UPDATED: 10 Night Southern Caribbean - Parts 1, 2 & 3

[Disneynut1955]

My wife and I were so excited about this trip. About a week before the trip, obligations with our business began to build and we were afraid that we were not going to make the trip. Thankfully, the day before we were going to leave, we closed out all outstanding business issues and were determined to have fun. The group on this trip was myself (David), I am now 35 years old. My wife (Monica) who just turned 32. Our friend Kevin who is 33 and his wife Julia who is 29.

Just prior to the trip I went to Los Angeles to celebrate my birthday with my friends Charlie and Kevin. We had a wonderful time and as this time was spent doing all things “Disney”, I wanted to include this in my trip report as it was a great few days just prior to the trip.

SATURDAY

Staying all the way in Woodland Hills, I had to awake early (4:00 AM) to make it to Disneyland prior to park opening. Traffic was not what I anticipated so I spent my early morning hours driving around Buena Park looking for the filming locations used in Clerks II (now one of my favorite films). After looking for the fictional “Mooby’s” I made my way to the park only to find that the parking structure would not open in time for my appointment early in the morning.

After a few frantic phone calls, parking arrangements were made for me at Downtown Disney. I parked and made my way to the plaza area in front of Disneyland. Here I met my friend Charlie and we talked briefly before being escorted into the park.

We spent the first hour of our day, just prior to park opening, inside of Walt’s apartment above the fire station on Main Street. We had a wonderful tour of the apartment and the remaining furnishings that are original to the apartment. As this was our second visit to the apartment (our first was a breakfast in December of 2005) we had a chance to see things in greater detail.

Here is a photo from the balcony which is above the bathrooms. I have been asked by Disney not to publish photos taken inside of the apartment.

The fine people at Disneyland had their staff photographer ready for a photo session. Charlie and I were intent on a recreation of the only published photograph of Walt inside the apartment (I am unsure which of us would have been Lillian) however the sunlight at that time of the morning would not allow for such a shot. We elected to have our photo taken from a different angle and we very pleased with our morning in the apartment.

After our visit to the apartment, Charlie and I spent the day at the park working on plans for an upcoming event that Charlie has created. We had a wonderful lunch and bounced back and forth between the two parks all day long. That evening, I met other friends at the park

I love Fantasmic and a trip to Disneyland would not be complete without a viewing of this show. Despite having seen this show over 200 times, I still love it. A wonderful friend of ours who works at Disney reserved us a private balcony located high above New Orleans Square so that we could watch Fantasmic. This balcony, much smaller than the one used for the premium viewing is attached to what would have been Walt’s private dining room in his apartment, now the Disney Gallery. I love this show so much that we stayed for the second showing of the night. Another Disney friend was kind enough to host us in the Director’s area and made sure we were well stocked with food and drink.

I had a long drive back to the valley so it was time to head out. Again, my sincere thanks to the fine people at Disneyland who always take such good care of us!

MONDAY

The day started early once again. I though it would be fun to re-trace the steps of the two men who started the Walt Disney Company. I headed to the Walt Disney Studios lot for a brief visit.

Just across from the Walt Disney Studios is the final resting place for Roy Disney. Even in death, Roy has a great view of his studio.

The Walt Disney Studios can be seen in the background in this photo taken from the cemetary.

Walt and Roy are separated by about 5 or 6 miles. Roy’s grave is very visible but Walt’s is well hidden. Trees and other shrubs have been purposely grown over the plaque that bears the names of the Disney family (Walt, his wife Lillian, his Daughter and her husband).

Just down the street from Walt’s grave is his favorite lunch spot. The Tam O’ Shanter Inn.

After leaving the Tam, I headed over to Walt Disney Imagineering. Here, I met up with my friend Charlie and his wife. After arriving at Imagineering, we had a very enjoyable lunch (the chicken enchiladas were the best I ever had) with our host. We spent a great deal of time discussing Hong Kong Disneyland and the possibility for further projects in Asia.

After lunch we toured the various spaces and buildings at Imagineering. Without giving away any secrets, there are some wonderful new attractions coming to Anaheim including a major update of one of the more popular attractions. I would love to go into detail, but I promised that I would not reveal the details. What I did find funny was how Imagineering was very “non-Disney” in some ways. I am the first to admit that I use more profanity than anyone, however, I was shocked to hear the “f” word used hundreds of times while I was touring the facilities. It was nice to see that this this group of people are still really passionate about their work and it made me feel good to see people arguing for what they thought was the best way to accomplish something.

