Opinions of a First Cruiser-Disney Wonder- March 14-18

[sparty7798]

Hi,
We just got off the 4-day Disney Wonder today so I thought I would share some tips and experiences we had.

Cast of characters:
-Ali (36)
-Vann DH (40)
-Jack-DS (3)

Saturday, March 13, 2010: We live in Savannah, GA so we left for cape canaveral about 8:00 a.m. and took our time getting there. We had plans to stay at the Country Inn and Suites. I got the room off of priceline based on the tips from the other readers so the room cost a total of $62.11 and then I paid an additional $20.00 for us to leave the car and take the shuttle the next day.

We arrived at Cape Canaveral around 2:00 p.m. after an uneventful drive. We were able to check right in and the clerk got us signed up for the shuttle and we were able to get the 10:00 a.m. shuttle without a problem. She gave us two vouchers for them. We had the kids suite because those are the rooms they sell on price line. This included a queen size bed, mini fridge and microwave. There was a large table in the room as well with four chairs. The kids room consisted of a set of bunk beds and another twin bed. There was also a T.V. and a DVD player. The walls of the room had some sort of car painted on it so it was not bad at all. We were told to meet in the lobby at 9:45 a.m. for the shuttle the next morning.

That afternoon, we used the pool with our son. They have a kids area, a hot tub and a large regular pool. The weather was like seventy degrees but it was so windy that the lounge chairs were blowing into the pool. We stayed out there for an hour and he had a good time.

That evening we went to dinner down at the port. The girl at the desk recommended Grills and I had read some good things on the boards about that so we intended to go there. We got down there about 4:30 p.m. and there was a forty-five minute wait for dinner and it was really loud and crowded so we walked down the street to Fishlips and ate there instead. Fishlips had a wide variety of food and we ate in the quiter section still overlooking the water. We saw both the Disney Magic and another cruise ship pass by while we were eating. I would recommend Fishlips if you want a wide variety of food and a nice atmosphere.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and got our son ready for bed and finished up some last minute packing and organizing!

 

[sparty7798]

We were up early so we headed down to the complimentary breakfast at the Country Inn and Suites. I did not think the breakfast was bad at all. They had a wide variety of cereal, waffles, hot items, pastries, etc. Your general continental breakfast food.

We headed down to the lobby at 9:45 a.m. as instructed and Dwayne (shuttle driver) promptly gave us instructions about how the shuttle works and what was going to happen. He loaded all the bags in the bag of a trailer that they pull along behind and off we went. We had a coupon that we gave to him and then we had a coupon for the ride back after the cruise with his cell phone number so we could call him when we got back. He dropped us off at the area marked number 5 and then my husband gave our luggage to the porters and off we went to the terminal. So, in my opnion, the hotel is a good deal for the money especially if you get it on priceline. I would certainly not pay $100.00 for it. Also, the ease of the shuttle and leaving your car at the hotel was also very good and would recommend that as well!

Check-In Process:
At the gate at the port, we had to show our passports and then we continued on to the security line which was much easier than the airport security. We just put our bags through the conveyor belt and then headed up the stairs. We had two carry on bags: one small suitcase filled with a bottle of wine, a 12 pack of coke zero, some
starbuck coffees and favorite snacks for our son. The other bag had miscellaneous items we might need for the day and then our son had some toys in his Little Einstein's suitcase.

We were greeted at the top of the stairs by the Disney personnel and then were directed right over to check in which was a breeze. I had filled out everything on line so we just had to fill out one more form about if we had been sick in the last three days, they took our pictures all at once and then gave us a card with our room number, room cards and the navigator for the day. They then directed us over to the kids area to get our pager and arm bracelet. That area was not open yet so we just walked around a bit until that opened. I then took our son over to that line and we go this bracelt and I got the pager. If the line is not too bad and you are there early, I would recommend getting that out of the way. However, as the morning progressed the line became huge and if that is the case, I would just wait until you get on the ship as you can get registered for the kids club on board as well.

