there was PLENTY of that. I think we will stick to the Disney parks from now on! We went to Cocoa Beach that evening and ate at the infamous Grills restaurant on the port. Wow! Great food. HIGHLY recommend the Whopper cake for dessert. It will help expand your tummy for the cruise
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Beachfront in Cocoa Beach. Whoa nelly, what a 180 from the Hyatt. It is very rundown, our tub didn't drain then the air conditioner went out. It is in SORE need of refurbishment. However, I did see all the new hotels right up near the port. I think it was like Residence Inn, Comfort Inn, etc. They are almost a stones throw from the port and they look nice, clean, and new. Next time, I think we may try that. We had stayed at the Doubletree beachfront (also a priceline) in january and that is a nice property as well.
Thursday: Got to the port about 10:30. We had a Cat 3, room 8602 (the very back room - more details on that in a minute). We got to do priority check in (red carpet no less ) and then sat in the "special" area. Nothing terribly special about it. I think the kids would have preferred the general area so they could watch tv. Only one other family was with us. Right at 12, they let us board first. We got on board and went to the Cadillac Lounge to meet our concierge team, Tracey and Jerome, and get our childcare taken care of. We have an almost 3 yr old (She turns 3 next month, and she is 100% potty trained, in panties 24 hrs). They let her go to Oceaneers instead of flounders (Hooray!) and my 5yr old stayed with the 3-4s to play with her. We were able to get spa appts (which I don't think would have been a problem anyway). We had already booked palo and our shore excursions online. They had a small buffet with little finger foods for the concierge guests. We went upstairs to the Beach Blanket buffet about 1230 and ate. Then, we went down the secret stairway almost right to our room! The room is huge. You walk in and there is a bathroom and then there is a wet bar and round dining table and chairs. To the right as you walk in is the living room. Initially, we were upset about this room as we wanted 2 beds in the living room. The 5yr old and 2yr old dont sleep well together. However, Johny, our room host set up a roll away bed for the baby, so all was well. Then we had our bedroom, bath, huge closet. The verandah was amazing. It wrapped around from the bedroom to the living room with entrances from both. Yes, you could look up and see people at the buffet. But, we had 4 regular chairs, a table, and lounge chair. We were able to stand out there and watch the throw the ropes off as we were leaving. The downside to this cabin is it shakes to high heaven when you are leaving and getting to the ports. I mean shakes. It is classified as a handicapped room, so we had a tub and shower in the bedroom bath. The shower didnt have a lip, but did have a floor drain. The floor did get somewhat wet, but not terribly. We had fruit waiting for us when we got there from the concierge staff, as well as 2 waters, 2 cokes, 2 diet cokes, and 2 sprites. We went to Palo the first night and it was great. The chocolate souffle was wonderful as usual. We missed Triton for that.
Friday: We went to nassau. We left the kids in the club and went walking. We haggled in the straw market and bought some things. We also got some things for the kids in Del Sol (its an ultraviolet sensitive line, t-shirts color when out in the sun and go to black and white when inside). They also have fingernail polish. We played Bingo that evening and my husband actually won $94. The Concierge team left a Mickey and Minnie stuffed animal for the kids and left us a plate of desserts that day.
Saturday: Castaway Cay. We got to see the Flying Dutchman. It was neat. Very small though. I guess smaller than I expected. My husband and son did the Castaway Rays Stingray Excursion. They really enjoyed it. My daughter played at the kids club there on the beach while I went to the Spa and had the Ladies Morning Out. Sara was my therapist. I had a massage, facial, and a pass to the rainforest room. I did buy some of the products. I didnt feel pressured to, but I really liked the Elemis eye products she used. I didn't feel that if I said no that she would have been ugly though. Then, we all met back up and went to Cookies for lunch and then to the beach. We played there for a while and then went back to the ship to go to the pool. Then, we got ready for the evening. We played the big bingo (didn't win) The cards were kinda crappy quality wise in that a lot of people punch throughs werent perforated and the cards were tearing. One lady called Bingo on the last game (the big one) and because she didnt call it on the last number called (because she was having problems punching out the numbers - so much so that a staff member was sitting with her helping her) but they still didnt let her claim it because of the last number called rule. We had dinner in Parrot Cay. Witt and Alain were our servers. Witt was great. He did magic tricks for the kids and was very upbeat and sweet.
Sunday: This made me think of a thread on the main board a few weeks ago - Where does the Magic go on the last day? I WoNDER? We went up to the buffet about 7am, not a smile, not a hello, no offer of the smaller kids trays, no offer of help, they didnt have any ice (Im a coke drinker). No one was helpful, no smiles. I was like wow - they either must be grumpy in the early morning or it was time for me to get off the boat! Not that I envy the job of having to turn around so quickly to get ready for the next crowd, but boy, a smile would have been nice this morning!!
Im not complaining too much since we booked another Cat 3 midship for next summer while we were on board. Overall, Disney just knows how to do it. We have a Royal Caribbean scheduled for next year too. Im interested to compare as we havent done a RCCL in a while. We are going on the Mariner in April and back on the Wonder in June.
Oh, interesting notes on the refurb coming up - you will no longer be able to have bridge tours. We were told this by Tee on our bridge tour. He said that they are expanding the fitness area to cover the space from the landing that you stand on during the tours. The spa will be getting the Villas like the Magic got with the whirlpool and service areas for couples.
I think that about sums it up. Im still rocking a little bit but Im home after a 7 hr drive. Have fun to you guys that get to go soon! I miss it already!
