I would like to share our first experience with a Disney Cruise, since these boards were very helpful to me before we went. We went on the Nov 25th Wonder 4 night cruise over Thanksgiving. We had actually received this cruise for free when we purchased the DVC Grand Californian. We had upgraded from the cat 8 to a cat 6 (veranda). We ended up getting a cat 4. Our group consisted of me (38), husband (41) and our children 7 & 10.
We left Arizona on Tuesday, Nov 24th so we could arrive 1 day before the cruise. We used the magical express to get to our hotel, Saratoga Springs. I would recommend using this free service but I would not recommend using the luggage service. It took over 4 hrs to get our luggage. I was very nervous that it was lost and we would be without it for our crusie the next day. I would rather get our luggage and put it on our bus. It was not worth the stress of waiting for it arrive.
We used Happy Limo service to take us to the port. They were on time and arrived in a chartered bus (we requested a mini van). So we had the whole bus for our family. We got to the port at around 11, which was perfect. We checked in, picture taken for security, registered the kids for the Oceaner Lab and got the family pic with Minnie Mouse (Mickey took a break). Around 12 they started to let us on to the ship. Once we saw our awesome room, we went to lunch at Parrot Cay - buffet and it was very good. Since it was raining that day, our departing party was inside the ship. That night we had our first dinner in Animator's Palate. We had the early dinning, which I think worked perfectly because the whole dinning experience is about 2 hours. So we usually were done at 7:30. They had technical difficulties with the lights that night, so we did not see the room change. That was really the only dissapointing part of our trip. Also the ship was rocking that night. I took my anti motion sickness pill ever night at dinner and never got sick. They were selling tons of anti motion sickness items at the store that night. After dinner we saw the Golden Mickeys show - very entertaining.
Day 2 - Nassau - we had no excursions planned. We were aware of the recent violence, so we were just planning on staying on the ship. However, that day my husband and I decided to get off the ship and just check our the shops. We put the kids in the Oceaner lab -yes you can leave them on the ship if you want to. We were gone for about 1 1/2 and very thankful that we did not take the kids. Just not a great place for them to be. That night we ate in Parrot Cay and went to Toy Story show at 8:30pm. (They have the show twice, so both dinner assignments can attend).
Day 3 - Day at Sea - just hung out on the ship. The kids were mostly in the ocean lab and we just relaxed. I did take them to the A Christmas Carol movie during the day (did not care for that movie at all). That night we had dinner in Parrot Cay again. This way okay since the night before was a special Thankgiving menu. In the big theater (were they do the shows) they showed Old Dogs - which we all enjoyed. Pirates Party that night at 9:45pm. We did not dress up, but some did. They had another buffet for everyone to eat after the party at around 10:30pm. I could not imagine eating anything at that time (stuffed from dinner earlier that night).
Day 4 - Castaway Cay - we decided the night before to do the getaway excursion for my son and husband which included snorkeling, tubes and sting ray. We just bought the sting ray and tubes for myself and daughter. The Sting Ray experience was good but not worth the money. My daughter did not want to go snorkeling with the Rays and I really did not either. We also did not need to purchase 4 tubes for everyone, we could have taken turns. My son and husband loved Snorkeling - they did this for 2 hrs. The kids went to the activities for a couple of hrs (they bring the lab crew to the island and have lots of fun activities for them). This gave us some quiet adult time. Overall we loved the island and two days there would have been perfect. We rented a pattle boat at 3 and back on the ship at 4. They left at 5 promptly. That night we had dinner at Tritons and the show was Disney Dream.
Overall, we had an awesome time and can't wait to do another cruise. This was our first cruise ever. After the cruise we went to Disneyworld for a week and we realized how spoiled we were on the cruise. The service is amazing. I would recommend doing the cruise last, so you are not dissapointed at the service and food you get at Disneyworld. It is also a great way to end a trip -relaxed. Here are just a few more notes that I hope are helpful:
Ocean's Lab - was great. I put my almost 8 year old in with the 8's and my just turned 10 in with the 9's (so they would be together). They did not seem to care at all about this. My kids would rather be in the lab than with us during the day. Although we did not use this service, they will take the kids to lunch or dinner if you want a quiet meal alone.
Food - awesome. Everything is included besided the alcohol. Breakfast you can do a sit down in Tritons or a buffet in Beach Blanket. Lunch you can also do a buffet in Beach Blanket or go to Pluto's house for burger, hotdogs, sandwiches and more. They also have pizza all day long at Pinocchio's. Fir dinner, we are pickey eaters and they had lots of choices the food and service were fantastic. I had 4 different types of cheesecake!
Room - we were on the 8 floor - forward. I liked being forward because the stairs and elevators were not as crowded. Our room slept 5 but we never had the 5 bed pulled down. The kids did fight over who got to sleep on the bunk bed each night. Also our room attendant was very helpful and we saw him all the time.