I will continue more when I get a chance!

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Great start! Good to know that they hand you a Navigator with the check-in. Look forward to more.

 

[KarenFL]

Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks for sharing!!

 

[sparty7798]

I had read that once you get on the ship they announce your family so I was excited for that. It certainly was everything that others have described. They announced our family and everyone clapped so it was very exciting especially for our son Jack (he is 3). They then reminded us about the room being ready at 1:30 p.m. and they directed us to Parrot Cay for lunch. We had matching shirts on that said the Scott Family cruise so many of the personnel thought they were really cute.
We had a very nice lunch. It was a buffett and had a wide variety of items like salads, fish, meat, breads, etc. They also had some items for the kids like macorni and cheese and various items. There was a huge selection of deserts as well and ice cream with a variety of toppings. The servers bring your drinks and the bar people also walked around at this time trying to get you to buy the wine package or the beer package. M y husband did buy some beer token thing and he said it cost $15.00 I think. He was able to get several beers with it and then he can use it again on a next cruise. The beer was huge every time he got it.

I had read on other posts that sometimes characters might come to Parrot Cay during the lunch and just as we were leaving around 12:45 p.m., Goofy was coming down the hallway and headed in there so there seems to be some truth to this. I am not much of a food snob so you will find in most of my reporting that we liked the food and found it to be very good. We did like the lunch bufett as there was a lot of choice and variety.

When we were leaving lunch, they were directing people to Topsiders so Parrot Cay does get very filled up fast. We headed up to deck 9 to hang out while we waited for our room to be ready. By this time our son was very tired of waiting around and we were tired of hauling our carry on luggage around. It was very windy this day so it was super windy on the top of the ship but we were able to find a table and hang out a little while longer. There were a lot of people trying to get their lunch.

Just before 1:30 p.m. we headed down to deck 2 where our room was and they were still finishing up cleaning, but promptly took the rope down at 1:30 p.m. to let us in our rooms. We were in room 2598 which had the porthole window and we enjoyed the room very much and its location. It was aft so it made it very easy to get every where we wanted to go. The room had the one queen size bed, the split tub and toilet, a couch (that was made into another bed), mini fridge and the porthole window. It was big enough for the three of us, but there certainly was not a lot of room to move around in.

In your room, you will find information about your on board credits, any excursion tickets, spa treatments you have and your dining tickets that give your rotation. I had asked at lunch what ours was and they explained because when we signed up we had late seating, but when we arrived for the cruise it had been changed to first seating so we were happy about that. Our rotation was Tritons, Animator Palate, Animator Palate and then Parrot Cay.

I put up all the name tags and pictures I had made. Thanks so much to the disers who helped with the designs as they looked great. I also put up our fish extender. We had ordered a gift basket for our son from Shirley and that was waiting in the room when entered so our son was all over that. It was a medium sandpail with toys, drinks, gold fish, pretzels, fruit snacks, rasins and a whole lot of sandy toys and a mickey. He loved it and she did an excellent job. Thanks Shirley!

After getting some things unpacked we headed to explore and I wanted to drop off the photo mat at guest services and see about why my husband did not have a ticket for the excursion we were doing in Nassau. I dropped off the photo mat to have the characters sign it with my sharpies and candy as everyone suggested. I filled out a small form and they told me it would be returned at the end of the cruise. We then went over to the shore excurion desk and were able to get the ticket for my husband without a problem.

We went back to the room and two of our luggage bags were allready outside the door so we brough them in and I started unpacking everything while our son was able to fall asleep on Dad for a little nap. Our other bag came a little while later as well so we had all of our bags by 4:00 p.m. There is not a lot of room for all the clothes, but we were able to give everything a spot. There are a lot of hangers in the closet so that was good and the closet is fairly big. I was able to fit 2 large suit cases under the bed and a small one. One suitcase was too big so we put that in the closet. I did get an over the door shoe hanger and that was awesome (highly recommend that). I put toiletries, sunscreen and other miscellaneous stuff in there which kept things off the counters because there is not a lot of room in the bathroom.

