April 5-12 Western Magic (w/photo & navigators link) FINISHED - updated 5/5/08

[pooh_mania]

Link to photo album http://picasaweb.google.com/trojales/DisneyMagicCruiseToWesternCaribbean
Link to Navigators for this week http://picasaweb.google.com/trojales/DisneyMagicWesternCarribeanNavigators

This trip report is in several posts...
Day 1 - Embarkation on this post and page 2 post #12
Day 2 - Key West on page 3 post #30
Day 3 - Day at Sea, Formal Night on page 4 post #35
Day 4 - Grand Cayman, page 5, post #45
Day 5 - Cozumel, page 5, post #48
Day 6 - Day at Sea, Semi-Formal, Palo Brunch, page 6, post #55
Day 7 - Castaway Cay, page 7, post #61

I haven't posted much here, but wanted to pay it forward to all those who have posted wonderful trip reports, tips and hints on the boards!! I don't have time to write much now, but if anyone has specific Western Magic questions, please feel free to PM me. I would be happy to answer any questions.

My trip report will be forthcoming, but I wanted to let everyone know that the Magic is wonderful!!

Fri., April 4 - Drive down from Atlanta to the Radisson at Port Canaveral. Played in the pool for a while to get the true vacation feeling. We enjoyed dinner at Uno's Chicago Pizzaria....yummy!

Sat., April 5 - Leave the Radisson at 9:35. Arrive at port at 9:40 AM. The previous cruise must have arrived late, as there were still disembarking guests. The port was a bit confusing, so they allowed my DH to drop us and the bags off early. He headed back to the Radisson to park. We waiting until 10 AM when the porters came to take our bags. We were the VERY FIRST family into the port!! We checked in and received the coveted #2 boarding pass.

There was some delay with the draw bridge coming to port, so several shuttles were delayed. My husband was on at 10:30 AM shuttle back to port, but did not arrive until 11:30. He arrived just in time! We were allowed to board at 11:45. We headed to Parrot's Cay for a yummy seafood buffet lunch. The kids didn't feel like swimming, so we roamed around the ship, taking several photos.

Sun., April 6 - Key West - little bit of shopping. I bought 4 pair of sandals at Kino's. Somehow I forgot to buy black ones though!! Also enjoyed frozen Key Lime pie dipped in chocolate on a stick.

Mon., April 7 - Day at Sea. Lots of R & R!

Tue., April 8 - Grand Cayman - We did our own excursion with Captain Marvin's. We took the 1/2 day snorkeling & Stingray City tour. It was fabulous. I'd highly recommend it!

Wed., April 9 - Cozumel - We did our own excursion to Chakanaab Park. The taxi ride was $11 from port to the park. We had discount coupons that I had downloaded online. It was a wonderful place to snorkel and relax.
It was also Pirate night with a fun party. pirate:

Thur, April 10 - Day at Sea. Brunch at Palo.

Fri., April 11 - Castaway Cay - lots of fun!

Sat., April 12 - return home, stuck in I-75 traffic going to Atlanta (not fun!) :sad2:

Best tips:
- soft sided cooler for excursions. I found an AWESOME bag that kept ice for 3 days and it did not leak!! PM me if you'd like more info on the bag. I just found it myself right before our trip. :thumbsup2
- over-the-door shoe holder was great. I brought 2. One went over the bathroom door. One went on the connecting door to the other stateroom (because we weren't connecting to the other room)
- suction cup hooks were great for hanging all the wet swim suits
- a few clips for keeping the curtains closed
- white noise machine to help the kids sleep
- read the Navigator for character appearances. It took me a few days to figure it out. Often times characters are only out for 15 minutes!
- See the bulletin board at Shutters to know what character photo ops would be available that day/night. Mickey & Minnie came out on semi-formal night in their formalwear. So I made the whole family get back into tuxes/dresses so I could get a good photo. I am glad that I did, because they are some of my favorite pictures. I will try to post later.

...That's all I have time for now. I will post more later.

[Disney owl]

Thanks for sharing & the great tips

[AnnMarie3]

We were on the Magic with you. We are also from Atlanta and got stuck in the I-75 traffic coming home. (took us 12 hours from the port). We were on the 1/2 day Captain Marvin's snorkle and stingray city as well. I wonder if we were on the same boat?

We had a fantastic cruise and I'm looking forward to reading your trip report.

[frdeb1999]

Great tips!! Thanks for sharing!! :)

[naner]

Thanks for the report!

[Joan1]

Thanks for the info
If you could share info the soft side cooler you used that would be most helpful

[jenniferlt]

and we got into the same traffic! Yuk! It took us a long time home to Atlanta too. We also had a great time. We did a Stingray and Snorkel tour with a different tour group, forgot name, but loved it also. Marvins was booked up, but can't ask for anything more from our tour. We loved the shows, characters, wonderful Mickey pool for little ones and thought the food was good. My 10 year old son did not like the pool for older kids. Just a very small rectangle. My other small disappointment was that I really didn't like the Pirate party. My two boys, ages 4 and 10, fell asleep in our laps before it started at 9:45 p.m. and it was just a bunch of dancing, no real "show" or story. It was neat to have fireworks, but after Wishes, Spectro and Fantasmic, quite a let down. I probably just expected too much after hearing all the rave reviews. But all in all, a great ship and great experience for the kids especially!

[lvstitch]

We were on the Magic with you. We are also from Atlanta and got stuck in the I-75 traffic coming home. (took us 12 hours from the port). We were on the 1/2 day Captain Marvin's snorkle and stingray city as well. I wonder if we were on the same boat?

We had a fantastic cruise and I'm looking forward to reading your trip report.

Did you take the private tour? If not, was it very crowded? I am worried the boats will be packed with people.

[dmi188]

I was at Kino's too that day! Bought 5 pair, and wore mine the rest of the cruise. They are very comfy! And such a good buy! Didn't get my chocolate dipped key lime pie, tho. We had just eaten brunch at Palo. Oh well, something to save for next time!

[firemans wife]

I was at Kino's too that day! Bought 5 pair, and wore mine the rest of the cruise. They are very comfy! And such a good buy! Didn't get my chocolate dipped key lime pie, tho. We had just eaten brunch at Palo. Oh well, something to save for next time!


I know we go to Key West on Sunday. Do you know how late Kinos is open ? I really want to make sure I stop by there. Is it close to where we dock?

[dmi188]

I know we go to Key West on Sunday. Do you know how late Kinos is open ? I really want to make sure I stop by there. Is it close to where we dock?
You really need to go to Kinos first. They told me they open when the ships come in on Sunday, but as soon as they are not busy they will close. I think she told me usually 10-3. But if there is no business, they will close sooner.
If you google their web site, you can get the phone number. If you have a cell phone, you are still in the US, just call them either for hours, or directions.

[pooh_mania]

Continuing Sat, April 5 – I am made the family all wear plain red shirts (since it is my favorite color) so that we could take several photos on Day 1. I like to have our clothes coordinate just a little bit so that it doesn’t distract from the photo. That sounds really anal, but I am always happiest with those kind of picture in the end. I am glad that I did that, because as we roamed around the ship it was fun to capture the first time excitement and energy in the kids’ expressions. :yay: Everything was so new and exciting to see! I am certain that I would have not had the same kind of pictures if I tried to do them near the end of the cruise.

Our stateroom was ready right on time at 1:30. We were fortunate enough to have a SPH on a completely sold out cruise. Our luggage arrived around 3, so we had time to quick unpack before the mandatory life boat drill. We had 3 HUGE suitcases, a rolling garment bag, and a small rolling carry-on sized bag. My DH did not believe me when I said that it would fit under the bed. :confused3 Honestly, I wasn’t so sure myself….but it did all fit. So our closest were nice and luggage free. We were able to put the kids clothes in the desk drawers. Our clothes in the “dresser” and hanging in the closet. I also had some things in the steamer trunk. But we mainly used the steamer trunk top shelf to put once worn clothes that could be re-worn. DH is particular about clean clothes not touching dirty clothes :eek: , so it worked out well.

The lifeboat drill was very organized. They had us lined up by stateroom, tallest in back, shortest in front of the line. The lines were shoulder to shoulder together and we of course are all wearing the bulky life vests. So there is no room to move at all, especially if you are in the back of the line. Our line is DH in back (even though I AM taller :rolleyes1 !!), me, DD7 and DS6 in front. Then the little girl (5ish) standing right next to my DS6 turned to her Mommy and said, “Mommy, I don’t feel so well, my tummy hurts.” She did not look so great. :sick: The CMs were telling everyone to stand close, and please be quiet. So her Mom says that it will only be for a minute more, please stand in line. About 30 seconds later the little girl turns and gets sick. :scared1: In my lightening fast mommy reaction, I grab my DS’s life vest and yank him backwards as far as possible. By doing this, I knock my DH over and into one of the benches behind him, so now he is sitting on the bench getting a bird’s eye view of my rear end :eek: (but – no pun intended – he is not complaining) :rotfl2: ! The little girl’s mother is so sandwiched in that she can’t really move to get out and help the daughter. Everyone in the area keeps saying “She’s sick, she’s sick, get her out of here!” So the mother is then allowed to get out of line and take the little girl away. My DS managed to stay clear of the accident, but after the drill we returned to our cabin to disinfect ourselves!! I made the kids scrub hands twice and then I Purelled them twice. It must have worked because we all stayed healthy all cruise long. It is quite possible the little girl just ate too much ice cream at the lunch buffet.

