We are back from March 20 cruise

[tecdavidt]

We had a great cruise despite of unusual weather. I have been on 15 cruises at various times of the year and my husband 14. This cruise was the worst sea conditions we have ever experienced and thankfully, it was only two days of the cruise. One would of thought we were caught in a huricane . Wed. night and Thursday night were rocky, seas Wed. night were 18' to 20' with high winds and on Thurs. night 20' to 30'. Unbelievable for a March cruise but it was happening. Yes, the stablilizers were out, we had the bridge tour on Friday and we were assured the stabilizers were out and the course altered so we did not go in the Atlantic around the Bahamas but through the Bahamas to get to Castaway Cay. Had the course not be altered the seas would of been even worse! The winds Thurs. night were "whole"gale force which is 55 to 63 mph. We survived. Some on board did get sick but in the end we had a great day at Castaway. Water was chilly but the clouds went away and the air temp was warm and toasty. The short cruise back to port that night was more normal sea conditions, rocky through the gulf stream then smooth cruising.

For those who have never cruised before and were on this cruise: No, it isn't normally this rough or windy. Please don't let the strange weather conditions prevent you from going again.

We did go up on top to check out the conditions at night, before 11:00 pm. The sea spray had the entire upper levels soaked. It was not the waves but the sea spray. We had fun riding out the storm but then, we also were not sea sick.

The strange weather had much cooler conditions the first two days at sea, warm but not as warm as last March. St. Maarten was cloudy and rain off and on but we still had a great day. St. Thomas looked like we would get soaked but it rained for a short time on our way to Coarl World then stopped.

We had a good turn out for the DIS meet. It was fun runny into each other through out the cruise.

I am not a good one to answer questions about childrens programming since our daughter is now 11 1/2 but I am sure more people will post. We did not go to Palo, we did enjoy the Golden Mickey's and of course, Disney Dreams.

I will add more later. We had a strange flight route home, via Miami back to Des Moines?!? go figure that one out. Kathy

 

[Dean]

One question, did someone get left in St. Thmas? I heard a couple of rumors yesterday about that possibility.

 

[moocow35]

Sorry to hear about the weather, but glad you had a good cruise despite the weather. I know what you mean about the strange weather. We took our 5th Disney cruise last month. We always go the same week in February. Never before have we ever had weather like we did this year.

Did you book onboard to take advantage of the discounts? Any word on the TBD summer?

Robin

 

[strawberryblonde]

<font color=hotpink>Hi Kathy!! It really was fun to see you on the cruise and some other fun Diser faces to go with names. </font>

<font color=darkviolet>I'm glad that our rough seas were not the norm for March because I was thinking I had picked the wrong month Might still try May instead for our next cruise. I would like it to be hotter for beach days. I did enjoy having it not too hot for being on our verandah, I spent alot of time on ours. None of us ever threw up but we got quite green a few nights. I went up on deck Thurs. night to see about trying out the adult pool and all pools were closed, boat was really rocking. </font>

<font color=seagreen>Tues, we went to Orient beach. Quite windy and we got alittle rained on. My DD (4) thought the water too cold and played with her sand toys next to my chair in the sand. DS (7) and DH swam some. I was offered hair braiding often but I already knew I didn't want them so they took my "No, thank-you" most of the time. If pressed I would explain that my hair can break off easily, don't know if it really would but I've heard horror stories..... We rented one lounge chair and umbrella for $10, this is where I hung out and read my book. We only stayed about 2 hours on the beach. Bought two bottles of guavaberry rum on our way back to the ship</font>

<font color=royalblue>Wed was much better. Rain dumped on us on the ferry ride over to St. John. I actually had to hold back tears about our dream beach day turning out so badly. Decided to laugh it off and just roll with it (as we stood holding our sleepy kids for the entire ferry ride) As ferry docked, sun came out , rain dried up and DH's step mom and sister were there to meet us ! They drove us to Trunk bay and we set up homebase in the shade of some bushy trees. Water was warmer today and I loved snorkeling! The high salt content of the water made it so easy to swim with my fins. Saw loads of fish. DS, DH, sis and mom all snorkeled as well. DD just swam and twirled in her life vest. We loved this beach day, paradise. Worth all the effort to get there. We were on the beach by 10am and left by 1:40pm. Caught 2pm ferry back and actually got to sit down. Kids napped with heads on my lap. Back on boat alittle after 3pm. I can't say enough good about Trunk bay</font>

