?'s from first time DCL newbie

[coleland]

Hi there, planning a 7-day Eastern Caribb. cruise on DCL in Spring of 2005 and have found so many of the threads contain great information! I have a few questions though, hope someone can help

1. What is the advantage to changing your dining rotation or why would you do it?

2. I didn't know you had to sign up to reserve certain things right when you get on the ship, what exactly is there and where do you do it?

3. Can you take a rental car to the port and is there parking there? Cost?

4. When you disembark, generally what time of day is it? I'm trying to determine if I can get a flight out of MCO that same day or not back to Seattle.

5. If we plan on doing excursions in each port, would it be more advantageous to have early or late seating for dinner? I'm wondering if we'd need more time to get back to the boat and benefit from later dining seating. However, we're traveling with 5yo dd.

6. How many kids, realistically, are in the club each day? Like for my daughter's age group 5-7? She's shy and I don't see her staying in there long if she's going to get lost in the crowd.

7. What is there to do on the ship while at sea other than the pool?

8. I've heard very mixed reviews on the food - is it just average or will it wow me?

Thanks for the help everyone, I will continue reading the daily recaps from others' cruises with great interest

Lisa

 

[OJulie67]

1. What is the advantage to changing your dining rotation or why would you do it? If you have small children and get late seating, they may be too tired to go. If your taking kids...definitely try to get early seating! It doesn't matter if your from the west coast (so am I) kids definitely adjust to the time change quickly. If just you and your hubby are going...get late seating, then you don't have to rush to get ready for dinner!

2. I didn't know you had to sign up to reserve certain things right when you get on the ship, what exactly is there and where do you do it? Spa, and PALO...and flounders nursery, if you have small children. I went right to the spa at 1:00pm and had trouble getting the times I wanted. So I suggest getting there as early as possible. I still got to go to the spa...but not when I wanted to. We didn't do Palo, so I don't know how those ressies were.

3. Can you take a rental car to the port and is there parking there? Cost? We had DCL transfers...so I don't know this answer.

4. When you disembark, generally what time of day is it? I'm trying to determine if I can get a flight out of MCO that same day or not back to Seattle. Everyone has to be off the ship by 9:00am. We were off by 8:00am

5. If we plan on doing excursions in each port, would it be more advantageous to have early or late seating for dinner? I'm wondering if we'd need more time to get back to the boat and benefit from later dining seating. However, we're traveling with 5yo dd. Late seating is definitely better for excursions, but traveling with kids, I'd definitely suggest early seating. You have to chose what is more important to you...Know that you may have to put kids in the clubs or in the nursery to be able to eat dinner.

6. How many kids, realistically, are in the club each day? Like for my daughter's age group 5-7? She's shy and I don't see her staying in there long if she's going to get lost in the crowd. My DD is also 5 and VERY friendly...she wouldn't come out of the clubs. There was approx. 25 kids in her group. They put them in groups each day! They are VERY well organized, and I think even the shy kids enjoyed it. It depends on your child. She definitely won't get lost in the crowd...They are wonderful with the kids!

7. What is there to do on the ship while at sea other than the pool? Sitting on your verandah and having drinks and room service...the seafood buffet was wonderful for lunch at our at sea day. There is tons of activites (seeing/touring the galley, napkin folding, exercise classes etc...) Souvenir shopping at the shops. shuffleboard. ping pong...etc

8. I've heard very mixed reviews on the food - is it just average or will it wow me?
It is average in my opinion. I guess it depends on what your used to. If you are used to going to really nice restaurants and enjoying great food, you may be a bit disappointed. But, if you rarely go out, then you will be happy. The buffets are like any other buffet I have ever been to, and the rotation restaurants have their good and bad (like any restaurant) The desserts were delicious anywhere we went! If you like dessert, you will be wow'd!
Main thing is...have a great time. My biggest diappointment was the lack of ADULT entertainment. But, if your kids are with you the majority of the time, you will have the time of your lives!!

 

[jrydberg]

I'll let someone else tackle the others, but as for your shy daughter, I think I can provide some info.

My 5 year old daughter and I went on the 5/1 Eastern cruise and she is VERY shy and clingy. There were an awful lot of kids on the cruise (not surprising)... something like 970-980 kids in total.

With your daughter being shy, I would recommend waiting until she gets settled in before attempting to bring her to the club. I waited until Sunday evening and only left her in the club for an hour. Ease her into it and she'll be less likely to be overwhelmed, I think.

I also told my daughter I'd buy her something from the store if she stayed that 1st time for an hour without paging me (a little bribery to start things off). By the end of the cruise, she was happy to go to the club.

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

I'll give some of these a shot....

1) I don't know that there's an advantage. You rotate through the three restaurants each night. So based on which dining room you start with, you could end up having Tropical night in Lumière's, or formal night in Parrot Cay. I've had both of these things happen, and I don't feel that it detracted from the experience. Now, changing your dinner seating is a different thing. You can have main dining (6:00pm) or late seating (8:30pm). You may have a preference as to which time you eat. Booking this far in advance, you should be able to get your preference when you book.

2) Once you board, you can make reservations for Palo, the alternative restaurant, and the spa. You'll want to do this soon after boarding, and they tend to fill up. Palo reservations are taken in one of the clubs on deck 3 forward. Spa reservations are taken at the spa, on deck 9 forward. When you check in at the port, they can give you specific times for this, but they usually begin taking reservations soon after boarding begins.

3) There's parking at the port, costing $10 a day. There are also several rentall car desks nearby, so you can rent a car one-way from the airport and drop it near the port, then get another one-way rental when you return from the cruise. For more info, check out: http://www.dcltribute.com/carhire/.