Photos - Don't wait till the end to purchase these. The line was huge. You also do not have to purchase a package. I just bought 5 individual photos for $10 each. The package saves you money but we did not need that many photos.
Hope this helps. Feel free to ask me any additional questions.
Kim
We left Arizona on Tuesday, Nov 24th so we could arrive 1 day before the cruise. We used the magical express to get to our hotel, Saratoga Springs. I would recommend using this free service but I would not recommend using the luggage service. It took over 4 hrs to get our luggage. I was very nervous that it was lost and we would be without it for our crusie the next day. I would rather get our luggage and put it on our bus. It was not worth the stress of waiting for it arrive.
We used Happy Limo service to take us to the port. They were on time and arrived in a chartered bus (we requested a mini van). So we had the whole bus for our family. We got to the port at around 11, which was perfect. We checked in, picture taken for security, registered the kids for the Oceaner Lab and got the family pic with Minnie Mouse (Mickey took a break). Around 12 they started to let us on to the ship. Once we saw our awesome room, we went to lunch at Parrot Cay - buffet and it was very good. Since it was raining that day, our departing party was inside the ship. That night we had our first dinner in Animator's Palate. We had the early dinning, which I think worked perfectly because the whole dinning experience is about 2 hours. So we usually were done at 7:30. They had technical difficulties with the lights that night, so we did not see the room change. That was really the only dissapointing part of our trip. Also the ship was rocking that night. I took my anti motion sickness pill ever night at dinner and never got sick. They were selling tons of anti motion sickness items at the store that night. After dinner we saw the Golden Mickeys show - very entertaining.
Day 2 - Nassau - we had no excursions planned. We were aware of the recent violence, so we were just planning on staying on the ship. However, that day my husband and I decided to get off the ship and just check our the shops. We put the kids in the Oceaner lab -yes you can leave them on the ship if you want to. We were gone for about 1 1/2 and very thankful that we did not take the kids. Just not a great place for them to be. That night we ate in Parrot Cay and went to Toy Story show at 8:30pm. (They have the show twice, so both dinner assignments can attend).
Day 3 - Day at Sea - just hung out on the ship. The kids were mostly in the ocean lab and we just relaxed. I did take them to the A Christmas Carol movie during the day (did not care for that movie at all). That night we had dinner in Parrot Cay again. This way okay since the night before was a special Thankgiving menu. In the big theater (were they do the shows) they showed Old Dogs - which we all enjoyed. Pirates Party that night at 9:45pm. We did not dress up, but some did. They had another buffet for everyone to eat after the party at around 10:30pm. I could not imagine eating anything at that time (stuffed from dinner earlier that night).
Day 4 - Castaway Cay - we decided the night before to do the getaway excursion for my son and husband which included snorkeling, tubes and sting ray. We just bought the sting ray and tubes for myself and daughter. The Sting Ray experience was good but not worth the money. My daughter did not want to go snorkeling with the Rays and I really did not either. We also did not need to purchase 4 tubes for everyone, we could have taken turns. My son and husband loved Snorkeling - they did this for 2 hrs. The kids went to the activities for a couple of hrs (they bring the lab crew to the island and have lots of fun activities for them). This gave us some quiet adult time. Overall we loved the island and two days there would have been perfect. We rented a pattle boat at 3 and back on the ship at 4. They left at 5 promptly. That night we had dinner at Tritons and the show was Disney Dream.
Overall, we had an awesome time and can't wait to do another cruise. This was our first cruise ever. After the cruise we went to Disneyworld for a week and we realized how spoiled we were on the cruise. The service is amazing. I would recommend doing the cruise last, so you are not dissapointed at the service and food you get at Disneyworld. It is also a great way to end a trip -relaxed. Here are just a few more notes that I hope are helpful:
Ocean's Lab - was great. I put my almost 8 year old in with the 8's and my just turned 10 in with the 9's (so they would be together). They did not seem to care at all about this. My kids would rather be in the lab than with us during the day. Although we did not use this service, they will take the kids to lunch or dinner if you want a quiet meal alone.
Food - awesome. Everything is included besided the alcohol. Breakfast you can do a sit down in Tritons or a buffet in Beach Blanket. Lunch you can also do a buffet in Beach Blanket or go to Pluto's house for burger, hotdogs, sandwiches and more. They also have pizza all day long at Pinocchio's. Fir dinner, we are pickey eaters and they had lots of choices the food and service were fantastic. I had 4 different types of cheesecake!
Room - we were on the 8 floor - forward. I liked being forward because the stairs and elevators were not as crowded. Our room slept 5 but we never had the 5 bed pulled down. The kids did fight over who got to sleep on the bunk bed each night. Also our room attendant was very helpful and we saw him all the time.
Photos - Don't wait till the end to purchase these. The line was huge. You also do not have to purchase a package. I just bought 5 individual photos for $10 each. The package saves you money but we did not need that many photos.
Hope this helps. Feel free to ask me any additional questions.
Kim
