disneysailor
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2004
- Messages
- 309
HRH, Captain Mickey and Disney Quest, OH MY!
Emmasgrammy, I hope you don't regret asking for this report as the one I just posted for our HRH/US report ended up really long! I've repeated some of the report here, but the details of our Universal stay are on the Universal trip report page. We've just returned from a magnificent trip to the HRH, IOA/US, Disney Wonder Cruise and a day at Downtown Disney including Disney Quest and are still unpacking our bags.
And we're off -Our group consisted of myself-38, DH-38, DS-13 and DD-10. We held high expectations as this was our 2nd Disney cruise and we always have a blast in Florida. I'll include prices here, not because I'm proud of how much we probably overpaid for everything, but because it seems that a lot of questions are asked about this.
We booked our trip back at the beginning of Sept. The HRH and Universal portion was supposed to be a surprise for the kids but we could only keep it until Christmas and even that took a lot of effort. We left from Hartford, CT on April 16 at 7:25 a.m. on United ($284.50 pp) then had a connecting flight through Chicago (ugh!, nothing else was available when we booked) and arrived in Orlando at 2:23 p.m. I had read on this board about getting a National Emerald Card for free if you apply for it in conjunction with a Disney vacation. This worked out great for us. We were able to go right out and pick up the car without waiting in the rental line. I was able to secure an intermediate car for $185. for a rental from 4/16-4/22, we also had an entertainment coupon for the two car class upgrade. Be cautious though, luckily I thought to check the rate as we drove out and they had it listed at $200.+. I showed them my reservation that I printed out and brought along and had it fixed before we left. For us, the price was right considering the transfers we would have had to get to HRH, DCL, DD, and back to the airport. The tolls were about $2 to the HRH. We had a ton of fun at US/IOA and the HRH.
Check in + ressies - After a great time at the parks, we prepared to leave for Port Canaveral and our Disney Cruise. The ride there took about an hour. The tolls were about $3 each way. We arrived to the terminal about 11:15 after a stop at Publix for soda. We parked our car right at the terminal for $40. Check in went smoothly. We had wanted a cat. 6 stateroom but none were available when we booked so we ended up with a cat. 5 room #7598 ($3213 with DU). We ran into our tablemates (scottohiocpa and family) that we had met on these boards right away. It was fun to meet them in person. We both had dd's about the same age who happened to be wearing the same shorts. They hit it off right away and I know my dd really enjoyed their dd's company throughout the trip. The line was long but we started boarding around 12:00 and the line moved quickly. PC was full already and we were directed to beach blanket for a great buffet. After lunch we headed to Palo for brunch reservations. We had to wait a bit, but got our ressies. Next we made ressies for the bridge tour for dh and myself and I signed up for the wine tasting. Our final order of business was to sign the kids up for their clubs. We took my dd and got her all set then brought my son. Turns out you don't really sign the teens up, they just go.
Stateroom - Loved the location of our room as it was close to the laundry room which meant it was close to the irons! It was also convenient to the lab and not far from the restaurants, shows etc. If you can get a cat. 6 instead of a 5, do it, being on the higher floor IMO is not worth extra $$, as I said, we only did it because cat. 6 were sold out and DH HAD to have a verandah. We didn't spend much time on the verandah because a. we were so busy and b. we had smokers next to us who seemed to be out there a lot and unfortunately I really cannot tolerate the smell. DH says he still thinks the verandah was worth it, I liked it but for maybe the 1/2 hour we spent out there, I don't know if was worth the extra few hundred $$, but it was nice to look out of and get the air when it was fresh! The first night our room was freezing. We asked for extra blankets the next day. Our room steward, Emer took it upon himself to get the heat checked and sure enough there was a problem that needed to be fixed. This was great of him, I never would have thought of having it checked. Emer also made quite an impression on my son. I guess they hit it off while my son was spending (too much) time in the stateroom. I was glad to bring our mini shoe holder type bag. There is a hook on the back of the bathroom door so it worked out great for holding make up etc. I was also glad I remembered to bring conditioner as they only have a small container of shampoo/conditioner onboard that really isn't that great. I was sad to see they no longer have the cute Mickey Soap in a box. It's just plain small soap that is set out. No more trading cards for that matter either. We were left a towel and 2 pins (same ones as 2001) for our castaway club gift. One last thing, don't forget to bring a light up alarm clock, because although the clock in the room is cute, it is useless in the dark!
