Live from the 06 Turkeyday Magic!! (Not really but I started this the last 2 years).. [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

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LAMPSKIES

11-18-2006, 01:49 PM

Just kidding....I'm unfortunately not on this year but I DID start the thread the last 2 years and just couldn't resist....COME ON CHUCK!!!! I passed the Jester hat on to you.......let's get those posts going!!!!!!!!!!

mommasita

11-18-2006, 02:42 PM

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
You really had me going here..

I hope someone posts, and it is HALF as witty as your previous groups.. :thumbsup2

Dixielady908

11-18-2006, 02:51 PM

momsgoofy

11-18-2006, 05:57 PM

Come on Chuck and Lisa!! :cheer2:

I know ya'll can wipe Lampy in the live thread! Although if it were Miller Lite, well, that is another story... :rolleyes:

Hope ya'll have a great cruise! :cool1:

Verandah Man

11-18-2006, 06:04 PM

momsgoofy

11-18-2006, 06:38 PM

Awesome photo you captured Verandahman!!

Verandah Man

11-18-2006, 07:21 PM

Looks like the Two Palms cam was on later than I thought tonight, someone captured the Magic sailing by the cam afterall. Photo below. :goodvibes

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a118/VerandahMan/Magic11-18-06tp.jpg

JanDave

11-18-2006, 07:37 PM

Enjoy your cruise!

Save some BBC's and chocolate lava cakes for me when I board on 11/25!!!

Andy: Please, take a photo next Saturday, 11/25/06, so I can put in in my scrapbook.!! Thanks.

Jan

Verandah Man

11-18-2006, 08:18 PM

Enjoy your cruise!

Save some BBC's and chocolate lava cakes for me when I board on 11/25!!!

Andy: Please, take a photo next Saturday, 11/25/06, so I can put in in my scrapbook.!! Thanks.

Jan

I'll give it my best shot Jan!!! ;)

natsmom125

11-19-2006, 10:55 AM

Andy..

Maybe they leave TWO PALMS up until THE MAGIC sails......

If they don't...they know DISERS are not going to be happy.......

Phyllis :crazy:

ICEMANPAD

11-19-2006, 05:39 PM

Thanks for starting this thread Lampy!!!!! We have been soooo busy having a great time, but missing our Turkey friends that this is the first time we have been able to post....

So far, everything has been magical!! :cool1: At the port, we upgraded from a cat 11 inside stateroom to a cat 6 verandah stateroom!!! :thumbsup2 We received boarding card group 2 and were sitting outside of Topsiders enjoying lunch by 12:30 pm yesterday!! :sunny:

The sailaway party was great!! Our ds, Mason (age 7) was dancing on the Goofy pool and gave Captain Mickey a high 5. However, only 2 other dis families joined us at the sail a way party (hi Michelle and Gail!!). Last year, we had a sea of Dis green....We are looking forward to next Thanksgiving when the rest of the Turkeys join us again!!! :thumbsup2

We have door signs on our cabin door in honor of the original Turkeys!!

Darren is the cruise director this week, in case anyone was interested.

Also for CC club members, there is a special CC pin available for purchase.

Today we were at Castaway Cay and the weather was perfect--75 degrees and sunny!! :sunny:

We are now sailing toward Grand Cayman. Tomorrow will be a sea day--we will be having brunch at Palo. Last year there were so many disers that we had the private dining room. This year we have a table for 2 booked.

The character interaction has been wonderful!! :thumbsup2 Today we were walking to the DVC reception on deck 4 and Lilo stopped to hug and take a picture with Mason. Later we saw Donald Duck in the same hallway. The DVC reception was nice (Thanks Willie!!). We received hats, lanyards and even a passport holder.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to post on this thread....We will be checking and updating the thread during the week.

Chuck and Lisa pirate: :cheer2:

TChrist05

11-19-2006, 10:11 PM

momsgoofy

11-19-2006, 10:22 PM

Hey Chuck, Lisa and Mason!!!

