tvguy
Question anything the facts don't support.
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2003
- Messages
- 47,511
First, sorry to all on these boards for not making it to meet you Sunday afternoon. We all went to see Pirates at 3 pm, and there was just something "Magic" about watching those ships on the screen while the theater was rocking!!
Second, trip was almost perfect, I will mention the less that perfect things below. While I will document my concerns in length, I sincerely felt the trip was only a few eyelashes short of perfect. I give it an "A", but Disney, with a few changes you could get an "A+".
Our crew was me, wife, 12 year old daughter and 16 year old son. First Disney cruise for all of use, second cruise for the kids, went to Alaska on HAL's Amsterdam in June of 2002. 6th cruise for my wife , 5th Caribbean, with past trips on RCCL's Soverign Of The Seas, RCCL's Nordic Prince, and 2 trips on NCL's Norway. This was my 7th cruise, with all of the above, plus the my first cruise in 1980 on Paquet's Mermoz, a VERY small French ship, a 2 week trip in the Caribbean.
Now, you should understand we planned this as a family trip. A time for us to be our kid's friends, not mom and dad for a week. We discovered during our 2002 cruise with the kids, that we really enjoyed the opportunity to take off the mom and dad hats for a week. The kids could do any of the kids programs that they wanted to, but they decided to stay with us. We made no effort to get Palo reservations, and other than the one hour we snuck off to the wine tasting, we were with our kids the entire trip, and we loved it.
Flew in from California the night before, overnighted at the Sheraton Suites at the airport. Took their shuttle back to the airport Saturday morning, and literally walked right on the Disney Cruise bus. Easy check in at the port, very short wait to get on board. Our upgraded stateroom, (moved the week before by Disney for no apparent reason from deck 2 to deck 7 with a verandah) was ready at 1 pm when we boarded. Verandah was awesome, it was bad enough that my wife always insists on an outside cabin, now it will be a cabin with a verandah!!!
Very impressed that Disney held the ship almost an hour for late arriving passengers, we were on the verandah facing the terminal when the two busses pulled in, I swear the last one squealed it's tires it was going that fast in the turns.
Got a call from the Head server, our table had been moved. No problem, but we got a table for 4. In the past we have enjoyed having other folks at the table, but Roberto our Server, and Marin our assistant server were great....as was McLean, the head server, more on that later.
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I don't know whether to call the following, "less than perfect", or "things I would change".
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1) We had late seating, which on every line I have been on in the past, meant your "show" came after dinner, at about 10:15pm. As all you know, Disney does the show BEFORE dinner at 6:30. It was a mad rush for us to get to the shows, and in fact we missed Hercules altogether because of this. Now, for the Golden Mickey's they did 6:30, 8:30 AND 10:15 pm shows. THAT WAS A GREAT IDEA. This worked even better since it was a formal dinner night. Late seating dinners didn't have to rush to a 6:30 pm show if they didn't want to, and everyone had a chance to see the show a second time if they went to their normal show time. Disney needs to do this for all the shows.
For Disney Dreams, they did a 2 pm, 6:30 and 8:30 show. For at sea days that is good, but I still say the 10:15 pm show is a better idea.
---------------------------------------------
2) Saw Comic and Juggler Chuck Gunter at the Welcome aboard variety show and looked forward to his full show. They put him in the "ROCKIN BAR D" for his main show!!!! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!!! Not only isn't it big enough for all the folks that wanted to get in (THEY HURRIEDLY CALLED IN THE T-V CREW TO SET UP A CAMERA, AND BROADCAST THE SHOW INTO SESSIONS).....but they put a JUGGLER in a room with a LOW ceiling.......with a small stage with kids only a few feet away from him. DID I MENTION HE JUGGLES KNIVES, AXES AND HAMMERS? He did the best he could, but THIS SHOW SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN BUENA VISTA OR WALT DISNEY THEATERS FOLKS!
He did mention that this was his last show with Disney, not sure if he had crossed them somehow and this was his punishment. Too bad, he put on a good show.
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3) I noticed right off that the main bed in the cabin was much lower than I was used to, no big deal, except that the nightstand is higher than the bed. Let's just say I got a little tired of hitting my funnybone on the nightstand during the night when I rolled over!!
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4) I was disappointed that children are not allowed in the Fitness Center. Okay, teenagers ARE allowed in for an hour 3 nights during the cruise, but only if they are in the teen club, and only at 8:30 pm (remember, we had 8:30 dinner). My 16 year old plays high school baseball, he was looking forward to doing some weights during the cruise. THEY NEED TO SCHEDULE A TIME FOR FAMILIES TO WORKOUT IN THE FITNESS CENTER TOGETHER, this is a family cruise, right?
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5) Getting off the ship.......the baggage system that Cruise Director Rachel bragged does work better than any other system I have experienced. HOWEVER, just letting folks off as they want needs improvement. Rachel said Disney doesn't need the systems other ships use where you are assigned a number and exit the ship when your number is called....well, they do need it. At 9:15 am (they say they want everyone off the ship by 9 am), the line to get off the ship went from the gangway all the way to the very back of Parrot Cay.