DIS meet - It was great fun talking to other April 18 cruisers prior to cruising. We held our dismeet at Scoops after the lifeboat drill. About seven families showed up. It was great to meet everyone in person, but it was very chaotic so I felt that I didn't get to talk to everyone as much as I would have liked to. I was also hoping to get a picture of everyone and in all the excitement, I forgot. I know a couple of people tried to join us and couldn't find us. I know I would have been really disappointed if this happened to me and beside, I would have liked to have been able to put faces to all those screen names, especially since everyone seemed so nice. We did see some of the people throughout the cruise and that really added to the fun. Thanks too to all the other disers on the main cruise board that really helped make the planning fun and informative.
Cruising with a teen- Common Grounds turned out to be a MAJOR disappointment for us. My ds has been begging us since our last cruise in 1/2001 to take another Disney cruise. He had the best time in the lab on the 1st cruise and couldn't wait to go back. Perhaps our expectations were too high this time, but the teen program really didn't seem to meet the high standards of everything else offered on board. For one thing, 13-17 yr. olds are all grouped together. The first thing my son said when he came back the 1st time was that everyone else was much older. I think he was really intimidated by this. Another thing is that while the kid's club and lab has many activities planned, the teen club only has about 5-6 activities planned each day. My son enjoyed the 411 but came back after that the first day. On Nassau day he said hardly anyone was there and came back to the room. He went later to a video thing that was scheduled but they cancelled it because not many people showed up. He watched most of a movie instead. He went to play volleyball that night and came back because it was cancelled due to the wind. He didn't want to stay at the club because nothing was going on and they were going to show the same movie that they showed earlier. I was so upset because I knew how much he had been looking forward to it and also because it was hard for me to enjoy spending time with dh when ds seemed so lost. I decided to go and talk to the counselor to see if he could offer any advice. He told me that Common Grounds was mostly a place for the kids to "chill out" and that they don't plan many activities for that age group because they don't like structured activities. I don't know if this may be true for older teens, but judging from the 13-14 set that I know I am certain that they would like to have fun activities planned and not just sit around looking at strangers. The few times I observed the counselors, they really were not interacting with the kids but were just off by themselves, but I only saw them a few times. There was also only one activity planned ( I don't know if it ever actually took place) where they broke the kids down into two separate age groups. I think they should definately plan more things where the younger teens are separate from the older teens. DS did participate in the Wild Side excursion which he really enjoyed with the exception of a problem he had with his snorkel mask. After the negative experiences he had the first two days, there was no way we could get him to give the teen club another chance which did make things a little more difficult for all of us. We all decided to try and make the best of it and just find other things for him to do. He also did hang around with the son of Travel with Kids quite a bit which he enjoyed (and we enjoyed meeting the rest of the family as well!). Don't despair if you have a teen. Your child's experience may be totally different from my ds's, some of the kids seemed happy as clams. Even though the club did not work out for ds, he enjoyed a movie, the freedom of walking around the ship and letting himself in and out of the room when he wanted (put a bit of a damper on dh and I having romantic time alone
), getting food and room service as wanted, spending time in cabin watching Disney movies and talking with room steward (who would have thought, but he loved this), snorkeling with Dad on Castaway Cay (with his own equipment that seemed to work much better), seeing the shows and characters, towel folding ( I can hardly believe it myself but this was his favorite activity on the ship) etc. Really, if you asked him, he would tell you that he had a great cruise. (Sorry this part was so long, but I've noticed there is never much info about the teen programs)
Oceaneer Lab - This was my dd's first time in the lab as she was in the club last trip. She loved it as much as my son had the first time and we had a very difficult time getting her to come out. The only drawback beside not seeing her (which sometimes was less of a drawback then other times
), was that she did have sign out privileges which made it a bit less relaxing for us. The best thing was knowing that she was just as happy as could be and the counselors all seemed great.
