TwinPrincessMermaids

Broadway on Carnival!! will be announced, a revue of the most popular shows of Broadway with a Carnival twist. Cats will tie in with the new Dr Seuss characters and Les Miserables will tell the story of the results of the new MDR menus. ;)

...keep playing with my heart strings!....

I wondered that too.

Hahahaha! I am crazy paranoid when it comes to this stuff! I would also put a note in the car like on the steering wheel reminding me of the backpack - just in case ;)

Excellent idea! **making notes**

I don't take any chances. Did I say that I was OBSESSED with travel details?! LOL. I wouldn't be able to sleep if I put them in the car. Even when I lived in the country. I could deal with my clothes getting stolen but not my passports. I would spend the entire cruise in my bathrobe if I had to :D

True. Pack the suitcases in the car the night before, leave the boarding backpack secure inside the house with a note on the door. (maybe even close to the door, deadbolt of course.)

Sounds like a pretty good method!

I too am obsessed with checking a rechecking our passports and docs. We have a bright yellow padded travel folder with zippers and stuff that was sent to us free of charge years ago from a major online travel site. I make sure to always have my eye on it and check no less than 50 times throughout our travels that it is there.

 

Packing the important stuff in the car the night before though IMHO is a BAD idea. What happens if your car gets broken into and they make off with your docs? Then you will not only have the stress of that happening, but you will also miss your cruise. I would keep them by the door and maybe put a sticky note in the car that says "Docs?" or something like that to remind you to check you have them. If you park in your garage, then chances are slim that it will get broken into, but a lot of people (like myself) have garages and don't park in them due to various reasons.

True! Good point. I have over 3 acres in KY and no trespass signs everywhere and not that it is a guarantee of anything, but we do literally pack the entire car up the night before, so that is the first thing I pack. But I suppose if I lived in the city, (like my twinkie got her car broken into TWICE!) than yes, I would just leave the backpack on my kitchen table staring me in the face, put a post it note on the door just to be sure, and take it when I went out the door with me instead.

Our favorite in Nassau. Going back in May.

http://www.bahamasbluelagoon.com

 

Well, good for you. Hope you don't ever make this mistake or any mistake for that matter.

I'm terrified of making this mistake, that's why I'm paranoid about it. I still wonder why the family didn't all pitch in and help to make sure everyone had what they needed. But really, I do hope the family gets to plan another one! I have learned that the downsides usually lead to major upsides! And I know the next one is going to be really great for the family!

But not an extra $1000 though! Sheesh.

We had a spa cabin on the Dream. I think they got my honey to book it because of the smoke smell we had on other trips. With it came the fitness classes (I took at least one pilates and IT WAS GREAT) and the therapy pool. Unfortunately, we fried to smithereens and the idea of getting in a hot pool that trip was beyond ridiculous, so other than $12 for a workout class, the spa room meant nothing to us. The room was not very big either. (Interior though.)

My friends still laugh at me to this day! But if you mix the Triumph with Dramamine, it's NOT GOOD! Prior to that, I had been used to RCCL ships where the stairways were at the end. EVery time I got to the stairway, I turned around and came back. I went back and forth and up and down to try to find the only grill at the very back of the ship that was open. My friends still joke to me that I couldn't find food on a cruise ship, but honestly, it was hard! There was one small grill open, and all the lido buffets were closed at 2 which I found odd. Anyway, I had done a workout that morning (started at 1st deck and did the stairs to deck 11! I NEVER EVER recommend that! Seemed like a silly thing to take an elevator to the gym, well, have I learned MY lesson! round and round and round you go and around around some more until you finally get there... and suddenly you don't feel too good...but now that you are at the gym, its time to workout...) well anyway I crashed my bloodsugar, was on a birth control pill that I did not know made me VERY VERY nauseous and after my workout, had THE WORST sea sickness I can ever remember. That's when I remember someone telling me that you HAVE TO EAT when you get seasick. By this time, it was 2, and the lido buffet I went for was closed. That's when I tried to find my way to the back of the ship, but I had no idea I had to go both through the stair wells AND through the lido buffet and around the buffet and out the other side to get to the back of the ship and finally get to the grill. Honestly, I never, ever would have made it. I would have collapsed into a tired, hungry, nauseated, dramamine-induced disoriented coma if someone in our group hadn't found me. They had to take me by the hand and direct me to the food. I still barely remember it, but I finally found the chicken tenders and fries, my go-to food for seasickness.

Since then, I have learned a few things. First, the CCL set up is just odd and weird and frankly yes, if you have been on any other cruise lines, CCL is DIFFERENt with their 'you can't get there from here'. Not that the instance above was all CCL's fault, but it just didn't make sense to go into the buffet to get out to the lido deck. And since I never went outside, I went back and forth to the all the stairs, and even tried to cut through some other decks to see if I could get outside that way. Additionally, my friend and I tried to meet up for afternoon tea, but I could never figure out which dining room it was in, they would change it, or I would end up at one, and have no idea how to get around to the other and just give up. I've also learned that the only time I can hit the gym is around 4 pm, after lunch and before dinner, to keep sea sickness at bay. (no more AM workouts! blahhhh) and I have since changed my birth control pill twice but finally found one where I encountered ZERO sea sickness on both cruises this year! Thank goodness.

Bottom line, if you are on dramamine, you will probably never, ever figure out how to get around the Triumph.

I guess I just don't understand how everyone else had their docs and not the OP (if they were all in the same household.) It only stands to reason that you don't just grab YOURS, you get everyone's together and pack it in the carryon bag first thing in the car before you ever pack one suitcase or do anything. Before I drive away, I check and recheck and make my husband look for the passports too just so I have an extra set of eyeballs and can finally relax. These docs are THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO PACK even if you didn't pack a single swimsuit or peice of underwear or NOTHING, if you have your travel docs, you can pick up anything else you need close to port.

As a PP stated, I never ever trust my honey to pack these things. He can barely keep track of his wallet. My OCD methods include checking the drawer they are in every few weeks to double check the expiration dates and whereabouts. As we get closer to online check-in, they go RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE DESKTOP computer where they are seen on a daily basis and in the info is entered into online check-in. About a week before the trip, I pack my 'boarding backpack' and they go into it and it sits on my kitchen table so I can stare at it for the next week and it stares back at me and I can double check that the passports are in it. Finally, the night before we leave, the carryon boarding back pack is packed into the car, before anything else, and then the other suitcases are packed. And finally, we do the double eyeball check for the documents before we drive away, and I do periodic checks too. We use our passports to fly as well (because they are the most accepted form of ID) and it helps me to keep an eye on them.

Basically, I'm just so very very terrified of leaving without them but my obsession has lead to successful trips every single time. But no, I would never leave my honey on his own to pack his documentation. I just wonder how everyone else had theirs but him....

Let's all do a DOCUMENT CHECK! Don't just assume they are where you thought they were or that the expiration date is way on down the line!

OP, I wish you the best. AlL i can say is that this trip deserves a RE-DO!!!

Whatever floats your boat (in the literal sense as well) but I think CCL's hey day (based on my own personal cruise experience with them) included my cruises from 2007-2011. If you didn't care for your last one in 2010, you may be disappointed with the way things have gone since...

:) I have my sights set on Pensacola. Close to parents (Ala coast) and still FLR.

Believe me, I'm not saying Never! Especially this winter. BLAH!!!

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Hahaha well good to know.. I will be going on the Magic now in Feb.. And about WDW

I go about three times a year and thats on a bad year. Lol.. So yeah I should be good..

:cool:

You FLRs make me sick! :p Its my dream to be a FL Res... :)

Whatever floats your boat! (Hope it isn't CCL though. :( )

We loved the Dream this year, so much wonderful technology, amazing dining, great interactive CMs, amazing shows.

We are on the 'new' Magic this year, and it has the Marvel Superheroes. Its the only ship that does. Is that of interest to the little ones? If so, pick the Magic!

The Wonder is the classic ship that has not been updated yet but many people still like it.

Fantasy is my dream ship, but I have to figure out how to cruise for a week on her! Maybe next time!

Disney is amazing when it comes to food allergies. I will be eating GF and happy on this trip too!

What a wonderful present! The cheapest way to get a good rate is to book ahead of time, as the closer you get, the prices tend to increase up to the Paid In Full time. After that, if you are really fortunate, you might see a "guarantee" sale come up that is designed to fill the ship at a good price. We booked our 4 day Magic in July '13 and this week, the room is $400 more than we got it for! So definitely book ahead of time.

Hope you enjoy DCL as much as we did! We didn't have any kids with us but we had our senior parents and they LOVED it too! It really has something for all ages (just like their parks.)

Dude!!! I turned 31 two weeks after my DCL. WHAT WHAT!!! BEST CRUISE!!!! Can't wait for May's Magic, but we LOVE WDW, so if you don't love Disney, you probably won't love DCL. If you like WDW, you should love DCL!

No kids, and there is a cruise line for everyone, but I can't wait to complete my week sailing in May. (Did 3 nights this year and have a 4 night booked.) Based on my 3 day, I was utterly blown away with service, entertainment, technology and yes the food. Food is subjective and not always consistent. For instance, food has always been good (MRD mainly) on CCL (we even liked it better than RCCL), but it has to GET to you first! My problems were by the time service came, it had sat for so long, it just wasn't as good.

Disney had some really nice upscale choices. Duck, goat cheese salads (I eat one every day for lunch, so I was SO happy!) escargot, Grand Marnier Soufflee, I can't remember the cuts of beef (don't eat beef, but the one that came was BIG and a nice red center), they had lobster ravioli, scallops and sea bass, and chicken and pasta. The soups were wonderful, asparagus, or tomato, and my honey is a French Onion lover and got 2. He on the other hand wasn't that thrilled with the MDR serving a square ready made hashbrown but on the buffet (best breakfast buffet I EVER HAD), they had fresh cut potatoes served.

Again, food, its service and preparation can be subjective. Its a shame they were unhappy. Any time we expressed that we weren't thrilled with something, they got something else or brought us a huge plate of chocolate covered strawberries or something. I LOVED the pizza on the Disney ship (not as good as old last year's Conquest with Goat Cheese pizza but what in the world did they serve us on the CCL Dream!?!? Flat and no sauce?!)

So yeah. As for the clubs, after the pirate party, we went to the adult karaoke, people were having a blast and singing and dancing. After it was over, the club music started and so of course, we had to WOBBLE and so forth. I danced so much, I could hardly walk in my FLATS back to my room! They still had more going on for us than most of our CCL deck parties.

Guess it all depends on the ship, the time of year and the crew you cruise with. I guess we bring our own party. Too bad we didn't cruise together, OP! You woulda seen a party crew for sure! We have 18 of us on the next Magic in May, and only 3 kids in the whole bunch. Most of us are younger couples and we know how to get down!

If CCL had kept its earlier quality of a few yrs ago, I'd be happy with them too. But its the same old same old boring trivia and bean bag toss and lugging around scratched karaoke books with unfriendly staff, weird changes (like the whole family serving thing, that's just weird to me) and with cutbacks and less entertainment offered. (We had 4 comedians on the Conquest last year, this year on the Dream, we had 2 and they only ran like 2-3 nights the whole week, and there weren't shows scheduled every night either. One night, the Newlywed Game was the headliner. That's just not the cruising I grew up with, and not even on CCL either...)

So we shall see! DCL cruise #2 is about 100 days away! If its anything like the DCL Dream this year, it will definitely be DCL Magic! (see what I did there? hehe) :)

Regardless of the ship, the weekend cruises tend to attract a younger, party crowd. This has nothing to do with the ship or the cruise line, but simply because of the nature of a 3 night weekend cruise.

Tapi, I like ya, but I have to disagree with you there. It DOES make a difference which cruise line you go on even if it is a 3 day. My 7 Day CCLs were way way more rowdy and vulgar on the lido deck than my 3 day DCL ever was... and it was Atlanta spring break besides. Cruise line does matter.

Our friends always picked the last week of Feb for our 3 annual CCLs. They were great weather in Mexico (sometimes not so good in NOLA) but this yr, the water in Bahamas and VIs was a bit CHILLY. Still, it was perfect to sit out on deck with in early Mar. We left PC at 82, came back at 45! :eek: Weren't prepared as well for that but it sure made for a busy running day at WDW (we did 4 parks plus it helped us stay warm). Anyway we went back to PC in mid Apirl and had BEAUTIFUL 82 degrees and gorgeous weather in the Bahamas and the water was cool, but a 1-2-3 and jump and it was fine.

I WON'T cruise in Dec/Jan unless it is Mexico (or Hawaii!). I won't cruise June-early Nov because that is right smack in the middle of hurricane season, and all the naysayers can say what they want, but start watching these threads when the Tropical Systems pop up...it is NOT GOOD, and I don't do it. And Summer is too expensive (plus I like summer here!)

For me, late Feb-May is perfection. Mostly calm seas, not much winter weather, and no tropical systems.

I don't often get to pick my cruise dates, actually this one on 5/5 is the first cruise I have ever picked and planned. (Friends and family always chose/planned the others.)

Hoping for another perfect cruise since this yr's Mid-April had stunning weather!

It's really beyond sad that people think there is nothing to do in the Orlando area except theme parks and shopping. :rolleyes:

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

Another option is to stay overnight at Cape Canaveral or Port Canaveral and enjoy the beach before you arrive. It's FLorida. There is a TON to do ANYWHERE.

But I personally LOVE LOVE LOVE the parks! All of them basically. Between Universal, SeaW and BuschG, and WDW, plus more minor parks (haven't made it to the water parks yet besides WnW) there is PLENTY to see and do.

We love Medieval Times too! Not to mention our favorite authentic mid eastern restaurant in kissimmee.

I LOVE Orlando...

What a bummer.

Our 3 Day Disney Dream was Magical. Btw, Believe was our least favorite show with Golden Mickeys being our favorite (if that helps :( ) and its a shame about AP, as that was indeed our favorite dining room. DCL is constantly on the wipee patrol to sanitize, but as mentioned, it may not help keep the viruses away. I think the number one problem is that I let myself get dehyrdated (who wants to drink water when diet coke is free) and so now, whenever I am getting ready to travel or around people sick, I stock up on EMERGEN-Cs and drink them round the clock. It has helped me to get rid of sickies on the way to WDW and cruises (I left feeling better, than how I got there) and keep the crud at bay once I arrive. I also am a VERY BIG BELIEVER in probiotics, although they help me more digestively but I have heard that they help with immunity as well. I don't suppose there is much else any of us can do regarding noro. There are still too many hand rails, public bathroom doors and so forth that it is hard to keep the crud at bay.

Sorry that you had lousy weather on Castaway. We really truly did LOVE this island, but we went in Mid-april and it was perfect 82 degrees, great for volleyball, count to 1-2-3 and jump into Pelicans point. I haven't cruised in January because sometimes they can't even dock at Castaway due to weather. We don't cruise before the end of Feb and we think our May 5th will hopefully have ideal weather (although you never know.)

Hope you enjoyed the ship as much as we did! We used to cruise Royal quite a bit growing up but found their cruise ships to be less than memorable (although Hawaii was wonderful of course!) Then we switched to CCL when it was good and honestly it was the same or better than RCCL back then. Now CCL just stinks, has major service and entertainment let downs and so we are just excited to be cruising DCL with our Visa rewards discounts, 10% off bookings and off season to help us get on board.

