I have been reading these boards for several weeks and I found them very helpful and entertaining. I really don't think I could write a full trip report but here are some thoughts that I hope others find helpful or maybe at least interesting (remember this is only 1 person's opinions and perceptions). Some of the thoughts are positive and a few are negative but please don't misunderstand, we had a GREAT time and we would do it again in a heartbeat... We were in a Cat 8 room on deck 7, four of us including DS16 and DD13. Plenty of room but I wish I could have rationalized the extra $$ for a verandah - I think it would have been nice to sit out there a few times. Anyways, here are a few thoughts in no particular order:
I think the "Dress Code" is a mess and I don't have a solution, but my overall impression is everyone wears what they want no matter what the Navigator says. I would not rent a tux again and I might try to not even bring a jacket (maybe a nice dress shirt and tie on the more formal nights)
The whole photo/shutters operation was confusing. We bought a card for ten 6x8's and then many of the pictures we wanted were 8x10's. Anyone who is trying to cut a corner and save a couple $$ should avoid this whole scene
Not sure why but Palo ressies were a piece of cake. We did some spa reservations and then wandered up to Palo's and there was no one waiting and we could have had any nite we wanted
Thank you to these boards a couple of things which were really helpful were the over the door organizer and a plug in alarm clock
Hairbraiding turned out to be a bit of a hassle. We were turned off by all the "harassing" on St Maarten and then we had a hard time finding it on St Thomas. We should have been more on top of things and hustled to get a reservation on an "at sea" day or alternatively had it done on Castaway
We were driven to the ship by friends so we brought a bunch of soda which worked out well. The "in room cooler" (at least in the room we were in) kept everything pretty cold. I wouldn't bother bringing my fold up cooler next time
Kids wanted to parasail and we didn't (adults need to go with the kids on Castaway..) On St Thomas, we took a taxi to Saphire Beach and we made reservations for them to go ($55 each). It was pretty windy which I think limited their ride but otherwise it worked out quite well.
Weather at Castaway was beautiful and the family beach was very crowded. We never went to the adult beach but I did see a few adults on the edge of the teen beach who seemed to have plenty of chairs and space etc (an option for people who want to stay closer to the ship but want to get away from the congestion).
All the shows were great (alright maybe not Morty) but I would recommend making the effort to see them (seems to me that this is one of the many things that distinguishes DCL from the rest)
At least for us, the movie schedule didn't work well. Seems like they could have shown a few of the movies a few more times
I think the "Dress Code" is a mess and I don't have a solution, but my overall impression is everyone wears what they want no matter what the Navigator says. I would not rent a tux again and I might try to not even bring a jacket (maybe a nice dress shirt and tie on the more formal nights)
The whole photo/shutters operation was confusing. We bought a card for ten 6x8's and then many of the pictures we wanted were 8x10's. Anyone who is trying to cut a corner and save a couple $$ should avoid this whole scene
Not sure why but Palo ressies were a piece of cake. We did some spa reservations and then wandered up to Palo's and there was no one waiting and we could have had any nite we wanted
Thank you to these boards a couple of things which were really helpful were the over the door organizer and a plug in alarm clock
Hairbraiding turned out to be a bit of a hassle. We were turned off by all the "harassing" on St Maarten and then we had a hard time finding it on St Thomas. We should have been more on top of things and hustled to get a reservation on an "at sea" day or alternatively had it done on Castaway
We were driven to the ship by friends so we brought a bunch of soda which worked out well. The "in room cooler" (at least in the room we were in) kept everything pretty cold. I wouldn't bother bringing my fold up cooler next time
Kids wanted to parasail and we didn't (adults need to go with the kids on Castaway..) On St Thomas, we took a taxi to Saphire Beach and we made reservations for them to go ($55 each). It was pretty windy which I think limited their ride but otherwise it worked out quite well.
Weather at Castaway was beautiful and the family beach was very crowded. We never went to the adult beach but I did see a few adults on the edge of the teen beach who seemed to have plenty of chairs and space etc (an option for people who want to stay closer to the ship but want to get away from the congestion).
All the shows were great (alright maybe not Morty) but I would recommend making the effort to see them (seems to me that this is one of the many things that distinguishes DCL from the rest)
At least for us, the movie schedule didn't work well. Seems like they could have shown a few of the movies a few more times
