Just back from the Western SWDAS

[noahsketomom]

I don’t have time for a trip report, but here are a few tidbits from our recent Western SWDAS Cruise (our 3rd cruise):


1. Used Happy Hour Limo for MCO to hotel and from hotel to Port. AWESOME drivers, best quote of price. Would use again.

2. Stayed at the Holiday Inn Cape Canaveral Beach Resort (previously Ron Jons Resort) for the night before. DEFINITELY request the pool building (not ocean building) unless you have a car. It is a good 5-10 min walk or you'd have to wait for the tram. The pool building is where all the action is. Room wasn't ready for over 2 hours after we arrived, but plenty to do onsite - mini golf, pools, lazy river, food. Very good prices on happy hour drinks. We ordered food in for dinner since we didn't want to trek over to Gill's/Fishlips area. I would stay here again, but only if we had a car.

3. Checkin at 10:30.....boarding group #2....kids 1st in line at Aquaduck. Super easy embarkation - man, Disney has it DOWN.

4. Late dining and AERAEER was our rotation. Nolan and Sudi took good care of us.

5. Had three adjacent midship verandas on deck 6 - 6566, 6564, 6562. I really prefer Starboard due to the view of CC, but would stay away from room 6562. My mom and sister reported hearing the buena vista theatre late at night. The other rooms were fine - no problem. I enjoyed being midship as opposed to aft, even though the elevators were busier. Our Cabin steward was Orlin and he was AWESOME!!!! Most personality than any previous steward and he was amazing....our room magically transformed!

6. Super Bowl Sunday - Special food (chicken legs, nachos, Atlanta Falcons Pulled Pork Sandwiches and New England Clam Chowder, and more) available outside O’Gills and at Mater’s Grill. Superbowl was in staterooms, O’Gills, and on the pool deck. No commercials, but they had trivia during the breaks and my son won several prizes. Awesome time watching it on board - especially considering the outcome!

7. Cozumel - Did the ruins, chocolate, beach break. Although it was very informative, our tour guide David spent an awful lot of time on his political views. Would've rather just had the history straight up, or less all around talking. Felt rushed at the beach and worried the kids would get distracted on the inflatables and we would miss the bus back!

8. Grand Cayman - booked Stingray City, Coral Gardens, and Starfish beach tour through Nativeway Watersports. Was a little worried when nobody else was at the meeting point, but then we find out that we are the only people on the tour! (Others were coming from another ship and their boat docked late or something like that…) Anyhow, we had a PRIVATE excursion — the 8 of us, with three crew! Thomas was the captain and took excellent care of us. We spent as much time as we wanted at each place and they had us back at the port by 3pm or so. They recommended an Italian place for lunch - with a great view of the Fantasy. Fabulous day.

9. Jamaica - Wish we had done an excursion here instead of on Cozumel as it looked lush and beautiful. But we ended up just hanging in the port area, getting SUPER expensive watered down drinks at Margaritaville, and doing a little souvenir shopping.

10. SWDAS - Began the night before with a short show in the atrium. We had been given cards with 5 choices of experiences that had to be dropped off at Guest Services. We then were given tickets to the top two choices at specific times. Character meet and greets were very organized and quick. The highlight of the day for me was seeing the Storm Troopers and Imperial Officers (and other characters) roaming through the decks. They would question random guests looking for rebels. They were HILARIOUS if you played along.

11. CASTAWAY - Awesome - as usual. Parasailing was cancelled again due to winds. (third time for us!) Ran the 5K and it was PERFECT weather for it (a cool breeze in the morning). Water was a little chilly, but kids did waterslides and hung out on floats. I love this place so much and can’t wait to return for our anniversary cruise iin May (3-day double dip).

12. Shows - Saw Wishes (AWESOME), Believe (AWESOME), and the Opening Show (MEH). Missed Aladdin due to Super Bowl. (priorities!)

13. Adult Stuff - Palo brunch was amazing (though why did they get rid of the grape & gorgonzola pizza? BOO!); Mixology was also a lot of fun (though the drinks seemed familiar from 3 years ago), and we again booked a placeholder (Darn you Disney for keeping us hooked!!)

14. Disembarkation was delayed due to Coast Guard inspection, so I’m glad we had a late (2pm) flight. Late breakfast was at 8 and we hung out in the lobby until the line died down. Because we had down on board checkin and we had bought rum, we returned one luggage tag and carried off one piece of luggage, checking it ourselves when we got to MCO. Just a tip in case you still want to use the convenient service (they originally suggested pulling out of onboard checkin altogether…but we had 8 humungo bags!!)


