Realityfreakaholic
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2005
- Messages
- 72
I haven't had a chance to read through any posts yet so I'm not sure if anyone has reported on this cruise or not.
This was my first Disney Cruise and I absolutely loved it. It had very high expections to meet since I've been reading these boards for months but for the most part it was everything that I expected.
I cannot THANK everyone on this board enough for all the helpful hints in the last few months that made me so well prepared for this voyage. I made sure we had a leisurely morning at the hotel and didn't rush to the terminal. We got there around 12:30pm and had a short wait and we got right on board. There was no problem driving from Cocoa Beach to the terminal. It was simple, no traffic. Disney is so on top of things and everything just went so smoothy, from dropping off luggage to parking to checking in. Then when you get on board they welcome you over a microphone and the crew claps (you just feel like a celebrity for that moment, lol).
We walked around the ship a bit and then went into our room at 1:30pm. We were in a cat 4 and were so pleasantly surprised by the size. I just kept thinking very small but it was nice and the verandah was worth every last penny. We spent a lot of time out there and a few nights at sea left the door open and just slept to waves crashing on side of the ship. It was so awesome and peaceful. The most incredible part of our cruise was one morning at sea my DH and I were sitting on the verandah and not very far a blue whale jumped out of the water. It was breathtaking. We yelled for our kids but all they got to see was the whale spouting water. We kept looking for more whales and saw 2 smaller ones swimming but that was it. I will NEVER forget it though. It was so awesome.
We had beautiful weather everyday EXCEPT the last day (Friday) at CC. We were so disappointed. We never got off the islands in St. Maarten and St. thomas because we had no interest but we were so looking forward to our day at CC. The ship was able to dock and you could go out (Disney provided ponchos). We kept holding out hope that the weather was going to break but it was thundering and pouring. Finally at 2pm I just said "COMEON, lets go" so we went out in our ponchos, took off our shoes and jumped in the puddles along the trail. The lifeguard told us if we wanted to go down to the water for some pics it was OK but to hurry cause nobody was allowed in the water due to the lightening. So, we did get to feel the warm water and the see the gorgeous blue water but that was about it. Bought a few things and headed back to the ship..drenched!!!! My kids went back to the club and my DH and I played Bingo since it was the last day and they had to give away the jackpot. Keep in mind..we do not play and the Disney theatre was jam packed. My DH comes back to our seats holding up all these sheets he purchased ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS WORTH. I'm like "Are you kidding me?" He's like "There's a big jackpot" so after each game that we did not win, the final game comes. You had to get every number in a box to win and they were going to keep calling numbers till someone won. The crowd was going crazy and Kara (the cruise director) told people to stand up when they only had 1 number left. Then my DH stands up. I'm like OMG...OMG...he only needs one number (the jackpot was $5000). I was dying..He needed N-47. So then Kara says "N....." (here we are dying)...20 something. BINGO somebody yells. My mind is not allowing me to process the fact that now 3 people yelled bingo and we are out a 100 bucks, LMAO. We were so bummed but it made for a fun fun time. So, that was my last day on the ship. Disappointing but we made the best of a bad situation and hopefully next time we'll get to experience it.
The other days were filled with nothing but fun, sun and relaxation. I thought from reading here that there was no way I would be hanging by the pools but they really never got totally ridiculous. We could always get a chair (but we are early birds) and we stayed for a few hours and my kids loved the hot tubs and the goofy pool. They had a blast. My DS is 8 1/2 and I was really worried about allowing him to sign out of the clubs by himself but after the 3rd day I knew he knew the ship well and he would always come to our cabin first and leave a note of where he was going. After that we barely saw him. He had a blast. He did use his card to purchase some arcade cards but it wasn't out of control. I felt very safe and he enjoyed the freedom. He didn't even have dinner with us the last 3 nights.
My DH was so impressed with all I learned from these boards. First off my cool magnetic signs for the door. Not only were they adorable (and I did get the paint chips from Home Depot and used them for our names as well)..but they made it so easy for my kids to find the room. I also had the over the door shoe holder..a MUST have. Wow, it held all our toiletrees and lotions, brushes. Gave us so much room. I had the clothes pins to hang our wet bathing suits out on the verandah. I had the pirate stuff for the kids (who were so tired that night that they practically left when it started but at least I had them looking good for that 10 minutes, LOL). I used the idea to bring a pair of black slacks so I can just change my shirts for dinner cause we always changed shortly after dinner or a show. What else..oh, we had purchased phone cards that we allowed my kids to give to the kids club staff. My DS also gave one to the guy who worked in Scoops cause he said "he works so hard and looks sad". He was really surprised and happy. I also bought quarters for the washing machine and dryers and knew the right times to wash when it wasn't crowded. I also had dollar bills in our nightstand for room service. My DH loved the hands on deck platter. So many wonderful insights thanks to all of you.
