Just back from Wonder and Vero-- any questions?

[LoriR]

We just spent 4 nights on the Wonder followed by 5 nights at Vero Beach, so let me know if I can help answer any questions!

This board helped me plan so much, so I am looking forward to helping someone else!

[tundramom]

We're going in Oct. I'm having a hard time getting motivated to research this I really am looking forward to this, we've never cruised before...I think I'm just so overwhelmed with the unknown I don't know where to start. I feel pretty good about the non-normal packing items from reading tips here and in the Passporter. The whole dining thing has me flumoxed. I know everyone says Palo, but after reviewing the menu we both agree it's just not our thing. I have so many diet issues that the plainer, the better.
*Can we request a rotation the gives us Animator's Palette twice? Is that something we have to do ahead or can I just talk to Concierge when we get there. ( We have a 1 BR family suite cat.3). Speaking of this,
*does this mean we will have extra people to tip? or is this considered our stateroom host? Our confirmation paperwork says something about providing travel documents 75 days ahead (didn't have passports at booking time- now we do)
*to whom do you provide info, and for that matter what info?
*Do you recommend getting to the port early? (need to plan drop off time for rental car)
*Did you go to Atlantis? One of the reasons i agreed to this cruise was because I've wanted to see Atlantis. We are booking a room at the Comfort suites which will give us privileges at Atlantis but it looks like we'll be taking a taxi from ship to CS then another to Atlantis. The people at CS said it's a 10 min walk to Atlantis but it looks like you have to cross the bridge-
*did you see pedestrians doing this? (My only reference is google Earth, so I don't know how accurate my interpretation is, but it looks a lot longer than a 10 min walk)
*Any great tips for Castaway Cay? How close can you get to the Dutchman?
Have I asked enough ?'s
Thanks loads for any insight!!

[LoriR]

I am not an expert, but let me see if I can answer some of your questions:

We did not go to Palo. We had a reservation for an 8:30 dinner on the second night, which is the Nassau day. But our regular dining at 5:30 meant that to see a show, we had to go to the 8:30 show (if we wanted to go with the kids, which we did) so we couldn't do both the show and Palo. I didn't really care; I am not a big foodie (I also like my food on the plainer side, and all the restaurants will be able to accomodate you with that, by the way) and I really wanted to see the shows. Some day we'll go to Palo.

We had Triton's the first night, then Animator's for 2 nights (show is only on the first night), then Parrot Cay. We liked all of them. You cannot request a particular rotation, but you can ask the concierge when you check in at the Port if you can change. You will have a concierge check in at the port, so you won't have to wait in line (we were category 4 but got there early and had no lines, either).

As far as providing information, go to the Disney cruise website and complete all the paperwork online. Make certain you print the payment authorization and the contract and sign them before you get there. If you have done all of this in advance it will save you time in line at the port. They stop you at the entrance to check your paperwork and then you cannot even get into the checkin line unless your paperwork is done. Your passport numbers can be given to your travel agent if you booked with one, or to Disney directly b calling them.

You should have the same number of people to tip: stateroom host (they suggest about $15 per person for the 4 night cruise), head server (about $4 per person), server ($15 pp), and assistant server (about $11 pp). We paid aboput $200 in tips. They will leave you envelopes for each of these people in your stateroom on the third night of the cruise and they have the person's title on each envelope. Go to guest services and charge whatever you want to give to your stateroom account and they give you a voucher with that person's full name on it and the amount you tipped and you place the voucher in the envelope and bring it to dinner on the last night and leave the stateroom host's in your room. You can also tip with cash if you prefer. Do this on day 3 at the latest; on the last day the lines at guest services can be long. They are open 24 hours; I actually went at 10:50pm right before a movie I was going to see in the theatre, and no one was there (on the third night) and it took about 5 minutes total.

We got to the port at 10:30 and were onboard by 12:15. They started boarding at noon and we were in the third group. We enjoyed having time to explore the ship with no one there and my kids went right to the Mickey pool. But if you are coming from somewhere fun, it really wouldn't make that much difference. No one can get into their rooms before 1:30 anyway, even if you are in the Walt Disney Suite. They have the entire floor blocked off while they are cleaning with blue bands, and no one can go down the hallway until 1:30 when they take them down. Luggage will follow and it mostly arrived between 3 and 4.

