Western Caribbean Aug 22 - 29, 2009 - Our First Disney Cruise

[WishingMom]

Excellent TR so far, looking forward to reading more!

 

[Sonnyeclipse]

This was our day at sea and we were looking forward to attending some sessions and enjoying the boat.

As the day began, I woke up fairly early and headed up to the health club for a run on the treadmill. It was a great experience running and looking out at the front of the ship and the sea ahead of us. It was a good thing I arrived early as by about 7AM, all of the treadmills were full and people were milling around waiting for them.

I finished up after about 40 minutes and headed back to the room to shower. DW was up but the kids were still asleep. I grabbed a shower and by the time I was done, everyone was awake. DW had ordered coffee from room service (which became a daily occurrence) and I hung out on the verandah having a coffee while the kids got ready. I was really getting a kick out of watching the flying fish but was really hoping to spot some dolphins.

We decided to hit Lumiere’s for breakfast this morning. We had skipped Lumiere’s during the rotation as it was our Palo night. The restaurant was very nice and you could see the theming was definitely upscale. We were seated at a table and started looking through the menus. To our surprise, a gentleman and his son were seated with us a short time later. The restaurant was only about ½ full so it surprised me that they would do that but I rolled with it. It turned out that this was the start of what would be a rough day.

Our boys had an audience and proceeded to start showing off, and then that turned into fighting. I was very embarrassed and was trying to discipline in a quiet way as I could tell our table mate was getting uncomfortable. At one point, DW took one of them away to give him the business. She brought him back and we basically rushed through a very good breakfast just to get them out of there.

Needless to say, I was not in a good mood at this point so we dropped the boys at the club and headed to the shops to do some shopping. DD did not want to go and I wondered if her visits to Ocean Quest were at an end. We picked up a few souvenirs and then explored the ship a bit more before picking up the boys for some swimming up on deck.

We changed and headed up on deck for some swimming. DW, DD and I grabbed some chairs on Deck 10 for sunbathing while the boys hit the Mickey pool and waterslide. Well, it wasn’t 10 minutes and the boys arrived on Deck 10, saying someone “yelled” at them on the slide and they didn’t want to go back. I can’t recall what the issue was but I offered to go straighten it out but they wanted no part of the slide anymore. After about another 5 minutes, the “I’m bored” started and I lost it. I packed everything up and we headed back to the room.

I was so frustrated that the boys were acting up and told them that when we got back to the room. I went for a walk by myself to try and cool off as I was just angry that this vacation was turning out this way. Well, I was up on Deck 10, and wouldn’t you know it, a gust of wind came and took my Ron Jon’s hat into the ocean. Could anything else go wrong???

I headed back to the cabin and everyone had long faces. Why was this happening???? This was a Disney cruise that we spent so long getting excited about and we were all miserable. I went out on the verandah to stew a bit more and then something happened that changed everything. As I looked down into the ocean, a school of dolphins appeared and started jumping out of the water. I called everyone out and we were all thrilled. I started snapping photos and all of our moods changed immediately. I decided then and there that I was going to do what I could to get this vacation back on track.

The boys wanted to go back to the kids club for lunch and then cooking with Ratatouille. We dropped them off and DW, DD and I headed up to deck 9 for some lunch at Pluto’s. We grabbed some lunch and headed through Topsiders for a quiet lunch out on deck. At one point, DW and DD got up to go get a soda refill. I kept eating while I waited for them to return.

Ten minutes went by and I was finished my lunch and wondering where they were. After twenty minutes, I started to get worried as there was still no sign of them and their food was now cold. I made a decision to go look for them and scoured deck 9 but could not find them. I was starting to freak out a little bit and decided to head back to the cabin to see if they were there.