Food - Up until the last minute, including on our KTTW cards, we were listed for 2nd seating and waitlisted for first. Luckily, we ran into our tablemates before dinner and found out we were given 1st seating! I know there are many opinions both ways, and I've never done second seating so I can't compare, but I loved having first seating. It really worked out great for us. I also loved having tablemates. As mentioned, we hooked up with another family from this board so the two girls were about the same age and they also had an adorable 6 yr. old that really brightened up the dinner with his beautiful eyes and big smiles. It was also fun to hear their perspective of the trip and the different things they had done. Our first DCL trip, we were seated alone, so I can compare and say the more the merrier! Our servers were Jose and Kuman (sp?). They did their job well, but I don't know that I would say there was anything magical about them. There were all sorts of germ-spreading precautions taken on the ship, but I really had the heebie jeebies because Jose kept telling us how he had a cold and the last morning breakfast he told us how he had been up coughing all night as he was placing our juice glasses down
.
Anyway, the food was good, but the atmosphere of the restaurants and company was even better. We also enjoyed the lunch buffet on Nassau day and the BBQ on Castaway Cay day.
We attended the castaway reception on Castaway Cay day from 5:15-6:00. They had delicious coconut shrimp as well as other appetizers. Of course, we weren't very hungry for our early dinner!
The food highlight of our trip was the Palo brunch ($20+extra tip). The food was presented beautifully. We ate and ate and ate some more. IMO, the mushroom pizza and tilapia were the best food I had the whole cruise and some of the best food I've had ever! It was very romantic too. The only unromantic part was after we were there about ten minutes, the waiter looked up and said," are those your kids?" Well looking back through the window sure enough were ds and dd. They had woken up late and had already missed the breakfast buffet and couldn't figure out what to do. LOL
Shows/Entertainment - DD skipped Hercules and Gary Delena to go to the kids lab. DH and DS really enjoyed Hercules, but they had missed it the first cruise. This was my second time seeing it, so it didn't seem quite as good as the first, maybe because I knew the whole story. DH and I had seen Gary Delena the 1st night in one of the clubs. We weren't real impressed and had thought about not seeing him for the family show. To be fair, it was smokey in the club, which I can't stand, there weren't many people, and most of the jokes seemed old or were about drinking and we're not heavy drinkers. Anyway, we decided to go to the family show and am I glad we did. This was my favorite show. He really was hilarious and kept the grown ups as well as the kids entertained. He even managed to impress DS, which anyone who can impress a 13 year old has got to be good! We also saw the Golden Mickeys which I liked better than the rest of the family but I think they were all glad they saw it. OK, here comes the part where you have to keep in mind that everyone has their own opinion. We really didn't like Disney Dreams the first cruise but decided to give it another try and didn't like it too much this time either. I think the main reason is that they have the main girl character talk in a really annoying voice (although this girl's was not as bad as the last). I think without the girl, I would enjoy the show, not that it would make any sense whatsoever. For other entertainment, we saw Dueling Pianos, which was o.k., and some of the 70 and 80's parties. As a warning, the clubs really do get smokey. We also did the bridge tour which we enjoyed. I did the wine tasting (someone said you used to get a pin but we didn't get one, also, you might want to bring a pen if you go because the pencils they give you to use don't show up well) which was interesting, but there were free activities going on that conflicted with it that I think I would have liked to. One of those was the towel folding that DS and DH enjoyed so much (DH had even surprised me with a towel animal when I went in to take my shower after returning home). DS and DD both saw a movie on board, but we never found the time. DH and DS did the golf chipping which was cute and DD did a trivia game where she and her friend won a medal (they were the only one's there
) DS also used the arcade ($20). We also enjoyed just walking around and sitting on deck or our verandah a bit.
weather/Castaway Cay- Both in Florida and on the cruise we had gorgeous weather. Leaving Port Canaveral, the water was a bit choppy. I am prone to motion sickness, so I took my one and only Bonine of the trip that night and I was fine. The rest of my family had no trouble. Castaway Cay day was perfect. It was not too hot and not too cold and was sunny as could be. DS did his excursion ($35) from 8:30-12:30 approx. and the rest of us hit the beach about 9:00. We had ordered room service breakfast that morning which worked out great. Right on time and no problem. We had also ordered ice to put in our soft cooler and take some sodas with us. DD wanted to rent a raft ($6) which would have been a waste except that another family ended up using it. She was too busy to use it. We had a hammock and a couple of chairs under an umbrella. She wanted to go to the kids program soon after arriving and went on a 2 hour treasure hunt. This gave dh and I a chance to go snorkeling. We had bought new Body Glove gear at Sam's for $50 a piece. This was a great investment. I have never really been able to snorkle properly before because none of the masks ever fit my head right and they leak. This one was perfect. We saw some fish and had fun. Luckily, DH and DS wear the same size shoe, and DD and I wear the same size shoe so we could share the gear. DH ended up going out 2 more times with each of the kids. Unfortunately, DD developed a cramp in her toe and we had to check out the skill of the lifeguard and first aid staff . I think it was hardest on DH who looked like he was going to pass out after trying to swim all the way in after the lifeguard and DD who were on the board. Although I kept trying to get my family to reapply and reapply the sunscreen, they did end up getting burned with dh and ds suffering the most. I was wrapped like a mummy half the time and didn't have a problem. We didn't use Safe Sea and didn't have a problem with sea lice either (thank goodness!)
