Some final thoughts

[hydster]

Me - Heidi age 33
Hubby - Ryan age 33
McKaylee - dd age 10
Miles - ds age 9
Tanner - ds age 5


Some Final Thoughts

Overall we did have a good time and while there were a lot of things that we would have preferred were different just being with the kids was fun.

The Negatives

1.The kids club was too full.

2.Sick kids who were obviously sick with runny noses, coughing and just little germ factories that ended up getting to us and making us sick (and no I’m not 100 percent sure it was anyone on the ship but it sure was full of sick kids)

3.Topsiders Lunch Buffet was not particularly good and some days it didn’t even seem edible.

4.The dining room meals for dinner were a big letdown for us. Only had 3 really good meals that we enjoyed and 1 of those was a big stretch to say it was really good.

5.Unless you love overcrowded pools on sea days the pools were way too small for the amount of people on them

6.The movies on board were terrible for variety since we owned the kids ones like Finding Nemo and Pirates.

7.Waiting in line for the characters was long and tedious. I understand why they cut the line off for the character but when it happens to your kid it gets really upsetting to tell him how come the little boy in front of him can see Donald and he can’t.

8.Nothing to do on sea days unless you liked to get really cozy with others around you or napkin folding was something that interested you.

9.The reservation rush was a pain. We were too late getting to the line for Palo. Trying to get hair braid appointment for dd’s hair was impossible even though our tablemates just walked up one day and they did it for them without a reservation. I had asked about that possibility and told absolutely no way would they braid hair if we didn’t have an appointment…hmmmm…interesting.




The Positives

1.Castaway Cay was beautiful and truly like your own paradise in the middle of nowhere.

2.Great shows for the kids at night and very family friendly. The characters in the shows were amazing and I think we enjoyed Golden Mickey’s the most. The red carpet was hilarious to watch on the screens before it started.

3.The cookies from room service with milk on the balcony on the days at port.

4.The character breakfast because the characters were really good with the kids and we got some great pictures.

5.Palo brunch…need I say more? We didn’t get to do dinner but the brunch was amazing.

6.Our servers and stateroom hostess were amazing! They definitely went the extra mile for us and we tipped them extra for it.

7.The bed turndown service at night was fun and getting to see what towel animal she made for us was always fun for the kids.

8.The limo to the port and back (even though not technically DCL related it was still awesome!)

9.Meeting some really great friends from these boards and knowing familiar faces while walking around on deck.

10.MY TAN! I ended up getting a really good one from the 3 ports of call.

11.The ports were awesome!

12.The Doubloon Sail and Snorkel was a highlight for us.



Overall we did have a good time. There were a lot of things that didn’t “work” for our family and there were a lot of things we wrote on our comment card to be improved on but all in all we did have a good time.

I don’t think we’ll do a DCL cruise in the future but that’s ok. We tried it twice and had 2 different experiences each time. The connecting staterooms were really nice and getting upgraded was a huge bonus.

Hopefully I’ve written this in a way to point out the positives and the negatives of OUR trip and I realize that most of this report is subjective and our own opinions.

I will post a link of pictures in the next couple of days! I wanted to get this out there so that people could read our trip report but I will get the pics done soon!

Click here http://community.webshots.com/user/hydster to see our pictures. Still waiting for regular film to come back these are just the digitals (and I didn't upload many that included me!)

Heidi
*donning her flame retardent suit JUST IN CASE IT'S NEEDED*

 

[EmmasGrammy]

Heidi, Thanks for all the trip reports and for all the time it took to put these together! All in all I think you will have some very special memories and the good "stuff" will definately out weigh the bad. Traveling with children is always an adventure, but having kids along that aren't feeling the greatest is a true test of parenting!!!

Glad you had some special time with DH even if it was limited! Sorry the kids club experience wasn't the best! The food quality has really been recieving some rather mixed reviews. I am sure the ship motion didn't help with the enjoyment of your meals.

Thanks again for the report(s). I really enjoyed reading them, and I am still adding to my notes.

Lynda

 

[hydster]

Lynda-- you know when I wrote this trip report it was a day by day report while I was in the throws of the trip. After I got home and wrote it all out and then gave myself a few days to think about it all I realize that the good times we had far outweighed the bad experiences we had just because we spent some great time with our kids. Watching them experience the shows and CC along with the Doubloon Pirate Ship and Orient beach was well worth the pain and suffering we endured to watch those moments!

I am thankful we were able to go and take them and actually now we have some moments *like the boys hanging on for dear life on the sports deck so they weren't blown away* or some other private jokes we shared, which make the whole trip worthwhile.

I don't think we'll pay the $$$ to do DCL for awhile but I am still very glad that we had some time with the kids alone!

Heidi

PS..thanks for not flaming me!

 

[zeke11]

Oh my gosh -- I almost want to cancel our reservations! It doesn't sound like DCL was very nice to you -- and all that sickness -- yow!

Do I *really* want to do this??

