1soccer1baseball1princess

We have had the 7 night eastern booked for a while with fingers crossed that it would be a SWDAS cruise and we got our wish! My son is ecstatic!

My family did western and we had a great time. We went to Cozumel and did an all inclusive beach day (not through Disney) at Playa Mia. It was great, tons for the kids to do like floating inflatables,water slides, kids pool etc. At grand cayman we went to public beach and it was beautiful. Jamaica, none of the excursions were great for my kids combination of ages so we just shopped in the port. Then back to Cozumel again (rerouted during hurricane matthew) so we went to Nachi Cocom which is another all inclusive beach but only allows 100 people in each day. That one was more relaxing, really just beach and pool and food. My kids loved everything we did. When we went the western was slightly cheaper. Now we are booked for eastern in feb 2018 but it's st Thomas, Tortola and castaway. I honestly think you can make a great vacation on either itinerary and the ports don't matter so much.

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The OP hasn't been back since the 9th, but hopefully they figured out they could meet the Princesses in the Atrium when they do a M&G. Yes it does mean queuing up for each Princess, but there would be no need to change the child each time.

Do you get a group photo with all of the Princesses at the ticketed M&G?

 

ex techie

No, it's literally 4-5 princesses in a row in the atrium. You get in line behind the ropes and proceed down the line to each princess in a row, just like a normal meet and greet except with 30 seconds between princesses. The CM actually hands your autograph book to the next one to speed the process along. Your take a separate picture with each princess.

Another vote for staying on the ship. I'm not someone who is super worried about the crime, the aggressive sales people don't bother me, husband grew up in the Caribbean. But for us, Nassau is just boring. There is nothing super interesting or exciting that we need to see. I have been to Atlantis, you can take a cab and just walk around and explore without buying water park passes, if you really want to see it.

Three nights is too short. I have done it twice now with girlfriends just because a three night cruise was better than nothing and we had to work it into our schedules. But it is just over way too fast, especially since the first day is eaten up with boarding, lifeboat drill, unpacking, exploring the ship. I would at least do four.

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Thanks for the report.

 

We did a half day island bus tour when we were in Grand Cayman earlier this month. Next time SMB.

 

Any there Clamshells or lounge chairs for rent there? Cost?

The bus was $5 per person, each way. The beach was free, you just paid for a chair. They were the fully reclining ones but not super high quality. I believe the chairs were $5 each. They were charging for umbrellas as well but the beach had literally maybe ten people on it most of the day so we ended up just moving to a chair next to an umbrella later.

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We were in GC in October on our Disney cruise. We took a bus from the port to public beach. It was $5 per person. They let us out right at calico jacks. We spent $13 US on a plate of chicken strips and fries to share. We got a beach chair and umbrella for like $5 just to throw our bags on. But if we hadn't done that we could have just put our stuff on a towel in the sand. Perfect, white powdery sand and crystal clear water. My kids had a blast looking for shells and diving under the small waves. It dropped off quickly about ten to fifteen feet out so I made my son wear arm floaties just in case. My husband walked down the beach a minute or two and found a lady selling coconuts so we got one cut open with straws for a snack, then she would chop it up after you drank the milk.

My only complaint the whole day was the weird positioning of the showers. There was nowhere to rinse feet near the area where the buses picked up, so my kids rinsed and then walked through deep soft sand h were a soggy wet mess in the bus. And my son was sitting there trying to dump sand out of the lining of his suit while we drove.

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Thanks so much for your quick reply.... I wondered if it had anything to do with the 'magical' porthole [emoji6]

 

 

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I think so. My friend and I are cruising on the Dream in November. We wanted an inside room to see the virtual porthole (for more than two minutes on a tour, anyway) and just to try something different. It was only $20 or so less than an Oceanview stateroom. So we definitely aren't doing it for the savings... Which makes me wonder if other people have the same thought process.

People DO change their times. Check on line periodically to see whether anything earlier has opened.

That is true. I just read the question as "how did they initially select that time?" Since the OP didn't see it available.

Suggestion--schedule Palo that night. If everything works out on the island' date=' the dinner is a celebration. If you can't dock or there are other issues, Palo is the perfect place for a proposal.[/quote']

 

Love this idea!