Other expenses - For the gratuities we paid the suggested amounts ($175) as we found the service definately acceptable and pleasing but not outstanding, plus a little extra for our room steward and Palo waiter who we felt did go above and beyond. We also bought 1 4x6 and 1 8x10 picture for $29.90. We bought more pictures last time but didn't seem to have as many taken this time. We especially kept missing the character pictures somehow. We bought 4 t-shirts at $19 each, one ornament at $16, 4 smoothies at $4 each and one glass of wine for $5.69. We obviously aren't big drinkers so I'm sure we saved a lot of $$ that way. Bringing the soda on board also saved $$ as we did drink all of that (21 Cans). Our total bill onboard with tips and all came to $432.
Getting off the ship, DD, and Disney Quest- As everyone says, it is very sad to leave the ship. After a little confusion finding our luggage, we easily left the terminal and went to the rental car. We then headed to Downtown Disney and arrived about 9:15. We checked out the shops, walked around a bit, and DH noticed a boat rental. By Disney standards, it was a very reasonable $25 for a 1/2 hour canopy boat rental. We had lots of fun taking turns driving the boat on another beautiful day
. After this we headed over to Disney Quest for the 11:30 opening. Our tickets were $21 each from ticketmania. We walked over to find about 300 teenagers that were there on a field trip. Had we not already bought our tickets, I would have chickened out and left. We were surprised to find the lines were not too bad although I imagine generally the place would have been empty at this time. We liked the Pirates of the Caribbean and MIghty Ducks pinball the best. As mentioned I do get motion sickness and was already a bit woozy from getting off the ship, the virtual reality games really made me feel sick (even though foolishly I kept wanting to try them) and some of the other motion simulated rides really didn't sit well with DH or myself. DH loved playing the old video games. We had a large pizza and 4 drinks for $25 which I thought was a good deal. I had to literally drag my family out at 3:15 to make our 5:12 flt. We had a layover in Chicago and got in at 12:08 a.m., picked up our car that we had parked at the airport ($65) and headed back to reality
.
Highs and Lows - The high point of the trip was just being on the beautiful ship and spending time with my family. DH works a lot and we hardly have dinner together never mind time to ourselves. It was great that overall everyone was so happy. We were definately kept busy and didn't even get a chance to do everything we wanted to do. Beside the problems we had with smoking, the only other real low point came from having such high expectations for the teen club. I pictured my son out until 2:00 a.m. having a blast with a bunch of new friends as well as experiencing some new activities with the club. I really was hoping to spend a little more romantic time alone with dh since happily I'm still very much in love with the man I started dating 24 yrs. ago, but on the other hand, we got to spend some happy time with ds which doesn't happen as much now that he's become a teen. I think that one of the drawbacks of spending so much time on these boards is that you read about so many things and plan out your whole trip ahead and then become disappointed when things don't turn out as imagined. The nice thing is that there are still surprises along the way and some things turn out better than imagined.
Our vacation is a wonderful memory that I'm sure we'll keep forever. We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise but probably won't do another Disney cruise since there wasn't much offered for teens and for the price, I think it makes sense to try another cruiseline if we cruise again. Also, the activities and shows don't seem to change much, so it would be fun to try something different for that reason too. I would happily recommend taking a Disney cruise especially if you have younger children and even if you don't. Sorry this report was so long. I'm sure I added things I didn't need to and left out things I shouldn't have. I really loved all the information everyone shared before our trip and I'll try to answer any questions you may have. I apologize ahead for any typos, my eyes and fingers are too tired to proofread all of this. Happy Travels to all you future cruisers!
