A quick report on the 1/03/09 Magic to St. Croix (Now with links to pictures)

[giljr]

This is not going to be an in-depth trip report. As ministers, my wife and I finished our cruise yesterday, drove back to Tampa to get our dog, and drove home to N.C. and we didn't get in until late last night. We both had to be at work this morning, so we are both tired.

Overall, it was a great trip! This was our fourth cruise on the Magic -- all have been Eastern Caribbean. This was the first time we stayed and parked at a hotel near the port. The staff at the Radisson was great, we will definitely be staying there for our next cruise.

This was our first time staying in a verandah cabin, we were in room 7120 which is one of the secret verandah cabins. The room was great, althought we are not sure we used the verandah enough to justify the cost. We both acknowledge that we might feel differently once we have kids.

We had dining rotation LAPLAPL, which is exactly what we have had for all of our cruises. The only change to the standard eastern itinerary was that the Animator's Palette show was done the second time we were in Animators, so it would not, according to our server, conflict with formal night. So, the second night was formal night, pirate night was St. Croix night, and the last at sea day was semi-formal. All of that is the same as the last standard Eastern we took. My wife and I both agreed that the first three courses were better on this cruise than any our other cruises. I did not have a mean that I did not enjoy a LOT. We both also agreed, however, that the desserts were not as good. They were not bad, they just did not excite us as much as some did in the past. Palo was also very good, although we both missed having Marco as our server.

Our excursion on St. Croix, the scenic island tour, was nothing short of a disaster. The microphone in the tour bus kept going out, and we would not have had any audio at all if it were not for one of the other passengers in the first row of the bus. We did not make the stops we were supposed to make, get the tours we were supposed to get, and the AC spewed water on the last three rows of the bus. The experience in our bus was not unique. By the time we had filed our complaint with guest services, we had a call on our stateroom phone saying that Disney had refunded 50% of the cost of this excursion for everyone on the ship. I would like to have seen a complete refund, but my wife and I decided we just wanted to cut our losses rather than going back down to guest services and complaining again. We heard from many other passengers on other excursions that St. Croix was not ready for the return of cruise ships, and I have to agree. St. Thomas was great, on the other hand.

Finally, a lot has been said about the condition of the ship. Our stateroom was in very good shape. We had no problems with the bed, or anything else in the room. My wife pointed out on one occasion that she saw more rust on the decks than she had seen in the past. The only things I noticed were burned out bulbs in the trim in the atrium and Buena Vista theater. We both thought the ship was still in great shape, overall.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

[mumom95]

Thanks for the report. We are doing this cruise at the end of March, but this is our first Disney cruise. I'm a little disappointed with what I'm reading about St. Croix, so far there haven't been any good reports. I get to make my shore excursion reservations tomorrow, and was hoping to hear great things. But you know what: it's Disney, it'll be warm and the whole family will be together for a whole week with nothing that has to be done but fun, so I'm sure it will be great even if St. Croix isn't perfect.

Thanks again for the report.

[tinytink]

We were also on this cruise and we docked on they smaller side of the island so there was not much for us to do on that side and the cab ride to the other side was $20 pp so for our family of 9 it was a no go. There is a small beach within walking distance to the pier but it's very rocky so wear your water shoes and be very careful. The water in St. Croix was much warmer than the water at Castaway Cay. The desserts onboard left much to be desired, they looked great but didn't taste great and the food was not that great but Palo's brunch and dinner were excellent!!!

[giljr]

Food is very subjective, but I thought the entrees were excellent. I usually had the "different" meats on the menu, meaning duck, lamb, venison, etc. My least favorite, although still very good meal, was when I just had the beef tenderloin. My favorite was a pastry encrusted lamb chop that was just unbelievable. The person in our party who was least impressed with the food was the one that was unwilling to try the dishes that were "different."

[nzdisneymom]

Welcome home and thanks for the report. It does sound like St. Croix isn't quite ready for cruise ships, but I imagine that each sailing there will find improvements, particularly among the shore excursion providers that DCL sets up. They are very serious about having happy guests.

[tinytink]

Here is a day by day break down:
Saturday-Embarkation:
Attire: Cruise Casual
Dining Menu: Animator's Palate-Dinner Show; Parrot Cay-Island Dinner; Lumiere's-French
Show: All Aboard
Drink of the Day: Bay Breeze(A) and Mango Crush (NA)

Sunday-SEA DAY Formal
Evening Attire: Formal
Dinner Menu: Golden Mickeys
Show: The Golden Mickeys
DOD: Golden Start (A) and Coco Ball(NA)
**Time zone change go forward 1 hour--we lose an hour**

Monday-Sea Day
Attire: Cruise Casual
Dining Menu: Animator's Palate-Dinner Show; Parrot Cay-Island Dinner; Lumiere's-French
Show: Twice Charmed
Drink of the Day: High Tide(A) and Mint Tea Punch (NA)

Tuesday-St. Croix (we didn't do excursions but there a beach and a few shops within walking distance):
Ashore: Approx 8am All Aboard: 6pm (if you get on the boat later in the day the local bank will pass out beach balls and t-shirts to everyone-free souvies)
Attire: Priate or casual
Dining Menu: Pirates IN the Caribbean
Show: Michael Harrison(comedy and ventriloquism)
Drink of the Day: Pineapple Mojito(A) and Purple Basil Lemonade (NA)
Pirate Party starts at 9:45 on Deck 9 and 10 marks the spot

