We are still recuperating from all the wild, fun times at sea, but wanted to give a report while still fresh in my head.
First of all, we were unsure if a cruise would be for us... DH typically doesn't like tours, regimented schedules, etc. He gets overloaded after 8 hours at DLand etc. He agreed to go because we heard such good reviews and our kids DS 5 and DD 3.5, were at an age where other vacations didn't seem too appealing. Anyway, we were extraordinarily pleasantly surprised.
KIDS CLUBS
Both kids were together in the Oceaneer's Club, but often they took DS off to various places, which he LOVED. He's pretty easy going and never looked back. Most times, even late at night, he begged to stay in the club. DD was a different story. I think 3 might be a bit too young (for us). She would go for a while, but after about an hour, have us paged as she "just wanted to hang out with you, mom". Was ok. Kind of nice to just have the time with her for once. After about 4 days though, we were bribing and begging her to stay in the OC. We needed non-kid time in a big way. But, overall, tremendous activities that seemed so much fun, and we really loved the staff.
FOOD & RESTAURANTs
Ok, 7 nights of 5 course meals really was too much for us. By like Day 4, we were sick of food... seriously. We kept eating, mind you, but it was like obligation
Palo night was great. Terrific service, great (expensive) bottle of wine and food was wonderful. I turned DH into a chocolate souffle lover. A typical day for us would be ordering a pot of coffee and bagels in the morning room service, then grabbing something for lunch, a panini, or we ate out in Port each time, then save ourselves for the big dinner. Kids didn't eat self-serve ice cream except for last day. OF course, at dinner, they DID eat a mickey ice cream bar (with whipped cream, choc sauce AND sprinkles) EVERY NIGHT! It was crazy. I know some people are really into the buffets, poolside foods, but it just wasn't about the food for us. Though it tasted great.
PORTS
We got off the ship each time we could. I'd been to each of the Port's before, but we just wanted to relax. We would typically get off, find a place to eat late breakfast/early lunch.. and we found some great places. Alexanders in the marina in Cabo, Le Distileria in Puerto Vallarta and I forget the name of the place on the beach in Mazatlan, but chilaquiles for breakfast can't be beat! Then we'd walk around a bit. In Cabo, we hired our own glass bottom boat guy and did that tour around Los Arcos, etc. Was a good and quick way to see it without spending half our day on a tour. We then hired a water taxi who dropped us off at the Me Resort ... WONDERFUL property where the kids played and swam and we drank buckets of beer and sun bathed. It was great. Same in PV, almost identical day. WE took a cab towards Mismaloya, where we had stayed before and found an Intercontinental with a great pool and ate and drank poolside while the kids swam. Both properties have great beachside locations. Mazatlan was a littel different, was totally pouring rain, but we rented a stroller from the ship, and walked around a bit, cathedral, farmers market, etc., then to the resort area, but never really clicked, so we headed back to the ship around 2pm, swam the rest of the day and saw the Fiesta Grande...great fun.
WEATHER
We were REALLY lucky. Even our first sea day was totally manageable... a bit overcast, but the sun came out in the afternoon. It rained in Mazatlan and PV, but warm rain, which stopped and turned warm and sunny, so no big deal. Our last sea day (Saturday) was the most glorious by far. Waters were smooth as glass, and the weather was just perfect. WE let the kids dictate the day and we spent most of the morning, even missed the character breakfast because we were having such a great time swimming.
ENTERTAINMENT
Fantastic. We tried to see as much as we could fit in, but late nights were out (DD was with us), but as we had the late dinner seating, we sat a lot of the 6pm shows. Plus, we got to see WALL-E, and the kids LOVED it. We ended up buying about $60 of Wall-E toys after that... GREAT free movie It's amazing how the cast members work so hard all day and night. I can't imagine their schedules. I thought Twice Charmed was great, as was the Dream show. They were all so fun. A highlight for us was the kids "graduation" from the clubs. Kind of brought tears to my eyes that they did such a great job with the kids all week.
Anyway, I'm happy to answer any questions... we will likely do another, but probably wait a few years for DD to get a little more ready for the fun... and we may bring another family along to share the fun and kid duty... you will have the time of your life!
