Cast:
Me: 30 YO Disney fan
DH: 30 YO DH
DD: 3 YO DD
MIL: came along with a girlfriend and did her own thing during the day.
Hi everyone! We had an absolute fabulous time. So much that we booked a 7 night Eastern cruise for next September 29 to October 6, 2007. It is funny because the entire cruise notion came to me after my DH wasn’t too keen on going to Disney World two years in a row. I though the cruise was an acceptable substitute but it turns out that I love the cruise more than Disney World, if you can believe it!
Before I go into the day by day report I will give you some details of the ship mainly for those of you who have not cruised yet. I know this type of detail was so useful to me while planning my trip so I hope others find it useful as well. The ship is magnificicently decorated. It starts the moment you walk on the ship and see this awesome chandelier in the lobby.
Every detail on the ship is amazing but more than just being pretty is so incredibly functional. You board the ship on deck three into a spectacular lobby which is where many of the character pictures take place. These are scheduled throughout the entire cruise and the lines are so short compared to the parks. I think this may have been my DD's favorite part of the entire cruise and maybe even mine too! Let’s just say I walked off that ship with 22 6x8’s which is the picture size of the character picture taken by the onboard photographers!
Here is a sample:
Also on Deck 3, are Lumiere’s and Parrot Cay, two of the restaurants on the regular rotation. There are also three clubs, I think, although we did not spend a lot of time there. We did go to Rockin’ Bar D the last night because they had the featured band playing a family dance party. It is so nice to be able to sit in what is essentially a bar knowing that there are only small children on the dance floor. I felt completely at ease and I even ordered a pina colada while I watched DD dance. To me, this is the essence of Disney. They are such experts at creating environments where adults and kinds both have an incredible experience and both demographics feel like they are being completely catered to. :cheers:
Deck four is home to my favorite place, Shutters, the onboard photo store. Here they display all the photos taken on the ship and Castaway Cay. I am embarrassed to admit how much money I spent here but their pictures are amazing.
Also on Deck four is Animator’s Palate which is the fourth restaurant on the dining rotation, two souvenir stores (one geared towards adults and the other towards kids) and the Walt Disney theater which is where Broadway style shows were shown. The movie theater may also be on deck 4 (ETA Movie theater is on Deck 5! Thanks Kim!) but we never actually made it here so I am not completely sure. I really wanted to watch a movie but the times always conflicted with something else I wanted to do more! Also on Deck 4, is the promenade which is essentially a walking trail around the entire ship. I had intended to do more strolling here but we spent most of our time here playing Shuffleboard which DD wanted to play constantly after my MIL taught her to play!
Deck 5 is home to the kids clubs. I didn’t actually leave DD there because my MIL was aboard but we did visit one day and it was very nice. I never even told DD it was a possibility she could stay because she would have pushed me out the door!
We stayed on Deck 6 and there are mostly just staterooms here. Our room was very nice. The split bathroom is great! You essentially have two bathrooms with separate doors. They both have sinks and one has a toilet and the other a shower. At the last minute I caved and bought an over the door show organizer and I am so glad I did. There just isn’t room for a lot of counter space so all those little pockets are a great way to empty the toiletry bag. Deck 6 also has one of three laundry rooms on board. I did laundry Wednesday evening since the trip was 12 days and I had already over packed and still didn’t have quite enough to make the entire trip since we changed at least twice a day. Decks 1, 2, 7 and 8 were mostly staterooms as well.
Deck 9 is the fun deck!
In the aft of the ship is Topsiders which is the casual dining hotspot. They have buffet breakfasts and lunches and less formal sit down dinners. They have indoor and outdoor seating which over looked the ocean. Going forward, you next come to the Mickey pool for kids. It is a shallow pool mostly for kids with a huge slide. Eva only went down the slide twice. I thought she would be on it the entire trip but she really wasn’t all that into it for some odd reason. Next to the Mickey pool is Goofy’s Galley, which has a lot of fresh has food in a case. Here you could find fresh fruit, wraps, paninis, and that sort of food. Right next to the pool is Pluto’s dog house where you could get hot dogs, chicken fingers and burgers. I ran down here one night to get DD chicken fingers the night we went to Palo.