Wednesday-St.Thomas First Tender Approx 7:30am Last Tender: 4pm(no excursions either):
Attire: Cruise Casual
Dining Menu: Animator's Palate-Dinner Show; Parrot Cay-Island Dinner; Lumiere's-French
Show: Movie Bedtime Stories 5:30; 8:15; 10:30 in WDW Theatre
Drink of the Day: Caribbean Dream(A) and Purple Basil (NA)

Thursday-Sea Day:
Attire: Semi Formal
Dining Menu: Captains Gala (Lobster night)
Show: Disney Dreams 2pm, 6:15pm, 8:30pm
Drink of the Day: Cool Breeze(A) and Banana Lime Ginger (NA)

Saturday-Embarkation:
Attire: Cruise Casual
Dining Menu: Animator's Palate-Dinner Show; Parrot Cay-Island Dinner; Lumiere's-French
Show: All Aboard
Drink of the Day: Bay Breeze(A) and Mango Crush (NA)

Friday-Castaway:
Attire: Cruise Casual
Dining Menu:Till We Meet Again
Show: Remember the Magic-Comedy of Don Friesen and Music/Comedy John Charles
Till We Meet Again
Drink of the Day: Stinger(A) and Pina Coca Lada (NA)

No we do not have to get up early any morning except the last day debarkation

That is all for now still feeling super tired!!!! Need another cruise!!!!

[giljr]

Here are links to pictures my wife posted on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80123&l=60d4f&id=791008941
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80142&l=6b213&id=791008941
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80117&l=cea68&id=791008941
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80135&l=d0b0c&id=791008941
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80138&l=a13da&id=791008941
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80134&l=0ad09&id=791008941
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80127&l=93157&id=791008941
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80121&l=751fb&id=791008941

[DisneyCDE]

I was on this cruise also with 10 other family members. We had a great time. No problems with our room, 6618. Was not impressed with St. Croix but will admit the scenery was nice and the free rum punch hit the spot. We all thought the food was wonderful. We all enjoyed the desserts but I will admit they were not as elaborate as they had been on previous cruises.There was alot of seaweed on the beach at Serenity Bay. We had some problems with photos that were taken being lost and not able to be found but Ruben from Shutters gave us a few free pics for all our troubles. Our wait staff was awesome, the best I have ever had on DCL. We rebooked onboard as well as one of the other families. Cant wait to go back!!!!!

[donmil723]

Thanks for the info. We will be on the Feb 28th Magic that goes to St. Croix. I am disappointed about the reviews on St. Croix but am not really surprised. Hopefully, things will improve. I'm glad I booked a DCL excursion so if anything goes wrong, it sounds like they will take care of us.

Did anyone try the West End Highlights excursion on St. Croix that goes to Whim Estate, Cruzan Rum, and the Botanical Gardens?

On St. Thomas, did anyone do the Water Island Mountain Bike excursion?

Thanks!

[jrabbit]

Not to hijack this thread - but I choose this one to add my 2 cents to.

Cruise to St. Croix, St. Thomas and Castaway Cay: January 3-10, 2009


A “Brief” summary.

Cruise Director Brent returned from his holiday just in time to be our Cruise Director.

What happens in Rockin’ Bar D stays in Rockin’ Bar D except for what doesn’t!



Saturday
Mickey Mania is still Insania

Jeff Civillico (www.JeffOnStage.com) comedian, juggler and balancer extraordinaire (all of his shows were simply awesome)

Michael Harrison (ventriloquist) was back on board after a long absence and was as funny (and predictable) as ever (we have seen him many times). The boy he turned into a puppet was awesome (pee your pants funny)

Adult Magic Quest was very competitive and a lot of fun – once everyone showed up.

Match Your Mate – 3 great couples and the finding out where the 50th anniversary couple (according to her) found the Magic



Sunday
A little cool – some rain but still a nice day (MUCH better than the snow and ice back at home!)

Disney Animation Innovations – a multi media presentation about Disney Animation – very interesting – Its billed as “adults only” but there is no reason for that other than for us adults to have some time away from the kids.

Jeff Civillico for the family cabaret show – awesome again!

Golden Mickey’s – still a fun, enjoyable show – Ronna Rivers was fabulous! (but it is the weakest of the 3 “Broadway” style shows on the Magic)

Michael Harrison did the Adult cabaret show and was very good again



Monday
More rain today – wish it were 5 degrees warmer too

Castaway Club gathering was enjoyable again – there was a couple who has sailed on the Magic 29 times and once on the Wonder (they have several more Magic cruises booked for this year)

Jeff Civillico had a juggling workshop where we learned how to juggle (kinda sorta needa lot more practice) but once again, he was great!

Twice Charmed – awesome show – you know they should make an animated movie out of this play:)

Bolt in Disney 3D – what a great movie!

Jeff Civillico in the Adult cabaret show – yep Awesome!



Tuesday
St. Croix day – you know it’s been a while since a cruise ship has stopped here – and they (the islanders) tried to do a good job, but they are out of practice. I believe it will get better in the future.