<font color=deeppink>Friday was the sunniest of all but windy and the water was COLD! Castaway was so relaxing. We shared a hammock with the family next to us (their older son had grabbed them two) they ended up not ever needing it (they barely used their other one) so one of us was in it most of the day. DS napped in it. I read for hours in it, DD sat on me and rocked us for fun. Both kids would hunt for shells off the sides as we rocked - heaven . Snorkeling was not so great for me here. Cold water, not Disney's fault, I swam the entire trail but had hard time getting back into shore as wind was blowing against me. What I would have given for a drink of water out there! We had "front row seats" with umbrella and I loved being near the action. There ended up being loads of chairs in the water in front of us but I could still see and I have to have shade or I will burn. Happy to say that none of us sunburned this last week, used many applications of SPF 45 each day and periods of shade</font>

<font color=periwinkle>DH saw a mother and child left on dock. It was past time for sail away and he heard CM yell that they were very late. Don't know any more about that. DH was up on deck 10 videoing sail away and horn sound off, that is why he saw.</font>

<font color=blue>This is getting long. I'm happy to answer any questions and I will post more as it comes to me</font>

 

[decolady]

The rough seas might be specific to the Eastern Carribean. We were on the ship last week, for the 3/13 Western and it was the smoothest cruise of my life, and I have been on a few. Yet a friend of mine on another ship in the Eastern Carribean complained of rough seas most of the same week, 3/13.

Isn't it the worst feeling to have to leave that ship after a week of being pampered? I hope that despite the rough weather you had just as magical a cruise as we did last week.

Did anyone have Andrew/Catalin as their servers? They were the best.

YEAH BABY!!!

 

[tecdavidt]

Hi Heidi! Glad to hear you made it back. We took the long way home. We booked our entire package through DCL and they choose Delta for our air but no seat assignments. The problem was with DCL and our TA, just a honest mistake. Oh well, thankfully we had the cruise insurance through DCL, they had to get us to the Airport Hyatt and they did. Going home we hear our name paged in the Orlando Airport, no seats so we were rerouted through Miami then Cinn. then Des Moines. All went well, and we even have all of our luggage which went on the route we were suppose to go on. (PS all, if I have a lot of typos and mispelled words--I am tired )

Yes, water at Castaway was cold! Wasn't last year but it was this year. Even the water at St. Maarten was cold for St. Maarten. Has to be the strange weather.

We had no idea any one was left behind. Just make sure you make it back when the all aboard times are listed and no one will be left behind.

This trip has some fantastic memories. The launch of a GPS rocket that I learned about because of our great board, the DIS. We got to see the new HUGE Queen Mary II. Huge ship, but leave it to the mouths of babes, my daughter said it was plain looking compared to the Magic. Apparently they have to tender in because the ports can't handle the draft of the ship. I'll stick with the Magic. We were cruising with Mr. Lynn Swann, the sports announcer and former NFL football player. He had a couple of presentations then he was a regular cruiser just like the rest of us.

The down side: for the DCL people who read this for feedback this is a big one--why did they stop playing the DCL tunes aboard the ship? I noticed last year they stopped playing it by the Mickey pool but it was still in the halls and now, it is no where. Every time I was in a stairwell or hall it was Frank Sinatra style music or the old tonight show style from Doc Seversign. I cruise Disney because I love Disney and to me Disney means family, and it means Disney music- not big band style music. I just can't believe I went an entire cruise and the only time I heard Disney tunes was during the shows. This was DCL cruise no. 6 and I just couldn't believe it when the tunes were missing.