Glad to hear you had beautiful weather at CC! Have a wonderful brunch tomorrow!

ICEMANPAD

11-20-2006, 08:30 AM

ICEMANPAD...we are cruising next....save some of those shrimp for us.....by the way....if you don't mind me asking....what did they charge for that upgrade...we are in a cat. 11 inside also....thinking of trying to upgrade ourselves.....just curious what it might cost....thanks!

Keep the posts coming....and who are the comedians on the ship with you guys this week?

Happy cruising....
Tom :cool1:

Although we have eaten a lot of shrimp so far, there may be a few left over for next week. If you want to upgrade to a cat 9 the cost was $280. For a cat 6, it was $740.00. We were at the port at 10 am. Good luck!!!

Chuck and Lisa

ICEMANPAD

11-20-2006, 08:32 AM

Hey Chuck, Lisa and Mason!!!

Glad to hear you had beautiful weather at CC! Have a wonderful brunch tomorrow!

Thanks!! So far we are having a wonderful time and we are looking forward to brunch....Mason is looking forward to making flubber and attending the Goofy Giggle Gala today!! We wish everyone from 2004 and 2005 were on the ship!!!

Chuck, Lisa and Mason

LAMPSKIES

11-20-2006, 10:00 AM

The Magic had a late start tonight. This pic was taken at 5:35pm this evening from the Radisson cam. The Two Palms cam was turned off for the night before the Magic went by, so no Two Palms cam pic of the Magic this week.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a118/VerandahMan/Magic11-18-06radcam535pm.jpg
Happy Thanksgiving Cruisers!!!

Late start??? They just couldn't believe the rest of the Turkeyday cruisers weren't comming!! LOL They gave us every chance to make the sailing!! LOL

LAMPSKIES

11-20-2006, 10:03 AM

Hey Ron.....gonna miss ya on our cruise.....sorry you were unable to come with us....was looking forward to meeting you.....

So when are ya sailing next?

Denise :banana: :banana: :banana: from the dancin bananaheads thread.....

Hey Denise, DDs couldn't take ALL of next week off of school and I changed positions at work so it made it impossible....we are dancing with the devil in April, 7 night Western on RCCL out of Galveston....and yes, we ARE sailing next Thanksgiving but, no "double dip"!

my3m

11-20-2006, 12:12 PM

If you go to Signals and Cove Cafe, could you please ask for Lourdes in Signals and his hubby work in Cove Cafe, his name is Angel. If you could ask their email address & Angel's phone #. Tell Angel it is Ms Pia (Ana) and kindly PM me these infos. I was not able to see them on our last night for I was sooo busy packing.

Btw, you might wanna try Lourdes' MOJITO, the best.

TIA.

WMILLER86

11-20-2006, 12:13 PM

KennyK

11-20-2006, 12:42 PM

Chuck, Lisa and Mason,

Glad you are having a magical time on your cruise.

Please keep us posted on your adventures.

Kennyk :wave:

LAMPSKIES

11-20-2006, 02:11 PM

favoriteslave

11-20-2006, 02:22 PM

Hola Chuck, Lisa & Mason:

I hope you guys are having a great time. We miss being on there with you all. Enjoy your day at sea, and enjoy Cayman for us, since we missed it last year.

