Our second cruise, high, not so highs and what next!

[Mad Mark]

2 years ago we took our first ever cruise which was a 3 day DCL to Nassau and Castaway Cay. We came off the cruise not really sure if cruising was for us and thinking that perhaps we didn't make the most of it. After Mrs MadMark advised me you could visit Chichen Itza on a western Caribbean cruise we decided to give it another try as I have always wanted to visit Chichen Itza. Here are my highs, not so highs and next steps

Highs:

Cozumel and Chichen Itza - After booking the cruise I found out the excursion to Chichen Itza was 30 minutes on a ferry and then 2 hours on a coach each way. I searched for alternatives and found Fly Cozumel. We were collected from the port, driven to Cozumel airport, flown by private plane (me, the Mrs, pilot and guide) to Chichen Itza airport where we were the ONLY plane there, transferred by waiting taxi to Chichen Itza where our own guide was waiting for us. We then spent around 2 hours with our guide exploring the ruins which were incredible. We then repeated the trip back all seamlessly. I should state it was expensive but wow what a once in a lifetime experience.

Grand Caymen - We loved this place with the people being so friendly and did an excursion on a "submarine" which was good fun.

Palo - We had an evening meal here, what an experience with superb food and service. Its the only restaurant where she took away my napkin and brought one to match my suit!

At sea days - Just sitting there on a lounger relaxing, doing very little

Our room host - we celebrated our wedding anniversary whilst on board and came back to this

Not so highs:

Selling beer packages - 5 times we got asked if we wanted to buy the beer/water packages within two hours of getting on the ship. They weren't pushy but i did get fed up with it.

Soup - Don't know if it was just us but the soup was always luke warm.

Castaway Cay - We could not get into Castaway Cay due to the winds and currents which was disappointing but fully understandable. Was surprised at Disney as they didn't seem to have a backup plan and seemed to take them ages to get onboard activities arranged. I know its not that unusual for them to not be able to dock here so i assumed they would have had a "plan b" for just such an occasion.

Dunns Falls and Jamaica - Jamaica is really a place of extremes with shacks next to 4 star hotels. We did the excursion to Dunns falls, whilst the climb up the waterfalls was great the edge was taken off by our two guides constantly pushing for tips "we look after you, you look after us" and the walk through the craft market to exit was a bit intimidating.


Next Steps:

I now get cruising completely and we are total converts! We already have next years holiday booked as we are taking the grown up kids for a 3 night DCL cruise and then 10 days in WDW. But in 2021 we are planning to do an Alaskan cruise out of San Francisco with Princess cruise lines so if anyone has any experience of this cruise i would interested to hear.

[Melanie R]

I have just returned from cruising Alaska with Princess and it was the most amazing trip I’ve taken. My highlight was visiting Glacier Bay which was the reason I chose Princess as not all cruise lines have permits to sail there. I don’t think you will be disappointed.
I’m writing up a trippie at the moment, should get to the Alaska days soon!

[Bozza]

I thought the same on the drinks package punting that we experienced on our cruise in August.

It did seem quite relentless - presumably as the chaps work on commission - and they want to get people before they commit to someone else.

Regardless, I'm not sure what feels like pressured selling is what Disney want people to experience when they've only just got on board.

[jlbf06]

Sounds like an amazing trip to Chichen Itza! Our last cruise in 2018 had a similar itinerary but not Jamaica. I’m interested in your comment about the water/beer package as our biggest disappointment was the fact that we were unknowingly unsold water at the dining table. We didn’t even realise until the end of the meal, the server just said how lovely the water was etc. She also upsold the children on milkshakes which made us very uncomfortable. We left feedback and with hindsight should have changed servers because it really left a bad feeling for the rest of the week. We’ve bitten the bullet and are going back for the 2020 ebta and hope that this isn’t going to happen again as DCL assured us that it isn’t their policy to pressure sell guests.

[gismo1554]

Originally Posted by Mad Mark

Soup - Don't know if it was just us but the soup was always luke warm.

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OMG not just you! Its a cruise line thing I think as been on other lines and always have the same problem. I like "hot" soup and theirs clearly isn't.