Back-to-Back cruise 4/16-23/2018

[ChuckElias]

I'm not going to do my usual in-depth day-by-day trip report, but I thought I would share pictures and some of the things that we did on our recent B2B. We had numerous magical experiences on this sailing, and our weather was amazing until the very last day.

So the first magical moment came before we left Port Canaveral:

Two dolphins were swimming next to the ship in port. This is a little magical for me because my mom was so thrilled to have seen them on her last cruise in 2003. We don't see them often, so when we do, it always reminds me of my mom. So that was a fun start to our trip.

My father-in-law was sailing Disney for the first time. He's a Royal Caribbean fan, so I really wanted him to be impressed with DCL. Before he retired, he was a producer and director for a film company. So I was able to arrange a backstage tour of the Walt Disney Theater. We'd been able to do this once before (in 2007, during our Med cruise on the Magic), so it's a rare treat. Needless to say, my father-in-law was blown away. The stage manager was fantastic. Very engaging and informative. You could tell that he was really happy that we were genuinely interested in what he does and how the theater operates.

Here, you can see them breaking down the sets after a show.

And here's a view of the stage from one of the "character boxes" (in Believe, the Genie appears up here in one scene; in Golden Mickey's, Rapunzel sings up here; in Twice Charmed, the King sits up here for one scene). Interestingly, there are no sound monitors up here, so characters have to be cued manually when it's time for them to give their lines/song.

Our next magical experience was adult dining. We did brunch and dinner at Palo (as Platinum members, we get a free Palo meal per cruise; because this was a back-to-back, we actually got 2 free meals out of it!) and dinner at Remy. It was my first time at Remy and it was unbelievable.

Palo dinner:

In Remy, we were given the private back room, and our dinner reservation just happened to coincide with the sunset.

 

[ChuckElias]

Our other magical moment occurred thanks to the Cruise Director, Mike.

We had planned on going to the matinee of that evening's show because it conflicted with our Remy reservation. But when we got to the theater, the matinee had been cancelled for technical reasons. Rick was at the theater telling people about the cancellation and when he told me, I said, "Well, that's a little disappointing, but we're staying on for the next sailing, so we'll see it in a couple days." When he realized we were doing a back-to-back, he said, "Well, let me make it up to you. Look for a surprise when you re-board."

So in our "fish mail", we received an invitation to a VIP viewing of the Pirates Night deck show and fireworks. It was really cool. A crew member took us up the stairs of the Mickey Slide on Deck 11 and we stood there for the show and fireworks. It was a great view and actually did feel very exclusive, even though there were 1,000 other people on deck.

Until I started this paragraph, I was sure that I had pictures of us up there, but now I can't find them. But here's a picture of the spot I'm talking about.

Finally, it's the first time that we got a cabana. We had one at Serenity Bay. I thought it was nice, but the rest of my family just flipped over it. They loved it. It's stocked with cans of soda, bottled water, chilled towels, chips and snack bars. They provide tubes for floating, sunblock, towels, and a hammock. The rental also includes a bike rental.

Our "host" at the check-in booth was Putu, and he made sure we had everything we needed. But if we ever needed anything extra, there's a "magic button" in the cabana that rings his beeper and he comes directly to the cabana to see what we needed. The only time we used the magic button was when my in-laws were ready to head back to the ship, we didn't want them to have to walk back to the tram stop. So Putu brought the golf cart and gave them a ride. Very nice.

I'll post a lot of other pictures in the DCL Pic of the Day thread. But I thought some of these magic touches might be interesting to some folks.

 

[21stamps]

Sounds like a perfect trip!

Is the backstage tour something that can always be booked, or do you have to be platinum?

 

[ChuckElias]

Sounds like a perfect trip!

Is the backstage tour something that can always be booked, or do you have to be platinum?

We really had an amazing time. The backstage tour is something that I arranged privately. It's not available as a regular event.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Great pictures! My husband and I had the same cabana when we went last June and we loved it. I enjoyed a wonderful nap on that couch inside under the fan.

 

[ScoutN]

So what differences did you note in the atmosphere of 3-night vs 4-night? I remember your thread asking about those who have done a b2b and I said that atmosphere was one of the biggest differences we noticed. Which bar/lounge did they let you into once you were re-boarded?

Pretty cool they let you backstage in TWDT, how much they cram in there is nuts. It is uncommon they do that now due to the proprietary tech there. We weren't allowed to even have cameras with us.

 

[ChuckElias]

So what differences did you note in the atmosphere of 3-night vs 4-night? I remember your thread asking about those who have done a b2b and I said that atmosphere was one of the biggest differences we noticed.

I felt that the 3-night (which was the second leg of our back-to-back) seemed a little crazier. It felt like there were a lot of people who weren't relaxing at all. It also seemed like the rotational restaurants were noisier.

Which bar/lounge did they let you into once you were re-boarded?

We were seated in the Concierge "lounge" in the terminal for about 45 minutes before reboarding. But once we were back on (around 10:20 am), we had the run of the ship. Cove Cafe was open and actually gave us complimentary coffees until the general passengers started boarding.

Pretty cool they let you backstage in TWDT, how much they cram in there is nuts. It is uncommon they do that now due to the proprietary tech there. We weren't allowed to even have cameras with us.

Yes, we were allowed to see a lot of the tech, including one place that we were told even the CMs are allowed into. That was very cool. I had a camera and snapped a couple pictures (as you can see), but when I used my flash, one of the workers reminded our guide that we couldn't take pictures. I had to put it away at that point.

 

[DAKOTADISNEY]

Love the pictures. Great to hear about all of your magical experiences!

 

[Surfin' Tuna]

We've never done a DCL b2b, but we are thinking about one in the near future. The last one we did was on Princess, where they did not make us leave the ship. We did anyway, since it was two one-ways. Does DCL make you leave the ship even if you are staying the same room? If so, can you leave all of your stuff in the room? If you are switching rooms, do you know how that works? It will make it a harder sell to the wife if we (and the kids) have to go through customs and re-board the ship. I'd also love to know how you arranged the backstage tour, that's something I have always wanted to do but didn't think was possible.

 

[ChuckElias]

Does DCL make you leave the ship even if you are staying the same room?

Yes. Everybody disembarks and clears customs. We had the same room, and we had to leave. We sat in the Concierge "lounge" in the terminal for about 45 minutes and then re-boarded.

If so, can you leave all of your stuff in the room?

Oh, yeah! The stateroom attendant just made up our room as normal. And then once we re-boarded, we were allowed in our room right away. We didn't have to wait until 1:30 to get in.

If you are switching rooms, do you know how that works?

You have to pack up, as if you were disembarking, but you leave the bags in your room, instead of putting them in the hallway the night before. Then your bags are moved directly to your new room.