Wednesday: Went to Islands of Adventure. Boy i cannot NOT recommend this enough. We felt so ripped off. Only a few rides were open because of lightning (which I NEVER saw the whole time). However, if you wanted food or merchandise, there was PLENTY of that. I think we will stick to the Disney parks from now on! We went to Cocoa Beach that evening and ate at the infamous Grills restaurant on the port. Wow! Great food. HIGHLY recommend the Whopper cake for dessert. It will help expand your tummy for the cruise
We stayed at the Holiday Inn Beachfront in Cocoa Beach. Whoa nelly, what a 180 from the Hyatt. It is very rundown, our tub didn't drain then the air conditioner went out. It is in SORE need of refurbishment. However, I did see all the new hotels right up near the port. I think it was like Residence Inn, Comfort Inn, etc. They are almost a stones throw from the port and they look nice, clean, and new. Next time, I think we may try that. We had stayed at the Doubletree beachfront (also a priceline) in january and that is a nice property as well.Thursday: Got to the port about 10:30. We had a Cat 3, room 8602 (the very back room - more details on that in a minute). We got to do priority check in (red carpet no less
) and then sat in the "special" area. Nothing terribly special about it. I think the kids would have preferred the general area so they could watch tv. Only one other family was with us. Right at 12, they let us board first. We got on board and went to the Cadillac Lounge to meet our concierge team, Tracey and Jerome, and get our childcare taken care of. We have an almost 3 yr old (She turns 3 next month, and she is 100% potty trained, in panties 24 hrs). They let her go to Oceaneers instead of flounders (Hooray!) and my 5yr old stayed with the 3-4s to play with her. We were able to get spa appts (which I don't think would have been a problem anyway). We had already booked palo and our shore excursions online. They had a small buffet with little finger foods for the concierge guests. We went upstairs to the Beach Blanket buffet about 1230 and ate. Then, we went down the secret stairway almost right to our room! The room is huge. You walk in and there is a bathroom and then there is a wet bar and round dining table and chairs. To the right as you walk in is the living room. Initially, we were upset about this room as we wanted 2 beds in the living room. The 5yr old and 2yr old dont sleep well together. However, Johny, our room host set up a roll away bed for the baby, so all was well. Then we had our bedroom, bath, huge closet. The verandah was amazing. It wrapped around from the bedroom to the living room with entrances from both. Yes, you could look up and see people at the buffet. But, we had 4 regular chairs, a table, and lounge chair. We were able to stand out there and watch the throw the ropes off as we were leaving. The downside to this cabin is it shakes to high heaven when you are leaving and getting to the ports. I mean shakes. It is classified as a handicapped room, so we had a tub and shower in the bedroom bath. The shower didnt have a lip, but did have a floor drain. The floor did get somewhat wet, but not terribly. We had fruit waiting for us when we got there from the concierge staff, as well as 2 waters, 2 cokes, 2 diet cokes, and 2 sprites. We went to Palo the first night and it was great. The chocolate souffle was wonderful as usual. We missed Triton for that.Friday: We went to nassau. We left the kids in the club and went walking. We haggled in the straw market and bought some things. We also got some things for the kids in Del Sol (its an ultraviolet sensitive line, t-shirts color when out in the sun and go to black and white when inside). They also have fingernail polish. We played Bingo that evening and my husband actually won $94. The Concierge team left a Mickey and Minnie stuffed animal for the kids and left us a plate of desserts that day.
Saturday: Castaway Cay. We got to see the Flying Dutchman. It was neat. Very small though. I guess smaller than I expected. My husband and son did the Castaway Rays Stingray Excursion. They really enjoyed it. My daughter played at the kids club there on the beach while I went to the Spa and had the Ladies Morning Out. Sara was my therapist. I had a massage, facial, and a pass to the rainforest room. I did buy some of the products. I didnt feel pressured to, but I really liked the Elemis eye products she used. I didn't feel that if I said no that she would have been ugly though. Then, we all met back up and went to Cookies for lunch and then to the beach. We played there for a while and then went back to the ship to go to the pool. Then, we got ready for the evening. We played the big bingo (didn't win) The cards were kinda crappy quality wise in that a lot of people punch throughs werent perforated and the cards were tearing. One lady called Bingo on the last game (the big one) and because she didnt call it on the last number called (because she was having problems punching out the numbers - so much so that a staff member was sitting with her helping her) but they still didnt let her claim it because of the last number called rule. We had dinner in Parrot Cay. Witt and Alain were our servers. Witt was great. He did magic tricks for the kids and was very upbeat and sweet.
Sunday: This made me think of a thread on the main board a few weeks ago - Where does the Magic go on the last day? I WoNDER? We went up to the buffet about 7am, not a smile, not a hello, no offer of the smaller kids trays, no offer of help, they didnt have any ice (Im a coke drinker). No one was helpful, no smiles. I was like wow - they either must be grumpy in the early morning or it was time for me to get off the boat! Not that I envy the job of having to turn around so quickly to get ready for the next crowd, but boy, a smile would have been nice this morning!!
Im not complaining too much since we booked another Cat 3 midship for next summer while we were on board. Overall, Disney just knows how to do it. We have a Royal Caribbean scheduled for next year too. Im interested to compare as we havent done a RCCL in a while. We are going on the Mariner in April and back on the Wonder in June.
Oh, interesting notes on the refurb coming up - you will no longer be able to have bridge tours. We were told this by Tee on our bridge tour. He said that they are expanding the fitness area to cover the space from the landing that you stand on during the tours. The spa will be getting the Villas like the Magic got with the whirlpool and service areas for couples.
I think that about sums it up. Im still rocking a little bit but Im home after a 7 hr drive. Have fun to you guys that get to go soon! I miss it already!
I am glad you had a good time. Sounds like you had an awesome room!!