THURSDAY

We arrived in Orlando at 6:30 AM. Because of bad weather on the West Coast we nearly missed our connecting flight in Las Vegas. We literally ran from one terminal to the next only to have the door shut behind us the minute we were on the plane. We were very concerned about the luggage and had 4 hours to worry if it made it on the plane. 10 nights without clothing would not be fun. We arrived to find that everything did in fact make the plane. The kind folks at America West AKA U.S. Airways told us that the “priority” sticker on our luggage (a designation for First Class passengers) is the only reason our luggage made the connection. To me it is sad when the airline admits that a passenger flying in coach would have had their luggage delayed.

A quick breakfast at Chik-fil-A in the Orlando airport and we were ready to head to the port. We went downstairs and purchased transfers on the Disney bus. We waited for the couple we were sailing with (Kevin and Julia) and then took the Disney bus to the terminal.

Once we arrived, we went upstairs to go over our documents and passports. Monica is not a U.S. Citizen so we have to make sure we have the proper paperwork with her married name. As always, check-in was a breeze. The Castaway Club line and the Concierge line were both filled with people. We enjoy the fact that Monica is not from the U.S. as the foreign guest line is always empty. Once checked in, they placed us in the Concierge waiting area where we waited for an hour or so until they opened the ship for boarding. We posed for the obligatory embarkation photo and went directly to the Concierge meeting. We were on the Wonder in June and expected the concierge to be the same, however, the group had once again changed.

We met Rodrigo and Claire and spent time going over our plans and made some special requests. Everyone was very helpful and we were able to secure extra Palo brunch times.

We decided to skip the buffet and spent the next hour on deck until our room was ready at 1:30. We were sailing in a Cat. 2 room that was the same as we had aboard the Wonder in June. We met our stateroom attendant Negi who is from India. He was very helpful when it came time to deliver our luggage and we could tell that he would be a great help to us during the trip.

The Welcome Aboard show on the Magic is one we usually skip. As we had two new cruisers sailing with us, we elected to see the show. We are glad that we took time for this as it was actually quite good. It was a short production number followed by two of the entertainers that we would later see onboard the ship. The ventriloquist was great and it started an evening of fun.

Our first dinner aboard was at Parrot Cay. Normally, not my favorite restaurant and the one we usually skip in favor of Palo. The evening started off with a specialty menu called “Welcome Aboard”. Our request for our favorite serving team was unable to be fulfilled because the team had been split with each receiving a promotion. Roy, our server, was moved to Palo and David was moved up to head server.

We were turned over to Romy (from India) and Deniz (from Turkey). Both were very nice and tried very hard to learn our likes and dislikes. The new menu selections were wonderful and it was nice to start the cruise with something out of the ordinary aboard the Wonder.

After dinner, the ladies were tired and went back to the room. Kevin and I went to the promenade lounge and had a drink while discussing what was ahead of us on the cruise.

Fist complaint - The servers who work the late evening hours seem to be new recruits. The server that we had in the promenade lounge could not remember that we ordered a Diet Coke. Normally, this is not such a big deal, but we were the only customers there. We tried four times to get a Diet Coke, the first two times we got nothing, the second two times we got regular Coke. We have had this problem numerous times late at night and it is fairly disturbing.

FRIDAY - AT SEA

Friday arrived and we did our best to try and sleep in. We were also adjusting to the time change as all of us are from the West Coast. My favorite thing about sailing is the ability to take a shower whenever I want. The length of the shower is not an issue and there is always a endless supply of boiling water to soothe my back.

We dressed for Brunch at Palo and made our way up two decks. Now for my second complaint. The Palo Manager or Maitre’d is extremely rude. The arrogance just drips off the person. We have felt this way on all three cruises on the Wonder this year.

Yes, the food at Palo is good and in most cases, is slightly better than the food in the dining room. That being said, I am always amazed at the number of people who exclaim how it is the “best meal I have ever had”. The food is good, but not great. I know a large number of you will want to boil me like a lobster for saying so, but this not the best food on the planet, not even close. Now, in fairness to everyone, I realize that a great number of people have children and large families and spending a vast sum on dining is not practical. However, too many people seem to confuse bad and snooty service as upscale and part of the fine dining experience. The maitre’d is there to serve the guests and the negative treatment he doled out to a number guests in my presence is simply unacceptable.

The actual brunch was good. The wait service from Michael was wonderful and it was a nice way to start our journey.

This was the first of the two formal nights. We dressed for the show and dinner. After searching for an hour for Kevin’s shirt, we went downstairs for the Captain’s Welcome Reception. We both took a number of pictures with various backdrops and the captain. Following the reception, the four of us went to see the Golden Mickey’s. I was overjoyed to confirm with my own eyes that indeed Roy Disney is back in the program replacing Whoopi Goldberg. Unlike others, I did not mind Whoopi in the show, however, it is nice to see a direct descendant of the Disney family involved in this production. We have seen this show countless times but it remains one of my favorites.

