what will you do differently on your next cruise

[jlawall]

Well, I just completed my sixth DCL cruise and I'm really proud b/c I don't have too many regrets.............but what will I do differently??

We're booked for Mexico 2008, I plan to try to book my own excursions thru private tours or do different tours than we did last time.....

Other than that......

Continue to enjoy the dining rooms each night (the waiter & food service gets better every cruise!)
Continue to go to Palo for brunch, tea and dinner
Continue to go to the Vista Spa at least once
Continue to go to Bingo only once or twice so I don't get burned out
Continue to see a movie or two
Continue to go to Pirate Night
Continue to go to Rockin' Bar D (b/c we ALWAYS HAVE SO MUCH FUN THERE!)

 

[julielouhoo]

I think I would do the late seating for dinner. It was just too rushed to get back on board and get all of us ready for dinner at 5:45pm.

I think that's it! The rest of it was pretty perfect!
Terri

 

[Married_A_Disney_Nut]

- go to Rockin' Bar D every night to see the evening's act
- order all 5 deserts on the menu and graze around the plates
- get up earlier each day in order to enjoy every minute on the ship
- go to bed later each day...
- hang out by the adult pool

 

[Laurabearz]

We started with a 3 day, so we are upping the anti by doing a 7 day next.

I tried to cram way too much stuff into the 3 day... soooooooooo

I have very little planned. Maybe One or Two acitivties a day, and plan to 'wing' the rest.

 

[Barbossa]

Make more Palo reservations.

Explore the ship more, hang out topdeck while at sea and take in the open ocean.

Experience more departures and arrivals while outside.

Fewer excursions.

Explore more of Castaway Cay.

 

[branv]

Ummm...if I said Nap LESS would I sound weird? We practically slept some of our afternoons away on our first cruise, which was great on one hand...it's vacation after all! But on the other hand, we missed way too much.

Swim more...only swam in the pool once.

Do more excursions - we toured on our own at Nassau and just chilled on the beach at CC. I'd like to try snorkeling and the stingrays this time.

Skip sit down dinners...again took up too much time and we weren't that into the food. Which also means for next time - pack less and more casually!

Try room service and regular lunch on board (also something we missed due to touring and brunch at Palo).

Get more coffee at Cove instead of choking down Nescafe swill.

Play bingo (though I'm not sure why, I am sort of the antithesis of good luck. So whatever you do, don't rub my head!)

Next time I will remind myself that no matter how it looks, it is just a crowd not a riot, and I will brave deck 9 to try some of the dessert buffet during Pirate Night.

Go to the clubs. We missed it last time b/c I assumed it was just for dancing, which I don't do. Now I know better.

Do the martini tasting

Not rush to get to the port. Last time we arrived around 10:45 and we still received #12. We ended up just sitting and waiting while I dodged a football the family next to us decided to toss around. On our next trip we will take our time getting up, eat a leisurely breakfast at Kona, then make our way to the port. By the time we arrive we should be able to embark without waiting very long.

NOT schedule my palo dinner the night before our palo brunch. Oh the agony and the ecstasy!

Bring a clock for the bedside. It was incredibly disorienting to not know what time it was. I usually wake up a few times a night and without a window (we had the 2 closeable port holes on deck 1) I couldn't tell if I should go back to sleep or if it was time to get up!

 

[PizzieDuster]

1. Pack less. In all 5 cruises, I've over packed.

2. Spend more time in Cafe Cove. Use the computers there, hang out more.

3. Be more organized with my beach bags, ran out of sun screen.

4. Spend more time on deck - any deck.

5. More soft serve ice cream.

6. Mickey Bar. Never had one.

7. More pictures. Sometimes it was just too hard to get out the camera, this next time I WILL!

OFF TOPIC: Lessens learned:

1. Board early go straight to Mickey Pool for swimming. Can bring food out by the pool, even from the buffet. It's empty and CLEAN!

2. Grab our favorite spot on Deck 10 for the Sail A Way as soon as the life boat drill ends.

3. Packing snacks for excursions, bringing zip lop bags.

 

[Footnotegirl]

Going on our third this coming April. Things we learned on our second and are taking in to our third:

- Do more active excursions. Kayaking was fun!
- Don't eat dinner on the buffet night, or at least remember there's a buffet and keep it down.
- Rasul Mud Spa.
- Heck, make sure to hit the rainforest room every single day.
- It isn't really a vacation until you have a plastic coconut in your hand.
- sunscreen sunscreen sunscreen
- Conditioner, conditioner, conditioner.

 

[eva]

I agree with a number of you about staying up later and sleeping in more. We will be back on the Magic in 19 days and we also decided to do more active excursions. We will probably see only 3 or 4 shows during the 7 nights. I've decided I don't need to see Golden Mickey's again. I want to catch more of the adult seminars and events. And we will probably skip the CC get together.