LAMPSKIES

11-20-2006, 02:23 PM

CHUCK!!!! If you could do me a favor.........Do you remember that catamaran ride that we did 2 years ago with the beach party in cozumel? We are sailing in April thru RCCL and want to book that beach party....if you can get some info for me it would be much appreciated!

favoriteslave

11-20-2006, 02:28 PM

Lampy glad to see you are alive. We will be thinking about you next week. Trey said he was going to try to drink the boat dry, but I think he will fall short of last year without you there to agggg him on. Seriously though its just not the same without the whole bunch. But we will try........:)

ICEMANPAD

11-20-2006, 03:41 PM

Ok - trivia question for everyone....which dwarf wears the blue hat and is just in front of dopey at the back of the line of dwarfs?..trick question...dont recall the answer from the movie, but the answer from today's matinee of the golden mickeys is mason eiss - yep, upstaged by the kid again..LOL...remember he made the film last year for the disney school at sea graduation by becoming the ship's hula hoop champ

Talk about the risks of a live stage show, cindarella and prince charming nearly had a disaster when the stand upon which they were posed tipped over during their number at the golden mickey's and the show was stopped for 5 minutes to correct those "technical difficulties"..fortunately, everyone was ok..

Lampy, you are talking about the fury catamaran and i will check, although our understanding right now is that the ride is nor nearly as good as it used to be due to the lingering effects of hurricane wilma..

fyi, the new house band in the promenade lounge my be even more forgettable than the old one, to put it politely...

it has been a bit rough today going thru the straits north of cuba, but still much better than last year w/seas at moderate, but weather on the cloudy side..however, tomorrow should be pretty good from what they say..of course after last year, i just care about actually getting to the island of grand cayman rather than that fleeting glimpse we had from afar as we pulled away (: ...

what night or show was the best legs contest? i'll try to participate if it is not too late, but it is more difficult w/younger children to get to the later events.

any other questions, feel free to post and we will check back frequently..tomorrow is the stingray city visit ( we hope)...

Chuck :cool1:

LAMPSKIES

11-20-2006, 04:16 PM

Chuck, thanks......hot legs contest was Monday afternoon around 1 o'clock at signals....looks like ya missed it. The Fury, got it, looks like we have 35 neighbors sailing April 1st and want to book our own cat. happy sailing.........

WMILLER86

11-20-2006, 05:38 PM

Lampy,, Fury used to have its own website.

LAMPSKIES

11-20-2006, 05:59 PM

Willie, check our 2007 thread...I posted some ideas on how to get your BIL to sail........ :rotfl2:

ICEMANPAD

11-20-2006, 07:37 PM

Lampy-

There were no outdoor activities this afternoon due to the windy weather. Maybe they will have the legs contest on thursday instead???? Also, due to the winds at Grand Cayman, once again we will not be able to visit stingray city tomorrow. However, the Magic is going to stop at Grand Cayman at an alternative site. They are renting 10 buses to bring the passengers from Spots Bay to Georgetown so at least we can have a mango margarita at margaritaville and do some shopping!!!! Only 3 ships were fortunate enough to secure a spot at this alternate port....maybe the Magic was selected because we had to miss Grand Cayman last year. All water based tours are cancelled for tomorrow, but the land tours are still scheduled.

We are now booked for Stingray Ray at CC on friday....We will let you know how it goes.

We have not made it to the Cove Cafe. However, today we went to the "new" Castaway Club event. We preferred cocktails and hot hor dorves to bottled water and chocolate chip cookies. However, Mason liked the Mickey rice krispie treats!!

We will check in again later....

Chuck and Lisa

momsgoofy

11-21-2006, 10:52 AM

Late start? Were they holding the ship again, waiting for Laura(MomsGoofy) to board?

Only three families at the Sailaway meet? :sad2: Tisk tisk tisk. You guys had better step it up. You have a tradition to carry on.

:dancer:

You had better enter the legs contest, Chuck!

Yes, Willie, I think we may still hold the record for the latest arriving Turkeys...who made the ship. :rotfl: It was a great week though on the Turkey Cruise back in 2004. :cloud9:

It looks like we may have the most mellow holiday season yet this year. :rolleyes1 DS (Nic) started high school this year, DH (Eric) added choir director to his list and my schedule changed 11 times in 8 weeks, so trying to coordinate any travel has been too crazy even for me. Eric's family is having a HUGE reunion on Friday so that is about as exciting as it will get for Thanksgiving. I just may have to mix up some Konk Koolers, set up a lounge chair in the living room, and turn on some Jimmy Buffet tunes and remember the Magic.

