GoochDSA

We haven't been on the Wish yet, but we are going in May. To be honest, this isn't the forum to get good DCL information. There are much better Disney forums, blogs and vlogs you should check out. With that being said, based on my research:

1) Yes there are tables for 2. Like you said, you can request but you may not get.

2) 5:45 and 8:15

3) 6:00, 8:30

3A) You can get the Beer Mug Savings Package, which gets you 21oz for the price of 16oz. You get the mug but also get a token which you can use instead of carrying the mug around.

4) We plan on staying on and enjoying an empty ship while in Castaway Cay. 

Unfortunately, formal nights are pretty much a thing of the past industry wide. Maybe some of the nicer, older clientele lines like Holland America, Celebrity and Princess enforce formal nights better, but more family oriented lines like DCL, Royal and Carnival, while having dress codes, don't enforce them at all. You are lucky to see people wearing jeans on formal nights, never mind suits or tuxes or gowns. On Oasis back in September, I felt like the only people wearing a suit was me (I'm 38 and miss the days when cruise lines had class and dignity) and men in their 70's. That was the last time I will bring a suit on a cruise. 

DCL has even dropped the formal attire required in the adult only restaurants and only recommends it.

If you haven't done it, I would say it is worth doing at least once. My wife and I did it for the first time last month on the Oasis. Everything about it was very good. The food, the service, our tablemates were all very good.

It did bother me knowing that all the CTs across RC do the exact same menu, which sort of defeats the purpose of a Chef's Table. It doesn't really leave any room for the chef to shine on their own or a sommelier to get creative with the pairings. It didn't ruin the experience by any means, but I couldn't help but wonder what the chef could have done on his own.

Again, we were glad we did it and it was worth doing once. Would we do it again? Not unless the menu changed. We actually preferred the Sushi and Sake Lunch at Izumi and would do that again, even if it's the same. 

18 minutes ago, toxicfairy said:

Hey don't worry about what you'll get worry you get on. When Harvey hit we got the exact same letter...BUT it changed daily until they finally had to just cancel.  We were supposed to sail on a Sunday I believe it was Monday night or Tuesday when they finally told us it was canceled.  We were stuck in a hotel in Galveston.  We'd only planned to pay for 1 night then cruise. We had to come up with an additional 4 days plus food which was hard to find. Lol. Worse vacation ever...lol

Worst vacation ever? Sounds to me like it was a once in a lifetime experience that you got a good story out of. You experienced first-hand what the first few days of a post-apocalyptic society would look like (anxiety, irritation, unknowing, the hunt for food, acceptance, survival, etc.). It may have not been ideal, but I am sure it is more memorable than some vacations that went very smoothly. Or maybe I am just too much of a cup-half-full kind of guy. 

14 hours ago, ampurp85 said:

Not 5ish, that is usually the time the casino bar opens. The casino itself will usually open after 6 if the ship leaves at 4 and around 7 if the ship leaves at 5. 

According to the Compass for the cruise that left on 8/13 out of NJ, the Casino Bar hours were 4:30-Late and the Casino Royal was open from 5:15-Late. The ship left at 4.

1 hour ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Same thing happened at Disney….they hired a new guy and he was all about money, and was so bad that he got fired and Bob Igor had to come back from retirement to fix the mess.

26 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Speaking of Bob “Paycheck “?  😂. I agree and it’s now hurting them with park attendance significantly down.  Pretty soon you break the camels back.  We love Disney World as well and have cut back with them due to the price hikes and new charges (Genie+ and $ILL)

Don't kid yourselves. The Board decided they wanted to raise prices, not Chapek. They probably had a meeting with the 2 Bobs and Josh D'Amaro, explaining the new pricing and G+ and all that, gave Iger a chance to step aside so not to tarnish his reputation and hired Chapek purely to be the face of the dirty work, knowing full well once everything was in place he was going to be made the scapegoat. Then Covid happened. They were able to make an excuse for all the pricing and with revenge travel people still paid. They probably planned to put Josh in charge once everything was in place to recomfort guests, but because everything was put in place too quickly, once revenge travel slowed, so did attendance (don't be fooled, the parks aren't as empty as some would make it seem, just look at the wait times) and thus Iger was brought back to smooth things over.