Buck Island sail and snorkel was a very good excursion. They boat, crew and equipment were excellent (I know this is a different experience than most excursions here). The crew worked very well with the younger children, the snorkeling was simply awesome!!

Michael Harrison was in the Walt Disney Theater – and had a very good show – some new material too.

Pirates party up on deck was a lot of fun and the fireworks were spectacular



Wednesday
St. Thomas day – we anchored and had to tender ashore – no docking for us. There were at least 4 other cruise ship there (quite likely more).

We went over to St. Johns. The boat ride was very good, the crew did a good job narrating and pointing out stuff on the way over. The island tour was terrific. The views spectacular, the water a little cool (it’s January after all). What a nice island.

Don Friesen performed in the family cabaret. We were a small, tired and therefore tough audience for this comedian – but he still did a very good job.

For the main shows in the Walt Disney Theater they were showing the movie Bedtime Stories – this is a very good movie

Then for the bombshell (or maybe I should call it what it was - a DUD) of the cruise – the physical comedy of El Gleno Grande “performed” (if you could call it that) in the adult cabaret show in Rockin’ Bar D. Lousy, lousy, lousy! Not inappropriate – just very bad. No Flow, No Audience rapport (yes we were still a tough audience then but…) Wanted to know if his time on stage was up. Well as it turned out – yes it was. He did not perform again – Disney had to fly out another performer to Castaway Cay to put on shows for the last night.



Thursday
Sea Day – get to rest again – and finally we have some perfect weather onboard!!

Disney Theme Park Innovations – just like the Animation one – lots of great information and very interesting to us Disney Geeks

Ice Carving on the Goofy Pool Stage – I don’t know how he does it – but it was spectacular

Galley Tour – to see where all of that good food comes from and to get a warm chocolate chip cookie

Went to see the family cabaret show with El Gleno Grande but he was not there because he really sucked the night before (I don’t remember what DCL put in it’s place – think, think think. Nope still don’t remember. No wait – went to Diversions to watch a little of the NCAA championship game – I think it used to be a bowl game of some sort – but Disney was showing Florida vs. Oklahoma up on the Arial Vision screen, in your state rooms and in Diversions – that’s where I watched for a little while

But then we went to Disney Dreams – I still get a little misty while watching the show.

Adult Cabaret show with Don Friesen – was really funny again



Friday
Castaway Cay Day: we docked (yeah!) and the weather was glorious.

Went over to Serenity Bay (adults only). It was a bit breezy (winds from the north) and there was a lot of kelp remains on the beach but it was still a great day. The sun was out (lots of sunburned people), the lunch was good – those ribs were delicious.

Took lots of pictures of the Flying Dutchman – oh yeah

Castaway Cay post office – closed;(

Packed Up (dang it)

Farewell show in the Walt Disney Theater – the misting here is way worse than in “dreams” - ‘cause I know that tomorrow I have to leave the ship – I feel like Jeremy in the show. The “emergency replacement entertainer” John Charles performed – this was our first time seeing him and boy howdy is he good!

Went to the ‘Till We Meet Again” show in the atrium – an explosion of Disney characters – lots of fun.

The adult cabaret show featured John Charles and he was even better!!

Then the cruise staff did there version of “If I were not upon the Sea” – OMG – this is an absolute riot.



Saturday
Make the crew come and find me because I’m not leaving the ship willingly!

And after hours in airports and on airplanes back to reality.





General:

Cruise Staff – Awesome!

Weather – could have been better but Disney doesn’t control that yet.

Ship – seemed to be in very good shape – but when docking the thrusters really shook and rattled the aft part of the ship.

St. Croix – needs to work on welcoming Cruise Ships again – it’s been a long time and I think that they will get better.

St. Thomas – knows what it is doing.

Food:

Appetizers – generally very good.

Soups – generally good (but who wants cold split pea soup?) and there were some weird salads.

Main Courses – generally pretty good food. But the Golden Mickeys menu is the weakest from top to bottom (but we had one of the best deserts off of the menu here)

Deserts – like others have said – they look good but taste just ok – kind of a let down

Palo – Brunch and Dinner – AWESOME!!

Daily Activities: there seems to be less of these than we remember in the past – but maybe that’s because we were all “adults” on this cruise and no children.

Late Late (for us) Night Activites: we did not stay for the "theme nights" starting around 11/11:30 but it sounded like they were trying out some new ones like "One Hit Wonders" "Decades" "Country and Rock", etc



Specific to us…

Waitstaff – Awesome – but the head server (one of the “coat” people) was only just above average – last couple of nights moved herself up a place or two.

Room Steward – Awesome.

[LynnF0513]

jrabbit,

Thanks for the info! Question, DH and I are booked on the Buck Island Snorkel excursion in St. Croix for our upcoming trip just curious how it was? There are a few different choice's for snorkeling but I am assuming it's the same one as it's the only one I see that goes to Buck Island.

Thanks!

[ejkjmom]

Really enjoying all the information about St Croix!!!!!
We are going next month and are looking into the Carambola Beach Break through Disney and was wondering if you heard any feed back from that excursion????
Or any feed back on a must do/see while there????