If you continue walking forward, the next section is the family area with the Goofy pool and two hot tubs. The counter service food in this area was Pinocchio’s Pizzeria and a poolside bar. The pool can be covered during deck parties like the sail away party and pirate night. There is a stage in front of the pool for the deck parties and above the stage is a huge movie screen! This was so incredibly cool! During the parties, the stage appeared on the screen but every afternoon at 2:00 (and late at night as well) they played movies here. We watched Cinderella one day and DD and MIL watched Nemo another.
Walking forward again, you come to the adult pool area which is home to a pool, two hottubs and an adult only coffee bar. I visited this area only one, early one morning while DH and DD slept. I read in the hot tub and I was the only person there. It was so nice!
At the forward of the ship, is the Vista Salon and Spa. They have all sorts of treatments here and I really enjoyed my manicure, pedicure and Spa Taster, which was a facial and massage. I will say they do try to sell you products fairly relentlessly. I did succumb to one $49 exfoliator but other than that I held strong. I did have picture to buy after all! Next time I will probably just but a weeklong pass to the Rainforest room which is an aroma therapy sauna with time chairs and a fountain that is very nice according to my MIL and her girlfriend.
Deck 10 is home to Palo, the adults only restaurant which was divine! We ate dinner there one evening and the food was incredible. There are also some nice viewing areas on deck 10 along with a netted area for basketball.
The aft view from Deck 10:
I think the teen area in one of the stacks on deck 11 but I obviously didn’t spend much time there.
That is a basic overview of the ship. Of course I will go into more detail as I do the day by day report, I just wanted to give you a general rundown first.
Me: 30 YO Disney fan
DH: 30 YO DH
DD: 3 YO DD
MIL: came along with a girlfriend and did her own thing during the day.
Hi everyone! We had an absolute fabulous time. So much that we booked a 7 night Eastern cruise for next September 29 to October 6, 2007. It is funny because the entire cruise notion came to me after my DH wasn’t too keen on going to Disney World two years in a row. I though the cruise was an acceptable substitute but it turns out that I love the cruise more than Disney World, if you can believe it!
Before I go into the day by day report I will give you some details of the ship mainly for those of you who have not cruised yet. I know this type of detail was so useful to me while planning my trip so I hope others find it useful as well. The ship is magnificicently decorated. It starts the moment you walk on the ship and see this awesome chandelier in the lobby.
Every detail on the ship is amazing but more than just being pretty is so incredibly functional. You board the ship on deck three into a spectacular lobby which is where many of the character pictures take place. These are scheduled throughout the entire cruise and the lines are so short compared to the parks. I think this may have been my DD's favorite part of the entire cruise and maybe even mine too! Let’s just say I walked off that ship with 22 6x8’s which is the picture size of the character picture taken by the onboard photographers!
Here is a sample:
Also on Deck 3, are Lumiere’s and Parrot Cay, two of the restaurants on the regular rotation. There are also three clubs, I think, although we did not spend a lot of time there. We did go to Rockin’ Bar D the last night because they had the featured band playing a family dance party. It is so nice to be able to sit in what is essentially a bar knowing that there are only small children on the dance floor. I felt completely at ease and I even ordered a pina colada while I watched DD dance. To me, this is the essence of Disney. They are such experts at creating environments where adults and kinds both have an incredible experience and both demographics feel like they are being completely catered to. :cheers:
Deck four is home to my favorite place, Shutters, the onboard photo store. Here they display all the photos taken on the ship and Castaway Cay. I am embarrassed to admit how much money I spent here but their pictures are amazing.