We did go to Atlantis, mostly for the same reasons. I am glad we did because we now know that we won't go there again! It was very crowded, very big, and very slick-- we like hotels with a more laid-back vibe. We are not into gambling, and you have to walk through the smoky casino to get from the lobby out to the beach (or a least that is the way they take you) and we didn't enjoy that. The ocean had a red flag the day we were there so our kids had to swim in the lagoon, which was fine. The lunch provided by the cruise with the voucher was terrible and you had to wait in a long line. We decided to just pay and go to the restaurant but it ended up being just as long a line for a table and the same basic food. It took over an hour to get from the ship to Atlantis because of the checkin process on the Disney side; it would be much faster to just take the 5 minute cab ride. We did not go to the waterpark because many in our party were not old enough or tall enough. It is a long walk just from the lobby of Atlantis out to the beaches, and the walk to the Comfort Suites was only maybe 10 minutes longer. Definitely do-able, but it would be simpler to just go to Atlantis by cab and buy their day pass to the water park. We were there at a very croweded time (March 17) and didn't arrive until 10:30 and the passes were still available. You could probably do this without bothering with the room across the street and the day passes would cost about the same as the room with less hassle.

The aquariums were good, but I think one day there was enough, at least for us. It is worth checking it out though.

We rented from Budget, which was incredibly easy, both at MCO and at the port. At the port, you can have a porter deal with your luggage and your husband can drop the car and take their shuttle back-- it takes about 5 minutes. Only one person needs to be at the terminal to check in for your party.

Castaway Cay: you can see the Flying Dutchman very well but it is anchored offshore so you cannot get close to it. You can get great photos though, and Jack Sparrow is there for the photo op at certain times. My 8 year old loved the banana boat ride, which he id with his dad. I had rented snorkel equipment for all of us, as well as floats, and we ended up using only 2 floats and one snorkeling getup, but that was no big deal. We had also rented bikes for two of us but no one went bike riding (partly because we got there very late; high winds that day almost prevented us from getting there at all but the ship was able to dock around 10:15 and we were on the beach around 11:15). We spent the entire day at the beach with the kids and never saw the kids' area or the adult beach. Photographers are everywhere getting great shots of you and your kids playing and they are really nice to have.

Here is something I didn't know in advance: you can pose for a formal family portrait any day of your cruise (no appointment, you just wait in a line) and then view the printed photo to see if you like it. No sitting fees. They have a white backgroud, whch is very flattering (but you won't want to wear white, probably). Some families dressed alike (navy shirts and khakis, for example) and the portraits I saw looked great. We bought one of our entire party and one of just our family and we had never had a professional portrait done before. It was nice to do it without any pressure and without having to pay anything other than the $20 for the print!

Lobg reply, but I hope it helps! Ask away!

[tundramom]

Thanks so much for the reply- very helpful in deed. I didn't know you could just buy day pass at Atlantis, do you just walk into the resort and ask? We really want to do the water attractions. The portrait tip is great- I had no idea, we'll have to plan for that. Do they have photopass available that you can carry over to the parks? Thanks a ton!

[ElenitaB]

Unfortunatlely, no Photopass on board yet!

The Atlantis resort is huge! You might want to Google "Atlantis Resort Map" and familiarize yourself with the lay of the land. From everything I've read, Aquaventure sounds truly amazing. (We had plans to go see the aquarium this year, but my health kept on the ship.)

[LoriR]

As far as the Atlantis day pass, you can call the resort and ask for their prices. They say they only sell a certain number each day and that it depends on crowds, but since we were there in peak season on a very crowded day and we were offered them, I don't imagine it's much of a problem.

We bought the beach day excursion from Disney, and when we got to the hotel, we were asked if we wanted to upgrade our wristbands to include Aquaventure. You may want to carefully check that out on the Atlantis eb site too-- we were planning to do it until we saw the height requirements for many of the attractions and then decided our kids were too young to enjoy most of it.

The other thing about the day pass is that if you get a day of bad weather, you don't have to buy it, but the room you are paying for in advance. There is a slight riskof not being able to buy the day passes, I guess, but you should call the resort and then decide what is best for your family. It also depends on how much you are saving-- by the time you take the taxi to CS and then figure all the time to check in there, walk to Atlantis, go back and then check out, then take another taxi back to the ship, you may be better off just doing the Aquaventure through Disney. It takes more time than you'd think to do anything-- just getting off the ship can take an hour if there is only one gangway and the lines are long. (You can't just walk off-- they check that you have your room key and your photo ID first).

I wish they did use Photopass on the ship! I just emailed them this morning to say so, and also to ask they add stock photos of the ship to their photopass website to make photo books.

[LoriR]

Re: portraits. I just checked my Navigator for you and here is what it says (same every day we were onboard):

PORTRAIT SETS

Lifestyle Portraits in the Lobby Atrium
5:15pm-6:15pm
7:00pm-8:30pm

We had a 5:30 dinner time, but went and told our server we were in line for a portrait and they said no problem. We got to dinner by 5:40and had gotten in line at 5:15.

