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Old 25 Aug 15, 01:08 PM  
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Talking Back from our first cruise - highs, lows and points to note!

Hey mon! (I learnt how to say that in Jamaica...! )

Well, after over a year of planning we are back from our first WDW vacation that included a cruise. We cruised for 7 nights on the Disney Fantasy, the western Caribbean itinerary visiting Cozumel, Mexico; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; Falmouth, Jamaica and Castaway Cay.

Our stateroom was 9166 on deck 9, aft.

We were really very nervous about the cruise before we went, as we have never even stepped foot on a ship before so we didn't know if we would like it. Well, we did. We LOVED it. No trippy this year, so I thought I would do more of an extended highs and lows, and note down some 'interestings' and points that may be useful for other first timers.
I will be doing a trippy-style write up of our day at Castaway Cay as it was eventful (to say the least) so look for that over the next few days. I will post a link here!
Also check out the highs and lows for our time in WDW, which can be found here!

Let's kick off with the lows, so we can get them out of the way!
Here goes!

Lows

We got no applause when boarding the ship! I was so excited about that part, and had the camera rolling and everything, but the cast member announced us just as another applause was coming to an end, so nobody heard – we boarded to silence!

The family of pigs on the table next to us at dinner. I apologise if that’s slightly on the rude side, but they really were! I’m guessing that if I hadn’t requested a private table, we’d have been sat with them, and I’m glad we weren’t! Every day they had starter (sometimes two), soup, main AND desert. They were the type that chew with their mouths open whilst making grotesque noises. Here’s a short activity (now I’m getting interactive!) – make a fist – go on, do it! OK, you’ve got your fist. Now imagine a fork handle in the middle of that fist with the points pointing down. That’s how they used their forks. All of them. The two (rather large) women in the family also seemed to take great pleasure in loudly announcing their toilet break between main and dessert...every day.

Getting into the Walt Disney Theatre for the evening shows. We quickly learned we needed to be there before the doors opened, and people were literally running through the aisles pushing people out of the way to get a good seat. The crowd outside before the doors opened was like a Black Friday crowd on steroids. People pushing and shoving. Horrid!

We felt that some of the entertainment schedules were geared towards people on the later dining seating (we were on the earlier seating). There were quite a few events and character meet and greets that you could not attend if you were on the early seating, but could if you were on late seating. We also felt that the ‘popular’ (i.e. the good..) activities on sea days were all too early. There were three or four things we would have really liked to do but they began between 7-8:45am, and being up early every single day for excursions etc, we just couldn’t do it on sea days. We did just about manage the 8:45 activity though!

The farewell show – after a week of amazing Broadway style shows (Aladdin, Wishes, Believe) we were expecting something stupendous on the last night. It was well...crap. The characters came out once, but the rest of the time was the cruise director talking about all the activities we could have done, and some rubbish comedian who wasn’t funny. It was a real let down!

Talking of the comedian, he was one of the variety acts that had a few shows on the ship. We watched him and a ventriloquist. Both were totally naff, and they really let DCL down on the entertainment side of things.

Pin Trading Night – I was not prepared for the total chaos. It was advertised as a ‘relaxed, informal chance to pin trade with the ships officers’. It was more like survival of the fittest. There were crowds of people, and ship officers arrived in dribs and drabs and were each handed a lanyard of pins before the crowds descended on them. People were pushing and shoving others out of the way. There was a small group of children (looked about 9 or 10) who elbowed their way to the front of every cast member and pushed in front of everyone else, taking all the ‘good’ pins just because they could. One even said ‘I don’t know who or what this is, but it looks an expensive one so I’ll have it’. Awful! I did manage to trade quite a few pins though and had a nice chat with a British officer who looked as terrified about the whole situation as we were!

The weather on Castaway Cay – an absolute monsoon! They more or less closed the island and stopped people moving about so we were trapped in a shack shoulder to shoulder with other guests for a couple of hours. More on that in my Castaway Cay trip report which I’ll link below!

We didn’t like our first Port, which was Cozumel, Mexico. Part of it was probably because we didn’t really know how disembarking/re-embarking worked and we didn’t have an excursion booked so we were exploring ourselves. It was also partly due to the people. We walked a couple of miles down the sea front shops, which was an...interesting... experience. Every single shop we went past had people outside shouting at us to come in. People were not shy either, happy to grab hold of us and pull us in. Nobody was nasty or horrible or anything like that, but we just felt a bit uncomfortable. In one of the huge Mexico souvenir shops we were also being quite obviously followed by a member of staff, upstairs and down. We were the only people in the shop, and I guess it was to make sure we didn’t steal or break anything, but again, it made us feel a bit uncomfortable. We were the only tourists around for the first couple of hours, which is probably why the attention was all on us. We learnt that most other people who had just planned to explore the shops themselves had had a lie in, and were all swarming out just as we were heading back. I think we would have felt a lot more comfortable with all the other tourists about. Still, at least we know what to do for next time.

Our Jamaica excursions. We did the Dunns River Falls climb and Dolphin Cove package (that didn’t include a dolphin swim). We had one guide for the whole day and both locations, and he was fantastic, he really was (see highs!) but unfortunately the excursion locationsn were not great. I enjoyed climbing the falls, but we had to hold hands in a chain of strangers all the way up. The person behind me was a slow climber and the person in front of me was a fast climber, so I was being stretched between the two! The falls staff were also really rude and aggressive, practically pushing us along (he then wondered why he didn’t get a tip). Dolphin Cove was worse though – an awful BBQ of cheap burgers (not a ‘Jamaican feast’ as advertised), and we stopped twice to watch a ‘Shark Show’ which was four men shouting about how dangerous it was in the shark pool and about whether they’d make it out alive (they were shouting so loud and fast you couldn’t really understand what they were saying) – they then sat with a shark on their knee doing nothing for the next ten minutes and that was it! We were also designated time to watch other guests swim with dolphins...it was really bizarre. We did get to hold an iguana and some birds though, so not a total waste of time (ish).

