Our first 7 nighter [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

Laura22

01-28-2009, 01:06 PM

We've taken 2 different 3 night cruises in the past, but this time we went all out for a 7 night cruise. I had so many pictures and things in my report I put it on my own website rather than try to hotlink all the pictures. Here is the link. :thumbsup2

http://photogreetingsgalore.com/cruise09

magic-camps

01-28-2009, 01:25 PM

You're trip report was wonderful!!! What beautiful pictures!!:)

disneychic

01-28-2009, 01:42 PM

Awesome Trip Report! Thanks for the Navigators!! :cool1:

DMMarla07860

01-28-2009, 02:03 PM

awesome report thanks for sharing:thumbsup2

shasess

01-28-2009, 02:20 PM

Wonderful, wonderful trip report!!!

MagicMe

01-28-2009, 02:29 PM

Absolutely loved your report!!!! It was so pleasant to read through it with all the pictures right there. Looks like you had a great time! I recently went on my first 7-day (after a couple of 4-days) and loved it so much we booked the WB TA!! 14-days of Magic to enjoy!!!!

kstategrad

01-28-2009, 02:51 PM

Add me to those who LOVED your report. Your pictures are amazing...you mind telling me what kind of camera you have?

sunburnin

01-28-2009, 03:02 PM

Thanks for sharing!

We have a 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter so its great to see a report so close to our situation!

Sorry to hear about the relocation.... we're in Charlotte and love the proximity to FL. Best wishes out west!!!!

debsite

01-28-2009, 03:17 PM

Thank you so much for sharing!
What kind of underwater digital camera did you buy? We have been looking for one for our cruise.
Thank you!

texfinn

01-28-2009, 04:00 PM

Wow -- that was wonderful! Now you have me wanting to stay a couple of days AFTER our first cruise! Thanks for sharing!

E&BMom

01-28-2009, 04:17 PM

Great trip report. Sounds like you guys had a great time!!!! I was wondering what kind of underwater digital camera did you get? We are thinking about getting one and your pics turned out great!! TIA!!

ChocoKat

01-28-2009, 04:53 PM

Awesome report! Great pictures.
Which under water camera did you guys get? The photos and video are awesome!!!

frdeb1999

01-28-2009, 04:56 PM

Fantastic TR and beautiful pics!!! Glad you had a wonderful time! :)

lucyddr

01-28-2009, 05:11 PM

Outstanding review! It certainly makes me more excited for our cruise in May! You have a beautiful family! Thanks to your husband (and you for being a military wife) for his service to our country!

goofygal1975

01-28-2009, 05:27 PM

Laura22

01-28-2009, 06:10 PM

That was a great trip report. I loved all the pictures!! I take it the food was good on the cruise, huh? haha:lmao: You got some great underwater pictures at CC. Did you feel well rested after the cruise or tired? This May will be our first 7 night and I was just wondering how it would be. We will also be staying at Disney after the cruise.

Thanks for sharing!

Well, the only reason we were tired after the cruise was because we were up till 11 p.m. packing on the last night and then we had to be at breakfast by 6:30 the next morning. If we had packed a little earlier and been able to get more sleep that last night we'd have had a lot more steam for Disney! I actually slept through most of the Nemo show at Animal Kingdom because I was so tired. :lmao: Our second day at Disney though, after getting a long night's sleep, was just fine and we weren't tired at all! So it was just sleepiness, not physical exhaustion or anything.

Disney World made for a GREAT transition back to reality. You get a few days where you have to turn down your own beds, wait in line for meals, and eat less than gourmet food, but at the same time you are still not doing any of your own cooking or cleaning. It would have been terrible to get off the cruise ship and drive straight home without a transition time!

To answer the other questions, I used a Canon Digital Rebel XSi with a few different lenses for most of the pictures, and the underwater pictures were from a Pentax Optio W60 (It was only about $225 if I remember right). The underwater pictures had a bit of a bluish tint coming straight off the camera, but I just hit "auto levels" in photoshop and it took the tint out and made them look the way you see there. That was the only post processing involved so I was happy with the camera.

SCDizneyDawn

01-28-2009, 06:14 PM

Laura22

01-28-2009, 06:26 PM

I loved your report!:thumbsup2 THANK YOU for the navigators.

I was wondering if you or anyone could name each of the desserts on the first page and if possible what menu that they came from?? I know it is a lot to ask, even if you only know one or two it would be great to know!

THANK YOU!!!:flower3:

The first picture is a variety of things from the Palo Brunch.

The second picture is a s'mores pie or something like that. It looks like a Parrot Cay plate so that would have been night 2.

The third picture looks like a Lumiere's plate so I think that was from Pirate Night. Some sort of chocolate cake.

The fourth picture was the best strawberry shortcake EVER at Animator's Palate, I believe on formal night.

The fifth picture looks like Parrot Cay again so that would have been the day before Castaway Cay.

