Just back...my personal 2 cents

[Skywalker]

Just returned from the January 8th Magic and for anyone interested, here are just a few thoughts.

#1. If you can possibly afford to upgrade your category...do it. We went with a cat. 11 on the theory that "you don't spend much time in your room anyway." Well, big mistake. It really made me feel claustrophobic and I think the real reason you don't spend much time in your room is because if you are in that category you AVOID your room like the plague! LOL. I felt like I was sleeping in a coffin. It didn't bother my husband as much so everyone is different. I think if it was one or two people it would be okay. But for a family of four I say splurge if you can.

#2. The service. The servers that we had (Depesh and Deneval) were just amazing. They exceeded our expectations and really made our kids feel special. Even my husband who is known to be very "thrifty" (hence the cat. 11 in #1 above) decided to tip them close to double the recommended amount, which really surprised me but they deserved it!!!

#3. The kids clubs. I though the counsellers were amazing. They were friendly, they remembered my kids even though they didn't go too often, they kept a good eye and security for coming and going was very strict, which I was relieved to see. They were great at discipling the very few unruly kids and were a lot of fun.

#4. Things I was paranoid about. Before leaving I had two fears about my kids...namely falling overboard and/or somehow slipping out of the kids clubs unnoticed and something going wrong. Well, it was not long at all before my mind was eased on both of those counts. I am a real worrier, and I felt very comfortable leaving my boys in the clubs and I didn't even fear them falling over - everything we encountered was very safe. So, if you are like me and are worrying about such things, let your mind rest and think about sipping Bahama Mama's instead.

#5. Ports of call. Castaway Cay - breathtaking and fun. St. Thomas - lots of fun excursions and gorgeous. St. Maarten - gorgeous but the aggressiveness of the pitches was very tiring. You cannot take two steps without people being all over you to buy something and some did not want to take know for an answer, although most were respectful. I believe in Jamaica, at least they are banned from the actual beach and I wish they were in St. Maarten as well. One woman kept blocking my view of my boys in the water as she tried to stare me into buying something! LOL.

Anyway, those are just a few of my thoughts. Bottom line - we loved the cruise and would definitely cruise Disney again. The ship is beautiful, the crew were great.

Oh, just one word of warning...do not stop by Shutters unless you want to go broke. LOL.

Allison.

 

[E&BMom]

Gald you had a great time. I totally agree with you about Shutters though!! You need a loan!! Can't wait for ours!!!

 

[faireygod mother]

Thanks for sharing and so glad you had a great trip.

 

[Disneygrl]

Oh, just one word of warning...do not stop by Shutters unless you want to go broke. LOL.

Did you know that you can get a copywrite release and make as many copies of any photo as you want? We used our Triton's formal photos for our Christmas cards last year. Wal-Mart one hour photo has mine on file and I can't wait to get new photos from the upcoming cruise!

Jenn

 

[Lynderella]

Great trip report! We leave Sat. on the Magic. Can hardly wait!

 

[Stimpy]

Thanks for the info!

You mentioned how well they handle the "unruly" kids. How do the kids counslers discipline them? I'm not worried about my own son, he's no angel but he also knows how to behave well. (Last cruise he spent most of his time playing quietly by himself) I was just curious how they do handle it.

 

[maryisme]

Thanks for the trip report. I enjoyed reading it. I totally agree with you about the category 11. I had one on my last cruise (August 04) and really didn't care for it. We're on the panama east bound and were waitlisted for a category 9 and when it became available we grabbed it. Prior to our August 04 cruise we were on the fence about upgrading because of the cost but I now feel it is absolutely worth it.

Thanks again.

Mary

 

[Thunderrd]

Did you know that you can get a copywrite release and make as many copies of any photo as you want?

Do you get this while you are on the cruise or what?

 

[3mickeys&me]

Glad you enjoyed your trip and thanks so much for putting my nervous mind at ease about the safety of your kids. I was a little nervous about the overboard thing and them escaping camp w/o anyone noticing. Nice to know that the security is good. Thanks so much for the info.

 

[poconoboatniks]

Thunderrd

You can get the release form from Shutters or there is a website you can go to and print the release.

Poconoboatniks

 

[Skywalker]

Thanks for the info!

You mentioned how well they handle the "unruly" kids. How do the kids counslers discipline them? I'm not worried about my own son, he's no angel but he also knows how to behave well. (Last cruise he spent most of his time playing quietly by himself) I was just curious how they do handle it.