Right, that's that - on to the highs! (There's lots!)
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2019 - August - Europe on the Magic! 17th Trip!

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Edited at 05:24 PM.
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Old 25 Aug 15, 01:09 PM  
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Highs

The whole entire cruise. It was flaming marvellous. We were really worried about it before we went – we are very active people and were a little scared that we’d be bored, especially on our sea days. Well, we were kept as busy as we are in WDW! In fact, we only had time to go in the pool once, and that was only for half an hour! This actually surprised us as we are not the ‘loud’ type who love to join in with organised activities like game shows and bingo, we like to keep ourselves to ourselves. We had a fantastic time, which just proves Disney Cruise Line do cater for everybody!

The crew – amazing. We knew the quality of service at WDW has dramatically decreased over the years, but the cruise line staff made WDW cast members look like grumpy Poundland workers. They were that good. We were in and out of our room all day, but our room attendant managed to get in and make the room look immaculate, and then get back in to set the beds up in the evening without us ever bumping into him. We frequently saw him in the hallway and had some good chats, but never once did we bump into him in the room. He took it upon himself to remember our sleeping arrangements too – i.e. he noticed that I’d stolen a second pillow from another bed on the first night, so for the rest of the cruise, he gave me two pillows without me having to say anything!

Stateroom – what an amazing space. For such a small room, we felt it was very spacious indeed, and there was loads of space for storage. Every night the sofa was turned into beds, and every morning it was turned back into a sofa again. We LOVED the separate bath/sink and toilet/sink cubicles (especially the dinky little bath, which we took it in turns to sit in as soon as we got to our room for the first time!), and the whole room looked brand new, which is something that doesn’t seem to be a priority anymore at WDW. We had amazing towel animals, and the chocolates on the bed every night were always well received I chose a really good location too – we were deck 9 aft, so away from the hustle and bustle of the atrium, but were only a staircase away from Cabanas and the buffet We would definitely choose this location again.





Veranda – we ummed and aahhhd about paying extra for a room with a veranda, and we are SO glad we did. We had the cheapest veranda room, as it had a solid whitewall half way down. We said that we probably preferred that though, as it made us feel a bit safer than having glass all the way down (we have someone scared of heights in the family!). Having the veranda definitely made the holiday. We didn’t sit out there for any long periods of time, but it was wonderful to have our own private outdoor space where we could watch the ship docking, and so we could pop out there and look at the stars at night etc. It was definitely definitely worth the extra cost. I think we would have felt rather claustrophobic in an inside room.



Entertainment crew – fabulous. One thing I really loved about the cruise was the way you get to know the staff, and they get to know you. By the middle of the week I had character attendants running up to me and photobombing photos, it was great! A few of the entertainment crew took it a bit far in terms of over-the-top dancing and ‘crowd motivation’ which lowered the standards a couple of times, but really nothing to complain about. The most awkward was the towel folding class when a very over the top guy made us shout “GAAAT ITTTTT” (no, not ‘got it’ in a civilized manner, but GAAAAT ITTT in cheesy American accents! ) every time we followed an instruction.

Dinner staff – our server was Agung from Indonesia and our assistant server (who we thought worked harder than Agung to be honest!) Humberto from Portugal. Humberto may have been our favourite crew member of the entire cruise. He was about 23 I think, and we just hit it off. He seemed like quite the shy type (like me!) and when we asked how he was enjoying the cruise line, he said he didn’t have many friends...so we instantly fell in love with him and took it upon ourselves to mother him a bit. He spent quite a lot of time at our table chatting to us each evening, and we were shocked to learn they NEVER get a whole day off. They get odd shifts off (i.e. don’t have to work lunch one day), but they work dinner every single night of their contract, which can last years!. We then made sure we asked Humberto about his time off every day, and he gave us updates on if he had had any and what he did (his favourite things were catching up on sleep and reading!). After our first meal, he remembered everyone’s drink choices and automatically delivered them every night (that included remembering who had ice and who didn’t) and he even went and made our desserts himself one night when we were in a bit of a rush. He really did work his little socks off. We had great laughs together and of course, photos had to be taken at the end (and on pirate night!) Whenever anyone ever asks “How it was?” after a meal, we shall forever be reminded of dear old Humberto!

