The Seas are full of WONDER and waves! Our first Disney Cruise - 7-night Eastern Caribbean; Feb 2018

Yum, how many Mickeys could you make at a time? Was breakfast complimentary?

I hope your power is back on soon. Bummer about the generator.

Kate

So the waffle iron made 4 mini Mickey Waffles at a time and they weren't bad! The breakfast was included and also had eggs and sausage and pastries and stuff - for an included hotel breakfast (knowing we only paid $169 for the room for all 6 of us) it was pretty darn good!

Power is still out - but we were able to borrow our neighbor's generator so trying to get back to normal a bit. Hoping the power comes back soon as another storm is scheduled for this Wednesday!


Signing on! My aunt, uncle, and cousins are on your same itinerary (boarded today.) They found out at check-in that their St. Maarten stop was cancelled and they will spend an extra day at Castaway now!

I saw someone post that on Facebook - saw the letter about the change of schedule. Was nice to get to St. Marteen but a double stop to Castaway would have been super night - especially if it would have resulted in smoother seas!


You started your Wonder cruise they day ours ended! Cool!

Very cool - well, you left it in pretty good shape! ;)
 
Sorry for the delay in updates everyone - our power is still out, and a new storm come in today ....

... so this has largely been my view of late between refilling the generator and tracking the new snow (about 4" so far, supposed to get to up to 16" :scared1:) - so I thought looking at cruise photos might be a good change of pace so I have been working on them and am now working on getting a few updates posted!
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I'm here! I've never cruised before but I'm thinking of maybe asking my husband about booking one for my birthday next summer...

Anyway, I stumbled onto your TR and your children are ADORABLE!! And I love Peter's picture of the ship! Looking forward to reading more :cutie:
 
Sorry for the delay in updates everyone - our power is still out, and a new storm come in today ....

... so this has largely been my view of late between refilling the generator and tracking the new snow (about 4" so far, supposed to get to up to 16" :scared1:) - so I thought looking at cruise photos might be a good change of pace so I have been working on them and am now working on getting a few updates posted!
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Well, I guess I'll stop complaining about the 58 degree morning we had in Jacksonville today.....lol!
 


Part 4) Boarding the Ship and Lunch!

Our driver brought us right to the front of the terminal and after settling with him, the porters took all our bags, except for our carry-ons (which had our wine and beer so were a bit heavy, but not too bad), and we went first through a Disney check-in spot and then towards the terminal proper where the security check was. I wasn't sure if we were allowed to take pictures of any of this and, to be honest, it all moved much faster than I was expecting, so I was a bad trip reporter and didn't really get many pictures of this part.

Security was really smooth and no issues and then we ascended the escalator into the terminal proper. We then went to the check-in line - which was basically non-existent and walked right up (as I was trying to get all our paperwork ready - never mind photograph anything!) and we all got checked in. I had done the online registration so this was really quick and super easy. They checked our passports and then had us take pictures set up as how our rooms were arranged since we were split across two rooms, gave us our Key to the World cards, and they got the kids their kids-club bands on. They were very excited about it - though were a little confused as they were calling them magic bands and thinking they would also work at Walt Disney World, etc.

With our Powers Combined!!!!
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At this point I was able to recollect all my paper work and rearrange things and handed out the lanyards I had gotten for everyone to holds their cards in. One character meet/picture I knew I wanted to get was Captain and he was just starting a set meeting in the terminal so even though at this point we could have gotten right on to the ship I talked everyone into getting in line to meet Mickey. I am glad we did as I think the pictures came out pretty well. Also, we informed him that Olivia's birthday was the next day and he made like a conductor to conduct singing to her - it was cute
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We then went to board the ship and the line had built up a bit more at this point, but it moved fast. First we had to go through one check-in point where everyone had to scan their Key to the World card and then we got in line for the welcome photo - I think this is where they first tell people about the photopass option and stuff for those who didn't know about it. We got a few good pictures - although I think the best one is where the photopgraher told everyone to do a thumbs up and for some reason, despite smiling, Emma gave a thumbs down
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We then got in line to board the actual ship and this would be the part where they announce our name as welcoming us to the ship while a line of CMs applaud. I am sure for people who have done a bunch of Disney Cruises this might get old but it was pretty darn cool for us I thought and really signaled the "start" to our cruise. This would also be our first view of the Atrium which, while not the biggest on the seas, is very pretty! (and also uses the famous Disney Forced Perspective - but I'll explain that later on)
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One last point, our boarding time slot was 12-12:30 and I believe everyone had to be on by 4:00 - and even at like 3:30 or whatever they were still doing this and CMs were there to applaud so everyone definitely gets to have this experience!

