What I know now....

[newms]

Just returned from the 3 day Wonder cruise 12/4. Hubby was much impressed with my knowledge he says I got from my "cult"(that's you, people). Here is my evaluation of the best tips and the ones that helped me less.
#1- The over the door shoe holder ($1.00). Great for the bathroom holding all the toothbrushes, medicine, etc.
#2- Bonine. Our first night was very rocky- people throwing up all over the theater. Though I was queasy, I did not and hubby did, though he tried the sea calm from the ship. Great stuff.
#3- Surial bath. We loved it and for $68.00 was a memory we both will enjoy.
#4- Deck 3 chairs. No one was ever here and we loved playing shuffleboard.
#5- Bubbles for sailing. Everyone around us thought we were so brilliant.
#6- On board credit for first time cruisers. $50 covered most of that surial bath.
#7- Ordered room service the night before we left and packed the Pbj's, cookies and chips for the next days lunch.
Okay- and now, what didn't work for us (though everyone has their own preferences)
#1-Ordering coffee the night before. It did not stay warm in the carafe.
#2- Didn't need the clock or night light. The closet light stays on if you crack the door, or the bathroom light with the door closed was sufficient (we had an inside cabin- no portholes).
#3- Phone cards for Oceaneer lab. My kids didn't go often and when they did, I wasn't really impressed. One counselor was rude to my daughter when she tried to attend ghost stories with the l0-12 year olds (she turns 10 next month). My daughter signed in on deck 3, was told she could stay if she found them on deck 9, but when she got there, Debbie told her only 10-12 year olds could attend. After a disappointing day of no Castaway Cay, and no swimming because of rain, this was really hard.
#8 Taking a soft sided cooler with water. We had to dump it before we boarded and we were reminded of the no cooler rule.
And now a tip of my own:
Book an excursion in Nassau. We did the Catamaran snorkel tour . If we hadn't, we wouldn't have experience anything about the Bahamas. With Castaway Cay cancelled, and the pools out of commission because of rain and wind, we were essentially on a floating mall with a queasy feeling. I really wanted that island but even Disney can't control the weather. Be forewarned though- plan something in port. I heard lots of complaining from people who did not.

 

[newms]

Oh, and one more thing! The pin trading for my kids was fantastic. We purchased pins from cheappins and they really enjoyed going to crew members (great practice for manners) and asking for trades. We learned about it here!

 

[Little Twin Stars]

Thanks newms for your tips.

I am just wondering: how come soft sided cooler is not allowed!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by Little Twin Stars
Thanks newms for your tips.

I am just wondering: how come soft sided cooler is not allowed!

Good question -- I planned on a Grocery stop for a six- or 12-pack of water. Do you mean I can't carry it in in a soft-side cooler?

 

[newms]

I don't know- it is printed in our travel documents, but I'd read here that lots of people do it. The cooler was soft sided, had 5 bottles of water and some ice. It was no larger than 12 " tall.
Even after we arrived, I put the empty bag in the bath tub and the housekeeping crew member asked if I needed ice. When I told her we had to dump it, she said they've really frowned on people bringing bottled water aboard. They really recommended the bottled water in the restaurants too- (for a price).

 

[jrabbit]

I think that you have to bury the cooler and beverages inside your checked baggage or carryons so they are not obvious.

 

[RebeccaLovesDisney]

We are planning to bring a soft sided cooler just to carry drinks/snacks for port days. Not planning to use it to bring anything onto the ship at embarkation. Will this be allowed?

 

[TootyJane]

Originally posted by Little Twin Stars
Thanks newms for your tips.

I am just wondering: how come soft sided cooler is not allowed!

Soft-sided coolers are allowed but must be empty (no ice so it doesn't leak) when bringing it aboard. We carried ours on with a 6-pack of soda in it -- no ice -- and no one said anything. HTH

 

[swandiverpatt]

We were on this cruise, too!

We didn't witness anyone getting sick, but both my daughter and I exited our first night's dinner -- she, before anything arrived .. me, after a few bites of melon and smelling the garlic in my DH's escargot!

We took aboard a 12-pack of Diet Coke and 4 bottles of water in the smallest roller suitcase we had, as our carry-on. I packed a small soft-sided cooler (6-pack) for Castaway Cay, but never used it, obviously.

 

[cjsmith]

Just so everyone knows, when I say that we order coffee the night before the next morning, it's that we place the breakfast order card outside on our door knob (just like at any hotel) the night prior with our order and it's delivered the next morning at the time we specified. I'm sure that this is what most people mean when they say to order the coffee the night before!

 

[lbgraves]

That is strange because they allowed us to wheel our soft sided cooler right on board for the 11/15 Eastern with Corona, Coke, and juice boxes in it. I wonder if they just started this?

 

[swandiverpatt]

Maybe the issue is the ice??

 

[Judgekw]

Where did you get your cheap pin? My kids are absolute fanatics about the pin trading. Kristin Wade

 

[ColeenD]

We took our soft sided cooler on the 9/20 Eastern with water, wine and soft drinks. No one said a word, and it went on as checked baggage. Didn't have any ice, tho.

 

[WIcruizer]

Ice is the key word here. Also, there's always the chance that someone will not allow coolers as carry- ons. Could be someone who was taught to enforce rules strictly, someone new, or maybe having a bad day. I suggest always checking them with your luggage curbside with an extra $5.00 tip to make sure your liquor, beer,soda,etc. make it to your cabin. Never has been an issue with DCL or any other cruise line.

 

[ChattyKathy]

Thanks for the suggestions , I made myself a mental note about these things....

 

[nickglover]

What I learned from fellow "cult members" (we are a very positive happy cult) was a good tip on the drinking water.

We just brought on a few small drinking bottles in our carryon luggage and then used the chill box in the room.

When they were empty, we re-filled them from the Deck 9 drink station where the water is well-filtered and could not be distinguished in taste from the bottled water (as opposed to tap water in the room).

 

[AnnMorin]

Since ice is not sealed it could be a contaminant source. The ships are trying to keep things as sanitary as possible. When I worked at a restaurant we often had to dump the ice machine and sterilize it because someone who did not know correct practices may have introduced contaminents.. (ie reaching in with a hand to grab ice..etc) My guess is that is why it was asked to be dumped. (although I could be wrong)

 

[newms]

Probably was the ice-not a lot, but you could hear it. I love nickglover's tip- next time that will be the procedure. We did order coffee the following nights with the doorknob thing and it worked great, but I'm sure some of the tips here talked about how the carafe keeps it hot overnight (and it didn't).
The site cheappins.com had pins from $1-2 each, and they were great disney pins! I also purchased from e-bay but with shipping it put those pins at about the same amount I saw in the stores ($6.50 lowest price).
Since the kids traded them anyway, I preferred to spend $1.00. The crew was awesome-one cast member even gave my son and daughter a free pin when they walked by and told her they liked her pins.