Characters – cruising with Disney is a fantastic way to meet characters (be sure to get there 15 minutes before advertised time though!). They have A LOT of character meet and greets you can go to, and the characters have loads of different outfits, e.g. Aladdin themed, formal, beach wear, nautical etc etc. We could have spent the entire week just doing meet and greets I think. What I really loved though, were the unadvertised characters. Characters would sometimes just wonder around and stop to pose with photos with whoever asked. Once, I opened my stateroom door, turned the corner, and there was Cinderella, just stood in the hallway! Goofy arrived unannounced on the sports deck ready and dressed to play golf! Belle and Tiana were spotted several times on deck five, waving over the balcony. It was just magical! What’s really nice as well is that there are obviously only a select few ‘friends’ of each character on the ship, so the characters remember you (see below!). What’s even funnier is that the entertainment crew do everything, from being in shows, to being character attendants to being friends with characters. After meeting Peter Pan twice in one day (), the following day we were in line for Chip and Dale, and noticed the character handler. We sort of subconsciously stared at him in a “we know you but not sure why” way, and he stared back. It twigged, and he nodded with a mischievous smile. It turns out he knows Peter Pan very well indeed. What maybe EVEN funnier is the fact that they are given clear glass glasses to wear as character attendants to make them less recognisable (although it would help if they didn’t give everyone the exact same glasses...). We also noticed friends of Cinderella, Belle and Tiana, so keep your eyes peeled! It makes you feel special and important realising something like that, and being able to give them knowing looks. No? Just me? Ok then... We also met Mickey Mouse at Port Canaveral before we boarded, and he was the last character we met on the final night on the ship, and he remembered us too. It was just an all round magical character experience.

Peter Pan – a stand out character for us. The first time we met up was up on the deck 4 balcony. He recognised the accents, and he made me teach him and the character attendant how to do an English accent. That provided entertainment for the entire deck, apparently, as there was a LOT of laughter from everywhere! We then met him on Pirate night where he was relieved to find I was only disguised as a pirate, and wasn’t actually a real one. He then spent a good five minutes trying to guess my name, before changing the subject and falling in love with our Mickey Mouse camera strap. Later that same night we saw him again, but we were in line for Minnie Mouse. He ran up to me and said “are you hiding from me?” Obviously I wasn’t so he said “that’s good. I wanted you to come and say hello, you normally do”. He then dragged me over to the front of his line and we had another chat and photo! On the final night of the cruise we were walking back to our stateroom, and then someone shouted “HEY! ITS YOU!”. It startled us a little as there was no apparent place that it could have come from. Then an “OVER HERE!” followed, and we realised Peter was sat cross legged behind a curtain, sat in a porthole. He told me I had to squeeze up there with him and we had another great chat and some more photos. A completely random meeting, but it was great! The night after pirate night was the time we saw his ‘friend’ as a character attendant. After acknowledging silently that we were aware of his ‘secret’ (don’t worry, I’m a great preserver of magic ) he came over to talk us about our camera strap again “I really must get me one of those”. Yep definitely him! He then told us how to stop it fraying, using techniques they use on costumes. I think I was better at preserving the magic than he was The fun doesn’t stop there though! He was a character attendant again on Castaway Cay, this time for a surprise unadvertised meet and greet with Olaf. Most people missed this meet and greet, but my newfound Neverland friend, who goes by the name of George, saw me on the beach, called across and pointed at Olaf, prompting us to follow. There was no official photographer with Olaf, but George took great pleasure in “finally getting his hands on the camera with the cool strap” to take some photos. What a great guy, and the cast member I will miss the most, after Humberto! It really is worth getting to know the crew! (If only I was brave enough to add them on Facebook... although one member of the entertainment crew did follow me on Instagram, unprompted!)




Minnie Mouse – another standout character. We met her five or six times (with different outfits, of course!) and she remembered us every time. The first time, we were not planning on meeting her, but she appeared out of a crew member door just as we happened to be walking past. She grabbed my arm and made me escort her down to Preludes, her meet and greet spot. I obviously agreed, because I’m a wonderful human being. When we got there, there was already a line so we did have to go to the back, after prising myself and Minnie apart, literally. She was wearing this:



That lovely thin flowy yellow netting had got completely tangled with not one but two of the zips on my bag. It took two family members, a character attendant and a merchandise crew member to separate us. What can I say, I’m just meant to be with her, clearly! Every other time we met her she jumped up and down with excitement and pointed at me A LOT when she saw I was next in line. Word must have spread too because most of the character attendants said something like “Oh is THIS your prince Minnie?”. Yep, that’s me!

The shows – the three main ‘spectacles’ were outstanding, and just got better as the week went on (this of course does not include the naff variety acts or the show (if you can call it that) on the final night). First up was Aladdin. I am a BIG Aladdin fan...it’s my jam... so I was dead keen to see the show. It was brilliant! Of course, Genie stole the show and had us properly belly laughing (a rarity...we’re British, after all!) We also got free money. Well, you did if you were sat near the front section and were quick enough to grab some from the aisle floors before the children. That’s right, I basically stole money from children. What you gonna do about it?! Great souvenir though!



Wishes was great, and included song and dance from a whole host of Disney characters, all of whom had moving mouths, which is weird when you’re not expecting it (watching King Louie’s big long mouth move up and down is an experience in itself!). I think my favourite show was Believe though – it certainly pulled on the heartstrings! It was about a dad who didn’t believe in magic, and the Genie took him on a journey to help him believe. There was even a tear jerking scene where he saw a vision of his daughter in the future at her prom, and they sang a duet about how he’s missing out on her childhood . There was a GREAT selection of songs too that aren’t usually performed – i.e. it wasn’t ‘signature’ songs from films. Rapunzel and Flynn and all the ruffians sang “I’ve Got A Dream”, and Peter Pan even sang “You Can Fly!” whilst soaring across the stage. It was simply marvellous! The only thing that let it down was the guy who was friends with the princes. The same guy was friends with all of them, and he was really short. Seeing Rapunzel with Flynn only coming up to her shoulder was a bit odd! Otherwise, fantastic. A definite highlight.

We got given free chocolate coins in line for characters on Pirate Night! A small touch, but it made us happy!