By the time this was over and our son woke up, it was time for dinner so we got everyone ready and headed off to Tritons. When we arrived there was one person sitting at the table allready and she said there were four more people coming. We ended up dining with a family from Ontario Canada who had a three year old and an eighteen month old so that was perfect since Jack was also three, their parents and the wife's Mom. They were a lot of fun and we enjoyed having dinner with them every night.

Our servers were Ramsey (India) and Johann (Sweden) and they were both very good. They spend a lot of time making sure you have everything you need and they want to make sure you have excellent service. Every meal is 4 course with appetizer, salad/soup, entree and dessert along with some type of bread so be prepared to eat as you do a lot of that. They also have a seperate kids menu and placemat for them so they get some type of fruit, entree and then a dessert as well. They have the same foods every night and then chefs choice so they have things for the kids like macaroni and cheese, pizza, mickey pasta, mini hamburgers, spagetti, etc. They also vary the deserts a bit as well. They will bring the kids there entree when you get your salad or soup. All in all the meal generally takes at least an hour and 15 minutes up to an hour and 30 minutes. This was a little hard for a three year old every night but we (parents) really enjoyed the dinners. It helped that there were other small kids at the table.

After dinner, we went back to the room and were debating if we should attend the Golden Mickeys, but our son by that time was so tried and fussy that we decided to skip it. We gave him his bath and noticed that he had a huge gash on his head so we called the health services and took him down to see a nurse who cleaned it all up for us. We have no idea how it happended, but he told us that he hit his head on the table in the room so be careful in the room there are a lot of hazards.

So after all the drama, we got him to bed and then fell asleep soon after that.

I will report more later as tomorrow is Nassau Day and we did the Dolphin Encounter!

 

[jinia]

Following your TR! Keep it coming! Glad your DS was okay...the things kids can do....

 

[disneychic]

Great TR!! Can't wait to see how the rest of your cruise was

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Good room & dining details. Glad to hear your son was OK.

 

[sparty7798]

We had called room service the night before to order the continental breakfast to be delivered at 7:00 a.m. so we could have some coffee and get something for our son since breakfast at 7:30 a.m. We ordered coffee, juice,toast and blueberry muffin. He only likes blueberry muffins so we thought that would be good, but he would not eat it and said he did not like it. Of course! So after getting dressed we headed up to Topsiders for some breakfast. I was quite impressed throughout the cruise that there were always staff standing in front of the restaurants handing you the sanitizing wipes. We always made sure to do that.

Topsiders had a wide variety of breakfast food including: yogurt, a variety of kellogg cereals, milk, juice, coffee, mickey waffles, eggs, made to order omelets, toast, pastries, muffins, donuts, scones, egg sandwiches, fresh fruit, oatmeal, etc. My favorite was the chocolate croissants, they were so good! The staff help you at breakfast if you need assistance carrying your try and will also get you refills on your drinks. We ate breakfast here every morning because it was convenient and easy. It was also the first one open every day and we are early birds.

After breakfast we headed down to the room to get everyone ready for the Dolphin Encounter. We were supposed to meet at the Wavebands Lounge at 9:30 a.m. for the excursion. When we arrived, we had to wait in a line to show our room keys, photo id and our tickets. We were given a sticker to place on our shirt and were directed to another line to get a wristband from the blue lagoon personnel. We were then told to sit down in the lounge and to pick up some towels for our family since they are not provided at blue lagoon. They were selling water, beer and coolers in the room for anyone that wanted them. After everyone was checked in, they instructed us that everyone would be getting off in a group and to follow the staff holding up signs to the boat once we got off the ship. When you get off the ship, it takes a while because they have to swipe everyone's card. We did not bring our passports off with us, just our licenses.

We got a blue lagoon boat that was enclosed and had benches to sit on and headed to blue lagoon. There was a bathroom on board. The ride took about 30 minutes or so and it was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining and the temperature was around 75 desgrees. We saw Atlantis, surrounding mansions and we were amazed at the aqua blue color of the water.