Dining amongst the more affordable cruise lines is just a shame across the board. All lines have cut quality, increased prices and have looked for every way to nickel and dime food. When I started cruising in the 90s, dining was an elaborate event. Now it just seems like it's the cruise lines vs the passengers and everyone is trying to outplay everyone else. 

Why only a partial, it's your 5th anniversary? 😄 You may never get that close again.

 

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Part of it is because we probably won't be able to take off the extra days ( the full transits tend to be 4-5 days longer, plus if we ended up somewhere on the West Coast before or after we would HAVE to go to Disneyland since neither of us have been, but we have been to WDW quite a few times). Part of it is because the Pacific tends to be on the rougher side and she doesn't do well in rough seas (she's hit and miss cruising in the Atlantic and she is fine in the Caribbean Sea).

That about covers it AFAIK... except that once in awhile some cruise lines will offer a partial transit on a one of kind itinerary. Carnival is doing one from Baltimore next year and I think P&O has one also from some other port of embarkation.

Thank you. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

My wife and I are looking to do a partial PC cruise in 2018, for our 5 year anniversary. Typically, it seems that Princess, HAL and NCL are the 3 lines that offer partial transits. Are we missing any?

Does Liberty have the Coke Freestyle machines yet? We loved it on Ex when she was in CL, still debating if we want to go with any of the drink packages if they don't have it yet.

Did you notice if anywhere else was open for lunch on embarkation day beside the Windjammer? We are traveling with my sisters' family and she is very anti-Windjammer.

We are booked on the Liberty for this coming July. I have checked every day since we booked in September (often 2 or 3 times a day) for the cabanas to show up. So far they haven't. When my parents were on the Liberty over NYE, they were told that the cabanas were going to be on-board booking only. Maybe they are just trying it out with specific ships first to see how it goes.

I believe they lock all the doors at 6pm and drain the water for cleaning at night. I do remember a cruiser on the ship did ask why they used salt water at Labadee for the swimming area but the CD never had a good answer to that.

 

To my knowledge no one but the remaining few staff members and locals stay after dark since it is a DAY trip only. Unless the ship breaks down.

They are going to be on the March 21st sailing of the Quantum, which docks at Labadee at 4:30PM on 3/25 and leaves at 5:00PM on 3/26, which was confirmed to them by e-mail from RCCL, after they had questioned it. I guess it is no longer just a DAY trip anymore.

Any news on if Liberty will be getting the freestyle coke machines? We are hoping to have them for our cruis in June.

 

Loralie

I'm patiently waiting for word on the Freestyle machines as well. What beverage packages we do or don't get might depend on them. My parents were on the NYE cruise on LoS and the machines were not out yet. Rumor is that they are technically on the ship, just not out and ready for use.

My sister will be on a cruise that is docked in Labadee overnight. She has been unable to find much information about what might be available on Labadee at night. Has anyone had an overnight stop there? Do they do any special dinners or bonfires or any other special activities that she and her husband should keep an eye out for?

My wife and I (no kids) did the Western on the Fantasy back in September (LOVED IT).

In GC we did the Hell/Turtle Farm tour since my wife had never been to GC before and I think everyone should go to Hell at least once. However, if you are more interested in a beach day, a trip to Seven Mile Beach is always nice.

In Falmouth, we did the Rafting on the Martha Brae, which was nice but could have done without people trying to sell things at every turn on the river, including our raft driver. It kind of left a bad taste in our mouths and we probably wouldn't get off the ship in Falmouth again.

In Cozumel, we decided to stay on the ship for the most part, since we honeymooned in Mexico and there was nothing we wanted to see. We opted to do the Rainforest Room that day. We went first thing in the morning to purchases passes, then got off the ship to stretch our legs and buy a bottle of Jack since DCL allows you to bring alcohol onboard, then spend the rest of the day in the Rainforest Room which was awesome, relaxing and empty.

