On my previous post I neglected to mention, that evening after the rest of the family ate, DH and I went to Palo's for dinner. DO NOT MISS THIS RESTAURANT. It was excellent. Louise was our server and she was also outstanding. We mentioned to her at the beginning of our meal that we weren't prepared to sit and eat for 2-3 hrs. My DH likes to get his meal and go. (Also, there was a show we didn't want to miss.) She made sure we received each course promptly and that we ordered our desert early enough so that they would have time to prepare it. The chocolate souffle takes 20 minutes - don't pass it up! Well, believe it or not - without feeling rushed, we each had 2 appetizers, entree and desert in under an hour and a half. We left her an additional tip for her kindness and efficient service.
Sunday 9/23/01...The night before we asked for room service to deliver us breakfast at 7:30 am. We ordered eggs, pancakes, danish, bacon, sausage, bagels, fruit, toast, coffee, tea, milk, and orange juice. The next morning the phone rang at 7:25am telling us that breakfast was on its way and five minutes later at 7:30am there was a knock on the door. A castmember came in and put a white tablecloth on the table complete with napkins, silverware, etc. and all our food. The service was outstanding, but that was the last time we ordered room service because the portions were very small and the food gets cold very fast. It is much easier and quicker to order from a restaurant or buffet than having to bother someone to bring additional food to the room. But we had to give it a try...we never had this type of service before!
DS, DS, decided to roam the ship on their own. I bought walkie talkies for our trip which proved to be very useful. Grandma decided to enjoy time on the veranda with a good book and we dropped our 7 yr old off at the Oceaneer Club for the first time. We were issued a beeper in case he wanted us for any reason. He said he didn't want to go, but when we arrived, couldn't wait to check things out. At that point DH and myself set off for our
scheduled Surial Bath. It was more fun than it was relaxing. I brought my underwater camera so that we could take pictures. We were asked to undress in the appropriate rest rooms then come out in a robe. We were then escorted to a room where we locked the door. There was a sitting area in the center and an open shower in the left corner
After you shower and use a bunch of different lotions (they tell you in advance which lotions are for what) you then rub three gobs of mud on each other. Three different colors for different areas of your body; face, upper torso, lower torso. After that you move to a closed off area in the room which has three sit down shower stalls and a 3-sink pedistal in the center (Room is designed like a triangle) This is the steam room. I was warned by other cruiser's posts that you could get burned in here. (We really appreciated the warning.) When you sit on any one of the shower stall seats DON'T lean back without the protection of a wet towel on your back. The tiles behind you will be very hot. We used the towels on our back and kept the hose turned on and stuck behind us. It was nice. After that we rubbed some type of salt on recommended areas of our bodies. (Heels of feet, elbows, knees.) They give you an hour and warn you with a knock on the door 10 minutes before time is up. This was a great time, we took alot of funny pictures! Hope the room was sound proof because we sure were doing alot of laughing! (Bet you thought I was going to say something else! This is a G-rated thread
) No one was able to sell us anything when we were done because one of our sons had beeped us on the radio so we left rather quickly.
We all met for lunch. Some of us got lunch at Topsiders, the open buffet while others grabbed cheeseburgers, fries, chicken fingers and/or pizza. I must say their burgers and chicken fingers were very good. The fast food restaurants were very good on the ship! Did not received a message from DS in Oceaneers Club so we didn't bother him. After lunch DH and mom went to relax by the pool, other DS went exploring the ship again while me and oldest DS went to check out the "Stage Works Tour". My oldest DS would like to get into the movies or TV someday. He's done quite a bit of acting in plays in our community, and has gone on a few auditions. So I thought this would be right up his alley. It was interesting to compare the Disney theater and production crew with what he has worked with. He could really relate to what the actors have to go through. We enjoyed it and picked up a poster while we were there.
After that, DS took off to find his brother and I took grandma to Bingo. Got there late and missed the first game but later on was glad we went because we won $16 on the next game (had to split $32 with another winner). The cast members who are in charge of entertaining the guests and getting them involved are alot of fun. The cost is $20.00 for three boards/6 games and $35.00 for 6 boards. No dabbers needed; the numbers are perforated in one corner to bend back easily and then to look at for later checking winners.
Went to pool afterwards and enjoyed the sun before dinner. DH went to pick up DS and Oceaneer Club. We were a bit disappointed to find out that he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. He is a very picky eater and the Club took the kids to the burger buffet for lunch; DS does not eat burgers. Being a bit shy in a new environment, he didn't feel comfortable asking the castmember for french fries or even letting them know, he would eat pizza. I wish they would have beeped me. Make sure if your child is a picky eater you let them know. Tonight was the Captains Reception and formal night. The Captain's Reception offered free drinks to everyone. (They offered two differnet types. Even the younger ones were offered Shirley Temple's.) As we stood on line waiting to have pictures taken in the lobby, we had our drinks. We had early seating for dinner, which we would choose again. We were scheduled to eat in Lumieres for our first formal night. The food was pretty good, some dishes better than others. Our waiters were very good when recommending food during the entire cruise. There's still some room for improvement though. I couldn't really say any of the food was outstanding except for Palo's. On our next cruise we will probably eat at Palo's more often.