 

[mom+3girls]

I am going to go to Palo, alone but I am going.

I will not run around like a crazy person trying to do everything.

Book on board for the next cruise.

Go to the adult clubs.

I will not over pack my carry on bag.

 

[pgfour]

Our third cruise is in November; I'd like to:

-- visit the Rainforest room

-- go to martini and/or wine tasting

-- work out in the fitness area more (so I can eat more!! )

-- dine in Palo (which we've already booked)

-- encourage DD to spend an evening or two in Oceaneer Club so we can have some adult time.

A couple things we did last time, that we'll do again:

-- eat a dinner in Topsiders

-- hang out on deck 10 and watch a movie at night

-- order room service for snacks and virgin tropical drinks

-- watch a sporting event in Diversions (if it happens to be on Pirate Night, you'll have the place to yourselves)

 

[RCBA]

Palo
Rainforest Room
Eastern itinerary
Do an excursion sans kiddos
Get to the pirate buffet before it is gone

 

[oklamomof4boys]

We've only cruised once and it was a 4 night. We tried to get too much in ( at the time we thought it would be our only cruise) and we were too tired. Our next cruise is 7 nights, so we have a little more time. Next time we will

-order room service
-eat much less for breakfast ( the food was decent at breakfast, but, except for the pineapple, chocolate croissant and omelettes- nothing outstanding)
-eat lunch/breakfast at a sit down restaurant
-just relax more. Lounge around on deck 4
-go to more of the family games. We had the best time at those
-try Palo for dinner
-take more pictures with characters. My boys weren't interested at all with characters so we never waited in line for a picture. The only pictures we have with characters is at the terminal with Donald Duck and Hades at the Til We Meet Again. Next time, I at least want a picture with Mickey.

 

[dobelover]

I plan on skipping Golden Mickeys and the 'A Twisted Time or Tale' and seeing what goes on in Rockin' Bar D.

 

[101DalmFan]

What I did do that I want to do again:

Dinner at Palo
Brunch at Palo
Bingo
Decadent coffees at the Cove
Relax on the loungers on Deck 4
Explore the ship
Eat my fill of ice cream
Have a burger for lunch by the pool
Take LOTS of pictures
Get my picture taken with characters
Go to the pin-trading session(s) in the lobby

What I did do that I'm glad I did, but could now miss:

Spa treatment
Use the Internet service to constantly email friends and family back home

What I didn't do that I'd like to do:

Get on board as early as possible on Day 1
Linger as long as possible on the day we disembark
Order more than one dessert at least once
Have Tea at Palo
See a movie
Get up earlier to be up on Deck 10 just as morning breaks
Get upgraded!

 

[dmi188]

1. 7 day instead of 4
2. Dinner at Palo, not just Brunch. (do both!)
3. Breakfast and lunch at the main restaurants at least once.
4. Stay up for Pirate or Dessert buffet.
5. Take a nap, so I can stay up late!
6. Try the buffet at dinner.

 

[lillygator]

I plan to see one of the shows...in three cruises we've never made it!

 

[princesdi]

Thanks for all of your thoughts---they have stirred up some things I think I will make sure I get to next time as well. Make sure the kids make it to the kids clubs, see a movie, sit on deck 4, more room service etc. etc.

Keep it coming!!

 

[smahoney6]

This time we're doing 4 day so I'm gonna stay on the boat as much as possible..we also got a cat 3 connecting with a cat 4 so we're gonna try to use concierge as much as possible!!

Gonna try to stay up later.....try to do more adult things at night instead of going to bed with the kids (don't worry- my mom goes with me- she'll watch them)

Gonna sit on the veranda more and watch the blue, blue water..

Gonna go to WDW water parks the day before the cruise

Gonna try the late sitting instead of the early

Can't wait!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

We really had a fantastic time on our cruise, and I enjoyed our verandah and room service.

We had brunch twice at Palos, and canceled our dinner there because we enjoyed dinner in the normal restaurants and enjoyed our servers. It wasn't important to us to have a more formal dinner at Palos. So, I maybe would have dinner, maybe not.

* Spend time in the adult clubs with the other adults having fun. I saw pics of our fellow DISers partying it up, and wish I had been there.
* Dance on Deck 9 at the outdoor parties instead of watching from Deck 10.
* Go to the Sailaway Party
* Do the family games
* Get out of the room more
* One game of Bingo instead of two
* Plan more private excursions with fellow DISers rather than the official DCL tours - we enjoyed those much more
* Not get the Bon Voyage sweets that were in the room when we arrived. They weren't needed, and were an additional cost.
* Get less internet

Can't think of much more. We really enjoyed everything we did on the cruise.