cheekygrrl
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2001
Hi there all ... well, I think all my laundry is finally finished - don't know why there was so much, felt like we wore the same two outifts for the entire cruise! Here are my highlights.. feel free to ask questions if i skipped anything. 
1.) Got to the port later than i wanted to - around noon. I believe they were already letting people on the ship.. Checked in at the non-US citizen line with no problems.. the line was VERY long to board the ship, but seemed to be moving steadily. We didn't join the que, instead - we had our pictures taken with characters in front of the model of the ship (minnie and donald)
2.) When i went through security - I admitted that I had a pair of scissors in my bag .. (to cut lime green ribbon that, i must admit, no one else was wearing) They wouldn't have taken them if i hadn't admitted it as my bag had already gone through the xray machine when i said something. they took them, put them in an envelope and gave me a receipt for them - i, being silly, forgot to claim them at the end of the cruise.. oh well.
3.) Bags got to the room in decent time... our rotation was LAPLAPL, but the first night's dress was casual - so i wasn't worried about getting my dressy clothes in time.. stateroom was OVER air freshened.. was a bit annoying at first - although as the cruise wore on, i realized that it was that way because of a VERY odd odour coming from the shower part of our bathroom.. when i complained to our stateroom host, claude, he said it was from the plumbing - and pretty much not fixable. i told him to air freshen as much as he liked. P-EEEW.
4.) Food was good.. had the plain chicken breast and vegetables a few nights in a vain attempt to save calories and not gain weight.. was actually pretty tasty. but the chef's sugar free deserts were LESS than tasty. made me run to the sugar filled ones quickly. they were chocolate mousse, strawberry mousse, apple pie and pound cake... blergh. fruit is a better option, methinks.
5.) Servers were Tibor and Gregory.. very nice blokes, but Tibor was a bit grumpy on our first night and i just knew that we were not going to have a very magical time with him... however, he got much better as the cruise went along and my opinion of him is quite high now.. alen was our head server - VERY nice guy... i was shocked, on my 2 previous cruises, i never even met my head waiter.. alen greeted us at every meal and always remembered our names..
6.) st maarten was gorgeous... we really liked it. we did the 12 metre regatta excursion and it was worth every one of those $69! (the people from the Golden Princess said they paid $80).. we sailed aboard the Canada II, America's cup boat from the 1987 race. i was a bit nervous, having seen those boats basically sideways in the water - i just knew i was going to fall out!
I felt safe the entire time - even transferring from boat to boat and walking around on some pretty unstable surfaces. the staff at the 12 Metre Challenge were absolutely brilliant. Very informative, funny, kind and helpful. It started to rain after we'd been sailing for about 5 minutes.. and there was absolutely NO wind... we were drenched but the race continued - although we were barely moving. Our nice captain offered our boat the chance to come back and sail again that afternoon with another group (they sail 4 times a day) if we wanted to - since we didn't do much but sit and get rained on.. three other DCL people took them up on their offer that afternoon - and we had the best time! For our 2nd race, we were on the same boat with a different captain (same boat crew tho) and we were a lot more active. DH was a primary grinder (he was sore from grinding - which is like pedalling a bicycle with your arms) and i was the main sheet trimmer. VERY good fun - and well worth it. It was my DH's favourite part of the trip.
7.) St Thomas was nice. Immigration is now required for all passengers, but non US citizens go to Rockin Bar D instead of the WD Theatre.. it was very smooth (although very early!) they had a coffee/danish station set up, which was nice. We are friends with a boat captain in St Thomas - and he is friends with the Captain of the Leylon Sneed, which is the boat that does the St John See and Snorkel excursion.. so - we went on the excursion, but gave our money directly to the crew in tips instead of sliding a bit in DCL's pocket.. The rough seas from some storm way south of us meant we couldn't go to St John - so we sailed over to St James to a nice area called Full Moon Bay. The snorkeling gear was provided and it was very well organized. We saw a nice reef and some fish and a really cool starfish. It was a nice excursion - I'd recommend it.
