Hi - we're back from a 3-day WDW trip followed by the 12/22 sailing of the Magic, which was a truly fantastic vacation! WDW was just me, DH, DD8, DS4, and my parents - stayed at BCV in a 2BR and a Studio, both of which were in great shape. Not to dwell on the WDW part of this, but we did dinner at YS for my 40th birthday, dined at Teppan Edo prior to the Candlelight Processional, which was amazing, and did MVMCP on 12/21. Actually, I did MVMCP with just my kids, and we nearly closed the park - it was superb!
Boarded on the 22nd with that cast, plus my DH's parents, and my college roommate with her DH, DS7, and both of their parents - so a party of 14. We had 1 Cat 3 (our group), 2 Cat 4s, (both of our parents, and three Cat 6s. Rather than give a blow by blow, I thought I'd synopsize my highs and lows - although I will caveat that none of the "lows" were truly "low" - just distracting.
Pros -
We all unanimously found the food to be great. I know many on these boards like to bash the food, but we had several cruise snobs in our party (called so with all due affection) and none had complaints - whether it was the dining room or Palo. I think one person had one meal at Topsiders dinner that wasn't pleasing, but that was it. Brunch and dinner at Palo were highlights, as was the lamb.....any lamb....that I was able to order. DH doesn't like it, so I take it where I can get it. Oh - and my new favorite meal is the Vegetable Lasagna on the Master Chef menu. I think it's the best entree I've had in the regular rotation.
Rooms - we had a middship Cat 3 and continue to be completely spoiled by it. Makes naptime and other "hanging out" in the room so much easier.
Service - This was a constant theme of discussion amongst the 'rents of our group. They were all amazed at the service. One day I was in a public restroom and a crew member was cleaning. I finished rinsing my hands, and as I was turning to get a towel, she handed me two that she pulled out for me. They just all seem to be thinking one step ahead. DH and I saw the cruise director and another officer walking Deck 9 on a sea day, and the junior officer was picking up straw holders and a random napkin that was blowing around as he was walking and talking - always alert for what should be done. I think the final example I have was in the spa - I foolishly forgot to take off my rings and folded them into my shirt when I changed for a massage. And then forgot they were in my shirt and sent them flying around the room - only to not be able to find my anniversary band. The girl from the spa and I spent 30 minutes looking for it (no one else was booked into the room and she was done for the day) and she pulled someone else to help look. She was nearly in tears - and then I found it in my shorts cuff of all places! We were all crying at this point! (Yes I know, I know - DON'T TAKE JEWELLRY!) Anyhow - service continues to impress.
Excursions - We had three jet ski reservations for CC and only one set could go since several of the jet skis were broken. I think my DH and DFIL weren't too upset, to tell the truth! I put this in the "pro", because as we were being offered just one slot at 10:30, or a delayed start at 3:30 for all of us, we were also handed a chit for 8 people for the Castaway Getaway package as compensation, which we certainly didn't request! We ended up using some floats, which was nice. The excursion was super fun - DD8 and I did it together and it was a total rush!
Go-with-the-Flow - We had 14 people and didn't even try to all do the same thing. We agreed to have Christmas Eve drinks in our room, Palo brunch for all adults, and that was it in terms of "all together" events. Beyond that, we would share intent about various activities, and if we ended up with groups doing similar things, then great - if not, no biggie. That was the way to go. Also - we knew formal night, semi-formal night, and pirate night were being adjusted due to the day Christmas was on, but it turned out that even the change we were expecting was changed! Another vote for being flexible. Christmas Night (Tuesday) became formal night, and Sunday night became semi-formal night. We were in Palo for Christmas Night, and so missed the special holiday dinner, but I think we didn't suffer for it!
Lows - Got on the ship and the concierge informed me that my "box" was delivered and in my room! That's great - except I had two "boxes" shipped down, and the one missing was the one with Christmas gifts! This was not anyone's fault on DCL, but it sure did cause me to have to head for the Bahama Mamas early! I was on a wireless connection looking up UPS to verify delivery to the warehouse, and the warehouse was tracking it to the ship, and Housekeeping was hunting through their stuff - and they found it! So - no harm, no foul, but whew!