My DH and I did the Rainforest room on a port day..we had it totally to ourselves. It was heaven. Everything was just so nice. My only regrets are we never went to see a nice Disney show. We did go the family shows at 7:45pm and caught some of the farewell show but by 8:30pm my little one was getting so tired we knew she wouldn't make it for the whole show so we didn't bother and I'm sure they were amazing shows. Also, not that this was a regret, more like a little disappointment but I wasn't thrilled with our waiters and our stateroom host. Now, dont get me wrong. They were very polite, nice and did what they were supposed to but I missed that feeling that they really cared. I saw other waiters high fiving people or the kids saying hello to the stateroom hosts who was joking with them. We didn't get that. Our stateroom host was hardly ever seen. Maybe in an occasional hallway and he would wave but never even tried to get to know us. Also, our waiter was very nice but he was also more straight laced and our asst. server was funny but both my DH and I got the feeling it was staged. Like an act of what people expected but not what they felt. It's hard to pinpoint it. Like I said they were very polite but just didn't feel they were as into it as others were.
Wow..I think I wrote a book. Sorry (if anyone is still even reading). The only last thing I will comment on is Palos. Dont flame me but I just thought it was OK. I had a delicious filet mignon. Out of this world but the appetizers and dessert didn't do much for me. It was still nice to experience it and have a night away from the kids.
OK..I think that's it. Any questions anyone might have I would be glad to answer. Oh..I did rebook but we decided to go in 2 years and since you cant book that far out we booked next April and I will change it when the dates open up. Infact I am going to mark that on my calendar right now.
I miss it and all in all we had a fabulous time.
Can't wait and am so jealous of anyone going soon. 
This was my first Disney Cruise and I absolutely loved it. It had very high expections to meet since I've been reading these boards for months but for the most part it was everything that I expected.
I cannot THANK everyone on this board enough for all the helpful hints in the last few months that made me so well prepared for this voyage. I made sure we had a leisurely morning at the hotel and didn't rush to the terminal. We got there around 12:30pm and had a short wait and we got right on board. There was no problem driving from Cocoa Beach to the terminal. It was simple, no traffic. Disney is so on top of things and everything just went so smoothy, from dropping off luggage to parking to checking in. Then when you get on board they welcome you over a microphone and the crew claps (you just feel like a celebrity for that moment, lol).
We walked around the ship a bit and then went into our room at 1:30pm. We were in a cat 4 and were so pleasantly surprised by the size. I just kept thinking very small but it was nice and the verandah was worth every last penny. We spent a lot of time out there and a few nights at sea left the door open and just slept to waves crashing on side of the ship. It was so awesome and peaceful. The most incredible part of our cruise was one morning at sea my DH and I were sitting on the verandah and not very far a blue whale jumped out of the water. It was breathtaking. We yelled for our kids but all they got to see was the whale spouting water. We kept looking for more whales and saw 2 smaller ones swimming but that was it. I will NEVER forget it though. It was so awesome.
We had beautiful weather everyday EXCEPT the last day (Friday) at CC. We were so disappointed. We never got off the islands in St. Maarten and St. thomas because we had no interest but we were so looking forward to our day at CC. The ship was able to dock and you could go out (Disney provided ponchos). We kept holding out hope that the weather was going to break but it was thundering and pouring. Finally at 2pm I just said "COMEON, lets go" so we went out in our ponchos, took off our shoes and jumped in the puddles along the trail. The lifeguard told us if we wanted to go down to the water for some pics it was OK but to hurry cause nobody was allowed in the water due to the lightening. So, we did get to feel the warm water and the see the gorgeous blue water but that was about it. Bought a few things and headed back to the ship..drenched!!!! My kids went back to the club and my DH and I played Bingo since it was the last day and they had to give away the jackpot. Keep in mind..we do not play and the Disney theatre was jam packed. My DH comes back to our seats holding up all these sheets he purchased ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS WORTH. I'm like "Are you kidding me?" He's like "There's a big jackpot" so after each game that we did not win, the final game comes. You had to get every number in a box to win and they were going to keep calling numbers till someone won. The crowd was going crazy and Kara (the cruise director) told people to stand up when they only had 1 number left. Then my DH stands up. I'm like OMG...OMG...he only needs one number (the jackpot was $5000). I was dying..He needed N-47. So then Kara says "N....." (here we are dying)...20 something. BINGO somebody yells. My mind is not allowing me to process the fact that now 3 people yelled bingo and we are out a 100 bucks, LMAO. We were so bummed but it made for a fun fun time. So, that was my last day on the ship. Disappointing but we made the best of a bad situation and hopefully next time we'll get to experience it.