No one was there so I decided to wait and see if anyone came. After about 5 minutes, DD arrived to say they got “lost” and couldn’t find where we had been sitting. For the life of me, I could not figure out how they could get “lost” on deck 9 for twenty minutes when the soda refill station was about a one minute walk away from where I was sitting. This day just did not want to improve!!!! I had planned to go to the DVC presentation and told DD to go tell DW that I was going and would meet them back at the cabin when I was done.

I went to the DVC presentation and was very intrigued. I had been thinking about DVC for a number of years but just could not justify it in my mind. The presentation answered a lot of questions I had and they were really getting me interested in BLT. They were offering a free 4 day cruise with any new purchase and I was really interested at this point.

I went back to the cabin and told DW about it and we decided we would attend the next session together. I decided to be a good Dad and take DD to see the Hannah Montana movie in the Buena Vista Theater while DW went to Bingo. The movie was better than I expected and DD really enjoyed it. After the movie, we picked up the boys and headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. It was formal night at Animator’s Palate.

We arrived for dinner and our server commented how disappointed he was that no one showed up for dinner last night. We had told him we would be at Palo but apparently our table mates did not come either and he seemed genuinely hurt about it. Our table mates arrived and we were starting to see we didn’t have much in common with them. Our kids were bonding and we weren’t sure that was a good thing as their son was definitely NOT a good influence for our two, who had finally started behaving.

I ordered the salmon from the lighter menu and the serve appeared hurt again that I didn’t want any of the feature entrees. DW had a pasta dish and neither one of us were really thrilled with our meal there. Given the day we had, I wasn’t surprised. We finished our meal and stayed long enough to see the show there before heading back to the cabin, The boys changed and headed for the kids club while DW, DD and I went to the Golden Mickey’s show.

The show was OK and DD really enjoyed it. After it was over, DD surprised us by going to Ocean Quest. DW and I headed to Rockin Bar D for a few drinks and watched the Leonard Bros again. After about an hour we picked up the boys from the club and headed back to the cabin to find DD there. She didn’t stay long at the club. Now, I was sure she wasn’t going back. We chilled out and all fell asleep with the TV on.

Next up…..Snorkeling with the stingrays in Grand Cayman

 

[verygfy]

subscribing, love the trip report, hope Grand Cayman was better to you

 

[Sonnyeclipse]

We began our day with the pledge that we were going to have a good day. We ordered room service breakfast and ate out on the verandah as we pulled into Grand Cayman. There were several Carnival ships already there and we had a fairly early excursion so we headed down to the Promenade Lounge to meet for our excursion with flippers, mask and snorkels in hand.

Today we were doing the Grand Cayman Island tour and Stingray City snorkel. The island tour included a stop at a turtle farm as well as a place called Hell. As I went up and checked us in for our excursion, I was very impressed by how organized it was. Again, another great Disney touch. It wasn’t long and we were headed for our tender.

Grand Cayman was the only port that was going to require a tender and I was prepared for the worst. I had been on a cruise many years ago and the tender process was horrible. Small boats and long lines were embedded in my memory and I was pleasantly surprised when we boarded a large boat to head for the shore.

I did have a bad moment on the boat when a woman almost pushed my boy out of the way to get a seat. I gave her a look and decided I wasn’t going to say anything as I wanted this to be a good day. We arrived at the dock, were ushered off of the tender into groups and then eventually split up and taken to a small bus to get started on our Island tour.

Our guide was very nice and knowledgeable. He was only filling in for a friend and I thought he was fantastic. He gave us a lot of history on the island and various structures that we passed. After a short amount of time, he stopped at a beach where we could get out and take pictures and have a short walk. The kids loved the fact that Iguanas seemed to be running around everywhere. We snapped a few photos, stuck our feet in the ocean and headed for the turtle farm.

Our driver took us inside to meet the guide that would be taking us through the farm, telling us that we had one hour and giving us a specific time that he would be out front to meet us.