We went to Tritons for dinner and enjoyed our selections from the “Golden Mickey’s” menu. Again, service from Romy and Deniz was wonderful. I will be the first to admit we are difficult customers and these people seem to rise to every challenge. We ordered numerous items from the children’s menu (the best Corn Chowder I have ever had) and ordered the minestrone soup from Palo as well.

In the past, we have not has the chance to really get to know our Head Waiter, but this time was different. Eric, was at our table a number of times and was always quick to fill and wish we had. It was nice to have this type of interaction and he truly seems to care about the guest experience.

Immediately following dinner we went outside to the main lobby for the balloon drop. The cruise staff has so much energy and the dancing and countdown to the balloon drop was a great deal of fun. Popping the balloons was also a lot of fun. I am now 35, but I still have the boyish desire to destroy things and stepping on balloons was a blast!

SATURDAY - AT SEA

Our second day at sea started with a presentation by DCL’s Vice President of Operations Tom Wolber. He discussed number of topics including what it took to create a 10 and 11 day itinerary, plans for the upcoming Wonder drydock and elaborated on information for upcoming Mediterranean cruises. The information was wonderful and provided real insight the complex planning that goes into special itineraries. Tom references the DisBoards several times stating he had no information about new itineraries but he would watch the DisBoards as they seem to give him the answers people are looking for.

The rest of the morning was spent lounging around and trying to catch up on some sleep. We showered and went to High Tea at Palo. Again, Michael was our server and he was very pleasant. Our wives loved the food and the service.

We went to the early show to see Michael Harrison. The show, although family friendly, was very funny and we are glad that we took the opportunity to see some of the shows (outside of the Broadway style shows) that we normally skip.

Immediately after the show we were afforded a private Meet & Greet with Don “Ducky” Williams. Ducky was very kind and spent a great deal of time talking with us about his career with Disney and his overall passion for what he does. He asked what my favorite character was (Ariel) and he began drawing her while we talked. A few minutes later he had a completed drawing that he personalized and presented to me.

I am off to the framing store tomorrow to have Ariel framed to hang on the wall in my Disney office. During the entire cruise Ducky was always very friendly and always greeted our group with a smile and a wave. We thank him for his generosity.

Dinner was in Animator’s Palate . The regular menu was in service this evening. I have always liked the Caesar salad they have here. We had a few bowls of minestrone delivered from Palo as well. It was a real treat to see Mickey in the show at Animator’s. On our very first cruise on the Wonder, we were saddened to see the absence of Mickey from the show. Word is, this will become a permanent part of the show.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Great Report, can't wait to read more about your cruise.

 

[Babs417]

Great report lucky lucky you

 

[lillygator]

great so far...I have to ask - are you a TA?

 

[Disneynut1955]

great so far...I have to ask - are you a TA?

Thanks so much! Nope, not a TA but certainly love to travel. Here comes part 2!

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

What amazing things to experience before the cruise! Can't wait to hear about the amazing experiences ON the cruise too!

 

[Disneynut1955]

SUNDAY - ST. THOMAS

Today was our first port. We were in St. Thomas, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. We were one of the first off of the ship in order to go to the Atlantis Submarines. In March, My wife and I did the Atlantis subs in Hawaii and enjoyed them. This trip was fun, but lacking in detail compared to the Hawaii experience. We saw a number of fish and sharks. This would be an enjoyable excursion for someone who had not done it previously.

After the subs we did the Skyride to Paradise Point. In front of us were a number of cast members that we know and it was fun to ride to the top with them. We had a nice day in the sun enjoying the view. After, we walked to K-mart to pick up a few things we forgot prior to leaving home.

On our way back to the ship, we sought out a place to buy our favorite snack, Tortuga Rum Cakes. We have tried many brands but find these to be the best!

We boarded the ship exhausted and settled in for a short nap.

My wife Monica is a huge fan of cooking shows and of fine dining. Monica is also very curious to learn about how everything works and how the Disney Wonder can output so many dinners in such a short amount of time. We inquired with Rodrigo, our concierge, about a Galley Tour but were saddened to learn that they had none scheduled for this trip. After returining from St. Thomas, we received a call that Steve the Executive Chef had invited us to a private galley tour with him just prior to the first dining seating.

We met Steve in the lobby and talked briefly about our love of food! We visited a number of the galleys and storage areas and had a great talk-down about what it takes to serve over 8000 meals each day on the Disney Wonder. I had met Steve previously on the Disney Magic in July of 2005 and he could not have been nicer to us. It was a real treat to see the kitchen while it was in use so you can truly get an idea of the hard work that goes into the wonderful meals. Rodrigo later told us that they had so many requests for Galley Tours that they held several public tours later in the week.