Any specific questions please feel free to ask. Sorry this got so long!!!

 

[TestingH2O]

Which SWDAS experiences did you pick?

Did they have 2 nights of fireworks again?

 

[noahsketomom]

Which SWDAS experiences did you pick?

Did they have 2 nights of fireworks again?

We all (all three staterooms) met the droids (could also have been chewbacca)

One stateroom met darth Vader
Another met Kylo ren (could've also been captain phasma)

Those that met darth Vader thought it was cool bc it was in the tube so it had super cool lighting.

Yes, both nights had fireworks.
For pirate night, us adults grabbed after dinner drinks in meridian and could see the fireworks from there....very cool.

For Star Wars night we watched the show from the main pool deck

 

[Sytrace]

It was a great cruise! We had the same dining rotation too.

 

[sfeisen]

When you arrived at port, did the Happy Limo service help with getting your luggage to where it needed to go? We took Disney transfers last time, and we didn't see our luggage until we were in our rooms.

 

[TestingH2O]

When you arrived at port, did the Happy Limo service help with getting your luggage to where it needed to go? We took Disney transfers last time, and we didn't see our luggage until we were in our rooms.

I'm butting in, but our experience is that there are porters waiting at the curb to take your luggage from the vehicle to the cargo area. We generally tip $1-2 per bag to the porters.

 

[sfeisen]

Thanks! Just got a quote from Happy Limo for roundtrip transportation for 6 people from Airport Hotel to Port and then Port to MCO for $306. I didn't know if the extra $60 I would spend for Disney transfers would be worth not having to handle the luggage. It doesn't sound like it's a big deal.

 

[noahsketomom]

Thanks! Just got a quote from Happy Limo for roundtrip transportation for 6 people from Airport Hotel to Port and then Port to MCO for $306. I didn't know if the extra $60 I would spend for Disney transfers would be worth not having to handle the luggage. It doesn't sound like it's a big deal.

As testingh2o mentioned, any private transfer would deliver your luggage to the cu'meb, which would be wisked away by waiting porters. I stood there long enough to count the bags and give the porters a tip.
And just for clarification, we used happy HOUR limo this time (smaller company out of cape canaveral), but have used Happy limo previously. I would use either again, with a small preference for happy hour due to cheaper price and more personable drivers. (The latter of course can vary.)
Have a great cruise!

 

[pontikes67]

We've used Happy Limo (not Hour) and it was great. Handling luggage is no biggie as porters help and you just throw them a couple of bucks per bag. We've done DCL Transfers and Private and think Private (if close in $$) is the way to go.

 

[genlengefeld]

@grand Cayman, did you have to take a cab ride to your meeting point with Nativeway Watersport?

I don’t have time for a trip report, but here are a few tidbits from our recent Western SWDAS Cruise (our 3rd cruise):


1. Used Happy Hour Limo for MCO to hotel and from hotel to Port. AWESOME drivers, best quote of price. Would use again.

2. Stayed at the Holiday Inn Cape Canaveral Beach Resort (previously Ron Jons Resort) for the night before. DEFINITELY request the pool building (not ocean building) unless you have a car. It is a good 5-10 min walk or you'd have to wait for the tram. The pool building is where all the action is. Room wasn't ready for over 2 hours after we arrived, but plenty to do onsite - mini golf, pools, lazy river, food. Very good prices on happy hour drinks. We ordered food in for dinner since we didn't want to trek over to Gill's/Fishlips area. I would stay here again, but only if we had a car.

3. Checkin at 10:30.....boarding group #2....kids 1st in line at Aquaduck. Super easy embarkation - man, Disney has it DOWN.

4. Late dining and AERAEER was our rotation. Nolan and Sudi took good care of us.

5. Had three adjacent midship verandas on deck 6 - 6566, 6564, 6562. I really prefer Starboard due to the view of CC, but would stay away from room 6562. My mom and sister reported hearing the buena vista theatre late at night. The other rooms were fine - no problem. I enjoyed being midship as opposed to aft, even though the elevators were busier. Our Cabin steward was Orlin and he was AWESOME!!!! Most personality than any previous steward and he was amazing....our room magically transformed!

6. Super Bowl Sunday - Special food (chicken legs, nachos, Atlanta Falcons Pulled Pork Sandwiches and New England Clam Chowder, and more) available outside O’Gills and at Mater’s Grill. Superbowl was in staterooms, O’Gills, and on the pool deck. No commercials, but they had trivia during the breaks and my son won several prizes. Awesome time watching it on board - especially considering the outcome!

