We made our own Land and Seas Package

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Jason, what's the cost for the kids' club?

 

In a strange twist it is free otherwise known as included in your fare. I know scary isn't it. 

 

The Nursery is a little different though. If anyone wants the numbers on that let me know. 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

So does a couple with no children get a discount?

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

So does a couple with no children get a discount?

 

No they do not. Except for not paying for any kids fares of course.  I would assume the adults have money included in there fares for the bars and the night club areas as well as the Adult only areas of the ship. 

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

I am enjoying the information. I will never cruise but love looking at the pictures

[luv2ride 1]

Jason,

Thanks for all your information.  We just booked on the Dream for January.  Can you provide some additional information on the nursery?  Cost, etc. 

 

Our little guy will have just turned 2 and the twins 5.  They are so excited about the kids club!  I have read some information regarding a pager system so they can get ahold of you.  Do you know how that works?  Any information you can provide for the kids club and nursery would be fantastic!

[Beckers 1,136]

Some day, I will cruise DCL. Until then, keep the trip reports coming.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Jason,

Thanks for all your information.  We just booked on the Dream for January.  Can you provide some additional information on the nursery?  Cost, etc. 

 

Our little guy will have just turned 2 and the twins 5.  They are so excited about the kids club!  I have read some information regarding a pager system so they can get ahold of you.  Do you know how that works?  Any information you can provide for the kids club and nursery would be fantastic!

They give you a pager that goes off when if you are needed or your kid wants to leave.  

[Lou... 3,118]

Jason,

Thanks for all your information.  We just booked on the Dream for January.  Can you provide some additional information on the nursery?  Cost, etc. 

 

Our little guy will have just turned 2 and the twins 5.  They are so excited about the kids club!  I have read some information regarding a pager system so they can get ahold of you.  Do you know how that works?  Any information you can provide for the kids club and nursery would be fantastic!

 

The DCL website has everything you want to know, including prices.

[Helmsey......Todd 134]

Man, seeing the pics here and other TR's from cruises really makes me want to try this. I have always said I don't think I'd enjoy a cruise cause I'd just want to drive the boat. But these pics are starting to sway my opinion on taking one. Please don't tell wifey, she does not need to know this info just yet :)

[Beckers 1,136]

Man, seeing the pics here and other TR's from cruises really makes me want to try this. I have always said I don't think I'd enjoy a cruise cause I'd just want to drive the boat. But these pics are starting to sway my opinion on taking one. Please don't tell wifey, she does not need to know this info just yet :)

 

Yeah, see part of being a fiend is encouraging any and all trips that could results in trip reports. Soooooooo, I'm gonna have to say none of us will follow the don't tell wifey. :)

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Todd, you really should think about taking a cruise!  These ships are so big that you hardly even realize you're on one.  There is so much to see and do, and the food is great.  You're treated like royalty by the staff from the time you step onto the ship.  And going to all the different locations ... I could just go on and on.

[Lou... 3,118]

They finally opened up CM cruise availability the other day and I was only one click away from booking it, but I didn't.

Why didn't you ask? It certainly wasn't the money. Can't beat the CM rates. It was for a cruise at the end of this month and because it was so soon, we hadn't asked anyone to go with us. It's more fun if 2 or 3 families go together. I'm still tempted though.

[Beckers 1,136]

Oh Lou I would have happily cruised with you :) but I'm about to hit the point of too pregnant to cruise by their rules.

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

They finally opened up CM cruise availability the other day and I was only one click away from booking it, but I didn't.

Why didn't you ask? It certainly wasn't the money. Can't beat the CM rates. It was for a cruise at the end of this month and because it was so soon, we hadn't asked anyone to go with us. It's more fun if 2 or 3 families go together. I'm still tempted though.

Just besure you check next April...:)

[alexwyattmommy 181]

For a CM discount rate, I would knock my husband over the head and drag them all on board.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

For a CM discount rate, I would knock my husband over the head and drag them all on board.

 

Me too!!!

[alexwyattmommy 181]

There Lou, you found 2 families to go with you.  Book him Danno.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Page six bragging rights!

 

Great report so far, Jason.

 

And, I haven't missed much.  You're not even in your cabin yet!  I'm wondering what type of cabin you got, and how you liked it.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

For a CM discount rate, I would knock my husband over the head and drag them all on board.

 

Not my husband ... he doesn't appreciate cruising.  But I would hit my best friend.

[Lou... 3,118]

Un

 

There Lou, you found 2 families to go with you.  Book him Danno.

 

Had I known, but it sold out to CMs today.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Ok sorry for the delay but fun and exciting things have been happening. 

 

When I left off Sil and I were headed to the Sail Away Party. 

 

Before I post that though TCD mentioned I had not revealed our accomodations. 

 

We had booked a Navigator's Verandah. That is an undersized or obstructed view Verandah. It was our Annversary and Sil really wanted to have the verandah and a GTY rate opened up for them which brought the price down a little. 

 

GTY or Guarantee means you can't pick you own stateroom so I kept checking the DCL site to see if our room had been assigned. About 54 days out it finally was assigned. And we got an upgrade. 

 

We were now going to be in an Oversized Balcony Stateroom. Room 7690 to be precise. This room is on the very back of the ship so when we backed into Castaway Cay we would get to look out over the Island. 

 

Here's the room. 

