BethC1952
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2001
- Messages
- 3,949
If you 're interested in the beginning our our trip (and the explanation of why it took so long to post this report) please see my two threads on the Trip Reports Board.
----------------------------
So how was your trip?
People have been asking me that question for several days now, and I’m still sitting in Orlando International Airport waiting for my flight, which has been delayed, re-routed and delayed again.
The answer to the question is that, up until now, this has been the greatest vacation ever. It’s the longest time that DH and I have been alone together—ever—and we survived it!
This will not be a blow-by-blow description of my trip. This will be my “best and worst” and general impressions.
A few details before we begin:
We are two “50-something” adults who planned this trip as a Christmas gift for our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. We are frequent WDW visitors, so we had no planned itinerary and were in no rush to see all the parks and attractions. It was to be six nights at Pop Century for all of us, and then the younger group would fly home, leaving us “old folks” to enjoy a four-night Disney Cruise and then a “secret getaway” at Caribbean Beach Resort for three nights after the cruise. Both son and daughter-in-law received long-awaited promotions just before Thanksgiving, and had to cancel at the last minute (they are tentatively rescheduling for mid-April), leaving us to have a two-week long private getaway.
FOUR NIGHT CRUISE ON WONDER
We love our Disney Cruises. The whole reason for this trip was to take our annual pre-Christmas cruise. The visit to WDW was just an added benefit!
This was the first time that our cruise wasn’t part of a package. We booked each part of our trip separately and save a lot of money in the process. We added Disney transfers from the resort to the port and back again. We took a cab from Pop Century to the Beach Club where we would board the bus. We could have taken Disney buses, but it was just to early in the morning and we had too much luggage!
BEST—The entire cruise experience. From the moment we boarded our bus, the cruise was magical. This was the first time we booked a room with a verandah. In fact, it was the first cruise where we were in anything but a Category 11 inside stateroom (which is just fine, there just weren’t any available when we booked this cruise). We enjoyed the verandah tremendously, but wouldn’t hesitate to book an inside cabin again! We did enjoy the split bath. It gave us more options when we were getting ready to go out each day.
On Nassau day, which was a warm, sunny day, we decided not to leave the ship, but instead stayed on board and enjoyed the pool and the hot tub which were uncrowded and just delightful.
Castaway Cay—wonderful. I love the beach. In fact, we live within walking distance of the beach when we’re home. Castaway Cay is so much more than a beach. It’s a wonderful, tropical place to relax and forget about the real world for a few hours. We spent the day at Serenity Bay, which is the adult beach. There were very few people who ventured that far on that trip. I think that’s because there seemed to be a lot more families with children than on our previous cruises. The water was a little chilly, but we did get in and do some swimming. After a great lunch, we spent more time at the beach, wading in the water and watching the fish swim around our feet. We even had a sting ray swimming between us. I was very surprised, however, when the tide went out, it really went out! It seemed as though almost all of the water drained away from the beach. That was our cue to head back to the ship.
Meals—terrific. Our servers, Matt and Robert, and our head server, Boulah, were very attentive and made our meals very enjoyable. We were seated at a table for six. There was a lovely British couple with us, and a mother and her young son who only showed up for one meal, so we were usually a party of four at a table for six. We got along extremely well. We all enjoyed the same TV shows (they love Law & Order and ER, and we love a lot of the mystery shows on BBC America, and they’re fascinated by American Politics). The food was great, as usual. On the night that we were in Animator’s Palate, DH couldn’t decide what to have, and made the very serious mistake of telling our server that. Of course, they brought him ALL of the choices for each course. It was great…all four of us had a chance to try everything on the menu.
Shows—Our favorite is Disney Dreams (of course), and the next is Hercules. We didn’t go to Golden Mickeys. We saw it once, and that was all we need.
WORST—The weather on our last day. Captain Henry did everything he could to keep us sheltered form the high winds and heavy sees, staying the shelter of Grand Bahama Island until the last possible minute. However, we did have to leave the Bahamas and head back to Florida! The seas were very rough, and we noticed a lot of empty seats at dinner, including that of our female dinner companion, Barbara. I know that one of the secrets to avoiding sea-sickness is to spend some time outside in the air, and to focus on things that are moving at the same rate and direction as you are. However, at midnight I had to give up and go to bed, because the motion was finally making me dizzy. Or maybe it was the late night stop at the Promenade Lounge for a nightcap? The motion of the ship is very soothing, however, and it was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in years.
