Returned Saturday from our first
Disney cruise.....we loved it!!
Happy to answer any questions....
But here are some observations from a first time Disney cruiser, in no particular order....
Boarding was easy....our port arrival time was 11:30. Many porters available to take our luggage and we walked into the terminal right away. Being first time cruisers, we had to wait in the 'longer' line but it really moved quickly.
After taking our photo and giving us our KTTW card, we headed over to board, but stopped first to have our picture taken with Mickey dressed as Uncle Sam. Minnie was there, too, dressed as the Statue of Liberty but they take turns so we just missed her. I really wanted a photo with her!
If you don't catch her in the port, she is around in that outfit the first day on the ship. However those lines were closed every time we saw her so we missed her then, too! The CMs reassured me she would be out the last sea day and sure enough, finally got our photo then!!
After getting on the ship, I went right to the Rockin Bar D to switch our dining to main, get tickets to Tea with Alice and make Palo brunch reservations.
Dining was still waitlisted but Palo and tea no problem!
We then went to Parrot Cay for lunch as we preferred to sit inside. EAsier for my mom.
Tea with Alice was cute even with my 13 year old and our joke was it was apple juice, not real tea, which my mom really was looking forward to! We got her real tea later
As for dining, the first night we did the late seating but I spoke with Jose (the head server? The one in charge of the restaurant?? I forget his title!!) and he reassured me that he would get us early seating the rest of the week as I told him that really would work better for my mom. He was great and found us seating early the rest of the cruise. So happy!
As for dining, we loved the shows at the meals. Our favorite restaurant was Lumiere's, which we had twice.
We went to breakfast and lunch there as well on sea days and I'm glad we did. Nice for my mom to be served instead of the buffet style at Parrot Cay.
It was cold! I really had a hard time believing it would be cold on sea days in July but it really was! Definitely bring your fleece/sweatshirts!! They had fleece blankets out on decks which was great.
The pools were very crowded on boarding day. It was hot and people took full advantage of the good weather! If you want to swim, definitely do this because it got colder as the week went on!
Our first sea day was foggy until about 2 or so. Didn't stop kids from swimming but definitely cold!! The captain blew the fog horn a lot that day...sort of added to the whole foggy experience!
The less than great pool weather gave us time to enjoy the ship more....Bingo (no we didn't win
but my daughter was fascinated with the (crazy expensive) electronic cards!!
We went to towel folding, origami butterfly making and two of the chef demonstrations. All things I might not have done if I was compelled to be on deck in the warm sun!!
If you have young children who are into ships and mechanics and such, follow the jogging track on deck 4. We discovered the anchor room at the front of the ship (or was it the back?!) and while we don't have an obsession with anything mechanical, it was cool nonetheless and the CM working there was happy to stop and tell us what everything did!
We loved the shows. While all seats were good, if you want to sit closer, you definitely need to get there early! The first night we got there just as the lights were going off and it was very hard to see going down the stairs. So, we just arrived early the rest of the time.
Our port days were both beautiful! According to the locals, weather was much warmer than normal, in the mid 70s and sunny!
Both port mornings, I was up early and enjoyed the deck/view as we approached our ports. Nice time to enjoy a quiet ship!!
Halifax we did the HOHO bus....we were going to skip this and tour on our own but at the last minute (as in, when we got off the ship) my mom decided we should do it. It actually worked out well because we got to hear about the city and see the sights. We did 2 of the 3 routes though you could have done all 3.
We ate lunch on the waterfront at Murphy's....outdoor seating. Nice atmosphere and one of the best lobster rolls I've ever had! We saw the girl standing at the front making them....she and another person make them fresh all day!! A person sitting at the table next to us got a lobster and it looked great!
If you go here, my tip is go early! We got there at about 11:30 and got a great seat outside...first ones there. When we left about 12:45, the place was packed and there was a line waiting for seats!
We enjoyed Cows ice cream (right by the Marriott/bathroom inside!)...this is a stop on the HOHO bus, Maritime Museum, Freak Lunchbox and walking along the boardwalk.
We also saw Theodore Tugboat and the frog tour boat and both looked like fun and would be a good option for younger kids. To be honest, I would probably chose those over the HOHO if I had kids under the age of 8 or 10.
Very nice day!
Got back to the ship and went swimming while we were still in port. Still very warm so good opportunity to do this!!
Saint John was also warm and the welcome from the locals was lovely.
We did the riverboat cruise which my mom really enjoyed. We saw eagles and seals (the guide did a good job of pointing them out to us!) and saw the new construction along the river (million dollar homes, he said!) which was in definite contrast with the neighborhood along the way from the port to the boat....I asked the captain and he said like so many cities, people have left for the burbs and those who have stayed don't have money/jobs/etc...
Our bus stopped for a quick photo at the Reversing falls. The tides were in our favor so we saw a lot of churning etc!
This is also where the jet boat ride is, which looked fun and the zip line is there as well....not sure I'd want to zip across those falls, though!!
There were a few children under the age of 10 or so on this excursion and the captain let them drive the boat which they seemed to enjoy. Our guide brought some knotting boards so they could practice their knots! My daughter is 13 and I think she was a bit bored though jumped up for the eagle and seals!! But we did it for my 78 year old mother and she loved it.
This is a late excursions so when we got back, we just went to the room to get ready for dinner...Pirate Night.....very fun! We were on Deck 9 right up front and it didn't feel crowded at all. There were also people on Deck 10. It was another foggy, drizzly night and Mickey didn't zip line down due to safety concerns (again, fog horn blowing through the show!) but he walked down the stairs from 10-9 right to the stage.
Even with the fog, the fireworks were great. My mom went back to our room and watched from the verandah and said they were wonderful from there as well!
Our second sea day was also cold and the water was choppy (it was like this on the first night and first sea day, too) Our first cruise was in the Caribbean and my daughter was fine but this cruise she had headaches that first night/day and last sea day. She wore seabands and I gave her a homeopathic motion sickness tablet and this helped a bit. She did lie down in the cabin a bit around lunch time on our last sea day and when I went up to get her a drink, the water in the Goofy pool looked like a wave pool!
Good tip....One of the CMs told me that green apple with ginger ale is a good home remedy so we ordered that from room service. Not sure if it really helped but my daughter thought it did so that's what matters.
We loved how up close and personal the characters were....if we saw them in the halls, they stopped for a quick pic and to say hello....we could see them in all the shows easily....it never felt as rushed as it does at WDW!
I'm sure I've forgotten a million things so feel free to ask. Great cruise, great staff, all our needs met whenever we asked for something!
Though I still wish they would lose the blue bedspreads! They took them off at night and the room looked better!!
Can't wait for our next Disney cruise!!