We went up for the Adventures Away party. It was a bit crowded, but it got us in the spirit of having fun. The characters made an appearance and then you feel like it is Disney! After the party we went back to the stateroom to get ready for dinner.

Our dinner rotation was LAAPLAP at 5:30. It was just fine for our schedule because we tried to get the kids to nap from 3-5ish, and then get ready for dinner. A few times we tried to get character photos before or during dinner (5:15, 5:30, 5:45) before we realized that the same characters make an appearance around 7, 7:15, 7:30 for those of us with the early dinner seating. So, it was a lot less rushed when we did the character meets AFTER dinner. I chalk it up to a first time cruiser learning experience.

I have to admit that our servers at dinner were definitely competent, but they didn’t really “WOW” us. Our server basically had the same quick speech of the menus and recommendations to each table that he served. He sounded like a recording and never really did anything that made us feel special. Now, in a regular restaurant I would have been more than pleased with the service. But I was a little disappointed because on a previous Carnival cruise we had spectacular servers who made us (and our kids) feel so special by the personalized attention. I had the impression that our assistant server was new, and the main server was responsible for coaching him through the ropes. So that really puts a huge burden on the regular server who already has quite a lot to do. On a more positive note, we did meet a darling sweet assistant server named Enika from Hungary. She was our asst server for lunch one day in Parrot Cay and then again at a breakfast at Lumiere’s. She was AMAZING. So sweet, talking with the kids, asking them how they were doing, making them little animals out of the napkins. That was a little bitter sweet because we were glad to meet her, but made us wish we could have had her for our regular dinners too!

After dinner we roamed the ship, browsed the gift shops, and then headed to the “All Aboard: Let the Magic Begin” show. This was a variety show with musical comedy of John Charles, science and comedy of Freddie Fusion, and an appearance of the characters and Disney Magic performers. It was a nice show to get things started, but not like the “can’t miss” Broadway style shows during the week. After the show the kids were tired and headed to bed.

I am disappointed that I missed the 2:30 Walking Ship Tour. Next time I cruise (and there will be a next time), I will make a point to do that tour. I didn’t read the Navigator that close because I didn’t realize organized activities would already be happening on-board.

That's it for Day 1. I will post a link to my photo album later.

[pooh_mania]

We were the Asian family with the 2 young kids, DD7 and DS6. Were you the family with the teen girls? We arrived at Captain Marvin's office at the pier at 9:30 AM. Our boat went from 10-1 and we did get caught in a few rain showers headed out to snorkel.


We were on the Magic with you. We are also from Atlanta and got stuck in the I-75 traffic coming home. (took us 12 hours from the port). We were on the 1/2 day Captain Marvin's snorkle and stingray city as well. I wonder if we were on the same boat?

We had a fantastic cruise and I'm looking forward to reading your trip report.

[pooh_mania]

We did not reserve a private tour with Captain Marvins. We just reserved online for their 1/2 day tour, for 2 adults, 2 kids. It was significantly cheaper to do it on our own. I think we had less than 20 passengers on our tour. I believe it was our family and 2 other families on the boat. It was not at all crowded! The guides were very friendly and helpful.

Did you take the private tour? If not, was it very crowded? I am worried the boats will be packed with people.

[pooh_mania]

Here is a link to several photos of our week. Enjoy! popcorn::

http://picasaweb.google.com/trojales/DisneyMagicCruiseToWesternCaribbean

[TotallyAngelic]

I have just had a look at your photos - they are great - you have really captured the essence of the cruise - and your kids are so cute!:goodvibes

[dmi188]

Great report!
Beautiful pictures! Now that I see them, I know I saw your family several times. I remember your DD in that dress!

[magictrickboy71]

We were on that cruise as well. Who was your server? I thought the same about mine server. He did a good job but was not wonderful. Last year our servers were great. I hope next time we have a more enthusiastic server.

Your photos were great.

Thanks,
Frank:wizard:

[metzfan64]

Pooh Mania, what great pictures. You have a lovely family. Thanks for sharing!

[metzfan64]

We had the 8:30 Late Seating and we had the same experience with our servers, nice but no WOW factor. Plus they were very slow. We were always the last table to leave, never getting out earlier than 10:15 everynight. Our Head server was David from the Czech Republic. This was our 3rd DCL cruise and we had the same experience the last cruise. Our first cruise the servers were fantastic. They went out of their way to entertain us and the kids. They were very personable. Not at all this time and when you are spending close to 2 hours everynight at dinner, it would've been a much better experience to have better service. We wound up skipping dinner 2 nights (once for Palo and the other Pirate night), because it was becoming more of an ordeal to sit there and wait and wait and wait.

[frdeb1999]

Beautiful pix PoohMania!! :)

[jollytammy]

Super pictures! They were wonderful! Thank you for sharing:woohoo:

[AnnMarie3]

Hi Pooh Mania,
I don't think we were on the same Captain Marvin's trip. We had more people on our trip, probably 30-40. It was dh, ds 12, and me.

I do remember seeing your beautiful family on formal and semi-formal nights. We were in front of you to have our portraits done with our family (me, dh, ds, and dd4.) Everyone remarked how lovely you all looked..I'll try and post a photo of us eventually.

Ann Marie

[NenaCruise]

Metzfan and I had the same servers and they were really slow...My mom is a diabetic...we could not get the early seating despite being waitlisted. She was dizzy one evening and asked for some orange juice or to have her meal quickly and they didn't get it done. I finally spoke with the headserver and after that my mom got her food quickly but we all at our table had to wait and wait and wait.....not personable with my son at all...He was the baby at our group at the table...just turned 10 and still into his kids menu and coloring sheet....we had to remind them every night to give us a kids menu and crayons for him to color. We also ate two nights away from the table...to be honest with you...it was bliss. Our servers the first time were great....the 2nd time they were not too bad either:)....this time I was disappointed but I'm hoping my NOv. cruise will be different.
Amazingly my server on RCCL last year was as impressive as my first servers with Disney...I think it depends on how new they are....I did not think to ask our servers this time around how new they were. I know they were concerned about having a good recommendation....that just makes me think that they probably had bad ones before.
HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pooh Mania I saw your family too on the ship:) I'm surprised you were not part of our fish extender group or were you?

[nzdisneymom]

Pooh Mania -- thanks so much for sharing your pictures - and I'm looking forward to reading more of your trip report! You have such a beautiful family - and the smiles on your children's faces - WOW -- it is obvious that your children had an amazing trip!

[Dreamfinder2]

Pooh Mania, this is good, good stuff. Thanks for sharing!

[karasdad]

We were on the same cruise, also Asian family with two girls, 4 & 6. saw you ahead in line at the golden Mickey's pic line with Donald and Daisy duck. Great trip log too.

[2*geminis]

Looking at your photos makes me wish the next 6-months away even more.

[MadiMouse]

Great report! You have a beautiful family.

[pooh_mania]

pixiedust: Sunday, April 6, 2008 Key West – We have been to Key West on a different cruise and went on a glass bottom boat excursion. The family enjoyed it, but I was sea sick for most of the trip. Since this was our first DC, we decided to stay-on board and enjoy the less crowded areas..

We ate breakfast at Lumiere’s with nice servers. I ordered a Denver omelet and the kids had pancakes. I forget what DH had. I hate to say it, but I thought the breakfast was pretty bad! :sad2: I’ve had better food at McD’s. It was quite a disappointment. Plus breakfast was a bit slow, so I felt like I was missing out on other activities for a mediocre breakfast.

DH had a 9:30 massage appointment that I booked on embarkation day. He headed off for his relaxation treatment. The kids wanted to go to the club for Flubber making at 10 AM. So I dropped them off and had some time alone!! :banana: I homeschool my DD, so free ALONE time is few and far between. I was at a loss for what to do with my new found freedom. I love to watch the ocean and hear the waves so I headed to the deck 4 lounge chairs. They were relaxing and the view breathtaking. I was feeling a bit guilty as several joggers kept passing by on the deck. So I decided I should at least make a meager attempt at some exercise after the greasy breakfast.

I put on my gym shoes and started walking around deck 4. Well they were doing maintenance several different areas on the deck, so it was a constant game of Human Frogger :rolleyes1 (that really ages me!!). After 20 minutes of dodging various obstacles I decided to head up to the fitness center. A treadmill was open and the view was spectacular. Right when I was thinking, “does it get any better than this?” :cool1: I realized that I was thirsty, really thirsty as I was exercising pretty hard. Well there are tiny cups for water, but I wanted more. Eventually I was parched, so I gave up the treadmill to run down to deck 9 to fill my large cup with water. By the time I got back to the fitness center the treadmills were all taken, so I settled for an elliptical machine. I didn’t stay long because soon my DH was out from his massage. Advice: BRING YOUR OWN WATER to the fitness center if you like to stay hydrated.