8.) After getting back to the ship at 1230 after St James, we went into town to do some shopping.. I bought 2 Kate Spade pocketbooks for $50 (the label is even on straight! obviously not real Kate's, but not bad imitations - and $50 is nicer to stomach than £300!)
9.) The adult pool was never that crowded - which surprised me, as the ship was supposedly full. One of the hot tubs was on the blink and was either not bubbly or cold most days.. the pool was FREEZING - but we did suck it up and go in one day.. brrrrrrrr. the ship was really rocking, so it was quite fun playing in the big waves in the pool.
10.) We didn't get the soda mugs and i'm really glad.. $35 was a bit much for us, and people just looked so tired of hauling them around after a few days. I'd say they'd be good for people who don't eat a majority of their meals in the dining rooms, or with children who are soda lovers. The wine package was never even offered to us and there never seemed to be anyone around the adult pool rushing to take my drink order..
11.) The days at sea were great - we enjoyed making gingerbread houses, although it was a very messy endeavour! i had icing all over me and the floor! (you try icing something when the boat is moving) I also enjoyed the art of entertaining series and the behind the scenes talks from Joe Rohde, from WD Imagineering... we also saw plenty of movies and skipped a lot of the shows this time. [the movies were ones that haven't opened here in the UK yet - so we were keen to sneak peak!]
12.) Castaway Cay was heaven. We spent a few hours at Serenity Bay - made a brilliant sand castle - and then rented bikes for a couple of hours. This was my DH's idea - I normally avoid exercise like the plague and wasn't too thrilled about cycling as it just didn't sound like much fun to me. Boy, was I wrong! We had such a great time! (spent 2 hours on the bikes, they only charged us for 1) the cycle path is quite flat and a bit of it is in the shade.. takes you to the tip of the island with a great view. There are water stations on the path and bike stands so you can rest. It was probably my favourite part of CC this time. Amazing what happens when you try new things!
Okay - I know that was long - feel free to write with questions as I know I didn't mention everything...
:cheeky:
1.) Got to the port later than i wanted to - around noon. I believe they were already letting people on the ship.. Checked in at the non-US citizen line with no problems.. the line was VERY long to board the ship, but seemed to be moving steadily. We didn't join the que, instead - we had our pictures taken with characters in front of the model of the ship (minnie and donald)
2.) When i went through security - I admitted that I had a pair of scissors in my bag .. (to cut lime green ribbon that, i must admit, no one else was wearing) They wouldn't have taken them if i hadn't admitted it as my bag had already gone through the xray machine when i said something. they took them, put them in an envelope and gave me a receipt for them - i, being silly, forgot to claim them at the end of the cruise.. oh well.
3.) Bags got to the room in decent time... our rotation was LAPLAPL, but the first night's dress was casual - so i wasn't worried about getting my dressy clothes in time.. stateroom was OVER air freshened.. was a bit annoying at first - although as the cruise wore on, i realized that it was that way because of a VERY odd odour coming from the shower part of our bathroom.. when i complained to our stateroom host, claude, he said it was from the plumbing - and pretty much not fixable. i told him to air freshen as much as he liked. P-EEEW.
4.) Food was good.. had the plain chicken breast and vegetables a few nights in a vain attempt to save calories and not gain weight.. was actually pretty tasty. but the chef's sugar free deserts were LESS than tasty. made me run to the sugar filled ones quickly. they were chocolate mousse, strawberry mousse, apple pie and pound cake... blergh. fruit is a better option, methinks.
5.) Servers were Tibor and Gregory.. very nice blokes, but Tibor was a bit grumpy on our first night and i just knew that we were not going to have a very magical time with him... however, he got much better as the cruise went along and my opinion of him is quite high now.. alen was our head server - VERY nice guy... i was shocked, on my 2 previous cruises, i never even met my head waiter.. alen greeted us at every meal and always remembered our names..