There were very long lines for pictures throughout the cruise. We had a few pictures taken but were disappointed to see our feet cut off in a few of them, or some of our eyes closed. After all the times we waited, I never bought one picture. Fortunately we did take our own pictures which came out pretty nice.
After dinner we changed into more comfortable clothes and went to watch "Hercules The Muse-ical". The cast is certainly very talented. You've got to give them alot of credit for being able to perform as the ship slowly sways back and forth. No one suffered from sea-sickness, the only time we really felt the boat sway was in the evening as we watched the shows. After taking the "Stage Works Tour" it made the shows more interesting to watch knowing what is actually going on backstage. Although our cruise wasn't filled to capacity, there were still plenty of seats in the theater. If your children collect trading cards, make sure to ask for them at every show. We usually got to the theater 15 minutes before each show and sat front and center. No problem.
After the show in the theater every night my mom would take my youngest DS back to the room to watch a movie, or relax in the jacuzzi. (He had fun putting bubbles in there!) They both usually went to bed around 10-11:00pm. Our two teenage DS's continued to investigate things on their own, while my DH and I took in the Cabaret show, Michael Harrison - Comedy, Magic & Ventriloquism and Gary Delena - Music, Comedy - both were very good. They both performed a family show and an adult show. We laughed alot! After that we stayed for the band, Johnny Danger for dancing till 12:30/1:00am. The cast members in charge of entertainment again, did an outstanding job of getting people up to dance.
That evening, we stresses to our DS's to try out the "Common Grounds" teen center again for organized activities. I did not like the idea of them just walking around on their own (sounds boring to me). Plus I'd read that you can meet alot of other teens there.
Monday...9/24/01 I'll try not to get into too much more great detail or I will never be done with this report. I will say I recommend you see all the shows offered in the Walt Disney Theatre. They were good. The cabaret shows were so funny and we loved dancing till 1:00am. Although I must say, we didn't get much sleep. This being our very first cruise, we did everything. Knowing now what is available and what its like - next cruise we'll sleep more and take in less activities. We did everything from the Family Olympics (I have to add my DS and I beat my husband and my other DS! - I had to add that! ) We did basketball shoot-outs, Disney trivia, splash contests, Mickey 200 race, Family Spy Party, the list goes on. It was fun and we did bring home a number of medals, pins and key chains. Definitely alot of fun.
My older DS's finally took my advice and tried out "Common Grounds", and they were glad they did! They meet alot of new friends, who they are now chatting on-line with. They competed in games, "hung out", watched movies, went to dances and do what teens do. They even received a neat CD holder on the last night! My oldest one didn't get back to the stateroom till 2:00am every night! But I can't complain, they had fun and this was their vacation too. As long as they didn't cause any disturbances I have no problem with them being out so late. We didn't see them the rest of the trip except for our visits to St. Maarten and St. Thomas/St. John. We only insisted that they join us every night for dinner - we are a very close family and insist on eating dinners together. (Even on vacation.) They also had one of the walkie talkies with them at all times in case of an emergency, or we needed to communicate about something.
This evening when we returned to our room, our concierge had generously left some Arcade Cards for each of our DS's plus some trading cards. The arcade was nice, but me being from a different generation then my DS's (I will not mention age!), I would have preferred some Pac-Man machines, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Tron, etc. (Am I dating myself yet?!) The kids had a great time there though. They had alot of racing and fighting games. The only one I enjoyed was the Air Hockey table. If anyone from Disney is reading - please bring back some of the older arcade games.
On various nights, when we returned to our room we would find delicious cake-like desserts, or chocolate covered strawberries or chocolate chip cookies and milk or fruit. We would request refills of soda and bottled water when we ran out. The only problem we had, was that we never had enough drinking glasses. There weren't any in the bathrooms either? Every day we had to keep requesting them. But since that was the only shortcoming - we certainly cannot complain! (I don't think I mentioned it earlier - in the WD Suite, they also provide five toothbrushes in each bathroom and top quality shampoo, conditioner, bubbles/lotion for the bath/shower and body creme.) I was sorry to hear that our concierge, Martin and Laura were not allowed to accept tips. They did a great job of taking care of us and we would like to have had the opportunity to show them.
Also, every evening our hostess, Anastasia, left some awesome towel animals with chocolate. She also decorated my DS teddy bear every night to look different. I took a picture of every single one of them. One in each sleeping area. On the last evening of our trip she took my DS teddy bear and used tissues to make it appear he was crying and sad that we were leaving. It was so wonderful! She did an excellent job. We really liked her.