The last 2 desserts were both mine from the same night. I could not decide between them so I ordered both LOL. One was some chocolately who knows what and the other was a strawberry type thing (yeah, I'm not good at remembering the names lol). I ordered them both on the last night of the cruise at Lumieres.

I don't know if that helps any!

SCDizneyDawn

01-28-2009, 07:08 PM

Thank you! That helps a lot! I have wondered what the S'mores pie looked like and had also been curious about the strawberry shortcake!:cool1:

Desi

01-28-2009, 08:54 PM

Great report! Thanks for taking the time to do it.pixiedust:

ChocoKat

01-28-2009, 09:04 PM

To answer the other questions, I used a Canon Digital Rebel XSi with a few different lenses for most of the pictures, and the underwater pictures were from a Pentax Optio W60 (It was only about $225 if I remember right). The underwater pictures had a bit of a bluish tint coming straight off the camera, but I just hit "auto levels" in photoshop and it took the tint out and made them look the way you see there. That was the only post processing involved so I was happy with the camera.

Awesome!
I am so buying that Pentax, I had been looking for the right underwater camera for a while. The blueish tint I would expect from the underwater photos, but I have photoshop so I'll adjust the levels as well.
Thanks a million for the info!!!

Donald_Quackers

01-28-2009, 09:44 PM

I loved the report! I'm going on this cruise in 2010 and can't wait. Just a taste of what's in store for me!

TammyNC

01-29-2009, 07:18 AM

Great report...we are going on our first cruise March 2010 so I'm enjoying reading all the reports and getting more and more excited.

mrstbalt

01-29-2009, 09:37 AM

Great report and wonderful pictures! I love the sea turtle, it's so clear. I hope we see some when we go.

MMitchell29

01-29-2009, 07:13 PM

Great report and wonderful pictures! I love the sea turtle, it's so clear. I hope we see some when we go.

Yes I loved the sea turtles as well............Great report and pics

MMitchell29

01-29-2009, 07:15 PM

The first picture is a variety of things from the Palo Brunch.

The second picture is a s'mores pie or something like that. It looks like a Parrot Cay plate so that would have been night 2.

The third picture looks like a Lumiere's plate so I think that was from Pirate Night. Some sort of chocolate cake.

The fourth picture was the best strawberry shortcake EVER at Animator's Palate, I believe on formal night.

The fifth picture looks like Parrot Cay again so that would have been the day before Castaway Cay.

The last 2 desserts were both mine from the same night. I could not decide between them so I ordered both LOL. One was some chocolately who knows what and the other was a strawberry type thing (yeah, I'm not good at remembering the names lol). I ordered them both on the last night of the cruise at Lumieres.

I don't know if that helps any!

This was a 7 day trip correct??

PizzieDuster

01-29-2009, 10:22 PM

Wow! I'm sending my girlfriend to your site right now! She's thinking of booking..... Fantastic....bookmarking your site! Loved it!

The picture in your signature should sell many DCL cruises! That is just precious! A moment in time! :)

Laura22

01-30-2009, 06:46 PM

This was a 7 day trip correct??

Yes, 7 night eastern cruise.

Wow! I'm sending my girlfriend to your site right now! She's thinking of booking..... Fantastic....bookmarking your site! Loved it!

The picture in your signature should sell many DCL cruises! That is just precious! A moment in time! :)

Aw thanks. :)

sunburnin

01-30-2009, 08:25 PM

You're a bad influence. ;) My wife just added 2 days for our family at WDW after the cruise!!! :thumbsup2

..... I'm now off to the car to shake it down for loose change.

Grandma Debby

01-30-2009, 08:35 PM

My family will board the Magic on June 6th and do the Eastern so your report was fantastic :thumbsup2
Gave me some great ideas on beaches and excursions :cool1:
Answered all my questions about when to book Palo for brunch & dinner :flower3:
So glad to see your underwater pictures as I'm researching cameras this weekend :coffee:
Glad your family had a great time, enjoy your move to California and thanks for serving our country because I feel it is the family not just the man or woman who is enlisted :grouphug:

debsite

01-31-2009, 08:46 PM

Thanks for sharing - and for the underwater camera info. I looked at those when they first came out, but I was curious to see photos from one before buying. Thank you!!!!
Debbie

ChocoKat

01-31-2009, 09:32 PM

Thanks for sharing - and for the underwater camera info. I looked at those when they first came out, but I was curious to see photos from one before buying. Thank you!!!!
Debbie

Right?
My DH ordered the Pentax and got it for $60 dollars less than retail! :cool1:
Can't wait to use it.

Mickey4me!

02-01-2009, 06:41 AM

princesslillybug

02-01-2009, 11:31 AM

Thanks so much for sharing your trip. The pictures have really made us so excited about our upcoming cruise. My children really enjoyed seeing your kids in action on the ship. I think seeing kids their own age made them much more comfortable about the trip.