Thanks :)

[mumom95]

Not to hijack this thread - but I choose this one to add my 2 cents to.

Cruise to St. Croix, St. Thomas and Castaway Cay: January 3-10, 2009


A “Brief” summary.

Cruise Director Brent returned from his holiday just in time to be our Cruise Director.

What happens in Rockin’ Bar D stays in Rockin’ Bar D except for what doesn’t!



Saturday
Mickey Mania is still Insania

Jeff Civillico (www.JeffOnStage.com) comedian, juggler and balancer extraordinaire (all of his shows were simply awesome)

Michael Harrison (ventriloquist) was back on board after a long absence and was as funny (and predictable) as ever (we have seen him many times). The boy he turned into a puppet was awesome (pee your pants funny)

Adult Magic Quest was very competitive and a lot of fun – once everyone showed up.

Match Your Mate – 3 great couples and the finding out where the 50th anniversary couple (according to her) found the Magic



Sunday
A little cool – some rain but still a nice day (MUCH better than the snow and ice back at home!)

Disney Animation Innovations – a multi media presentation about Disney Animation – very interesting – Its billed as “adults only” but there is no reason for that other than for us adults to have some time away from the kids.

Jeff Civillico for the family cabaret show – awesome again!

Golden Mickey’s – still a fun, enjoyable show – Ronna Rivers was fabulous! (but it is the weakest of the 3 “Broadway” style shows on the Magic)

Michael Harrison did the Adult cabaret show and was very good again



Monday
More rain today – wish it were 5 degrees warmer too

Castaway Club gathering was enjoyable again – there was a couple who has sailed on the Magic 29 times and once on the Wonder (they have several more Magic cruises booked for this year)

Jeff Civillico had a juggling workshop where we learned how to juggle (kinda sorta needa lot more practice) but once again, he was great!

Twice Charmed – awesome show – you know they should make an animated movie out of this play:)

Bolt in Disney 3D – what a great movie!

Jeff Civillico in the Adult cabaret show – yep Awesome!



Tuesday
St. Croix day – you know it’s been a while since a cruise ship has stopped here – and they (the islanders) tried to do a good job, but they are out of practice. I believe it will get better in the future.

Buck Island sail and snorkel was a very good excursion. They boat, crew and equipment were excellent (I know this is a different experience than most excursions here). The crew worked very well with the younger children, the snorkeling was simply awesome!!

Michael Harrison was in the Walt Disney Theater – and had a very good show – some new material too.

Pirates party up on deck was a lot of fun and the fireworks were spectacular



Wednesday
St. Thomas day – we anchored and had to tender ashore – no docking for us. There were at least 4 other cruise ship there (quite likely more).

We went over to St. Johns. The boat ride was very good, the crew did a good job narrating and pointing out stuff on the way over. The island tour was terrific. The views spectacular, the water a little cool (it’s January after all). What a nice island.

Don Friesen performed in the family cabaret. We were a small, tired and therefore tough audience for this comedian – but he still did a very good job.

For the main shows in the Walt Disney Theater they were showing the movie Bedtime Stories – this is a very good movie

Then for the bombshell (or maybe I should call it what it was - a DUD) of the cruise – the physical comedy of El Gleno Grande “performed” (if you could call it that) in the adult cabaret show in Rockin’ Bar D. Lousy, lousy, lousy! Not inappropriate – just very bad. No Flow, No Audience rapport (yes we were still a tough audience then but…) Wanted to know if his time on stage was up. Well as it turned out – yes it was. He did not perform again – Disney had to fly out another performer to Castaway Cay to put on shows for the last night.



Thursday
Sea Day – get to rest again – and finally we have some perfect weather onboard!!

Disney Theme Park Innovations – just like the Animation one – lots of great information and very interesting to us Disney Geeks

Ice Carving on the Goofy Pool Stage – I don’t know how he does it – but it was spectacular

Galley Tour – to see where all of that good food comes from and to get a warm chocolate chip cookie

Went to see the family cabaret show with El Gleno Grande but he was not there because he really sucked the night before (I don’t remember what DCL put in it’s place – think, think think. Nope still don’t remember. No wait – went to Diversions to watch a little of the NCAA championship game – I think it used to be a bowl game of some sort – but Disney was showing Florida vs. Oklahoma up on the Arial Vision screen, in your state rooms and in Diversions – that’s where I watched for a little while

But then we went to Disney Dreams – I still get a little misty while watching the show.

Adult Cabaret show with Don Friesen – was really funny again



Friday
Castaway Cay Day: we docked (yeah!) and the weather was glorious.

Went over to Serenity Bay (adults only). It was a bit breezy (winds from the north) and there was a lot of kelp remains on the beach but it was still a great day. The sun was out (lots of sunburned people), the lunch was good – those ribs were delicious.

Took lots of pictures of the Flying Dutchman – oh yeah

Castaway Cay post office – closed;(

Packed Up (dang it)

Farewell show in the Walt Disney Theater – the misting here is way worse than in “dreams” - ‘cause I know that tomorrow I have to leave the ship – I feel like Jeremy in the show. The “emergency replacement entertainer” John Charles performed – this was our first time seeing him and boy howdy is he good!

Went to the ‘Till We Meet Again” show in the atrium – an explosion of Disney characters – lots of fun.