4) Everyone must be off the ship by 9:00am. We're generally off sometime between 7:30 and 8:00, and have always taken a flight to LAX which departs at about 12:30pm, getting in late afternoon on the west coast.

5) On the eastern, you'll leave both Castaway Cay and St. Thomas before early dinner starts. I think departure from St. Maarten is around 7:00pm, but I don't think that any excursions will interfere with early dinner. You can always eat on the island, too.

6) My son is just a year old and has not yet cruised with us, so I can't help with info on the clubs.

7) There are a lot of different activities going on all day, such as wine tasting, a "navigator" series, which discusses how the ship works and was built, there's Disney's "Art of Entertaining" series, there's bingo and other types of games and family activities. I actually prefer the pool, though...

8) Food is such a subjective thing, that it's hard to tell how a given person might react. I don't think I've been "wowed" by the food (except at Palo), but I think it's fine. I'd say good to very good. Go on any cruise board and you'll find someone complaining about the food. I wouldn't say it's horrible by any stretch of the imagination, but then I'm probably not that discerning a food critic. I would say the food is similar to the higher-end restaurants at WDW.

Hope this helps, enjoy your trip!

 

[cdnmickeylover]

Will try to answer some of your questions:

1. We had early dining and the PLA rotation. It was our first cruise and quite frankly we didn't care what rotation we got as long as we got to eat with the DISers we'd met on this board. We are going into our 2nd cruise with the same attitude. As long as it's early dining the rotation doesn't matter for us (we are two adults travelling without kids).

2. You can make reservations for Palo and the spa when you board. When we sailed the reservations for Palo were in one of bars -- can't remember which one. It was a lineup situation which went somewhat smoothly but did take some time. We weren't interested in the spa so I can't answer about those reservations.

3. There is parking at the port and I believe it's $10/day.

4. You can disembark the ship starting at about 7:30am (roughly) and must be off the ship by 9am.

5. I think this is personal choice. We did the western cruise last time and will do eastern this time. We had no problems getting back to the ship for early seating and getting ready.

6. We didn't take our kids so can't answer this one.

7. Tons. There are tours, movies, bingo, games etc. to do on board -- check out ***************** where Barb has posted some navigators which will give you an idea of what there is to do on board.

8. Not picky eaters so we thought the food was great but this is a personal thing. We thought the variety was great and ended up ordering things that we wouldn't normally have at home. I'm diabetic and thought that the low sugar, no sugar desserts were awesome. I can't think of any place where we disappointed with the food except for Palo (realizing we are the exception here but we didn't have great service and our filet was tough). We also go with the attitude that if we aren't cooking it or cleaning up afterwards the food is great.

Hope this helps.

 

[hydster]

I'll try to help you out a little bit. We just returned from the 5-1 Eastern Caribbean so things are still a little "fresh" in my mind.

1. People request certain seatings usually to correspond with getting reservations at Palo, where they prefer to eat on Tropical Night or Formal Night and when they would like their character breakfast.

2. The only things you need to sign up for when getting on board are Palo (adults only restaurant) for brunch, tea or dinner. There is a $10.00 per person charge that they charge to your Key to the World Card each time you eat there or if you don't show up. The spa if you want massages, facials or whatever on the ship or cabana massages at Castaway Cay. FLounders Nursery if you have a child not old enough (ie under 3 or not potty trained) to do the kids clubs, hair braiding for the girls and you need to sign up kids in the clubs although that isn't a huge rush because they are already assured a place in the club. They give you a pager and you pick out a password and such.

3. You can get a rental car from ALamo I believe at the airport and you can return it at the port before you board the ship that way you don't pay for parking and days you don't use the car. There are also transportation companies that you can hire or you can always use Disney's transfers. We used Southern Elegance Limo and they were amazing! THere were 5 of us and we went from Port Orleans Riverside to the Port and back to the airport and it was $250.00 total plus tip. Unless you have a specific need for a rental car or really like the freedom one affords you it isnt necessary to have one.

4. We were off the ship at 8:30am the day we got back. I think everyone HAS to be off the ship by 9:00 *unless there is a customs problem clearing the ship I guess* so that they can start turning it around for the next passengers. If you book a flight about noon you would have ample time and not get stressed out.

5. On the Eastern the dining times didn't seem to impact excursions because they left the port no later than 7 pm and in St. Thomas and Castaway Cay it was more like 4:30 ish. We get early seating just because our kids are 10, 9 and 5 and it's easier to eat and then do the show. There are many varied responses to this I think it is just what works best for your family. Are you early diners at home? Do you go to bed early?

6. On our sailing there were 977 kids on board that week and our 5-7 year old felt bombarded the first night and wouldn't ever go back(except for Palo where we had a HEFTY bribe in it for him if he did). If I had to do it again I would most definitely NOT take my child the first night in that age group. My oldest dd would have been mad if she had missed the first night but the younger 5 year old I think it was too crazy and overwhelming for him. I should have waited to put him in until things had quieted down somewhat in the clubs. They felt unorganized and nutty. Since my son didn't go much I can't give you a # of kids in there during the week during the day but if I had to estimate I'd say probably 30 - 40?? Just guessing.

7. I shouldn't answer this question because apparently I'm boring or have a sour attitude while on vacation so I'll just leave this one to those who are more "expert" on this subject. We couldn't find anything our 5 year old was interested in doing and since the pools were a madhouse and the clubs he wouldn't consider we were left watching Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean and Brother bear during the day or sitting in our cabin watching tv...but then I have a bad attitude I've been told...so you can probably find better things to do.

8. I'd say the food is "high quality" cafeteria food during breakfast and lunch and dinner is good...nothing really blew us away on this cruise but we may just have had an off sailing. We've sailed MANY other lines and really looked forward to dinners (even sailed the Wonder in 2002) and this time it didn't do it for us.

Hope that helps!
Heidi