They are great at telling you how to sit and they have a procedure down pat, and it works! We are pretty happy with ours, but i I could do it over again, I would sit for a portrait more than once dressed in different clothes each time and then choose which one I liked best at the end of the trip. They do take several shots, and they'll do your children separately as well (they usually have them jump in the air, which looks GREAT when printed on the white background), but it would have been nice to have even more options.

[bpsigler]

Our cruise is April 20, 2008, we are driving from Ft. Myers, FL. When I get to the port, do I drop our bags off in front of the terminal first, then park the car, or park first? This is our first cruise which will be me (Dad) turning 40 while on cruise, DW, DD7 & DD9. Thanks for the help.

[Ed]

When I get to the port, do I drop our bags off in front of the terminal first, then park the car, or park first?

You pull up to the curb and unload first, then go park the car. Easiest if you leave the rest of your party at the terminal while you park.


Lori, you haven't mentioned what you thought of Vero Beach. Any comments?

[LoriR]

We LOVED Vero Beach. I must say, I was very pleasantly surprised. Not that it was nice (we expected it to be nice if is was Disney) but this was our first time there and also first time staying in a DVC accomodation (as paying guests) and we were very happy. My DH, who never wanted to consider DVC, now thinks we should join if and when we can afford to, and I am the one who is holding out! (I like the daily housekeeping, and I am not sure I can give up staying anywhere I want hotel-wise.)

Vero has a nice pool with a 2-story slide, it is right on a great beach with tons of seashells, and they have activities for all ages all day long. Some are supervised (meaning you can drop them off) and some are not but all that we did (not many) were fun. My kids loved the pirate ship watery play area (my boys are 8 and 5), LOVED the mini-golf that they could play unlimited times for $5.00 (each, but still!). We rented boogie boards for the ocean, we had good food in the restaurant (we ate at Shutters and also went out sometimes). We enjoyed the Disney experience without the theme parks. It was VERY relaxing. It is a small resort, so I could lie on a chaise by the pool and watch the kids swim with their dad (free vests, noodles, board games) or let them visit the small arcade next to the pool. We went to a campfire and made s'mores one night, they had "dive-in" movies, etc. etc. Just enough Disney without being overwhelming. The only characters appear at a breakfast every Saturday morning, and it's Donald and Goofy.

Our room was large and pretty-- like a laid-back Grand Floridian room, but bigger (as large or larger than rooms at the Polynesian and the Contemporary). We had a Deluxe Inn Room with a garden view. Two queen beds (very comfortable), table and chairs, refrigerator, microwave, coffeemaker, even paper towels, plates, bowls, utensils, a new sponge and a bottle of Palmolive and a dish towel (very handy!). Free washers and dryers available on the fourth floor-- and we had just come from the cruise so we were able to do a couple of loads the first night. My husband went to a nearby market (less than 10 minutes) and bought snacks and breakfast stuff, milk and juice, plus things like instant mac and cheese, and we were set up so nicely with the kids.

The service was not perfect-- I requested turndown service and only got it one night and the other times they forgot. Our last night I really wanted it because I wanted fresh towels for the morning since ours were always soggy (it is damp there but they have dehumidifiers running in the rooms) and when I called they did bring some but it took over an hour. I admit I was spoiled on that cruise with twice a day housekeeping!

The resort has a small shop with sundries and a few Disney things-- some toys, pins, Vero Beach apparel, and groceries, which comes in handy. They also rent DVD's for $1 each and there are players in each room, another nice touch that I miss in WDW (my kids like to watch a video before bed).

It was completely booked when we were there (over Easter) and most people there are DVC members, but we had a great time and it was the perfect way to extend our vacation. We are also planning to go back after a WDW vacation to unwind when we go again, if it is the right time of year. It is only an hour from the port, so if you get a day of bad weather, you can zip down to the Kennedy Space Center. There are not many nearby attractions, but if you are looking for a nice family place on the beach, this is a great choice!

[Ed]

Thanks - you just reaffirmed my feelings about Vero. We've stayed there quite a few times, and are planning a family reunion in one of the 3-bedroom villas next summer.

I, too, was a little skeptical before our first visit. We had driven by the resort right after the 2004 hurricanes, and the place was a mess! But then again, so was everything else that was still standing. From just driving by, I didn't get the full picture of the size of the place or its amenities. But we tried it about 3 years ago and have been going back two or three times a year for anything from a weekend to a week-and-a-half. The fact that it's only 75 miles from our home is also a bonus.

Next time you're there, be sure to eat at Sonya's. Excellent! The last time we were there (Feb '08) they even had personalized menus printed for each party.