pointman37
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2008
- Messages
- 17
My first ever trip report 2nd Disney cruise, 1st 7 day First of all I just want to thank the hundreds of people on the boards for all their tips, experiences, advice, and bits of wisdom. We start this journey around a year or so ago when my 2 sisters in laws and my wife decide they wanted to go on a cruise with their father. So after a couple of family meetings and plenty of planning we had a grand total of 5 familys for 24 people. Thats when the team name came about; Team 24 / 7. We are all from Rhode Island, yes the minuscule state in New England about the same size as the Magic. During discussions and meeting we decided it was going to be best for us to leave a day earlier than when the cruise was leaving. So we would arrive on the 7th of Nov. A lot went into the planning as to make things with this many folks go smooth as possible. My own family consists of a small army DW 36, DS 14, DS 13, DD 11, DS 8, & DS 5 + me 40. I will give more introductions later. Already decided about the dates we booked a 1 night stay at the Radisson Resort at the port for the 7th. We also choose a flight on Southwest from Providence (PVD) to Orlando (MCO) with a stop in Philly leaving at 710am and arriving in MCO at 1150am. The most cost effective thing for the 7 of us was to rent a mini-van from avis to get to the Radisson. The rest of our party took a shuttle to the Radisson. The whole rent a car thing didnt go exactly smoothly Avis for some reason had a line of about 20 people when I got to the rental area, all the other agency had no line but my reservation was through them nothing to do but wait. An hour later and we were in our mini-van heading to Port Canaveral. We got to the Radisson at 3pm and were in the pool shortly after that. We had a 2 room suite that slept 6
comfortably. I then gathered up everyone who needed stuff at the stores and we hoped in the mini-van and went to Walgreens for cases of soda/water and the ABC liquor store for the adult beverages that were brought onto the ship. We ate take out from Zacharys and Flamingos for supper as group by the pool both were good with the nod going to Zachary slightly because of the tremendous amount of food they gave us. The rest of our night was spent between the gocarts across the parking lot, the pool/hot tub and then in the computer room reading about the change to our itinerary from eastern to western. The whole eastern to western started as Grand Cayman., Cozumel, costa Maya, and then Castaway cay. This first change, changed again to a double dip with Cozumel and Costa Maya. I would have liked to do the eastern more just because I think the islands are prettier than Mexico. We tried in vain to read through all the different excursions for the new changes and come to an agreement but it wasnt happening. So I went to bed and was awake at 5am too excited to sleep. So I got up and took a drive over to see the Magic in the rental. It is big and I was still 5 hours or so from boarding still excited I went back to the hotel and jumped on the computer to see if there were any other changes, nothing too important so I woke up my buddy mike and we went to Dunkin Donuts. The Fam was up and about by 730 and I returned the rental and walked back to hotel took about 15 minutes. Here comes the only real problem I had with the Radisson.
We had 10 pieces of luggage for the 7 of us plus carry-ons, the elevators were not working and all the carts were being horded by other guests in their rooms. I started looking for one at around 7am and never found one. The people at the desk said there should be 5-6 of these carts. We were on the second shuttle to the terminal and there were some people waiting as well as the 24 people in our party. I would say around 8-10 other familys and none of these people were using any of the carts. Lets just say with the elevator out and no carts to use it was a project to get all our bags down and to the front of the building. The shuttle process itself was a little hectic as well and could have been better organized knowing that they have a list taken from check-in of guest that will be taking the shuttle to the terminal. Our ride to the terminal and unloading went just fine as well as going through the security check to get into the terminal. We made our way to the top of the escalator and my DH and I split into 2 direction she checked us in and I stood in the kids club bracelet/pager line which was about 50 people long. By the time I reached the end my DH had finished and caught up to me. My wife never got a boarding pass # while she checked us in so when we boarded we went in with her father who had a number 3 boarding pass. Getting the clubs set up before hand worked well it just seems to be in a bad location at the end of the terminal. Disney would be better served to organize the overall feel and flow of their terminal. because the open space works when the terminal isnt at capacity. The space being used to sit and wait could be better used as the place where you check in for the kids clubs and would relieve the congestion next to the boarding ropes. When its full it feels like a disorganized mess with a large portion of the passengers standing directly in front of the boarding area no matter what their boarding # is and other passengers trying to make(fight) their way to the back of the terminal to get their own kids checked into the clubs plus the lines that form for the character appearances and to get pictures with the model They could easily turn this area into more seating and put kids check towards the middle of the terminal. We got there early enough to avoid some of this and found out the second change to a double dip western Cozumel and Costa Maya trip (no Key west, almost and no Grand Cayman). We immediately started to plan our group excursions in Cozumel and Costa Maya. We then planned to send one person to the shore excursions desk. When our time to board came Their was a massive crowd waiting with people on the verge of pushing and lots of jockeying for position. We got our boarding picture done and our name announced and I went and checked on our seating arrangements because with a party of 24 we wanted to sit close to each other. The KTTW cards menu plan was out the window for this cruise due to all the changes. They would be giving us dinner tickets and we had tables 7-11 as a group LAPAPLA not bad but by the end of the cruise I was done with Animators and Parrot cay because we had so many people they both felt confined compared to Lumieres. I also set up reservations for Palo but we never got to use them. From here we headed up to Top siders ate a very nice lunch and then spent the rest of the time at the Mickey pool until the life boat drill. Then we went to the sail away party were it seemed like the passengers were again more into getting into position than worrying about other people.