Oops, had to edit our travel date!
Emmasgrammy, I hope you don't regret asking for this report as the one I just posted for our HRH/US report ended up really long! I've repeated some of the report here, but the details of our Universal stay are on the Universal trip report page. We've just returned from a magnificent trip to the HRH, IOA/US, Disney Wonder Cruise and a day at Downtown Disney including Disney Quest and are still unpacking our bags.
And we're off -Our group consisted of myself-38, DH-38, DS-13 and DD-10. We held high expectations as this was our 2nd Disney cruise and we always have a blast in Florida. I'll include prices here, not because I'm proud of how much we probably overpaid for everything, but because it seems that a lot of questions are asked about this.
We booked our trip back at the beginning of Sept. The HRH and Universal portion was supposed to be a surprise for the kids but we could only keep it until Christmas and even that took a lot of effort. We left from Hartford, CT on April 16 at 7:25 a.m. on United ($284.50 pp) then had a connecting flight through Chicago (ugh!, nothing else was available when we booked) and arrived in Orlando at 2:23 p.m. I had read on this board about getting a National Emerald Card for free if you apply for it in conjunction with a Disney vacation. This worked out great for us. We were able to go right out and pick up the car without waiting in the rental line. I was able to secure an intermediate car for $185. for a rental from 4/16-4/22, we also had an entertainment coupon for the two car class upgrade. Be cautious though, luckily I thought to check the rate as we drove out and they had it listed at $200.+. I showed them my reservation that I printed out and brought along and had it fixed before we left. For us, the price was right considering the transfers we would have had to get to HRH, DCL, DD, and back to the airport. The tolls were about $2 to the HRH. We had a ton of fun at US/IOA and the HRH.
Check in + ressies - After a great time at the parks, we prepared to leave for Port Canaveral and our Disney Cruise. The ride there took about an hour. The tolls were about $3 each way. We arrived to the terminal about 11:15 after a stop at Publix for soda. We parked our car right at the terminal for $40. Check in went smoothly. We had wanted a cat. 6 stateroom but none were available when we booked so we ended up with a cat. 5 room #7598 ($3213 with DU). We ran into our tablemates (scottohiocpa and family) that we had met on these boards right away. It was fun to meet them in person. We both had dd's about the same age who happened to be wearing the same shorts. They hit it off right away and I know my dd really enjoyed their dd's company throughout the trip. The line was long but we started boarding around 12:00 and the line moved quickly. PC was full already and we were directed to beach blanket for a great buffet. After lunch we headed to Palo for brunch reservations. We had to wait a bit, but got our ressies. Next we made ressies for the bridge tour for dh and myself and I signed up for the wine tasting. Our final order of business was to sign the kids up for their clubs. We took my dd and got her all set then brought my son. Turns out you don't really sign the teens up, they just go.
Stateroom - Loved the location of our room as it was close to the laundry room which meant it was close to the irons! It was also convenient to the lab and not far from the restaurants, shows etc. If you can get a cat. 6 instead of a 5, do it, being on the higher floor IMO is not worth extra $$, as I said, we only did it because cat. 6 were sold out and DH HAD to have a verandah. We didn't spend much time on the verandah because a. we were so busy and b. we had smokers next to us who seemed to be out there a lot and unfortunately I really cannot tolerate the smell. DH says he still thinks the verandah was worth it, I liked it but for maybe the 1/2 hour we spent out there, I don't know if was worth the extra few hundred $$, but it was nice to look out of and get the air when it was fresh! The first night our room was freezing. We asked for extra blankets the next day. Our room steward, Emer took it upon himself to get the heat checked and sure enough there was a problem that needed to be fixed. This was great of him, I never would have thought of having it checked. Emer also made quite an impression on my son. I guess they hit it off while my son was spending (too much) time in the stateroom. I was glad to bring our mini shoe holder type bag. There is a hook on the back of the bathroom door so it worked out great for holding make up etc. I was also glad I remembered to bring conditioner as they only have a small container of shampoo/conditioner onboard that really isn't that great. I was sad to see they no longer have the cute Mickey Soap in a box. It's just plain small soap that is set out. No more trading cards for that matter either. We were left a towel and 2 pins (same ones as 2001) for our castaway club gift. One last thing, don't forget to bring a light up alarm clock, because although the clock in the room is cute, it is useless in the dark!