6.) st maarten was gorgeous... we really liked it. we did the 12 metre regatta excursion and it was worth every one of those $69! (the people from the Golden Princess said they paid $80).. we sailed aboard the Canada II, America's cup boat from the 1987 race. i was a bit nervous, having seen those boats basically sideways in the water - i just knew i was going to fall out!
I felt safe the entire time - even transferring from boat to boat and walking around on some pretty unstable surfaces. the staff at the 12 Metre Challenge were absolutely brilliant. Very informative, funny, kind and helpful. It started to rain after we'd been sailing for about 5 minutes.. and there was absolutely NO wind... we were drenched but the race continued - although we were barely moving. Our nice captain offered our boat the chance to come back and sail again that afternoon with another group (they sail 4 times a day) if we wanted to - since we didn't do much but sit and get rained on.. three other DCL people took them up on their offer that afternoon - and we had the best time! For our 2nd race, we were on the same boat with a different captain (same boat crew tho) and we were a lot more active. DH was a primary grinder (he was sore from grinding - which is like pedalling a bicycle with your arms) and i was the main sheet trimmer. VERY good fun - and well worth it. It was my DH's favourite part of the trip.7.) St Thomas was nice. Immigration is now required for all passengers, but non US citizens go to Rockin Bar D instead of the WD Theatre.. it was very smooth (although very early!) they had a coffee/danish station set up, which was nice. We are friends with a boat captain in St Thomas - and he is friends with the Captain of the Leylon Sneed, which is the boat that does the St John See and Snorkel excursion.. so - we went on the excursion, but gave our money directly to the crew in tips instead of sliding a bit in DCL's pocket.. The rough seas from some storm way south of us meant we couldn't go to St John - so we sailed over to St James to a nice area called Full Moon Bay. The snorkeling gear was provided and it was very well organized. We saw a nice reef and some fish and a really cool starfish. It was a nice excursion - I'd recommend it.
8.) After getting back to the ship at 1230 after St James, we went into town to do some shopping.. I bought 2 Kate Spade pocketbooks for $50 (the label is even on straight! obviously not real Kate's, but not bad imitations - and $50 is nicer to stomach than £300!)
9.) The adult pool was never that crowded - which surprised me, as the ship was supposedly full. One of the hot tubs was on the blink and was either not bubbly or cold most days.. the pool was FREEZING - but we did suck it up and go in one day.. brrrrrrrr. the ship was really rocking, so it was quite fun playing in the big waves in the pool.
10.) We didn't get the soda mugs and i'm really glad.. $35 was a bit much for us, and people just looked so tired of hauling them around after a few days. I'd say they'd be good for people who don't eat a majority of their meals in the dining rooms, or with children who are soda lovers. The wine package was never even offered to us and there never seemed to be anyone around the adult pool rushing to take my drink order..
11.) The days at sea were great - we enjoyed making gingerbread houses, although it was a very messy endeavour! i had icing all over me and the floor! (you try icing something when the boat is moving) I also enjoyed the art of entertaining series and the behind the scenes talks from Joe Rohde, from WD Imagineering... we also saw plenty of movies and skipped a lot of the shows this time. [the movies were ones that haven't opened here in the UK yet - so we were keen to sneak peak!]
12.) Castaway Cay was heaven. We spent a few hours at Serenity Bay - made a brilliant sand castle - and then rented bikes for a couple of hours. This was my DH's idea - I normally avoid exercise like the plague and wasn't too thrilled about cycling as it just didn't sound like much fun to me. Boy, was I wrong! We had such a great time! (spent 2 hours on the bikes, they only charged us for 1) the cycle path is quite flat and a bit of it is in the shade.. takes you to the tip of the island with a great view. There are water stations on the path and bike stands so you can rest. It was probably my favourite part of CC this time. Amazing what happens when you try new things!
Okay - I know that was long - feel free to write with questions as I know I didn't mention everything...
:cheeky:
I'm glad to see your kind comments about Alen...he was our head server last trip, and we too found him to be very nice. I'm glad he's still on board.