DH & I changed into swim wear and headed to Quiet Cove. We found two cushioned loungers portside that were in the sun, behind the Plexiglas, but still getting a nice breeze. It was so peaceful that I fell asleep for a short nap while DH read his book. This was the most ideal way to spend a morning!! :cloud9:

Around 11:30 we picked the kids up from the club and headed to lunch at Parrot Cay. It was an American buffet lunch. I don’t recall anything specific, but it was good. After lunch the kids played in the Mickey pool and slide for a while. It was less crowded because many people were preparing to disembark in Key West. In my photo album there is a picture of the kids all alone in the pool, that’s almost unheard of! Unfortunately our fun was soon cut short because someone had a potty accident in the Mickey pool :scared1: and a CM told us that they were closing the pool to clean it. What a bummer!! I really wish people would abide by the rules :sad2: and not let diapered children in the pool. It really unfairly ruins it for a lot of people. We headed back to the stateroom and gave the kids a shower and put them to nap. DH was still so relaxed from his massage that he wanted to nap too.

I decided to venture into Key West while they were all sleeping. I only had one goal – frozen key lime pie dipped in chocolate on a stick!! I was a lady on a mission. On my mission, I accidentally ran into Kino’s Sandals!! :banana: What good fortune! So I stopped in to buy 4 pair of sandals. As I was coming out the sandal shop I was trying to get my directions straight when I spotted IT…the Blonde Giraffe!! I raced over to indulge in my very first key lime pie on a stick. I have to say, it lived up to its reputation. It was really delicious, especially as I roamed the hot Key West streets. I browsed a bit more, found some things at the Life is Good store for DH and kids and headed back to the ship. I returned to a dark stateroom and 3 sleeping beauties.

I wanted to take a shower so I grabbed a change of clothes and ran up to the spa. MORE ADVICE: try the showers in the spa!! Just stop by the spa desk and ask for a locker key. You have to give them your KTTW card until you return the locker key. It was great water pressure and more room than the cabin showers. They have robes, slippers, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and towels available but no wash cloths. (Men-skip this part, women - bring your razor! I kept forgetting mine! I showered up there every day while the kids napped so by the 3rd day it was getting ugly. :scared1: ) I was able to get my shower in without waking my crew. By the time I returned to the room, they were starting to stir.

At 5:15 we headed down for dinner. Donald was scheduled at 5:15 in the lobby, so we decided to wait in line. It was a special bonus when Donald showed up with Daisy! Then we headed to Animator’s Palate for dinner. Again, we had very hard working servers, but we were just a table to them.

My DS decided to be not so “D” :eek: and was punished by going to bed early. This was a big deal because Goofy’s PJ party was from 7:15-8:45 for the 5-7yr olds. DD was able to go to the party. She was late getting there and missed the big appearance by Goofy, but she did get to color her own pillowcase. When I picked her up, the CM gave me an uncolored pillowcase for DS, which was nice. Because of DS’s bedtime punishment we missed the show for Freddy Fusion and John Charles.

After the kids were put to bed, DH and I took turns roaming the ship. I browsed through the shops and Shutters. Of course, every night I also downloaded all my photos on to the laptop, and then backed them up on another portable hard drive. I know that sounds like overkill, but you will understand if you’ve ever had a hard drive failure. Pictures are so important for me to help trigger the memories of the fun things we did. And I want my kids to look back on the pictures and recall the memories too. So having backups of backups is important to me.

One thing that I found odd is that some character meet times are so late! Dopey was 9:30-10 that night, but no other time earlier that day. That is just way too late for my crew. At home we are in bed by 8 PM. We are more flexible on vacation, but for the benefit of everyone (including all the other passengers) I need to get my kids to sleep so they aren’t in meltdown mode later. Trust me; I wish more kids napped! I witnessed plenty of meltdowns of children who were just over tired from all the magical :wizard: fun! :headache:

…next a Day at Sea

[Pinky3]

Pooh Mania: Your photos are beautiful. Could I ask what type of camera you have?

[bellebud]

i'm loving your tr!! Your kids are SO cute and look so handsome and beautiful in their formal wear! We've never cruised before, and I have a cat 9 cabin booked for next summer (7 day western too!) Your cabin looks great!! I plan on spending our port days mainly on the ship to enjoy the pools and uncrowded conditions. On regular sea days, we'll probably avoid the pools, from what I read about how crowded they are.

For your semi-formal night (in your pics), did you dress basically the same on formal night? Meaning, I thought when I looked at your pic and saw the caption "semi formal" that you all look very formal (and very nice!!) and is that the norm for semi formal? DH is going to HATE dressing up at all, but I don't want us to miss anything, and although I don't like dressing up myself, it seems like if everyone's doing it, it would be fun and the kids would enjoy it.

Thanks for sharing your vacation w/ us!

[pooh_mania]

Pooh Mania: Your photos are beautiful. Could I ask what type of camera you have?


I have an older Canon S2IS. I love it! It is the step between a point and shoot and a digital SLR camera. I am very picky about cameras and did a lot of research before purchasing. I have been so happy with it and highly recommend the newer Canon S5IS or the Canon S3IS. Several people have bought them based on my recommendation and area also happy.

[pooh_mania]

For your semi-formal night (in your pics), did you dress basically the same on formal night? ... and is that the norm for semi formal?
Thanks for sharing your vacation w/ us!

No, it is definitely not the norm for semi-formal night!! It was just my decision to put the formalwear back on so that we could get the photos with Formal Mickey and Formal Minnie on the semi-formal night. Trust me, DH and kids were not thriled about getting all dressed up, but now they love to look at the photos. Plus, they know that it is so much easier to let Mommy get the photos she wants and be done with it, or I'll keep talking about it until they cave in! :rolleyes1

Have fun!

[pooh_mania]

Monday, April 7, 2008 – Day at Sea, Formal Night, The Golden Mickey’s Show

We started the day with our Character Breakfast in Parrot Cay – Mickey’s Island Jam. As mentioned in a previous post, this is NOT a photo opportunity. It is a bit of chaos as the characters make a couple of group appearances during the breakfast. They have the kids up and down out of their seats, dancing around,:dance3: and then the characters leave and the kids return to their tables. No sooner are the kids finally interested in breakfast, but the characters reappear and get the kids back up again! The poor servers have a heck of a time trying to maneuver between all the chaos. I really felt bad for them during this breakfast. I personally did not enjoy this breakfast and did not think it was really that great for the kids either. I am sure everyone has their own experience of it, and I’m sure some people really enjoyed this breakfast experience.

After breakfast the kids wanted to head to the Lab for Nestlé’s Jr. Chef cooking baking at 10:15 (good marketing Nestle!:thumbsup2 ). After dropping the kids off, DH and I stop by Shutters to see photos and pick the best ones. We followed the advice learned on DIS and bought a package right away. I mistakenly thought that I could have them re-print a photo in the size I wanted, so I bought the all 6x8 photo package. It was around day 2 when they explained that the photos are ONLY printed in one size. So of course, in the brilliant Disney marketing machine logic, they print some photos in 6x8 and others in 8x10. So I would have to guess that most people who want a photo package, buy a combo package that includes a certain number of 6x8 and 8x10 photos. I tossed the photos that I definitely did not want to keep (closed eyes, weird expressions). I purchased the photos that I wanted. And I stacked the remaining “maybe” photos together.

I tried to make a stop at Shutters each day to see the photos taken, buy, discard, and stack my photos. It turned out to be so helpful to do that, so by the end of the cruise I knew how many photos I could still pick out for my package. I ended up trading a few early photos for better photos later in the week. For example, we had several different pictures taken with Donald, Daisy, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, etc. By the end of the week, I realized that I preferred the formal pictures near the end better than the casual early shots. I guess mainly because our outfits coordinated better in style and color in the formal pictures. At the end of the cruise I saw several people who must have stacked their photos all week and then they had a TON to sift through and make decisions about when it was quite busy and crowded. I simply had to make a decision about the few last shots near the end.

After Shutters, DH and I went up to deck 4 for a jog. Then he headed to the fitness center for a quick workout. I have NO recollection of what I did :rolleyes1 with a second day of FREE time to myself, but it must have been relaxing! We picked the kiddos up at 11:45 and headed to the Asian lunch buffet at Parrot Cay.

I was quite disappointed in this lunch. :sad2: I wish we would have headed up to deck 9 for some pizza and burgers instead. I love most Asian food, but this was just too institutionalized and definitely “cafeteria” quality Asian food. There was a stir fry station where you could take a bowl, pick out the vegetables and meats (shrimp, chicken or beef) that you wanted in your stir fry. Then a CM asks what kind of noodles you want (pasta type Asian noodles, or rice noodles) and what kind of sauce (teriyaki, spicy, garlic and maybe one other kind of sauce). Then you get a number and go back to your table and wait for the CM to deliver your cooked stir fry. Well, honestly I waited what seemed like FOREVER for the stir fry to arrive, although it was probably only 10 minutes. By the time it came, I was no longer interested in it. I was surprised because the meats were already pre-cooked. So that kind of stir fry should really only take a couple of minutes to throw over the fire. As I write this trip report, it just dawned on me that the portable cook-tops they used may not have gotten hot enough for real stir fry and been the cause of the delay. The stir fry was inedible for me. It was so greasy and soggy. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to some good vegetables.