Hi Stimpy,

Well, there were two incidents that I saw, both involved different counsellers and different kids. One boy was really mouthy, would not listen when it was time to do certain activities, etc., and the counseller took him aside and spoke to him in a very firm tone and told him in no uncertain terms that his behaviour would not be tolerated. He started to stand up and walk away from her and she told him to not walk away from her and sit down and listen. It was just the way she said it...even though she was young she said it with all the authority of everyone's strictest teacher from elementary school - you know just the kind of tone you do not mess with! (I don't mean threatening or anything, just authoratative). Anyway, the second one was a kid that was actually physically hurting another kid - a boy that kept pulling a girl's hair. The counseller again in a kind but very firm no-nonsense tone told him that was not acceptable and if he did it again he would not be returning to the club. I got the impression from both incidents that these were both boys who probably got no consequences at home and when faced with a true authority figure who would not back down...well, they were almost mesmerized. LOL.

Anyway, as fun as the counseller were with the kids, and they really were, they did not allow kids to disobey them either, which is great. If they told someone no running or else they are out of the game, and then the kid ran anyway...guess what they were out of the game. Just simple things like that. Frankly I don't see too many parents enforcing rules like that. I saw too many parents giving their kids ten "chances" and then still not doing anything about it.

So when I say discipline, I guess I just mean good old fashioned rules/consequences. I never heard them raise a voice, get angry, or show frustration with any kid. Lord love them.

 

[CarolAnnC]

Great report!! Thanx for sharing with us!

 

[Stinasmom]

Thanks for the report from your recent cruise! I can't wait to share my experiences! You have me a bit worried about the cat. 11 stateroom...we have DD8 and DS4, so all 4 of us in there...yikes.
Upgrading is really expensive on the West Coast cruise(if anything is even available by now!), infact, the west coast cruise itself has proven to be quite expensive compared to other cruises based on the research I did when booking our second. (I didn't book the West coast one...MIL did and now can't even go
Isn't that funny, us moms all secretly (or not so secretly!) worrying about the kid overboard thing! Sounds like Disney has designed the ships to be very safe. Just can't help but run that senario through one's head at least once!

 

[Skywalker]

You have me a bit worried about the cat. 11 stateroom...we have DD8 and DS4, so all 4 of us in there...yikes.
QUOTE]

Sorry! You know, my husband didn't really find it as bad as I did and hopefully you won't either. Still, when I was feeling particularly claustrophobic I discovered a cure...I would just hit myself upside the head and say "You are on the Disney freakin' Magic!" That and a nice stroll on deck to look at the panoramic ocean view would usually do it. LOL.

You will still have a great time!

 

[MrsMork]

We've taken 6 Disney Cruises. All but 2 of them in Cat 11. We were with 2 GS on two of them. We were literally never in the room except to dress and sleep. Worked fine for us and gave us extra $$ to spend elsewhere. Shutters.....

 

[GrumpyMom1]

You have me a bit worried about the cat. 11 stateroom...we have DD8 and DS4, so all 4 of us in there...yikes.

We have taken 2 cruises and have a 3rd booked in category 11 . There are 3 of us (4 of us the first time) and we don't have a problem with it. I would love to try a verandah, but I can't justify (or afford) the extra cost. I wouldn't worry about it. If it's not for you, you can get something bigger next time.

 

[jrabbit]

The cat 11 staterooms are about 184 sq feet. The cat 8/9 staterooms (with porthole) are about 214 sq. feet. Thats only about 30 sq feet larger and about 1/2 of that extra space is taken up by the split bathroom. The rooms with verandas (cats 5-7) are 268 sq feet and the veranda is included in the rooms square footage. So if the rooms are 11 feet wide and the veranda is 5 fee deep all of that extra space is outside.

The reality is that all of the rooms (cat 5 - 12) onboard are small. OK the cat 3 rooms are twice the size of the cat 5 rooms and the cat 2 rooms are 3.5 times the size of a cat 5 and finally the Walt and Roy Suites are the size of small homes. The natural light of the cat 8-9 are nice and help the rooms feel larger. I've never been in a cat7 or better room but I can only imagine that the veranda helps make the room feel that much larger. Many families of 4 have traveled sucessfully in cat 11 rooms. You just gotta be know that the rooms at the All Star resorts are huge compared to the staterooms on cruise ships.

 

[Skywalker]

That's right jrabbit, you just have to know what you are getting. I thought I was prepared for the small room size but man we were tripping all over each other and our stuff. Not that it was the end of the world though, you adjust. We have cruised before on Princess and of course the room was small there too, but we had a window and somehow that made a lot of difference. So really, I think it was the combination of the small cabin size AND the lack of a window that really gave me that closed in/coffin feeling. The same cabin size but with an upgrade to an "outside" room would have made all the difference. To me anyway, like I said, just my personal 2 cents.

 

[Cricket538]

Great trip report, Skywalker!

Please tell me, was it too cold to swim? (FL/ship/islands)???

 

[bailey0308]

i also just returned from the jan 8 and had depesh and donevel as our servers and i could not agree with you more. throughout the week we went to breakfast in the different resteraunts and had different servers. none of the other servers compared to the two of them. they were incredible.

"i made the mistake of stopping by shutters to many times"