We went to see Hercules even though my wife asked me to spare her. I realize a number of people like this show, but we think it is simply horrid (of course, I will be the first to admit my opinion does not count for much). As we were with a friends who had never been on DCL, we thought it would be polite to sit through it. Halfway through the show, Kevin got up and left. We later asked a family why they loved the show so much and they replied “we like anything that will keep our kids entertained”. I see this debate come up often on the boards. This is one show you either love or hate, there seems to be no middle ground.

We were scheduled to have dinner at Parrot Cay, but opted for dinner at Palo. Once again, we had problems with the arrogant Maitre’d. We called Palo when we first boarded and requested Roy as our server. We were told “no problem” and that we would have Roy each visit except for High Tea when they have a limited staff.

This request was also noted by our Concierge and we were told it was taken care of. When we arrived, we were told “Roy is busy” and were told we would be seated somewhere else. We objected to this and told him we would wait for our server. The guy was not happy and said we would be much happier with another server. I feel sorry for those who work hard to have “call parties” such as ourselves only to have the Maitre’d try and cheat them out of the business. We explained to the man that we, the guests, called in advance to arrange this request and he said it would not be a problem and that it was up to him to now fix it. We waited 45 minutes, but were eventually seated with Roy.

Once seated, the dinner was amazing. Christian, the Executive Chef made some wonderful special dishes for us. Christian is very generous and loves to prepare food and discuss it with those guests who are adventurous enough to try new things. Service by Roy was amazing as always.

We headed off to sleep as we had some early morning activities ahead of us before going ashore in St. Lucia.

MONDAY - ST. LUCIA

We woke early to have breakfast via room service. We were not scheduled to be in St. Lucia until noon. After breakfast we had our Castaway Club reception. With the large numbers of club members, it was time for Disney to change this reception. We were very pleased with the new format. We don’t want to spoil the surprise for anyone, but it was a very nice reception. Disney realizes that most of their business is from repeat clients and it was nice to see the executives at Disney make this much needed change to the program.

Our second port of call was St. Lucia. The landscape of this island is beautiful. Large mountains covered with rainforest rising from the sea. It was simply breathtaking. We were scheduled to sail on the Brig Unicorn to Pigeon Island.

The Brig Unicorn was one of the ships used in the filming of the second Pirates movie. We boarded the ship and headed out for a one hour sail. The sail was nice and relaxing. Once on the island we wandered around for a bit. Kevin and Julia spent time swimming. Monica and I made our way to a little restaurant and paid a huge sum for some microwave egg rolls (they get the tourists every time). We enjoyed an ice cold coke on what was a very humid day. The sail back was long compared to the trip to the island. I think I was simply tired from the lack of sleep and it was finally getting to me.

Once back onboard, we laid down for a while and tried to relax. We made it a point to arrive very early for the new Muppets show. We went into the Walt Disney Theatre and sat in the front row of the second section. We sat on the end and number of other couples quickly filled in most of the remaining seats. There were two remaining seats left towards the middle of the row. We were approached by a cast member who asked a couple next to us to move to the center to fill the two remaining seats. They told him no. He then approached us and asked us to move. We told him no as well and he seemed to be confused and was unsure how to react. I explained to him that there were two seats open and it did not matter where those two seats were located. Any couple could fill them. He said it was a “policy” that all guests had to move the center of the row. I told him the policy was only that guests were requested to not save seats. I told him that we were not moving to which he replied, he was going to get his “supervisor”. Of course, this supervisor never materialized. This is getting petty, but give me a break, and find something to do with your time.

We settled in for Muppet’s Ahoy. My wife was so looking forward to this show. I am sorry to say it was the most horrible show I have ever sat through. The performance was a jumbled mess. It had no direction. The opening sequence was taken directly from the show (which aired in the 80’s). The color was washed out, the sound was horrible. The show was plagued with technical problems. The Muppet’s are not meant to be seen live. One sequence had three puppeteers in full view voicing some chickens singing an unintelligible song.

In fact, the show was not truly about the Muppets. The Muppets were nothing more than bookends to a horrible cabaret performance by some Italian circus performer who kept uttering “I like you”. The filmed sequences with the Muppets onboard the ship were cute, but he rest of the show was trash. Sorry to be so harsh, but Disney Entertainment deserves to be slapped for trying to pass this off as a show. The people voicing the characters could not even maintain the character voice. Truly the most horrific show I have ever seen.

Wow, I have never ran from the Walt Disney Theatre like I did this evening. Dinner at Triton’s was this evening with the standard menu. We were met at the door by Eric, our head server who escorted us to our table. He was very kind and provided us with the little gifts they gave out at Parrot Cay the previous night while we were at Palo. We also received some Ariel and Flounder pins.