Our guide took us through the various tanks starting with the big turtles and ending up with the smaller turtles that we could hold and take pictures with. He was very informative and answered all of our questions well as he took us through the various tanks with the different types of turtles. I would say the whole thing maybe took 30 minutes which was just enough time and then we had about 30 minutes to wander around.

We hit the gift shop, bought a few trinkets and made a restroom stop before sitting out front to wait for our driver. It was a very warm day so we had to find some shade to wait in. Eventually our driver pulled up and we had to go and wrangle everyone to get on the bus (you know, some people just don’t know how to be on time). We were then on our way to Hell…

I didn’t know what to expect here. I had seen some pictures but wasn’t real sure what this place was going to be about. Well, it was basically a very tacky gift shop and some rocks. What a disappointment. We took a few photos, bought a soda and a magnet and were back on the bus in less than 10 minutes. This place was very unimpressive and everyone on the bus agreed. It wasn’t long before we were on our way to the highlight of the trip, snorkeling with the stingrays.

It was about a 20 minute drive and we were dropped off and introduced to our crew. They were basically three young guys that were going to take us out to Stingray City. It took about 45 minutes to get out there and we arrived and joined the circle of boats. We donned our gear and hit the water for our experience with the stingrays.

Everyone was very tentative except me and one of my DS. DW didn’t even get in the water and the one DS was only in the water a short time. It was a very neat experience and we snorkeled around looking at all of the stingrays. At one point, the crew called us over for pictures. I had an underwater camera with me and before I knew it, one crew member took it out of my hand as they proceeded to get a stingray and take pictures of me, DD and the one DS with it. I was annoyed by that as they didn’t give us the opportunity to take our own pictures because, of course, they wanted us to but their pictures.

After that DD got back in the boat, and the one DS and I snorkeled around for a bit more taking underwater pictures. Eventually, we got back on the boat, and headed back to shore. I noticed DW had made friends with a family from NY. They were on the cruise with their daughter who was part of the “Make a Wish” foundation. What a sweet and funny kid she was. I felt so bad for her to know what she had gone through and was going to go through. I felt very fortunate to have met her.

We arrived back to an empty dock. Our van was not there and the guys on the boat started making calls. We grabbed some snacks from a wagon there as we were starving (note, bring snacks on this excursion if you ever decide to do it). We waited, and waited, and waited, and then I started to get worried. Rain clouds started coming in and it started lightly raining. Finally, our bus arrived. Phew…

I was disappointed when we got in that it was not the same driver that had brought us there. I was looking forward to driving back with him and was going to tip him nicely for his effort. This driver was much different and we basically drove back to the dock are in silence.

As we approached the tender area, there was a HUGE mob of people. Oh no, I had flashbacks of my last cruise where it was a LONG time getting back to the ship. As I got closer, I realized that the mob was for the Carnival ships. I looked to the right and the Disney area was practically empty. As I walked through security, I looked over at the mob of people and got some very jealous looks from people who had obviously been there a while. As I immediately boarded the tender, I again was happy I went with Disney Cruise line.

We changed back in our cabin and DW and I went to the DVC presentation after dropping the DS off at the kids club. DD stayed in the cabin to rest. The presentation was basically the same one that I had sat through and now I had DW intrigued. We made an appt for 9:30 that evening to meet with a consultant.

We picked up the boys and headed back to the room to get changed. Dinner was in Animator’s Palate again tonight.

We met up with our table mates and they had a good day swimming with dolphins and enjoyed Grand Cayman as much as we did. The boys started acting up again and we didn’t stay too long after the show.

The boys went back to the kids club and DD actually wanted to go to Ocean Quest to do a craft (wow!). We went and met with the DVC consultant, asked a lot of questions and told her we would talk that night and get back with her at 10AM the next day. We had missed the show so headed back to our hangout at Rockin Bar D.

We saw John Charles and he was great. People would shot out songs and he would break into them. He didn’t get stumped once. It was hilarious. After a few drinks and a few laughs, we picked up the boys and headed back to the cabin. DD was there and said she had a “OK” time at Ocean Quest and would go back tomorrow to finish her craft.