DIS meet - It was great fun talking to other April 18 cruisers prior to cruising. We held our dismeet at Scoops after the lifeboat drill. About seven families showed up. It was great to meet everyone in person, but it was very chaotic so I felt that I didn't get to talk to everyone as much as I would have liked to. I was also hoping to get a picture of everyone and in all the excitement, I forgot. I know a couple of people tried to join us and couldn't find us. I know I would have been really disappointed if this happened to me and beside, I would have liked to have been able to put faces to all those screen names, especially since everyone seemed so nice. We did see some of the people throughout the cruise and that really added to the fun. Thanks too to all the other disers on the main cruise board that really helped make the planning fun and informative.
Cruising with a teen- Common Grounds turned out to be a MAJOR disappointment for us. My ds has been begging us since our last cruise in 1/2001 to take another Disney cruise. He had the best time in the lab on the 1st cruise and couldn't wait to go back. Perhaps our expectations were too high this time, but the teen program really didn't seem to meet the high standards of everything else offered on board. For one thing, 13-17 yr. olds are all grouped together. The first thing my son said when he came back the 1st time was that everyone else was much older. I think he was really intimidated by this. Another thing is that while the kid's club and lab has many activities planned, the teen club only has about 5-6 activities planned each day. My son enjoyed the 411 but came back after that the first day. On Nassau day he said hardly anyone was there and came back to the room. He went later to a video thing that was scheduled but they cancelled it because not many people showed up. He watched most of a movie instead. He went to play volleyball that night and came back because it was cancelled due to the wind. He didn't want to stay at the club because nothing was going on and they were going to show the same movie that they showed earlier. I was so upset because I knew how much he had been looking forward to it and also because it was hard for me to enjoy spending time with dh when ds seemed so lost. I decided to go and talk to the counselor to see if he could offer any advice. He told me that Common Grounds was mostly a place for the kids to "chill out" and that they don't plan many activities for that age group because they don't like structured activities. I don't know if this may be true for older teens, but judging from the 13-14 set that I know I am certain that they would like to have fun activities planned and not just sit around looking at strangers. The few times I observed the counselors, they really were not interacting with the kids but were just off by themselves, but I only saw them a few times. There was also only one activity planned ( I don't know if it ever actually took place) where they broke the kids down into two separate age groups. I think they should definately plan more things where the younger teens are separate from the older teens. DS did participate in the Wild Side excursion which he really enjoyed with the exception of a problem he had with his snorkel mask. After the negative experiences he had the first two days, there was no way we could get him to give the teen club another chance which did make things a little more difficult for all of us. We all decided to try and make the best of it and just find other things for him to do. He also did hang around with the son of Travel with Kids quite a bit which he enjoyed (and we enjoyed meeting the rest of the family as well!). Don't despair if you have a teen. Your child's experience may be totally different from my ds's, some of the kids seemed happy as clams. Even though the club did not work out for ds, he enjoyed a movie, the freedom of walking around the ship and letting himself in and out of the room when he wanted (put a bit of a damper on dh and I having romantic time alone
), getting food and room service as wanted, spending time in cabin watching Disney movies and talking with room steward (who would have thought, but he loved this), snorkeling with Dad on Castaway Cay (with his own equipment that seemed to work much better), seeing the shows and characters, towel folding ( I can hardly believe it myself but this was his favorite activity on the ship) etc. Really, if you asked him, he would tell you that he had a great cruise. (Sorry this part was so long, but I've noticed there is never much info about the teen programs)Oceaneer Lab - This was my dd's first time in the lab as she was in the club last trip. She loved it as much as my son had the first time and we had a very difficult time getting her to come out. The only drawback beside not seeing her (which sometimes was less of a drawback then other times
), was that she did have sign out privileges which made it a bit less relaxing for us. The best thing was knowing that she was just as happy as could be and the counselors all seemed great.Food - Up until the last minute, including on our KTTW cards, we were listed for 2nd seating and waitlisted for first. Luckily, we ran into our tablemates before dinner and found out we were given 1st seating! I know there are many opinions both ways, and I've never done second seating so I can't compare, but I loved having first seating. It really worked out great for us. I also loved having tablemates. As mentioned, we hooked up with another family from this board so the two girls were about the same age and they also had an adorable 6 yr. old that really brightened up the dinner with his beautiful eyes and big smiles. It was also fun to hear their perspective of the trip and the different things they had done. Our first DCL trip, we were seated alone, so I can compare and say the more the merrier! Our servers were Jose and Kuman (sp?). They did their job well, but I don't know that I would say there was anything magical about them. There were all sorts of germ-spreading precautions taken on the ship, but I really had the heebie jeebies because Jose kept telling us how he had a cold and the last morning breakfast he told us how he had been up coughing all night as he was placing our juice glasses down
.Anyway, the food was good, but the atmosphere of the restaurants and company was even better. We also enjoyed the lunch buffet on Nassau day and the BBQ on Castaway Cay day.