Also on Deck four is Animator’s Palate which is the fourth restaurant on the dining rotation, two souvenir stores (one geared towards adults and the other towards kids) and the Walt Disney theater which is where Broadway style shows were shown. The movie theater may also be on deck 4 (ETA Movie theater is on Deck 5! Thanks Kim!) but we never actually made it here so I am not completely sure. I really wanted to watch a movie but the times always conflicted with something else I wanted to do more! Also on Deck 4, is the promenade which is essentially a walking trail around the entire ship. I had intended to do more strolling here but we spent most of our time here playing Shuffleboard which DD wanted to play constantly after my MIL taught her to play!
Deck 5 is home to the kids clubs. I didn’t actually leave DD there because my MIL was aboard but we did visit one day and it was very nice. I never even told DD it was a possibility she could stay because she would have pushed me out the door!
We stayed on Deck 6 and there are mostly just staterooms here. Our room was very nice. The split bathroom is great! You essentially have two bathrooms with separate doors. They both have sinks and one has a toilet and the other a shower. At the last minute I caved and bought an over the door show organizer and I am so glad I did. There just isn’t room for a lot of counter space so all those little pockets are a great way to empty the toiletry bag. Deck 6 also has one of three laundry rooms on board. I did laundry Wednesday evening since the trip was 12 days and I had already over packed and still didn’t have quite enough to make the entire trip since we changed at least twice a day. Decks 1, 2, 7 and 8 were mostly staterooms as well.
Deck 9 is the fun deck!
In the aft of the ship is Topsiders which is the casual dining hotspot. They have buffet breakfasts and lunches and less formal sit down dinners. They have indoor and outdoor seating which over looked the ocean. Going forward, you next come to the Mickey pool for kids. It is a shallow pool mostly for kids with a huge slide. Eva only went down the slide twice. I thought she would be on it the entire trip but she really wasn’t all that into it for some odd reason. Next to the Mickey pool is Goofy’s Galley, which has a lot of fresh has food in a case. Here you could find fresh fruit, wraps, paninis, and that sort of food. Right next to the pool is Pluto’s dog house where you could get hot dogs, chicken fingers and burgers. I ran down here one night to get DD chicken fingers the night we went to Palo. If you continue walking forward, the next section is the family area with the Goofy pool and two hot tubs. The counter service food in this area was Pinocchio’s Pizzeria and a poolside bar. The pool can be covered during deck parties like the sail away party and pirate night. There is a stage in front of the pool for the deck parties and above the stage is a huge movie screen! This was so incredibly cool! During the parties, the stage appeared on the screen but every afternoon at 2:00 (and late at night as well) they played movies here. We watched Cinderella one day and DD and MIL watched Nemo another.
Walking forward again, you come to the adult pool area which is home to a pool, two hottubs and an adult only coffee bar. I visited this area only one, early one morning while DH and DD slept. I read in the hot tub and I was the only person there. It was so nice!
At the forward of the ship, is the Vista Salon and Spa. They have all sorts of treatments here and I really enjoyed my manicure, pedicure and Spa Taster, which was a facial and massage. I will say they do try to sell you products fairly relentlessly. I did succumb to one $49 exfoliator but other than that I held strong. I did have picture to buy after all! Next time I will probably just but a weeklong pass to the Rainforest room which is an aroma therapy sauna with time chairs and a fountain that is very nice according to my MIL and her girlfriend.
Deck 10 is home to Palo, the adults only restaurant which was divine! We ate dinner there one evening and the food was incredible. There are also some nice viewing areas on deck 10 along with a netted area for basketball.
The aft view from Deck 10:
I think the teen area in one of the stacks on deck 11 but I obviously didn’t spend much time there.
That is a basic overview of the ship. Of course I will go into more detail as I do the day by day report, I just wanted to give you a general rundown first.
Can't wait to hear more! 
As far as the kids....my daughter is 7 and can't wait to get to the clubs so she is all over that one. Alex is 11 and not so enthused about th eclubs but likes when there is free play in the arcade 