We had a great dinner and they had an amazing performance from Ariel and Sebastian. It was nice to hear someone sing an Ariel part and actually sound just like her! Very impressed with the show and dinner.

Tonight was the night for the first of several deck parties.

The Tropucalifragisticexpdialidocious deck party was a direct clone of the tropical deck party from the Disney Magic. As a stand alone deck party, it is very cute and entertaining. My only complaint is that Disney seems to have very little variety in any of their parties. They all involve the same songs, same line dances and same chants “is everyone having fun?”, “I can’t hear you”, “everybody scream”…. Time to pay a few more royalties and get some new songs for these parties. The buffet was great and the bean burritos (much to the displeasure of my wife) were my favorite!

TUESDAY - BARBADOS

Our excursion did not leave until after noon so we decided to sleep in. We woke up and headed in to town to buy some rum and other gifts for friends and family back home. We made it back to the ship and headed to the Cadillac Lounge for our Green Monkey and 4X4 Adventure in Barbados. This was the furthest south our journey would take us. We were only 200 miles from the coast of South America.

We were seated in the back of open air jeeps for the journey to see the green monkey. I had my hesitation about this excursion but I have to say that it turned out great! The air was so humid but riding around in the jeeps with the wind was wonderful. What a beautiful way to see the island. The animal sanctuary had hundreds of turtles, birds, deer, monkey, etc. It was simply the best excursion we had. Our guide truly knew her history and made it a point to help us learn about the island, its history, its people and their culture. At a different location we actually got to hold a baby green monkey.

We arrived back at the port and this time did a little shopping for perfume and cologne. We arrived back at the ship just in time to make the all aboard time of 5:00pm.

Again, a new show was being presented in the Walt Disney Theatre. I really had high hopes for “The Art of the Story”. Our concierge said he saw it and it was amazing. Sadly, we were disappointed in this show as well. It was certainly not as bad as the Muppets disaster, but was not the great experience we have come to expect from Disney.

The introduction with various Disney figures (including Ducky Williams) was great but the overall presentation was lacking. Pacing was horrible and the story needs better transitions. It is a show that has some potential and can be easily fixed with a few simple modifications. They need some clips of Walt or even Roy Disney explaining the different facets of animation and storytelling to move the guest from one segment to the next. This alone would do amazing things for the show. I am puzzled by how Disney can produce great shows like Golden Mickey’s and Disney Dreams and then turn out something incomplete like this show or something that was just downright sad like the Muppets.

We had dinner in Animators Palate this evening. The menu was the Master Chef. Selections were great and we sampled a number of appetizers. We had a good laugh at dinner thanks to a conversation that was taking place at the table next to us. The group at the other table talked about a couple they met who were traveling in one of the Cat. 1 rooms. They said the husband claimed to be an “executive with Disney” and that he was so high ranking that he got the suite over Tom Wolber and Ducky Williams. They went on to say that he had an exclusive “gold card” that whenever it was presented to a cast member they must give him anything he wants. This story went on and on, it was so funny!

First, I can tell you first hand that Disney is notoriously cheap with their executives. Even Roy Disney was not given a suite when he last cruised on Disney. Neither Tom nor Ducky were given rooms that were anything close to a suite. Everyone who sails in concierge level room gets a gold “Key to the World” card instead of a blue one. The color of this card means nothing to anyone other than those who put it in a lanyard and wear it as a badge of honor. Just for fun, and to kill the myth, I proudly whipped out my gold Key to the World card to pay for our drinks that night. All eyes were on me as I paid the bill, put on my Disney Imagineering jacket and walked out of the restaurant. Who knows what stories these people spread about me the following day.

In fairness to the people they were talking about, I have no idea if they really ever said the things that this group claimed, but the entire conversation provided more entertainment for us than both the Muppets and the Art of the Story combined.

WEDNESDAY - ANTIGUA

We arrived in Antigua and decided to spend a day to ourselves. We cancelled our shore excursion and walked into town. We were met by a number of cab drivers all offering their services. We found one who was quiet and reserved and was not pushy like the rest. We asked him how much for a tour of the island and he said $40.00.

He had a nice vehicle (Toyota SUV) and we drove around the island for an hour seeing various government buildings, hotels, hospitals, schools and of course, the beach. It was a great way to spend the day and we were pleased with his knowledge of his home.

We arrived back at the dock only to wander around the shops. We found nothing of great interest so we headed back on the ship. I was off to the internet café to pay some bills. The online service for one of our car loans was down so I sent my wife back into town to make the call to pay the bill. Beware of pay phones in these various ports, I got the bill and it was $88.00 for a 4 minute phone call.

