A family getaway on the Disney Wonder

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Amy, Kevin and Elle just returned from their first Disney cruise and were nice enough to send me a really detailed trip report. If you’ve every wondered whether this is an experience that your family would enjoy….read on!

We are back–and I am at my desk at school–waking up to 40 degree temps after a week in the Caribbean is tough.  We had an amazing time–if you are considering a Disney Cruise, go. It is worth it!!

We were met at the airport by a driver–so nice to do it this way–we could be on our own time schedule–they had their own loading zone so we could take our time getting her car seat in (which they provided) and our luggage settled.  We drove from Orlando to Port Canaveral (about an hour) to the Radisson.  Awesome hotel–great pool with waterfalls–which was great after traveling all day.  We arranged a shuttle from the hotel to the port ($6 a person–and they do long term parking there if you are driving in).

a couple holds a small child in front of huge disney cruise ship

The next morning we took the city bus a few miles down to a Starbucks and a few last minute things at Walgreens. Then we rode to the port and got on the boat (Disney Wonder).  They have a really nice terminal and everything was so easy.  The only line we waited in was to register Elle for the Youth Programs and when we got to the front their computers went down–so they put the band on her and we registered her on the boat that night (took less than 5 minutes). We headed to the buffet for lunch–great food and service there–they had special kid trays so you didn’t have to worry about them dropping a plate.  Plus they had people carrying your stuff to a table for you–with a smile!  We then dropped our bags at our stateroom and decorated our door.  Our room was great–we had a king size bed (it felt like) and then there was a couch that they folded out and prepared every night for Elle. We had an inside stateroom — to me it wasn’t worth paying more for a balcony as we were only in our rooms to sleep–I know Kevin’s parents paid over $1000 more for their balcony and their room was about the same size as ours.    We got dressed for dinner.  Our first night was at The Parrot Cay–a Caribbean-themed restaurant–and met our 2 cool waiters who had things all set up for Elle.  Really good food and it is nice because they bring the kids’ food when you get your appetizer so as soon as they are done eating–we brought Elle up to the kids club while we enjoyed our dinner. She loved going to the kids club.  We went to the Golden Mickeys show–the shows were great because they were only 45 minutes–perfect length for kids. Before the show we met Ariel!

Next morning we woke up in Nassau–we ate breakfast outside overlooking the port–very cool.  We actually didn’t get off the boat at all here.  We stayed on and swam and Elle went to the kids club for a little bit. She also got to meet Anna and Elsa (it was a ticketed meet and greet and I got tickets as soon as we got on board it wasn’t advertised until you got on the boat–which really worked for us since we had no excursions planned). Then she had an accident–swimming in the pool she slipped and split open her chin requiring stitches–very traumatic for me–she of course bounced right back after many tears–we had to meet with the head of security but everyone was so great and kept checking on us to make sure we were ok (luckily we had travel insurance so I filed a medical claim with them this morning!)  We had dinner at Triton’s that night (Ariel-themed)–our waiters had everything Elle liked ready to go–which was prefect.  It was also Halloween night–lots of people dressed up–we didn’t know about it ahead of time–but Elle had her Elsa dress and I wore a blue dress and put my hair in a bun with a crystal headband (and called myself Cinderella).  We kept Elle with us through dinner because she had gotten hurt-glad we did they had special Halloween desserts–a chocolate spider! We went to Toy Story the musical that night–great cute show.

The next morning we woke up at Castaway Cay–amazing.  We loved their beach–everything was clean and calm–there was a cool slide you could go down–you had to be 38 inches tall–Elle just made it–we spent 2 days just hanging out at the beach–we rented a tube to float around in both days and Kevin rented a bike and rode around the island for awhile.  They had wagons and strollers you could borrow to get around which was nice–we saw lots of people bring theirs but we didn’t–Elle hasn’t ridden in awhile so we borrowed a wagon.  This was the most relaxing part of our vacation–we stayed on the beach til it was time to get back on the boat.  The 3rd night was Pirate Party night–again people dressed up!  They gave everyone bandanas in their staterooms so we wore those–we met Donald Duck, Jack Sparrow, Mickey Mouse and did a family picture.  The restaurant had a Pirate parade and everyone paraded and did the limbo–they had special light up cups for the kids. We skipped the show–it was a comedian and we were tired–we did go up to the pirate party–we grabbed a spot next to a dancing block so we got to dance with chip and dale and Minnie mouse–it was kind of long so we didn’t make it until the fireworks. The final night we had dinner at Animators Palette which was so cool–Mickey Mouse came through–and seeing all the art work light up and change colors was very exciting Elle loved it! We met Minnie Mouse on the final night–for some of the best pictures she was finally smiling.

a young child gives Minnie Mouse character a kiss on a Disney Cruise

It was so worth it–the experience was very much designed for them.  They made everything easy and everyone was so willing to help and get you what you needed.  If I knew we were going to have a fall break again I would have signed up again!