If you'd like to read the final chapter of my report (regarding our "secret getaway" at the Caribbean Beach Resort) please see my thread on the Trip Reports Board!
----------------------------
So how was your trip?
People have been asking me that question for several days now, and I’m still sitting in Orlando International Airport waiting for my flight, which has been delayed, re-routed and delayed again.
The answer to the question is that, up until now, this has been the greatest vacation ever. It’s the longest time that DH and I have been alone together—ever—and we survived it!
This will not be a blow-by-blow description of my trip. This will be my “best and worst” and general impressions.
A few details before we begin:
We are two “50-something” adults who planned this trip as a Christmas gift for our son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. We are frequent WDW visitors, so we had no planned itinerary and were in no rush to see all the parks and attractions. It was to be six nights at Pop Century for all of us, and then the younger group would fly home, leaving us “old folks” to enjoy a four-night Disney Cruise and then a “secret getaway” at Caribbean Beach Resort for three nights after the cruise. Both son and daughter-in-law received long-awaited promotions just before Thanksgiving, and had to cancel at the last minute (they are tentatively rescheduling for mid-April), leaving us to have a two-week long private getaway.
FOUR NIGHT CRUISE ON WONDER
We love our Disney Cruises. The whole reason for this trip was to take our annual pre-Christmas cruise. The visit to WDW was just an added benefit!
This was the first time that our cruise wasn’t part of a package. We booked each part of our trip separately and save a lot of money in the process. We added Disney transfers from the resort to the port and back again. We took a cab from Pop Century to the Beach Club where we would board the bus. We could have taken Disney buses, but it was just to early in the morning and we had too much luggage!
BEST—The entire cruise experience. From the moment we boarded our bus, the cruise was magical. This was the first time we booked a room with a verandah. In fact, it was the first cruise where we were in anything but a Category 11 inside stateroom (which is just fine, there just weren’t any available when we booked this cruise). We enjoyed the verandah tremendously, but wouldn’t hesitate to book an inside cabin again! We did enjoy the split bath. It gave us more options when we were getting ready to go out each day.
On Nassau day, which was a warm, sunny day, we decided not to leave the ship, but instead stayed on board and enjoyed the pool and the hot tub which were uncrowded and just delightful.
Castaway Cay—wonderful. I love the beach. In fact, we live within walking distance of the beach when we’re home. Castaway Cay is so much more than a beach. It’s a wonderful, tropical place to relax and forget about the real world for a few hours. We spent the day at Serenity Bay, which is the adult beach. There were very few people who ventured that far on that trip. I think that’s because there seemed to be a lot more families with children than on our previous cruises. The water was a little chilly, but we did get in and do some swimming. After a great lunch, we spent more time at the beach, wading in the water and watching the fish swim around our feet. We even had a sting ray swimming between us. I was very surprised, however, when the tide went out, it really went out! It seemed as though almost all of the water drained away from the beach. That was our cue to head back to the ship.
Meals—terrific. Our servers, Matt and Robert, and our head server, Boulah, were very attentive and made our meals very enjoyable. We were seated at a table for six. There was a lovely British couple with us, and a mother and her young son who only showed up for one meal, so we were usually a party of four at a table for six. We got along extremely well. We all enjoyed the same TV shows (they love Law & Order and ER, and we love a lot of the mystery shows on BBC America, and they’re fascinated by American Politics). The food was great, as usual. On the night that we were in Animator’s Palate, DH couldn’t decide what to have, and made the very serious mistake of telling our server that. Of course, they brought him ALL of the choices for each course. It was great…all four of us had a chance to try everything on the menu.
Shows—Our favorite is Disney Dreams (of course), and the next is Hercules. We didn’t go to Golden Mickeys. We saw it once, and that was all we need.
WORST—The weather on our last day. Captain Henry did everything he could to keep us sheltered form the high winds and heavy sees, staying the shelter of Grand Bahama Island until the last possible minute. However, we did have to leave the Bahamas and head back to Florida! The seas were very rough, and we noticed a lot of empty seats at dinner, including that of our female dinner companion, Barbara. I know that one of the secrets to avoiding sea-sickness is to spend some time outside in the air, and to focus on things that are moving at the same rate and direction as you are. However, at midnight I had to give up and go to bed, because the motion was finally making me dizzy. Or maybe it was the late night stop at the Promenade Lounge for a nightcap? The motion of the ship is very soothing, however, and it was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in years.
If you'd like to read the final chapter of my report (regarding our "secret getaway" at the Caribbean Beach Resort) please see my thread on the Trip Reports Board!