 

 

 

 

I thought we had more of the deck but I can not find them. However before we went on the cruise I found a sweet video on Youtube showing the room. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V1TxePbueM

 

It was a really nice room but it had one down side. At night when the air was heavy the smoke from the stack would curve down the ship and all you could smell on the Balcony was the exhaust from the ship. Our room host/steward? had to vacuum up this black grit on the deck of our balcony every day. The smell issue was not there in the day time now was the grit. We loved the balcony anyway. Sil especially. 

 

So not we get back to the Sail Away. Sad to say we are not as wild and crazy as the TCD gang. We did not make it on the screen and we avoided Deck 11 like the plague for the party. We staked out a spot on Deck 12 towards the second stack that was not very crowded and snapped some pictures and listened to the party from up there. 

 

The DCL Terminal

 

 

I can see my car from here. 

 

 

See it's right there.

 

 

I took this shot because it showed it was the real smoke stack. Little did I know about the stateroom smoke issue.

 

 

TCD is right they really did a great job on this logo.

 

 

Moving away from the dock I got a straight on view of the terminal.

 

 

This is where the Royal Caribbean ships are always docked when I am watching the webcam but there were no RCCL ships in port today.

 

 

There were to Carnival Ships though. You can see them up ahead of us. 

 

 

I have tons more pictures of the channel and everything. If anyone wants to see them I can upload them but I already had the cruise pictures paired down to almost 700 for this. We took 1700+ on the cruise so I didn't want to bombard people. 

 

After we got to to the end of the harbor Sil and I headed to our room to get changed for dinner. on the way I spotted the Arr-Cade so I stopped to grab some pictures. 

 

 

 

Looks like fun in there. 

 

When we got down to the room we went out on the balcony and watched land fade away in the distance.

 

 

We had the 6:00 show time and the 8:15 dinner.  The show the first night was basically your on a Disney Cruise Line and here's what you can do....turned into a musical number and using old Disney songs. Hokey but cute. 

 

After the show we had about an hour till dinner so we headed back to the stateroom to grab a beverage and check out the sunset. 

 

 

Next up Dinner in Animator's Palette. While we were with another couple and a mother and daughter I informed them right off I would be severely injured if I didn't bring back pood forn. 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Congrats on the great cabin!  Looking forward to more, especially the pood forn!

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Hurray for J!

Weekend Update!

Love the sunset pic!

That sucks about te balcony smoke and grit but it sounds like you made the best of it.

Looking forward to more!

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Our dinner rotation was AERAEER. For those of you who don't know they print it on your KTTW card so you can reference it anytime. A is for Animator's Palette, E is for Enchanted Garden, and R is for Royal Court. 

 

After meeting the other people at our table I snapped some pics of the menu's. Sorry for the glare but they were mostly for reference. 

 

 

 

 Sil had the Wild Mushroom Risotto and Porcini Twist

 

 

I didn't care for any of the Appetizers. I don't like mushrooms and I am allergic to most seafood. 

 

So I skipped right to the Soup and had the Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup

 

 

A quick shot of what the restaurant looks like on the night they do the Crush show. 

 

 

Sil had the Vine Ripe Tomato Salad

 

 

All of this was good!

 

Then is was on to our Main Course. 

 

I had the Ginger-Teriyaki dusted Angus Tenderloin

 

 

This was tasty but I found out I am not a fan of Bok Choy

 

Sil had the Animator's Trio of Veal

 

 

Her favorite part of this meal was the Pulled Veal in this. She still raves about it. 

 

After they cleared our plates away we got our Dessert and after dinner drink menus

 

 

 

Sil had the Crunchy Walnut Cake I believe

 

 

I had the item I have every time I first hit a Disney Park. Everybody looked at me a little funny but I didnt care. They also later admitted to a bit of jealousy that they didn't know it was an available option. 

 

 

After that we wandered around the ship a little more but we were tired and I wanted to try out room service. 

 

That was a really good burger. 

 

 

The chicken tenders were good but in the future we would order 2 orders to actually have some chicken tenders.

 

 

Plenty of ketchup and condiments

 

And we ordered a pot of coffee for the morning. It is in a thermal carafe (sp?) and if unopened actually kept the coffee a decent temperature for Sil in the morning. 

 

Oh I almost forgot to share our first towel animal with you.

 

 

Also in researching for our cruise I found a lot of people concerned about Balcony rooms and the door locks. As well as the locks on the door leaving the cabin. Other apparently had escape artist's like Dave's cute little Anna and were concerned about them getting out or falling overboard. I decided to make a point to take some pictures of the locks on the balcony and main doors. 

 

Main door.

 

 

There is a dead bolt on it but it is kind of on the low side. No other lock available on this so if you have a wanderer maybe leave something in front of the door that they would have to move out of the way to make there escape. 

 

There are 2 locks on the balcony doors on the Fantasy at least. 

 

 

This one is up at the top of the door. About 6 feet off the ground. it would make it tough for any little one to manage to open the door as long as this lock is engaged. 

 

the door handle is the other lock. 

 

 

 

Either up or down is locked. I can't remember at this point. I think Up was. 

 

Hope that reassures people. Tomorrow is a Sea Day. What will we do?

[Beckers 1,136]

I think you made the right dessert choice. Nothing sounded too appetizing to me from the menu besides the citrus lemon mousse.