Barbados Bliss

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Some clients come to me with a firm vision in mind, and others look to me to recommend the right destination/resort/experience for their “escape”.  Sara and Jason considered several different honeymoon ideas before taking my suggestion and booking the Turtle Beach resort in Barbados. Looks like it was a hit!

Hi Ann,

We had an amazing time on our honeymoon in Barbados. So here is the run down on our trip.  We were 20 minutes from landing in Barbados [and had mechanical issues], and they turned the plane around to San Juan.  I think the next time we go, we would definitely fly Jet Blue — better flight times, and Business Class was not that great on American because of their older fleet.

The hotel was amazing, it was recently redone, and we had a new suite. Our suite was tucked away from everything, and ocean front with king size bed.  All we could hear was the ocean from our balcony.  A lot of honeymoon perks, we must have had at least 3 bottles of champagne during the week, chocolate covered strawberries, different desserts in our room each day,  fresh flowers in a vase for the week, turn down service, flowers in the bathroom, and rose petals throughout the room.  We had booked a honeymoon package before we left, and we had a romantic dinner for two on the beach, with a menu we picked out, and we had a hotel concierge that was assigned to us for the week.

With the hotel, when we did check-in there was an issue with our reservation, for some reason it was in two segments and they were going to have us check out and check in to a new room since the second reservation was for two double beds.  We explained it was our honeymoon and the following morning when the manager was in, they took care of it, since it had been very late when we checked in.

The first morning we were there, there was a rep from Destination Management there at 9:30 to meet with us, we had no clue and were very tired from getting into our room at 2:00am.  We needed to give them our return shuttle voucher and wanted to book our tours.  We did not book anything with them, and would suggest people not.  You need to give a cash deposit to them, and can pay the rest the day of with whatever tour company they hook you up with.  We booked our activities through the hotel instead and they had a much better selection and better prices.


We did an all day catamaran snorkel trip with lunch, worth it.  The hotel put together a special adventure for us with a driver to the Harrison’s Cave, Animal Refuge, Botanical Flower Garden lunch at a local Bajan restaurant and a trip to Earth Works. So worth it!  We learned so much and covered most of the island in one day.  The hotel also arranged a driver for us to Mount Gay Rum, for the hour tour.  It was not worth doing the tour with lunch, so we went early, went back to the hotel for lunch and had time to still hang out on the beach.  Our hotel was great for getting us drivers, you set a set fare and they come back for you.  We also had a driver take us to Oistins for the Friday Fish Fry, such an amazing time and so worth it for a really fun night.  We did not do St. Lawrence Gap, about a 15 minute walk from our resort, as it’s not really our thing, it was mostly bars, and our hotel always had entertainment and dancing and the bars were open to 12:30 at the hotel.

Our hotel was really good about making sure you got the island feel for music, food, and culture. You need to make reservations for dinner, which is not an issue, you just do it at breakfast and they have the menus out for the different restaurants. Two restaurants are semi formal and one is formal. We checked out Crystal Cove, their sister property, and it was smaller and not as nice as ours. We also checked out Sandy Lane, which was really not that much nicer than ours. Turtle Beach and Sandy Lane have strong reputations on the island. It was nice to be traveling somewhere where there were no Americans, we met a lot of honeymooners at our resort.  If there were kids, they were in the kids club and you never saw them.  The food was amazing, the pool service was great, they would set up your lounge chair, always came through with drinks, fruit, and popsicles. Captain Sam is in charge of the beach, where you take  your towel card to get fresh towels, and they will set your lounge chair and cabana up for you. There were waves but you can swim, do water sports, and boogie board.  The staff is amazing, they take the time to get to know you, we got so many hugs when we left.

So thank you for putting together an amazing honeymoon, and we will be back at Turtle Beach with children — it was a great place!  You will be hearing from us again!

Thank you!