The adult cabaret show featured John Charles and he was even better!!

Then the cruise staff did there version of “If I were not upon the Sea” – OMG – this is an absolute riot.



Saturday
Make the crew come and find me because I’m not leaving the ship willingly!

And after hours in airports and on airplanes back to reality.





General:

Cruise Staff – Awesome!

Weather – could have been better but Disney doesn’t control that yet.

Ship – seemed to be in very good shape – but when docking the thrusters really shook and rattled the aft part of the ship.

St. Croix – needs to work on welcoming Cruise Ships again – it’s been a long time and I think that they will get better.

St. Thomas – knows what it is doing.

Food:

Appetizers – generally very good.

Soups – generally good (but who wants cold split pea soup?) and there were some weird salads.

Main Courses – generally pretty good food. But the Golden Mickeys menu is the weakest from top to bottom (but we had one of the best deserts off of the menu here)

Deserts – like others have said – they look good but taste just ok – kind of a let down

Palo – Brunch and Dinner – AWESOME!!

Daily Activities: there seems to be less of these than we remember in the past – but maybe that’s because we were all “adults” on this cruise and no children.

Late Late (for us) Night Activites: we did not stay for the "theme nights" starting around 11/11:30 but it sounded like they were trying out some new ones like "One Hit Wonders" "Decades" "Country and Rock", etc



Specific to us…

Waitstaff – Awesome – but the head server (one of the “coat” people) was only just above average – last couple of nights moved herself up a place or two.

Room Steward – Awesome.

Thanks for the review. We booked the Buck Island sail and snorkel for St. Croix, glad to hear it got a good review.

[jrabbit]

Buck Island Sail and Snorkel on St. Croix

Boat - pretty good condition - we have been on "nicer" snorkeling boats - and have been on much worse!
Crew - Best we have ever had on 10+ snorkeling excursions
Equipment Provided - very, very good
Ride Over to Christanstead - just OK - in 15 passenger vans, our driver pointed out the obvious things like grocery stores and chruchs and schools - at least he talked!
Ride back to Fredricksburg - 15 passenger van - our driver appeared to not know how to get to Fredricksburg - we took a very long route back but we got to see some other stuff - like the oil / gas refinery
General - St. Croix is not the poorest island we have visited, but it's not St. Thomas either

Now for the snorkeling itself - some of the best we have experienced.
* You snorkel from the boat - NO touching bottom, NO touching the coral!
*Water depth - if you were in the reef - could be shallow - couple of feet to 30 feet; inside the reef boundry - 10 to 25 feet. You could see the bottom very easily - the water was very clear. Remember the deeper the water the bigger the fish.
* There were lots of different fish, corals and other critters -- like lobsters. There can be sea turtles too (my family did not see any of them). We did end up in a large school of angel fish (well over a hundred of them - how cool was that!).
* There is a snorkeling trail like at Trunk Bay on St. Johns - however no one has cleaned them up for a while so you could not see what most of them said. "ALL" snorkelers must be shown the trail before going off on their own.
* The crew took us off of the boat in 3 groups - "Expert Snorkelers", "Swimmers but not so good @ snorkeling" and the 3rd group - total beginers. They took the experts out first so we could clear out of the way. The second group got together and did the course then the beginners. THe crew worked with the smaller kids - they took them out on life rings so they could experience the water, etc.
* Bring some extra cash to tip the crew at the end - they deserve it!

[mumom95]

Buck Island Sail and Snorkel on St. Croix

Boat - pretty good condition - we have been on "nicer" snorkeling boats - and have been on much worse!
Crew - Best we have ever had on 10+ snorkeling excursions
Equipment Provided - very, very good
Ride Over to Christanstead - just OK - in 15 passenger vans, our driver pointed out the obvious things like grocery stores and chruchs and schools - at least he talked!
Ride back to Fredricksburg - 15 passenger van - our driver appeared to not know how to get to Fredricksburg - we took a very long route back but we got to see some other stuff - like the oil / gas refinery
General - St. Croix is not the poorest island we have visited, but it's not St. Thomas either

Now for the snorkeling itself - some of the best we have experienced.
* You snorkel from the boat - NO touching bottom, NO touching the coral!
*Water depth - if you were in the reef - could be shallow - couple of feet to 30 feet; inside the reef boundry - 10 to 25 feet. You could see the bottom very easily - the water was very clear. Remember the deeper the water the bigger the fish.
* There were lots of different fish, corals and other critters -- like lobsters. There can be sea turtles too (my family did not see any of them). We did end up in a large school of angel fish (well over a hundred of them - how cool was that!).
* There is a snorkeling trail like at Trunk Bay on St. Johns - however no one has cleaned them up for a while so you could not see what most of them said. "ALL" snorkelers must be shown the trail before going off on their own.
* The crew took us off of the boat in 3 groups - "Expert Snorkelers", "Swimmers but not so good @ snorkeling" and the 3rd group - total beginers. They took the experts out first so we could clear out of the way. The second group got together and did the course then the beginners. THe crew worked with the smaller kids - they took them out on life rings so they could experience the water, etc.
* Bring some extra cash to tip the crew at the end - they deserve it!