Honestly I am not a huge vegetable eater. I try to cook them occasionally, and I definitely try to get the kids to eat them. And even I noticed that there was a BIG lack of vegetables at all the meals!! I recall one dinner that listed asparagus as a side item. It came with 2 very small stalks of asparagus! The dinner salads were very small too. In fact my DS6 could easily eat 2 salads as an appetizer! There is fresh fruit available on-board which is at least better than nothing.

Back to lunch – the lunch food itself was a big disappointment, but the highlight was meeting Enika from Hungary our assistant server. :love: She was great!! We even mentioned her in our customer service survey so that hopefully she’ll eventually get promoted to a server! She was so attentive to us, interactive with the kids, etc. It was at this lunch that made me realize how short changed I felt with our dinner serving team. Enika kept bringing us Diet Cokes throughout our lunch. She made sure the kids’ waters were full. And she was removing used plates before we knew what happened. She was just darn good!! At dinner, our assistant server would often let our first Diet Coke glasses go empty and just leave them empty. Around the arrival of our main course, he would ask us if we’d like another drink. Well honestly, since I hadn’t eaten dinner, YES I would like another Diet Coke please! I felt like it was the kind of restaurant that charges drinks by the glass, so they ask eat time before offering to bring another. Again, I think he was new so I tried to let it go and not worry about it too much. Most times we had to take the lid off the kids’ water cups and leave them visibly empty and ask for someone to give them more water. I guess that Disney has spoiled me into expecting first class service and I come to expect it everywhere in the magical world of Disney. Enough of that rant….

After lunch we wandered the ship as a family. This translates into Mom taking a million pictures of the kids and Dad at various “I-must-document-this” locations throughout the ship! :rolleyes: The kids returned to the club from 1:30-2:30 for “Lava Flow”. This is a very messy activity where the kids build their own volcano and then watch it erupt. When I went to pick the kids up, the lead CM was making his volcano erupt red lava that SPRAYED ALL OVER the ceiling! :scared1: Of course the kids LOVED it. As a mom all I could think of is “what a mess that will be to clean up!” After volcanoes it was naptime for DS, DD, and DH!

During the volcano and nap time, I had time to attend some adult classes. The first was the Art of Disney Entertaining class - Cake and Plate decorating. It was kind of fun to see them add the little decorations to the plate and see how it took an ordinary dessert and made it look first class! This was an adult only event, and I was glad to see the CM working at the entrance of the event politely turning people away who came with children. A tip – they handed out copies of recipes at the different Art of Entertaining classes!

I also attended the walking tour of the ship called “Art of the Theme Show Ship Tour. For a first time DCL traveler, I enjoyed learning some history of the making of the Magic ship and how some of the details were selected for the décor of the ship. At the end of the tour, the CM leading it opened it up to questions for the guests. She said, “Ask any question you ever wanted to know about the Magic, crew life, etc.” So I got the ball rolling by asking, “How many hours a day do you work?” I believe she said 9-12 hours per day, 7 days per week, and no days off during her contract which lasted 3 months. She then answered several more questions about life as a crew member. It was quite fascinating and there’s no way I am strong enough to work on a cruise ship!!

After nap it was time to get ready for Formal Night dinner and the Golden Mickey’s Show. My DD7 does NOT Like to wear dresses. So she was not thrilled to be wearing a super fancy dress! On the other hand, DS6 loves to wear his tuxedo :groom: and has even asked to wear it to school (silly boy). We all donned our formal wear and headed to dinner. Again, dinner was not a memorable event so I don’t have much to report about it. Sorry!

After dinner we shopped, took some photos and then headed to the Golden Mickey’s show. Again, I didn’t read my Navigator close enough. From 8:15-8:30 they have the “Red Carpet Arrivals” outside of the theater. Here they take live video of an MC interviewing kids coming to the Golden Mickey’s and they broadcast the video inside the theater. We were already seated in the theater, and didn’t have a chance for the kids to get on the big screen! It was so adorable to see the different kids interviewed and on screen. Maybe next time we’ll try to get the kids on the “Red Carpet Arrival” video.

This was the first Broadway style show of the week and it did not disappoint! The show was captivating and entertaining. All members of our family enjoyed it! The show finished at 9:15 and then it was time for bed for DS6 and DD7. It’s a bummer that Mickey came out at 9:30 PM, Chip N Dale at 9:45 PM and Goofy at 10 PM for photos! That was too late for these kids.

...coming up next Grand Cayman and the Stingray City excursion!

[bellebud]

still enjoying! popcorn::

[dmi188]

Nice trip report! I am reliving the trip with you. Our asst. servers also left glasses empty. And even tho I stated on the first night that I would always get iced tea, he only brought it without asking the last night.

I am thinking part of the problem is that we do not drink charged beverages. They know there is no extra tip for them, so they worry about those ordering wine, smoothies, coffee drinks etc. That will boost their tip.

[FIREFIGHTERMICKEY]

yOUR PICS ARE NOT WORKING.

[SUSIEQ]

Thanks for the info
If you could share info the soft side cooler you used that would be most helpful


Yes, please tell us about the cooler!:)

[pooh_mania]

Yes, please tell us about the cooler!:)

I bought a 24-pack sized Polar Bear cooler. You can buy them at several different online retailers. Specific bag details can be found at their website:

polarbearcoolers dot com

I don't work for them, I just wanted to let people know how awesome the bags are!! :thumbsup2 They don't leak or sweat, and they keep ice for several days when indoors. It kept our things ice cold for our whole day excursions. Plus, it doesn't look like a cooler, so I am hoping to use it this summer at the fitness center pool where outside coolers are not allowed. I just want to take some cold water to the pool, but instead they want me to pay $1.50 per bottle! What is silly is that I can bring my own water go to work out at the same location. Go figure.

[pooh_mania]

yOUR PICS ARE NOT WORKING.

Thanks for the heads up. I have fixed the link (I think).

[SUSIEQ]

I bought a 24-pack sized Polar Bear cooler. You can buy them at several different online retailers. Specific bag details can be found at their website:

polarbearcoolers dot com

I don't work for them, I just wanted to let people know how awesome the bags are!! :thumbsup2 They don't leak or sweat, and they keep ice for several days when indoors. It kept our things ice cold for our whole day excursions. Plus, it doesn't look like a cooler, so I am hoping to use it this summer at the fitness center pool where outside coolers are not allowed. I just want to take some cold water to the pool, but instead they want me to pay $1.50 per bottle! What is silly is that I can bring my own water go to work out at the same location. Go figure.

Thanks! And, great trip report and cute family!

[lvstitch]

Great report so far. I love your pictures, makes me want to be there right now. More please:teeth:

[MaryAz]

You hae such a beautiful family! My 4yr old DD loved all the character pics. Thanks for providing so much detail.
Mary
first Disney Cruise in May:cool1:

[pooh_mania]

Day 4 – Tuesday, April 8, 2008 Grand Cayman, Stingray City, Twice Charmed

We were looking forward to our stop at Grand Cayman because we had booked our own snorkeling/stingray city tour with Captain Marvin’s website. We had read favorable reviews in several independent locations (including here) and decided to try it out. I can honestly say that we too were happy travelers with Captain Marvin’s. :thumbsup2 We ended up paying $135 for 2 adults, 2 kids on a ½ excursion from 10 AM - 1 PM on their boat. We had received email confirmation of our online reservation where we did put a credit card down to secure the reservation. The credit card was NOT charged, but it would have been charged if we were a no-show and the ship made it to port. If for some reason our ship did not make it to port, they said our deposit was fully refundable.

Fortunately, we had beautiful weather and made it to Grand Cayman by 7:30 AM. The instructions for the tendering process were placed in our room the previous night. Basically if you are scheduled on a DCL excursion, you meet at a designation time and ship location stated on your tickets. If you were disembarking on your own, you were to head up to the Buena Vista Theater with your ENTIRE party ready to disembark. We had packed our soft sided cooler, snorkel gear, life vests, and towels from deck 9 and headed to the theater around 8:30. Some passengers were diverted up to deck 9 to get towels, before getting in the queue in the Buena Vista Theater. Again, in typical Disney planning, they had a nice cartoon playing to keep the kids entertained. There were several CMs around to direct people and make it a very organized process. We waited less than 10 minutes before getting word that the next tender boat was ready. I think it cleared at least 10 rows of the theater and we all fit on the one tender boat. I was really surprised by this. For some reason I was envisioning much smaller tender boats, so I initially thought our wait would be very long. I was pleasantly surprised at how short we waited.

We all walked down the stairs to the deck 1 aft gangway (I love that I know all that ship terminology now!) to board the tender boat. We had very calm seas, so it was a simple process. It was a short 10 minute ride to the pier with a great photo op of the Magic in all her glory! There were several ships in port that day, but the Disney area was clearly marked with Disney portable shade covers and uniformed CMs on the pier area. I recognized the Captain Marvin’s building meeting area near the pier from their online photo. We arrived at their location by 9:00. We were told to be there by 9:15 for our 10 AM tour. It was just a small office across the street from the pier where they confirmed our reservation, accepted payment in cash (credit cards incur a surcharge, so plan to bring enough cash or travelers checks for this), and gave us our boarding ticket. There was a Captain Marvin’s shuttle bus right there almost full. We waited outside for a few minutes before they said to go ahead and board that shuttle.