Kris

 

[hydster]

No don't cancel Zeke! This was OUR experience! Others on our same sailing experienced something completely different! Part of our problem (*besides the kids club issue*) is the fact that we got sick! I think if we hadn't gotten the sore throat thing we would have had a MUCH better time!!

Please don't cancel on account of my trip report. JennLynn was on our sailing and has posted and her experience was different!

Heidi

 

[Timon]

Heidi,

Your cruise sounded a lot like our last cruise in November but ours was aboard the Explorer of the Seas. We had lousy food and we both got very sick. Our DCL experience was so Magical that the RCCL was a huge letdown. I'm sorry you got so sick, it really does make a difference in your cruise experience!

 

[Carol36]

Thanks for posting. I read your whole report and, although we are doing the 4 day Wonder in a little over a week, I find you report very informative. I am worried about us getting sick; whether it's sea sick or whatever. We are looking forward to our cruise and hope to have special family memories as you now do from your cruise.

Carol

 

[conny264]

Hello Heidi.
It´s the girl from Germany.I can´t believe you wrote all that reports.I didn´t realize on board,that you were feeling so sick.But overall I think we had a good time.The dismeets were a blast.We made it home finalyy after a long and neverending flight and my knee hurt so bad.We ended up taking an inspiration from you and took a dayroom at London Gatwick.No way I could walk through London with my leg.I will need minor surgery on it,so no more snorkeling on Dawn beach in St.Maarten with a strong current.
hope you got everything organised at home,no idea where all this stuff came from.
Lets have a strong drink and remember the good things.Take care
Conny
tongue:

 

[my3kids]

Great reports. While we had a great time, some friends really didn't like it. They spent a fortune on arcade cards to give the kids who didn't like the club something to do. I agree the pools were out of control. I also don't think I need to see Disney Dreams again....I thought I was the only one who felt that way!

No flames here. Everyone has a difference experience. Thanks for sharing yours.

 

[PRaffen]

Thanks for sharing honestly the good and bad.

No vacation ever runs perfectly - especially when sickness is a part of it.

It's a shame the pools are so small. I know my daughter will be disappointed if it's so crowded that swimming would be impossible.

What did you think of your upgraded cabins? i was thinking of going with a cat 4 myself.

 

[hydster]

Timon--This is our 2nd time to the E. Caribbean with the first time being on Norwegian and I thought it was just a Norwegian thing but apparently we just don't like getting to the ports on any ship but once at the ports we hate to leave them.

Carol--I was worried about my kids getting sick but I was more worried about upset stomach stuff from eating really rich food. I had 1 bottle of Ibuprofen with me and a 1 time use Robitussin and a whole lot of Tylenol but I was not prepared for the cold issue. I will never ever travel with kids again and not bring a bottle that will help for everything they can get like cold, cough, fever, sore throat, vomiting....I could have bought 3 bottles at Costco for what they charged me on the ship for a bottle of TYlenol Cold and Cough.

Conny--I'm so glad you made it home "safely" from your journey! I wrote those reports while I was sitting in the cabin feeling ill or dealing with Tanner feeling ill. It is good I wrote them down or I would have forgotten everything. So sorry to hear about your leg and needing a day room in London! That stinks so bad! Stupid wave!!!! I hope it is starting to feel better and that in the end it will heal and you won't need surgery! I'm finally organized, the clothes are washed and put away, house cleaned AND I've cooked 2 meals so far I'm going to need some of that 300 lbs of liquor we brought home that's for sure. LOL

my3kids--I'm glad (I guess) to hear that my kids aren't the only ones who didn't care for the clubs and ended using the arcade in place of it. The pools still amaze me that Disney KNEW the possibility of 977 kids existed at some point yet they chose those 2 small pools instead of making more pools for the kids or even if possible making a bigger pool. I posted my Disney Dreams thing and wondered if anyone would comment on it because I felt I was the only one who could have cared less if we saw it again and my hubby and boys said absolutely no way were they going again and dd didn't care either way.

PRaffen--I just never dreamed that we would get SO sick and that it would affect all of the family. I usually expect 1 sick kid on vacation since we've never travelled with them all well the entire time but for all of us to get it AND motion sick was not easily planned for. Our kids were really disappointed they couldn't swim in the pools more. This was their first opportunity to hit swimming pools since we had such a long harsh winter here and they were so looking forward to it. We never made it to the pools on port days early enough to make much difference either although in the morning the pools were empty with people going to their tours and such.

We LOVED the upgraded cabins! I think it was a life saver since we were able to put the kids to bed when they were feeling under the weather and yet hubby and I had our own space to watch tv or sit on the balcony with a drink or whatever (though we didn't do that much since the winds were so terrible) but I really liked them. When we went on the Wonder in 2002 we also had 1 Cat 4 room and I hated it just because of the location (right midship under the Mickey Pool area) and because it got more and more cramped with each passing day. This was nice because the kids had their room with their stuff in it and we had ours and we could find things fairly easy.

Heidi

 

[PURTYPAT1]

HEIDI,

I JUST WANTED TO "THANK YOU" FOR SHARING YOUR
POST WITH US. I REALLY ENJOYED IT & TOOK NOTES AS WELL.