I don't think there are coffee makers in the rooms. At least there wasn't on the Fantasy. However, the 24 hour beverage station on the pool deck does have coffee.

Yes' date=' it happens on the Captain's Gala night. There are 2 time slots, each lasting about 45 minutes. The drinks are a rum punch, and 2 others with alcohol as well as a virgin punch. One with alcohol is in a tall glass with a lime slice on top if that helps. There is a large amount of ice in the drinks...[/quote']

 

Just to add there is also a light beer and a house white wine.

My wife and I (no kids) will be cruise DCL in September. We are torn between the Great House Plantation Tour and the Rafting on the Martha Brae excursions. They seem to be very different, which doesn't help. Does anyone have any experience with either of these tours (either through DCL or any other cruise line)?

Any thoughts, opinions or reviews would be greatly appreciated.

TIA! :D

Just a word of the wise... do the cruise after you spend a few days at a theme park. Sometimes, between the early mornings and late nights and being on your feet almost constantly, after spending a few days in a theme park you feel like you need another vacation. Packages like these give you just that. It's quite counter-productive to go on a cruise and relax and then exhaust yourselves at a theme park opposed to exhausting yourselves at a theme park and then going on a cruise to relax.

If you are lucky enought to be in a full suite you can order it from room service. Just be forewarned you probably won't be hungry for dinner - there is enough food for at least 4 people!

Out of curiosity, what do they bring you for afternoon tea when you order it from room service (we are in a suite next year)? I know I have asked this before but I can't seem to remember.

I have the widget on my HP-PC at home and it works well. It opens when it should and closes when I want it to. I basically leave it on the ship-cam and have not played around with it much more than that.

What Princess app to do you have? I'd love that for my iPhone.

I personally have the Ship Mate app on my Droid (and it's free!). It's a nice app to have giving you the countdown, itinerary, deck plans, typical excursions offered in ports, deck cams and ship location (which is the only thing that is never accurate). Ship Mate has apps for all the major cruiselines. If it is available for the iPhone, I would deffinately suggest checking it out.

Great posts and pics, OP. We just broke our 100 day mark and can't wait to live it up cabana style on Labadee.

Love your pics - do you have ANY of the cabanas on Nellies Beach ON THE BEACH itself - not hillside or over the water. Do you remember how many cabanas ON THE SAND BEACH - I think there are only a few. And I was wondering how far back they were from the water.

Any info or pics would be appreciated!

Curious too on the beach cabanas. I had assumed the over the water were actually over the water and the beach would be on the beach but still have a view of the water. Is this wrong? It still looks like I have time to change since both are available still.

I'm with the 2 of you. There does not seem to be a whole lot of love for the on beach cabanas on Nellie's Beach. Not many people talk about them, not many pictures to be seen. Sure, there are a couple of posts, but none with the type of info you see about the over the water or hillside. My sister and I each reserved one for our cruise, sort of as a thank you to our parents for taking us (we are 8 total). We opted to go with the beach cabanas because she has a 6 and 3 year old and we just figured the beach was probably the better/safer option. If not much about the on the beach cabanas comes up by the time we get back, I'll make it a point to get it out there.

If there is a bad snow storm it may change things up a bit. We have doent he Exp. out of NJ a couple of times. The first time we did it was in December of '09. Lucky us followed a blizzard up the East Coast (which made the water the last 2 days absolutely brutal). When we finally reached Bayonne, we were delayed almost 2 hours in getting into the port due to ice and getting off the ship was delayed even longer due to having to plow everything (the parking lots, the entrance and driveway, the transportation area from the main building to the ship, etc.). They were considering having us on the ship wait out at sea for an extra day. The port was an absolute madhouse between the cars waiting to pick up guests and the cars waiting to drop off guests. It took our transportation almost three hours to get from the entrance of the port to where they needed to pick us up. My aunt and uncle, however, who drove themselves and did express check-out were home before we even got off the ship. We did hear later on that the ship was delayed in leaving the port by a couple of hours. I am sure this is the most extream of cases (afterall, it was all caused by a blizzard).

We did the same cruise durring the same week the following year and had zero issues.