Food. Oh. My. God. The food in the restaurants was like eating at a 10 Michelin star place. I’m usually a fussy eater, but I tried all sorts of new things like lobster and oysters. The servers don’t mind bringing you things to try either. One night, one family member decided against a particular desert in case she didn’t like it, and ordered a plate of fruit instead. Out came the fruit, along with the desert just so she could try it. She was assured it didn’t matter if she didn’t eat it (she did!). I mean, just look at this for goodness sakes:







(Apologies for the naff photos!)

The Fish Extender exchange – we signed up for that not really knowing what we were letting ourselves in for. We made bookmarks for each person and had them signed by their favourite characters and also gave British sweets. We thought that would be enough, but some of the Americans had clearly spent A LOT of money, and must have brought entire suitcase just filled with FE gifts. We got about 15 personalised drinks mugs, a huge tray emblazoned with the ships name and sail dates, expensive looking canvas bags and all sorts of other stuff. We were blown away by people’s generosity. It was fun delivering our gifts too...even the one where the door started to open as we were leaving gifts, and we ran off in a panic, giggling all the way. No, not sure why we did that either. The worst thing was, I still had one of the gifts in my hand, so we had to go back! I think the point of the FE is to meet other people, but we’re British and the shock of having to talk to a stranger by their stateroom door was clearly too much for us!

I was dragged to the shopping talk (don’t bother, waste of time!) and they mentioned clothes etc made from Bamboo available at the ports. I bought a pair of boxers ($22 so not cheap) and some socks. WOW, they are comfortable. I bought some more at our next port! Unfortunately our first stop was Cozumel, and that turned out to be the only port with any offers (buy 2 get one free or something) but I didn’t do that then in case I didn’t like them. Worth noting if you’re doing the same itinerary and fancy a pair. They really are very comfortable, and they really are softer than cotton! (Right, where’s my fee for plugging their product?!)

We did an Imagineer’s eye view tour of the ship. It was great! We thought we were going to get a private tour until an elderly couple turned up at the last minute, and then just as the tour started another sweaty, very erratic woman raced in with pen and paper ready to take notes (which she did religiously throughout, and had no shame in asking the guide to repeat things several times so she could write them down!). It was a fantastic way to explore the ship whilst learning a little something. Think of it as a shorter, on-stage ship version of Keys to the Kingdom tour. We got to see parts of the ship we wouldn’t have done if we had explored on our own, including visits into Palo and Remy. I really really enjoyed it and it is definitely worthwhile if you’re interested in Disney history...or facts about the ship! Did you know it cost roughly $2bn to build and furnish the Fantasy? TWO BILLION DOLLARS. We also saw some one of a kind Pixar wine autographed by John Lasseter. It was created at his own California Vineyard, and they are worth thousands apparently. They did say he was the only one allowed to drink them though! We were invited to stay and ask questions at the end, which we would have loved to do, but unfortunately the tour finished 10 minutes before our dinner seating, and we still needed to get changed, so we had to dash off.



The piano in the atrium was playing itself! This was a high for me, but apparently it’s a noral thing pianos do. I was walking up the grand staircase and noticed the piano below was playing, and the keys were moving, but there was no pianist! I stood there in disbelief for a while, and had to take a video. It was exactly like the organ in the Haunted Mansion! Nobody else seemed to be fussed about this whole thing, but I thought it was brilliant!

I GOT TAN LINES IN JAMAICA! I never get tan lines. They were properly distinguished too. I even took a photo. No, I’m not sharing it with you!

Our guide in Jamaica – he was brilliant. I can’t remember his actual name, but he told us to call him JMJ, short for ‘Jamaican Michael Jordan’. I was a bit worried about the hour long journey from the port to Dunn’s River Falls, but JMJ kept us occupied the whole way, we even belly laughed again too! We could have paid for a separate island tour as an excursion, but we basically got one included thanks to JMJ. He showed us money and passed it around, pointed out famous houses and talked about the history of the area. Did you know it can take Jamaicans 65 years to build a house? The pass the responsibility down through generations. Interest rates are about 49% so they just save what they can and do one room at a time until they can afford the next one, hence why it takes so long. He also wasted no time in talking about weed and Rastafarian culture. He said they usually smoke weed as a ritual, and pass the bong to the left round a circle because that’s the side the heart is on. On the way back, we saw huge clouds of smoke up in a mountain/hillside. Someone asked what it was and he said ‘probably a Rasta communion!’. I promise you, it was hilarious at the time He also taught us some Jamaican language (I can’t remember what he called it) and gave us tips about our destinations for the day. We tipped him heavily at the end of the day, he really worked for it, and was brilliant. He had the most contagious laugh too!

Castaway Cay 5k – more detail about this in the Castaway Cay write up (which is/will be linked below), but I had to mention it here. I was the only one of the family to do this, and I was very proud of myself for doing it in a reasonable time (read the report to find out the exact time... how’s that for a marvellous incentive to read it?! ). I didn’t do any sort of training for it whatsoever either, and I don’t even run for buses. Very proud! It proved to everybody that I am much fitter than they thought

As we left the Castaway Cay dock, there was a group of Cast Members all waving us off with Mickey hands on. It was a bit of a tear-jerking thing to watch as it was the last evening of the cruise, and watching them wave us off to the sound of the ships horns was magical. Tearful, but magical! Check out the video in the CC Trippy (again, another great incentive! )

The ‘Kiss Goodbye’ character event. This happened on the last night of the cruise, and was the final character appearance of the week. It was advertised as a show, and after a grand entrance by all the characters down the staircase, they dispersed to do meet and greets. We nearly left at this point, classing it as a let-down (plus it was already 9:30pm and we still had to pack...) but we stuck it out, and are glad we did! We met Daisy and Mickey and then went up a deck to get a better view of the final show. All the characters came together and did a little routine on the stairs to a slower paced reprise of the ‘Sailing Away’ song they performed at the Sail Away party on the first day, whilst a montage of events from the week played in the background. There was confetti and everything. Let’s just say, it was totes emosh. Again, more on that in the CC day trippy!