The other days were filled with nothing but fun, sun and relaxation. I thought from reading here that there was no way I would be hanging by the pools but they really never got totally ridiculous. We could always get a chair (but we are early birds) and we stayed for a few hours and my kids loved the hot tubs and the goofy pool. They had a blast. My DS is 8 1/2 and I was really worried about allowing him to sign out of the clubs by himself but after the 3rd day I knew he knew the ship well and he would always come to our cabin first and leave a note of where he was going. After that we barely saw him. He had a blast. He did use his card to purchase some arcade cards but it wasn't out of control. I felt very safe and he enjoyed the freedom. He didn't even have dinner with us the last 3 nights.
My DH was so impressed with all I learned from these boards. First off my cool magnetic signs for the door. Not only were they adorable (and I did get the paint chips from Home Depot and used them for our names as well)..but they made it so easy for my kids to find the room. I also had the over the door shoe holder..a MUST have. Wow, it held all our toiletrees and lotions, brushes. Gave us so much room. I had the clothes pins to hang our wet bathing suits out on the verandah. I had the pirate stuff for the kids (who were so tired that night that they practically left when it started but at least I had them looking good for that 10 minutes, LOL). I used the idea to bring a pair of black slacks so I can just change my shirts for dinner cause we always changed shortly after dinner or a show. What else..oh, we had purchased phone cards that we allowed my kids to give to the kids club staff. My DS also gave one to the guy who worked in Scoops cause he said "he works so hard and looks sad". He was really surprised and happy. I also bought quarters for the washing machine and dryers and knew the right times to wash when it wasn't crowded. I also had dollar bills in our nightstand for room service. My DH loved the hands on deck platter. So many wonderful insights thanks to all of you.
My DH and I did the Rainforest room on a port day..we had it totally to ourselves. It was heaven. Everything was just so nice. My only regrets are we never went to see a nice Disney show. We did go the family shows at 7:45pm and caught some of the farewell show but by 8:30pm my little one was getting so tired we knew she wouldn't make it for the whole show so we didn't bother and I'm sure they were amazing shows. Also, not that this was a regret, more like a little disappointment but I wasn't thrilled with our waiters and our stateroom host. Now, dont get me wrong. They were very polite, nice and did what they were supposed to but I missed that feeling that they really cared. I saw other waiters high fiving people or the kids saying hello to the stateroom hosts who was joking with them. We didn't get that. Our stateroom host was hardly ever seen. Maybe in an occasional hallway and he would wave but never even tried to get to know us. Also, our waiter was very nice but he was also more straight laced and our asst. server was funny but both my DH and I got the feeling it was staged. Like an act of what people expected but not what they felt. It's hard to pinpoint it. Like I said they were very polite but just didn't feel they were as into it as others were.
Wow..I think I wrote a book. Sorry (if anyone is still even reading). The only last thing I will comment on is Palos. Dont flame me but I just thought it was OK. I had a delicious filet mignon. Out of this world but the appetizers and dessert didn't do much for me. It was still nice to experience it and have a night away from the kids.
OK..I think that's it. Any questions anyone might have I would be glad to answer. Oh..I did rebook but we decided to go in 2 years and since you cant book that far out we booked next April and I will change it when the dates open up. Infact I am going to mark that on my calendar right now.
I miss it and all in all we had a fabulous time.
Can't wait and am so jealous of anyone going soon. 
Thanks again for a great post!
) and I've heard people mention the door magnets for your staterooms ~ can you tell me how you did this? Does everyone make "door signs"? It seems like an AwEsOmE idea..... 
