Paradise with Mickey
Written: Dec 31 '02 (Updated Feb 02 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Food was great, ship was very clean, servers were awesome!
Cons: Guest Services BIT!!
The Bottom Line: Other than Guest Services, it is a fantastic family trip. If you are considering it, you should go. Just beware.
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| zithro's Full Review: Disney Wonder |
WOW. What a vacation.
Before I dig right into the meat and potatoes, I want to give you a few little appetizers.
We booked our vacation one year prior to our departure date. We planned to go at Christmastime and we knew it would be full, so we booked December 28 of 2001. We booked the 3-day land/4-day sea package. We went from December 19 – December 26 in 2002. With a year to wait until our much desired vacation, we needed something to keep the anticipation up. Our trip consisted of myself, my husband and our 5-year-old daughter. We are all huge Disney fans.
We began our voyage by surfing the net quite a bit. We searched high and low for anything and everything that would assist us in getting the best deal for our money as well as making sure we took advantage of all of the advice out there. I would like to suggest a few websites to you at this time.
http://allearsnet.com (sign up for the newsletter)
http://wdwig.com/ (another part of allearsnet.com - loads and loads of helpful info)
http://www.wdisneyw.co.uk/ (loads of information)
http://www.disneyworld.com (duh)
http://www.disneycruise.com (duh)
In addition, booking that early saved us over $1800 as well.
TIPS & SUGGESTIONS FOR KEEPING THE FUN/EXCITEMENT ALIVE
In addition to this, two months prior to our departure date, we decided to create a “Countdown to Disney Calendar.” We took a poster board and carefully made 2 months of squares on it counting down each day. On the last day we used stickers spelling out “DISNEY WORLD”. We visited http://www.disneyclipart.com for clipart and used the Disney Characters for our calendar. As each day passed by, we taped a Disney cut-out onto the calendar. When it got down to the last few weeks, we could hardly breathe. We were overwhelmed with excitement. This is a great thing to do if you have little ones. They will love it, though it is fun for the whole family. Our trip was absolutely fantastic. We had a grand time. The fun began from the moment we woke in the morning. Our flight took off at 6:45 AM, so we had to be at the airport early. We did not care, we were going to Walt Disney World.
Onto the review…………
BOOKING YOUR VACATION
When you book your vacation, look into booking your airline tickets with a major carrier instead of through Disney. We saved so much money booking our flight through American Airlines instead of having Disney do it for us. Disney does not guarantee a nonstop flight, they cannot guarantee your carrier and they cannot guarantee your time of arrival. They can only tell you that you can call them 30 days prior to departure and get your information. This was disappointing because we could arrive too late to go to the parks and the first day on our trip would be wasted on waiting. We went straight to American Airlines (the carrier we wanted) got a nonstop flight and a flight schedule that would allow us to spend the entire day in the parks. On top of that, we saved over $500 by booking them ourselves.
You can book your Disney cruise vacation by calling Disney Cruise Lines at 800.951.3532. I called about 15 times between the moment I booked until the day I left to get various pieces of information. With the exception of one person, everybody I spoke to was very nice and more than willing to spend any amount of time on the phone with me to answer my questions and address my concerns. It was like having 10 travel agents at my disposal.
WDW & THE PORT ORLEANS FRENCH QUARTER
I will not elaborate too much on the WDW portion. I really want to focus on the cruise; however the WDW visit was part of the package I booked. The rooms were nice, but the bathroom in our resort room was smellier and dirtier than any bathroom in the WDW parks. I am talking truck stop smell. I was so glad when it was time to leave the room for the day.
The French Quarter was very nice, the people were awesome and though the food at the resort restaurant “Sassagoula River” was very expensive, it was good. I was surprised. It is cheaper to eat in the parks than eating at the resort.
Also, you are given a “Key to the World” card when you check into the resort and that covers your stay. It is yours to keep as a souvenir as well. This opens your resort room door, gets you into the parks, gets you on the ship, makes your purchases on the ship, gets you on and off ports on the ship (in addition to your proof of ID) and it also unlocks and locks the safe in your stateroom.