__________________
**~ °o° ~°o° ~ °o°~°o° ~°o° ~ °o°~**

2019 - August - Europe on the Magic! 17th Trip!

**~ °o° ~°o° ~ °o°~°o° ~°o° ~ °o°~**

Edited at 01:13 PM.
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Interestings

Here we have the points that weren’t highs or lows, and were just points I wanted to ntoe down, or things I thought would be useful. Some kind of overlap with the ‘points for first timers’ section that follows, but...well...deal with it.

When checking in at the port, we were told our rooms would be ready at 1:30, and this is indeed what it said on the ropes that were blocking the stateroom corridors on deck 9. We waited patiently at 1:30, like plenty of others, but the rooms didn’t end up being ready until just after 2pm. It wasn’t really an issue (although it did mean we missed the 2pm ship tour we wanted to do to get our bearings) but worth noting. Luckily we had already taken advantage of the lunch buffet at Cabanas, so weren’t starving hungry by that point.

After a real battle with the transfer company (booked by Virgin, not Disney) we were able to get a transfer for the time we wanted, arriving for our 10:45am PAT time. The transfer woman was adamant we would have to wait doing nothing at the port for hours because nobody would be there. Luckily I did my research on hear, so insisted on a 9:30 pick up time. I’m glad I did, as the terminal was already crowded when we got there, with no seats available. We were checked in pretty quickly, and then got in line to meet Mickey Mouse – the lines was already about 20 minutes long, so go straight there as soon as you are checked in. (If you see an apparently random line forming in front of the huge model of the Disney ship, join it – it’s for characters!). It’s also worth noting that Mickey and Minnie rotate, so you may get in line to see Mickey and end up seeing Minnie. Thankfully, after a nerve-wracking wait whilst the cast member went to get Minnie, we were the last family allowed to see Captain Mickey – phew!

As I said, there were crowds of people standing almost shoulder to shoulder in the terminal by the time we were done with Mickey. There was a 30 minute delay in starting the embarkation process as the coast guard was on board inspecting the ship. Once embarkation began, they got through it pretty quickly – it was very well organised. We were given ‘group 6’, and within ten minutes of embarkation start, group 6 was being called.

We were worried about being bored, but only had time to go in the pool one, for 30 minutes...and that was only because we didn’t really like Cozumel, so went back to the ship early! By the way, we also did the Aquaduck twice, and it really isn’t all it’s quacked up to be. (I’m sorry, that was too good an opportunity to pass up ) It’s really not though – we waited ten minutes each time, and were very underwhelmed. Goodness knows why the queues get up to over an hour on sea days!

The quality of the photos taken by the photographers was very good – much better than the Photopass photographers at WDW. Unfortunately, they were very pricey (see next section!) and most photographers only took photos of the pose at the end of the meet and greet, rather than photos of the interaction throughout.

It was made very clear that it was ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL for us to have photo ID every time we got on and off the ship. We were constantly reminded of this every evening, and at every excursion meet up. We carried our passports round for the entire week, and were never once asked to show them to get on/off the ship!

The Fantasy specific Christmas decorations sold out on the first full day! I was gutted! Get them quick if you want them!

We requested our own table for dinner, which we were given. However, it was clear that one long table had just been separated into two smaller tables, as we were served at exactly the same time as the family next to us. This was very annoying at times, because as I have already mentioned, they usually had one or two starters AND a soup before ordering their main, and we usually had to wait for them until our orders were taken. It was the only gripe we had with the dining. The servers did ask us every night if there was anything they could improve upon, but we felt like we would have been rude had we mentioned this, so we just put up with it. It was only really a major issue on one night as the two women from the other table disappeared for their toilet break before dessert and it lasted about 40 minutes, and we had to wait for them to come back! Worth noting if you ask for your own table. (Humberto was very kind though and ran off to make our desserts himself when we said we had a meet and greet scheduled for 7:15. Bless him!)

When arriving back to Port Canaveral, we did express walk-off (i.e. we took all our own luggage ourselves). Walking through security we saw all the other luggage lined up ready to be collected. At 7:15am, disembarkation began but it was only for people who had their own luggage. We got ‘landside’ and there was a woman at the helpdesk who had come all the way through without her luggage because ‘they wouldn’t let her stop to pick it up’. I thought it was absolutely hilarious – that’s what happens if you don’t follow the rules and try to sneak off the ship early!

Points for first timers

I thought I’d note down a few other points that might be useful for first timers, or things we wished we’d known before we went. If you’d like to ask anything and get an answer with the perspective of a first timer, please do feel free to ask!

Be aware that your credit card is put on file, and it is automatically charged when your account bill reaches $500. We weren’t really aware of this, and the excursions and tips (which they also automatically charge you) alone made up more than $500 so we were pretty much charged straight away. We were a bit naive and thought that we’d be charged for each excursion on or after the excursion took place. We wanted to pay some with cash and some with a Disney gift card, and went down on our third or fourth day to pay, and were told it had all already been charged to our credit card. Next time, I don’t think we would put a credit card on file (we thought we HAD to, but you don’t), and we would just pay cash/credit card as and when to give us a bit more control over what and when was being charged.