I hope ya'll have a great Thanksgiving! Who knows...might convince the boys to join ya in 2007. :woohoo:

WMILLER86

11-21-2006, 04:21 PM

LAMPSKIES

11-21-2006, 05:50 PM

O.K.....After today here at work I now know why we have been gone the last 4 years!!!! This week in my buisness is the WORST!!!! Makes for a LONG day!

ICEMANPAD

11-21-2006, 07:47 PM

Chuck,

C'mon, don't leave us hangin!

How was Grand Cayman. Specifically the Margaritaville? I have a goal to visit them all. And the one at GC is on my list to still be visited.

How did the busing thing work out?

Grand Cayman was beautiful. The ship stopped at Spotts Bay and then provided tenders and bus service to Georgetown. It was very well organized. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect, but it was very windy!!! The waves pounded on Georgetown. We walked thru the plaza where Margaritaville is located--it looked very nice, but crowded. There were quite a few live parrots. We had lunch at the same 2nd floor restaurant that we ate at 2 years ago. Very good conch fritters and jerk chicken. Now, we are headed toward Cozumel. Tonight we are having dinner at Palo while Mason is at a party w/ Stitch!!

Chuck and Lisa pirate: :cheer2:

WMILLER86

11-22-2006, 11:23 AM

Thanks, Iceman for the update. We can only live it through you!

Where are you and Lisa going on Cozumel?

If you are looking for a good beach, Douggie Family and mine went to Paradise Beach in 2004 and it was great. Caught a cab.

ICEMANPAD

11-22-2006, 08:03 PM

Had a long message typed and disboards booted me...anyway cozumel was great...weather perfect if a little windy...went to a nice miniature golf course w/mason and lisa in the morning just north of the open air central marketplace...shopped in pm and found a shop w/lots of nice gifts that actually had price tags and the salespeople did not hawk...got 18 items for a grand total of $1012.......PESOS......that's about $92 US...add to it a cow-shaped wooden fruit bowl from a street vendor for $9 and it was an inexpensive day (needed stuff for secretaries, teachers etc + a couple things for us).

Wind did cancel some of the water-based shore excursions, but we had none planned....last night was rough - remember the first night last year - , but since this was not the first night, we enjoyed Palo anyway. hopefully, the seas wont be so rough tonight...pirate night is tonight...

overall, a good trip, and nice people including the other two disboard families, but here is hoping for another "sea of green" next year..

Chuck and Lisa :cheer2: :cool1:

ICEMANPAD

11-23-2006, 07:44 PM

We hope you all are enjoying your Thanksgiving!! We will be going to Lumiere's for dinner. Tonight is Lobster night. Sorry Lampy--no prime rib on the menu this year.

The Pirate party was amazing last night---Mickey saved the day and then there were awesome fireworks!! However, there wasn't any sort of volunteer event like last year w/ Andrew and Lampy.

Today was a nice peaceful day at sea. We went to the Character Breakfast this morning, relaxed during the afternoon and saw the wonderful Celebrate the Journey graduation. There was a really cute picture of Mason and Joey (another boy from the dis thread) in the video.

Lisa and Chuck

DiszyGram

11-25-2006, 10:06 AM

It was a Magical Cruise! I'm sitting at my sister's computer in Cocoa Beach while waiting to head to the airport. It was great meeting Chuck, Lisa, Michelle, and Andrea. The Holmes group was just a few doors down from us and we saw them coming and going. Chuck and Lisa seemed to be near us wherever we went during the cruise. What a magical family they are!

More later since everything looks double on the screen to me right now and my sister's house is rocking back and forth. :crazy:

ICEMANPAD

11-25-2006, 03:07 PM

Unfortunately, this year's cruise is over. :confused3 . However, yesterday personified why we cruise in the first place. The weather at CC was perfect. It was sunny w/a high in the upper 70's. I was one of the people being asked to leave the island and reboard the boat when they closed the beach. Lots of volleyball was played.

