Okay, I'm a Castaway Club Member now. Here's my version of a trip breakdown. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a little notebook to remember all the names of all the meals I ate, but they were excellent.
First let me thank the DISers that gave me insight where needed, as well as a book out there called the Passporter. Lots of good info out there, all you have to do is ask.
DO NOT show up to the port before 10am, they will not let you pull up in front of the building until 10am. hey will direct you across the street to park, we went into Cocoa Beach to shop for 45 minutes...(DW was a little anxious to get there). The check in was smooth and easy, we were told 1300 boarding time upon checking in, ended up being around noon. Parrot Cay was open for buffet lunch, rooms were ready at 1330. We had 2550 and 2552 (non connecting rooms) Midship 2nd deck. Excellent location, no rooms across the hall and only about 10 steps from the midship elevator lobby/stairs. We even had our luggage by 1430 or so.
DO NOT go to the info brief on shore excursions, you'll miss the Sailing Away Party! It was great excellent send-off! We focused mostly on our kids for this trip...Whatever/wherever! My DD's are 6, 8, and 9. They are not "daycare" kids so it took them some time to acclimate to the clubs. Which for those who have cruised know, that means lots of pages until they settled in. We had to sit the older 2 down and tell them to ask questions before paging us. 3 times in the same day we checked them out due to a page and when we reached the room, they looked at the schedule and realized they wanted to do the next thing (usually starting in 10 minutes or less). The worst thing about this was that we would just be settling into something for us and we would get "THE PAGE!"
I'm a comedy fan, the shows were great. The musicals were all well done and very family oriented. Movies right now are, "Pirates of the Carribean", "Holes", "Lizzie Mcguire", "Nemo", "Jungle book 2", "Chicago", and "The Piglet Movie". I'm sure "Spy Kids 3" will be premiering tomorrow also.
Dinner: If you see something you might like to try, ORDER IT! Most nights I ordered the appetizers, 2 main entrees, and 2-3 desserts. I'm not a big guy, buy I can put away some food. My tablemate looked at me the first night like I was a freak for ordering 2 entrees, but the next night I saw them we ALL had 2 entrees! You're there take advantage of the term ALL INCLUSIVE it's your chance to explore a little. I never had a desire to have escargo in my life, but when my server (Melanie) brought out some for us, even though none of us ordered it, we had to try it! I had 5 of the 7 they were really good!
Palo's was an excellent dinner, we went Monday night skipping Parrot Cay, as was recommended in "The Passporter" I believe. Dragan, from Croatia was our server, and service us he did. 6 or 6:30 are a great time...There weren't many other people there, although they were booked solid, by the time we left the staff was much busier and didn't have the chance for the personnal time at the tables. The Filet Mignon with Macademia nuts was great as well as the Crab Stuffed Tortellini over Fried Eggplant. Again, I can't stress this enough...if you want to try it tell them...they will bring it!!!! We mentioned curiosity about how fishy the tortellini may taste, decided it was to much for my wife...he brought it out anyway along with what she did order. He chose the desserts for us as he had a chance to get to know us a little. Chocolate souffle, a chilled cream with fresh fruit, and tiramisu were all beyond words and hit the nail on the head as far as we were concerned.
The North Atlantic White Fish was really good. There were several lamb dishes that were soft and just fell off the bone when you moved it. The Beef Tenderloin was a nice change.
These are just some of the dishes I could remember, everything was awesome as far as the food went!!!
Everyone knows, Disney is all about SERVICE! I have a daughter who has an allergy to Aged Cheeses (Cheddar, Romano, Parmasean...ALL the good one's) Basically leaving her with only being able to have Mozzarella and American. This really limits her menu options. Basically, the Head server (Wira) was a God! Macaronni and Cheese using Mozarella, Tuna Sandwich even though it wasn't an option...these are the things Disney is famous for...taking a child's worst time and making it an event to remember.
We even had a gentleman names Aluan (from Scotland) outside Beach Blanket stop mid-stride to see what was the matter with my daught as she was crying because there really wasn't anything on the Buffet she wanted. (If you could possibly imagine that) Again out of nowhere comes a tuna sandwich(it work the night before why not try it again) THAT TOTALLY MADE HER DAY!!!!
I highly recommend the multiple colors of highlighters...1 color per person in your group, used to highlight what each person wants to do in the day. The hard part is keeping track of the time nd where people want to be...each kids club has their own page, and adults have their daily Navigator, so it requires some cross referencing, but can be done.
My recommendations to others is to invest some studytime into these boards and books like the one I mentioned or just post a message on these boards, all will get you the answers you seek.
I nearly forgot to tell you...BRIDGE TOURS ARE OPEN AGAIN!!!!! Last week they re-opened the bridge overlook tours while in port, some of the info wasn't necessary, but did fill in for those interested. (I'll put out a separate thread with the bridge tour title)
I apologize if I jumped around a little, We just got home and I finished printing out some of my picture, when I remembered that I wanted to post this for those interested. Good luck and Happy Sailing!!!!