Thanks for the info. I'm glad to hear that they are understanding with kids. Both of mine snorkeled in Destin last summer, but that was off of the beach (we did the trip to get them used to it since we knew we would want to on our cruise, my dh and I have snorkeled in the bahamas before). I have no doubt that they will be fine after a little bit, but I do think my son will take a little bit of time to warm up to the deep water.

We are also snorkeling in St. Thomas, going to Buck Island again (the Dabloon trip). I was originally going to book one of the trips in St. Croix that went to Sprat Hall Reef, but the review I read for that said the snorkeling was bad, so we decided just to book two trips to Buck Island.

[ps17]

Question regarding the Buck Island tour.... How much time do you spend there snorkelling? 90 minutes? 2 hrs? Also, is there any beach time at all? Or does the boat just stay far out by the reefs for snorkelling only?

Thanks in advance...

[DMMarla07860]

what cruise staff was on the ship?

[jrabbit]

We are also snorkeling in St. Thomas, going to Buck Island again (the Dabloon trip). I was originally going to book one of the trips in St. Croix that went to Sprat Hall Reef, but the review I read for that said the snorkeling was bad, so we decided just to book two trips to Buck Island.for your information Buck Island at St. Croix is NOT, I repeat IS NOT the same buck island at St. Thomas. They are at least 50 miles apart. But I have heard that the snorkeling @ Buck Island/St. Thomas is very good too.

[jrabbit]

Question regarding the Buck Island tour.... How much time do you spend there snorkelling? 90 minutes? 2 hrs? Also, is there any beach time at all? Or does the boat just stay far out by the reefs for snorkelling only?

Thanks in advance...I think we spent over an hour there. Enough time for most of us on the tour.

[jrabbit]

Cruise Staff....

Brent is CD
don't remember ACD

David and DJ Mike did Rockin bar D
Oscar was on board
Trevor did adult shipboard activities during the day (Buena Vista Theater)

don't know the rest of them.

[tinytink]

ACD is Darren

[mumom95]

for your information Buck Island at St. Croix is NOT, I repeat IS NOT the same buck island at St. Thomas. They are at least 50 miles apart. But I have heard that the snorkeling @ Buck Island/St. Thomas is very good too.

Thanks, I had no idea they weren't the same island. Now I'm positive we made the right choice with excursions.

[jrabbit]

Thanks, I had no idea they weren't the same island. Now I'm positive we made the right choice with excursions.when we first booked this cruise, I started checking out St. Croix and Buck Island came up as a really cool place for snorkeling.

I have been to St Thomas before on DCL and remembered the excursion(s) to buck island being listed. Reading DCL's descriptions and the description of the features of St. Croix's Buck Island - they could be the same place. But not with the distance involved with the timeframes the St. Thomas Buck Island excursions were listing. You can see St. Johns from St. Thomas - and the boat ride over there is about 40 minutes. You can't see St. Croix from St. Thomas (at least from sea level) and for a 2 hour boat ride you would have to be doing 25 knots, and in a boat that would NOT be enjoyable.

Also, is there any beach time at all? Or does the boat just stay far out by the reefs for snorkelling only?
Sorry I did not answer this earlier - NOPE, no beach time, there are minimal sandy beaches from the looks of it. Where we entered the reef, there was a very nice looking beach on the SW side of island and we snorkeled more toward the NE side.

[tinytink]

For those of you on this first cruise to St. Croix did you all get new memory foam pillows in your room? I was walking in the hallways and noticed boxes of those memory foam pillows but we didn't get one so DH asked our room attendant and he said they were going to put those in the rooms for Castaway Club members. He also mentioned that there was a plastic storage container under the bed that they were going to put them in. He did give us one but I think it's because we asked for it. Just wondering if they are replacing the pillows onboard or if it was for a select few. I'm going to post this on the main board as well.

[fatrabbit]