We attended the castaway reception on Castaway Cay day from 5:15-6:00. They had delicious coconut shrimp as well as other appetizers. Of course, we weren't very hungry for our early dinner!
The food highlight of our trip was the Palo brunch ($20+extra tip). The food was presented beautifully. We ate and ate and ate some more. IMO, the mushroom pizza and tilapia were the best food I had the whole cruise and some of the best food I've had ever! It was very romantic too. The only unromantic part was after we were there about ten minutes, the waiter looked up and said," are those your kids?" Well looking back through the window sure enough were ds and dd. They had woken up late and had already missed the breakfast buffet and couldn't figure out what to do. LOL
Shows/Entertainment - DD skipped Hercules and Gary Delena to go to the kids lab. DH and DS really enjoyed Hercules, but they had missed it the first cruise. This was my second time seeing it, so it didn't seem quite as good as the first, maybe because I knew the whole story. DH and I had seen Gary Delena the 1st night in one of the clubs. We weren't real impressed and had thought about not seeing him for the family show. To be fair, it was smokey in the club, which I can't stand, there weren't many people, and most of the jokes seemed old or were about drinking and we're not heavy drinkers. Anyway, we decided to go to the family show and am I glad we did. This was my favorite show. He really was hilarious and kept the grown ups as well as the kids entertained. He even managed to impress DS, which anyone who can impress a 13 year old has got to be good! We also saw the Golden Mickeys which I liked better than the rest of the family but I think they were all glad they saw it. OK, here comes the part where you have to keep in mind that everyone has their own opinion. We really didn't like Disney Dreams the first cruise but decided to give it another try and didn't like it too much this time either. I think the main reason is that they have the main girl character talk in a really annoying voice (although this girl's was not as bad as the last). I think without the girl, I would enjoy the show, not that it would make any sense whatsoever. For other entertainment, we saw Dueling Pianos, which was o.k., and some of the 70 and 80's parties. As a warning, the clubs really do get smokey. We also did the bridge tour which we enjoyed. I did the wine tasting (someone said you used to get a pin but we didn't get one, also, you might want to bring a pen if you go because the pencils they give you to use don't show up well) which was interesting, but there were free activities going on that conflicted with it that I think I would have liked to. One of those was the towel folding that DS and DH enjoyed so much (DH had even surprised me with a towel animal when I went in to take my shower after returning home). DS and DD both saw a movie on board, but we never found the time. DH and DS did the golf chipping which was cute and DD did a trivia game where she and her friend won a medal (they were the only one's there
) DS also used the arcade ($20). We also enjoyed just walking around and sitting on deck or our verandah a bit.weather/Castaway Cay- Both in Florida and on the cruise we had gorgeous weather. Leaving Port Canaveral, the water was a bit choppy. I am prone to motion sickness, so I took my one and only Bonine of the trip that night and I was fine. The rest of my family had no trouble. Castaway Cay day was perfect. It was not too hot and not too cold and was sunny as could be. DS did his excursion ($35) from 8:30-12:30 approx. and the rest of us hit the beach about 9:00. We had ordered room service breakfast that morning which worked out great. Right on time and no problem. We had also ordered ice to put in our soft cooler and take some sodas with us. DD wanted to rent a raft ($6) which would have been a waste except that another family ended up using it. She was too busy to use it. We had a hammock and a couple of chairs under an umbrella. She wanted to go to the kids program soon after arriving and went on a 2 hour treasure hunt. This gave dh and I a chance to go snorkeling. We had bought new Body Glove gear at Sam's for $50 a piece. This was a great investment. I have never really been able to snorkle properly before because none of the masks ever fit my head right and they leak. This one was perfect. We saw some fish and had fun. Luckily, DH and DS wear the same size shoe, and DD and I wear the same size shoe so we could share the gear. DH ended up going out 2 more times with each of the kids. Unfortunately, DD developed a cramp in her toe and we had to check out the skill of the lifeguard and first aid staff