Thanks again!!!

anetnmike

02-01-2009, 02:21 PM

Thank you for sharing your excellent trip report! I am so glad that you were able to swim at CC! Every report I have read recently has said it was way too cold! It looks like you and your family had a great time! Your pictures are really beautiful! We leave on the Wonder next week for 4 days and really want to snorkel and visit with the stingrays. Riverside is my all time favorite resort. For me it is like coming home.

Laura22

02-01-2009, 07:46 PM

Wonderful report and great pics! I'm excited because I just got the digital Rebel for Christmas and can't wait to try it out on our Nov cruise. What lenses do you use with it? I have a couple but am looking for reccommendations for more....

Good luck with the move!

I use the one that came with it, and also a 75-300 telephoto and an f/1.8 50 mm (cheapie, but goodie!)

Thank you for sharing your excellent trip report! I am so glad that you were able to swim at CC! Every report I have read recently has said it was way too cold! It looks like you and your family had a great time! Your pictures are really beautiful! We leave on the Wonder next week for 4 days and really want to snorkel and visit with the stingrays. Riverside is my all time favorite resort. For me it is like coming home.

Don't get me wrong. Swimming at CC was like swimming in ice cubes! You just had to suck it up and dive in. I was shivering to death when I finished snorkeling for an hour, but it was so worth it.

WDBRDWLK

02-01-2009, 08:05 PM

What a great TR...we were on that same cruise a year ago today! Oh how I miss it...but we do have a 3 nighter coming up the end of February on the Wonder! :yay:

There are so many wonderful memories from that cruise and looking through your TR and pics feels like I am back on the Magic.

BTW I love your website, very talented indeed!

Thanks for sharing..:beach:

skiingwife

02-02-2009, 10:58 AM

Laura22

02-02-2009, 11:09 AM

Great report and great pictures. Thanks for sharing them. Could you tell me more about jet skiing in St. Martin? I see you were at Great Bay Beach. Is that where you rented the jetskis? Did you reserve the jetskis ahead of time or just walk up? Do you remember the cost? Great Bay Beach is walking distance from the ship, isn't it? Thank you!

This is exactly what we did...

We walked off the ship and straight over to the water taxi and bought 4 all day wrist bands ($6 each = $24). Took the water taxi to the beach (Great Bay). It is walking distance, but not any sort of a hike I would wanna do with 2 little kids. When we got off the water taxi there were people asking left and right if we wanted to rent some chairs or jet skis. We went up to one of them and said "sure!" as that was what we had planned to do. He brought us over to a pair of chairs with an umbrella and said it would be $10 to rent those so we handed him $10 and told him we'd also like a jet ski for half an hour. He said that would be $55 so my husband and son headed over to get on the jet ski with the cash. I then looked and saw that I still had $35 leftover and I really wanted to ride the jet ski at the same time as my husband so I worked out a deal with them. I showed them "I just have $35 left...is there anyway my daughter and I can take a second jet ski?" They said we could, but that we'd only have it for 20 minutes instead of 30. So I said "how bought instead of giving us 30 minutes on one jet ski and 20 minutes on the other that we split it 25-25". He considered it a minute, saw that I really had no other cash on me, and said sure why not. So we got 2 chairs with umbrella, and 2 jet skis for 25 minutes for a total of $100.

By the way, I noticed that when you walk off the water taxi pier if you head to the RIGHT the chairs and things were more expensive than if you head to the LEFT (which is the way we went).

skiingwife

02-02-2009, 11:20 AM

Thanks for the quick reply. I think we'll do just as you did and rent jet skis at Great Bay. The sand and water and Great Bay look very nice. Was it really nice? Was it crowded?

sunburnin

02-02-2009, 11:40 AM

You're trip report has become a tour guide.... :)

Can you explain the pillow cases? What did your TA do to get thm signed?

Thanks

Laura22

02-02-2009, 08:14 PM

Thanks for the quick reply. I think we'll do just as you did and rent jet skis at Great Bay. The sand and water and Great Bay look very nice. Was it really nice? Was it crowded?

The water was nice. The sand was very shelly so wear some water shoes. It was pretty deserted when we first got there but as more cruise ships pulled into port it got a little busier. Not nearly as busy as Castaway Cay though.

You're trip report has become a tour guide.... :)

Can you explain the pillow cases? What did your TA do to get thm signed?

Thanks

She mailed me 2 pillowcases and a pack of sharpies which I then dropped off at Guest Services when we first got on the ship. They have little forms they fill out there if you have something to get autographed (t-shirt, photo mat, pillowcase, whatever). Then they deliver the item(s) back on the last night of the cruise.

pmama

02-02-2009, 09:56 PM

Wow, great deal on the jet skiis!!! I recently saw the Disney excursion charges $160 for one jet ski for an hour. I'm impressed.:thumbsup2

LOVE your TR. We are considering cruising in December and your TR has helped reassure me that it is still a good time to go.:goodvibes