First Disney Cruise – Day Two

Day Two started with breakfast at Triton’s:

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Being as Karen has a gluten allergy, our server on night one was supposed to take her order for the following day to speed up serving times and make sure her dietary needs were met. We were unaware that this was to be done and so when it was not done we didn’t think to ask. And so we had to go back to the restaurant, and waste more of our vacation time, to place Day Two’s menu orders.

First was breakfast. Being as Karen can’t eat at the Beach Blanket Buffet due to cross-contamination, her only breakfast option is to have a sit-down meal at Triton’s. So we arrived at 9am. Karen had gluten-free waffles, eggs, and bacon which she enjoyed immensely! I had Eggs Benedict which was also amazing. But again, this sitting used up a full hour and a half leaving us just one and half hours until our noon sitting for lunch!

And this is where it all went south again. Karen was hoping to attend the Port and Shopping Talk in the Buena Vista Theatre at 1 pm, but by 12:45, her food had still not come. After mentioning our time constraint to the server, he brought Karen’s meal and mine came as well. Karen ordered a hamburger with a gluten-free bun and fries. When it came there was no patty in the bun. Now it was 12:50 pm and she had to leave. The head waiter came and had the patty delivered, the whole meal packed up, and assigned an escort to carry it for her to the Buena Vista Theatre where she had to eat it while trying to listen to the presentation. Not cool!

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On-deck views, no blue sky in sight

Determined to soldier on, we met at 2pm in the Walt Disney Theatre for a viewing of Big Hero 6 and then it was off to the Art of The Theme Show Tour which started just outside the Palo restaurant on deck 9.

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This was a great one-hour walking tour of the ship with a guide who pointed out the theming details throughout the ship. There were no backstage portions, which was disappointing, but understandable. I’ll steer the ship next time!

Points from the tour:

  • All bathroom signs throughout the ship feature gentlemen and ladies, not the usual men and women, as above. This is because the ship is supposed to be a grand sailing vessel from the turn of the last century, like the Queen Mary, when the elite traveled by sea in elegance. The sign above has the standard men and women symbols because it is along the Route 66 themed ‘road’.
  • Did you know that most cruise ships have 10 different patterns of carpet? The Disney Wonder has over 100!
  • The Disney Magic was the first Disney Cruise Ship and was built in two halves and then welded together. It has a weld running from top to bottom amidships. The Disney Wonder was built in one piece, but has a fake weld in the same spot as the Magic, to make them the perfect pair!

If you want to know more… take the tour!

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Just to prove we were on the cruise!

We had a little over an hour to kill before the next show we wanted to see, so took some time to tour the ship and take more photographs, like the ones above. But 6:15 pm rolled around and it was time to revisit the Walt Disney Theatre for the comedy and ventriloquism of Michael Harrison. He got off to a rocky start but recovered with his closing act of using a real boy as a dummy. This… was… hilarious! But I’d still have to give him a 6 out of 10.

Once again we headed to our 8:15 pm dining rotation, this time at Parrot Cay:

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The decor here was very Caribbean and nice, but again, the food underwhelmed both of us. Understandably, by now you’re probably thinking the problem is with us, but the others at our table weren’t enjoying their meals either. As frequent Disney cruisers, they said our waiter was one of the worst they’d had, and the tastes of most of the appetizers and main courses weren’t as good as on other cruises.

But this is where our trip truly became a nightmare. We both began to feel what we assumed was sea sickness. The boat was rocking more than usual, and our table was against the outside wall of the ship, so we naturally felt the up and down rolling of the ship quite a lot. Before we could even finish our meals, we had to leave. We felt so bad that we thought we should visit the medical facilities on Deck One. We asked a Crew Member how to get there and he gave us directions. We got lost and asked two more Crew Members, and eventually arrived at our destination… only to find it closed. A fact all three Crew Members we asked for directions failed to tell us.

By this time we are very close to decorating the walls in a very inappropriate way and are hurrying to reach our cabin five decks up. We had to stop for a bathroom break en route and I ultimately arrived at our stateroom first, just in time to deposit everything I’d eaten and drank in the last two days in every available receptacle. Burning up now, I changed into my jammies and hit the bed to die. Karen arrived 20 minutes later and repeated my performance. From 10:30 pm until 9 am the next morning, we took turns keeping the neighbors up every half hour on the half hour.

So we missed the Pirates in the Caribbean Party! and the fireworks. But that wasn’t all we were going to miss as the next day was only going to get worse!

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Descend into Vacation Hell with us tomorrow as we bring you Day Three of our First Disney Cruise.

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8 Responses to First Disney Cruise – Day Two

  1. Josh says:

    So they give you a private dining room for your child’s allergy, then when you decide to leave early to make an optional show, they then carry the food for you there to the theatre….and your response is “not cool”? That’s very ungrateful to me. I have dietary restrictions and food allergies myself, but that is something I make accommodations for myself, the fact that Disney, a private corporation went out of their way fiscally is a notch above what many would do…which is nothing. I’m shocked at how entitled you feel….It doesn’t sound like cruising isn’t for you, it sounds like behaving appropriately within a business isn’t for you.

    • disneynouns says:

      First, we weren’t in a private dining room. Second, we don’t have a child. Third, we didn’t want to leave early, just in a reasonable amount of time. Fourth, I think if you read the entire series, you’ll find we were as reasonable and fair in our evaluation as the circumstances warranted.

      We are huge Disney fans, but won’t blindly defend bad service. None the less, we appreciate you taking the time to comment as it encourages discussion. Cheers!

  2. I am so sorry you guys were sick! Andrew had the same issues on our first Disney cruise (I don’t know how I managed to avoid it.) I hate that your cruise went so badly.

    • disneynouns says:

      Getting sick is a risk you take I guess. If it had of been a 10-day cruise, the impact wouldn’t have been so great. But losing 3 days of a 5-day cruise was hard to recover from! Hope your cruise was more salvagible!

  3. Man, Lee – this is getting worse and worse. I’m almost afraid to read about Day 3. I feel SO BAD for you and Karen! I’m so afraid the same thing would happen to me.

    • disneynouns says:

      If was going to happen, it would happen to us! But you can’t stop reading now, as things only get more… MORE… as the posts continue! Enjoy the train wreck! LOL

  4. Mickey says:

    Oh Lee, I feel so bad for you and Karen. One question — did you plan it all yourself? The reason I ask is because if you used a travel agent, then your TA should go to bat for you and let Disney know all of the problems you had with your food and everything. I’m sorry you both got sick, there probably isn’t much that could have prevented that — unless it was food poisoning! — but the rest of your disappointments, I feel that Disney could offer something to you to help make up for it.

    • disneynouns says:

      Yes, we booked directly with Disney, there was a good advertised price. We’re going to send links to the DCL via email once all of the posts are finished on the 22nd. Hopefully we’ll get some consideration. Wish we did use a TA now! Live and learn.

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