Tales from the Baltic...

So, a mouse walked onto a cruise boat...


Disney branched out into the cruise industry a little over a decade ago.  Now, they're just getting ready to bring their 3rd boat online, the 4th is in the shipyard, and they've added Mexican riviera and Alaskan cruises to their Carribean and European offerings.   Thanks to a fantastic military discount, the family Mc just spent 12 nights cruising Northen Europe with Mickey and his pals and all I can say is WOW!

Each port of call will get a blog entry, eventually (there were 6 -- Oslo, Copenhagen, Warnemunde, St Petersburg, Tallin, Stockholm, plus Dover where we began and ended) but the boat itself was the truly fabulous part of the vacation.

We had never cruised before and while we far prefer to do our own things while in port (instead of buying excursions and following guides), the experience on board was right up our alley, and yep, it is typically Disneyfied.  Whatever kool-aid they drink in Orlando that enables costume-clad cast members to be chipper and cheerful while selling ice cream to sniveling kids in 100+ degrees of Florida heat and humidity, they drink it on the boat too.   No one was ever less than helpful or less than happy.  At the buffet restaurants I never had to balance a tray while corralling a youngster; a crew member magically appeared at my side to do one or the other. I never had  to wiggle the stroller out the door as I propped it open with my hip; the guy sanding the deck, painting the porthole or polishing the elevator doors stopped what he was doing to hold the door for me.  I never had to change my schedule to work around housekeeping and my room was cleaned twice a day. I never had to ask for extra towells or clean crib sheets or diaper genie refills (heck I didn't even have to ask for the Diaper Genie).  Changing stations were stocked with diapers and wipes, so I didn't have to fret that I left the diaper bag in our cabin.  The restrooms were never out of soap, towells, or paper.  Special ordering from the menu was never questioned.  Coffee was always waiting. Room service orders always correct and the front desk always helpful.

In short, consistent 5 star treatment from every crew member, for every guest on board, even the temper-tantrum-throwing, mess-making guests (especially those guests)

The boat had a lot to offer adult guests: Bingo; beer, whiskey, and wine tastings;  art auctions, shopping briefings; historical lectures;  piano playing lounge singers; towell folding, animation, and dance lessons; spinning yoga and stretching classes,  plus any for-purchase spa service you can imagine.   I've already decided once D retires Dr. Mc is gonna get the gig giving the historical lectures for each port of call.  The boat also had a lot to offer tweens and teenagers including age-appropriate, out of the way hang-out spaces (although no rock wall).

BUT... for the elementary/preschool/toddler set, I don't think any other cruise line can top it.  I know from my own research that Disney is the only major cruise line to offer anything for children under three who aren't potty trained.  They call it Flounder's Reef nursery and,yes, you do pay extra for it (6 USD per hour) but the counselors are fabulous, and they're consistent so your child gets to know them over the course of the cruise.  The play space is incredibly fun.  Characters visit.  They even managed to get my child to nap for them.  B spent a lot of time at the nursery and the night before we disembarked they delivered him a scrapbook full of pictures they had taken of him  and crafts he had made, even a handprint.   (Our table mates had a nine month old and they too were way-impressed).

For C, he spent his days (and his nights, or any waking moment we'd let him) in either "the lab" or "the club" --spaces specifically designed for 4-10 year olds.  The club is more playground, game, open space centered.  The lab has more organized activities or stations that kids can set themselves up at (lego station, art station, computer station, etc).  Upon boarding C was given a armband, we were given a pager.  When we checked him into the club/lab they scanned his armband.  If he was ready to leave or if they needed us, they paged us.  The kids can move back and forth between the two spaces simply by asking a counselor to take them.  (Parents can grant older kids the right to check themselves in and out and kids younger than 4 can visit too as long as a parent stays with them).  If your kid is there during meal time, they feed him.  If your kid wants to rest, he stretches out on a bean bag.   They keep a counselor stationed outside the bathroom door to make sure each exiting child has washed his/her hands.  At the chek-in desk, the put a squirt of soap in each arriving kid's hand and send them immediately to the bathroom to wash up.  Characters visit here too and the counselors engage with or leave the kid alone to whatever extent the kid needs.  No child plays by himself if he doesn't want too.  A shy child wants to play Jenga, there's a counselor.  A techno-loving 5 year old (ahem, C)  really wants to play the lego Star Wars game on the computer but doesn't know how, there's a counselor.   A child  only speaks German, there's a counselor.  (The crew is remarkably international.  Two of the club counselors were from German speaking countries.  We ratted C out and told them to get C to play with the German kid 'cause he could understand him).   Mornings in port the kid spaces openened early so that shore-going adults could get a jump start.  Mornings at sea they didn't open till 9AM and C was always chomping at the bit to get there.  