This theme also took place at the Pirates party. From the sail away we did some packing and made our way to Lumieres. I do not remember what I ate on any specific night other than it was all very, very good and I stayed away from most fish and ate mostly beef. There were a few items I didnt like but that was more because I was experimenting with stuff I would never order at a restaurant at home. I ordered two entrées every single night. After this meal I rolled myself to the Walt Disney theatre and half way through my DS 5 was out in his seat so I took him back to the room. I was also pretty much done for the night. Since I was up early the day we flew out (315am) and again on embarkation day I was literally a walking zombie.
Day 2 11/9/08 Sunday Castaway Cay
I was up fairly early again 545am. I played some basketball until around 645am then got some coffee and watched some TV in cove café (CNN was having a MLK special on very informative). I went down to our rooms we had a CAT5 rm 7534 and a CAT11 directly across the hall rm 7535 the rest of our family had all CAT 11 but being on a four day on the wonder with connecting CAT5s we knew we needed at least one room with a veranda. The rest of the Family was spread out down the hall in rms 7539, 7541, 7543, 7039, and I think but could be wrong 7041. Well 7am and no real signs of life how are these people gonna make it when the real port days come. By the time my army of 7 was up and dressed and ready to go it was close to 8am so we headed down to parrot cay for breakfast. Our Head server Geevan had told us the night before that he would be making gluten free pancakes for my DW and DS13, DS8 have an allergy to wheat and gluten so this was a major thing for them. I dont have any other cruising experience to draw from but they did this right on every day and catered to my DH, DSs every dietary need (If anyone has questions on this just ask, I can go into much further detail). Breakfast was typically the same no matter where we ate throughout the cruise. Everything I could have wanted was there I don't like pancakes or waffles that sit so i just choose to eat omelets and croissants along with bacon and sautéed mushrooms with some different cheeses and I kept to that all week(we did not make it to Lumieres for breakfast). Once breakfast was done we headed back up to our rooms, grabbed all of our stuff for castaway cay to include a letterbox we would be doing and went out by the forward elevator to deck one this was always the less busy option getting off and on the boat. We posed for Disney photogs along the way to the tram, and then headed to the far end of the beach to set up shop near the bike rentals. This is an excellent spot close to a bathroom, next to castaway joe's/grouper pavilion, heads up bar and lots of hammocks that no-one seems to want to use there are at least 10 in that general vicinity.
our home base for our two days at Castaway cay
Me, DH14 Dan, Ray & Mike
We were able to do a lot from this locale, and the only thing that was a real hike for us was shuttles cove but the kids were happy to be on the beach and play in groupers pavilion ping pong and shuttle board, pool tables, basketball also if your looking for full court basketball there is one on the runway past the bike rentals. After all the games everyone hit the water for awhile and then we ate lunch. but I was still so stuffed from breakfast that I wasnt hungry and the food lacked punch/umph because I was so stuffed on the second castaway day I was hungry and found the food to awesome and flavorful. Same exact food on both castaway days, but I ruined my own palate by overeating at breakfast. My DS5 was also very excited to see the crab races and he got there right at the start. We did the whale tooth dig in the afternoon and we found our elusive letter box. All day we had asked the bar staff when the bahama mamas would be 2 for 1 and we kept getting different reports of times. the best we could come up with from the wait staff was 2pm so at 230 we went to the bar as a group and wanted to get our 2-1s. Then we were told that special was already over. After a little haggling we got the special but what gives anyone else every run into this. One of the only times anyone from Disney seemed to have absolutely no clue (really this was like a one in a hundred type thing/anomaly which just makes it peculiar rather than a insult to anything Disney) .