The pier where Captain Marvin’s is located is in what looks like a residential area with a small cove. I did not see much for facilities here other than the dock and boats, but perhaps I just missed it. We handed our boarding ticket to one of the tour guides and he directed us to a boat. There were only 3 families I think on our boat. They said it was a sold out day, but perhaps the other boats were more crowded. I felt like we definitely had the capacity to fit more passengers. In the AM it started sprinkling and then raining some. The boat had enough of a covered area that we all stayed dry…never mind that we were about to jump in the ocean and get soaked. :) As we headed out to our first snorkeling stop it rained a bit harder and then it looked like we were headed straight for the biggest storm clouds. I am a child of the early 80’s and watched re-runs of Gilligan’s Island…”Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a faithful ship…..” :rotfl2: I couldn’t help but hum that tune in my head…a three hour tour…a three hour tour (wait, isn’t 10-1 a three hour tour?! :scared1: ) The tour guide kept insisting that the storm would clear up and that it would be fine. I was certain that he just wanted to take us to the middle of the ocean, and then tell us that our monies were non-refundable because we did go out!

Our first stop was a little bit rough waters. It was raining and the water did feel a bit cold in the wind. My DS6 was too afraid to go in the water as this would have been his very first time swimming in the middle of the ocean. My DD7 was brave and hopped in with DH. DH had snorkel equipment issues at first. Then he borrowed DS’s snorkel and all was fine. I was a brave soul and hopped in for a bit. There were quite a few fish to see, but the waters were a tad rough and I’m not a super swimmer. So I took DD7 back to the boat after 15 minutes. DH stayed out a bit longer. The stop was approximately 30 minutes long. Then we went to the 2nd stop. When we first arrived there it was still raining, but not as bad and the water was not as rough. Again, DH, DD7 and I were able to snorkel. DS6 enjoyed watching from the boat. During our 2nd stop, the rain subsided and it was actually pleasant, still cloudy but pleasant. Our final stop was Stingray City and it was the highlight of the excursion!! :banana: The water was about 4 feet deep. That’s over my DS6’s head, so we carried him the whole time in the water. It was so neat to see and feel the stingrays up close and personal. DD7 kissed them twice for good luck. The guide gently picked up a big stingray so that we could get a better view of it. They were very helpful so that everyone could get their photos and see the stingrays.

As a side note, ALL of us were wearing lifejackets during the snorkeling stops. Also, use the fins, they help you swim in the rough waters. I am prone to motion sickness, so I took Bonine the day before and I felt fine the whole time. In the past I’ve been sick, and I think these waters were rough enough that I would have felt ill if I hadn’t taken precautionary measures. You really never know what the weather will be like. So if you are prone to motion sickness, plan ahead. Once you feel sick, it’s kind of too late to do anything about it. :sick:

I am glad that I brought waters and lunch for us. They offered jugs of water and punch on-board. I preferred my bottled water, and all of us were very hungry from all the physical activity! A kind woman on the boat did give my DS some punch (and he happily drank it) while we were snorkeling, but he never did get sick, so I am sure it’s fine to drink. I am just extra cautious about that when I can be. We returned to the docks by 1 PM and rode the shuttle back to the pier by 1:30. I too would highly recommend Captain Marvin’s for a snorkeling tour on your own!

We were going to browse around the shops for a bit, but the whole family was a bit worn out from the excursion, especially the kids. So we headed toward the pier. There were plenty of uniformed Disney CMs in the area. Even housekeeping was out there collecting all the used towels so we didn’t have to haul them back to the ship ourselves. We were able to walk right on a tender boat with no line. We were back to our stateroom by 2 PM and the kids were still starving! We headed up for some Pinocchio’s Pizza. It was the perfect snack before showers and naptime.

Our dinner rotation was Parrot Cay. There was nothing too exciting to report on the menu or meal. I am sorry to those people anxious to hear about the new menus and options. I don’t have anything to help you here! Sorcerer Mickey was making an appearance with the plain white background. For whatever reason, it was very strict. No autographs. It was one photo per family, taken by the Shutter’s photographer only. The CM would not take any group photos for us. We wanted one photo of the kids and Mickey and then one with the whole family. To play by the rules, we just got back in line before it was too long, and got the 2nd photo.

The show tonight was Twice Charmed – An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story. This was another high quality Broadway level production. I am completely amazed :worship: at the flexibility in the different sets they use in these shows! I didn’t see the backstage tour, so I have NO idea how they even store all the different sets, never mind how they all operate. It’s quite fascinating to this engineer mom! The caliber of the performers is also top notch! It really is a true privilege to be able to attend these shows each night and that they are included in our fare. Now I am the first to agree that a DC is not cheap, but if you added up all of the things including: non-alcohol beverages, entertainment, food (even if it is mediocre), towel laundry, housekeeping, etc. Then it is an okay deal overall. I believe in total cost and overall value – which DCL delivers on both ends, IMHO.

The only vent I have about the shows is the entire seat saving thing.:mad: They have signs that say No Seat Saving, and the audio recording repeatedly says No Seat Saving. Yet of course MANY people just know they are more special than the rest of us, so those rules can’t possibly mean THEY can’t save a whole row of seats!! :sad2: At one show a man was saving at least 10 seats, center, and 4th row. Several CMs walked right by him and never said a word. The theater was very crowded and it was 8:29!! Finally around 8:35 about six people show up. By then it is dark and the other prime seats go unused. Obviously the same people, who feel that they are above the rules, figure that the show will wait for them to arrive before starting!! My DH is such a rule follower that he wouldn’t save 2 seats so I could take my DD7 to the restroom! He waited outside the theater until all 4 of us were ready to be seated.

After the show it was lights out for the kiddos. DH was read his book and I made my daily stop by Shutters and Pinocchio’s again for my nighttime ritual snack. I also discovered Cove Café and their selection of late night snacks. I had my book along, so I grabbed a chair and planned to read. There were a group of guys in there chatting away. It took me a while, but I realized that they were character CMs in-training. It was kind of funny to hear them talking about some of the meet and greets from their perspective. Basically how things can get a bit crazy and how the character handler has to help keep things in control with the maniac guests.

As I went to bed I was a bit sad to think that my much anticipated vacation was already half over. :sad1: I had planned the trip for more than 14 months! Heck, that’s longer than I had to prepare for the arrival of my first born child!! :laughing: At the same time, I was so thankful to even have the opportunity of a lifetime to be on this vacation. So I wanted to live in the moment and try to savor (and document with a picture) each remaining moment.

Coming up next…Day 5 - Cozumel and Chankanaab Park.

[bellebud]

As I went to bed I was a bit sad to think that my much anticipated vacation was already half over. :sad1:

that is SO me! Whenever we go to disney, I'm always asking dh "which resort should we stay at our next trip????" He always responds "just let me get through this trip first before I start thinking about being here again!" (obviously, he's not so into disney) :rotfl: But at least he's a good sport and goes along!

I used to sadly count down the days... on our first day there i'd say "only 7 days left - snif, snif!"... "only 6 days left"... till dh let me know how totally and completely annoying that was. who knew??? :lmao:

anyway, enjoying your tr very much!! and I love all the details! waiting for more! :)

[burrellfan]

Awesome trip report...thank you. Eagerly awaiting to hear about Chankanaab as we plan to visit there on our cruise in November. popcorn::

[pooh_mania]

Day 5 Wednesday, April 9, 2008– Cozumel, Mexico; Chankanaab Park, Pirate Party

This morning we decided to have breakfast up at Topsiders. On Day 4 we tried room service but we didn’t order enough and still had to run up to deck 9 for some hot food options. We arrived into port near 9:30, so we had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast up at Topsiders. I think the food may have been better up here than the Lumiere’s breakfast.

We had planned to visit Chankanaab Park on our own since I’ve been to Cozumel before this cruise. The park’s website is: http://www.cozumelparks.com/ This island’s primary source of income is tourism, so I felt comfortable with navigating the excursion on our own and saving some money. We packed our soft sided cooler again with 8 bottles of water, sandwiches, cookies, and chips. We gathered our snorkel gear, towels from deck 9, and life vests too.

Some ships have to tender in Cozumel, but we were one of the fortunate ones to dock right at the pier, so we could walk directly off the ship. After passing through a somewhat lengthy open air mall, up the escalators, across the street, and back down the stairs we arrived at the taxi stand. There are signs posted right at the taxi stand that indicate the cost to travel to popular destinations. It was US$10 for our family of four to take a taxi to Chankanaab Park. The drive was about 15+ minutes long. Their website says no outside food and beverages are allowed in, but they never mentioned anything to us about our cooler bag (probably because it doesn’t look like a cooler bag :thumbsup2 ).

The park employees were friendly and greeted us at the entrance when the taxi dropped us off. Now normally I am a bit stand-offish :confused3 in a place where I feel like I might get “hustled”. There was a man handing out coupons that listed various park package deals. After I reviewed the flyer, it was all legitimate and he was just being helpful. We just needed the basic park admission and I had downloaded a coupon from their website saving $2 per adult and $1 per child (hey $5 is $5 savings!). It cost a total of $42 (normally $47) for 2 adults, 2 kids. So even with taxi fare both ways, the excursion was under $65 for our whole family! Honestly, that’s a steal considering some of the other DC sponsored excursions. Chankanaab also is where the Dolphin Discovery is located. There are varying levels of dolphin interaction to choose from. We decided to save the Dolphin interaction for a future cruise, but this too can easily be reserved online on your own.