Another day down and a good one at that.

Next up

Day 5 – Catamarans in Cozumel

 

[The Bad Witch]

Loving the trip report! Looking forward to the next installment!

 

[DMMarla07860]

great report so far

 

[Sonnyeclipse]

Today started with a breakfast buffet at Topsiders. My daughter was excited as she saw Olympic medal winner Shawn Johnson at breakfast and was really thrilled that she was on our cruise. While eating breakfast, we decided we would get off the ship and do some shopping in the morning. Our excursion was the Fury Catamaran excursion and wasn’t leaving until 12:30 so we had plenty of time.

We left the ship and there was a shopping area right at the dock. It was not busy at all so we browsed in quite a few of the shops. The sales people were very aggressive to get us in the shops and then try to sell us merchandise once we were in there. It started to become very annoying after a while. At one point, my wife was talking to a lady about bracelets and she wouldn’t come down on her price so my wife went and bought them from another vendor. The look this lady gave her was like daggers coming out of her eyes. We bought some T-shirts and a few souvenirs and decided to head back to the ship.

We headed up to Pinnochio’s for some pizza for lunch and then went and changed to prepare for our excursion. This was a combination snorkel and beach excursion and we were pretty excited about it. We headed down to the Promenade lounge to meet. Again, I was very impressed by how organized they were and before we knew it, we were off the ship.

The catamaran was docked fairly close to the ship and we boarded with about maybe 50 other people and headed down the coast. After maybe 15-20 minutes, they stopped in the water and the supervisor went over how our excursion would go, and was very thorough with all of the information about the stops we would make and what would be provided.
We started going again and after maybe 10 more minutes we stopped at our snorkling area. One our way, I met someone from the boards who recognized me because of my twin boys and we had a good chat.


When we stopped, it seemed a little disorganized getting everyone into the water, but we eventually made it in. I took my one more daring DS and DW took the other DS and DD. They stayed pretty close to the boat while we ventured off a little. The crew put some food in the water and the fish were everywhere. They did a pretty nice job but I have two complaints. The area we were in was very small and crowded and I found myself constantly trying to avoid people. Also, the lady in the water taking pictures was very aggressive and annoying. She yelled at me at one point to pose and I had not idea what she was saying. Other than those items, it was enjoyable and I think we were there maybe 20-30 minutes before moving on.

After we started moving again, they opened up the bar and started serving drinks. There were margaritas and Dos Equis draft as well as non-alcoholic options. It was a long ride to the beach and the crew was really pushing the drinks and doing a good job noticing when you were done and bringing you another one. I was feeling pretty good by the time we got to the beach.

As we pulled up, there were two other catamarans there. It was a private beach which was owned by the Fury Catamaran. We noticed one of the catamarans contained some crew from our cruise.

The beach was a good size and there was a large inflatable slide out in the water. They had various floats and water toys you could use as well. I took the boys out to the slide on a float and they did that a couple times. It was fairly large so was somewhat of a challenge for them to get up but they managed. We headed back to shore and I relaxed with DW while the kids splashed in the water and started collecting shells.

Eventually, we headed back onto the catamaran and made our fairly long ride back to the port. The drinks continued to flow and I noticed one husband and wife that were extremely intoxicated. They had a boy with them that was maybe 10 or 11 and I felt bad for him as they were making total fools of themselves. We did end up buying some pictures as they were just too nice to pass up. We gave the staff a nice tip as they really did a fantastic job on this excursion. I know I had a few minor issues with the snorkling but I would still highly recommend this excursion.

As we boarded, I met up with my new friend from the boards. We started talking DVC and they gave us a lot of good advice. The one thing they advised us on is to buy resale so we cancelled our appt for the next day so we could think about it some more and look at options.

