Just back From the June 22nd Western!!

[rcdisneyfam]

We just returned from the "Magic" and it was truely Magical. Our third cruise and it was by far the best. Hopefully we will put together a trip report soon. Most of us from the Dis met up at the Radisson and the rest of them on the ship. We all had a great time and just to say that Cozumel was Awesome and the Catamaran Sail/Snorkel was great. Carlos and Charlies was Crazy:crazy: :p to say the least, Wild!!! Our teenagers had a blast too and if you have any questions, post away!! BTW, thanks Shirley for the great basket for my DS birthday.

[KeenHo]

AWESOME!!! WONDERFUL!!!! How else can we describe the 7 day Western trip with all of our DIS friends and others we met on board. Trip reports will follow, but hilites would be..... Jeep Excursion in Cozumel, booking with Captain Marvin's direct for the 3 hour Coral Gardens, Barrier Reef and Stingray City excursion, the great service, shows, entertainment and crew of the Disney Magic. Fidelio & Carl in Off Beat's "Dueling Pianos", and the entertainment staff (including DJ L.A.) with the Match your Mate, and 80's and 70's dance parties.

Special thanks to Mike & Caroline (So good.. So good.... So good), Roberta, Ralph, Bob & Maryanne, Bob & Cindy, Beth & Tony, Joanne & Roger, Hud & Tiffany, etc... etc... etc..... what a great bunch of people to hang around with and call friends.

Much more to come later.... we are unpacking now.

Howard

[rcdisneyfam]

Hey Howard, we miss you guys already!! We are on load #2 and watching Ross' video from the teen goings on!! This video is great. We can't wait to watch the video that Ralph did. We have mostly everything under control. We arrived right on time today and things were fine on the home front!! Say Hi to Cam!! Talk to you later..........When you Wish Upon a Star!!!! I can't believe it is over :(

[mmouse37]

KeenHo.....welcome back!!!! Did they have a 50's night onboard? Isn't the entertainment staff just wonderful!!! We loved DJ LA on our FEb cruise and was hoping he would be there for our upcoming 8/3/02 cruise.

Who hosted Match Your Mate? We had John from Wales host it on our Feb trip (we found out later that was his first night hosting it). You never would have known it. He was great!!!

Glad you had a good time!!! This will be our 6th DCL cruise and I can't belive that they still get better and better.

MJ

[rcdisneyfam]

mmouse - Yes, they did a 50's/60's night a 70's night and the Match your Mate was great, don't remember who hosted it, but it was not John from Wales, he was a great guy and crazy at that!! We enjoyed all of the entertainment especially the Dueling Pianos, come to find out Fidelio is from Syracuse, NY and that is where we are from. Bob and Cindi that traveled with us lives next door to Fidelio's cousin. "Small World" but everything was great and being our 3rd cruise, yes, they do get better and better each time. Just waiting for a new itinerary and we will be there!!

[McTigger]

Hey,
sounds like you had a memorable time. our first cruise is 8/17/02 on the Western Magic. can you give us more information about Captain Marvin's? where do we make reservations for him, cost, did he have large or small groups for his tour? did you hear of anybody who went to see the ruins in Cozumal? what arrangements did they make? did they go on their own or through DCL? any other ideas about Cozumal excursions?

Donna

[Corl4]

Hey everyone!!! We're back....drove straight through and got home at 12:30 this morning. What a truly "Magical" week....great friends, great food and great times! I'm in the middle of my fourth load of laundry and ready to pack it all in and head for port! I can't believe it's over...I think we're all in a daze! Tony and I have already decided that we are booking the western (or the new one) for June of 2004. Lyns isn't sure she is going only because she will have just graduated and not sure about being an 18 year old on the ship. Oh, well...we're going, with or without her!
We've already watched our video over and over and over...Roberta...we have some great shots of your crew on the catamaran!!!!!
Well I need to get back to the wash and I guess I should go to the store since no one else will be doing the cooking this week!
Talk to you all soon!

Beth :smooth: :( :D

[rcdisneyfam]

Beth, Just put my last load in the washer. I know what you mean, we had to get groceries too. Now we need to cook :( no one to do that for us. I can't imagine driving all that way back after getting off the ship. We had a great time and I have seen bits and pieces of Ross' video and Lyndsay looked like she loves to dance!! :D Cindi and Bob won't get back until 7/3 and Bob and Mary Anne won't get back until 7/2. We will all get together on 7/4 at Cindi and Bob's house in the pool and deck. I am sure it will be a great time. We are all wiped today and it is real hot here, had to put the central air on and it will be a hot week. Well, keep in touch and maybe we will take a trip down to see you guys. You are all welcome to make a trip to Syracuse any time too.