Big parties - not as in party-hearty, but we had 14 people total, and we thought we were linked for a party of 8 and a party of 6, but DCL went above and beyond and linked us all together at one table. This was good - and bad. Having that many people at one table can be tough - on people trying to talk, on servers trying to serve - and on the Asst Server trying to manage 4 wine packages amongst adults who constantly change seating so she didn't know who was with what package. Two of the grandmas kept getting shorted on wine, mostly because of the rotating people. I had to laugh that it was the grandmas getting mildly annoyed at not having enough liquor each night! Anyhow, we got it straightened out on Night 3 and it was all good after that. Two of the parties in our group never quite got over it with the Asst Server, but most of us cut her a break since we caused the problem, to be honest.
Room Service - OK, so we didn't use it much, but on Christmas Eve I asked the concierge to help arrange for 14 champagne glasses and a bottle of Martinellis to be delivered well prior to a 5pm "cocktail hour". The others had ordered several bottles of champagne they were bringing. At 4:50pm the glasses arrived. At 5pm I called to ask about the Martinelli's. "I'm sure it's on the way". At 5:20pm I called again - it was "en route". At 5:35pm, the two concierge reps stopped by to say Merry Christmas and deliver some gifts for the kids - and to verify that the bottle was there. It wasn't. The poor guy walked up with the bottle while they were there at 5:40. To their credit, the concierge signed for it and there was no charge to us, considering we had dinner at 6pm so a couple of the adults who don't drink alcohol basically stood there toasting with water. I was OK their resolution, but something is broken if I called at 2pm, and again at 5pm, and it still took until 5:40pm!
Pictures - I lost my bag of family Christmas pictures that we purchased from Shutters! I thought DH packed them to come home, and DH thought I did, so they could have been left in our room. The only Shutters pix we have are of DH with his dad and our DS - a 3-generation picture - which is really cool, but we have none of our big-family-in-front-of-the-three-pictures! Oh well - guess that means we have to go back! (This is a vote for Photopass - I would go buy more in a heartbeat if I could to replace the ones I lost!)
To close on the best note of the cruise - Christmas time in general. It was amazing! The kids LOVED the Christmas Eve Twas the Night Before Christmas reading/song in the atrium, and they loved having Christmas morning with a few gifts followed by POOL TIME! The atmosphere was fantastic - and the whole trip was a huge success with my family. Pirate night continues to get better - I thought I'd want to skip it, but ended up out on the deck watching my mother-in-law dance! Castaway Cay was a great ending - it was about 83 degrees and a beautiful day. I highly recommend holiday cruising!
Boarded on the 22nd with that cast, plus my DH's parents, and my college roommate with her DH, DS7, and both of their parents - so a party of 14. We had 1 Cat 3 (our group), 2 Cat 4s, (both of our parents, and three Cat 6s. Rather than give a blow by blow, I thought I'd synopsize my highs and lows - although I will caveat that none of the "lows" were truly "low" - just distracting.
Pros -
We all unanimously found the food to be great. I know many on these boards like to bash the food, but we had several cruise snobs in our party (called so with all due affection) and none had complaints - whether it was the dining room or Palo. I think one person had one meal at Topsiders dinner that wasn't pleasing, but that was it. Brunch and dinner at Palo were highlights, as was the lamb.....any lamb....that I was able to order. DH doesn't like it, so I take it where I can get it. Oh - and my new favorite meal is the Vegetable Lasagna on the Master Chef menu. I think it's the best entree I've had in the regular rotation.
Rooms - we had a middship Cat 3 and continue to be completely spoiled by it. Makes naptime and other "hanging out" in the room so much easier.
Service - This was a constant theme of discussion amongst the 'rents of our group. They were all amazed at the service. One day I was in a public restroom and a crew member was cleaning. I finished rinsing my hands, and as I was turning to get a towel, she handed me two that she pulled out for me. They just all seem to be thinking one step ahead. DH and I saw the cruise director and another officer walking Deck 9 on a sea day, and the junior officer was picking up straw holders and a random napkin that was blowing around as he was walking and talking - always alert for what should be done. I think the final example I have was in the spa - I foolishly forgot to take off my rings and folded them into my shirt when I changed for a massage. And then forgot they were in my shirt and sent them flying around the room - only to not be able to find my anniversary band. The girl from the spa and I spent 30 minutes looking for it (no one else was booked into the room and she was done for the day) and she pulled someone else to help look. She was nearly in tears - and then I found it in my shorts cuff of all places! We were all crying at this point! (Yes I know, I know - DON'T TAKE JEWELLRY!) Anyhow - service continues to impress.