Okay – the meat and potatoes…………and onto the cruise.
CHECKING IN & BOARDING THE SHIP
When booking a Land and Sea package, you are checked into the cruise at the resort. All your have to do is make sure that your key to the world card has the entire dates of your vacation stay on it and you are good to go. When you first go into Port Canaveral, you will see a huge group of people on your left checking in and you will get to go straight ahead with your card to the short little line of people and get right on the ship. As you get closer and you are almost there, they begin taking your souvenir photos. They snap one of your family by a sign that says “WELCOME” and then onto the ship you go. You walk onto the ship and you are in immediate awe. Somebody with a microphone asks your family name, you tell them and they say……..”Everybody Welcome the xxxxx FAMILY.” Already you feel like royalty and the magic is already beginning. You cannot immediately go to your stateroom, but who cares? They offer you a nice lunch in Parrot Cay as soon as you board, there are Bahama Mama’s everywhere and there is already so much to see that you are not thinking about your stateroom or your luggage.
DISNEY WONDER
The ship is beautiful. Eleven beautiful decks of Disney, wonder, excitement and magic. You are already in Wonderland the moment you step on that boat. Alice has seen nothing. There is something everywhere you look. We went at Christmas, so the ship was beautifully decorated. A huge tree in the Atrium, holly, wreaths, garland, a gingerbread house and more. Needless to say, the place is just as beautiful without the Christmas decorations.
FOOD/RESTAURANTS
PARROT CAY
This very colorful and tropical looking restaurant has really good food. We had a buffet waiting for us when we boarded the ship and the food was fantastic. When we had our dinner seating there the first night, it was nothing less than wonderful. The appetizers were great, the main course was even better and the melt-in-your-mouth desserts were delectable. I had a rib-eye for dinner. I am not much of a red meat eater, but I decided that I was tired of chicken and fish and I was going to have lots of steak on the cruise. Boy am I glad I did. I had a Crème Brulee Cheesecake for dessert. I highly recommend you try it. It is sure to satisfy even the pickiest cheesecake eaters.
TRITON’S
The food at Triton's was very good. The atmosphere was not as Disney as I expected. I expected to see Ariel, Flounder, King Triton, Sebastian and the whole "Under the Sea" theme, but it was more like a three or four star restaurant. After my two strawberry daiquiris, I had a crave for something not so sweet. I tried the Garlic-Roasted Beef Tenderloin. Man it was good. It was so good that I would have eaten another one if I had room for it. I really enjoyed the appetizers there as well. My husband loved the chocolate mousse cake so much that he asked for one to go. They sent one on a plate to our room with us.
ANIMATOR’S PALATE
This was my second favorite restaurant. It comes to life as you dine. When you are seated, the restaurant is black and white. As you dine, the pictures on the wall begin to come to life. The pictures change; there is color, music and movie lines. It was awesome. This one is great for the kids. Our five-year-old was tickled with excitement.
The food was really good. I had a Caesar salad as an appetizer and I could not believe how good it was. It was one of the best Caesar salads I have ever had. Again, I had steak. I had a grilled sirloin and it was yummy.
PALO
This is my most favorite restaurant on the ship. As a matter of fact, I have decided to move one of these right into my kitchen. I wish. The music, server, food, and atmosphere were nothing less than perfect. This is the adults only restaurant. I HIGHLY suggest you make reservations. We had bread with Kalamata Olive paste, pesto and roasted tomato sauce as a starter. Please do not be afraid to try any of this, it was all fantastic. The fresh mozzarella and tomatoes was a wonderful appetizer. The waiter suggested a filet mignon with red wine sauce. This was so tender, you could cut it with a fork or butter knife, not to mention, it tasted like heaven. And don’t forget to try the chocolate soufflé. It is so good you will want another one. This is the ultimate melt-in-your-mouth dessert. Miss this and you are missing the highlight of Palo.
All of our servers were fantastic. Boniface, Deb Dip, James and PJ. I will never forget them or their wonderful service. They treated us like royalty. James even gave me a nice little letter to take home as a souvenir. This will certainly go in my scrapbook.
