Our 7-day land + Sea vacation was practically perfect. We've done Disney World and Land a few times before, but this was our first cruise. So all of us (me - an 18 year old girl, my brother -14, my parents and my friend and her family) were all really anticipating this trip.
WDW
I'll briefly talk about our stay there. It was perfect. Our weather was fantastic everyday but the first night.
We stayed at the Beach Club. To our surprise we had been upgraded to the concierge level (so were a lot of other cruisers. Coincidence? I think not!) It was fantastic and probably saved us a lot of money. We always ate breakfast there (for you Atkins diet people, not a lot of low-carb choices for breakfast). We snacked there throughout the day and night. I highly recommend Beach Club resort. It's so convenient. You can walk to MGM and Epcot easily. Plus Boardwalk is so close. The sand-bottomed pool is a lot of fun as well.
Animal Kingdom pickup is a great way to spend the Thursday morning. We didn't go to the Breakfastsaurus there. Your bags are picked up in your hotel room. You can drop off your day bag at a Cruise stand right outside AK. You also get reserved seats for Festival of the LIon King (a do not miss). WE also didn't have to wait in any lines for more than 5 minutes.
One problem with going to Disney World first is that by the time the cruise came along we were all exhausted. We hardly did anything after dinner. Mind you by after dinner it was like 10:00
Ship
Food
We ate at Beach Blanket buffet for the embarkation lunch. It's a fantastic way to kick off the cruise. The food was so good. There were some really good sandwiches and pasta salads. i was told the shrimp was good.
We were on the TAP rotation. Triton's was my favourite meal food wise. I had the deep fried camembert, whatever that steak like thing is that they recommend (the masehed potatoes that come with it are awesome, really picky kids (I used to be one of them) might like a plate just of these which I'm sure they could do). and creme brullé (WOW!). My brother had the pasta which was absolutely delicious. Disney sure knows how to make a kid happy. Our shirley temples would have 6 cherries each at least.
We had breakfast the first morning at Tritons again. We thought it was nice to be able to be waited upon as opposed to getting into the buffet line. At Tritons they bring around plates of danishes. I highly reccomend the sticky buns.
For lunch we ate at Tritons again. I had hummus and chips and guacamole and key lime pie for dessert. We really liked eating at tritons.
Dinner that night was at Animators Palate. Wow is all I can say! That restaurant is gorgeous! I had a really good ceasar salad, some pasta thing that I wsn't crazy about. I had strawberry shortcake for dessert.
The next morning we decided instead of Tritons to eat at Beach Blanket buffet because we wanted to be as quick as we could to maximize our time at CC. We really enjoyed this breakfast as well. A word to the wise, after the main buffet there is also a omelet/waffle stand, and a danish buffet (to my delight there were sticky buns here as well). It was nice to be able to eat outside and see the ship dock at CC.
Cookies for lunch was fun. It was nice to get out of the rain. My favourite part was right outside of cookies there is a fruit stand that has all sorts f fruits like kiwi, papaya, mango and there's a guy who will cut it up for you.
That night my brother, my friend and I ate alone at Parrot Cay. Our parents went to Palo. I've heard that people reccomend nassau night to eat there so you see the lights. but late seating last night you pass by freeeport. Anyways, I think Parrot Cay was a good night for them to miss. They like the quite, elegant restaurants more than the loud, crazy, napkin waving restaurants. The banana bread is sooooo good. I practically filled up on that. I had plenty of other stuff too though. I had a fruit salad, avocado soup, 1/2 roasted chicken, chocolate mousse and i split another dessert. That was a fun night.
disembarkation morning we ate at Parrot Cay again (my parents enjoyed seeing the restaurant!). I had some fruit and even though they didn't have any readily available, Rea, our assistant server went searching for some sticky buns for me.
Aside from these main meals we took advantage of all the other food available as well. We really liked the pizza, though I only had it once. The chips, salsa and guacamole at ESPN was pretty good. The lemonade at the drink stand is good, so are the cookies that are right near it. The fruit and chicken caesar wraps at Scoops are awesome. I still haven't decided if I really liked the icecream or not. I sure ate a lot of it!
Entertainment
We really enjoyed Hercules and Disney Dreams. WE always enjoy Disney stage shows. We went to the Family dueling piano show. I really enjoyed that, being a piano player myself. I would've like to have seen the adult version, I just never found the time. The shows on the goofy pool were always fun. It was funny in Nassau seeing all of the jealous people from the ship next door looking on at our show.