Once arriving at blue lagoon, they have personnel directing you depending on what you are doing: encounter, dolphin swim or sea lions. You then sit as a group and a trainer comes out and gives some information about the dolphins and how to work with them. You are then split into smaller groups and head down to the dolphin pool to get ready. There are lockers there for your valuables and then you leave your larger bags on a bench. You leave all your stuf there and head down to the water which was really cold. Then one by one every family gets in the water and they take one picture of you and your family with the dolphin kissing you. They then start working with the groups. We were the second group and it was hard to get back in the water as it was freezing and our 3 year old was not too keen on this. Once in the water: you pet the dolphin, feed it, dance with it, kiss it and hug it. The dolphin will also sometimes spray people with water. They video the encounter and when they are done, you can watch it.

So, what I do it again? Probably not with a 3 year old. Jack liked it a lot, but did not enjoy it because of the cold water and he cost $110.00. My husband and I enjoyed it. After everyone is done, you have an entire hour left before the boat comes back to get you so we went to the beach. This was Jack's favorite part. He waded in the water and played in the sand. They do have a gift shop on the island and a snack bar. We had brought snacks and drinks with us so we did not buy anything. I also did not buy any of the photos or the video. The boat ride back was the same as the way out except they drop you off in a different location which was confusing. We followed the crowd and eventually figured out how to get back to the ship. We did have to wait a bit to get back on board and this was a slow process like getting off as everyone had to get their cards swiped back in and show identification. Your bags also had to go through a conveyor belt for security purposes. On the way back our son had fallen asleep so my husband had to carry him quite a ways to get back to the ship. We did not have a stroller, but I would certainly recommend one if you have plans to just walk around Nassau as we had to walk quite a distance.

After our evenful morning, we headed up to Deck 9 to get everyone some lunch. By this time Topsiders was closed so I along with my son had some pizza and my husband had a hamburger and fries. They were showing Peter Pan on the big screen so we watched that while we were eating. We then headed down to the room and changed and went off to the Buena Vista theater to see UP in 3D. We had not seen the movie yet and really enjoyed it. The theater is very nice. Our son had only been to one other movie before and he made it through almost all the movie when he got tired and fussy so I brought him back to the room while my husband finished up the movie. They do have snacks for sale outside the theater, but we just brought drinks from the room for us and our son. I would highly recommend brining some snacks with you especially if you have a toddler that is picky. It was hard even with all the food that they have on board to find him things to eat that we knew he would eat. I also brough applesauce with us because I read that they did not have any and he would eat two containers every night.

Next up is dinner at Animator Palate and the Toy Story Show!

 

[sparty7798]

Today, we originally had plans to go to dinner at Palo and had made a reservation for 6:00 p.m. We were going to leave our son at the oceaneer club. We wanted to make sure that we had a enough time and got him in before they started dinner so we took him around 4:00 p.m. We had allready taken him to see the place the day before. When we arrived, we checked him in and they have them go wash their hands right away and go to the bathroom, but he would not leave our side and just sobbed about us not wanting to leave him so we just could not. There were a lot of counselors there at the time and saw that he was having a hard time, but did not do anything to assist us. So, we did not go to Palo so I can not comment on that.

Opinions about the Oceanner Club:
So as we know our son would not stay and this is a kid who goes to day care every day for eight hours and is very used to being left with other people and has no problem doing so. I do not think he would stay at the oceanner club because no counselor tried to engage with him and get him involved in any type of activity. The kids seemed to be running around crazy and they were doing their best to manage the chaos. We did take Jack to one of the structured activities the next day with snow white and I felt that was managed and run a whole lot better. Even that day I saw kids that were upset and all the counselors did was set them down on the floor and telll them there Mom would be coming soon and then walked away. On the ship they will tell you that they have more counselors than other cruise ships and I am not sure if that is true or not. I did notice that it seemed easier for siblings who were left together. I am not knocking the club by any means. e It just did not work for us. I said to my DH that we need to bring Grandma and Granpa the next time.

