Once you stepped on board they asked your name and announced it over a loud speaker. A REALLY REALLY LOUD loudspeaker which the person was apparently also shouting into. It literally hurt your ears. So we vacated the area quickly and went up to deck 9 to Beach Blanket Bingo for the buffet. We grabbed some lunch and found a nice spot out on deck to eat. Then we wandered around a little. We found Vibe, the teen club, and took Maddie up to check it out. It’s a very cool loftish space.
Our rooms were finally ready and some of the luggage was there so we went and quickly unpacked. The room was small but functional. There was plenty of room for the two of us, I’m not sure how crowded it would have been with a family of 4. The bathroom is split. One room with a sink and toilet, the other with a sink and shower/tub which was nice. We also had a verandah which was a nice size. Plenty of room to sit out without feeling cramped. Liz and Lisa’s room was on the other side of the ship so we had views on either side. The wave phones provided were awesome for keeping in touch. Especially with the invisible teenager.
We liked the restaurants. If they keep doing Alaska they need to either re-do or do an overlay for Parrot Cay. It really seems out of place when you see icebergs floating by the windows. We liked Animators Palette and Tritons. The food was overall pretty good. I don’t think any of us tried anything that was totally disappointing. You keep the same servers but rotate dining rooms nightly. The servers were fine, ours seemed a bit slow as we were almost always the last to leave the dining room and spent a lot of time between courses waiting. And maybe it was just me but all lot of the servers “banter” seemed forced to me. It seemed like they were just trying to make you remember them so you’d tip more. Now this could just be me.
We did Palo one night and the food and service were outstanding as advertised. My only issue was we couldn’t get a reservation for 3 people at all pre-boarding. We went to the reservations table first thing when we boarded and were able to get a reservation for 3 but he made it seem like there weren’t many spaces. We had an 8 PM reservation and there was only one couple waiting ahead of us to be seated. The restaurant seemed half full or less and only one table turned over the whole time we were there. So not sure if there were a lot of cancellations or what but it seemed odd given the difficulty in getting a table at all.
And to digress a bit, Disney Cruises online website SUCKS EGGS. It’s very difficult to find any information you’re looking for even with a search it doesn’t turn up. Things aren’t in any sort of logical order and booking excursions and such are done in a very roundabout way.
Maddie spent almost all her time at Vibe, the teen club, or hanging around the ship with the friends she made. There was something for them to do almost all the time. They did game shows, had a homecoming dance, made T-Shirts, all kinds of stuff. The wave phones were wonderful for keeping in touch and checking on her every once in a while. I think there were 15 in her group. They’ve now set up a facebook group to keep in touch which I think is pretty cool. Vibe closed at 2AM and I rarely saw her come in before that.
We did a few of the scheduled activities. Bingo was ok but the cheapest buy in was $30. The place was packed. It was ok but we didn’t feel the need to do It again. We also did a Martini Tasting. This was an additional $15 each and it was ok. The bartender in charge had a very very heavy accent and was difficult to understand. And I’m not sure I subscribe to his assertion that any drink served in a Martini glass is a Martini. The other people in the group were fun but I don’t think we really got much out of it.
We did a couple of the live shows which were really well done and enjoyable. We skipped the comics, magicians and such. Lisa and Maddie both went to see the latest Pirates Movie and Madz went to the Cars II premiere.
Liz went to the spa for an emergency toenail polish re-do and ended up with $130 of products which she claims she didn’t ask for (we weren’t with her so who knows). She also did a massage one day and enjoyed it. The prices to me seemed very high and I’m not much of a Spa person anyway so I skipped it.
There are a lot of nice public areas on the ship and lounges to hang out in. It wasn’t horribly great weather so sitting out on deck for long periods of time wasn’t very comfortable.
Other complaint – Pirate Night was kind of out of place and it was out on deck at night when it wasn’t very warm. We had Palo that night so arrived late but there wasn’t much going on, I think most people had gotten cold and gone in.