Lisa managed to have a slight mishap at Stingray Ray's when a "tame" stingray got confused between the food she was holding and her finger, but all is ok. All in all, a great day and a very good cruise. Hopefully Gail (dizzygram) and Michelle (cruisecrzy) will be joining next year's thread and the cruise itself.

Unfortunately, real life struck last night when we learned Lisa's father was in ICU w/illnesses rec'd while being on the ill-fated transatlantic Carnival boat from the week before. As such, we were among the first off the boat and are back in South Florida rather than spending the night at the DVC in Vero as planned. (Disney did refund the points though). As of this afternoon, he has been stabilized and hopefully will leave ICU in the next couple days.

Chuck
Icemanpad@aol.com

ICEMANPAD

11-26-2006, 11:24 AM

I have posted a link to pictures from this cruise on the 2007 Thanksgiving thread, i believe about reply #485 or so.

Chuck :cool1:

momsgoofy

11-26-2006, 03:18 PM

Chuck and Lisa...we'll keep Lisa's dad in our thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery!

DiszyGram

11-26-2006, 08:51 PM

Chuck and Lisa, I'm happy to hear Lisa's father is doing much better.

Just as it was all during the cruise, we ran into Chuck and Lisa again as they were rushing off the ship for the medical emergency.

The cruise was a magical experience and any small problems we had did not subtract from it.

We had early dining and will take the late dining if we sail again. Early dinner seems to rush you too much. Our dining room rotation was APL, which put us in beautiful Lumiere's on Thanksgiving and put us in Animator's three times. Our servers were Noel from France and David from Australia. They were great! Noel kept my 7 year old grandson entertained the whole time with jokes and magic tricks. On our last night he smacked Joey's hand and yelled "High Four". Since I knew Noel is still learning English, I whispered, "It's high five". He said, "No, it's high four", and showed me he didn't have his little finger. I never noticed it until then. :blush:

Our cabin was very nice but I would not advise any one else taking it. It was cabin 2586 and noisy. At first I thought people above us were tossing around suitcases and practicing bowling lessons. :eek: We called up the guest desk and discovered we were located right below Lumiere's galley. The rest of the nights were a lot quieter but we could still hear noises. I can't say enough good things about the wonderful staff at the guest desk.

More later....I still haven't folded and put away the clothes I washed today.

DiszyGram

11-26-2006, 10:24 PM

This is a post about one experience that I thought was especially Magical. :wizard:

My grandson, seven year old Joey, wasn't interested in getting an autograph book for the Disney characters to sign during the cruise. We saw many of them every day and he wanted to have pictures with them, but not their autographs. I did try to talk him into it. I believe his reason for not wanting autographs is he is profoundly deaf and doesn't want to reveal he has a problem. He is proficient at reading lips but some character's lips are impossible to read. pluto: Stitch is his very favorite character and we did get his picture with Joey.

The last full day we were on the cruiise, I took Joey into the ship's store and asked him to look and see if he wanted anything. I was very surprised when he picked out a Disney autograph book. It had a fold out picture of Magical Mickey on the front. He told me he wanted to get autographs now. We ran into Mickey and Minnie Mouse on the stairs and he was able to get his first two autographs. He was REALLY hoping to find Stitch and get his also. :stitch:

We didn't find any more characters signing books before it was time for Joey to get some sleep. The next morning we had to be at breakfast and off the ship well before 9am. Joey was sad that he only had two autographs in his book. He fell asleep almost as fast as his head hit the pillow.

My daughter, Valerie, saw there was a final good-bye party that evening and decided to go see what it was. She was exhausted but still wanted to just check out what was happening at the party. I stayed with Joey. She was only gone a short time when she rushed back into our cabin and was very excited. ALL of the Disney characters on the ship were gathered together in one area and they were ALL signing autograph books! Valerie grabbed Joey's book and headed back out.