Animator Palate:
This dinner was pretty cool as the lights change throughout dinner lightening up the different characters on the wall as well as the server's vests. All the excitment kep Jack entertained for this dinner. I had a glass of wine with this dinner and it cost $12.00 and it was Robert Mondavi so just
be aware of that.

Toy Story Show: After dinner, we went to the Toy Story show. Our son is a big fan of Toy Story so we thought he would like that. We did make it through most of the show, but he fell asleep before the show even started. My DH and I really liked the show so I highly recommend it and I am sure that your kids will like it.

We left just a little bit before it ended because Jack was snoring so loud we did not want others to be disturbed. So we took him back to the room and everyone went to bed.

I realized that I forgot to mention two other things the previous day:
Safety Drill: They have this at 4:00 p.m. and everyone has to attend. They give you lots of instructions about putting on your life vest and going to your designated meeting spot on deck 4. They ae strict about attendance and want to make sure that if you have children, they have the appropriate child life vest. The drill only takes about 10 minutes or so and they do not want you to take the life vest off until you return to your cabin.

Sail Away Party: This is immediately following the drill up on deck 9 and was a lot of fun. They have lots of music, all the characters and then you count down to the ship leaving. It was a lot of fun.


Tomorrow is a masage for DH, Castaway Key and Pirates Night!

 

[jessrose18]

Thank you for your detailed account. I am enjoying your trip report
Thinking about doing Blue lagoon Beach day, glad you thought the beach was nice. In 2006 we did the dolphin swim, it was great, but back then they didn't have the beach trip option. I paid to be an observer for $20 i think and dh paid for the swim $185 if I remember correctly, it is pricey. We did a RCCL and booked it ourselves. We went in January and the water was soooooo cold there!

 

[sparty7798]

My husband had the well being massage at the spa at 8:00 a.m. This was the only day that I could get the massage set up and I did it at the designated time when you could make reservations. He really likes massages. I myself hate them and have not had one since our honeymoon when we had them together and then I could not move for the rest of the day. My husband really liked the massage (it was 45 minutes) and it cost $115.00. He would recommend it.

While he was doing that, my son and I had breakfast at Topsiders again and then went down to the room to get things together to get off the ship at Castaway Cay.

My husband came back around 9:15 a.m. and we were off the ship by 9:30 a.m. Getting off the ship was so quick as no one was waiting and we grabbed towels when we got off-they have a huge bin so you can just get them there. A note about the towels, you can always get them so there is no need to bring your own. We did bring ours and then we never used them and I certainly would not bring them again.

As you get off the ship, you walk by the post office and they had Donald Duck so we got a picture done with him since there was no line. They also had other photographers set up to take pictures with the ship in the background and the Flying Dutchman. We did not stop for those, but kept going. You can either walk along the path or you can take the tram. We choose to take the tram because it is quite a walk to the beach.

The island itself is beautiful. When you get off the tram, you walk up the path and there are some shops with sand pails, beach toys, etc. I am not sure how much they were. We had gotten some sand toys with his gift basket from Shirley so that was really handy. We were some of the first groups to get off the boat so we had a good selection of seats. They have a lot of lounge chairs, beach chairs and many of them have umbrellas which was great. I would recommend going early as it did fill up quickly and by 3:00 p.m. when we left, there were not a lot of places to sit on the family beach.

For the morning, we jusy played in the sand and the water. There are a variety of bars around if you want drinks and photographers come by all the time taking pictures of families. Also, like on the ship, servers come by to get you drinks if you want them. They also have chips at the bars and they are free if you need a snack prior to lunch. Lunch starts at 11:30 a.m. and they had a lot of things: hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, ribs, potato salad, cookies, bananna bread, chocolate chip cookies, and a huge selection of fruit. We thought the food was pretty good and enjoyed lunch.