Bragging rights

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Did you line up to be the first to get your hands on the new iPhone 5?  Are you always the first among your friends to try a new restaurant or see a new movie?  Then why honeymoon at a “been-there, done-that” resort?

Here’s your chance to be right on the cutting edge of honeymoon destinations, with three new romantic all-inclusives opening this year:

  • Couples Resorts, which up until now has operated four fantastic adults-only all-inclusives in Jamaica, is making its first foray off the island and opening a new property in Barbados. This is great news for Couples Resorts fans, who can now try out a different island, and for the growing numbers of couples who are intrigued by Barbados, but have had few good all-inclusive options in that destination. The property that they are taking over is the former Almond Casuarina Beach and, after some renovations and re-branding, they expect to be up and running by May/June of this year.

 

  • Sandals Resorts, which is well known for its couples-only properties in Jamaica, St Lucia, Antigua and the Bahamas, is also expanding to an exciting new destination — Grenada. They’ve purchased the former La Source resort, and are in the process of “Sandalizing” it for a re-opening early this year. With Sandals moving in to this island, you can be fairly certain that air service (which up until now has been a little bit lacking) will increase, and it will become easier for travelers to experience the romance of the “spice island”, as it is known.

 

  • Secrets Resorts, which are among my clients’ favorite options in Cancun and the Mayan Rivieria, is opening a beautiful new property on the west coast of Mexico, called Secrets Puerto Los Cabos. The all-suite, adults-only, beachfront resort is sheduled to open by the end of 2013, so put it on your “radar” for next winter!

Confessions of an all-inclusive virgin

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I just got back from a visit to Punta Cana, and my trip report (with photos of all the resorts that I toured) will be ready soon.  In the meantime, I have a very interesting blog post from my travel companion, my sister Kate.

Kate is a busy mother of two little girls, and has a very demanding full time job as well, so she jumped at the chance to spend a couple of days on the beach. But she is also a sophisticated New Yorker and a bit of a “foodie”, so I was not at all sure what she would think of our all-inclusive resort. Her first-hand report is below:

Before my recent stay at the Majestic Colonial in Punta Cana, I had never been to an all-inclusive resort. And to be honest, when the opportunity presented itself, I was so excited about the prospect of a few days on the beach, without the kids, that I didn’t really give much though to what I expected the all-inclusive experience to be like. But my trip — in addition to being a much-needed respite from the chaos of being a full-time working mom — was a great introduction to this type of travel experience. Here are my “takeaways,” for any other all-inclusive virgins out there:

1. All-inclusive resorts are a great way to stick to a budget. If you (like me) have a spouse who enjoys his cocktails on the beach, or kids who aren’t sure what they want to eat and like to sample a little bit of a lot of different things, having everything paid for up front takes away the stress of overspending.

2.  There was no sacrifice on the quality of service or amenitites. The grounds were beautifully kept, the beach was gorgeous, and the rooms were clean. We even had the same “towel animals” and flower petals left in our room each night that I got on my honeymoon at a very high-end resort.

3. The food, on balance, was fine. With one exception (dinner at a restaurant that had reopened that very night after a major fire), the meals were pretty good. The quality and variety of the buffets was better than I would have expected. The restaurant dinners, on the other hand, were not as good as I had hoped they would be. But I like to eat out and am used to NYC restaurants, so I have high expectations 🙂

4. All-inclusives — at least this one — are a good option for a family vacation. The resort was very kid-friendly (shallow pools; variety of restaurants; kids’ activities, etc.), without being obtrusively so. Although I probably wouldn’t have considered it before, I would now. 

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You provided excellent guidance for us. I appreciated that you really had us think about what was most important to us when we were selecting the right cruise – and not to totally focus on what other people had to say. THANK YOU for helping to make this a memorable trip for our family! It really was a trip of a lifetime!

– Clare and Mark (family cruise to Alaska)

The level of service we experienced was out of this world (and we did NOT make it easy on Ann). We weren’t quite sure where we wanted to go, when we would be able to go, or what “vibe” we were going for. After asking us some key questions (what we liked, didn’t like, why, etc.) Ann helped us narrow down our trip details and planned the honeymoon of our dreams. She helped book some of our excursions, answered some emergency questions while abroad and was always available/willing to help. I think it’s safe to say we won’t be using anyone else for future travel planning – Ann is a rockstar!

– Carli (Italy and Spain)