It was now getting close to 1pm and we figured lunch was in order so we took the elevator up to Deck 9 to get some food from the buffet that is at Cabana's. When we got up there we could see some people that must have boarded earlier and were all settled in and a bunch of kids in the pools, etc. We passed a few tables that were open but some in the party wanted to first check out the buffet and just eat inside there so that is where we went. I tried to get some photos of the food but it was a lot to take in - I took some video too. This was also where we got our first glimpse of how seriously they take cleanliness as there are hand washing stations outside that everyone has to use before they can go in. One thing I loved was at the entrance there was a mural related to Finding Nemo/Dory and it was all made of wood pieces fit together like a mosaic sort of - very cool!.
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I knew I wanted to get some seafood but also knew I wanted to get some lamb chops. If anyone has seen the "2 Dudes on a Cruise" Vlog that the DIS put out you know Craig and (especially Corey) love these lamb chops! (and they definitely lived up to the hype - especially for being on a buffet!)
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By the time we got all our food we struggled to find any seats inside Cabana's - so knowing we had seen seats now out by the pool area on the way in we went back there. They had filled up a bit but we were able to find two round tables we could push together. Once we got settled the some of the kids needed to use the bathroom and others wanted more drinks, etc. - so everyone else was nearly done with their food by the time I got to start - but here is my plate - and Judi had managed to order me a drink while I was getting other stuff, so that was nice - it was called a "raspberry trill" - which had Jim Beam and Chambord and lime juice and some other stuff in it ... it was rather tasty (though from the list of drinks they have on those signs that we tried I think the Captains Mai Tai was my favorite)
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Judi had gotten a Caipririnha and was enjoying it and the moment
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As mentioned, everyone else had basically finished their food so while I ate Judi went to get them all dessert
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After eating we knew we wanted to check out the kid's clubs while they had their open houses (one reason it was was basically the only time that we could take photos). So we headed that way. On the way I started to realize just how much cool artwork they have all around the ship. One area we passed had a lot of costume sketches for various movies - this was one for Marry Poppins
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We also passed the movie theater (called the Buena Vista Theater) and saw they had a poster out for the just released Black Panther - we were excited to get to see that while on board. they also had an image from the premier of Fun and Fancy Free
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Coming up next - we tour the kids club and then get to our state rooms!

TTFN!
 
Looks great! Sucks that you still don't have power. I hope you get it back soon and survive the on going storm.

A buffet, drinks, family, and sunshine! Whats not to love?
 
Great update. Nice to see you and your family enjoying the first day on the ship! I hope you do a comparison post with the upcoming Viking Cruise trip - I'd love to hear your thoughts on both once you are back. :goodvibes Oh, and please stay safe. I hear that's a big storm coming in today (my DD is in school on the East Coast and I'm getting snow pics today).
 


I hope your power is restored soon!

I am enjoying your report so far- and excited to hear more about the Caribbean ports!
 
I am so glad you are doing a TR! Will and I will be doing our first ever cruise this year in November (when I turn the big 4-0 :scared:). We will be on the Disney Dream for 3 nights! Since I have no idea if we will like cruises or not (though, I mean, I think we will...), I decided our first cruise would just be a short one.

I love your gif pics, though my favorite pic so far is Emma smiling and giving a thumbs down. That's classic.

I can't believe you guys STILL don't have power!! Thanks to your generator, we can still get some TR updates. :thumbsup2
 
Looks great! Sucks that you still don't have power. I hope you get it back soon and survive the on going storm.

A buffet, drinks, family, and sunshine! Whats not to love?

Thanks Ryan - hopefully power will be back soon. Part of the issue is our power comes in from our side yard (we are on the corner) whereas the rest of our street comes in from the street the houses face, so now twice the power company has reported that our power is back (because the rest of our street does have power) when we still do not and we have to refile a report

We enjoyed it in the moment and are really missing the buffet, drinks, and sunshine (still have the family)


Great update. Nice to see you and your family enjoying the first day on the ship! I hope you do a comparison post with the upcoming Viking Cruise trip - I'd love to hear your thoughts on both once you are back. :goodvibes Oh, and please stay safe. I hear that's a big storm coming in today (my DD is in school on the East Coast and I'm getting snow pics today).

Thank you. I think that would be interesting to compare/contrast to the Viking trip - obviously it is aimed at very different travelers - hopefully we enjoy both!