Another down side: maybe it was the time of day but no tunes of any kind for the jogging/walking track. They use to play music and the speakers are still up but no tunes. Why?

The last downer: for a ship that just came out of drydock I saw a lot of repairs needed. Our stateroom had a lot of rust in the ceiling area where it is mesh. Also, in our cat. 3 (8548) the master doors wouldn't latch because the latch was broken. So much for spending money to have some privacy for the parents. In our shower the glass shelf was missing the railing to secure any items you would store on the shelf. In our rocky seas items would fall off. Both of these problems could not be fixed while we were sailing.

Some improvements: Big plusses, coffee and rolls for the immigration wait in the Walt Disney Theater. The ceaser salad area in the adult pool with peel and eat shrimp. Cova Cafe--my husband used their internet service most of the time.

Service: no problems. Wait staff great, we even had the same room steward that we had last year! Never had that happen before.

We did have a great time inspite of the weather. I loved the momment in the terminal when we had an impromptu DIS meet with people waiting in line, can't miss those wearing lime green!

They are still offering the on board discount of rebooking while on your cruise and they were still offering a room credit.

As far as western vs eastern for seas: been on both and the eastern really isn't more rough, it just depends on the weather. I have seen flat water on the eastern! That looked so different and then on this trip we had 20 - 30' waves one night. I just think the Atlantic was angry, or else mother nature needs to fill a few of her pot holes in the ocean!

Happy Cruising to all. Back to reality for us. Kathy and Dave

PS. Dawn, PM me when you get back .

 

[strawberryblonde]

<font color=periwinkle>Our stateroom host was Bhupesh and he was fantastic (oh, excuse me, I meant excellent ) ! Towel animals every night, the kids were very excited. Too excited.....a few animals got "loved" to death before I could get a picture </font>

 

[mobetsy]

We had a great time, despite those seas! It is reassuring to hear that they really were unusual. I'm from CA, and I kept waking up thinking it was an earthquake Made some of us a bit queasy, but nothing horrible, and certainly not what comes to mind when I think about a week of being pampered and relaxing so completely. Cyprian and Erwin were our servers and were fabulous, and Nick our room steward was great as well. The food was great, and Cyprian brought us everything we wanted and then some; after ds#2 asked for strawberries one evening (not on the menu), he got a bowl at every dinner!

A non-DCL trip to Coki Beach on St. Thomas was excellent; I didn't want ever to leave...nor did my 9 y.o. ds, who tried scuba diving for the first time! The Golden Eagle on St. Maarten was a little disappointing, as we had to go to a different beach than the usual one due to weather, and then that one had small but very strong breakers that made playing in the water difficult; however, the water and island were gorgeous and it was still enjoyable.

Dh saw a couple of people get on very late at St. Thomas; he also saw a woman and child watching the ship, and then a man come join them and then all 3 walk away calmly. Didn't look to him like anyone getting left behind.

Dh just added that he found strollers on board to be one of the most annoying things; though not a problem all the time, they definitely were a challenge in some places/situations.

We spent the day at Downtown Disney and got a 4:40 flight to Burbank, via Denver, so it has been a long, long day...and I should be in bed, not posting here! I still feel like I'm rocking with the ship a bit, but I imagine that will clear up by tomorrow, which actually makes me a little sad.

 

[strawberryblonde]

<font color=deeppink>Hi Mobetsy! I still feel like I'm rocking as well which doesn't make any sense to me I didn't feel like this on Friday, off the ship the entire day on CC. Was that because I was near the ocean ? Anyway, rocking today and yesterday for sure. Nothing bad, just my inner ear going crazy on me. </font>

<font color=periwinkle> I wonder about the mother and child then, hmmmm. Perhaps my DH misunderstood the situation. If the family was indeed left, they handled it alot calmer than I would have. I like to think the family was just curious about the ship, not missing it at all. Much better </font>