Chris
First let me thank the DISers that gave me insight where needed, as well as a book out there called the Passporter. Lots of good info out there, all you have to do is ask.
DO NOT show up to the port before 10am, they will not let you pull up in front of the building until 10am. hey will direct you across the street to park, we went into Cocoa Beach to shop for 45 minutes...(DW was a little anxious to get there). The check in was smooth and easy, we were told 1300 boarding time upon checking in, ended up being around noon. Parrot Cay was open for buffet lunch, rooms were ready at 1330. We had 2550 and 2552 (non connecting rooms) Midship 2nd deck. Excellent location, no rooms across the hall and only about 10 steps from the midship elevator lobby/stairs. We even had our luggage by 1430 or so.
DO NOT go to the info brief on shore excursions, you'll miss the Sailing Away Party! It was great excellent send-off! We focused mostly on our kids for this trip...Whatever/wherever! My DD's are 6, 8, and 9. They are not "daycare" kids so it took them some time to acclimate to the clubs. Which for those who have cruised know, that means lots of pages until they settled in. We had to sit the older 2 down and tell them to ask questions before paging us. 3 times in the same day we checked them out due to a page and when we reached the room, they looked at the schedule and realized they wanted to do the next thing (usually starting in 10 minutes or less). The worst thing about this was that we would just be settling into something for us and we would get "THE PAGE!"
I'm a comedy fan, the shows were great. The musicals were all well done and very family oriented. Movies right now are, "Pirates of the Carribean", "Holes", "Lizzie Mcguire", "Nemo", "Jungle book 2", "Chicago", and "The Piglet Movie". I'm sure "Spy Kids 3" will be premiering tomorrow also.
Dinner: If you see something you might like to try, ORDER IT! Most nights I ordered the appetizers, 2 main entrees, and 2-3 desserts. I'm not a big guy, buy I can put away some food. My tablemate looked at me the first night like I was a freak for ordering 2 entrees, but the next night I saw them we ALL had 2 entrees! You're there take advantage of the term ALL INCLUSIVE it's your chance to explore a little. I never had a desire to have escargo in my life, but when my server (Melanie) brought out some for us, even though none of us ordered it, we had to try it! I had 5 of the 7 they were really good!
Palo's was an excellent dinner, we went Monday night skipping Parrot Cay, as was recommended in "The Passporter" I believe. Dragan, from Croatia was our server, and service us he did. 6 or 6:30 are a great time...There weren't many other people there, although they were booked solid, by the time we left the staff was much busier and didn't have the chance for the personnal time at the tables. The Filet Mignon with Macademia nuts was great as well as the Crab Stuffed Tortellini over Fried Eggplant. Again, I can't stress this enough...if you want to try it tell them...they will bring it!!!! We mentioned curiosity about how fishy the tortellini may taste, decided it was to much for my wife...he brought it out anyway along with what she did order. He chose the desserts for us as he had a chance to get to know us a little. Chocolate souffle, a chilled cream with fresh fruit, and tiramisu were all beyond words and hit the nail on the head as far as we were concerned.
The North Atlantic White Fish was really good. There were several lamb dishes that were soft and just fell off the bone when you moved it. The Beef Tenderloin was a nice change.
These are just some of the dishes I could remember, everything was awesome as far as the food went!!!
Everyone knows, Disney is all about SERVICE! I have a daughter who has an allergy to Aged Cheeses (Cheddar, Romano, Parmasean...ALL the good one's) Basically leaving her with only being able to have Mozzarella and American. This really limits her menu options. Basically, the Head server (Wira) was a God! Macaronni and Cheese using Mozarella, Tuna Sandwich even though it wasn't an option...these are the things Disney is famous for...taking a child's worst time and making it an event to remember.
We even had a gentleman names Aluan (from Scotland) outside Beach Blanket stop mid-stride to see what was the matter with my daught as she was crying because there really wasn't anything on the Buffet she wanted. (If you could possibly imagine that) Again out of nowhere comes a tuna sandwich(it work the night before why not try it again) THAT TOTALLY MADE HER DAY!!!!
I highly recommend the multiple colors of highlighters...1 color per person in your group, used to highlight what each person wants to do in the day. The hard part is keeping track of the time nd where people want to be...each kids club has their own page, and adults have their daily Navigator, so it requires some cross referencing, but can be done.
My recommendations to others is to invest some studytime into these boards and books like the one I mentioned or just post a message on these boards, all will get you the answers you seek.
I nearly forgot to tell you...BRIDGE TOURS ARE OPEN AGAIN!!!!! Last week they re-opened the bridge overlook tours while in port, some of the info wasn't necessary, but did fill in for those interested. (I'll put out a separate thread with the bridge tour title)
I apologize if I jumped around a little, We just got home and I finished printing out some of my picture, when I remembered that I wanted to post this for those interested. Good luck and Happy Sailing!!!!
Chris