On formal night and pirate night, get into your outfits early for those character photos. We didn’t think people would change before dinner, but a lot of people started changing at about 4pm. All the characters were in their formal/pirate gear from 3pm-ish, so we missed out on some great photos on formal night because we weren’t dressed up yet! (We still got the photos, it just looks odd with Goofy in a tux and me in a t-shirt!). We learnt for pirate night though, and were dressed and in position for the first pirate photos at 3:45pm!

Photos are expensive – VERY expensive. They were about $20 a piece, and there were a couple of packages where you could get four or five prints for $60 - $80 depending on size. They also had a package for $350 which included ALL your photos as prints OR on a digital CD, and a $450 package that included ALL your photos as prints AND on a CD. What’s frustrating is that they print all your photos out anyway so you can look at them each day, so if they aren’t bought, they get chucked away! The quality of the photos is very good, and we did end up buying all the prints at $350 (and then scanning them all in at home to get digital versions) but we had about 150 photos so it wasn’t too bad. What I will say though, is decide whether you are going to get the package or not at the beginning of the cruise, and then have photos taken accordingly. We were certain we wouldn’t pay that much, so passed up on quite a few photos (e.g. at dinner, during embarkation, and we would have had more group and individual photos done with each character) so we could have had more. The $350 is the same whether you have 20 photos or 200 photos, so the more you get, the better!

Photoshoots – it’s not just character photos you can get. They had areas set up where you could have ‘professional’ photo shoots, i.e. on white backgrounds, like you would see at photography studios over here. If you are buying the package, it’s a great way to get posh photos of the family. Unfortunately we didn’t take advantage of those, as by the time we decided we’d get all the photos, it was too late to do that particular experience!

The stars on the carpet – this is a tip we learnt on our Imagineer’s ship tour, and will help you find your way if you get lost! There are stars on the carpets in the hallways outside of the stateroom. The stars point to the front of the ship. If only we’d known that sooner, we wouldn’t have spent far less time wondering where we were and which way to go! The point at the top points forward.


Plan your days - each night, when you get the Navigator for the following day, come up with an itinerary of things you want to do. It makes it so much easier for you to enjoy the day, and avoids walking around looking for things to do on the spot.

Fish Extenders are great fun – I would definitely look for your cruise’s group on Facebook and join in. It was very exciting coming back to our stateroom to find gifts waiting outside! Remember that American’s will go all out, so plan your own gifts in whatever way will make you feel less guilty!

Get to your lifeboat station early. You will get reminders about the mandatory lifeboat drill on the first day. Ours was at 4pm. They say when you hear the emergency call on the ships horn, go straight to your meeting point. Don’t wait for the horn – go early. At about 3:50 we made our way down to deck four, zone M and it was already packed. FYI, your lifeboat station is printed on your KTTW card (it’s the huge letter that takes up half the card!) and on your lifejackets which are in the stateroom wardrobe. On the back of your stateroom door there is also a main evacuation route, and a secondary evacuation route, so it’s worth noting them in case one is blocked in a real emergency. Don’t worry about getting lost (you will have only been on the ship for a couple of hours after all!) there are crew in high vis jackets stationed everywhere who will point you in the right direction.



Once on deck, they make you stand in a single file line with your family, shortest at the front and tallest at the back. They then come along and check one KTTW card from each family. They then give you a verbal demonstration of life jackets and talk about a few other things you may need to know in case of an emergency. They then sound the emergency ship horn and the sirens so you know what they sound like, then you are free to go. If you are lucky, like us, you will get organised, and then be moved again because it started to rain (having several hundred people squeezing underneath a handful of lifeboats to shelter from the rain was more chaos than it sounds! ) If you follow the instructions, it’s a quick, simple task and shouldn’t be missed.

Don’t go to the shopping talk. I knew this already but another family member (Snack Packer, for those of you that are familiar with my travel companions!) insisted we go ‘because of all the vouchers’. I wasted over an hour of my life in that room, and the vouchers are only valid if you are planning to spend several million dollars on diamonds, basically. You even have to go and find shops in port to collect the ‘free’ items you are promised for attending the talk. I missed seeing Inside Out because of that talk – a lot of “see, you should have listened to Jason” happened afterwards

If you don’t want to have your photo taken just before you board the ship, there is a line to bypass it. We only knew that because a family in front asked a cast member. Literally everybody else was having the pictures done. The bypass line was on the far right as you go through the Mickey shaped arch towards the ship.

When you arrive at the port, porters will take your luggage, you have no choice. They do expect a tip, so have it ready. I knew this, but stupidly didn’t have it ready. The porters are quite forceful about expecting a tip – they make it known that that is what they want. They are extremely nice and extremely friendly (not nasty or rude in any way – well, ours wasn’t!) but they are so overly nice in a ‘give me a tip’ sort of way, if that makes sense, so don’t be alarmed when they start saying they’ll do anything you want and will buy you jewels and wash your feet. All they want is $5

Luggage – despite having your cases taken all at once, they don’t arrive at your stateroom all at once. Several arrived within half an hour of each other, and the other one wasn’t there until we got back from dinner, so don’t panic if they aren’t all outside your stateroom at once.

