January 2013 Disney Cruise

January 2013 – Disney Cruise

We booked last year to go on a Disney cruise with my daughter Samantha, her husband Jeff and grandkids, Brandon and Brittany.  It finally arrived and we left Fort Myers and met them in Orlando, and left for the cruise ship the next day in Cape Canaveral.  Packed six of us and all the luggage in the truck and away we went.  It was only about a 45 minute drive from Orlando, on toll road all the way and instructions were very good for parking at the cruise terminal.

Saturday, January 12   

We boarded around 1:00 and our rooms were ready by 1:30 so we had lunch first and then to the rooms to drop off baggage.  Since we left from Orland, we were all dressed for warm weather.

We spent the rest of the day checking out the ship and programs, getting our bearings and chilling by the pool – they had a welcome aboard and we left port around 4:00 to the sounds of “When you wish upon a star”.

Waiting patiently for our ship to board

Dumbo on the stern

Mouse ears everywhere

Big ship

 

 

The Disney cruise line offers “rotational dining” which means you have the same servers at every dinner at the different restaurants.  We had an 8:15 dinner seating and there were 3 may restaurants as well as two adult only and a casual restaurant on the deck. We had no problem with the late seating and by the second day, decided it was really the best one.  We could be hanging around the pool, doing any activities, get to see and early show and still have time to get changed and ready for dinner without rushing.  There were planned activities and clubs for all age groups from infants to teens.  Brittany got involved with her group and Brandon with his.  We had the first two days at sea so we all got to check out the ship and the amenities.  The kids had a blast, had something to do every day if they wanted.  Some days we hardly ever saw them, they knew where to find us or their parents to check in.  All of the rooms had wave phones, which could be used anywhere on the ship so this helped keep us in touch, as well they have phones on decks, similar to hotels.

The first restaurant we went to was called Animators Pallet where we met our wait staff; they had our names and called us by them the whole time.  Got along great with the kids the whole time, and did pay attention to what we ordered and liked or did not.  If there was a meal they were serving that the kids did not particularly like, they could order from kids menu. So could we, as Sam did order desert from that menu a couple of times!!!

 

The meals the first 3 nights were different in each of the restaurants so that everyone had a chance at the different dining options- Animators pallet was Pacific Rim, Enchanted Garden was Continental and Royal Court was French.

 

This restaurant had screens in the walls all around and it was the sea characters from Nemo talking and swimming around.  Found out during dinner that it was also inter active, turtle spoke to people at some of the tables, was really cute.

 

 

The second night we had dinner at Enchanted Garden, this restaurant had the ceiling colours changing all the time, the lights were flowers that were opening and closing. This was formal night so we were all dressed up.  Had our picture taken on the grand staircase and this is one of the pictures I did get.  As I did not take any jackets for Ken, I had Sam pack one we left at her house to bring to us, glad I did.  I had a skirt so just needed to added top and jewelry and I was set.

 

The third night, my birthday, we had dinner at Royal Court which was all about princesses and royals.  The menu for that night was French which worked out great; I even got to have my Crème Brule for desert!  It was very nice except that Sam went and told them it was so we had the staff signing Happy Birthday which is always embarrassing around a bunch of strangers… but I also was served chocolate cake as well, so when it is “let them eat cake” can be all bad….

As mentioned, the kids had a separate section the different age groups so that they could do activities that interested them.  Brandon took to is like a fish to water – got involved in a lot of the activities, even made a movie and had the starring role, unfortunately we did not have a movie camera and they did not give out the movie, but he was leading zombies away so had to be a good guy.

Brittany got out with different activities they did daily as well.

We did a wine tasting on ship as well as a behind the scenes tour.  Can’t get any tours of any of the captain’s areas any more apparently since 9/11 they don’t allow, which would be similar to going in the cockpit of an airplane – that neither.