I too was on this recent cruise. I miss it terribly. We had the most fabulous time. It was my first cruise ever as well as my first Disney cruise. My sister who cruised with me had cruised before on Royal Caribbean and Carnival. It is very hard for me to be disappointed with anything Disney anyway, so I guess I am bias, however, everything went excellent for us from the time we arrived in Orlando. Enterprise sent a driver to pick us up from the Amtrak train station within minutes of our arrival, we were given a vehicle upgrade (packed way more than we thought & needed more luggage space). Since we had a day to spare, we visited Downtown Disney, shopped and had lunch at Earl of Sandwich, then leisurely drove to Port Canaveral---everything still going swimmingly. The Doubletree was a very pleasant stay. We had a well-maintained room with great balcony views of the ocean. We enjoyed complimentary breakfast (eggs, breakfast sausage, pastries, coffee, yogurt, juice, cereal) the next morning before heading off to return our rental car and board the ship. We were driven to the port by a pleasant and friendly driver compliments of Enterprise. Our excitement was building and I could hardly contain myself when I saw the ship docked there to our left. I noticed even the little things like the beautiful hibiscus flowers lining the walkway, trying to take it all in. Cast members waiting at the top of the escalator wave with "Mickey hand" gloves to welcome you. YIPPEE! The port wasn't terribly crowded and checking in was smooth sailing, taking less than 15 minutes. The characters were there to greet us (we saw Mickey and Minnie). We walked around a bit, enjoyed the art displayed in the waiting area, and were boarding shortly after that. I loved being announced and applauded onto the ship! We headed right up to Topsiders for the buffet lunch and chose to sit at an outside table near the kiddy pool. Donald Duck walks right up to our table and my nephew loved it!! So much seemed to happen before we even set sail--we knew it was going to be a great cruise. And it was. The shows were all excellent (true Disney lover, whimpy type like me will well up during the shows--they really pull at your heart strings) We saw three movies in the Buena Vista Theater -- Beverly Hills Chihuaha, Bedtime Stories, and Bolt which was shown in 3D---all very very funny. I did see the adult entertainment, which was great. The adult scavenger hunt was hilarious--and our team won!! The ventriloquist act the first night was one of my favorite! Did anyone else see the volunteer 10-year-old h turned into a puppet? Gut-busting! We loved our server and assistant server! They were super nice and attentive to our every need. We loved St. Croix!! We were greeted by Carribean music and steel drums, costumed stilt walkers, and it seemed to me that (even though they were celebrating Three Kings Day) they were also celebrating our arrival into St. Croix. It was absolutely gorgeous. I'm not sure why others were disappointed with this island---but I loved it. We took a van tour for $15 pp in a 15 passenger to Christiansted. Our guide was very nice, knowledgeable, and friendly. He made sure to point out areas of interest to us (a bar where we could feed beer to a pig--no thanks), saw all the beautiful mahogany tree lined streets. We saw mongoose while driving through the rainforest--what a highlight, then walked around Christensted, and then we were driven back to Fredriksted where we dipped in the beach. (It was a little rough with the stroller, but still beautiful). St. Thomas was also gorgeous, but no musical welcome this time. I actually liked St. Croix better because we didn't have to use the tenders at the St. Croix dock. Probably my three least favorite parts of the entire cruise were waiting for the tender back on board the ship when leaving St. Thomas, the El Grande Show (not great and I almost felt uncomfortable for him--like watching someone's bad family videos, you smile but you really don't want to see it and the whole time you're hoping it will get better) His show didn't get better. My third least favorite part was the morning we had to leave--hated it. I actually saw teenagers crying on the last day. I'm sure there were sad adults the ship over. Castaway Cay was super--there were no natives asking us for our business--St. Thomas gets the award for that. On St. Thomas, we hired a driver with an open air truck to take us to the Best Western public beach. Very impressive--although you can't sit in the lounge chairs with umbrellas on their beach without paying--so we used our own beach blanket. The water was superb and the view spectacular. The barbecue on Castaway Cay was great--excellent ribs and buy one get one free Bahamaian drinks. I relaxed in a hammock while my daughter went scuba diving, unworried because there were excellent lifeguard posts stationed throughout the beach and even into the water. She saw so many fish and the Mickey statue!! We had the package offering the inner tube and scuba gear and it was well worth it. The water was cold, but warmed up ever so slightly the more you stayed in it. I hated knowing that we only had one more night on the cruise. I ended my night, most nights, by visiting Sessions (the Jazz club) and thoroughly enjoyed the pianist Daryl Lockhart, (his voice is like butter), while sipping on my 151 and cranberry. The bar server knew my name and drink each night and I was welcomed into the lounge by the server and Daryl Lockhart---I loved the personal feeling and decided to take off my sandals and curl up on the couch as I was serenaded. I felt as if he was singing only to me. There is no place like that in my "real world". If I could feel that comfortable and welcome in a jazz club anywhere in the "real world" I would go there weekly. I miss everything and everyone from that 7 night cruise. The food was superb. How can you complain about the food????? Creme brulee, Lobster, Caviar---come on people. Cooked to pefection, beautifully plated. I loved the desserts, the breakfasts, the dinners, the pizzas, the all you can drink sodas, the mahi mahi, the everything!!! Even though I plan to do it all over again by 2010 with more family members, the first time will most likely always be my favorite. Everything was new to me & we didn't miss anything that we wanted to see. My personal opinion about those who complain about their waitstaff is that they are so spoiled to the disney way, they are tough on cast members and may expect them to bend over backwards while holding their noses, on one hand, while singing Whistling Dixie. I witnessed people upset that they had to clean their hands with the hand wipes that are passed out multiple times onboard --- come on people! I witnessed just a few snooty people with very little manners -- so I can see where people demand greatness and are not satisfied with dessert, I guess. I though, once again, had a excellent cruise and can hardly wait to do it all again.

[jbuckent]

Can anyone comment more on the beach within walking distance of port?

[giljr]

Can anyone comment more on the beach within walking distance of port?

I didn't go there, but it looked like it left a lot to be desired.

[jrabbit]

I relaxed in a hammock while my daughter went scuba diving, unworried because there were excellent lifeguard posts stationed throughout the beach and even into the water. She saw so many fish and the Mickey statue!! We had the package offering the inner tube and scuba gear and it was well worth it. Just to clarify for people that have NOT been to Castaway Cay - I don't believe they allow SCUBA in the SNORKELING area (where they lifeguards are). I think the prior trip report should have said Snorkel where ever Scuba was mentioned. ;)

[frdeb1999]

Thanks for your TR and pics!! They turned out great! Like all the info on St Croix...we have been debating on doing this one and now will be even more so. Glad you enjoyed your trip! :)

[SueEllen]

We found out that the reason so much at St. Croix was not available was because it was a holiday for them (Three Kings Day) so many things were closed (including the Cruzan Rum factory.)