She got in line and saw she was the only adult among all the children. :blush: Someone hugged her around her neck and she turned to see Stitch standing there. Valerie told him that Joey was asleep and how much he loved Sitich. Her camera can record and she was able to record Stitch both signing Joey's book and throwing Joey kisses. He even put his big face right up to the camera.

Valerie got 10 more character's autographs that night and she recorded them all. Most of them also wrote special messages to Joey.

Very early the next morning, Joey woke up very grumpy from lack of sleep. Valerie handed him his autograph book and told him to look through it. You should have seen the surprise and glee on his face. :yay: Even more so when she showed him the recording of the actual signings. I felt myself tearing up watching his reactions.

It was a Magical experience. :smickey: :love:

ICEMANPAD

11-26-2006, 10:58 PM

Gail--

What a wonderful Magical Story!! :thumbsup2 Chuck, Mason and I really enjoyed getting to know your family!! You are all very special!! We hope to see ya'all again on future cruises!! Mason really considers Joey to be his friend!!

My Dad's condition is still very serious. He is still in ICU, he has a breathing tube and is breathing via a ventilator. As it turns out, he has double viral pneumonia and also the trauma triggered a heart attack and a problem w/ one of his arteries. We are all hoping for the best. We appreciate the prayers and well wishes.

Lisa

WMILLER86

11-27-2006, 12:04 PM

Lisa,

Texas sized prayers for your Dad.

LAMPSKIES

11-27-2006, 12:11 PM

Our prayers are with ya also Chuck.......all week long all I heard from the girls were "well, today we'd be at CC or totady we'd be at Gran Cayma, wouldn't be nice to be snorkeling about now"!

shelwoj

11-27-2006, 01:37 PM

We had early dining and will take the late dining if we sail again. Early dinner seems to rush you too much. Our dining room rotation was APL, which put us in beautiful Lumiere's on Thanksgiving and put us in Animator's three times. Our servers were Noel from France and David from Australia. They were great! Noel kept my 7 year old grandson entertained the whole time with jokes and magic tricks. On our last night he smacked Joey's hand and yelled "High Four". Since I knew Noel is still learning English, I whispered, "It's high five". He said, "No, it's high four", and showed me he didn't have his little finger. I never noticed it until then. :blush:

Noel wasn't our dinner server but we had him for lunch the first day in Parrott Cay and he was wonderful. We ran into a few more times at Topsiders and he made a point each time to come over and say hello. He was soooo nice. :goodvibes

DiszyGram

11-27-2006, 05:48 PM

Noel told us a story about when he arrived at the ship for the first time. He brought a whole lot of clothes with him. (count me in with that too :) ) His cabin had a very small locker and all the uniforms he was given filled it up. He had no extra room for his clothes. I don't think he told us what he did with them.

We used the collapsable cloth shoe hangers and shelves for extra storage space. They worked out great!

The ocean was VERY rough when we arrived at Grand Cayman. Only three cruise ships were allowed in and all had to line up on the opposite side of the island for safety. The Disney cruise line made sure the Magic was one of the three. I heard another ship tried to get in but couldn't get past the heavy surf.

We had chosen the city tour, turtle farm, and butterfly farm as our excursion. All excursions that involved going into the water were canceled. We also went to Hell. :) There is still a lot of hurricane damage on the island and construction was going on everywhere. The turtle farm was fun. The butterfly farm didn't have many butterflies flying around inside their enclosure. I don't blame them. The wind kept blowing those beautiful insects into the net enclosures. :eek:

It was exciting getting back on the ship. We had a rolling ride back on the small boat and nearly slammed into the side of the Magic a few times while trying to dock. Once the ramp was connected, it was rolling up and down. Crew members were watching it and making sure we got across it, one by one, in a calm second. I still felt safe and loved the excitement. :cool1:
Of course falling off would have spoiled the fun. :sad2:

More later.