 

Sunday January 13

We started day at breakfast on the deck – this restaurant was in the theme of Finding Nemo – fish sculptures and the mosaic on the walls were amazing. (Pictures did not come out of these which is a shame).  Seagulls all over the walls (fake of course). This was the main buffet breakfast and lunch restaurant; we had breakfast there every day, was nice and could sit outside in the fresh air.  The rest of the day was at the pool and the bar.  Sam and Brandon and I went and had our pictures taken with different characters and a few pictures of each other in one of the gift shops.  This is where my Goofy fetish came in. This is also where your kids take your picture but you also get there’s!!

My favourite Grandson

My Favourite Daughter

My favourite embarasssing picture!

 

 

 

They were taking pictures the whole time we were on board and would be just too expensive to buy them all.  I did get my picture taken with Goofy (and Ken too). We had one taken on formal night of us and the kids had a picture they had taken with Goofy that I bought as well.

 

 

Our ports were St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Tuesday, January 15 – St Thomas, US Virgin Islands

The kids all went on a beach and snorkeling tour on the island and Ken and I did a walking tour to into Charlotte Amelie about  1 1\2 miles from ship. We decided to take our time and walk; they had mentioned we could get a cab for $4.00. Also, they drive on the opposite side of the road so had to be careful when we were crossing the street.  We walked along the board walk and looked at all the yachts in the harbor.  They were amazing, most had hot tubs and some even had helicopter pads.  As we were walking along this area, there were signs advising no picture taking allowed, must be pretty important people.  We did take a few from the other side once we were out of the immediate area as the town is not private.

 

We passed Fort Christian on the way in; it was under renovation and has apparently been that way now for several years so we could not go in.  “Fort Christian is a Danish-built fort in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas Islands Governor Jørgen Iversen Dyppel led the second expeditionary force from Denmark to St. Thomas, where he arrived on 25 May 1672; there, he initiated construction of Fort Christian, named after King Christian V. In the 18th century, the fort was expanded and in 1874 a new entrance with a Victorian Clock tower was added. As the oldest standing structure in the U.S. Virgin Islands, this fort has served as a town center, a government building, and a jail.  Date over the main gate is 1671.” Wp

Fort Christian

Houses in mountain side

 

 

They have quite a bit of shopping but mostly artwork and jewelry.  As I can’t keep any on the trailer, we were just window shopping and having a nice walk. 

We met back up with the kids on the ship and that night was Pirate night and we had pirate menu.  One of the things on the menu was ribs and Brandon really liked them.  He was discussing whether he could order move, Sam said that probably not, I said definitely could so problem solved, waiter listening and brought him another full plate – he ate it all – he is a growing boy….

 

After dinner, they had a Pirate show on deck with all the gang, Captain Hook took over ship from our crew – we saw them all tied up on the bridge, but all ended well when Captain Jack arrived and got rid of Hook and Smee and his crew.  He had the fire gauntlet and set it off.  Fireworks as sea were amazing!! 

Following this they had an open buffet – we just finished dinner at 9:30 so no way could we even think of food, but boy there were a lot of people at buffet.

 

Wednesday January 16 – San Juan, Puerto Rico

We arrived in San Juan at 8:00 am and we took a guided city tour of Old San Juan and Bacardi factory tour.  It was raining as we were leaving so were given Disney ponchos, did not need as the driver was driving most of the rain time. 

We stopped at the 16^th century fort called El Moro. Castillo San Felipe del Morro, (El Morro) sits atop a high promontory overlooking the entrance to the San Juan Bay. It is the result of the efforts of Spanish engineers over a period of more than 250 years and is one of the largest fortifications built by the Spain in the Caribbean. Although its foundation was laid in 1539, the six-level fortification was not considered complete until 1787. During World War II, the U.S. government added an artillery fire control station. El Morro suffered several attacks from the English in 1595 and 1598 and the Dutch in 1625. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, United States Navy ships fired upon the fortification, destroying the lighthouse, which was later restored.  ws

We had a guided tour, went down into the dungeon – very narrow and hot, did not like that part much but then we were up on top at the ramparts.  Guide was very informative, local obviously and proud of his area.  While in the ramparts, everytime I looked out of the guns holes, I was afraid I would be face to face with our iguana!!! (see picture below).