SOUVENIR MUGS
My suggestion to you is this. If you plan to drink alcohol, don't buy the mug. They were $20 a piece and we only opened one. I will say though, Disney was wonderful about it. We told them that it was still in the plastic wrap and we were not using it and they told us to bring it to the Promenade Lounge and they would refund us the $20. So, my advice is.....don't take it out of the wrapper until you are ready to use it. Small children don't really drink enough to justify buying one for them.
ENTERTAINMENT & CHARACTER GREETINGS
The entertainment on the ship was a blast. Most of it happens at night. If your children fall out early, you may not get to enjoy the entertainment. Most of the shows and parties after 10:00 are adults only. The children’s clubs are open until midnight, however. We saw a comedian. It was a hilarious show. And you have got to see "Disney Dreams"...this is a must. This one brought tears to my eyes. When Cinderella’s dress changed from rags to a Ball Gown, I was in tears. Talk about the MAGIC of Disney. There were lights, a lot of singing and even some laughs. I would not miss the game shows either. You can actually play for real prizes.
Also going at Christmastime, there were stories by Mrs. Clause, Santa Clause and even Santa Goofy made an appearance. It was great.
There are lots of photo and autograph opportunities on the ship. We met tons of them in Magic Kingdom, but my daughter also got to meet Cinderella, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Snow White, Belle, Wendy, Alice, Donald, Captain Hook, Pinocchio, Chip & Dale and a few others on the ship. Santa had the longest wait, but seeing the others was really a piece of cake. I promise it is well worth the line. You will not be turned down like you are in WDW.
In addition to those photo opportunities, there are cast members that take professional photos on board as well. They are not cheap, but I promise you that when you see them, you will agree that they are worth the money. We spent $120 on fifteen 6x8 photos. The quality of these photographs are worth spending $8.00 a piece on them. They are normally $9.95 per photo or you can buy the packages. They have packages or 10, 15 or 20 photos. Like anywhere else, the more you buy, the more you save.
Don’t forget to join the deck parties. The drinks and entertainment are so much fun. The Nassau night was a blast. Live music, lots of people dancing and kids just laughing it up. This is fun for the whole family. The Bon Voyage party was a lot of fun, too. If you want to join that, you should really book the 8:30 dinner seating.
NASSAU
Nassau was very dirty, but this is no discredit to Disney. We got off the ship, were harassed by about fifteen Bahamians in twenty minutes to buy stuff, saw nothing we wanted and went right back to the ship. The only thing worth looking at was the beautiful Disney Wonder in comparison to all of the other little and not so beautiful ships in the port. You can see why they call it the Disney "Wonder".
CASTAWAY CAY
One word to sum it up – BREATHTAKING. This place was beautiful. The people were nice, the water was gorgeous and the sand felt good on your feet. The BBQ at Cookie's was okay. The food was not bad, but it was certainly not spectacular. I had a hamburger and it was good, but I would have preferred a Sonic burger instead. They did not offer much to drink and the cole slaw and potato salads were funky. Maybe that is because I am from Texas and we make really good cold salads here. The hot dogs were not so great, but to be honest I am not a hot dog fan. The BBQ ribs were not bad though. Oh well, I got to eat and I did not get sick. That is what really matters.
There is even a sweet little island kitty. I never caught his or her name or even its gender, but the kitty is as sweet as it can be. Gentle with the children and wonderful to any adult that loves cats. I think I spent more time "loving" the kitty than I did playing in the sand. Nothing like a sweet Bahamian animal on the island to make it feel more like home.
I would also like to add, the cost of souvenirs was ridiculous. I mean a $30 t-shirt for crying out loud. Twenty dollars for a shovel and pail, too. Hello Target and Wal-Mart!!! My suggestion; buy one there and take your own if you have room to pack it or take it as a carry on. If you want to take your children to Scuttle’s cove or Monstro’s while you and your spouse head off to Serenity Bay (the adults only beach), don’t forget to take your pager assigned to you at the Oceaneer’s Club or Oceaneer’s Lab.