The park was very well kept up. There was a nice large pool, a beautiful botanical garden, ecological lagoon area, showers, lockers, beach chairs, umbrellas, restaurants, bar, shopping, snorkeling, and even a nice children’s playground. We were coming for some beach time relaxation and the snorkeling. We had a little bit of a walk down the beach to find an open umbrella with chairs. The snorkeling here was quite good, not as good as Grand Cayman off the reef, but significantly better than Castaway Cay (where we saw not much of anything when we visited). We had our own snorkel gear, but no fins, so we wore our aqua socks as the entrance to the water was very rocky. The waters were very calm here, so even DS6 was able to “see lots of marine life”. He didn’t want to use a snorkel, so he wore a mask and held his breath while he looked! It worked just fine for him, and I realized that kid can hold his breath for a LONG time! :eek: It was such a nice day on the beach, snorkeling as a whole family, playing in the sand, and just having a good time. All the water and food we packed was consumed throughout the day.

By 3 PM we had our fill of the beach, so we packed up our gear and headed to the main entrance where several taxis are waiting to take people back to the pier. Again, it was $10 for our family to return to the pier. I wanted to browse around a bit in town, but again the troops were tired! So we skipped the t-shirt shops and headed back on board for showers and naps. As we were returning my DH said, “This cooler bag is so awesome!” I thought it was funny after the amazing day we had, his first kudos went to the cooler bag.

Dinner was at Lumiere’s and it was the Pirate IN the Caribbean menu. There was no stage show this evening, due to the pirate deck party, so they showed the movie College Road Trip in the Walt Disney Theater. We skipped the theater and I made my poor family get in formal wear so that we could take a lifestyle formal portrait. The photographer really rushed and we didn’t get our best shot. Next time I will take our family formal portrait the first time that lifestyle background is offered, earlier in the cruise. Too many people wanted pirate portraits, so it was a busy time to go. This was just another mini lesson learned.

DD7 and DS6 were begging to stay up for the Pirate party and fireworks. Their normal bedtime at home is 8 PM. We’d been pushing it to 9:30, right after the main evening shows. I was so disappointed that the pirate party didn’t even START until 9:45 and lasted until 10:45. Even with a decent afternoon nap, the kids were visibly tired at the party. I saw lots of little pirates sleeping on shoulders at the party. We were just about to leave (at the request of the kids) when the fireworks started near 10:15. I am so glad that we didn’t miss the fireworks, seeing how we’d already blown bedtime by several hours, what are a few more minutes? The fireworks were a nice touch and the kids were so excited about it. :woohoo: Then it was lights out!

…up next Day 6 – Day at Sea, Palo brunch, semi-formal night, Disney Dreams show

[dvanhazel]

Really enjoying your TR !popcorn:: Your pictures are great too! May I ask how far in advance you booked with Captain Marvin's?

[pooh_mania]

Really enjoying your TR !popcorn:: Your pictures are great too! May I ask how far in advance you booked with Captain Marvin's?
I believe it was about 4 weeks prior to our trip through an online reservation. I did hear that it sold out, not sure if that's true or not. I traveled during a busy spring break week too.

[castlegazer]

Thanks for taking the time to do this - it's a great report.

I wanted to sympathize with your husband and being a rule follower. I am so bad about this. I am not an uptight person, but something somewhere in my upbringing (thanks Mom and Dad) made me such a rule follower that it gets kinda embarassing at times like when I was 10...... well, anyways, no need to go into details, but suffice it to say that I too follow rules precisely and sometimes we rule followers may be laughed at or a bit stodgy, but I think in the long run we are better off for it. The seat saving thing, lounge chair issue on DCL drove me completely nuts. But in the end, I ended up with better seats a little back in the theater with my whole family by my side and just made due with sitting on the stairs or the edge of the pool while my son swam in the Mickey Pool. I can't sit still for long anyways, so "whatever" became my mantra. :)

I also thought that vegetables could be a bigger highlight on the menus too.

But overall these were the little things and I just wanted to chime in with an "I here ya" from the peanut gallery. popcorn::

I am so excited to explore those loungers by Quiet Cove - I recently saw a picture of them and I am soooo going to seek them out next cruise! The whole Quiet Cove area needs further exploration by me and DH next cruise, I think. :idea:

Thanks again for the hard work putting this together for everyone - it's so fun! :thumbsup2

[johns107]

Here is a link to several photos of our week. Enjoy! popcorn::



We were on this cruise too and had a fantastic time. I'm glad that you posted the Navigators, too. I saved ours, too. Each night as we were getting ready to go to sleep, I would highlight all of the things that we might want to do, not necessarily that we had to do them. Then I just had the Navigator in my pocket and looked at it every once in awhile to see if there was anything interesting going on. About a week before our cruise I found some Navigators posted on the DIS home page. Most of these were pretty old. The latest ones I found from the western caribbean were from 12/07.

[jj4]

I'm so enjoying your review. We are going on the same trip this coming November and I'm so glad you liked Chankanaab Park. We are planning on going there too so it's great reading how much you liked it. Thanks for sharing
your trip and thoughts with everyone. :yay:

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Loved your TR so far! The pics are great too! :)

[pooh_mania]

Day 6 – Thursday, April 10, 2008 – Day at Sea, Palo brunch, semi-formal night, Disney Dreams show

This was our first DC and we had been looking forward to our Palo brunch. We opted for brunch because we didn’t know which dinner to miss, since it was all new to us. We ordered room service breakfast for the kids and let them have a leisurely start to the day. I loved having a SPH room, but I could really see enjoying a verandah on these slow start mornings. I just don’t know if I’d enjoy it enough to justify the price difference. I have sailed on a non-DC with a verandah. But that was pre-kids, so DH and I had the luxury of peaceful, relaxing time just watching the ocean go by :hug: and having deep “meaning of life” discussions. Life with kids tends to be a bit more active,:yay: but this was one morning I did wish for a verandah.

The Club was making Flubber again (made it on Sun morning already), so we waited to check the kids into the club until that activity was almost finished. It worked out well that we had 10:30 brunch reservations and the Club was feeding the kids lunch at 11 AM in Animator’s Palate. This was the first time they kids were eating with the club. My DD7 was not happy with lunch because in her words, “They just gave us a plate full of stuff without asking what we wanted.” :confused3 It kind of stressed her out because her plate was filled with things that she did not want, but she felt guilty letting it go to waste. Fortunately DS6 was having an “eat anything” kind of day, so he ate his food and happily helped his sister out! DD7 was hungry when we picked them up, so we fed her lunch up on deck 9. Tip: If you have a picky eater, just be aware that they may or may not eat when the club takes them to a meal.

It was time for our Palo brunch. The one that my DD7 kept saying, “Mommy, Palo is just for adults so that you can have a romantic meal together.” :love: WHAT?! She memorized the whole DC promo DVD and sounded like a walking commercial for DCL! :sad2: Promptly at 10:30 AM the doors to Palo opened and we were seated at a lovely window table for 2. They even switched the white napkins that were at our table for black napkins, since we were dressed in dark pants.

Side note: Animator’s Palate coordinates their table clothes opposite their napkins so that you have a nice black/white contrast. Unfortunately, we had a black tablecloth, so we were stuck with white napkins leaving lint all over our dark colored clothes (that we were planning on re-wearing). On the first night, DH asks if he can get a dark napkin, but he is told that the napkins have to contrast with the tablecloth. :sad2: It seemed to me the server didn’t want to get us different napkins, even though they obviously had them available, since ½ the tables had white napkins and ½ the tables had black napkins. Do you think that I should make a special request on my next cruise to be seated at a white tablecloth table (ensuring that I receive black napkins to match my dark pants)?:rotfl: Anyway…back to Palo…

Have you ever been the last person to see a blockbuster movie? You know, the one that EVERYONE is raving out? The one that everyone says is so funny, exciting, touching, <insert adjective of your favorite kind of movie here>. It is the movie that wins all the awards? And have you ever been let down after you finally see the movie after hearing all the hype? Do you feel that maybe you’ve set yourself up with big expectations for the movie, too big of expectations? :confused3 Honestly, that’s how I felt about our Palo brunch. I know that everyone has different likes, dislikes, preferences, etc. So when I kept seeing such rave reviews from lots and lots of different people about Palo, and how it is a “Must Not Miss” I had set myself up with big expectations. Honestly, it was good, but not as good as I had built up in my own mind. I was a little afraid of this anyway, so I didn’t tell DH how wonderful I was expecting it to be. I just booked the reservation and told him that I wanted an adult only meal. He did enjoy it, but I didn’t feel it was necessarily worth the extra $50 (fee and extra tip). I would not feel like I missed out on anything if I had not been able to get Palo reservations. Perhaps dinner is different and better. Or perhaps I am not a Palo appreciating kind of gal. Perhaps it is a combination of factors. I think everyone should try it once so they can see for themselves. Just don’t make the mistake I did, and have unrealistically high expectations.