We headed back to the cabin to get dressed for Pirate night. We heard we were going to be delayed leaving Cozumel by an hour and didn’t really think much about it. The two boys were really excited about pirate night but DD, not so much. We headed to Parrot Cay for dinner.

The dinner was chaos. The boys were sword fighting, and our table mates kids were being brats. I was trying to be patient but my patience was really wearing thin. I was also looking forward to the menu for Pirate night and ordered the ribs. They were awful. They were full of fat and just very disappointing in quality, so much so that I expressed my disappointment to the server.

The first guy was our server Alvin and behind him is Bulani. Great guys.

After dinner, we made a beeline for Deck 10 to get a spot for the show. I noticed that we still hadn’t left Cozumel yet and wondered what was going on. There was still about 1 ½ hours until showtime but people were already jockeying for positions. One lady came up and held about 20 chairs for her family. After a very long wait, the show finally started and wouldn’t you know it, one of DS fell asleep almost immediately.

There was a lot of singing and dancing and it seemed like forever until the characters finally came out. A crowd had gathered around us and then they made the announcement that since we were still in port, the fireworks would be postponed. One of my DS had to go to the bathroom so I took him.

As I returned, I was surprised to run into DW and family on deck. I asked why they had left and apparently after I had moved, a lady moved in and when my DD leaned over to talk to DW, they pushed her out of her spot. DW became very upset and ended up leaving. I started to go back to address the situation but DW stopped me as she didn’t want me to lose it and cause a scene. It had been a long day and night anyway and the show was dragging on way too long.

So, what did I think of Pirate night? I know a lot of people won’t agree with me, but I did NOT like it at all and the thing is, all of my kids agreed. The food was bad at dinner and the show went on WAY too long. There was too much singing and dancing by crew members before the characters came out and it was your typical parade/fireworks crowd where people think they can show up late and bully their way into a good spot with no regard to people around them. I hate to say it but we will probably not participate in Pirate night again.

We headed back to the cabin and DW and DS wanted room service as it was late and dinner seemed like a long time ago. They ordered and then fell asleep about 10 minutes later. The boat was moving again by this time, and I was a little relieved as I was worried it might be a major issue. DD and I had some pizza and then fell asleep watching TV. It had been a long day but tomorrow was a sea day so we could sleep in a bit.

Next up…and relaxing day at sea

 

[Señor DonDuck]

So sorry to hear about your unpleasant pirate night experience. Great pirate pose pics, though.

 

[JKSWonder]

We had a sort of unfortunate, similiar Pirate Night experience.

My DS, who was 3, had fallen asleep in my arms. It was our first cruise and we all, including DD who was 8, really wanted to see the show. We went up in advance of the party and found two chairs together, against a inside railing, up a bit on a small platform from the main party area. We were fine, would have been able to see great, except right as the show started, three adults (no kids in sight) came and stood right in front of me and DD. Neither one of us could see a thing. I would have stood up too, but I was very obviously holding a sleeping toddler. The people standing in front of us seemed completely oblivious. They didn't move an inch during the entire thing, so we only saw what we could see between the spaces.

I think this time, we will skip the party. DS can't stay up that late, we are too full from dinner for the dessert buffet anyway, and I've seen better fireworks on my own street on the 4th of July.

 

[dancingdisneygirl]

I was on this cruise also!!! It was our first Disney cruise and I'm having withdrawals I have to wait till next year to go on the Dream....it's going to be a long year lol Reading your trip report is bringing it all back YAY

 

[Sonnyeclipse]

I was on this cruise also!!! It was our first Disney cruise and I'm having withdrawals I have to wait till next year to go on the Dream....it's going to be a long year lol Reading your trip report is bringing it all back YAY

That's funny that you were on the same cruise and looking at your ticker, we're going around the same time next year on the Dream. Missed it by a few months.

 

[Dyerneeds]

i've been reading/lurking and just thought i'd pop in and say i'm loving your report.