SERVICE
This is where I take my review down a notch.
LAUNDRY FACILITIES
If you can wait to wash your dirties when you get home, I really feel that it would be to your benefit. It is $1.00 to wash and $1.00 to dry. The washers and dryers do not hold much, so your loads have to be small. Those washers run for close to an hour on your dollar, but the dryers only run for a 20-minute cycle. Those dryers are really bad. You honestly could not place more than 5 items in a dryer and expect your items to be dry. I washed out T-shirts in one, socks in another and jeans in a third washer. When the wash cycle was done I transferred the items to three different dryers. After using three dollars on EACH load, the clothes were still not dry. I was so aggravated. I could not believe I spent that much on drying and my clothes were not dry. I just ended up hanging clothes all over my room to dry them the remainder of the way. I am sure my room host loved that. NOT!! Unless you have money to waste, I really feel that it would be to your best advantage to wait until you get home to clean your clothes.
ROOM HOST
Our room host, Rudy, was wonderful. Go to the lounge for a coke and come back and you find your bed is made and you have chocolates on your bed by your elephant made of towels.
DINING ROOM SERVERS
The servers were fantastic. They really made the best suggestions and treated us like long time friends. You don’t see your head server too much, but he will make an appearance. We did not like the obnoxious family we were sitting with and he worked to make us happy by arranging our seating so that we could keep our servers, but share a table with normal people. That was way cool. These people deserve more than the minimum require tipping suggestion. As a matter of fact, we found that our assistant server was more involved and did more work than our main server.
GUEST SERVICES
Hated ‘em. They were rude, snotty and we also found they were dishonest. Being a first time cruiser, I had no idea how tipping worked. I took my tips, placed them in envelopes and went to guest services. I asked the lady at guest services how I could get the tips to my servers being that I was dining in Palo the last night and I would not be seeing them again. She said she would handle it. I just needed to be sure that my family name was on the bottom of my tipping envelope. I placed it there. I was a little hesitant about handing her envelopes of cash, but the couple before me had done the same thing, so I figured she knew what she was doing. BOY – was I wrong!?!?!
When I got up the next morning, I wondered how she would know who to give them to. My husband suggested by our family name. It was really bugging me, so I went down to ask the question. A guy at guest services told me that no cash gratuities were accepted the evening before. He said they couldn’t accept cash gratuities at this desk. I asked him why she did it then!? He had the audacity to call me a liar and tell me that I did not give any money for gratuities and that he could not help me. I was pretty mad, but I decided to come back and speak to her. When I came back and spoke to her, she said that she did not accept any envelopes from anybody this cruise. I told her that she accepted some from a couple in their late 50’s/early 60’s before she accepted mine and that she was being dishonest. The look on her face was priceless. She looked like the cat that ate the canary. She swallowed hard and stuck to her story. I wrote DCL when I got home. It is really sad that somebody would be that dishonest and take money from their hard working co-workers. She made $155 off of my family that night in addition to whatever she made off of the couple in front of me. To top it off, I found a diamond earring in my room safe that was easily worth $3000 and I was honest enough to take it to guest services. Funny enough, she was the one that accepted that as well. It makes me wonder if that is part of her salary, too. I hate to accuse people of being thieves or liars, but that one was pretty obvious. My warning to you, do not trust the people in guest services and do not hand them any cash money.
In addition, though Christmastime is always a wonderful time of the year for me, I was not feeling the holiday on the cruiseship. It was not worth the extra money Disney added on for it being Christmas. Go, but book the cruise when it does not cost as much. Other than our daughter "meeting" Santa Clause and the Christmas decorations, there was really nothing to make Christmas stand out and to account for the additional money charged by Disney.
Overall, it was a great cruise, but I personally will not go back because of what guest services did. I am really hoping my recent letter to DCL will rectify the situation and my servers will be compensated accordingly.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
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Epinions.com ID:
zithro
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Location: Dallas, Texas USA
Reviews written: 58
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Read long biography. :)
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