Hello Everyone,
I just thought that I would share my thoughts on the May 28th Cruise. We just returned home to NC yesterday and WOW what a great vacation we had. We were in staterooms 5516 and 5518. Our day started out leaving the airport on the Disney transfer buses. Our driver, got lost - haha. He had to turn the bus around and go back toward the airport and then turn around again to get on the correct road. Anyway, this was new to him.. No big deal. Once at the port, we were given a boarding pass which had the number 4 on it. We checked in at the Castaway Club Desk - Very Easy. There were security officers with K-9 dogs extremely visible! Walking back and forth through the port looking for drugs.... Finally, they started calling boarding pass numbers. Everyone with boarding pass with 1 could board and then 2 and so on....Finally, it came to us. Oh, By the Way - No Picture Taking allowed in the port. Signs are everywhere inside. So my husband and I walked outside to see them load the boat and I took a picture - well that was a bad idea! I got yelled at by security - NO PICTURES. There are also, NO SIGNS outside, but just thought I'd warn you! Anyway, we boarded the ship on Deck 4 and went straight to lunch, boy what a great way to start out the cruise. The weather was really cool. A LOT cooler than it was when we left NC! We had great surpises waiting for us in our stateroom. Captain Mickey Hats, scarves and hands - How cool! Our Castaway Club Beach Blanket was really nice too! Our servers were Dobo from bulgaria and Maria from England and the Head server was Ronald from the Netherlands. We were so disappointed!!! Ronald was Fantastic! Maria was okay. Dobo was just quiet. He took our orders, delivered our food, seemed insulted when we didn't like something or the kids didn't finish their food - I just didn't like him! Our first cruise was fantastic our severs were perfect. Our servers this time had BIG shoes to fill. I didn't know if they were really that bad or were my expectations too high. Maria asked us every night what we wanted to drink, our first servers knew without asking every night what we wanted. At least twice a night someones glass would be empty during the course of a meal and she would ask, would you like something else to drink? And I would just think, Well, no..... Let me choke down this risotto and lamb with no beverage! Anyway.... For my sons birthday, I talked to Ronald and told him that he would not eat the "Mousse" cake that they were presenting for birthdays and really all that we would want is Vanilla Ice Cream or a sugar cookie or Mickey Ice Cream. That would be perfect. And Ronald insisted on preparing him a special Vanilla Cake - Yummy!!!! Vanilla Cake layers with Vanilla Cream and icing - WOW, Unbelievable! It was perfect. If you are celebrating, just let your team know a day in advance and they will custom make a cake, any kind to your liking... Perfect!
Anyway.... We decided not to do excursions and to just get off of the ship and find a beach. This worked out Wonderful!!!!
Puerto Vallarta.... When you get off of the ship, walk toward the flea market and cross the street. Between the building and a fence is a sidewalk. Take that sidewalk to the end and security will let you in the fence. Tell them you are with the cruise. That is the Krystal Resort. VERY NICE. It is FREE. You can use the facility as long as you are purchasing beverages - $3 US Dollars including tip per Coke. The pool is amazing. It is ocean front and they have chairs with umbrellas or lounge chairs at the pool. or lounge chairs in the pool! Restrooms were very clean. This resort is an entire community in itself. There is a giant playground beside the pool and the pool has 2 swim up bars, bridges, volleyball, basketball, checkers, islands, VERY NICE.
Mazatlan.... Take the tram to the terminal. Walk out of the terminal to the front gate and turn left. Walk less than a mile, about 10-15 minutes. Nice Walk, shaded and on a sidewalk. You will pass the Mexican Naval Yard and the sidewalk will turn to dirt at this point turn right and you will see water. Purchase a water taxi ticket for $1 US Dollar/person. Take the water taxi to Stone Island. Once at the island, take the taxi to the beach. It was $3.50 for 7 people. It is VERY quiet. WARNING.... Two weeks ago there was a jellyfish infestation... The jellyfish are gone, but they layed eggs. There are tons of eggs in the water. The eggs sting! My son, husband and two nephews were eaten alive by the eggs! Thankfully, a very nice mexican women was prepared. She cleaned them with bottled water, then alcohol and then sprayed them with WD-40. She said the WD-40 creates a sylicone protection. So, Add WD-40 to your packing list!!! My oldest nephew had a tare in his swimsuit from the right side of his leg to his crotch from the fish - Thank goodness for the swimsuit!!!!