Yeah, we are in the middle of the storm - snow is really accumulating!


I hope your power is restored soon!

I am enjoying your report so far- and excited to hear more about the Caribbean ports!

Thank you - and I hope so too!

Definitely will cover the ports - as best I can as I took a lot of photos but didn't take notes. For both we did basic tours of the islands which were interesting but I think the kids got a little bored - but still nice to see the islands. Judi and I had been to San Juan before and we really liked it so we were glad to get to return!


I am so glad you are doing a TR! Will and I will be doing our first ever cruise this year in November (when I turn the big 4-0 :scared:). We will be on the Disney Dream for 3 nights! Since I have no idea if we will like cruises or not (though, I mean, I think we will...), I decided our first cruise would just be a short one.

I love your gif pics, though my favorite pic so far is Emma smiling and giving a thumbs down. That's classic.

I can't believe you guys STILL don't have power!! Thanks to your generator, we can still get some TR updates. :thumbsup2

Thanks Elena - and thanks for joining! (side note - it was awesome to get to meet you in person last year - even if not at Disney!) - well, I turned the big 4-0 on this trip and it is a great way to hit that milestone I think!

Love the picture of Emma - she's such a character!

yeah, still not power - hopefully soon!
 
Hi Phil, I am joining in! I'm glad you decided to write a DCL trip report for your first cruise. I love reading about first cruise experiences on DCL! Your family looks like they are enjoying the first moments on board the ship. Cabanas does get super crowded! And the lamb chops are great! I don't eat much lamb but I liked the DCL ones!
I'm also from the NY/NJ area...there's foot of snow outside right now. Sigh. Fortunately we did not lose power in either storm. Hope you get yours back soon!
I too am keeping warm by writing about our cruise experience. :)
 
Glad you're doing a TR! I am definitely coming along to read all about it :)

Sounds like your travel to Orlando went smoothly!

Great pics with Captain Mickey!

Glad your first experience with the cruise food was a good one!

And I'm so sorry you still don't have power :( WHat a rough week of weather it has been!
 
Hope you get your power back soon. Love your pictures with Captain Mickey and the buffet food does look good.
 
Great post!! “2 Dudes” Craig is my brother so thank you for following along and liking the videos!! Can’t wait for more!

Thank you and great to have you here - always appreciate all of the work that Craig does. I've met him briefly at a few DIS events - hopefully I get to chat with him some more later this month as I believe we will both be on the Viking Italy cruise


Hi Phil, I am joining in! I'm glad you decided to write a DCL trip report for your first cruise. I love reading about first cruise experiences on DCL! Your family looks like they are enjoying the first moments on board the ship. Cabanas does get super crowded! And the lamb chops are great! I don't eat much lamb but I liked the DCL ones!
I'm also from the NY/NJ area...there's foot of snow outside right now. Sigh. Fortunately we did not lose power in either storm. Hope you get yours back soon!
I too am keeping warm by writing about our cruise experience. :)

Yeah! Thanks for joining! I'll have to check out your TR as well. Still now power here, but we did get about 14" of snow (good times clearing that all this morning)


Glad you're doing a TR! I am definitely coming along to read all about it :)

Sounds like your travel to Orlando went smoothly!

Great pics with Captain Mickey!

Glad your first experience with the cruise food was a good one!

And I'm so sorry you still don't have power :( WHat a rough week of weather it has been!

Thanks for joining Alexis! Hope all is well. Travel definitely went pretty smoothly - though were some long days on either end of the cruise for travel - but couldn't really have asked for much more, just the reality of getting to the port.

Good food was definitely a consistent thing this cruise (some better than others of course, but nothing was really bad)

Definitely been a rough week - hopefully things turn around ... and there is another storm coming Sunday/Monday!


Hope you get your power back soon. Love your pictures with Captain Mickey and the buffet food does look good.

Thank you! I am glad we got some nice pictures with Captain Mickey. In the end (minor spoiler I guess) we didn't get as many photopass pictures as I was hoping but of the ones we did we got quite a few really good ones so I was happy about that!
 
Looking forward to reading more of your report. We're sailing around this time next year, so I am most curious to see how your weather was.

And sorry about your power. We just got ours back yesterday after a 5 day outage, so I feel your pain.
 
Looking forward to reading more of your report. We're sailing around this time next year, so I am most curious to see how your weather was.

And sorry about your power. We just got ours back yesterday after a 5 day outage, so I feel your pain.

Thank you! Definitely will cover the weather but *(spoiler alert*) the seas were pretty rough (thus the "and waves" part of the title of this trip report). The first few days were the worst and definitely made a difference when it got better later in the trip!

