jollytammy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2003
- Messages
- 441
Myself and DH, plus DS 9 and DS 13
We live in NC, so decided to drive to port. I made reservations for the Radisson at cheaptickets.com, got a better price than the one they offer on their website. If you stay at the Radisson, you automatically can use the shuttle to the port and leave your car there. The trick is to make sure you make reservations for the first shuttle if you want to get to the ship early. When we checked in, the first several shuttles were full. I had made reservations for 10:30 thinking my DH could drop me and the kids off, then get back in time. But the port opens somewhere between 10:00 and 10:30. So we decided to just take a cab, which cost us about $10 total with tip. Well worth the money!
He dropped us off where you drop your luggage off, in the parking lot in front of the terminal. Then we had to walk across to the terminal. We got in line to get into the building. We had to go through security, and then got in line to check in. It is very helpful to have all of the forms filled out and tore out of the booklet. Plus be sure and have your picture Ids and birth certificate and/or passport for everyone in your party. Plus they asked for the credit card that we planned to use. We then received our key to the world cards.
Then we got in line. About 12:50 or so they started letting us through the ears. We werent far back in the line. I checked out our key to the world cards to see what dining rotation we had. I then checked out my passporters field guide to the Disney cruise line (which is a VERY valuable guide to have!!) to see when we would have our character breakfast. I wanted to make sure that the morning I made reservations for brunch at Palos that it wouldnt interfere with the character breakfast. We had LAPLAPL, which put us in Lumieres the first night, and our character breakfast Monday morning.
Once we got through those ears and headed toward out embarkation photo, I was totally excited. More so than the kids! My plan was to head to Palos for reservations, turn the kids charging privileges off, then head to register the kids at the clubs, and then eat lunch. While my DS13 and I went to stand in line at Palos, my husband took DS9 and went to guest services, which had no line!
I headed straight for Rockin Bar D where they were set up for reservations. I had decided to just get reservations for brunch and not worry about dinner or tea. The brunch table was off to the side. I was surprised at how long it took to get to us. There were only a few people in line ahead of us, but I guess it is a very slow process. But got reservations for 10:30 Sunday morning (which was what I wanted) and headed back to find my husband.
(On a side note, there were computer problems and even though we had requested the boys cards turned off, the cards still had charging privileges. Guest Services had punched a hole in the card. My 13 year old of course tried to use it at the arcade and charged a $10 card. Luckily my husband was checking our bill and discovered the charge. Guest Services apologized and explained about the computer problem, and explained that any of the crew would have not let my son charge once they saw the hole punched, but the arcade machine unfortunately was not a real person. We confronted my son about the charge, he admitted it, and Guest Services made sure they were promptly turned off.)
Gathered him and my other DS and headed up to deck 5 to register DS9 in the club. We took the stairs because the elevators looked very busy. Got him registered and our pager in a matter of minutes, then took the elevator up to the stack (deck 10) and got my DS13 registered.
We then headed down to lunch at topsiders. Amazingly it was only 12:30 by now!!!
It helps to have a plan when you get on board if there are things that you need to accomplish. Since that was our plan, I then sat back and enjoyed my lunch and relaxed!!! Sighing a big sigh, we were finally on board and it was real!
We ate lunch, and about 1:30 the rooms were ready, and our bags were there! We had carried bathing suits on board with us so the kids could swim, but turned out we didnt need to worry. But we were prepared. My DS13 went to play in the arcade and my husband took DS9 to the pool while I unpacked and got organized.
Things I really used on the cruise:
1. Over the door shoe holderthe best to keep all the little things in place. We used it for cameras, tickets, sunglasses, coffee mug, suntan lotion, etc. We hung it on the connecting door and it was perfect.
2. My own coffee mugDCL only provides small cups
3. My own bottle for waterDCL only provides small cups and it was great to fill my big bottle up and carry with me.
4. Tape was handyI used it to hang a parrot on our cabin door and also to tape the movie schedule up on the mirror
5. Post it notes as reminders and sometimes notes
6. Room deodorizer for the bathroom
7. Clothespins for hanging on the provide clotheslines
8. Some extra suction cup hooks with four of us we needed extra drying space
9. Two bathing suits for the kidsthey swam so much the suits didnt dry quick in an inside stateroom
10. Golden dollars for tips for room service. It was very handy.
11. Gave phone cards to our servers and room steward along with tips. They were very, very grateful! I thought our room steward was going to cry, and our server told us the next day he had used the card that night!!!
12. Water wallet/dry box to keep our key to the world cards and ids in.
Things I didnt really use:
1. Highlighters
2. Manila envelopes
3. We didnt get the drink sticker ($35) and didnt miss it. Of course there were times it would have been nice. But the few times we bought drinks never added up to the price of even one card. The kids were happy with punch at lunch and juice for breakfast.