The presentation of the food was spectacular. If you judge a book by its cover, then this is a good book! The server walked us through the different buffet lines explaining what the different items were. I tried to take a few photos before everyone started digging in (see photo link on page 1). I sampled a bit of everything (seafood buffet, breads, Danishes, thin crust pizza, chicken parmesan, and a pasta dish). DH ordered a different entrée. The server brought the pasta dish, even though we didn’t order it (maybe he used to work in the kid club :rotfl2: ). It was white sauce pasta, and I am lactose intolerant, so I can’t eat cream sauce. I felt bad that we each had one bite and the rest went to waste. (Hmm, I wonder why DD doesn’t like to waste food? Apparently the apple doesn’t fall far!) The quality of the food here is definitely higher than in the standard dining rooms or buffet lines. I also liked that the portion sizes were reasonably small, so I could try a little bit of everything. We don’t drink, so we were given 2 glasses of sparkling cider instead of champagne and we had water. I was really surprised that the server didn’t ask or offer to bring us any other beverages. I am a Coke Zero addict (or Diet Coke if no CZ is available) and I really could have used a soft drink! So after the cider, it was just water. Of course I could have asked for a drink, but the opportunity didn’t conveniently present itself. Our server really allowed us to eat a slow, leisurely brunch. He seemed almost invisible, re-folding our napkins and removing dirty dishes when we were up at the buffet. So I liked that I didn’t feel like he was rushing us out the door. In fact, when we were finished, my DH asked me, “What do we do? How do we settle up on the bill? Will they just bill the stateroom?” because our server was not jumping to present us with the bill. To answer the question though, eventually the server did ask if we were finished and brought the bill for us to sign for the additional $15 per person fee, and of course we added a tip on top of that too. So our assessment of Palo is that it is a nice restaurant with a great atmosphere and view. The food selections may or may not be to your specific tastes. There’s enough selection that I am sure most people will find something they enjoy. I definitely ate plenty and left quite full because the kids weren’t there so I ate a cinnamon roll for my appetizer, raspberry Danish for my “salad”, pizza, and then 2 desserts!

After Palo we take out our Navigator to figure out what we want to do next. Ironically there is a class at the spa about to start called, “Eat More to Weigh Less”. :rotfl2: After a Palo brunch, I am thinking that is a class I’d probably fail right now!! We decided to get the kids and enjoy the ship together. This is when we hear about the club lunch from DD and proceed to feed her lunch. I was feeling a bit sad that it was already Thursday so we walked around the ship taking more photos on the Deck 7 “secret” deck, deck 4, deck 9, and deck 10. I love having the wide open, blue ocean meeting the blue sky as a background to my photos. If you’ve read my earlier posts, you’ll recall my DH is a rule follower. As I was leading the family to the secret deck 7 area, he was all worried that I was forcing him to break the rules. :confused3 I could almost hear him thinking of his speech to anyone who may have stopped us, “I’m so sorry. I was just following HER and I had no idea this was a restricted, crew only area!” Of course, it is not a restricted area, and he was pleasantly surprised at the beautiful view we had on a virtually empty sun deck. The pool deck areas were a mob scene. :eek: The kids took one look and did not want to go in the pools. We did stop by for the ice carving demo they had up on deck 9.

During our stroll around the decks we saw someone pre-selling bingo cards. I am not much of a bingo player, and we had not played at all on the cruise yet. Well the jackpot had conveniently made it to the Final Jackpot round, which was scheduled for 3:45 PM. There are the traditional paper bingo cards, and these nifty handheld bingo computers! The bingo computers could play up to 72 (I think) games at once. We decided to spend the $99 for the bingo computer for a chance to win up to $7000. Needless to say, we did not win the big jackpot or else my trip report title would read, “I WON I WON I WON!” It was still fun to “play” the final jackpot bingo. I am not sure you can really call it playing, since you do not have to do a single thing. The computer basically does all the playing, and you just “rent” the computer for that round of bingo and you hold the computer. If you are holding the lucky computer that wins bingo, then you as the human win the money! The final jackpot bingo was held in an almost FULL Walt Disney Theater.

After losing at bingo DH and I quickly showered and dressed for dinner. In the mean time, DD and DS were already with the Club counselors preparing for the “Celebrate the Journey” graduation. All of the kids paraded into the Walt Disney Theater and lined up across the stage. There were TONS of kids. It took a good 15 minutes to have them all walk in, coming in on both sides of the theater. There was a short slideshow of different photos from the week. We even saw one picture of our kids! The kids loved the graduation caps with Mickey ears and t-shirts that they received for participating in the show. After the graduation there was a magic show scheduled in the Lab and then a pizza party! DD and DS had done amazingly well all week eating dinner in the dining room each night. They opted to join the kids for a pizza party instead this night. So DH and I had our second meal in one day without kids. I forget what the menu selections were for the Captain’s Gala menu, but I am glad the kids were enjoying a pizza party instead.

After dinner we picked up the kids and had a wardrobe change back into our formal wear…again. I just have to say that I have an extremely understanding family! :grouphug: The night before, I had promised no more tuxes or fancy dresses….oops. I didn’t realize that Mickey, Minnie and Goofy would be coming out in their formal wear for semi-formal night!! Earlier in the day when we were at Shutters, I noticed a display case that says, “These Photo Opportunities Tonight” and it shows pictures of where characters will be out, what they will be wearing, and what backgrounds are available. I couldn’t believe that it was THURSDAY and I was JUST now figuring out how that works. :scared1: Every night so far, I was trying to run around and see what the characters were wearing and what backgrounds were available to see which ones I wanted to get. I was all proud that I had read my Navigator so at least I knew when & where the characters were going to be! Anyway, when I realized that the characters were going to be in formalwear tonight, I begged my family to humor me one more time…and they did. :woohoo: We were able to get nice photos with Mickey in his tuxedo, Minnie in her evening gown, and Goofy in his tuxedo. My DS6 even had Goofy helping him straighten out his bow tie.

Unfortunately after standing in line for all the character meetings, there was no time for us to go back and change clothes before the Disney Dreams: An Enchanted Classic show. At this point the kids had pretty much spent half of their vacation in formalwear and were getting used to it, and did not complain one bit. DH on the other hand….;) Disney Dreams was one of my favorite shows of the week. :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 Again, the talent is really beyond what I would ever expect for a show performed at sea. The whole family was mesmerized at the transformations and live stories unfolding before our very eyes. A few different times my DH would tap my arm and point to the kids' expressions. I was thinking: fuel for road trip $200, tips for the week $300, cruise $4000, the memory of DS and DD astounded expressions…priceless!!!! :cloud9: I know that sounds corny, but it was really true. Seeing the kids so thoroughly enjoying themselves was really the highlight of my whole week and made it all worthwhile. I can see how DCL can be addictive! After sampling that kind of magic, who wouldn’t want more of that?

If there is anyone who had read this far :confused3 , I am almost done…coming up next Day 7 - Castaway Cay :) and disembarkation. :sad2:

[dmi188]

Great report...still reading and reliving our week.
Sorry you did not enjoy Palo as much as expected. I had the same feeling with AP our first cruise. As much as I love the dis, certain things get built up to the point of unrealistic expectations.

[MaryAz]

Great report, I am loving it!! I appreciate the info about Palo. We have not secured a reservation-now I feel like it may not be the end of the world! My 4 yr old DD also loves ur pics!!
Mary
first DCL cruise May 2008

[Kim1964]

Thank you so much for posting your report:). I can only hope my family will be just as understanding about the photo ops as yours was.

Your report was very helpful and I am going to go back through and take notes.....I just booked our cruise last week and I have 15 months to plan....I don't want to forget anything!

[cyndid]

[QUOTE=pooh_mania;24533654]Here is a link to several photos of our week. Enjoy! popcorn::


Your children are beautiful! Your photos are exquisite. The window reflection photos were exceptional. The colors and choice of backgrounds really made me feel like I was in the Caribbean.

We're doing our first Disney cruise in October this year. I can't wait to go!

Thanks for sharing.

[WeluvGoofy]

I have enjoyed your TR! We were on the April 5-12th Western cruise also- me, my DH, DS12 and DS14. We had a great trip also and I plan to write a TR soon. This was our second Disney cruise after being on the Wonder in July 2006. I just joined the Disboards and am having a great time reliving our cruise! It was magical and it is hard to be back in reality! Can't wait to plan another one!

[pooh_mania]

Day 7 – Friday, April 11, 2008- Castaway Cay

We started our day with breakfast in Lumiere’s. I was a little happier with the breakfast this time. I don’t know if it had anything to do with filling up on 3 Danishes before my actual “healthy” breakfast arrived. DD7 ordered the peanut butter and jelly crepe. Honestly, to me that sounds less than appealing, but she really enjoyed it. She says it was like a PB&J pancake. She is a PB&J addict, so I am glad she was happy. Too bad we didn’t order it earlier in the week. DS6 opted for the Beast’s Secret Tower (French toast and grilled pineapple). It looked quite good, but he wasn’t overly excited about it. He can be hit or miss at times with food, and he tends to be a more meat and potatoes kind of eater. One day he’ll eat anything in sight and claim it is the yummiest food he’s ever eaten, and the next day he’ll be finicky. There’s no rhyme or reason, but I guess that’s just life with young kids. When we weren’t limited on time, I preferred to eat in the dining rooms for breakfast and lunch. As we were enjoying our breakfast, we could see our approach into Castaway Cay.