After our activities we sat down and lounged in the sun until 4pm then got back on the boat. (tip when splitting into different groups with lots of kids make sure if someone is staying behind on the beach that the person returning to the boat has all the correct KTTW cards. We almost had a problem ((stress!!!)) but I walk fast and my DW slow so I had stayed behind but had my DD11 went with DW but I had her KTTW card. They left 30 minutes before me but I caught up to them before they got on the ship, crisis averted.)
I am going to stop here for now and will pick this up tomorrow from. I just have a couple of more points. Today is Thursday 11/20 we got off the boat last Saturday 11/15 but I still feel the boat rocking, it was real bad the first day we went right from the boat to Sea world and walking all day I had 3 hours of full movement and swaying. Standing up and sitting were the worst, didnt make me sick just loopey. I can also tell you I am ready to go back. More to come thanks for reading
comfortably. I then gathered up everyone who needed stuff at the stores and we hoped in the mini-van and went to Walgreens for cases of soda/water and the ABC liquor store for the adult beverages that were brought onto the ship. We ate take out from Zacharys and Flamingos for supper as group by the pool both were good with the nod going to Zachary slightly because of the tremendous amount of food they gave us. The rest of our night was spent between the gocarts across the parking lot, the pool/hot tub and then in the computer room reading about the change to our itinerary from eastern to western. The whole eastern to western started as Grand Cayman., Cozumel, costa Maya, and then Castaway cay. This first change, changed again to a double dip with Cozumel and Costa Maya. I would have liked to do the eastern more just because I think the islands are prettier than Mexico. We tried in vain to read through all the different excursions for the new changes and come to an agreement but it wasnt happening. So I went to bed and was awake at 5am too excited to sleep. So I got up and took a drive over to see the Magic in the rental. It is big and I was still 5 hours or so from boarding still excited I went back to the hotel and jumped on the computer to see if there were any other changes, nothing too important so I woke up my buddy mike and we went to Dunkin Donuts. The Fam was up and about by 730 and I returned the rental and walked back to hotel took about 15 minutes. Here comes the only real problem I had with the Radisson.
We had 10 pieces of luggage for the 7 of us plus carry-ons, the elevators were not working and all the carts were being horded by other guests in their rooms. I started looking for one at around 7am and never found one. The people at the desk said there should be 5-6 of these carts. We were on the second shuttle to the terminal and there were some people waiting as well as the 24 people in our party. I would say around 8-10 other familys and none of these people were using any of the carts. Lets just say with the elevator out and no carts to use it was a project to get all our bags down and to the front of the building. The shuttle process itself was a little hectic as well and could have been better organized knowing that they have a list taken from check-in of guest that will be taking the shuttle to the terminal. Our ride to the terminal and unloading went just fine as well as going through the security check to get into the terminal. We made our way to the top of the escalator and my DH and I split into 2 direction she checked us in and I stood in the kids club bracelet/pager line which was about 50 people long. By the time I reached the end my DH had finished and caught up to me. My wife never got a boarding pass # while she checked us in so when we boarded we went in with her father who had a number 3 boarding pass. Getting the clubs set up before hand worked well it just seems to be in a bad location at the end of the terminal. Disney would be better served to organize the overall feel and flow of their terminal. because the open space works when the terminal isnt at capacity. The space being used to sit and wait could be better used as the place where you check in for the kids clubs and would relieve the congestion next to the boarding ropes. When its full it feels like a disorganized mess with a large portion of the passengers standing directly in front of the boarding area no matter what their boarding # is and other passengers trying to make(fight) their way to the back of the terminal to get their own kids checked into the clubs plus the lines that form for the character appearances and to get pictures with the model They could easily turn this area into more seating and put kids check towards the middle of the terminal. We got there early enough to avoid some of this and found out the second change to a double dip western Cozumel and Costa Maya trip (no Key west, almost and no Grand Cayman). We immediately started to plan our group excursions in Cozumel and Costa Maya. We then planned to send one person to the shore excursions desk. When our time to board came Their was a massive crowd waiting with people on the verge of pushing and lots of jockeying for position. We got our boarding picture done and our name announced and I went and checked on our seating arrangements because with a party of 24 we wanted to sit close to each other. The KTTW cards menu plan was out the window for this cruise due to all the changes. They would be giving us dinner tickets and we had tables 7-11 as a group LAPAPLA not bad but by the end of the cruise I was done with Animators and Parrot cay because we had so many people they both felt confined compared to Lumieres. I also set up reservations for Palo but we never got to use them. From here we headed up to Top siders ate a very nice lunch and then spent the rest of the time at the Mickey pool until the life boat drill. Then we went to the sail away party were it seemed like the passengers were again more into getting into position than worrying about other people.