Excursions - We had three jet ski reservations for CC and only one set could go since several of the jet skis were broken. I think my DH and DFIL weren't too upset, to tell the truth! I put this in the "pro", because as we were being offered just one slot at 10:30, or a delayed start at 3:30 for all of us, we were also handed a chit for 8 people for the Castaway Getaway package as compensation, which we certainly didn't request! We ended up using some floats, which was nice. The excursion was super fun - DD8 and I did it together and it was a total rush!
Go-with-the-Flow - We had 14 people and didn't even try to all do the same thing. We agreed to have Christmas Eve drinks in our room, Palo brunch for all adults, and that was it in terms of "all together" events. Beyond that, we would share intent about various activities, and if we ended up with groups doing similar things, then great - if not, no biggie. That was the way to go. Also - we knew formal night, semi-formal night, and pirate night were being adjusted due to the day Christmas was on, but it turned out that even the change we were expecting was changed! Another vote for being flexible. Christmas Night (Tuesday) became formal night, and Sunday night became semi-formal night. We were in Palo for Christmas Night, and so missed the special holiday dinner, but I think we didn't suffer for it!
Lows - Got on the ship and the concierge informed me that my "box" was delivered and in my room! That's great - except I had two "boxes" shipped down, and the one missing was the one with Christmas gifts! This was not anyone's fault on DCL, but it sure did cause me to have to head for the Bahama Mamas early! I was on a wireless connection looking up UPS to verify delivery to the warehouse, and the warehouse was tracking it to the ship, and Housekeeping was hunting through their stuff - and they found it! So - no harm, no foul, but whew!
Big parties - not as in party-hearty, but we had 14 people total, and we thought we were linked for a party of 8 and a party of 6, but DCL went above and beyond and linked us all together at one table. This was good - and bad. Having that many people at one table can be tough - on people trying to talk, on servers trying to serve - and on the Asst Server trying to manage 4 wine packages amongst adults who constantly change seating so she didn't know who was with what package. Two of the grandmas kept getting shorted on wine, mostly because of the rotating people. I had to laugh that it was the grandmas getting mildly annoyed at not having enough liquor each night! Anyhow, we got it straightened out on Night 3 and it was all good after that. Two of the parties in our group never quite got over it with the Asst Server, but most of us cut her a break since we caused the problem, to be honest.
Room Service - OK, so we didn't use it much, but on Christmas Eve I asked the concierge to help arrange for 14 champagne glasses and a bottle of Martinellis to be delivered well prior to a 5pm "cocktail hour". The others had ordered several bottles of champagne they were bringing. At 4:50pm the glasses arrived. At 5pm I called to ask about the Martinelli's. "I'm sure it's on the way". At 5:20pm I called again - it was "en route". At 5:35pm, the two concierge reps stopped by to say Merry Christmas and deliver some gifts for the kids - and to verify that the bottle was there. It wasn't. The poor guy walked up with the bottle while they were there at 5:40. To their credit, the concierge signed for it and there was no charge to us, considering we had dinner at 6pm so a couple of the adults who don't drink alcohol basically stood there toasting with water. I was OK their resolution, but something is broken if I called at 2pm, and again at 5pm, and it still took until 5:40pm!
Pictures - I lost my bag of family Christmas pictures that we purchased from Shutters! I thought DH packed them to come home, and DH thought I did, so they could have been left in our room. The only Shutters pix we have are of DH with his dad and our DS - a 3-generation picture - which is really cool, but we have none of our big-family-in-front-of-the-three-pictures! Oh well - guess that means we have to go back! (This is a vote for Photopass - I would go buy more in a heartbeat if I could to replace the ones I lost!)
To close on the best note of the cruise - Christmas time in general. It was amazing! The kids LOVED the Christmas Eve Twas the Night Before Christmas reading/song in the atrium, and they loved having Christmas morning with a few gifts followed by POOL TIME! The atmosphere was fantastic - and the whole trip was a huge success with my family. Pirate night continues to get better - I thought I'd want to skip it, but ended up out on the deck watching my mother-in-law dance! Castaway Cay was a great ending - it was about 83 degrees and a beautiful day. I highly recommend holiday cruising!