<font color=seagreen>Our servers were just OK. I found our server friendly but alittle "off his game". Our assistant server barely cracked a smile. Drinks were not refilled right away, and if our kids dropped silverware - if you didn't ask for more it wouldn't be noticed. I might not have thought a thing about that except we were served lunch on Sunday by an amazing serving team. My fork fell off the table (I didn't even notice) but they were right there saying "I heard the tinkle of silverware, what is missing, oh your fork" and I had another. Napkins were placed in our laps, children's pasta cut up into bite sized pieces before I could blink. They had many tables in their care, so it wasn't just that they had extra time. Our Head waiter introduced himself to us on the first night and brought out our anniversary cake. He told us to please tell him if our service was anything but excellent. Sunday night we were one of the first tables seated. Entire sections of diners were long gone before we had even ordered dessert, service was quite slow for us, we waited so long for each course. We were one of the last tables out of there. So on next night, when Head waiter shows up to ask if everything is excellent, how are the servers doing, I tell him that things are good but not as good as they could be and I point out the serving team who served us lunch. Next thing you know, our server is at our table to "say sorry" and tell us he will try harder and he does try, my DH felt we were being waited on by a whipped dog. This made us feel like snobs and I wish we hadn't said anything. Our servers would have been fine for eating out here at home, I just expected more on my Disney cruise and saw it happening around me so I was disapointed </font>

 

[KaitlinsMom]

strawberry - I sent you a PM

 

[strawberryblonde]

<font color=deeppink>Got it! Sent you one back </font>

 

[AboutTheMouse]

Hi all.

We're still moving, here. When my head hit the pillow last night, I had the worst vertigo - like I was going to rock out of bed (same feeling as the Thurs night high seas).

For us, one of us missed St. Maarten and the other (me) missed St. Thomas / Trunk Bay because our kids got sick. It was a 12 hour vomiting virus that was going around the Club and Lab. Out stateroom host really took care of us. He changed the trash can liners when they had "protein spills" in them. Didn't flinch and even advised us NOT to go to the ship's doctor lest we be quarantinned.

Had to love the CM standing outside of Animator's Palate after early dinner handing out barf bags. I knew then that we were in for a really rough night. I'm glad to hear that the sea conditions were very unusual. We didn't get sea sick, but took Bonine on a regular basis. I know that a lot of people were sick with the ship's movement.

Regarding the Club / Lab, my kids absolutely loved it (we had one child in each). They didn't want to come out to sleep, even if it was midnight. The CMs there were very concerned with hand washing. Everyone got a squirt of soap when they entered and were told to go wash. However, I did witness one child doing the "protein spill" in the lab. Not much you can do, but they roped off the area until maintenance could get there with a mop and sanitizer.

A pleasant surprise was the farewell on Friday night in the atrium. All of the characters came out to the atrium and they had 15 minutes of open character signing with everyone. We were able to get all of the characters that we didn't get during the week - photos and autographs. They sang "M-I-C See you real soon ..." etc. to everyone (brought tears to my eyes). At the end of the event, they sprinkled pixie dust over everyone. Very cool way to end the cruise.

There is so much more, if you have questions feel free to ask.

 

[mobetsy]

Heidi, I made the mistake one night of saying when Cyprian inquired that my fish was a little bit dry for my taste and that's why I hadn't eaten much of it (like you, not anything I would've even mentioned at home, and I certainly wasn't going to starve for skipping the rest of it), and I then spent the next 5 minutes trying to convince him that I didn't want another portion, I was perfectly happy, I didn't want a substitute... I'm sorry you had "okay" service and not great.

ATM, too bad the kids were sick; thank goodness your stateroom host was so great about it, and that it didn't last too long. I liked the soap squirt right at the entrance to the Club/Lab; even though you know those hands are in mouths, noses, etc. pretty quickly, at least they start out clean

We got wonderfully autographed pillowcases! On Tuesday we saw the princesses all out signing, ran to the room to get the pillowcases, and got there right after the line closed. The very nice "chaperone" for one of them took them from me and said she'd have them all done for us by the next evening, and that's exactly what happened. We later had Cyprian, Erwin, Nick, and the captain sign them too, so they are a great souvenier.