We met our head server, Stephan, for the first time this evening. He came by every evening after that to make sure all was well and to offer tips for the islands we were going to visit. Since there was 6 in our party, he recommended we rent a van for our day in St. Maarten tommorow. To be continued...
Sunday 9/23/01...The night before we asked for room service to deliver us breakfast at 7:30 am. We ordered eggs, pancakes, danish, bacon, sausage, bagels, fruit, toast, coffee, tea, milk, and orange juice. The next morning the phone rang at 7:25am telling us that breakfast was on its way and five minutes later at 7:30am there was a knock on the door. A castmember came in and put a white tablecloth on the table complete with napkins, silverware, etc. and all our food. The service was outstanding, but that was the last time we ordered room service because the portions were very small and the food gets cold very fast. It is much easier and quicker to order from a restaurant or buffet than having to bother someone to bring additional food to the room. But we had to give it a try...we never had this type of service before!
DS, DS, decided to roam the ship on their own. I bought walkie talkies for our trip which proved to be very useful. Grandma decided to enjoy time on the veranda with a good book and we dropped our 7 yr old off at the Oceaneer Club for the first time. We were issued a beeper in case he wanted us for any reason. He said he didn't want to go, but when we arrived, couldn't wait to check things out. At that point DH and myself set off for our
scheduled Surial Bath. It was more fun than it was relaxing. I brought my underwater camera so that we could take pictures. We were asked to undress in the appropriate rest rooms then come out in a robe. We were then escorted to a room where we locked the door. There was a sitting area in the center and an open shower in the left corner
After you shower and use a bunch of different lotions (they tell you in advance which lotions are for what) you then rub three gobs of mud on each other. Three different colors for different areas of your body; face, upper torso, lower torso. After that you move to a closed off area in the room which has three sit down shower stalls and a 3-sink pedistal in the center (Room is designed like a triangle) This is the steam room. I was warned by other cruiser's posts that you could get burned in here. (We really appreciated the warning.) When you sit on any one of the shower stall seats DON'T lean back without the protection of a wet towel on your back. The tiles behind you will be very hot. We used the towels on our back and kept the hose turned on and stuck behind us. It was nice. After that we rubbed some type of salt on recommended areas of our bodies. (Heels of feet, elbows, knees.) They give you an hour and warn you with a knock on the door 10 minutes before time is up. This was a great time, we took alot of funny pictures! Hope the room was sound proof because we sure were doing alot of laughing! (Bet you thought I was going to say something else! This is a G-rated thread
) No one was able to sell us anything when we were done because one of our sons had beeped us on the radio so we left rather quickly.We all met for lunch. Some of us got lunch at Topsiders, the open buffet while others grabbed cheeseburgers, fries, chicken fingers and/or pizza. I must say their burgers and chicken fingers were very good. The fast food restaurants were very good on the ship! Did not received a message from DS in Oceaneers Club so we didn't bother him. After lunch DH and mom went to relax by the pool, other DS went exploring the ship again while me and oldest DS went to check out the "Stage Works Tour". My oldest DS would like to get into the movies or TV someday. He's done quite a bit of acting in plays in our community, and has gone on a few auditions. So I thought this would be right up his alley. It was interesting to compare the Disney theater and production crew with what he has worked with. He could really relate to what the actors have to go through. We enjoyed it and picked up a poster while we were there.
After that, DS took off to find his brother and I took grandma to Bingo. Got there late and missed the first game but later on was glad we went because we won $16 on the next game (had to split $32 with another winner). The cast members who are in charge of entertaining the guests and getting them involved are alot of fun. The cost is $20.00 for three boards/6 games and $35.00 for 6 boards. No dabbers needed; the numbers are perforated in one corner to bend back easily and then to look at for later checking winners.
Went to pool afterwards and enjoyed the sun before dinner. DH went to pick up DS and Oceaneer Club. We were a bit disappointed to find out that he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. He is a very picky eater and the Club took the kids to the burger buffet for lunch; DS does not eat burgers. Being a bit shy in a new environment, he didn't feel comfortable asking the castmember for french fries or even letting them know, he would eat pizza. I wish they would have beeped me. Make sure if your child is a picky eater you let them know. Tonight was the Captains Reception and formal night. The Captain's Reception offered free drinks to everyone. (They offered two differnet types. Even the younger ones were offered Shirley Temple's.) As we stood on line waiting to have pictures taken in the lobby, we had our drinks. We had early seating for dinner, which we would choose again. We were scheduled to eat in Lumieres for our first formal night. The food was pretty good, some dishes better than others. Our waiters were very good when recommending food during the entire cruise. There's still some room for improvement though. I couldn't really say any of the food was outstanding except for Palo's. On our next cruise we will probably eat at Palo's more often.