This theme also took place at the Pirates party. From the sail away we did some packing and made our way to Lumieres. I do not remember what I ate on any specific night other than it was all very, very good and I stayed away from most fish and ate mostly beef. There were a few items I didnt like but that was more because I was experimenting with stuff I would never order at a restaurant at home. I ordered two entrées every single night. After this meal I rolled myself to the Walt Disney theatre and half way through my DS 5 was out in his seat so I took him back to the room. I was also pretty much done for the night. Since I was up early the day we flew out (315am) and again on embarkation day I was literally a walking zombie.
Day 2 11/9/08 Sunday Castaway Cay
I was up fairly early again 545am. I played some basketball until around 645am then got some coffee and watched some TV in cove café (CNN was having a MLK special on very informative). I went down to our rooms we had a CAT5 rm 7534 and a CAT11 directly across the hall rm 7535 the rest of our family had all CAT 11 but being on a four day on the wonder with connecting CAT5s we knew we needed at least one room with a veranda. The rest of the Family was spread out down the hall in rms 7539, 7541, 7543, 7039, and I think but could be wrong 7041. Well 7am and no real signs of life how are these people gonna make it when the real port days come. By the time my army of 7 was up and dressed and ready to go it was close to 8am so we headed down to parrot cay for breakfast. Our Head server Geevan had told us the night before that he would be making gluten free pancakes for my DW and DS13, DS8 have an allergy to wheat and gluten so this was a major thing for them. I dont have any other cruising experience to draw from but they did this right on every day and catered to my DH, DSs every dietary need (If anyone has questions on this just ask, I can go into much further detail). Breakfast was typically the same no matter where we ate throughout the cruise. Everything I could have wanted was there I don't like pancakes or waffles that sit so i just choose to eat omelets and croissants along with bacon and sautéed mushrooms with some different cheeses and I kept to that all week(we did not make it to Lumieres for breakfast). Once breakfast was done we headed back up to our rooms, grabbed all of our stuff for castaway cay to include a letterbox we would be doing and went out by the forward elevator to deck one this was always the less busy option getting off and on the boat. We posed for Disney photogs along the way to the tram, and then headed to the far end of the beach to set up shop near the bike rentals. This is an excellent spot close to a bathroom, next to castaway joe's/grouper pavilion, heads up bar and lots of hammocks that no-one seems to want to use there are at least 10 in that general vicinity.
our home base for our two days at Castaway cay
Me, DH14 Dan, Ray & Mike
We were able to do a lot from this locale, and the only thing that was a real hike for us was shuttles cove but the kids were happy to be on the beach and play in groupers pavilion ping pong and shuttle board, pool tables, basketball also if your looking for full court basketball there is one on the runway past the bike rentals. After all the games everyone hit the water for awhile and then we ate lunch. but I was still so stuffed from breakfast that I wasnt hungry and the food lacked punch/umph because I was so stuffed on the second castaway day I was hungry and found the food to awesome and flavorful. Same exact food on both castaway days, but I ruined my own palate by overeating at breakfast. My DS5 was also very excited to see the crab races and he got there right at the start. We did the whale tooth dig in the afternoon and we found our elusive letter box. All day we had asked the bar staff when the bahama mamas would be 2 for 1 and we kept getting different reports of times. the best we could come up with from the wait staff was 2pm so at 230 we went to the bar as a group and wanted to get our 2-1s. Then we were told that special was already over. After a little haggling we got the special but what gives anyone else every run into this. One of the only times anyone from Disney seemed to have absolutely no clue (really this was like a one in a hundred type thing/anomaly which just makes it peculiar rather than a insult to anything Disney) .
After our activities we sat down and lounged in the sun until 4pm then got back on the boat. (tip when splitting into different groups with lots of kids make sure if someone is staying behind on the beach that the person returning to the boat has all the correct KTTW cards. We almost had a problem ((stress!!!)) but I walk fast and my DW slow so I had stayed behind but had my DD11 went with DW but I had her KTTW card. They left 30 minutes before me but I caught up to them before they got on the ship, crisis averted.)
I am going to stop here for now and will pick this up tomorrow from. I just have a couple of more points. Today is Thursday 11/20 we got off the boat last Saturday 11/15 but I still feel the boat rocking, it was real bad the first day we went right from the boat to Sea world and walking all day I had 3 hours of full movement and swaying. Standing up and sitting were the worst, didnt make me sick just loopey. I can also tell you I am ready to go back. More to come thanks for reading