Talking of tips, you get left little envelopes ready to give out on your last night. There is one for your room attendant, server, assistant server and head server. There is also a piece of paper detailing how much you have tipped each person, and you rip it up into slips to put into the correct envelopes. We were adamant we thought the tips were ludicrous (several hundred dollars!) and even the notion of putting extra in turned our stomachs before the cruise, but I have to say, we all agreed the staff deserved it. Cast members at WDW could really learn a thing or two from the DCL crew! Not only did we pay the full recommended tip (we hardly ever do that at WDW), we put some extra cash in Humberto’s envelope and a note thanking him for all his hard work. We felt he really had gone above and beyond. If only we could find him on Facebook – we could be friends forever!



We were told repeatedly that the best place to watch the pirate show and fireworks was right in front of the Aquaduck entrance. It wasn’t. We had a great view of the show, but the fireworks were let off behind us, and the funnel obstructed the view slightly. I think the best place would be against the railing on the left hand side of ship about halfway between the Aquaduck entrance and the stage at the opposite funnel. We’d have had a better view of the fireworks there and would have still been able to see the show. The deck gets crowded quickly, so get up there early for a front row spot!

if you want to get as many photos as possibles it's characters in different outfits, check out the wall in Shutters. Every day they have a wall of photos showing photo opportunities that will be on the ship that day, so you will be able to see exactly who is going to be around, and what they will be wearing.

Do make the effort to go to the final Kiss Goodbye character show if you like that sort of thing. It’s small and fairly intimate and for us, it was a really magical, tear jerking way to end the cruise.

Express walk off was great – we chose to take our own luggage and get off the ship first. We just didn’t fancy the faff of looking for our luggage in the terminal, despite that fact DCL seemed to make it as easy as possible. Disembarkation was supposed to begin at 7:15am and we were down in the atrium with our luggage at about 7, and the queues were already long. They worked through them super quickly though and we were landside waiting for our transfer back to WDW by 7:30. Don’t forget to tell your servers on the final night if you won’t be joining them for the seated breakfast on disembarkation morning!

---

Well, there we have it. I'm sure I've missed a ton of things out, but you'll have to deal with it. I might add more things in when I think of them, you never know! We had an absolute blast on the ship, and will enjoy it even more next time (yes, there WILL be a next time!) now we know how everything works. The next job is to decide which itinerary to go for next! I would also like to say a quick thanks to everyone on here (especially Joa/Bats) who persuaded me to take the plunge and book, and then answered my stupid questions every step of the way. There'll be many more to come!

Over the next couple of days I will be posting a trip report style write up of our day at Castaway Cay, so look out for that. I should be at school setting up my classroom, but this is way more fun

Se ya real soon!
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Edited at 04:05 PM.
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Old 25 Aug 15, 02:01 PM  
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Mickeys Mrs
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Loved reading this, and so so helpful. Thank You xx

Sounds like an amazing cruise
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Old 25 Aug 15, 02:07 PM  
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Great report, thanks for sharing! I'm looking forward to seeing your CC day report
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Old 25 Aug 15, 02:18 PM  
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gismo1554
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Firstly love the fact you took the time to write a review like this. I've cruised with DCL for awhile and still love seeing what other people think about it.

I however always have starter, soup/salad, main & dessert as half the time I don't like what I've ordered! Also I have always known everyone on my table to do the same. You are on vacation and the food is free so why wouldn't you try things? Didn't know others might be studying me lol I also can't use a knife properly so heaven help me if I'm next to you on a cruise! I don't however feel the need to announce toilet breaks but am large! I wasn't however on the table next to you just pointing out that people are different and I am sure if the people you were next to read this they might be a bit upset about it.

Can I ask what early morning activities you are referring to? Normally these don't start til after 9am so curious as I am an early starter and on a cruise next month. Just wondering if this is a new trend and what fun activities I could be doing.

As for the last night show they tend to not make it big as some people skip it to pack but I completely agree with you! I rarely end up going as its just a bit too dire. The comedians again I tend to think are hit or miss and more fillers than actual entertainment.

Weirdly I have also found that anyone who knows Peter Pan is actually quite utterly mad and gets involved in everything! It must be something to do with pixie dust.

Oh and yes the bamboo socks are the best thing I've ever brought and I want more!

With regards to Castaway 5k - quick question (although I will be waiting on the report too) did you walk or run? And did you get your medal?

With regards to the photo people on the ship, they are REAL photographers employed by an outside company whle photopass people are Disney employees so they are much better photos. This is also why they are not meant to take photos with guests cameras as its against their contracts with the photo studio themselves.

With regards to service, usually a server will actually serve all his section at the same time and not just serve one table at a time. Usually they have 3-4 tables although sometimes (depending on numbers) it can be less or more. It sounds like maybe you just got a server who was determined to stick to this policy and couldn't adapt to the various parties in his section! Usually they will try to adapt to each table individually but I guess maybe the other table were so demanding they got caught up?

With the credit card thing just to add, I think if you don't put cash or something on the room straight away they block all charging privaledges. Just wanted to make people aware of this as I think this is why they recommend you put a credit card down. Don't know what happens if you don't and have trips booked mind?

Glad though that overall you seem to have had a good time and enjoyed the cruise!
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Old 25 Aug 15, 02:35 PM  
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Originally Posted by gismo1554 View Post
Firstly love the fact you took the time to write a review like this. I've cruised with DCL for awhile and still love seeing what other people think about it.