Once we were out, the view from the top was amazing, you could see all around the old town area and some of the government buildings.

Actual Iguana in the ramparts

 

 

From there we went to the Bacardi factory for a tour.  We had two drink tickets each included in the tour.  They showed us a brief video history, went to the area they had the vats, had a demonstration n from bar tender on how to make the original Cuba Libra – which is Coca Cola, lime and Bacardi, and Mojito.  Obviously, we did not get a tour of the actual working factory which would be due to health and safety reasons, have had this before on tours. But it was still interesting.  Apparently there was a ruling in 1937 that anyone ordering a drink with Bacardi, must be served that by law and any drink that was invented by them as in a Cuba Libra, must have same ingredients.  They are pretty big!!!  We were not allowed pictures inside where the vats were so, only have a few of these shots

 

Entrance to tour area

Jeff, Ken and Brandon

Bacardi Bat

 

The rum was not any cheaper there than we had been paying at our winter home (much better if you are coming from Canada) so my daughter bought some rum on the islands. 

We had a time change  during the cruise as well, so had a little jet (boat) lag happening.

Thursday January 17 – at sea

 

The ship’s whistle is amazing, when we leave port it plays the first few lines of “When you wish upon a star”. It also can play the second line “makes no difference who you are” as well as “Yo Ho, a pirates life for me, “it’s a small world” (Disney Land), “Be our guest” (Beauty & the Beast) “Hi diddle dee dee (An actor’s life for me - Pinocchio) and “A dream is a wish (Cinderella) which they played a couple of times at noon when we were at sea. As we leave ports, other cruise ship passengers are on their deck taking pictures and listening, pretty amazing.

This was a day at sea so we saw an early show that day and that evening was semi-formal and a captain’s gala.  Had drinks with Captain, picture taking and talking to the crew as well.  Dinner that night was lobster which was great for 4 of our group. Entertainment that night was a due balled “Buckets and boards” – they use actual buckets, plastic ones like you get large quantities of oil or lard as drums as well as they had guitars and banjos.  Comedy routine in between was pretty funny.  On the way out, Sam grabbed one for a picture.

 

Sam and half of Buckets and Boards



 

 

Friday January 18 – Castaway Cay

This is an island in the Bahamas exclusive to Disney – which was going to be our relax and beach day.  The only problem is this was the coldest day only 69/21 – ok temperature is relative but it did not warm up until later in the afternoon.  We went to the adult side of the island but this was the side facing the ocean and the wind was really cool so we toured the island, had bbq, then met up with the kids at 3:00 for snorkeling and feed the stingrays.  The water was not very cold so that was nice, the stingrays are kind of slimy feeling – they have cut down their barbs,not removed them, so they don’t sting people.  They have an apparatus that they swim up to that you can feed them, either raw shrimp or stingray jello, a prepared food with nutrients for them.  They also had quite a few fish swimming around, pretty big, they said were snapper.  Since I don’t like snorkeling, we just swam around with them.

Beach Atlantic side

Stingrays

Brittany, Sam and Stringrays

 

We were back on ship for 4:00 – listened to debarkation information and packed up so that we could have luggage ready to go when we get back from dinner and put away balance of clothes. We went to see the farewell show and then we all met for dinner again at the Animator’s palace and this time, we all were given place mats when we sat down to draw a figure in – they had it so you had a face, arms, legs and put your name and table number on.  They then took these and animated them so that you would see your tables pictures dancing and signing on the screen, real animators stuff, really cool

See detail on side of plate - Mickey and brush, - Animator's Pallet

 

 

These were drawing we did on paper and they animated

 

After dinner, went to see Brandon in their show “Zombiefied”, as I said, would have like movie camera then remembered my camera does take videos and by the time I figured it out, it was over.  Was not a long Cecil B DE mille epic.

Brandon and Brittany then took off to say goodbye to their buddies, Sam and Jeff went back to their room and Ken and I went for a glass of champagne on the Meridian deck – was a little windy back there, so took our champagne back to our room and sat on our deck.  