THIS IS WHY I LOVE THESE BOARDS, PEOPLE ARE BEING "HONEST"
AND WE LEARN FROM ONE ANOTHER.

CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOUR PHOTO'S.





TRAVELED TO "DISNEY WORLD" FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS:

WDW 1994 THRU 2004

"FUTURE" DISNEY TRIPS:

DCL 11/04/04

WDW 02/19/05

 

[CRB#33]

Well, I just got done all of your reports. I'm so sorry it wasn't a dream for you and that you felt so lousy . It seems like it just never started right for you.

I want to thank you though, for putting everything down in so much detail. It is really appreciated and it sounds like you do have some nice memories from your trip.

Thanks again.

CRB

 

[Ella2]

Heidi, those are AWESOME pictures...you have an adorable family. Thanks for sharing!

 

[dis4me]

Heidi great trip reports. I like the way your put your ngative experience in without really placing blame on anyone. I have been on 4 Magi cruises. The1st 3 were phenomenal. The final ( I am not sure I could ever go back)was horrendous. Although all in ll we had a nice time there were too many bad things that happen to us, starting with our room smelling of vomit upon arrval and nver really being resolved. Then we had a bad experience on St MArteen and so on.
I m glad you are able to look at the good memories. Thanks for your trip reports. I really enjoy reading when people don't hold back. We all love the good times but it is nice to be forewarned of potential problems.
It sounds like you have a great family and would enjoy an alliclusive island vacation since you enjoyed theports so much.

 

[strawberryblonde]

<font color=darkviolet>Thanks for telling it like it was and leaving nothing out, Heidi . We can all learn from one another. I'm sorry that you didn't have better weather, I think this spring was unusual from what I have read. It seems as though the Goofy pool was roped off for at least one sea day for us as well. We didn't notice much because my kids preferred the mickey pool and I had read how crowded the mickey pool always is.

I'm glad you enjoyed your character breakfast. We found it so-so and would skip it next time. I'm jealous of your servers, that was the biggest disapointment from our cruise. I ended up loving cruising though. I loved reading a book while keeping an eye on my kids swimming/sliding. My kids ate plate fulls of fruit, fries and vegeburgers pool side and I didn't have to fix any of it .

The suggestion above to try an all inclusive beach vacation sounds nice. I think you would like St. John, Heidi. You could have a relaxing week there, hoping over to St. Thomas for excitement. Thanks again for taking the time to post your reports and pictures. Your formal family photo turned out so nicely. Our formal pic. is my favorite as well, the best of the week. </font>

 

[hydster]

Thank you to all for your kind words about my trip report and the pictures! I'm always scared to put up a review that is anything less than "awesome" because of a crummy experience I had on the cruise critic board when I posted about a Carnival experience we had. It is nice that people are so kind about the fact that we didn't have a perfect time!

Heidi...(love the name by the way) hubby and I LOVE all inclusives and in fact have one planned for Cancun in Jan/Feb of 2005. I love the fact that there it IS all inclusive including tips, drinks, food....just a blast! We've been to St. John on another cruise and found it beautiful and the beaches were awesome but if we are going to go to an All Inclusive I think Cancun has won our hearts. Club Med Cancun is calling my name.

ANyway thanks again to all of you!
Heidi

 

[crisi]

We did the four day Wonder. The first two days were fantastic - great weather, lots of fun. When we picked my daughter up the evening of the second day, she didn't feel well. Woke up the next morning (CC day) grumpy and tired and just not well. We decided to keep her out of the clubs (so as not to infect anyone else if she was contagious) but went to the Cay. By ten or eleven she was fine (still a little overtired, but I wasn't worried about her being truly ill) - but those four hours were really not fun - no one was having a good time and the thought that we all might end up quarentined for half the cruise was nerve wracking! One of my fears about the seven day is that someone will get sick - vacation is no fun when someone is ill, and the ship seems particularly bad - because you want to be conciencious and not get everyone ill (well, except those yahoos that don't).

She did end up coming down with an ear infection (which she is prone to) after coming home.

I found the food to be ok - plentiful and when you've already paid and they are generous with "I'd like to try" it was a lot of fun to eat multiple courses with no guilt (except the waistline), but some of it was just ok (a few things I thought were really good, but a few things were lousy - the stalest strawberry shortcake I've ever encountered still sticks with me). But if I was vacationing to eat good food, I think I'd spend my vacation in San Francisco.

Sorry you had a less than great time.

 

[jodifla]

Thanks for your honest assessment. Looking at the navigators, I did kind of wonder what folks did on the at-sea days! We've been on several weeklong cruises, but that was sans kids. We slept till noon most at-sea days, to the consternation of our cabin stewards.

We're planning a 3-day cruise in September with DS, who'll be almost 3. I hope to be able to use Flounders in the evenings to buy us a little alone time, and think that a short cruise will let us sample the cruising idea without getting in too deep, cash and timewise. Since we don't have to fly, that's another cost savings.

Thanks again for posting your entire experience.