DiszyGram

11-29-2006, 01:26 PM

OK, Where is everyone who sailed with us? :confused3

All of the shows on the cruise were VERY nice. We loved every one of them. Since my grandson does have the hearing problem, my daughter and I made sure we got in line early to get close seats. Even with the headphones on, he isn't hearing everything.

Each show had the same problem. In every navigater it states, Reserved Seat Policy: As a courtesy to all Guests we kindly advise that saving of seats is not permitted in the Walt Disney Theatre, Show Lounges, or for Sun Loungers on Decks 9 & 10

We were fortunate for the first few shows to get our three seats at least in the second or third row. Adults and children were saving whole and half of the seats in the front rows. They were aggressive about doing it.

We were about six people back in line for the last farewell show. By the time we got down to the front, the first 4 rows were completely reserved by a hand full of adults and children. When we turned around, most of the seats were already taken. We walked up about 15 rows and sat in three seats on the aisle. A woman yelled. "Those are saved!!" My daughter was furious and she read the Navigater policy to her, also saying my grandson is hard of hearing. She recounted her seats and said she had enough.

I was very upset at that time and went to the back of the theatre to at least express my anger to someone. A Disney staff member said he would see what he could do. I saw him checking for empty seats near the front. He came back and told us to follow him. Two close rows were actually reserved by the crew for some families with handicaps, and one family didn't arrive. We got three of those seats. :love:

My daughter did write on a comment sheet as we were getting ready to leave the ship. She said that the no reserved seat policy should be honored or completely removed. I'm sure we can't be the only people who have had experiences like we did.

It was still only a small thing in comparison to the whole wonderful cruise experience.

momsgoofy

11-29-2006, 08:06 PM

Hey! I wasn't on the cruise with you...was an original turkey back in 2004, but I am a sign language interpreter, so this is in my field. I am sorry that you all had to experience this.

I think you said your grandson doesn't sign, but that isn't an issue. Under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) your grandson would fall under that...his disability is deafness. He is entitled to front row, or very close seating, because of that. Disney, at least WDW is very good about providing that service. For example, any of the shows...Candlelight Processional, Beauty and the Beast, etc...all have front row seating for persons with disabilities and that means wheelchairs, vision, hearing, etc. I would assume that DCL would also have them...CMs should have made seating available to your grandson and all in the party with him.

I would suggest to you or his mom, write a letter to DCL and make a formal complaint about this. It may never have been brought to their attention and if it has, well, then it absolutely needs to be done again so DCL will correct the situation. The only thing that MIGHT exempt them from the ADA is that it applies to the USA and I think the ships are registered in the Bahamas. Even given that, the company that owns the ship is an American company and should be liable to follow a federal law. I'm not sure how old your grandson is, but it would be good to involve him in the process. It will be a good lesson in empowerment for him...he'll learn how to assert his rights as a person with a disability. And if DCL hears it from a child how the magic wasn't always there because it wasn't accesible (where he could read lips) it might be even more effective...just a suggestion.

I know it won't change what happened on the Thanksgiving cruise, but at least you can try to make it better for the next time.

If you have any questions, please PM me and I would be happy to help where I can. Also, you might post on the DISabilities board...there are some smart cookies there with lots of information.

OK, Where is everyone who sailed with us? :confused3

All of the shows on the cruise were VERY nice. We loved every one of them. Since my grandson does have the hearing problem, my daughter and I made sure we got in line early to get close seats. Even with the headphones on, he isn't hearing everything.

Each show had the same problem. In every navigater it states, Reserved Seat Policy: As a courtesy to all Guests we kindly advise that saving of seats is not permitted in the Walt Disney Theatre, Show Lounges, or for Sun Loungers on Decks 9 & 10

We were fortunate for the first few shows to get our three seats at least in the second or third row. Adults and children were saving whole and half of the seats in the front rows. They were aggressive about doing it.