Cabo San Lucas.... We got off of the ship and walked to the Cabo Wabo Cantina. Then to the beach. When you get off of the ship, follow the pier all the way around until it turns to parking lot and then follow the parking lot around to the sand and there is the beach. Its a Very Nice 15 minute walk. We rented Jet Skiis. We had 5 people that wanted to ride so we rented two. 3 people on 1 and 2 on the other. It was $40 US Dollars for 40 minutes/jet ski. This beach was very nice. The sand was soft and didn't stick to your skin. We really enjoyed it.
As far as being on the ship... My only complaint was that my son who is 8 almost 9 didn't want to go to the kids club. And outside of the pool, ping pong, basketball and shuffleboard, there was nothing for him to do. He is an avid golfer and the chip in golf that they had was for ages 12 and up. He said this was his last Disney Cruise. Next time he wants to do Royal Carribean.
The Art of Entertaining classes that I attended were fantastic!! We learned to make dessert, appetizer, entree, mixed drinks and sip wine correctly. We also took a tour of the galley - really interesting!
Overall, we had a good time. The time difference took a toll on us. Coming from the East Coast and loosing 3 hours to California and then loosing 2 more going into Mexico was really hard!
After our cruise, we returned to the airport, checked our baggage and was off at 1:00 to meet our limo driver. We rented a limo from A List Limo in Beverly Hills. We went on a 6 hour tour of the area. It was neat to see several of the sites. We were able to stop and get photos of several places. My son wanted to see Muscle Beach, so we spent about an hour walking around people watching - Very Interesting Place!!!
Our flight didn't leave LAX until 11:00pm... The airport was less than desireable. The food choices are extremely limited! We walked to the Encounter across the street. If you flew in at night. It is the Really tall dome restaurant on stilts with a purple light all the way around it. We thought it would be cool to eat there at night and watch the planes. The menu was really expensive which wouldn't have been near as bad, but the selection was very LIMITED and the place stunk. It smelled like old seafood. Really gross. We decided to leave and have McDonalds at the airport.
We are happy to be home. Just thought I'd share some of our highlights...
I just thought that I would share my thoughts on the May 28th Cruise. We just returned home to NC yesterday and WOW what a great vacation we had. We were in staterooms 5516 and 5518. Our day started out leaving the airport on the Disney transfer buses. Our driver, got lost - haha. He had to turn the bus around and go back toward the airport and then turn around again to get on the correct road. Anyway, this was new to him.. No big deal. Once at the port, we were given a boarding pass which had the number 4 on it. We checked in at the Castaway Club Desk - Very Easy. There were security officers with K-9 dogs extremely visible! Walking back and forth through the port looking for drugs.... Finally, they started calling boarding pass numbers. Everyone with boarding pass with 1 could board and then 2 and so on....Finally, it came to us. Oh, By the Way - No Picture Taking allowed in the port. Signs are everywhere inside. So my husband and I walked outside to see them load the boat and I took a picture - well that was a bad idea! I got yelled at by security - NO PICTURES. There are also, NO SIGNS outside, but just thought I'd warn you! Anyway, we boarded the ship on Deck 4 and went straight to lunch, boy what a great way to start out the cruise. The weather was really cool. A LOT cooler than it was when we left NC! We had great surpises waiting for us in our stateroom. Captain Mickey Hats, scarves and hands - How cool! Our Castaway Club Beach Blanket was really nice too! Our servers were Dobo from bulgaria and Maria from England and the Head server was Ronald from the Netherlands. We were so disappointed!!! Ronald was Fantastic! Maria was okay. Dobo was just quiet. He took our orders, delivered our food, seemed insulted when we didn't like something or the kids didn't finish their food - I just didn't like him! Our first cruise was fantastic our severs were perfect. Our servers this time had BIG shoes to fill. I didn't know if they were really that bad or were my expectations too high. Maria asked us every night what we wanted to drink, our first servers knew without asking every night what we wanted. At least twice a night someones glass would be empty during the course of a meal and she would ask, would you like something else to drink? And I would just think, Well, no..... Let me choke down this risotto and lamb with no beverage! Anyway.... For my sons birthday, I talked to Ronald and told him that he would not eat the "Mousse" cake that they were presenting for birthdays and really all that we would want is Vanilla Ice Cream or a sugar cookie or Mickey Ice Cream. That would be perfect. And Ronald insisted on preparing him a special Vanilla Cake - Yummy!!!! Vanilla Cake layers with Vanilla Cream and icing - WOW, Unbelievable! It was perfect. If you are celebrating, just let your team know a day in advance and they will custom make a cake, any kind to your liking... Perfect!
Anyway.... We decided not to do excursions and to just get off of the ship and find a beach. This worked out Wonderful!!!!
