Hi All;
I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you all; I did meet Lisa though at the Radisson so that was nice. I forgot the meet times and like everyone else I wasn't stepping near a computer at all for the trip. DH did have his laptop out playing Civilization 4 when he had a chance but that was it.
Let's see, here's a little report on what I remember, as I look through the 2000 + pictures I'll probably remember more
Saturday (Embarkation Day), we finally were at the terminal
I couldn't believe it, the time flew this year. Anyway, at the terminal, DH sweated for a minute or two about the "No alcohol" sign up in before security as he had a bottle of rum and a bottle of peach snaps. We were told they don't want you to have ice in the cooler, by Disers, and they were right, nothing was said about the bottles. The couple behind us were willing to help get rid of the alcohol if we couldn't bring it though, it was a nice offer but fortunately we didn't have to take them up on it. The ship was boarding even before we finished checking in, so we were able to walk right on after all the paperwork for the check in. Mental note, when we cruise again, and we will
We will buy those wheels to roll your cooler or just buy one with wheels, the cooler got heavy quickly. On another note, next time we cruise we will do it alone, my parents joined us and while it was nice to be with them, DH and I changed our plans because of what they wanted to do. So, once we were on the ship we went to get a Palo reservation for the Champagne brunch and then I headed to the Spa, we then had the lunch at Topsiders, and finally we were allowed in our room. We weren't able to get an upgrade but for the time we were in our room it was good. We met our room hostess, Pa, and she turned out to be great. We did the mandatory drill and then up to the top deck for the sail away. Our dining rotation was Parrot Cay, Lumieres and then Animators, late seating. Another mental note, I thought late seating would be good, and it was as the girls were awake for the shows we wanted to see but it was hard eating that late at night and then off to bed shortly afterwards as I like to be in bed before midnight
My 14 yr old sister stayed up later than I did. So, dinner at Parrot Cay, we met our serving team, Toto and Piotr. They were great! Took a little bit for them to warm up together but they definitely had their stuff together before the second night. It was Piotrs' first cruise and he did a wonderful job. Then off to bed.
Sunday and Monday (at sea), I don't remember too much of Sunday or Monday, we did a lot of the programs though and auctions, learn to Salsa is way to funny when you have no rhythm
Lots of eating though, I wasn't really partial to Topsiders buffet, they did a great job decorating and made to order food was good but the normal buffet items are a lot like any other buffet. However, we did have our Champagne brunch on Sunday at 11 am. Louise from England was our server and she was very good. The brunch was excellent, try very hard to get signed on for the brunch, it's definitely a not to miss. Let's see, Lumiere's on Monday; I remember the escargot, very yummy. I don't remember most of what I ate and if I did remember I would have to leave now for the gym
Anyway, I don't think you can go wrong with anything ordered on the ship; the cooks are excellent and have their cooking down to a fine art. Monday we had our Palo dinner and I can't remember how to spell our servers name, she's from Argentina and was wonderful. I highly recommend the chocolate souffle, it was to die for. I needed to walk the deck afterwards. We did rush down to Animators afterwards for the show on that walls as we had late seating. My 14 yr old sister had picked up the girls and Toto and Piotr were taking good care of all of them. My youngest said she wanted "Nothing" for desert so Toto brought out a plate with a Mickey drawn on it with "Nothing" written on the bottom in chocolate syrup. I now have to give her nothing here at home
Great show in Animators.
Tuesday (St. Martin) we arrived early and were off the ship almost immediately. We hadn't had anything planned except getting a cab to the Orient Beach and do some shopping. On the walk into town a guy was sitting on the side of the road trying to rent out jeeps, as my Mother and youngest daughter were already complaining about the heat I decided to find out how much it would be. Came up to a pretty reasonable price considering we were renting at the last minute, note for doing it differently, I'd book ahead, I was worried about the insurance price on the Island and it was only $15 for the day, really reasonable for 100% coverage. We drove to the Orient Beach, spent a few hours there, my Dad and Sister went parasailing cheaper rates than through Disney, $50/ person or $90 for two. Amanda had it booked for CC at $75 for herself. Then we drove around the whole island taking shots where we wanted to and then back into town to do a little shopping. Returned the car and the owner returned us to the ship. No added expenses
Back to the ship in time to watch Narnia
That was a really good movie. Then dinner and the pirate party, good show put on, we missed the Dis pictures though, got the message form Lisa after dinner
and then bed.
Wednesday (St. Thomas), Customs at 6:15 am (yuck), breakfast, rest until we could get off the ship, we got off the boat around 9, didn't hear the announcement at 8 that we could leave the ship. Oh well. We got a cab to Blackbeards Hill, mental note, do this excursion on your own, you can move at your own pace and it's much cheaper, $12/adult, kids are free. Take a bathing suit though; they have 3 wonderful pools you can use. After the tour we went down the 99 steps (we only counted 97) into town and the shopping. Spent some money
then we got a cab back to the ship. Early day as we were still a little sun fried from the previous day.
Thursday (at sea), Character breakfast was great the kids had a wonderful time with the characters as Chip and Dale hosted the breakfast and then relax and walk around the ship until our Spa treatment, we went for the Exotic Rasul and it was wonderful. After the spa we grabbed up the kids and went to see Disney Dreams, excellent show, do not miss. Dinner, off to see some of the evening entertainment and then bed. Of course we also got our notices for the gratuities, make sure you take care of this ASAP as there were LONG lines at Guest Relations on Friday.
Friday (
Castaway Cay), we decided to do the treasure hunt to learn more of the island. After we found our treasure we went to the family beach. Then the kids finally talked us into getting them the braids. Then it was lunch, these days all passed entirely too quickly, Cookies had an excellent spread on, I love those chocolate cookies, note, you can also get them at Goofy's on the ship. After lunch my sister conned me into getting my hair braided while she was getting hers done, ouch!! Back to the beach and then time to get back onboard
we didn't even get to the adult only beach
Anyway, back to the ship. Back to Parrot Cay and time to start handing out those tips, this was the 3rd night we had seen our head server, he was absent most of the time from our table. I think he may have heard of my comment. At GS I told them I didn't know my head servers name as he had only come by twice so far, out of 7 nights we saw him 3 times, I didn't think that was appropriate so where the others all got above and beyond the recommended tip, he didn't. Anyway, that wrapped up that night; we had to get up around 5:45 am so it was a very early night.
Saturday (Disembarkation Day
) customs, really early
and then back to our room for a bit and then back to Parrot Cay for our final breakfast and last time seeing Toto and Piotr. I hope if we do get to go Disney again soon we get them again. Then we're rudely kicked off
the ship and that so ends our great
Disney Cruise.
I can't wait to do it again, we will definitely go as soon as I pay off this one
On the side: my kids loved the Oceanears Club, they spent quite a bit of time in there, never past 11:30 pm though as I don't like grumpy children
The counselors were great, youngest DD did page us quite a bit though as she would want a snack every 2 to 3 hours
Take care all and let me know it you have any questions I can try to help you with,