. I think it was hardest on DH who looked like he was going to pass out after trying to swim all the way in after the lifeguard and DD who were on the board. Although I kept trying to get my family to reapply and reapply the sunscreen, they did end up getting burned with dh and ds suffering the most. I was wrapped like a mummy half the time and didn't have a problem. We didn't use Safe Sea and didn't have a problem with sea lice either (thank goodness!)Other expenses - For the gratuities we paid the suggested amounts ($175) as we found the service definately acceptable and pleasing but not outstanding, plus a little extra for our room steward and Palo waiter who we felt did go above and beyond. We also bought 1 4x6 and 1 8x10 picture for $29.90. We bought more pictures last time but didn't seem to have as many taken this time. We especially kept missing the character pictures somehow. We bought 4 t-shirts at $19 each, one ornament at $16, 4 smoothies at $4 each and one glass of wine for $5.69. We obviously aren't big drinkers so I'm sure we saved a lot of $$ that way. Bringing the soda on board also saved $$ as we did drink all of that (21 Cans). Our total bill onboard with tips and all came to $432.
Getting off the ship, DD, and Disney Quest- As everyone says, it is very sad to leave the ship. After a little confusion finding our luggage, we easily left the terminal and went to the rental car. We then headed to Downtown Disney and arrived about 9:15. We checked out the shops, walked around a bit, and DH noticed a boat rental. By Disney standards, it was a very reasonable $25 for a 1/2 hour canopy boat rental. We had lots of fun taking turns driving the boat on another beautiful day
. After this we headed over to Disney Quest for the 11:30 opening. Our tickets were $21 each from ticketmania. We walked over to find about 300 teenagers that were there on a field trip. Had we not already bought our tickets, I would have chickened out and left. We were surprised to find the lines were not too bad although I imagine generally the place would have been empty at this time. We liked the Pirates of the Caribbean and MIghty Ducks pinball the best. As mentioned I do get motion sickness and was already a bit woozy from getting off the ship, the virtual reality games really made me feel sick (even though foolishly I kept wanting to try them) and some of the other motion simulated rides really didn't sit well with DH or myself. DH loved playing the old video games. We had a large pizza and 4 drinks for $25 which I thought was a good deal. I had to literally drag my family out at 3:15 to make our 5:12 flt. We had a layover in Chicago and got in at 12:08 a.m., picked up our car that we had parked at the airport ($65) and headed back to reality .Highs and Lows - The high point of the trip was just being on the beautiful ship and spending time with my family. DH works a lot and we hardly have dinner together never mind time to ourselves. It was great that overall everyone was so happy. We were definately kept busy and didn't even get a chance to do everything we wanted to do. Beside the problems we had with smoking, the only other real low point came from having such high expectations for the teen club. I pictured my son out until 2:00 a.m. having a blast with a bunch of new friends as well as experiencing some new activities with the club. I really was hoping to spend a little more romantic time alone with dh since happily I'm still very much in love with the man I started dating 24 yrs. ago, but on the other hand, we got to spend some happy time with ds which doesn't happen as much now that he's become a teen. I think that one of the drawbacks of spending so much time on these boards is that you read about so many things and plan out your whole trip ahead and then become disappointed when things don't turn out as imagined. The nice thing is that there are still surprises along the way and some things turn out better than imagined.
Our vacation is a wonderful memory that I'm sure we'll keep forever. We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise but probably won't do another Disney cruise since there wasn't much offered for teens and for the price, I think it makes sense to try another cruiseline if we cruise again. Also, the activities and shows don't seem to change much, so it would be fun to try something different for that reason too. I would happily recommend taking a Disney cruise especially if you have younger children and even if you don't. Sorry this report was so long. I'm sure I added things I didn't need to and left out things I shouldn't have. I really loved all the information everyone shared before our trip and I'll try to answer any questions you may have. I apologize ahead for any typos, my eyes and fingers are too tired to proofread all of this. Happy Travels to all you future cruisers!
Oops, had to edit our travel date!
Thanks again 
.