Puerto Vallarta.... When you get off of the ship, walk toward the flea market and cross the street. Between the building and a fence is a sidewalk. Take that sidewalk to the end and security will let you in the fence. Tell them you are with the cruise. That is the Krystal Resort. VERY NICE. It is FREE. You can use the facility as long as you are purchasing beverages - $3 US Dollars including tip per Coke. The pool is amazing. It is ocean front and they have chairs with umbrellas or lounge chairs at the pool. or lounge chairs in the pool! Restrooms were very clean. This resort is an entire community in itself. There is a giant playground beside the pool and the pool has 2 swim up bars, bridges, volleyball, basketball, checkers, islands, VERY NICE.
Mazatlan.... Take the tram to the terminal. Walk out of the terminal to the front gate and turn left. Walk less than a mile, about 10-15 minutes. Nice Walk, shaded and on a sidewalk. You will pass the Mexican Naval Yard and the sidewalk will turn to dirt at this point turn right and you will see water. Purchase a water taxi ticket for $1 US Dollar/person. Take the water taxi to Stone Island. Once at the island, take the taxi to the beach. It was $3.50 for 7 people. It is VERY quiet. WARNING.... Two weeks ago there was a jellyfish infestation... The jellyfish are gone, but they layed eggs. There are tons of eggs in the water. The eggs sting! My son, husband and two nephews were eaten alive by the eggs! Thankfully, a very nice mexican women was prepared. She cleaned them with bottled water, then alcohol and then sprayed them with WD-40. She said the WD-40 creates a sylicone protection. So, Add WD-40 to your packing list!!! My oldest nephew had a tare in his swimsuit from the right side of his leg to his crotch from the fish - Thank goodness for the swimsuit!!!!
Cabo San Lucas.... We got off of the ship and walked to the Cabo Wabo Cantina. Then to the beach. When you get off of the ship, follow the pier all the way around until it turns to parking lot and then follow the parking lot around to the sand and there is the beach. Its a Very Nice 15 minute walk. We rented Jet Skiis. We had 5 people that wanted to ride so we rented two. 3 people on 1 and 2 on the other. It was $40 US Dollars for 40 minutes/jet ski. This beach was very nice. The sand was soft and didn't stick to your skin. We really enjoyed it.
As far as being on the ship... My only complaint was that my son who is 8 almost 9 didn't want to go to the kids club. And outside of the pool, ping pong, basketball and shuffleboard, there was nothing for him to do. He is an avid golfer and the chip in golf that they had was for ages 12 and up. He said this was his last Disney Cruise. Next time he wants to do Royal Carribean.
The Art of Entertaining classes that I attended were fantastic!! We learned to make dessert, appetizer, entree, mixed drinks and sip wine correctly. We also took a tour of the galley - really interesting!
Overall, we had a good time. The time difference took a toll on us. Coming from the East Coast and loosing 3 hours to California and then loosing 2 more going into Mexico was really hard!
After our cruise, we returned to the airport, checked our baggage and was off at 1:00 to meet our limo driver. We rented a limo from A List Limo in Beverly Hills. We went on a 6 hour tour of the area. It was neat to see several of the sites. We were able to stop and get photos of several places. My son wanted to see Muscle Beach, so we spent about an hour walking around people watching - Very Interesting Place!!!
Our flight didn't leave LAX until 11:00pm... The airport was less than desireable. The food choices are extremely limited! We walked to the Encounter across the street. If you flew in at night. It is the Really tall dome restaurant on stilts with a purple light all the way around it. We thought it would be cool to eat there at night and watch the planes. The menu was really expensive which wouldn't have been near as bad, but the selection was very LIMITED and the place stunk. It smelled like old seafood. Really gross. We decided to leave and have McDonalds at the airport.
We are happy to be home. Just thought I'd share some of our highlights...
Although we aren't sailing until July 2, we did do the Las Caletas tour a few years ago on our Princess cruise. It is not an island. It is a beach that is only accessible by boat. You take about 45 min boat trip to the beach and they offer juice and snacks on the way over there and you can schedule a massage. Once there it is basically a beach day. They did have a cooking demonstration and a nature hike. They normally offer snorkeling and we did the kayaking but (AGAIN) they told everyone to stay out of the water because of JELLYFISH!! We could see them from our kayak and my DH still talks about how fun I was to kayak with because I was afraid he was going to dump us in the water!! I think it ranks up there with him snorkeling with me on his back at Stingray City. 
It was a nice beach day but long so this time we are trying the beach break as it is a shorter day and we will have the kiddos with us and we can get back early to give them a nap. Enjoy..what ever you decide to do. Amy 