There were very long lines for pictures throughout the cruise. We had a few pictures taken but were disappointed to see our feet cut off in a few of them, or some of our eyes closed. After all the times we waited, I never bought one picture. Fortunately we did take our own pictures which came out pretty nice.
After dinner we changed into more comfortable clothes and went to watch "Hercules The Muse-ical". The cast is certainly very talented. You've got to give them alot of credit for being able to perform as the ship slowly sways back and forth. No one suffered from sea-sickness, the only time we really felt the boat sway was in the evening as we watched the shows. After taking the "Stage Works Tour" it made the shows more interesting to watch knowing what is actually going on backstage. Although our cruise wasn't filled to capacity, there were still plenty of seats in the theater. If your children collect trading cards, make sure to ask for them at every show. We usually got to the theater 15 minutes before each show and sat front and center. No problem.
After the show in the theater every night my mom would take my youngest DS back to the room to watch a movie, or relax in the jacuzzi. (He had fun putting bubbles in there!) They both usually went to bed around 10-11:00pm. Our two teenage DS's continued to investigate things on their own, while my DH and I took in the Cabaret show, Michael Harrison - Comedy, Magic & Ventriloquism and Gary Delena - Music, Comedy - both were very good. They both performed a family show and an adult show. We laughed alot! After that we stayed for the band, Johnny Danger for dancing till 12:30/1:00am. The cast members in charge of entertainment again, did an outstanding job of getting people up to dance.
That evening, we stresses to our DS's to try out the "Common Grounds" teen center again for organized activities. I did not like the idea of them just walking around on their own (sounds boring to me). Plus I'd read that you can meet alot of other teens there.
Monday...9/24/01 I'll try not to get into too much more great detail or I will never be done with this report. I will say I recommend you see all the shows offered in the Walt Disney Theatre. They were good. The cabaret shows were so funny and we loved dancing till 1:00am. Although I must say, we didn't get much sleep. This being our very first cruise, we did everything. Knowing now what is available and what its like - next cruise we'll sleep more and take in less activities. We did everything from the Family Olympics (I have to add my DS and I beat my husband and my other DS! - I had to add that!
) We did basketball shoot-outs, Disney trivia, splash contests, Mickey 200 race, Family Spy Party, the list goes on. It was fun and we did bring home a number of medals, pins and key chains. Definitely alot of fun.My older DS's finally took my advice and tried out "Common Grounds", and they were glad they did! They meet alot of new friends, who they are now chatting on-line with. They competed in games, "hung out", watched movies, went to dances and do what teens do. They even received a neat CD holder on the last night! My oldest one didn't get back to the stateroom till 2:00am every night! But I can't complain, they had fun and this was their vacation too. As long as they didn't cause any disturbances I have no problem with them being out so late. We didn't see them the rest of the trip except for our visits to St. Maarten and St. Thomas/St. John. We only insisted that they join us every night for dinner - we are a very close family and insist on eating dinners together. (Even on vacation.) They also had one of the walkie talkies with them at all times in case of an emergency, or we needed to communicate about something.
This evening when we returned to our room, our concierge had generously left some Arcade Cards for each of our DS's plus some trading cards. The arcade was nice, but me being from a different generation then my DS's (I will not mention age!), I would have preferred some Pac-Man machines, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Tron, etc. (Am I dating myself yet?!) The kids had a great time there though. They had alot of racing and fighting games. The only one I enjoyed was the Air Hockey table. If anyone from Disney is reading - please bring back some of the older arcade games.
On various nights, when we returned to our room we would find delicious cake-like desserts, or chocolate covered strawberries or chocolate chip cookies and milk or fruit. We would request refills of soda and bottled water when we ran out. The only problem we had, was that we never had enough drinking glasses. There weren't any in the bathrooms either? Every day we had to keep requesting them. But since that was the only shortcoming - we certainly cannot complain! (I don't think I mentioned it earlier - in the WD Suite, they also provide five toothbrushes in each bathroom and top quality shampoo, conditioner, bubbles/lotion for the bath/shower and body creme.) I was sorry to hear that our concierge, Martin and Laura were not allowed to accept tips. They did a great job of taking care of us and we would like to have had the opportunity to show them.
Also, every evening our hostess, Anastasia, left some awesome towel animals with chocolate. She also decorated my DS teddy bear every night to look different. I took a picture of every single one of them. One in each sleeping area. On the last evening of our trip she took my DS teddy bear and used tissues to make it appear he was crying and sad that we were leaving. It was so wonderful! She did an excellent job. We really liked her.
We met our head server, Stephan, for the first time this evening. He came by every evening after that to make sure all was well and to offer tips for the islands we were going to visit. Since there was 6 in our party, he recommended we rent a van for our day in St. Maarten tommorow. To be continued...