Rodrigo the concierge came by the room with Pirates of the Caribbean buckets and bags of popcorn. He told us this was for us to enjoy during the pirate movie at 6:15. We told him that the movie was not playing until 10:45 that evening. He seemed confused but found out that a schedule change had been implemented because of the running time for the pirates movie.

The clouds started rolling in by mid afternoon. We had a second concierge reception on deck 10 and arrived to find Rodrigo still setting up. They had a number of small appetizers that were fairly tasty. We chatted with Rodrigo about events to come during the final days of the cruise. We really enjoyed our time with Rodrigo and my wife had a blast speaking Spanish to him as she is from Mexico.

No show in the theatre this evening. They are showing Invincible. We went to the show but did not realize it started at 5:15 instead of the normal 6:15 so we left.

Dinner was Parrot Cay and it was Pirates in the Caribbean Night. I am a boring person and refused to wear the bandanna but everyone else at my table complied. We had a great dinner but we ran seriously late. We had ordered some soufflé’s from Palo and had to carry them with us to deck 10 to see the fireworks. It was raining and there was doubt that the fireworks would go off. Because of the rain, the show was reduced to music and a character or two on stage. To be honest, I loved the abbreviated version of the Pirates show.

Although the rain was coming down, they managed to fire off the fireworks about 30 minutes later than normal. Again, what fabulous people to do everything in their power to make sure we get what we came for. Disney is not in control of the weather and I certainly would have understood if they could not do the fireworks that evening, but the fact that they always try is simply amazing.

For once, I was too full to eat the buffet. We said goodnight to everyone and headed off for bed.

 

[Disneynut1955]

THURSDAY - AT SEA

We attempted to sleep in, but the sun seems to heat up our bedroom on the ship. The air conditioner did not work all that well in our room but seemed to ice down the interior bedroom that Kevin and Julia were in.

We had breakfast via room service again. I love wheat toast! We dressed and went to the Susan Egan Q&A at 11:00. Susan was the original Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway and also the voice of Meg in Hercules. The question and answer session was fun and it was nice to learn more about her career.

Monica decided to go upstairs and get some sun. They were hosting the Mouse 2-O deck party. This party looked like a lot of fun for the kids. They had plenty of games, characters, face painting, prizes, etc. I can be very critical of Disney when they get it wrong, but this looked like an amazing addition to their offerings for kids.

Monica came back to the room and changed and we went to Bingo. I certainly don’t consider myself cheap, but $70.00 for bingo? Who says there isn’t a casino aboard Disney ships?? Needless to say, we lost. It was fun to do once, but they will not catch me going back again. We left Bingo and quickly went upstairs for a performance by Susan Egan.

The show in the Walt Disney Theatre by Susan Egan was one of the best I have ever seen. We loved the songs, her wit and sense of humor and her pacing of the show. Simply the best special entertainment we have ever seen on the cruise line. Susan Egan is a great talent and we look forward to her next Broadway production after the birth of her child.

We went back to the room and ordered room service from Palo. We were determined to stuff our faces this evening and it started early. After Palo room service, our "second" dinner was at Tritons featuring a “Taste of the Caribbean” menu. Once again, selections were fabulous. We had a great dinner and it was a lot of fun to talk with everyone. Romy and Deniz always seem to bring triple the amount of food that we order. No complaints from us though, we tend to eat everything they put in front of us!

After dinner we went to the Crew Talent Show. This was a great deal of fun. The Walt Disney Theatre was standing room only. I have never seen it packed like this. People were literally standing in the aisles. This is a wonderful testament to the fine service provided by the cast members. They become family to a number of us and I pleased to see so many people turn out to support them.

As for the show, some had talent while others were a little rough. Regardless, these people still possessed more bravery than I will ever exhibit and got up there and gave it there best. We felt the best performance of the night was Claire, the second person in the concierge team. She has an amazing voice and should follow her dream to become a singer. My sincere thanks to all of the crew who participated and who did their best to provide us with great entertainment!

There were a few other things going on, but the time change, lack of sleep and the fact that I am just getting old prevents me from staying up too late. Off to bed so we are fresh to tackle a very busy schedule tomorrow.

FRIDAY - AT SEA

We woke up and barely made it to the character breakfast in Parrot Cay. We were entertained by Chip and Dale and Minnie Mouse. The photographers were in full force with very short photo opportunities with characters. Although they were short, they were very polite and made an effort to get each character to every table. We ate very little as we were headed to brunch in Palo.

We arrived at Brunch to find that the Maitre’D finally got it right (or so we assumed) and had Roy as our server. We enjoyed a great brunch and went through a number of items before being too stuffed to consume any more.

After lunch, my wife and Julia went to an autograph session with Ducky Williams. They managed to dig up a number of litho’s for us during the cruise. Rodrigo was kind enough to deliver the litho’s to us early in the week, in a mailing tube no less, so that we could have them all signed on this day.