Unfortunately someone on this cruise decided to steal my camera from Rockin Bar D during Thursday night's show :( It was sitting behind me on the table, and someone felt the need to take it (complete with my room key, and some cash I had in the case as well.) You know, it wouldnt' bother me as much if I had have just been able to recoup my pictures from the camera. I'm just disgusted that someone felt the need to take it (WHILE I WAS SITTING RIGHT THERE!!!) Because of this I lost all of my pictures (and what stinks is that this was my daughter's 18th birthday celebration trip...all gone!) Too bad the person that felt the need to do this didn't at least have enough of a conscious to turn in the memory card with my name on it (no questions would have been asked.) I'm still just sick over this and very, very sad.

We enjoyed St. Croix (well, part of it) and had a magnificent lunch at Rum Runners (in Christiansted) You MUST head to a different area of the island rather than the port area. The port city of Fredricksted was not very pretty, and didn't have much to offer. Other parts of the island were much prettier. I still like St. Thomas/St. John the best of the islands.

I was glad they brought John Charles on board for the final night. It was awesome to see him again.

[SandieT]

Would anyone be able to post their navigators from the trip. I can't tell you how much this would be appreciated. The last one's I can find are on ***************** from a year ago.:confused3

[Cusefan44]

Hello to all and a question to anyone who can answer:

How much should I budget for an upcoming 7 day trip on the Magic (presuming good service of course)? We want to treat the staff fairly, and I would like to have a range budgeted.

Thanks

[SandieT]

Did anyone do this excursion? We were just going to wing it in St. Croix but after reviews of the island I think we are better off booking something. We are doing a private all day sail and snorkel trip in St. Thomas so I did not want to book anything too big. This seemed to fit the bill.
Thanks! :cool1:

[mumom95]

Did anyone do this excursion? We were just going to wing it in St. Croix but after reviews of the island I think we are better off booking something. We are doing a private all day sail and snorkel trip in St. Thomas so I did not want to book anything too big. This seemed to fit the bill.
Thanks! :cool1:

I read one review somewhere (I think it was for this excursion), it wasn't good. They said the snorkeling at Sprat Reef was terrible, and that the operators were so far behind schedule that they didn't even stop at the beach. If I can find the link I will post it.

[SandieT]

I read one review somewhere (I think it was for this excursion), it wasn't good. They said the snorkeling at Sprat Reef was terrible, and that the operators were so far behind schedule that they didn't even stop at the beach. If I can find the link I will post it.

From what I have found this excursion was cancelled so I will try again when then next group comes back next week. As most of the excursions have booked up at this point. We do have some great plans for St. Thomas so if we change our minds and just go to an average beach in St. Croix, it sure beats doing grocery shopping, cooking, laundry and picking up after two kids when it is 30 degrees outside!:laundy: :rotfl2:

[GoofyTraci]

Buck Island Sail and Snorkel on St. Croix

Boat - pretty good condition - we have been on "nicer" snorkeling boats - and have been on much worse!
Crew - Best we have ever had on 10+ snorkeling excursions
Equipment Provided - very, very good
Ride Over to Christanstead - just OK - in 15 passenger vans, our driver pointed out the obvious things like grocery stores and chruchs and schools - at least he talked!
Ride back to Fredricksburg - 15 passenger van - our driver appeared to not know how to get to Fredricksburg - we took a very long route back but we got to see some other stuff - like the oil / gas refinery
General - St. Croix is not the poorest island we have visited, but it's not St. Thomas either

Now for the snorkeling itself - some of the best we have experienced.
* You snorkel from the boat - NO touching bottom, NO touching the coral!
*Water depth - if you were in the reef - could be shallow - couple of feet to 30 feet; inside the reef boundry - 10 to 25 feet. You could see the bottom very easily - the water was very clear. Remember the deeper the water the bigger the fish.
* There were lots of different fish, corals and other critters -- like lobsters. There can be sea turtles too (my family did not see any of them). We did end up in a large school of angel fish (well over a hundred of them - how cool was that!).
* There is a snorkeling trail like at Trunk Bay on St. Johns - however no one has cleaned them up for a while so you could not see what most of them said. "ALL" snorkelers must be shown the trail before going off on their own.
* The crew took us off of the boat in 3 groups - "Expert Snorkelers", "Swimmers but not so good @ snorkeling" and the 3rd group - total beginers. They took the experts out first so we could clear out of the way. The second group got together and did the course then the beginners. THe crew worked with the smaller kids - they took them out on life rings so they could experience the water, etc.
* Bring some extra cash to tip the crew at the end - they deserve it!

Sorry to be a bother but I have a? What is the exact name on dcl website for this excursion? The reason I ask is bc I see the buck island snorkel excursion no info posted like Buck island sail and snorkel..and then I see the sail and snorkel but to a different location than buck island.
NOt really sure what to make of ST Croix yet with the mixed reviews. Is there time before or after this excursion to visit the rum factory?

TIA