So I am starting my trip report while we are driving back to Arizona. I will add some pictures later - I did take lots. Here is the cast: myself - just turned 40, my huband 43, daughter - 11, son -8. We also went with two other families. One with 3 kids ages - 4,8,10 and one single mom with a 7 year old. So we had 11 altogether. This is our 2nd Disney cruise - went on the Wonder to the Bahamas in 2009. This was the first cruise for the other families. We booked a Cat 4 for the trip. we had the same last trip but would have been fine in a 5 or 6. This time we would be more towards the back of the boat. Last time we were at the front. I personally like being at the ends so you can use those less busy stairs and elevators. Of course you feel the boats movement a bit more (or so they claim). We bought duffle bags for the cruise - works out great so you can store them under the bed. We also got an over the door shoe organizer which proved to be great.
March 12 - we left Saturday morning for our journey from Arizona (about 6 1/2 hrs) driving. All thrEe families caravaned. We arrived around 4:00pm to the port and checked in to the Doubletree San Pedro. We choose this one for the closeness to the port and parking for the week package. I belive is was around $200 total. We checked into our rooms and headed down to happy hour. Now before I go further let me tell you that are group does drink so this will be mentioned througout this report. We ended up just ordering dinner at Happy Hour. The food was fine - I had chicken tacos. We just did not feel like going somewhere else. I arranged for a shuttle before we left AZ for Sunday am to the port. We had the 10:00 shuttle and we would need the entire van for our group. The hotel was average but fine for what we needed.
Day 1 - March 13th - we woke up, got ready and headed down for the free breakfast. They did have some hot items and your typical cold ones. I was impressed that we ate in the same dining room as the night before. I am used to small crowded rooms for free breakfasts usually. We went out just before 10 and got immediately on our van. It was about a 5 minute drive to the port. Once we got to the port we gave up our luggage (besides the day bags) and heading up for our boarding. We got boarding pass 4. Check-in was a breeze. Plenty of seating at the terminal. The only hang up was getting the kids checked into the childrens activities. I guess they system did not roll over from the previous cruise so we waited for over an 1 hour. I did not really care since we had to wait anyways but some were irritated. By the time I was done they were on boarding pass number 6. So we got on right after. Now I do want to mention about my 11 year old and registering for the kids activities. My daughter has high functioning autism so we were worried about putting her in the edge. There is NO sign in or out for this area. No one is watching your child. Yes, they do have counselors in the edge at all times but the kids come and go. So we decided to register her in the lab. Of course they were very accomodating and I liked the fact the she would have the wrist band with the gps tracking (just incase). We also were told she could go to the edge so this seemed to be the best option. We boarded the ship around 12 and headed right to Parrot Cay for the lunch buffet. It felt so great to be on the ship. After lunch we went to our staterooms that were all ready at 1:30. The room was all ready so we put away our day bag and headed to tour the ship (on our own with our friends). After the tour our luggage arrived and we unpacked. We had the safety drill at 4 - no life jackets. Then we went up for the sail away party. The party was fun but not that big of a deal. I think they could add a bit more to that. Now time to get ready for dinner at 5:45. We had late dinning when we booked but wait listed for early dining and got it. For me, I prefer the early dinning because in the end you are there till almost 7:45pm anyways. Our first dinner was at Tritons and there we met our servers Allen and Daneeza. Wow - they were great, I mean great the entire trip. Request them if you can. We had one in our group with a gluten allergy and lots of picky kids. The four year old wanted a peanut butter and honey sandwhich and every night that was ready for her when we sat down. They also had gluten free bread for my friend every night. Of course they will get you anything p, well almost. After dinner was our first show. I can't remember the name but it was more of an intro show to the cruise. It was very good. After dinner we were all tired so we went straight to our rooms. The kids really wanted to go to the kids areas but we promised them we would in the am. Of course they would be going there lots. Just a few other tips for Day 1. Do go to guest services right away and get the free Tea Party Tickets. I will talk about thia later on. Also purchase the glass beer mug for $15. This entitles the holder to 22 oz of beer for the price of 16. Good investment if you have a beer drinker. You can also change or add Palo reservations day 1 so do this right away. We moved our Palo from 8:30 to 8. Don't purchase the $99 rain forest week pass. My two friends did and they hardly used it. You can just pay a daily fee of 16. They said it was based on availability but I never saw it busy. Well, that is it for Day 1. *also please excuse any typs I am doing this while driving on my blackberry.