Tonight was the second formal night. To celebrate our birthdays we had the private dining room in Palo reserved for the four of us.

Christian, Palo’s Executive Chef prepared a number of special items for us including broiled lobster and prosciutto wrapped asparagus (my favorite). Our favorite server Roy was standing at the door to Palo waiting for us at 6:00 pm. Roy truly helped make the evening even more magical with his great service. We were presented with a fabulous bottle of Champagne (Tattinger Rose) to toast our birthday celebration as well as Kevin and Julia’s honeymoon. Although I know the cast members are always well intentioned. I am not one for having people sing to “Happy Birthday” to me in public. We thank everyone at DCL for helping make our birthday celebration special in such a private atmosphere.

We left dinner and went to the late showing of Disney Dreams. By far our favorite show Disney has ever produced. Kevin and Julia also felt it was the best show they had seen. We made our way to the room to change out of our formal attire. We then went to the clubs to catch a Cabaret show by Fielding West. We loved most of the Cabaret shows, but this one was lacking. The gentleman was not bad, but was just not that funny compared to the other acts.

We stuck around for a brief look at the 80’s night (Monica and I have already seen it many times) and then off to the midnight (actually 11:00 pm) buffet. The line was already wrapped around the corner from Triton’s but we did not care. They had tons of sweets inside and we wanted our portion of them! The line moved quickly and we filled up two plates. Back to the room to nibble and we all quickly fell asleep.

SATURDAY - CASTAWAY CAY

We woke up and headed straight for Castway Cay. We had a few drinks while we waited for a few chairs to open up. A very nice group offered us their chairs at Serenity Bay as they were leaving (Thanks!). We placed out stuff on the chairs and went into the water. It is really strange to go into water that is at a higher temperature than the surrounding air. The water was great and we spent a great deal of time just relaxing.

We moved out of the water and back to our chairs. When we came back we were verbally assaulted by some nasty woman claiming that we had to sit on our chairs and that saving chairs is not allowed. My wife, who had enough, told the woman that we simply went in the water. The woman went on to complain that they next time we moved from our chairs she would move our stuff.

Time for me to vent…Are people really this sick? Do you really have nothing better to do with your life than be the Disney Police? Seriously, get a life. You are on a cruise to enjoy yourself and to relax. Worry about your own life and not others. These people really drive me nuts, get a hobby and do something valuable with your time. We didn’t claim chairs only to wander the island, we went swimming directly in front of the chairs and then returned to them.

In the end, when we were done for the day (around noon) we immediately gave the chairs to someone else.

I returned to the ship to watch a movie in the Buena Vista Theatre. It was a pleasant time in the dark, out of the sun. My wife, who worships the sun continued to stay on the island for a few hours.

We met in the room and started packing. We do not travel light so it took about an hour. That completed, we had something special we were looking forward to. By far my favorite experience on this cruise was our private tour of the bridge by Captain Henry. We were told be outside of our stateroom on deck 8 promptly at 4:45. We exited the room and were immediately approached by the Captain’s assistant Robyn and told to follow her to the bridge. A short walk down the hall and we entered the first door marked “Crew Only”. Inside of this entry way were 3 or 4 private staterooms. We were told that these rooms are used for officer’s family who sometimes travel with the ship.

We entered a second room which had a number of flags on the wall in little cubicles. Through that door and we stepped onto the bridge. We were greeted by Captain Henry who spent a great deal of his time showing us the entire bridge.

He explained each item and what it was used for. We had some great photo opportunities and learned tons of information about the ship and the technology associated with modern cruise lines.

I was fortunate enough to briefly assume the role of “Captain David”.

Each time the ship leaves port, they must sound the horn twice. Kevin and I were invited to push the blue button labeled “Mickey Horn” in order to start our journey. I was invited to do the first blast and Kevin the second.

We were then shown outside with Captain Henry to watch the ship pull away from Castaway Cay. It was an amazing view to look down through the glass and see the water moving below us.

After the tour we spent a great deal of time talking with Robyn (who is very proud to come from the great state of Texas). She was an amazing woman and had such a great spirit about her. We hope to see her in our future travels.

I was able to take home an amazing souvenir as well. The captain signed and dated the hat for us.

After this amazing experience we went to catch the Farewell show. This was combination cabaret act with some short performances by the characters. The act “Wilde and Haines” was fabulous. They did some great juggling and one of this kids they picked from the audience was the highlight of the show. The closing act featuring the characters was amazing!! Once again, how can Disney be all over the map with shows that are so wonderful only to serve up shows like the Muppets (has anyone figured out how much I hated the Muppets show?).