First of all, we were unsure if a cruise would be for us... DH typically doesn't like tours, regimented schedules, etc. He gets overloaded after 8 hours at DLand etc. He agreed to go because we heard such good reviews and our kids DS 5 and DD 3.5, were at an age where other vacations didn't seem too appealing. Anyway, we were extraordinarily pleasantly surprised.
KIDS CLUBS
Both kids were together in the Oceaneer's Club, but often they took DS off to various places, which he LOVED. He's pretty easy going and never looked back. Most times, even late at night, he begged to stay in the club. DD was a different story. I think 3 might be a bit too young (for us). She would go for a while, but after about an hour, have us paged as she "just wanted to hang out with you, mom". Was ok. Kind of nice to just have the time with her for once. After about 4 days though, we were bribing and begging her to stay in the OC. We needed non-kid time in a big way. But, overall, tremendous activities that seemed so much fun, and we really loved the staff.
FOOD & RESTAURANTs
Ok, 7 nights of 5 course meals really was too much for us. By like Day 4, we were sick of food... seriously. We kept eating, mind you, but it was like obligation
Palo night was great. Terrific service, great (expensive) bottle of wine and food was wonderful. I turned DH into a chocolate souffle lover. A typical day for us would be ordering a pot of coffee and bagels in the morning room service, then grabbing something for lunch, a panini, or we ate out in Port each time, then save ourselves for the big dinner. Kids didn't eat self-serve ice cream except for last day. OF course, at dinner, they DID eat a mickey ice cream bar (with whipped cream, choc sauce AND sprinkles) EVERY NIGHT! It was crazy. I know some people are really into the buffets, poolside foods, but it just wasn't about the food for us. Though it tasted great.PORTS
We got off the ship each time we could. I'd been to each of the Port's before, but we just wanted to relax. We would typically get off, find a place to eat late breakfast/early lunch.. and we found some great places. Alexanders in the marina in Cabo, Le Distileria in Puerto Vallarta and I forget the name of the place on the beach in Mazatlan, but chilaquiles for breakfast can't be beat! Then we'd walk around a bit. In Cabo, we hired our own glass bottom boat guy and did that tour around Los Arcos, etc. Was a good and quick way to see it without spending half our day on a tour. We then hired a water taxi who dropped us off at the Me Resort ... WONDERFUL property where the kids played and swam and we drank buckets of beer and sun bathed. It was great. Same in PV, almost identical day. WE took a cab towards Mismaloya, where we had stayed before and found an Intercontinental with a great pool and ate and drank poolside while the kids swam. Both properties have great beachside locations. Mazatlan was a littel different, was totally pouring rain, but we rented a stroller from the ship, and walked around a bit, cathedral, farmers market, etc., then to the resort area, but never really clicked, so we headed back to the ship around 2pm, swam the rest of the day and saw the Fiesta Grande...great fun.
WEATHER
We were REALLY lucky. Even our first sea day was totally manageable... a bit overcast, but the sun came out in the afternoon. It rained in Mazatlan and PV, but warm rain, which stopped and turned warm and sunny, so no big deal. Our last sea day (Saturday) was the most glorious by far. Waters were smooth as glass, and the weather was just perfect. WE let the kids dictate the day and we spent most of the morning, even missed the character breakfast because we were having such a great time swimming.
ENTERTAINMENT
Fantastic. We tried to see as much as we could fit in, but late nights were out (DD was with us), but as we had the late dinner seating, we sat a lot of the 6pm shows. Plus, we got to see WALL-E, and the kids LOVED it. We ended up buying about $60 of Wall-E toys after that... GREAT free movie
It's amazing how the cast members work so hard all day and night. I can't imagine their schedules. I thought Twice Charmed was great, as was the Dream show. They were all so fun. A highlight for us was the kids "graduation" from the clubs. Kind of brought tears to my eyes that they did such a great job with the kids all week. Anyway, I'm happy to answer any questions... we will likely do another, but probably wait a few years for DD to get a little more ready for the fun... and we may bring another family along to share the fun and kid duty... you will have the time of your life!
I like families that can have fun no matter what. It sounds like you had a blast. Thanks for sharing!!
My husband and I also had an amazing time in all 3 ports. It took me a little longer to get tired of all the food. It hit me around day 6