[JOANNEL]

We are a sad bunch here. I can't believe it is over. We stopped in downtown disney t o do some shopping and arrived home about 5 yesterday. Nine loads of laundry later and everything is clean. Grocery shoppping is done also. I actually got to float in the pool for a little while. I want to thank all of you guys for the great info ahead of time. It made everything so much easier. We are ready to go back. I also realized I didn't take enough pictures of our new disney friends. So if any of you have pictures of yoursleves I would love to add them to my photo album.

Thanks again and our doors are open to all who want to visit Florida. It was great I and I miss you already. I wish we were still on Castaway Cay with a drink in our hands.

Take care all and keep in touch

[BethA]

Spent last night at the Contemporary and got home a few hours ago. the only bad thing I can say about the cruise is that it had to end!!! Beth

[rcdisneyfam]

You guys, I want to cry, we all miss everyone and all the fun we had. Joanne, Beth Corl, just saw some of the kids pictures they had developed today at Walmart. There are 2 cute ones of Rianna with Logan and one with Rianna and Patrick. Rianna said she will email the pictures to them on attachments. We will probably get our pictures developed this week. Joanne, next time we are in Pensacola, we will definitely look you guys up. Please everyone, keep in touch and maybe we can do another cruise together some day!!! If anyone wants to venture up to Syracuse, don't hesitate to call. I will email everyone our phone # and address soon. Take care everyone and miss you all......

[KeenHo]

Here is the Captain Marvins information for Grand Cayman.... we booked online and received confirmation via e-mail. Their website is www.captainmarvins.com.

We had booked a 2 hour snorkel and Stingray city excursion, but went to Captain Marvin's a bit early and asked to get on an earlier trip so we could have more time on 7 mile beach later that afternoon. We ended up going on a 3 hour excursion with one additional stop. We went on to the Coral Gardens to snorkel, then the Barrier Reef (saw a huge eel and a shark up close and personal), and Stingray City... We LOVED it and would highly recommend it to anyone. I am not sure of the price since Cam booked it. I am sure you can get pricing information via their website listed above.

Thanks for the inquiry.. I hope this was helpful!

Howard


Cruise passenger inquiries:
7:30am to 3pm EST Monday through Friday

Captain Marvin's
PO Box 1776 GT Ph: (345) 945-6975 Ph: (345) 945-7306
Grand Cayman Fax: (345) 945-5673 Fax: (345) 949-2411
Cayman Islands E-mail: captmvn@candw.ky
E-mail: captmvn@candw.ky

Please note: e-mails are answered as quickly as possible, Monday through Friday.

[KeenHo]

We landed in Philadelphia around 4:10 pm and jumped in our airport shuttle. We arrived about 5 pm and we set to doing laundry (2 loads total - not too bad) and unpacking. We saved most of the unpacking for today though. What a depressing thing to do. :( We went out to dinner yesterday and today, no one wanted to cook anything. We also went food shopping today.. We're with all of you on this.

Beth Corl: While on board we booked rooms for us and friends on a late April 2004 cruise. June 2004 was not able to be booked yet, it is too far out and pricing has not yet been set. We booked on board to get the $200 per state room on board credit and we will move the booking to late June 2004 as soon as it becomes available. The on board credit will move with it. We would love to have you and Tony on board with us!!! That would be a great thing to look forward to. We are doing the Western cruise again. We loved it so much!!!

We are amazed at what great memories and friends we made on this trip with all of you. I cannot thank you enough for all the great times, good conversation and friendship we all shared while on the Magic. We will be getting the film developed early this week. I will scan and e-mail photos to all of you that are interested. Please send me a note and I will include you on the list. KeenHo@aol.com.

Tomorrow is work again.... yuk. I am sure I will be daydreaming about Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Castaway Cay. And the following..... "So Good! So Good! So Good!, Whistles at Carlos & Charlies and all that followed, Wine Tasting with Joanne & Roger, Late night chats in the elevator lobby with Mike, Caroline, Roberta, Ralph and Cam, The Jeep Excursion on Cozumel, the Pee-Pee Station, the Hot Tub and Signals Adult pool, the great dinners and brunch at Palos, the couples massage and many, many more.

Have a great day tomorrow.

Howard

[KeenHo]

MJ:

DJ L.A. was the host for the Match Your Mate and 80's, 70's parties and Karaoke. I missed the 50/60's dance party. John was the scorer for the Match Your Mate game and was always around at all of the parties. The entertainment staff was great! We really enjoyed being around them, they were a lot of fun.

Howard

[rcdisneyfam]

Hey guys, just came home for lunch hour and work was o.k. not too chaotic. We have not booked another cruise yet, kind of waiting to see if they put up some new itineraries maybe by year end. Anyway, the kids are still talking about the trip and cannot get time in edge wise on this computer. It is 90's here today and I guess I am used to that temperature. All those memories, Howard will keep us going for a while. Take care everyone and keep in touch. Miss you all!!