Dinner was in Parrot Cay. We ordered from the Til’ We Meet Again menu. Another great dinner and we were sad to be leaving the ship in the morning. We could not have asked for a better group of people than the cast members who assisted us on this trip. As Monica is not a US Citizen, she has to be up early on the final day for immigration. Because of this we went to bed early while our cabin mates spent the entire evening (until 4:00 am) packing their clothes and various treasures.

One last portion of the trip report to come….

 

[delo4]

Great trip report. I agree with you about being asked to move down the row for others. I don't like being in the middle of a row of people. I much prefer the end for claustrophobic reasons. We always get to the show early and sit on the end. One time we had a Disney usher ask us to move in so that the people coming in late would not have to walk over people. I politely told him I wasn't willing to do that. I got here early so I could sit where I wanted. He was so surprised and we kinda joked about it. He said that no one ever told him no before! But he did completely understand, just trying to do his job. If people get to the show late, well that's what happens. They may have to crawl over people to get a seat.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

I couldn't agree more about the out-of-date music and line dancing at the deck parties. I thought it was just me.

There is a wealth of music that has come out recently that would be perfect for cruise deck parties.

My 10 & 11 y/o actually asked to leave the sailaway party because they were bored.

Loved the report.

 

[kaseyC]

Thanks for sharing. I am really enjoying your report and pictures. Looking forward to reading the next installment.

 

[alytwo]

I was on the same cruise and the same dinner rotation. I had a fabulous cruise. The food was great, the entertainment was great. I'm sorry you found so much to complain about.

 

[Disneynut1955]

I was on the same cruise and the same dinner rotation. I had a fabulous cruise. The food was great, the entertainment was great. I'm sorry you found so much to complain about.

I actually found about 95% of everything on this cruise greatly exceeded my expectations. That being said, there are so many aspects of a Disney cruise that are perfect that the negative really stands out. As you know, Disney asks for honest commentary from guests in order to improve their service. I feel it would be a great disservice to future cruisers to not point out the few things that can be improved upon.

I respect your opinion about your cruise experience. My experience and opinion remains a positive one, however, some of the new entertainment offerings were not up to Disney standards. I am a firm believer that someone can't fix a problem they don't know about, so for this very reason, I am offering some valid criticism about what I feel went wrong. For the rest of the cruise, it was truly wonderful!

 

[Muushka]

We really wanted to take this cruise, but it just didn't work out. Maybe next year. But the good news is......reading reports like yours which are so well written will make you feel like you are on it too!

I appreciate all the time that it must have taken to give us such details. And I, for one, appreciate hearing the bad along with the good. Your report was complete, not whiney.

Oh, and one more thing, next time you do a DCL can we travel along with you?? I was reading your report and showing my (very green) husband all the great pictures and telling him about the fun things you got to experience. Way to go! Can't wait for the next installment.

PS I am so bummed about the Muppets show. Funny, we were not really interested in that cruise until we heard about this new show. Bummer.

 

[Disneynut1955]

We really wanted to take this cruise, but it just didn't work out. Maybe next year. But the good news is......reading reports like yours which are so well written will make you feel like you are on it too!

I appreciate all the time that it must have taken to give us such details. And I, for one, appreciate hearing the bad along with the good. Your report was complete, not whiney.

Oh, and one more thing, next time you do a DCL can we travel along with you?? I was reading your report and showing my (very green) husband all the great pictures and telling him about the fun things you got to experience. Way to go! Can't wait for the next installment.

PS I am so bummed about the Muppets show. Funny, we were not really interested in that cruise until we heard about this new show. Bummer.

Thanks for the kind words, and yes, we are happy to take people with us. If you ever find yourself on a Disney cruise at the same time, let us know. We feel very blessed to have these special experiences and love to share them with others. They are only fun if you are sharing them with people who have the same love for Disney that we do.

 

[Miss Eeyore]

Can you tell me what kinds of small suprises and "games" that happened among the DIS'ers on this cruise? I was in this for the initial planning but sadly had to cancel. But I'd love to hear what happened.

 

[Disneynut1955]

Can you tell me what kinds of small suprises and "games" that happened among the DIS'ers on this cruise? I was in this for the initial planning but sadly had to cancel. But I'd love to hear what happened.

Info sent via private message

 

[ibouncetoo]

David, what a wonderful trip (and report!). I see in your signature that you don't have the 11/11 double dip listed, did you cancel that? We'll be very sad not to get to cruise with you especially as we owe you a cocktail (or two). Perhaps we'll have to settle for a tropical beverage at Claim Jumper? (Somehow not quite the same thing, maybe Bahama Breeze would be more in keeping.)

 

[GoofyGuy777]

Removed.....

 

[Amlee]

Go Steve! Go Steve!