After lunch, we got lucky because our son was able to take a nap on the lounge chair. This was around the time that they offered two for one drinks so my husband and I had bannana daquiries that were so good-highly recommend them.

We loved castaway cay and thought this day was the most fun and relaxing. We certainly did not take advantage of all that they had to offer. You could rent floats, snorkel, parasail, use the slide. Apparently that is a new thing and some older kids next to us told us all about it and showed us pictures. They had a good time. They also had crab races and we watched these. They were very fun to see. We did not explore any of the other beaches so I can not comment on them.

About 3:00 p.m., we headed back to the ship after a really great day. The weather was perfect, sunny, clear and almost 80.

Tonight's dinner was at Animator's Palate again for the pirate theme. I had gotten us all matching black shirts with a pirate mickey on them so we wore them with jeans. Our son also had a pirate hat and a pirate cape. It was really cute! We headed down to the lobby to get our picture taken with Pirate Minnie and this picture came out so cute with our son that we ended up buying this one from shutters. We also had our picture taken by the photographer but they did not come out so well so I did not get that one.

Dinner was a pirate theme and the staff at dinner were dressed up as well so it was a lot of fun. Thus, I would encourage everyone to dress up and have fun with it.

After dinner, our son had a second wind so we decided to try and attend the pirate party. We just put his pajamas on in case he fell asleep so we could just put him down when we got back. We headed up the deck 9 around 9:30 p.m. and were able to get good seats on deck 10. There was some kind of kids activity going on before hand. There was a lot of dancing and music and then the characters all came out. Mickey Mouse decends at the end of the party inbetween the smoke stacks and then the fireworks took place off the right hand side of the ship. The fireworks were great! I thought the party part was just okay.

They have a huge buffet set up after the party. We did not stay for that, but just went to bed. Our tablemates thought it was really good so if you are up and still going be sure to check it out.

Next up: Wednesday, Day at Sea!

 

[sparty7798]

Thank you for your detailed account. I am enjoying your trip report
Thinking about doing Blue lagoon Beach day, glad you thought the beach was nice. In 2006 we did the dolphin swim, it was great, but back then they didn't have the beach trip option. I paid to be an observer for $20 i think and dh paid for the swim $185 if I remember correctly, it is pricey. We did a RCCL and booked it ourselves. We went in January and the water was soooooo cold there!

Yes I would go with the beach day especially if the weather looks good. I kind of wish we had just done that.

 

[sparty7798]

Today was our Day at Sea and the only day that the weather was not so good. It was cloudy and dreary, but still failry warm. We headed up to Topsiders for breakfast and then we headed to the pools. Let's just say that hardly anyone is in the pool at 8:30 a.m. Jack and Dad had a good time in the mickey pool.

After an hour or so in the pool, everyone changed and went down to wait in line to see the princesses. We were able to see Bell, Snow White, Tianna and Cinderalla so that was a lot of fun. Make sure that you get there early for the character greetings as those lines get really big fast.

After the character greeting we went up to the Oceanner Club to have Jack participate in learning the dwarf dance and seeing Snow White. This activity was really organized, I think I mentioned this before. It was a lot of fun for Jack and the other kids seemed to also have a good time. As I mentioned before, you can just go for these activities even if you do not want to leave your kids in the club so that is very nice.

After the character greeting we headed to lunch at Parrot Cay. It was a really good buffett with fish, meat (steak), salads, lots of deserts etc. but there was not a lot of food that our son would eat so after eating here my husband took him to deck 9 to get some other stuff from topsiders and I enjoyed some time in shutters looking at all our pictures and deciding which ones to buy. I think I said before, they are pretty expensive and I only bought a couple of them.

DH and DS were napping when I got back to the room which was great because we had plans to see Princess and the Frog at 3:00 p.m. in the Buena Vista Theater. We had not seen the movie and really enjoyed it. It was packed so make sure to get there early if you try to see a movie. We loved it!