March 12 - we left Saturday morning for our journey from Arizona (about 6 1/2 hrs) driving. All thrEe families caravaned. We arrived around 4:00pm to the port and checked in to the Doubletree San Pedro. We choose this one for the closeness to the port and parking for the week package. I belive is was around $200 total. We checked into our rooms and headed down to happy hour. Now before I go further let me tell you that are group does drink so this will be mentioned througout this report. We ended up just ordering dinner at Happy Hour. The food was fine - I had chicken tacos. We just did not feel like going somewhere else. I arranged for a shuttle before we left AZ for Sunday am to the port. We had the 10:00 shuttle and we would need the entire van for our group. The hotel was average but fine for what we needed.
Day 1 - March 13th - we woke up, got ready and headed down for the free breakfast. They did have some hot items and your typical cold ones. I was impressed that we ate in the same dining room as the night before. I am used to small crowded rooms for free breakfasts usually. We went out just before 10 and got immediately on our van. It was about a 5 minute drive to the port. Once we got to the port we gave up our luggage (besides the day bags) and heading up for our boarding. We got boarding pass 4. Check-in was a breeze. Plenty of seating at the terminal. The only hang up was getting the kids checked into the childrens activities. I guess they system did not roll over from the previous cruise so we waited for over an 1 hour. I did not really care since we had to wait anyways but some were irritated. By the time I was done they were on boarding pass number 6. So we got on right after. Now I do want to mention about my 11 year old and registering for the kids activities. My daughter has high functioning autism so we were worried about putting her in the edge. There is NO sign in or out for this area. No one is watching your child. Yes, they do have counselors in the edge at all times but the kids come and go. So we decided to register her in the lab. Of course they were very accomodating and I liked the fact the she would have the wrist band with the gps tracking (just incase). We also were told she could go to the edge so this seemed to be the best option. We boarded the ship around 12 and headed right to Parrot Cay for the lunch buffet. It felt so great to be on the ship. After lunch we went to our staterooms that were all ready at 1:30. The room was all ready so we put away our day bag and headed to tour the ship (on our own with our friends). After the tour our luggage arrived and we unpacked. We had the safety drill at 4 - no life jackets. Then we went up for the sail away party. The party was fun but not that big of a deal. I think they could add a bit more to that. Now time to get ready for dinner at 5:45. We had late dinning when we booked but wait listed for early dining and got it. For me, I prefer the early dinning because in the end you are there till almost 7:45pm anyways. Our first dinner was at Tritons and there we met our servers Allen and Daneeza. Wow - they were great, I mean great the entire trip. Request them if you can. We had one in our group with a gluten allergy and lots of picky kids. The four year old wanted a peanut butter and honey sandwhich and every night that was ready for her when we sat down. They also had gluten free bread for my friend every night. Of course they will get you anything p, well almost. After dinner was our first show. I can't remember the name but it was more of an intro show to the cruise. It was very good. After dinner we were all tired so we went straight to our rooms. The kids really wanted to go to the kids areas but we promised them we would in the am. Of course they would be going there lots. Just a few other tips for Day 1. Do go to guest services right away and get the free Tea Party Tickets. I will talk about thia later on. Also purchase the glass beer mug for $15. This entitles the holder to 22 oz of beer for the price of 16. Good investment if you have a beer drinker. You can also change or add Palo reservations day 1 so do this right away. We moved our Palo from 8:30 to 8. Don't purchase the $99 rain forest week pass. My two friends did and they hardly used it. You can just pay a daily fee of 16. They said it was based on availability but I never saw it busy. Well, that is it for Day 1. *also please excuse any typs I am doing this while driving on my blackberry.