 

[LindaBabe]

were SO high on Wednesday night. I was on the Wonder, and thought it was a little choppy, especially after we came out from behind grand bahama island.

 

[PiperG]

Originally posted by tecdavidt

Another down side: maybe it was the time of day but no tunes of any kind for the jogging/walking track. They use to play music and the speakers are still up but no tunes. Why?

We were on the Wonder if Feb and I noticed this as well. If I recall, they used to play steel drum band music. We had actually purchased the CDs (Steel Drum Party & Beauty and the Beat) before our cruise, and loved walking along to music we were familiar with.

I was hoping this was only a change on the Wonder, and not the Magic.

 

[tecdavidt]

For all who are still rocking, if it doesn't go away in a couple of days better call your doctor. It really shouldn't last much longer.

Glad to hear that most are making it back home. I am doing laundry and yes, I overpacked once again.

On nice note for us, we left town the grass was brown and now it is green! The weather here was warm, in the low 70's while we were away. Of course now that we are back it is in the 50's, gotta hand it to that Murphy guy, he always comes through.

Our servers were OK. Nothing spectacular but not bad. Heidi's family were there a long time, they sat just across the dividing hall in all of the dining rooms. The food was OK, typical cruise fare. Like the commercial, not having to cook for a week priceless.

I sure hope they go back to playing the Disney music. They took if off the Wonder also, so sad. Our first DCL cruise was the best Disney experience! Even our teens enjoyed it. Everything was Disney on that cruise. It started to lose some of that Disney magic about two cruises back, slowly they are removing the little Disney things in the background. Now it isn't any different than any other line. At least they still had the band playing the island music by the Goofy Pool. I hope they keep that. We also have the Beauty and the Beat CD. They should be playing that on the ship.

In spite of all this we are still going again next year. Hopefully the music in the background will come back. Kathy

 

[62travelDisney]

I've been fine walking around today, but I could swear my bed was floating last night while I was sleeping!

 

[mobetsy]

A couple more thoughts, and I'd like to hear other people's experience too!

We had table #5; in all the restaurants it was near the port side wall/porthole and quite close to two serving stations. At first I was concerned about the serving stations, based on what I'd read here, but we were never bothered in the least by either the noise or the activity, and we enjoyed the views from the portholes. I wish I'd gone into the middle of one of the dining rooms for a meal or two (we ate all our lunches and breakfasts at either Topsiders, room service, or Pluto's), just to see what the atmosphere there was like!

When we got on board, Cara and I were both worried about the "reservation rush" for Palo. We got to the right spot (I've forgotten where!) around 1:00 or so and had absolutely no trouble getting our first choice of time and day for dinner, brunch, and tea; I noticed that our second choices were still available as well. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't stressed as much in advance about this! That applies to a number of things on the cruise; for example, our Golden Eagle reservations were for the afternoon instead of the a.m., despite having been confirmed; we were anxious, but all it took was a quick trip (short line) to the excursion desk the first day and it was straightened out. I need to learn to relax!

 

[dmancuso]

Thanks for the update, sorry about the weather. How do you arrange a bridge tour?

Thanks,

 

[62travelDisney]

Originally posted by mobetsy
A couple more thoughts, and I'd like to hear other people's experience too!

When we got on board, Cara and I were both worried about the "reservation rush" for Palo. We got to the right spot (I've forgotten where!) around 1:00 or so and had absolutely no trouble getting our first choice of time and day for dinner, brunch, and tea; I noticed that our second choices were still available as well. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't stressed as much in advance about this! That applies to a number of things on the cruise; for example, our Golden Eagle reservations were for the afternoon instead of the a.m., despite having been confirmed; we were anxious, but all it took was a quick trip (short line) to the excursion desk the first day and it was straightened out. I need to learn to relax!

I agree. There were very few people in the room last week (Rockin Bar D) when I went around 1. I do know however that lots and lots of people were trying to get into Palo and couldn't so it still pays to be early.