We went to the sail away party, but the kids were not real impressed. My husband and myself enjoyed it immensely. I had carried bubbles and I blew bubbles when we first started sailing away, it took the kids several minutes to get into blowing bubbles themselves. Next time I wont carry bubbles. If they were younger they may have enjoyed it more. It is sad when the adults enjoy the bubbles more than the children.
We had first seating, so about 5:00 we got ready for dinner and headed up to Lumieres. I am vegetarian (and do try to stay away from dairy) and at all the restaurants I found something to eat. The only night I had to request something special was when we went to topsiders for dinner and they did not have a vegetarian selection. I ended up with salad and then another salad. We had Ciao Romano as our server who was absolutely wonderful. Our regular assistant server we did not meet until later in the weekGoran. Goran was absolutely wonderful. They were a great pair and will miss them greatly.
Anyway I digress. We ate dinner and went back and changed. My husband and DS13 went to watch a football game at diversions and my DS9 and I went to see Spy Kids 3. We didnt go to the welcome aboard show.
I have never been on a cruise before and since I tend to get sick on certain rides and get carsick in the mountains I carried Bonine. I do not know if I needed it our not, but I took it religiously. As soon as the ship started moving I could feel each and every sway. By dinnertime I felt like I had been drinking. I was sitting in my chair swaying. My husband and DSs felt nothing, but I could feel every sway. Now it wasnt unpleasant, by the end of the cruise I actually enjoyed feeling the sway. Of course the Bonine probably helped with any motion sickness I would have had.
We were on deck 2, room 2081, and we heard very little noise in our room, but the kids kept the TV on a lot. I enjoyed being on deck 2 since we were near decks 3 and 4 where the restaurants were and we used the stairs all the time. The only time we really used the elevator was when we went up to deck 9 or 10. Plus we were midship which I really enjoyed. When we go back I will probably request that room or at least that same area. We had an inside stateroom. Did not miss having a view and it was great to have the room so dark, the kids tended to sleep late. In fact one morning of a sea day we all slept in until 11:00!!! I did miss not knowing what time it was though since there is not a clock with lighted numbers.
The automated wake up call was very easy to usein fact I used it to wake me from a nap I took one afternoon. (I turned out all the lights and it was nice and dark and could have slept hours.)
After the movie, we went back to the room and everyone fell asleep quickly.
We live in NC, so decided to drive to port. I made reservations for the Radisson at cheaptickets.com, got a better price than the one they offer on their website. If you stay at the Radisson, you automatically can use the shuttle to the port and leave your car there. The trick is to make sure you make reservations for the first shuttle if you want to get to the ship early. When we checked in, the first several shuttles were full. I had made reservations for 10:30 thinking my DH could drop me and the kids off, then get back in time. But the port opens somewhere between 10:00 and 10:30. So we decided to just take a cab, which cost us about $10 total with tip. Well worth the money!
He dropped us off where you drop your luggage off, in the parking lot in front of the terminal. Then we had to walk across to the terminal. We got in line to get into the building. We had to go through security, and then got in line to check in. It is very helpful to have all of the forms filled out and tore out of the booklet. Plus be sure and have your picture Ids and birth certificate and/or passport for everyone in your party. Plus they asked for the credit card that we planned to use. We then received our key to the world cards.
Then we got in line. About 12:50 or so they started letting us through the ears. We werent far back in the line. I checked out our key to the world cards to see what dining rotation we had. I then checked out my passporters field guide to the Disney cruise line (which is a VERY valuable guide to have!!) to see when we would have our character breakfast. I wanted to make sure that the morning I made reservations for brunch at Palos that it wouldnt interfere with the character breakfast. We had LAPLAPL, which put us in Lumieres the first night, and our character breakfast Monday morning.
Once we got through those ears and headed toward out embarkation photo, I was totally excited. More so than the kids! My plan was to head to Palos for reservations, turn the kids charging privileges off, then head to register the kids at the clubs, and then eat lunch. While my DS13 and I went to stand in line at Palos, my husband took DS9 and went to guest services, which had no line!
I headed straight for Rockin Bar D where they were set up for reservations. I had decided to just get reservations for brunch and not worry about dinner or tea. The brunch table was off to the side. I was surprised at how long it took to get to us. There were only a few people in line ahead of us, but I guess it is a very slow process. But got reservations for 10:30 Sunday morning (which was what I wanted) and headed back to find my husband.