-----------------------------------------------
THE GOOD STUFF...
The food.....great selection, preparation, portion sizes. Only snafu we had was this morning, our final breakfast, and it wasn't Disney's fault. You can skip breakfast, go to a light buffet, or have a sit down breakfast at the restaurant you had dinner at the night before. Early sitting folks were supposed to be there by 6:45 am, late sitting by 8 am. The folks at our table during early sitting showed up VERY late, and were in NO hurry to eat. So we did not get to have our final meal with our server Roberto and assistant server Marin because of these dorks. But McClean, the Head server quickly found us another table. And Roberto and Marin came by several times to "check" on us.
The cabin....great. I paid for a cabin with a porthole, and got upgraded to one with a verandah. I will have a tough time cruising again without a verandah. (OKAY, WIFE JUST PROOFREAD THIS AND SAID JUST A PORTHOLE WOULD BE FINE WITH HER!!!! )
The shows ....great.
Shore excursions....great......did the 12 metre regatta on St. Martin, we were aboard Canada 2 and beat Stars and Stripes!!!
On St.Thomas tramway and Coral World Island drive. The view from the top of the tram was great, but not much else to do. And we did get some great views on the Island tour, so you may want to skip the tramway.
( I should mention my daughter never wants to see another hair braider in her life. She did not get braids, and got very tired in St. Thomas and St. Martin getting asked on the streets if she wanted her hair braided. Not Disney's fault, but made her uncomfortable. They never asked my wife, and her hair is just as long)
And on Castaway Cay snorkeling and bike riding .
As for the weather, it had been raining in St. Thomas when we arrived, but stopped. It did rain in the afternoon on Castaway Cay, and that did seem to scare some folks back on the ship (wimps!!), but since we had just gone snorkeling, we were already wet.
As for the seas, the crew said our cruise had the roughest seas they have had in sometime. We didn't think it was bad, just enough to make you remember you are at sea. My first cruise experience, on the Mermoz, a 13 ton 500 passenger ship without stabilizers was far more interesting in this regard. I just remember walking down the hall, one minute going uphill, the next minute going downhill, a real rough ride.
Every crew member was friendly, answered any questions you had, and seemed to be happy to see you, from the cabin stewards you might pass in the hall to the folks to cleared tables at Topsiders buffet.
I am tired, nearly 7 hours in the air flying from Orlando back to the West Coast isn't fun. But I was happy to see the questions on the comment card about Los Angeles based Disney cruises to Alaska and Mexico.......how about Hawaii too?
Overall, a wonderful....oh, sorry, a Magical trip.
Second, trip was almost perfect, I will mention the less that perfect things below. While I will document my concerns in length, I sincerely felt the trip was only a few eyelashes short of perfect. I give it an "A", but Disney, with a few changes you could get an "A+".
Our crew was me, wife, 12 year old daughter and 16 year old son. First Disney cruise for all of use, second cruise for the kids, went to Alaska on HAL's Amsterdam in June of 2002. 6th cruise for my wife , 5th Caribbean, with past trips on RCCL's Soverign Of The Seas, RCCL's Nordic Prince, and 2 trips on NCL's Norway. This was my 7th cruise, with all of the above, plus the my first cruise in 1980 on Paquet's Mermoz, a VERY small French ship, a 2 week trip in the Caribbean.
Now, you should understand we planned this as a family trip. A time for us to be our kid's friends, not mom and dad for a week. We discovered during our 2002 cruise with the kids, that we really enjoyed the opportunity to take off the mom and dad hats for a week. The kids could do any of the kids programs that they wanted to, but they decided to stay with us. We made no effort to get Palo reservations, and other than the one hour we snuck off to the wine tasting, we were with our kids the entire trip, and we loved it.
Flew in from California the night before, overnighted at the Sheraton Suites at the airport. Took their shuttle back to the airport Saturday morning, and literally walked right on the Disney Cruise bus. Easy check in at the port, very short wait to get on board. Our upgraded stateroom, (moved the week before by Disney for no apparent reason from deck 2 to deck 7 with a verandah) was ready at 1 pm when we boarded. Verandah was awesome, it was bad enough that my wife always insists on an outside cabin, now it will be a cabin with a verandah!!!
Very impressed that Disney held the ship almost an hour for late arriving passengers, we were on the verandah facing the terminal when the two busses pulled in, I swear the last one squealed it's tires it was going that fast in the turns.
Got a call from the Head server, our table had been moved. No problem, but we got a table for 4. In the past we have enjoyed having other folks at the table, but Roberto our Server, and Marin our assistant server were great....as was McLean, the head server, more on that later.
------------------------------
I don't know whether to call the following, "less than perfect", or "things I would change".