CC
Even though the weather was lousy the day we were at CC we still thouroughly enjoyed it, especially my brother and I. First thing we did was go snorkelling. This was my first time ever and enjoyed it so much. The very first thing we saw was a stingray which got us really excited. There isn't a whole lot to see close to shore. ONce you get out there though there's a plethora of fish. There was this one school of gigantic fish which scared me slightly. It was really neat seeing that submerine out there. Check in every fish condo, that's where a lot of the ghoti (fish) hang out. ONce we got out it started pouring. Not exactly the weather I had hoped for. So much for getting a tan that day. So like pretty much everyne else, we headed over to cookies. Everyone, but my brother and I decided to head back the ship after lunch. My brother and I decided that we still wanted to explore. WE walked down the path and landed our selves in heaven, Grouper Gameroom. That was right up my brother's and I's alley! They have ping-pong, shuffleboard, giant checkers, basketball, and this golf game. We must've been there for at least two hours. It wásn't too busy there and the atmosphere was great! The rain let up for a while so we went outside to play tether ball. That was fun, I think I still have bruises from our game. After that we headed back to the ship.
Nassau
Nassau is just like everyone says it is. A dirty city with people constanyl pressuring you into getting your hair braided or a taxi ride. Maybe its better if you go over to Atlantis. WE just stayed in the areaclose to where the ships are. There are some nice duty-free shopping opportunities though.
ETC
There is just so much to do that I didn't do half the stuff I had planned on doing. We weren't all that into the teen stuff. We did the glow in the dark volleyball and one rainy afternoon we hung out in common grounds for half and hour. WE preferred to spend our time either playing ping pong (there's four tables on deck nine) or even better, playing shuffleboard (deck 4, right near life boat station K).
It's nice being an early riser on the boat. It was nice being around on the boat when it wasn't very busy. We loved watching the boat dock as well.
Overall, it was an awesome trip. The not-fantastic weather did not damper our fun. It was a great trip for spending quality time together as a family, but also our parents felt comfortable letting us roam the boat without them. In conclusion, if any of you are considering a Disney cruise, go for it! I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. Later days
WDW
I'll briefly talk about our stay there. It was perfect. Our weather was fantastic everyday but the first night.
We stayed at the Beach Club. To our surprise we had been upgraded to the concierge level (so were a lot of other cruisers. Coincidence? I think not!) It was fantastic and probably saved us a lot of money. We always ate breakfast there (for you Atkins diet people, not a lot of low-carb choices for breakfast). We snacked there throughout the day and night. I highly recommend Beach Club resort. It's so convenient. You can walk to MGM and Epcot easily. Plus Boardwalk is so close. The sand-bottomed pool is a lot of fun as well.
Animal Kingdom pickup is a great way to spend the Thursday morning. We didn't go to the Breakfastsaurus there. Your bags are picked up in your hotel room. You can drop off your day bag at a Cruise stand right outside AK. You also get reserved seats for Festival of the LIon King (a do not miss). WE also didn't have to wait in any lines for more than 5 minutes.
One problem with going to Disney World first is that by the time the cruise came along we were all exhausted. We hardly did anything after dinner. Mind you by after dinner it was like 10:00
Ship
Food
We ate at Beach Blanket buffet for the embarkation lunch. It's a fantastic way to kick off the cruise. The food was so good. There were some really good sandwiches and pasta salads. i was told the shrimp was good.
We were on the TAP rotation. Triton's was my favourite meal food wise. I had the deep fried camembert, whatever that steak like thing is that they recommend (the masehed potatoes that come with it are awesome, really picky kids (I used to be one of them) might like a plate just of these which I'm sure they could do). and creme brullé (WOW!). My brother had the pasta which was absolutely delicious. Disney sure knows how to make a kid happy. Our shirley temples would have 6 cherries each at least.
We had breakfast the first morning at Tritons again. We thought it was nice to be able to be waited upon as opposed to getting into the buffet line. At Tritons they bring around plates of danishes. I highly reccomend the sticky buns.
For lunch we ate at Tritons again. I had hummus and chips and guacamole and key lime pie for dessert. We really liked eating at tritons.