I however always have starter, soup/salad, main & dessert as half the time I don't like what I've ordered! Also I have always known everyone on my table to do the same. You are on vacation and the food is free so why wouldn't you try things? Didn't know others might be studying me lol I also can't use a knife properly so heaven help me if I'm next to you on a cruise! I don't however feel the need to announce toilet breaks but am large! I wasn't however on the table next to you just pointing out that people are different and I am sure if the people you were next to read this they might be a bit upset about it.
Sorry, I didn't mean to offend! They didn't seem to have any idea how to behave though and I would have been mortified if any of my family behaved the way they did some of the time in such a posh place. I have nothing against people trying new food/multiple dishes (we did!) but the annoying thing was having to wait until they were done with all their courses before our next course was delivered.


Can I ask what early morning activities you are referring to? Normally these don't start til after 9am so curious as I am an early starter and on a cruise next month. Just wondering if this is a new trend and what fun activities I could be doing.
An animation drawing class, the final showing of Inside Out at the cinema, and a couple of other things of which I can't remember (and the Navigators have all been filed away in the scrapbook bag!)


With regards to Castaway 5k - quick question (although I will be waiting on the report too) did you walk or run? And did you get your medal?
I ran, as did most people, and yes I got the medal! When booking our tickets I did ask if it could be walked (I wasn't intending to walk, I was just curious) and the cast member said it could, but you can only be out there for a certain amount of time before they call the race off and collect everybody in.


With regards to service, usually a server will actually serve all his section at the same time and not just serve one table at a time. Usually they have 3-4 tables although sometimes (depending on numbers) it can be less or more. It sounds like maybe you just got a server who was determined to stick to this policy and couldn't adapt to the various parties in his section! Usually they will try to adapt to each table individually but I guess maybe the other table were so demanding they got caught up?
Not totally sure which point you are referring to here, but our servers were both great! As I say, the only annoying thing was having to wait for the other table to finish.


With the credit card thing just to add, I think if you don't put cash or something on the room straight away they block all charging privaledges. Just wanted to make people aware of this as I think this is why they recommend you put a credit card down. Don't know what happens if you don't and have trips booked mind?!
We chatted to the cast member about this when paying. You can choose to just have 'cash' noted down as your method of payment, and you can then just go and pay at Guest Services as and when you're ready. However, with any bill that reaches $500, they will suspend charging privileges until that bill is paid if they cannot automatically charge it to a card. So I guess that means that if your excursions and tips add up to more than $500 straight away then you are right, you wouldn't be able to purchase anything until you'd paid the bill.
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Old 25 Aug 15, 02:48 PM  
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Your Cozumel low made me smile! We were unlucky enough to have our cruise re-routed there when hurricane Flloyd was "performing" We were so disappointed but the crew were ecstatic to have a change from CC and Bahamas! Anyway,the port day was AWFUL! We walked along as you did-but our view was of multitudes of dilapidated, rusty,and dirty old VW BeetleCozumelian! cabs! and drivers calling out for business! After a "glance" at the shops we went straight back to the ship! Not nice at all! Thank you so much for the rest of report,really enjoyed it. Linda
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Old 25 Aug 15, 02:56 PM  
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Jason

we are thinking of doing a cruise next year.

I have never read a more comprehensive, helpful and honest trip report on the DIBB ever.

Thank you, I think that should qualify for a sticky on the Cruise Planning forum...

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Old 25 Aug 15, 03:02 PM  
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gismo1554
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Originally Posted by Imagineer2802 View Post
Sorry, I didn't mean to offend! They didn't seem to have any idea how to behave though and I would have been mortified if any of my family behaved the way they did some of the time in such a posh place. I have nothing against people trying new food/multiple dishes (we did!) but the annoying thing was having to wait until they were done with all their courses before our next course was delivered.
Don't worry I am fairly sure I am not as bad as these people but just thought I'd mention it as was suddenly made aware of my weird eating habits! I am very concious about my knife skills anyway so I know I look like a weirdo when eating a steak hence don't order them often. I may however warn my table mates about my knife skills on the first night so no one looks at me like I'm a nutter. I'd blame my parents for not teaching me to use a knife but they did and everyone else in my family is fine with them its just me that seems to have forgotten how to use it properly. I end up just hacking at things.

And I agree that waiting for it was a bit mad! I hope though that this was just bad luck and not the norm!

An animation drawing class, the final showing of Inside Out at the cinema, and a couple of other things of which I can't remember (and the Navigators have all been filed away in the scrapbook bag!)
Oh right OK will have to keep an eye out! On my last cruise it was like nothing started til 9 and by then I had had about 10 coffees lol.

I ran, as did most people, and yes I got the medal! When booking our tickets I did ask if it could be walked (I wasn't intending to walk, I was just curious) and the cast member said it could, but you can only be out there for a certain amount of time before they call the race off and collect everybody in.
Well that's OK. I look far too weird trying to run that I think I might try and walk it! Looking forward to your report though to get some more info. From what I've read its an hour they leave people out there and I think I can walk it in that time just not 100% sure.


Not totally sure which point you are referring to here, but our servers were both great! As I say, the only annoying thing was having to wait for the other table to finish.
Sorry was just referring to the bit about splitting tables. Usually all servers do serve there tables at the same time (starter wise) but then adjust based on whats been ordered. It just sounded like yours maybe didn't.

We chatted to the cast member about this when paying. You can choose to just have 'cash' noted down as your method of payment, and you can then just go and pay at Guest Services as and when you're ready. However, with any bill that reaches $500, they will suspend charging privileges until that bill is paid if they cannot automatically charge it to a card. So I guess that means that if your excursions and tips add up to more than $500 straight away then you are right, you wouldn't be able to purchase anything until you'd paid the bill.
Oh great to know! I have always been curious as to how this works and always been "frightened" into putting credit card just in case. Sounds like its pretty easy to sort.
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