Power still out - no estimate for when it will be back, crew is starting to get restless ;)

Edit: OUR POWER JUST CAME BACK!!!!!
 
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Part 5) Checking Out the Kids Clubs and Our Rooms

As mentioned before, we wanted to check out the kids clubs - largely to see how the different areas fit together and ensure Emma knew where the bathroom where and was comfortable using them (spoiler alert - she did great with them all week!) and also so I could take some pictures and video as that is only allowed during open houses.

There are two parts to the Kids clubs that are for kids ages 3-12 (and then separate clubs for teens) - The Oceaneers Club and the Oceaneers Lab. The "club" is aimed a bit younger and has the section for Disney Jr, Andy's Bedroom, Marvel Academy, and Frozen and then the Lab is aimed a bit older and has different discovery areas and is based around the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (the S.E.A.) - this last aspect I think I was more into than the kids.

They are really two separate areas but they are connected by a contained hallway so the kids can go back and forth - but they can also close them off as needed (sometimes they would have an open house on one side and keep the other for leaving kids, etc.)

At both you can check in and they have the Mickey Taps just like for FP at Walt Disney World and that brings up the child's information along with their parents. When you got to check the child out the have to re-scan and the parent (or approved adult) has to provide a secret word for them to be allowed to leave with them ... definitely felt quite secure

And clean! When entering all the kids have to wash their hands in an automated hand washing station that like spins water on them - it was pretty cool (I did try it once!)
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The first area the kids wanted to check out was Andy's Bedroom - and I can't blame them, it was pretty cool and I am sure even cool if you are Kid Sized.
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Then we went to the Marvel area - there were some really cool items from the different movies on display and they had a lot of fun activities for the kids there - including the characters (Spiderman, Black Widow, etc.) visiting at times. Later on Olivia even got an official card saying she was a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. that look very real!
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The Frozen section had just a ton of details - and had a couple of screen tricks, including a visitor in the Suana
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We then went over to the Oceaneer Lab side which is where I saw a lot of the cool S.E.A. stuff
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They had one area (which Peter wound up spending a lot of time in) where it is set up like you are driving the boat - and I think it was set so it would show the ship roughly where it really was, so at this point it was still in Port Canaveral.
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Before too long it was time to head out - though the kids were already asking when they would get to go back to the club. But we wanted to check out our rooms for a bit and then we had a meet-up of the Facebook group for this cruise I had joined.

So we headed to our rooms - and I did a bad job as a trip reporter capturing all of this. I tried to take more video but a lot came out a bit blurry (I think the darkish rooms with bright windows kinda messed things up) - but here are a few things I did get.

As mentioned we had tow rooms - an Oceanview Verandah and and Inside stateroom right across the hall from each other. This shows the bed area for the inside stateroom - it was definitely larger than I was picturing (this was taken from about the mid-point of the room - to my right was the convertible couch with pull down upper bunk above it and to the left was a desk area, and then behind me on either side was a closet area and then the bathroom. This only had the single bathroom while the verandah room had the split bathroom - which was nice at times
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I did get a few details from our room. They had these really neat bedside lamps - with Mickey heads along the bottom rim and then little castle icons on the map for where there are Disney parks. Also a lot of pirate artwork in both rooms
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Also noticed some newer plugs which must have been added in the last refurb (they appeared a slightly brighter white than the other outlets) and had USB plugs as well as regular ones
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Our bags hadn't arrived yet (it was only like 1:45 so wasn't expecting them to be there yet) - but they came fairly early, though not all at once, but we had everything before dinner so no complaints! What had arrived was the tickets for all of our character meets and excursions. It looks like a lot but everyone in our party needed a ticket for each event
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What also was there is that I had surprised Judi by having a bottle of champagne (well, sparkling wine) waiting for her and also gifted myself with the ticket for the beer mug. Side note, the I have a copy of the picture of Walt and Lillian that you also see in this gif so it was neat to see it in our room as well
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Coming up next - we have our Facebook Group meetup, we explore the room a bit more, have our muster drill, and then time for the sail away party!!!!

TTFN

one last note: WE JUST GOT OUR POWER BACK!!!!!!!
 
Hooray for power!

The kids clubs look really fun! We are taking our first cruise this summer and our daughter informed us she would prefer to spend as much time as possible in the kids clubs as opposed to with mom and dad. I can't say I blame her. They look awesome!
 
Glad you got your power back Phil! The kids club look really cool especially Andy's room.
 

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