Saturday January 19 - disembark

We had sit down breakfast at restaurant we had dinner with the night before, so that we would say goodbye to wait staff and pass along tips if we wanted to (we did).

There were line ups to disembark, but since we were driving and not taking any tours, we decided to just sit on deck and wait.  Found out that ship had been delayed with disembarking; while we were on Castaway Cay, someone had an accident on the bicycles and there was an ambulance waiting to take them.  There was also a death on the ship (an older person) and they left first then the rest could disembark.  Found out who it was as they were a group that Sam and Jeff had met up with on deck. 

 

There are a few pictures of us, but we could never all seem to get together except at dinner and this is only time i did not seem to have my camera and since I was the one taking most of them, except for professionals, I did what I could.  You may also notice there are more pictures of Brandon, well that is because Brittany is quite a bit like her Grandmother and does not like picture taken......

 

Brandon and Grandpa (Ken)

Grandpa and Brittany

Samantha and Jeff

Jeff, Brandon and Samantha

Sandra and Jeff

 

Synopsis:

Just a few items in regards to the cruise.  The service was amazing, the rotational dining element was interesting and since we had table for the six of us, was not uncomfortable.  We had cruised previously with Norwegian and enjoyed that fact that we could have dinner at any time we wanted, but this assigned seating worked out well.  The food the whole time was exceptional, we only had breakfast on deck, not sit down but that worked best for us as could come and go as we pleased.  Ken was up earlier most mornings and could go for a coffee.  Even though it was family centric, the dining room never seemed to have screaming kids, maybe because we had a later time, but there were definitely kids everywhere.  (probably all on best behavior)  There were several couples on board that did not have any children that had taken cruise with Disney before; some couples really like this idea with younger children as they could enjoy themselves and the nurseries were really good.

There were quite a few adult only area – 18 and over – the odd kid would wander in as it was an open deck, but they were mostly a little older and just checking in with parents.  These areas were quieter.  Two dining options, but when we were going to book on line before they left the one we wanted said fully booked but when we were on board, they had availability a couple of times so always check – the one day was my birthday but I wanted to be with kids so would not have taken it.  These do have an added charge, the Italian – Palo was $20.00 which was ok as we did that on other cruises, but the French one – Remy’s was $75:00 a head and always had openings.

The shows on the ship were really good, of course they had Disney themes and characters, but the great part is, since they own them all, they can use the songs, characters, etc. any time they want.  Totally professional shows every night – we did not miss any. Since they were at 6:15 and 8:15, with our late dinner let us see them early and still make dinner. After dinner, they had entertainment for adults and kids alike.  They had a movie theater with current Disney offerings, Lincoln was playing and except for the fact that it was 2:30 hours long and middle of the day, I would have like to see it.

There were enough pools for everyone – even had two adult only pools which was great.  Only thing, same as any resort/cruise, there is always someone holding chairs with towels and no one around.

We had one bad night at sea, they ship was moving the fastest speed overnight and the room was actually shaking and the bed was vibrating; the whole room was creaking and the bathroom doors were banging – I needed to put something in the door frame to stop it. We had bad seas on a previous cruise to Hawaii but it was just bumpy at night, no noise or vibrations. We assume they were trying to make up time overnight.

This cruise line allows you to take wine and liquor on board; there was no limit that we were told as long as it was in your carry on. You are allowed to drink in your room but not on deck.  If we do again, I am going to take a carry on with wheels, can put in more and easier to carry. This worked for us as we were already down here and could bring from home.  If you fly in, you would not be able to do this since you can’t take on plane – another reason for leaving a day ahead of cruise, not same day (another story!!!)

I would recommend this to anyone – it is not a cheap one, but the kids if under 17 are cheaper and everything on board for them is included, it would be a great getaway.

They also have a pop, coffee and water station on the deck – other ships have you pay a fee for soda but since there are so many kids on this one, makes more sense this way, then they are not at bar looking for their soft drinks.  Also, makes it easy to pick up mix, just bring back in paper cups to your room.

 So this ends our tail of Joy and Mice and Men and Goofy too and Goodbye to you and you and you.....