--------------------------------------------
1) We had late seating, which on every line I have been on in the past, meant your "show" came after dinner, at about 10:15pm. As all you know, Disney does the show BEFORE dinner at 6:30. It was a mad rush for us to get to the shows, and in fact we missed Hercules altogether because of this. Now, for the Golden Mickey's they did 6:30, 8:30 AND 10:15 pm shows. THAT WAS A GREAT IDEA. This worked even better since it was a formal dinner night. Late seating dinners didn't have to rush to a 6:30 pm show if they didn't want to, and everyone had a chance to see the show a second time if they went to their normal show time. Disney needs to do this for all the shows.
For Disney Dreams, they did a 2 pm, 6:30 and 8:30 show. For at sea days that is good, but I still say the 10:15 pm show is a better idea.
---------------------------------------------
2) Saw Comic and Juggler Chuck Gunter at the Welcome aboard variety show and looked forward to his full show. They put him in the "ROCKIN BAR D" for his main show!!!! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!!! Not only isn't it big enough for all the folks that wanted to get in (THEY HURRIEDLY CALLED IN THE T-V CREW TO SET UP A CAMERA, AND BROADCAST THE SHOW INTO SESSIONS).....but they put a JUGGLER in a room with a LOW ceiling.......with a small stage with kids only a few feet away from him. DID I MENTION HE JUGGLES KNIVES, AXES AND HAMMERS? He did the best he could, but THIS SHOW SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN BUENA VISTA OR WALT DISNEY THEATERS FOLKS!
He did mention that this was his last show with Disney, not sure if he had crossed them somehow and this was his punishment. Too bad, he put on a good show.
------------------------------------------------------------
3) I noticed right off that the main bed in the cabin was much lower than I was used to, no big deal, except that the nightstand is higher than the bed. Let's just say I got a little tired of hitting my funnybone on the nightstand during the night when I rolled over!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
4) I was disappointed that children are not allowed in the Fitness Center. Okay, teenagers ARE allowed in for an hour 3 nights during the cruise, but only if they are in the teen club, and only at 8:30 pm (remember, we had 8:30 dinner). My 16 year old plays high school baseball, he was looking forward to doing some weights during the cruise. THEY NEED TO SCHEDULE A TIME FOR FAMILIES TO WORKOUT IN THE FITNESS CENTER TOGETHER, this is a family cruise, right?
------------------------------------------------------
5) Getting off the ship.......the baggage system that Cruise Director Rachel bragged does work better than any other system I have experienced. HOWEVER, just letting folks off as they want needs improvement. Rachel said Disney doesn't need the systems other ships use where you are assigned a number and exit the ship when your number is called....well, they do need it. At 9:15 am (they say they want everyone off the ship by 9 am), the line to get off the ship went from the gangway all the way to the very back of Parrot Cay.
-----------------------------------------------
THE GOOD STUFF...
The food.....great selection, preparation, portion sizes. Only snafu we had was this morning, our final breakfast, and it wasn't Disney's fault. You can skip breakfast, go to a light buffet, or have a sit down breakfast at the restaurant you had dinner at the night before. Early sitting folks were supposed to be there by 6:45 am, late sitting by 8 am. The folks at our table during early sitting showed up VERY late, and were in NO hurry to eat. So we did not get to have our final meal with our server Roberto and assistant server Marin because of these dorks. But McClean, the Head server quickly found us another table. And Roberto and Marin came by several times to "check" on us.
The cabin....great. I paid for a cabin with a porthole, and got upgraded to one with a verandah. I will have a tough time cruising again without a verandah. (OKAY, WIFE JUST PROOFREAD THIS AND SAID JUST A PORTHOLE WOULD BE FINE WITH HER!!!! )
The shows ....great.
Shore excursions....great......did the 12 metre regatta on St. Martin, we were aboard Canada 2 and beat Stars and Stripes!!!
On St.Thomas tramway and Coral World Island drive. The view from the top of the tram was great, but not much else to do. And we did get some great views on the Island tour, so you may want to skip the tramway.
( I should mention my daughter never wants to see another hair braider in her life. She did not get braids, and got very tired in St. Thomas and St. Martin getting asked on the streets if she wanted her hair braided. Not Disney's fault, but made her uncomfortable. They never asked my wife, and her hair is just as long)
And on Castaway Cay snorkeling and bike riding .
As for the weather, it had been raining in St. Thomas when we arrived, but stopped. It did rain in the afternoon on Castaway Cay, and that did seem to scare some folks back on the ship (wimps!!), but since we had just gone snorkeling, we were already wet.
As for the seas, the crew said our cruise had the roughest seas they have had in sometime. We didn't think it was bad, just enough to make you remember you are at sea. My first cruise experience, on the Mermoz, a 13 ton 500 passenger ship without stabilizers was far more interesting in this regard. I just remember walking down the hall, one minute going uphill, the next minute going downhill, a real rough ride.
Every crew member was friendly, answered any questions you had, and seemed to be happy to see you, from the cabin stewards you might pass in the hall to the folks to cleared tables at Topsiders buffet.
I am tired, nearly 7 hours in the air flying from Orlando back to the West Coast isn't fun. But I was happy to see the questions on the comment card about Los Angeles based Disney cruises to Alaska and Mexico.......how about Hawaii too?
Overall, a wonderful....oh, sorry, a Magical trip.