We were about six people back in line for the last farewell show. By the time we got down to the front, the first 4 rows were completely reserved by a hand full of adults and children. When we turned around, most of the seats were already taken. We walked up about 15 rows and sat in three seats on the aisle. A woman yelled. "Those are saved!!" My daughter was furious and she read the Navigater policy to her, also saying my grandson is hard of hearing. She recounted her seats and said she had enough.

I was very upset at that time and went to the back of the theatre to at least express my anger to someone. A Disney staff member said he would see what he could do. I saw him checking for empty seats near the front. He came back and told us to follow him. Two close rows were actually reserved by the crew for some families with handicaps, and one family didn't arrive. We got three of those seats. :love:

My daughter did write on a comment sheet as we were getting ready to leave the ship. She said that the no reserved seat policy should be honored or completely removed. I'm sure we can't be the only people who have had experiences like we did.

It was still only a small thing in comparison to the whole wonderful cruise experience.

DiszyGram

11-29-2006, 09:18 PM

Thank you for posting Laura. My grandson is 7 years old. He does know a lot of signing and is very good at reading lips. He also hears but sounds are very distorted. I once heard a recording of how children with his rare problem, auditory neuropathy, hear and it's amazing how well he speaks. Unfortunately he loves to sing. Nice and loud one note songs. :teeth:

No one would know he is deaf unless they tried talking when he wasn't looking and concentrating on them. He did not want to go on stage for the graduation ceremony from the oceaneers club. Too noisey and crowded for him and he was afraid of messing up. He still loved being in the club. He was also picked to be a dwarf in one show but he turned it down.

The club gave my daughter and I some quiet time since he can often be a motormouth. :) The guest desk staff let him use the headphones free of charge for the whole cruise.

DiszyGram

11-30-2006, 02:15 PM

Back to happy thoughts. Our room server was Pa from the Philippines. She was soooo nice. Pa took a special interst in Joey, my grandson, and went beyond her duty to make him happy. He couldn't wait to get back to the room each night and see what she had done.

I had been buying Joey a steady collection of the Disney characters in cruise dress from the ship's store. Pa had a lot of fun using them in her towel sculptures. He howled with laughter when he saw she made a large alligator and had it eating Pluto. I don't know when she ever got a break but her smiling face was there to greet us everytime we headed back to the cabin.

The last night, Pa decorated our large porthole with pretty ribbons that had character face decals hanging from them. All 7 of Joey's characters, which included Stitch, the beloved one he brought from home, were looking out the porthole.

We were signed up for a submarine ride on Cozumel. Because of rough seas, all water excursions had to be cancelled. We changed our reservation to a day on the beach. It did save me some money since it was less expensive. :) The water was still rough but the colors of the water were absolutely beautiful. I could stare at it all day. My daughter and grandson went in it for a short time.

A Mexican buffet was included in the excursion. I did not eat the fresh fruit or vegetables because we were warned not to. What I did eat tasted good. My daughter didn't follow her own advice. She wore sea bands on the whole cruise and also took anti motion sickness medicine daily. That night she lost a whole lot of weight the hard way. :sick:

Unlike the Grand Cayman, the ships at Cozemel had cement berths to dock in. You could walk right into your ship from the shore. It was impressive to see so many massive cruise ships docked side by side in one area. Makes you feel pretty small.

ICEMANPAD

11-30-2006, 07:50 PM

Gail: we have been posting on next year's thread, but if you email me at icemanpad@aol.com, i have some very good pictures of your grandson i can send you - ie i need a street address b/c these are not digital.

Chuck :cool1:

DiszyGram

11-30-2006, 08:38 PM

Hi Chuck! Thank you and I just emailed you. I'll have to check out the next year's thread.

I was worried that something else happened to Lisa's father when I didn't see you here.