C'll tell you he went to Norway and Sweden and Russia, but truth is, he never left the boat.  Every day we'd tell him what we were gonna do and ask him if he wanted to come, but he never did.   In his defense, however, he's already  seen a gazillion castles, gone on a gazillion boat rides, rode a gamillion trains, but.....  the Oceaneer Club and the Oceaneer Lab, Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto, that's not something he gets to see and do everyday.  Some of the other moms and dads on board thought we were depriving him of the chance of a lifetime by leaving him on the boat, but as I told them: we've drug this child around Europe for the past 18 months, we will drag him around for the next 18 months, so why force the issue.   If he never gets back to Scandinavia, then so be it.  (And at least he has green-screened images of him in all the Scandinavian capitals from when if was 5  :)

In addition to the Club and the Lab, they had movies.  C saw  UP and Oceans.  He saw Toy Story 3 twice (once with mom and once with dad).  D and I each saw the Sorceror's Apprentice (which has a great homage to Fantasia, btw).   They had broadway-like live action performaces every evening and a slew of on deck activities -- sail away parties, beach parties, pirate parties.   They had designated character meet and picture times, character breakfasts, and plenty of characters just roaming the ship.  Let's see if I can remember them all. We met:  Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Goofy, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Mr. Snee, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Suzy (one of the mice in Cinderella), Belle, Beast, Tiara, Snow White, Dopey, Alice in Wonderland, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, Chip, Dale, Lilo, Stitch, Jesse, Woody, Captain Jack Sparrow. And we met various incarnations of some of the characters. For example, we saw formal Minnie, princess Minnie, Bavarian Minnie, pirate Minnie, Nautical Minnie, and the list goes on and on.

The best part.... the lines for the characters are a fraction of the lines at the theme parks.  When we took C to WDW this winter he didn't get to meet any characters or get their autographs b/c time was short and lines were long.  On the boat he didn't have to choose between riding Big Thunder Mountain and meeting Goofy.  And the same crew members evidently donned the same costumes day after day because Minnie (B's favorite) quickly learned he loved to play peek-a-boo.  And Goofy remembered B was partial to chatting on the floor .  C wore a Peter Pan style hat most of the trip but on the days he left it in the cabin, the characters would pat his head as if to ask, "where's your hat"?  The handlers and the photographers quickly learned and remembered names, making it a little easier to not only keep the character queue moving, but get distracted kids to smile at the camera. 

Cruises are synonymous with plentiful food, and the food was incredible with lots of variety.    Each evening you and your tablemates as well as your servers were assigned to one of the three main dining areas: Lumieres, Parrot Cay, or Animators Palate. Your servers stayed the same throughout the cruise and moved with you has you moved through the three restaurants. Each evening's menu was different with a selection of appetizers, soups, salads, main courses, and desserts that you could combine in whatever way you wished.  The kids could order off the kids menu or off the adults menu or I could pick out ingredients of the meals and ask for that (sweet potatoes from the beef plate, bowtie noodles, plain, from the pasta plate, watermelon from the fruit bowl, a banana for good measure).    And, on the evenings that you didn't feel like being social, getting dressed, or eating at your assigned time, you could always go to the buffet restaurant on the top deck and help yourself to many of the same items on the evening's menu.  At lunch time the same buffet was themed -- tex mex, British favourites, seafood, etc.   Breakfast was also buffet with all your standard breakfast offerings (American, British, and European style breakfasts) or a table service brunch.  Somehow I managed to not gain any weight --maybe it was the no-sugar-added desserts (which were the best I've ever had, btw)

In addition to the main dining there was a fast-food snack bar with just average pizza, nuggets and burgers.  The "healthy" snack bar was somewhat better with salads and deli sandwiches.  But there was always self-serve pieces of fruit, cookies, and ice cream to be had as well as  a 24hr drink station with milk, coffee, water, tea, and sodas.  No juice in the self serve beverage station, but I simply got two extra juices each breakfast and stashed them in our cabin fridge.  I did the same thing with milk cartons, so I didn't have to go from deck 5 to deck 9 every time a munchkin declared he wanted milk.  Room service was available 24 hours a day and we frequently ordered room service breakfast so that D and I could get everyone fed, watered, and dropped off at their respective kid spaces in a timely manner.

We were cruise newbies and we loved it, and I'm pretty sure it's the little Disney touches that made it so special, things that I'm not sure other cruise lines do:  napkin animals or origami toys for the kids each evening, elaborate towell animals and sleepy chocolates each evening and all sorts of TLC for the little ones, all over the boat.  We're already planning our next cruise and might space-A home for a visit next spring simply so we can cruise back to Europe with the Mouse.