Our last dinner was at Parrot Cay tonight and that was also very good. We had fun taking pictures with our table mates and waiters. We did not do anything exciting tonight because our son was tired. We did watch the show on T.V. and it looked really great so if you get to see that one, you should do it. The name is escaping me right now. You have to pack your bags and place them outside your door between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. if you want them to take them off the ship so make sure you do that. They give you luggage tags to place on them so it is really easy and they have a color zone.

Since we had early seating, we had the 1st breakfast at 6:45 a.m. I was suprised that the breakfast was sit down and order off a menu. They had lots of items to chose from such as eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc. I thought the food was pretty good. It was a nice breakfast to get sent off on the road with and of course, impeccable service as always.

After saying good bye, we proceeded off the ship and this takes place where you get on. They have lots of staff waving good bye to you so that was nice. Once you get off the ship, they swipe your card and you proceed to get your luggage. Staff ask you what your room # was and they then tell you the exact row to pick up your luggage in your color zone so it was super easy. We located our bags quickly and proceeded to customs. If you need help with your luggage, they do have porters that can assist.

They make a big deal about customs on the ship and making sure that you have your form filled out correctly, but it really was not a big deal. I had our passports all out ready to give to the guy and he told me he just needed the form and through it on his station and we walked right by. He did not even look at the passports or anything so I would not stress too much about that. After that, we wheeled our suitcases out, called the Country Inn and Suites shuttle driver and we were back the hotel and on the road by 8:15 a.m. so the whole process was really quick.

All in all, we really enjoyed the cruise and hope to do another one someday. It is a nice vacation and I felt it was well worth the money! If I can answer any questions for anyone, please let me know!

Thanks for reading along!

 

[RadioFanatic]

I want to thank you for writing this because we are taking the exact same cruise in Nov/dec and our DS will be almost three then. It's nice to see how a family of three like us did on the four day.

Question about the dolphin encounter - how much was it for the adults? do you think your son would have like it but for the cold water? is the water always cold or was it because the time of year? was your DS scared of the dolphins or did he like them? what was the name of the encounter?

Oh, and where did you drop off the photo mat and markers?

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Really enjoyed reading your detailed report. Thank you.

 

[Anita123]

What a great report. Thanks for posting, I really enjoyed reading it.

 

[sparty7798]

I want to thank you for writing this because we are taking the exact same cruise in Nov/dec and our DS will be almost three then. It's nice to see how a family of three like us did on the four day.

Question about the dolphin encounter - how much was it for the adults? do you think your son would have like it but for the cold water? is the water always cold or was it because the time of year? was your DS scared of the dolphins or did he like them? what was the name of the encounter?

Oh, and where did you drop off the photo mat and markers?

Hi, you drop the photo mat at guest services and they then deliver it to your cabin the last night. Other people have done pillow cases, t-shirts, etc so it is whatever you wat. Just place the items in a plastic bag and leave it with sharpis and instructions about which characters you want. I also included some candy for the signers.

The dolphin encounter cost $125.00 each for my husband and I. As far as the water, I am not sure if it is always cold. Maybe someone else has some opinions who has been in november/december. As far as being scared, he was a little hesitant when the dolphin was spraying water on some of the people and we asked the trainer not to do that to him and she was fine with that. It is called the Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter and we did the morning one so we got off the ship at 9:45 a.m. and were back by 1:45 p.m. You can sign up for it on-line when your window opens to reserve things.

Let me know if you need anything else!

 

[sparty7798]

Really enjoyed reading your detailed report. Thank you.

Thanks!

 

[smmcc]

I put up all the name tags and pictures I had made. Thanks so much to the disers who helped with the designs as they looked great. I also put up our fish extender. We had ordered a gift basket for our son from Shirley and that was waiting in the room when entered so our son was all over that. It was a medium sandpail with toys, drinks, gold fish, pretzels, fruit snacks, rasins and a whole lot of sandy toys and a mickey. He loved it and she did an excellent job. Thanks Shirley!

Who's Shirley and how do you order this gift basket?