The weather looked beautiful and we were excited for a relaxing day at the beach. We had our beach bags packed, sunscreen applied and it was time to disembark. As we were walking towards the family beach we had photo ops with Pluto and Minnie. It was nice to get these photos taken before we were all soggy and wet from the beach! It is worth mentioning again that I have a very understanding family when it comes to getting my pictures taken!! After we found a spot on the family beach, I made everyone pose for a variety of photos near the float rental area. The Disney Magic makes a picture perfect background! We even met a family who had packed their Santa hats and asked us to take a family photo of them for their Christmas cards! What a great idea and I was bummed that I hadn’t thought of the idea myself. :thumbsup2

After taking the photos, we were ready for some snorkeling. We had all of our own gear (except fins), so we headed straight in to snorkel. The water was warm and calm, but there really wasn’t much to see on this particular day. We snorkeled all the way to the various buried “treasures” but we only saw a few fish. This is a great place for a new beginner to learn snorkeling. After an hour we decided to head back to shore…which took a long time to swim back in without fins! DH had DS6 to “tug” back in and I had DD7 to “tug” back to shore. Our legs sure did get a good workout! I think next time we will pack our fins.

After all that swimming we decided we should check out She Sells Sea Shells gift shop for the Castaway Cay souvenirs. I had read on DIS that occasionally things will sell out, so go early for best selection. I didn’t want to be disappointed, so we shopped early. We each picked out a t-shirt, swiped our KTTW card and asked for package delivery. They took our purchase and delivered it to the Up Beat duty-free shop on-board for us to pick up later. I was very glad we did that because we did get caught in a brief (but heavy) rain shower later in the afternoon.

While we were up at the shop we noticed that Mickey Mouse was just hanging out all by himself! :banana: So of course we hopped over for a quick encounter and photo. Goofy and Max were also in the area and we were able to get their photo too. I was really surprised that the lines for the characters on Castaway Cay were incredibly short!!

At this point the troops were hungry, so we headed up to Cookies BBQ. This was some of the best food we ate all week. It tasted fresh and good! (Or maybe it was that we were starving after our long swim back from snorkeling.) The fresh fruit cart was serving strawberries, apples, watermelon, cantaloupe, bananas, grapes and mango. The kids loved all the fresh fruit. I personally preferred the chocolate chip cookies!! There was a frozen yogurt machine but we did not try that. There is a beverage station on Castaway Cay just like on deck 9. This was great. I had brought 2 of our refillable bottles and that was great to fill up and take down to the beach.

During lunch there were live crab races. The kids really enjoyed watching that and cheering for their favorite crab. It’s funny how I wouldn’t have given that any attention if I was alone, but kids put a whole new perspective on things. Even later that night the kids were talking about the live crab races. It taught me to enjoy the small things in life! :flower3:

After lunch we headed back down to the family beach which was in full swing! It was very crowded in the water and on the water’s edge, but there were plenty of beach chairs and umbrellas to be found. We brought our own dollar store floats for the kids, which was just fine for them. I had also brought 2 cheap sand bucket toys sets. I knew that I wouldn’t mind leaving the stuff behind if the luggage got too heavy. The kids really enjoyed playing in the sand, and I was glad to not overpay for sand toys. It was a very relaxing, enjoyable afternoon. We didn’t go snorkeling again because there wasn’t much to see and my legs were still tired from the morning outing!

Around 2:30 the kids were getting pretty tired so we packed up. By good luck we had just finished packing up and started walking when the rain shower started. It rained quite hard, but only for 5-10 minutes. We waited for the rain to lighten up before we walked back to the ship. It was such a nice, slow pace, relaxed day. We never made it over to the adult only beach area, but that’s okay. We were having too much fun as a family to split up. Maybe on another trip I’ll have the pleasure of checking out more of Castaway Cay.

Once we were back on-board we showered and put the kids to nap. We pulled out the suitcases and started to pack up. I really couldn’t believe that our 7-night cruise was almost over! Where had the time gone? But that is when I look back at all the hundreds of photos that I took throughout the week and realize that we did a lot of fun things and have created many special memories for our family. I think the kids loved getting to spend time with Mommy and Daddy when we weren’t trying to do 10 other things all at the same time. :grouphug: It was just quality family time. We were able to enjoy the special moments instead of racing off to this practice or that game or another obligation.

The final dinner was ‘Til We Meet Again menu. Again, I apologize for not recalling the details of dinner. I do know that it was a little bit slow since there’s a brief show with the servers participating. After the kids finished their dinner, they decided to skip dessert so that they could run up to the club for the “Hats Off to Peter Pan” activity. They really enjoyed that activity and talk about how they got to play with Peter Pan. DH and I enjoyed one last adult only dinner and conversation. After dinner we collected the kids and headed to the “Remember the Magic A Final Farewell” show. The show with the Disney Magic performers was really well done! It really captured the essence and feeling we all had of celebrating our wonderful week and taking that feeling with us forever. There were also performances by juggler Jeff Civilico and stand-up comedian Rik Roberts. The juggler was really impressive and had some funny physical comedy too. The stand-up comedian was (IMHO) not funny at all. I could see that he was probably a very funny comedian for an adult only audience, but his jokes were not at all funny to most of the kids in the audience. (Really, I am not sure that there are many stand-up comedians who could have a funny show that appeals to both kids and adults.) At one point, he even accidently used profanity in his punch line.:sad2: I was really shocked, especially when my DD7 turns to me and asks, “What does that mean?” Although I wasn’t thrilled with the comedian on the final night, the rest of the evening shows were absolutely fantastic!!!! It reminded me of one reason why we paid the extra money to cruise with Disney, instead of another cruise line. I have been on another cruise line where the evening show is completely inappropriate for children, and therefore we missed the show every night.

After the show is was bedtime for the kiddos. DH and I did the final packing and putting our bags out in the hall. DH was surprised that I had brought pre-printed address labels for the luggage tags. He shouldn’t have been surprised by that point, after seeing how much research I had done and how many great tips I had learned from the DIS boards already. Tip: One thing I forgot to bring, some crazy ribbon to tie on the handles of all my luggage. When we arrived back at Port Canaveral, one of the porters was helping us collect our luggage. It would have been easier for a stranger to pick out our 5 bags if I would have put some unique ribbon on each of my bags. Even without the ribbon, the porter was glad that I had the pre-printed luggage tag labels because he just looked for those instead.

The kids were asleep; DH was finishing his book, so I decided to head down to the lobby for the ‘Til We Meet Again informal character greeting. Somehow seeing those characters turns a quiet, serious, mature adult into a little kid at heart who believes in the magic!! :wizard: I decided to get my photo taken with Chip and Dale, Mickey and Minnie. My kids were so surprised when I showed them the photos the next day. They couldn’t understand why “Mom” would want a picture with the characters! DH knows me well enough to know that I would have taken more character photos if there was more time! I am the same woman who insisted on a character lunch at Crystal Palace with Pooh and Friends on my very first trip to WDW at age 24!

Our final morning breakfast was scheduled at 6:30AM. I am not a morning person, but we were all up and ready in time for breakfast anyway. So we headed to Parrot Cay for our last breakfast. We finished around 7:30 and headed for the lobby on deck 3. There was already a line formed of people ready to disembark. I am not sure what the delay was, but the doors did not open until 7:45. We walked off the ship, found a porter to help collect our luggage and zipped through customs in a grand total of 5 minutes. The Radisson had a specific curbside line marked for anyone waiting for their shuttle back to the hotel for their car. The shuttle arrived within a few minutes and we were taken back to the Radisson. After a quick restroom break for the family, we were on the highway headed for home by 8 AM. This was only my 3rd cruise, but the disembarkation was by far the fastest and easiest of all. I am not sure what the difference was, but it was nice! We could have made it to WDW by 9 AM easily, but sadly we were headed straight home instead.

Some of my favorite moments:
• Driving to the pier and seeing the HUGE Disney Magic in port and hearing the kids squeal with excitement when they asked, “Is THAT where we get to live for the week? We get to stay on Mickey’s boat?”
• Walking into an empty port because we were the very first family to check-in!
• First stepping aboard the Disney Magic and taking it all in
• DD7 losing her 8th tooth on April 8th. She received a “Special Moment” certificate from Mickey to commemorate the event.
• Disney Dreams show
• Stingray City in Grand Cayman
• Goofy helping adjust DS6’s tuxedo bow tie
• Sunset every night at sea
• The expressions on my kids’ faces during all the magical shows!
• Relaxing on the loungers in Quiet Cove with DH
• Rebooking a future cruise, date to be determined (the anticipation is half the fun!)

I have finally finished this trip report/book! Hopefully it will be of some interest or help to future cruisers. If nothing else, it will be a nice journal for me to remember all the great things on our cruise. Thanks to anyone who stayed around to read the whole thing (all 12,571 words :scared1: !!)
Happy Cruising to All!

[TotallyAngelic]

Thank you so much for great trip report - it has been really lovely to share all your experiences! Happy planning for the next one!

[bellebud]

I read every word!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your wonderful cruise with us!! So glad you and your family had such a great experience! I've been taking notes for our first cruise next year.