7. Cozumel - Did the ruins, chocolate, beach break. Although it was very informative, our tour guide David spent an awful lot of time on his political views. Would've rather just had the history straight up, or less all around talking. Felt rushed at the beach and worried the kids would get distracted on the inflatables and we would miss the bus back!

8. Grand Cayman - booked Stingray City, Coral Gardens, and Starfish beach tour through Nativeway Watersports. Was a little worried when nobody else was at the meeting point, but then we find out that we are the only people on the tour! (Others were coming from another ship and their boat docked late or something like that…) Anyhow, we had a PRIVATE excursion — the 8 of us, with three crew! Thomas was the captain and took excellent care of us. We spent as much time as we wanted at each place and they had us back at the port by 3pm or so. They recommended an Italian place for lunch - with a great view of the Fantasy. Fabulous day.

9. Jamaica - Wish we had done an excursion here instead of on Cozumel as it looked lush and beautiful. But we ended up just hanging in the port area, getting SUPER expensive watered down drinks at Margaritaville, and doing a little souvenir shopping.

10. SWDAS - Began the night before with a short show in the atrium. We had been given cards with 5 choices of experiences that had to be dropped off at Guest Services. We then were given tickets to the top two choices at specific times. Character meet and greets were very organized and quick. The highlight of the day for me was seeing the Storm Troopers and Imperial Officers (and other characters) roaming through the decks. They would question random guests looking for rebels. They were HILARIOUS if you played along.

11. CASTAWAY - Awesome - as usual. Parasailing was cancelled again due to winds. (third time for us!) Ran the 5K and it was PERFECT weather for it (a cool breeze in the morning). Water was a little chilly, but kids did waterslides and hung out on floats. I love this place so much and can’t wait to return for our anniversary cruise iin May (3-day double dip).

12. Shows - Saw Wishes (AWESOME), Believe (AWESOME), and the Opening Show (MEH). Missed Aladdin due to Super Bowl. (priorities!)

13. Adult Stuff - Palo brunch was amazing (though why did they get rid of the grape & gorgonzola pizza? BOO!); Mixology was also a lot of fun (though the drinks seemed familiar from 3 years ago), and we again booked a placeholder (Darn you Disney for keeping us hooked!!)

14. Disembarkation was delayed due to Coast Guard inspection, so I’m glad we had a late (2pm) flight. Late breakfast was at 8 and we hung out in the lobby until the line died down. Because we had down on board checkin and we had bought rum, we returned one luggage tag and carried off one piece of luggage, checking it ourselves when we got to MCO. Just a tip in case you still want to use the convenient service (they originally suggested pulling out of onboard checkin altogether…but we had 8 humungo bags!!)


Any specific questions please feel free to ask. Sorry this got so long!!!

 

[noahsketomom]

@grand Cayman, did you have to take a cab ride to your meeting point with Nativeway Watersport?

No, the meeting place was just outside the dock gates. Once we met our driver, he drove us 5-10 minutes to the boat.

 

[Laurie907]

Love Nolan & Sudi, just requested them for next Jan as well!
If you do this itinerary again, I strongly suggest the Zipline & Bobsleds through the rainforest excursion in Jamaica. Our favorite excursion out of past 5 Disney Caribbean cruises! Don't bother with the Zipline in Tortola, not worth it. Jamaica or St. Thomas is great!

 

[Minnie368]

Love Nolan & Sudi, just requested them for next Jan as well!
If you do this itinerary again, I strongly suggest the Zipline & Bobsleds through the rainforest excursion in Jamaica. Our favorite excursion out of past 5 Disney Caribbean cruises! Don't bother with the Zipline in Tortola, not worth it. Jamaica or St. Thomas is great!

Are you talking about "Bobsled Jamaica and Dunn's River Falls"?

 

[Laurie907]

Are you talking about "Bobsled Jamaica and Dunn's River Falls"?

It's called the Tranopy Adventure I believe. At Mystic Mountain. Lots of fun and great people.

 

[Minnie368]

It's called the Tranopy Adventure I believe. At Mystic Mountain. Lots of fun and great people.

How was the lunch they provided?

 

[Laurie907]

This was a few cruises ago so I don't exactly remember what all they served. I'm thinking it was some sort of BBQ like Jerk Chicken, etc. I think they had hot dogs for kids. I just always pack snacks with us wherever we go, my daughter is always looking for a snack, haha!