Dinner that night was at Animators Palate. Wow is all I can say! That restaurant is gorgeous! I had a really good ceasar salad, some pasta thing that I wsn't crazy about. I had strawberry shortcake for dessert.
The next morning we decided instead of Tritons to eat at Beach Blanket buffet because we wanted to be as quick as we could to maximize our time at CC. We really enjoyed this breakfast as well. A word to the wise, after the main buffet there is also a omelet/waffle stand, and a danish buffet (to my delight there were sticky buns here as well). It was nice to be able to eat outside and see the ship dock at CC.
Cookies for lunch was fun. It was nice to get out of the rain. My favourite part was right outside of cookies there is a fruit stand that has all sorts f fruits like kiwi, papaya, mango and there's a guy who will cut it up for you.
That night my brother, my friend and I ate alone at Parrot Cay. Our parents went to Palo. I've heard that people reccomend nassau night to eat there so you see the lights. but late seating last night you pass by freeeport. Anyways, I think Parrot Cay was a good night for them to miss. They like the quite, elegant restaurants more than the loud, crazy, napkin waving restaurants. The banana bread is sooooo good. I practically filled up on that. I had plenty of other stuff too though. I had a fruit salad, avocado soup, 1/2 roasted chicken, chocolate mousse and i split another dessert. That was a fun night.
disembarkation morning we ate at Parrot Cay again (my parents enjoyed seeing the restaurant!). I had some fruit and even though they didn't have any readily available, Rea, our assistant server went searching for some sticky buns for me.
Aside from these main meals we took advantage of all the other food available as well. We really liked the pizza, though I only had it once. The chips, salsa and guacamole at ESPN was pretty good. The lemonade at the drink stand is good, so are the cookies that are right near it. The fruit and chicken caesar wraps at Scoops are awesome. I still haven't decided if I really liked the icecream or not. I sure ate a lot of it!
Entertainment
We really enjoyed Hercules and Disney Dreams. WE always enjoy Disney stage shows. We went to the Family dueling piano show. I really enjoyed that, being a piano player myself. I would've like to have seen the adult version, I just never found the time. The shows on the goofy pool were always fun. It was funny in Nassau seeing all of the jealous people from the ship next door looking on at our show.
CC
Even though the weather was lousy the day we were at CC we still thouroughly enjoyed it, especially my brother and I. First thing we did was go snorkelling. This was my first time ever and enjoyed it so much. The very first thing we saw was a stingray which got us really excited. There isn't a whole lot to see close to shore. ONce you get out there though there's a plethora of fish. There was this one school of gigantic fish which scared me slightly. It was really neat seeing that submerine out there. Check in every fish condo, that's where a lot of the ghoti (fish) hang out. ONce we got out it started pouring. Not exactly the weather I had hoped for. So much for getting a tan that day. So like pretty much everyne else, we headed over to cookies. Everyone, but my brother and I decided to head back the ship after lunch. My brother and I decided that we still wanted to explore. WE walked down the path and landed our selves in heaven, Grouper Gameroom. That was right up my brother's and I's alley! They have ping-pong, shuffleboard, giant checkers, basketball, and this golf game. We must've been there for at least two hours. It wásn't too busy there and the atmosphere was great! The rain let up for a while so we went outside to play tether ball. That was fun, I think I still have bruises from our game. After that we headed back to the ship.
Nassau
Nassau is just like everyone says it is. A dirty city with people constanyl pressuring you into getting your hair braided or a taxi ride. Maybe its better if you go over to Atlantis. WE just stayed in the areaclose to where the ships are. There are some nice duty-free shopping opportunities though.
ETC
There is just so much to do that I didn't do half the stuff I had planned on doing. We weren't all that into the teen stuff. We did the glow in the dark volleyball and one rainy afternoon we hung out in common grounds for half and hour. WE preferred to spend our time either playing ping pong (there's four tables on deck nine) or even better, playing shuffleboard (deck 4, right near life boat station K).
It's nice being an early riser on the boat. It was nice being around on the boat when it wasn't very busy. We loved watching the boat dock as well.
Overall, it was an awesome trip. The not-fantastic weather did not damper our fun. It was a great trip for spending quality time together as a family, but also our parents felt comfortable letting us roam the boat without them. In conclusion, if any of you are considering a Disney cruise, go for it! I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. Later days