The planner in me would never chance a same day arrival. I don't really understand why people would do that. The $100-200 spent on a hotel room is well worth the peace of mind.

We will be in Orlando a whole week before this cruise and I'm already plotting what time to leave from our resort to head to the port!

Even though I did my online checkin pretty shortly after it was available, the earliest PAT we could choose was 12. We will probably be there before that due to our flight arrival time. How do you get to choose the earlier PAT? I hate the thought of waiting outside with three young kids (youngest 1 year old.)

Just wanted to say hello. We are also on the October 1st Fantasy sailing. My kids will be 9, 6, and 3.

The early port arrival times tend to get taken by CC members (those who have sailed with DCL before). However a friend of mine is a first time cruiser on this sailing and she got a PAT of 10:45 by booking as soon as her window opened.

I'm so glad that it is working out for her to come with you. I hope you all have a wonderful time.

I had to go to medical area at about 10:30 pm the first night of my Dream cruise. I was having horrible stomach pain that they thought could be my gallbladder. I was surprised that they were as well equipped as they were. I was admitted (only for about three hours) and they did several iv's, blood work, urine sample, etc. And I left with LOTS of pain medication, antibiotic, zofran, etc. They honestly did such a great job getting me back to feeling great so fast. I was sick as a dog and crying in pain when I arrived there and by the time I left about 3 am I felt normal again. My bill was about $1400 which I had to pay before disembarking but my medical insurance reimbursed me everything except my prescriptions. Also, there were two doctors on the ship. She said they worked in shifts. I know this because they asked me to come see them again in the morning before we arrived in port in case they wanted to schedule a CT scan for me in Nassau (no thanks, lol). and saw a second doctor in the morning. They both had awesome bedside manner and were very reassuring. I really can't say enough about how impressed I was with their medical team.

I am just lol at "fecal tea bag." :p

Magical Express is a complimentary service from MCO to a WDW resort and return. From the cruise terminal to WDW' date=' you would need to use DCL transfers at $35 per person. At that price, a rental car or private towncar service is less costly AND you wouldn't have to wait for the bus. Yes, if you stayed at a WDW resort, you could take Magical Express back to the airport. They require you to depart 3 hours before your flight, so in this case the family would depart the resort at 3 am. That sounds painful![/quote']

 

Yes I meant DCL transfer... Tired and posting too late at night! We tend to stick with Disney transportation just because it's easy for us, and reliable, even though it's not the cheapest option.

 

And yeah that would be horrifyingly early the next morning. Like I said I'm tired and wasn't thinking about how early their flight is!

Loved your report, thank you for taking the time to write it up.

A friend and I just cruised together. We thought the announcement part might be awkward since we weren't family or a couple. But the staff just asked us for our first names and we were introduced as Tara and Brandy, separately.

If for some reason you stay with second dining, you can arrange for the Oceaneer Club to get your daughter from the dining room as soon as she finished her entree (which they will bring first for her) and then you can finish your meal in peace. She may be less likely to melt down in a kids area with a movie, than when she is expected to sit still and be polite at a table with lots of strangers around.

Does Disney Cruise line offer excusion on day of disembarkment with shuttle to WDW and visit there?

No, but you could take Disney's Magical Express to a resort and get one day park tickets. Or just enjoy the pool at your resort.

If you look at their a la carte menu versus the buffet... The buffet has much more traditional American food whereas the menu has more Mexican type options and looks much more appealing to us. I think cost wise it will come out the same but we were not thrilled with the buffet options listed.

So glad to have found this thread! Our upcoming cruise will be our first time in Grand Cayman and none of the excursions really jumped out at us (it doesn't help that one kid refuses to snorkel and one is only three). I think we will be heading to Public Beach. Just to make sure I am understanding correctly, we can bring our sand toys and buy lunch at a restaurant nearby, right? And take a bus to and from?

I need to join you here. I definitely need to lose before our next cruise! I bought the 21 day fix starter kit but it looked way too time consuming for me. I might be trying good old fashioned diet and exercise :eek: