E
erikthewise
Guest
We took a 3-day Wonder Cruise, 12/13/01-12/17/01. We spent four days at WDW beforehand (Polynesian), but not as part of a package. We had originally tried to book a 4/3 land/sea package, but at the time of our booking, the only resort available was Dolphin/Swan. Since we didnt want to stay there, we ended up booking the two components separately and saving bundles of money.
Overall we had a great time. Please keep that in mind as this report concentrates on the problems we had. We were told this cruise had 2300 passengers, so I guess it was just about full. We were a party of four: myself, my wife, and two boys ages 8 and 5.
(1) In spite of obsessive preparation, I was not at all prepared for what happens when you arrive at the port with a rental car. I had expected to park first, but the parking lot is marked Day Parking and a left-hand turn lane marked Guest Drop-Off, which was confusing. I think taking that left-turn lane was the only option; Im still not sure. The lengthy eight-step process that followed was not expected (details on request). We finally boarded the ship about an hour after arriving at the port.
(2) The rooms need to have printed instructions on how to lock the room safe and the veranda door, as neither is intuitive. After four days of using room keys that are inserted stripe down, who would guess that the safe only operates with the card stripe up? I had to call to find this out. It took a full day to figure out that the veranda door doesnt actually lock unless you rotate upper lock AND set the door handle horizontally; this is not appreciated when were trying to keep small children from going on the veranda.
(3) The beverage cooler takes almost 24 hours to cool something; but it was still welcome. We brought 12 water bottles and 12 diet cokes on board with us and were very glad we did.
(4) We had early seating for dinner. We planned to substitute Palo for Parrot Cay, but were given the only rotation that would have prevented that, eating at Parrot Cay the first night. Since the Oceaneers Club and Lab activities didnt start until 7:00 and we wanted to eat at 6:00, we were forced to change dining rotation. We ended up eating at Animators Palate the first night.
(5) The music in Animators Palate was too loud, so loud that we had difficulty communicating with our servers.
(6) We ate lunch at Cookies BBQ on Castaway Cay. The burgers there were excellent! A minor disappointment was that I saw someone eating mango and couldnt find any at Cookies. It wasnt until we were leaving that I saw the fruit stand that is just shipward of Cookies. We had approached from other side on returning from the adult beach and you dont see the fruit stand from that direction.
(7) We saw all three of the shows. I liked Hercules: the Muse-ical every bit as much as Disney Dreams. The Muses and Meg in our show were professional-quality, as good as in the original, better for being real. Hades was also very good. Disney Dreams was also very good but Anne-Marie and Peter Pan in our show were not the standouts that some of the Hercules cast were. Who Wants To Be a Mouseketeer has potential, but suffers greatly for the fact that contestants are chosen randomly.
(8) Each of the first two mornings I went to the Fitness Center at 7:00AM to use a treadmill. The equipment there is first-rate and its not too busy at this time; there are 6(?) treadmills, at least one step machine and a limited selection of weights and other machines. In the absence of bridge tours this is also the only way to get a look at the bridge. In retrospect I wish I had changed and showered at the Fitness Center instead of in my room; they have a very nice locker room with special showers. A sauna is part of the locker room complex. As far as I can tell there is no extra charge for use of the locker room/sauna though I cant be sure since I didnt use it.
(9) I was disappointed to find that Scoops served only soft-serve ice cream, and only from noon to 6. There should be someplace to get honest ice cream until late night. If theyre only going to have soft-serve, it should be called Poops instead of Scoops.
(10) The second night we ate at Palo. I wore a nice jacket but no tie As it turned out I was better dressed that a lot of men there; the tie density was probably no more than 50%. The dinner was excellent and our server was top notch.
(11) I was confused about the gratuity situation at Palo and found it necessary to ask the head server about it; Im still not sure I understand it. The $10 we were charged, he explained, did not go to solely to our server but was split equally among the Palo staff. Elsewhere Ive also read that it goes to our regular servers as compensation for our absence, but that makes no sense as they would not suffer under recommended tipping. It seems that to express appreciation for excellent service you need to add a further gratuity to your server at Palo. We did so, but I think a lot of people are under the impression (as I was) that they had already paid their gratuity.
(12) The menus at both Palo and Triton overuse alcohol in cooking. Yes there are nonalcoholic entrees, but they tend to be the less desirable ones. I was forced to forego first and second entrée choices because they used alcoholic sauces and apparently were prepared en masse so I could not get them without the sauce (or so I was told).
(13) We took advantage of a special 3:00 showing of Monsters, Inc in the Walt Disney Theatre (rather than the Buena Vista where other movies were shown), and of a matinee performance of Disney Dreams. Both were apparently added showings due to the popularity of these shows and were greatly appreciated.
(14) It takes time to take care of loose ends on the last day! With Castaway Cay, Disney Dream, packing, and the debarkation talk, there is little time left over for dealing with gratuities, photos, etc.
(15) They will ask you to pay $45 in advance for a set of 5 photos, which is not a good gamble as you may not have time to get back there to select them or get a refund!
(16) If you have first seating, you are off the boat by 7:45. The second seating for breakfast begins at 8:00 and the first seating has nowhere else to go. No one ever suggested that we would be off that early. No harm done, but it wouldve been good to know in advance.
Overall we had a great time. Please keep that in mind as this report concentrates on the problems we had. We were told this cruise had 2300 passengers, so I guess it was just about full. We were a party of four: myself, my wife, and two boys ages 8 and 5.
(1) In spite of obsessive preparation, I was not at all prepared for what happens when you arrive at the port with a rental car. I had expected to park first, but the parking lot is marked Day Parking and a left-hand turn lane marked Guest Drop-Off, which was confusing. I think taking that left-turn lane was the only option; Im still not sure. The lengthy eight-step process that followed was not expected (details on request). We finally boarded the ship about an hour after arriving at the port.
(2) The rooms need to have printed instructions on how to lock the room safe and the veranda door, as neither is intuitive. After four days of using room keys that are inserted stripe down, who would guess that the safe only operates with the card stripe up? I had to call to find this out. It took a full day to figure out that the veranda door doesnt actually lock unless you rotate upper lock AND set the door handle horizontally; this is not appreciated when were trying to keep small children from going on the veranda.
(3) The beverage cooler takes almost 24 hours to cool something; but it was still welcome. We brought 12 water bottles and 12 diet cokes on board with us and were very glad we did.
(4) We had early seating for dinner. We planned to substitute Palo for Parrot Cay, but were given the only rotation that would have prevented that, eating at Parrot Cay the first night. Since the Oceaneers Club and Lab activities didnt start until 7:00 and we wanted to eat at 6:00, we were forced to change dining rotation. We ended up eating at Animators Palate the first night.
(5) The music in Animators Palate was too loud, so loud that we had difficulty communicating with our servers.
(6) We ate lunch at Cookies BBQ on Castaway Cay. The burgers there were excellent! A minor disappointment was that I saw someone eating mango and couldnt find any at Cookies. It wasnt until we were leaving that I saw the fruit stand that is just shipward of Cookies. We had approached from other side on returning from the adult beach and you dont see the fruit stand from that direction.
(7) We saw all three of the shows. I liked Hercules: the Muse-ical every bit as much as Disney Dreams. The Muses and Meg in our show were professional-quality, as good as in the original, better for being real. Hades was also very good. Disney Dreams was also very good but Anne-Marie and Peter Pan in our show were not the standouts that some of the Hercules cast were. Who Wants To Be a Mouseketeer has potential, but suffers greatly for the fact that contestants are chosen randomly.
(8) Each of the first two mornings I went to the Fitness Center at 7:00AM to use a treadmill. The equipment there is first-rate and its not too busy at this time; there are 6(?) treadmills, at least one step machine and a limited selection of weights and other machines. In the absence of bridge tours this is also the only way to get a look at the bridge. In retrospect I wish I had changed and showered at the Fitness Center instead of in my room; they have a very nice locker room with special showers. A sauna is part of the locker room complex. As far as I can tell there is no extra charge for use of the locker room/sauna though I cant be sure since I didnt use it.
(9) I was disappointed to find that Scoops served only soft-serve ice cream, and only from noon to 6. There should be someplace to get honest ice cream until late night. If theyre only going to have soft-serve, it should be called Poops instead of Scoops.
(10) The second night we ate at Palo. I wore a nice jacket but no tie As it turned out I was better dressed that a lot of men there; the tie density was probably no more than 50%. The dinner was excellent and our server was top notch.
(11) I was confused about the gratuity situation at Palo and found it necessary to ask the head server about it; Im still not sure I understand it. The $10 we were charged, he explained, did not go to solely to our server but was split equally among the Palo staff. Elsewhere Ive also read that it goes to our regular servers as compensation for our absence, but that makes no sense as they would not suffer under recommended tipping. It seems that to express appreciation for excellent service you need to add a further gratuity to your server at Palo. We did so, but I think a lot of people are under the impression (as I was) that they had already paid their gratuity.
(12) The menus at both Palo and Triton overuse alcohol in cooking. Yes there are nonalcoholic entrees, but they tend to be the less desirable ones. I was forced to forego first and second entrée choices because they used alcoholic sauces and apparently were prepared en masse so I could not get them without the sauce (or so I was told).
(13) We took advantage of a special 3:00 showing of Monsters, Inc in the Walt Disney Theatre (rather than the Buena Vista where other movies were shown), and of a matinee performance of Disney Dreams. Both were apparently added showings due to the popularity of these shows and were greatly appreciated.
(14) It takes time to take care of loose ends on the last day! With Castaway Cay, Disney Dream, packing, and the debarkation talk, there is little time left over for dealing with gratuities, photos, etc.
(15) They will ask you to pay $45 in advance for a set of 5 photos, which is not a good gamble as you may not have time to get back there to select them or get a refund!
(16) If you have first seating, you are off the boat by 7:45. The second seating for breakfast begins at 8:00 and the first seating has nowhere else to go. No one ever suggested that we would be off that early. No harm done, but it wouldve been good to know in advance.
