We are now checked in to the always wonderful Walt Disney World Swan Hotel..we aren't flying home untill Monday...
I suppose a little summary is in order...
But first a rant!!!
THEY LOST OUR LUGGAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For those who don't know, you put your luggage out the night before and when you leave the ship there is a baggage area in the terminal where you pick it up!!!
Just to make matters worse we had packed so we only had to open up 1 suitcase when we got to the parks since we were only going to be here 2 days..and THAT'S the one they lost!
I guess it isn't unusual.. a porter helped us look for it and he said he usually had it happen to one person a week and that's just him. He said people just take other people's bags and don't pay any attention.
We are "self mobile" with our luggage so next time it is staying in the cabin with us, the heck with that stupid system.
Not a fun ending to an otherwise wonderful cruise!!
OK I'm debating whether to do the good or bad first but I think I'll start with the bad and get it over with.....
1. The Cruise Director! I think her name is Kara... fake smile and once she was down right rude. I don't want to get into details because there were other crew members involved that I like very much but she has about zero personality.
2. The entertainment staff- except for the one jerk that I talked about earlier as far as I know they are all very nice kind people..they just aren't much fun! Everything seems forced, at the deck parties they are all rigid and their spontenaity level is about 0. It's like they hired little smiley clones.
3. The medical staff on the island- some friends of ours had a 3 year old who got a big hunk of sand in his eye on Castaway Cay. They took him to the first aid station where the RN on duty tried to wash it out. He got mad when the 3 year old wouldn't hold still and then ROLLED HIS EYES and announced he was GOING TO LUNCH!!!! After he left a paramedic handed a bottle of saline to the mother and said you try and wash it out.
Just by way of background my DW has 20 years experience in a major Boston Hospital Emergency Room and 1 Years experience as an ER nurse at Children's Hospital in Boston. She had gone with the child's mother and was absolutely appalled at the attitude and treatment.
Ok on to the good!! And there was so much...
I will start with our Cabin Hostess- Anastasia
Out of 4 cruises she was by far the best! A towel animal expert.. serious cleanliness nut.... ask and you recieve NOW. I can't think of a single thing I would have asked her to do different and you couldn't ask for more. Her husband works as in the engine room on the ship.
The Food and Beverage Department- in order of rank not skill
Food- Loyd who I believe is the assistant head food service department. Wears a white officers uniform. A real gentleman who I chatted with several times and went out of his way for us once or twice when he certainly did not have to.
Kayen our head server- Honestly? I always feel a bit weird tipping the head server. It seemed like you barely ever saw the guy except the first nite and the last. This time was different. If our server got behind.. the man was there.. any problems they got taken care of right then and there and you saw him EVERY nite several times. I watched him scanning the dining room and then you would see him take off for whatever even looked like a problem, not just to check but to dig in and fix it. He definitely makes a difference
P.J the maitre d' at Palo- wonderful guy very nice, extremely helpful and wonderful with people!
Francesca- waitress at Palo for both the champagne brunch and dinners. Absolutely incredible. You couldn't even think about wanting something and it was there.. a very sweet person.
Simon the assistant beverage manager (they run the bars) he wears a white officers uniform. What a great guy.. him and his mother just bought a pub in england and it would be my first stop if I ever got over there! Another one who was always around, always taking care of things. A few of the bartenders told me he was great to work for.
Rudolfo, Alex, Callan, Pierre- all bartenders at the new place, Diversions.. AWESOME!!!! what a fun group, excellent service.. hard working, tons of fun.
Diversions is GREAT!! A huge improvement and the British Pub Nite on the last nite of the cruise is a must do. It was probably the most fun I had on the whole cruise.
Lourdes is a bartender at the goofy pool bar who is just so great.. the crew calls her mom.. if you talked to her you would see why!
There were more wonderful people, my apologies if I left anyone out!
BTW they do read these boards, a few people knew the URL.
We love the dining rotation and the way you keep your servers all week. Our servers (Matej from Croatia and Chris from St. Vincent) were super guys. The head server, Jeevan, never failed to see us each night; he was most often the one who seated us and always stopped by the table to check on us, sometimes helping deliver food.