(On a side note, there were computer problems and even though we had requested the boys cards turned off, the cards still had charging privileges. Guest Services had punched a hole in the card. My 13 year old of course tried to use it at the arcade and charged a $10 card. Luckily my husband was checking our bill and discovered the charge. Guest Services apologized and explained about the computer problem, and explained that any of the crew would have not let my son charge once they saw the hole punched, but the arcade machine unfortunately was not a real person. We confronted my son about the charge, he admitted it, and Guest Services made sure they were promptly turned off.)
Gathered him and my other DS and headed up to deck 5 to register DS9 in the club. We took the stairs because the elevators looked very busy. Got him registered and our pager in a matter of minutes, then took the elevator up to the stack (deck 10) and got my DS13 registered.
We then headed down to lunch at topsiders. Amazingly it was only 12:30 by now!!!
It helps to have a plan when you get on board if there are things that you need to accomplish. Since that was our plan, I then sat back and enjoyed my lunch and relaxed!!! Sighing a big sigh, we were finally on board and it was real!
We ate lunch, and about 1:30 the rooms were ready, and our bags were there! We had carried bathing suits on board with us so the kids could swim, but turned out we didnt need to worry. But we were prepared. My DS13 went to play in the arcade and my husband took DS9 to the pool while I unpacked and got organized.
Things I really used on the cruise:
1. Over the door shoe holderthe best to keep all the little things in place. We used it for cameras, tickets, sunglasses, coffee mug, suntan lotion, etc. We hung it on the connecting door and it was perfect.
2. My own coffee mugDCL only provides small cups
3. My own bottle for waterDCL only provides small cups and it was great to fill my big bottle up and carry with me.
4. Tape was handyI used it to hang a parrot on our cabin door and also to tape the movie schedule up on the mirror
5. Post it notes as reminders and sometimes notes
6. Room deodorizer for the bathroom
7. Clothespins for hanging on the provide clotheslines
8. Some extra suction cup hooks with four of us we needed extra drying space
9. Two bathing suits for the kidsthey swam so much the suits didnt dry quick in an inside stateroom
10. Golden dollars for tips for room service. It was very handy.
11. Gave phone cards to our servers and room steward along with tips. They were very, very grateful! I thought our room steward was going to cry, and our server told us the next day he had used the card that night!!!
12. Water wallet/dry box to keep our key to the world cards and ids in.
Things I didnt really use:
1. Highlighters
2. Manila envelopes
3. We didnt get the drink sticker ($35) and didnt miss it. Of course there were times it would have been nice. But the few times we bought drinks never added up to the price of even one card. The kids were happy with punch at lunch and juice for breakfast.
We went to the sail away party, but the kids were not real impressed. My husband and myself enjoyed it immensely. I had carried bubbles and I blew bubbles when we first started sailing away, it took the kids several minutes to get into blowing bubbles themselves. Next time I wont carry bubbles. If they were younger they may have enjoyed it more. It is sad when the adults enjoy the bubbles more than the children.
We had first seating, so about 5:00 we got ready for dinner and headed up to Lumieres. I am vegetarian (and do try to stay away from dairy) and at all the restaurants I found something to eat. The only night I had to request something special was when we went to topsiders for dinner and they did not have a vegetarian selection. I ended up with salad and then another salad. We had Ciao Romano as our server who was absolutely wonderful. Our regular assistant server we did not meet until later in the weekGoran. Goran was absolutely wonderful. They were a great pair and will miss them greatly.
Anyway I digress. We ate dinner and went back and changed. My husband and DS13 went to watch a football game at diversions and my DS9 and I went to see Spy Kids 3. We didnt go to the welcome aboard show.
I have never been on a cruise before and since I tend to get sick on certain rides and get carsick in the mountains I carried Bonine. I do not know if I needed it our not, but I took it religiously. As soon as the ship started moving I could feel each and every sway. By dinnertime I felt like I had been drinking. I was sitting in my chair swaying. My husband and DSs felt nothing, but I could feel every sway. Now it wasnt unpleasant, by the end of the cruise I actually enjoyed feeling the sway. Of course the Bonine probably helped with any motion sickness I would have had.
We were on deck 2, room 2081, and we heard very little noise in our room, but the kids kept the TV on a lot. I enjoyed being on deck 2 since we were near decks 3 and 4 where the restaurants were and we used the stairs all the time. The only time we really used the elevator was when we went up to deck 9 or 10. Plus we were midship which I really enjoyed. When we go back I will probably request that room or at least that same area. We had an inside stateroom. Did not miss having a view and it was great to have the room so dark, the kids tended to sleep late. In fact one morning of a sea day we all slept in until 11:00!!! I did miss not knowing what time it was though since there is not a clock with lighted numbers.
The automated wake up call was very easy to usein fact I used it to wake me from a nap I took one afternoon. (I turned out all the lights and it was nice and dark and could have slept hours.)
After the movie, we went back to the room and everyone fell asleep quickly.