We definitely thought they had the best stateroom we had ever stayed in, the best servers we have had in years, and the nicest ship and island. I haven't been to CoCoCay in some time but there weren't very many amenities there when we did. However, it was some of the best snorkeling we have ever had. We also LOVE LOVE LOVE Nassau (blue Lagoon). If you have a plan, you can have a great day. But since you lost a day being sick, I suppose it is good that you stayed on board.

Sorry to hear that your trip did not end well. :(

Not all DCL cruises are 4k.

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There have been a lot of posts on DIS about special needs children on DCL. You might do searches for them. As you know, frankly DCL is the number 1 cruise line for families and they do have experience in special needs, but you will want to do some research. There are a lot more posts on that forum about it.

Agree with PP about once you go DC! I was seriously let down this yr by CCLs abysmal service and decided that I was sick of constant in your face bingo, forced promenade thru Casino and sell sell sell infomercial style . I did think the CCL Dream was FULL of kids even in Feb. So I guess they like it. On the other hand, I didn't feel that overrun with kids on DC Dream..I think they are just so preoccupied! There are character dance parties and activities where they can get all that energy out after dinner. (Might not be a perfect fit for your youngster but it would get the loud ones preoccupied perhaps so it wouldn't be too much?)

I agree that you don't have to book 7 days to be wowed. Castaway is wonderful! Ours was only 3 day but it was far, far superior to our CCL 7 day recent cruise. Cost about the same but we had an exceptional double deluxe bathroom veranda room. Our upcoming 4 Day Magic interior is about the same (but our Disney Visas rewards and incentives have taken off HALF our cruise and we have only had the one since March and the 2% one since Nov!) So really it will be basically as cheap as CCL for us. We cruise in spring before school lets out and before hurricane season. We booked with 10% off coupon that came in the mail and booked it in July. Our room has gone up about $300 since then, so unless you get a short notice guarantee sale like we did (which was great!), you might be better off booking much earlier since with only four ships, they do tend to sell OK.

Maintenance was the nail in the coffin for us and CCL this yr, that's why we ended up on Disney for the first time ever. We endured constant ribbing from workmates about the Poop Cruise Triumph that happened about a week or two before we sailed. A week and a half after we got off the Dream, she was flying passengers back and cancelling the next sailing because of back up generators going offline. Was on the Triumph two hrs ago, but getting off a ship that got stuck at port less than two weeks after us? And was very disappointing besides? No thanks. Dad knew mom (who is a worrier) wouldn't step one foot on a CCL and booked her on DCL instead for their long standing reputation. He did the right thing and she had complete confidence and never batted an eye. Now all of us (plus more, 18 total now!) Are going on a 4 Day Magic (practically new) in about 100 days. Can't wait!!!

Stellar service, upscale technology and ship activities and good food and characters and Castaway and fireworks and incredible Broadway shows and no smokey casino etc.! We dont have kids but we love the DCL experience.

Catch it on DestinAmerica this week if you get that channel!

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We booked the Sting Ray City SANDBAR (make sure it says sandbar so you can get close) thru CCL on a nice modern brand new yellow catamaran with stairs into the water (had a party with limited mobility). It was super cool! Like a giant party out in the middle of the ocean only waist high water, tons of huge friendly stingrays and fish too. Totally different and really neat. After, we could take a bus back to ship (older ones in the group went back) or your excursion wristband allowed entry to Royal Palm Beach so we spent the afternoon there, snorkeled, swam in the pool and had an incredible lunch. It cost $4 to bus back to ship and we still had time for some shopping. Was a great great day!

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I missed it but am going to catch it this week. I'm close to the 100 day countdown to our awesome MAGICal Land and Sea trip!

And down 7 pounds in 3 weeks whoop.whoop!

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