[keenercam]

Hi, everyone from hot, sunny Delaware! I don't know much more to add beyond what Howard has said, but I have to tell you that this was the best vacation I have ever had. If I hadn't missed Jen and Andy and Cali so much, it would have been so perfect! Everytime I think of it, though, I get choked up. Who would have thought that so many people who were mostly strangers 6 months ago, could feel so close so quickly?! It was amazing to finally meet so many of the people who have been posting here and we enjoyed every minute we spent with each of you. Really sad that I never had/made the time to meet some of the DISers, but amazed that we met so many. It was a lot of fun to see so many smiling faces all week. I would have to say that the highlights of the trip were: being the first in the DCL terminal with Roberta and Howard; seeing sooo many green ribbons at the port and at the sailaway party; hanging out with everyone at Rockin Bar D (drinking Ralph & Roberta's wine !) and Off Beat (Caroline you will always be "Sweet Caroline" to us!); a couples massage; hanging out at the adult pool & hot tubs (often completely alone w/DH); the wine tasting with Joanne & Roger; kissing a stingray!; a WILD jeep safari to the most beautiful beach I've ever seen; an absolutely crazy evening at carlos n charlies (featured on MTV's spring break show); trying every new frozen concoction that Sharon (our favorite beverage server) could come up with; and floating in the beautiful blue water at castaway cay with Howard and then Caroline; "meeting" a barracuda and an eel up close and personal :o; eating fresh fruit early in the morning at castaway cay, courtesy of sharon; and an intimate dinner for 12 at Palo's!!!
I made lots of notes all week so I hope to put together a pretty comprehensive trip report very soon.
Joe-- please tell Nicole it was fabulous to meet her and tell Alex I miss her smile and her wonderful hugs!
miss you all!

[hokie5cruiser]

I'm sorry that I did not get to meet you all last week. We were with a large family group that kept us running. I wore my green ribbon here and there, but didn't get to meet you.
Were you the group that were chatting at the mid elevators on the 6th floor late on the last night?
Thanks to everyone for the hints and suggestions that added to our trip. We did miss a few things that we wanted to do--so I guess we'll just have to go back. LOL

[KeenHo]

Jeannine:

That was us..... Caroline & Mike Sowell (Mitchell, GA), Cam and Howard Keener (Wilmington, DE) and Roberta & Ralph Cometti (Syracuse, NY). Sorry to have missed you! There were only three or four of the DIS'ers we didn't get to meet. We are already planning to go back. We hope you and your group had a great time. We all certainly did!!! We miss the ship and all of our friends.

Howard

[Mtdewbuzz]

Hey KeenHo-

Can you give me a little info about the Jeep trip? What you liked so much about it, how were the La Palma ruins that you visit, how the beach was, how the meal was, etc.? I'm considering doing this one when I go in August.

Thanks!

[Debbie H]

Hi all,

Well, it's over......:( :( :( :( But what a great time:cool: :)
It was really nice to meet all of you. I certainly wish we would have had more time to hang out with all of you.

We are back to work today. We drove straight through and arrived home around 12:15 a.m.. We would have probably made it sooner but we made some food stops that were a little longer than we normally do but it was nice to stop and stretch! Nice ride back though.

Wes (ds) spoke to a friend that flew back to Dulles and we ended up getting home before she did!!!!

Well, next Summer we are looking at a back to back. One week we will have all the kids (the 2 with us this time) their friends, and our married daughter and her husband. Then we will throw them off the boat and Wes (dh) and I will do a week on our own while we send the kids to Disney. Wes (dh) and I have a Western in November so at least we have something to look forward to.

[Debbie H]

I was surprised that they had to announce names of passengers not on the ship when we were ready to leave ports. This was our 5th cruise and we've never heard them call anyone like that before. I can't imagine how someone gets on undetected. Can you? When we leave and return, I always make sure it is our names coming up on the computer. Were any of you surprised about this?

I certainly miss my cosmos at the Promenade made by Joval. He made the best!!!!:)

We all loved the Fury Catamaran trip. Will definately do that one again. Apparently the Teen Fury Cruise was marginal because of the music. Kids seemed to enjoy Grand Cayman snorkel .

No rain here, after a week of rain in Disney before the trip. Real hot here. Heat index almost 100. They keep saying almost tropical!!! SAD! I wish we were in the tropics!

[DiSnEyGrL13]

Well we're back, but really sad!:( My whole family had such a great time, we can't stop talking about it. I think I've been on the computer more these past two days talking to my new friends than I was the week before the cruise. :rolleyes: I'm already trying to talk my parents into another cruise next year, but I don't think thats gonna happen unfortunatly.:( We went on Captain Marvin's Snorkeling trip too and it worked out perfect for my dad and I. My mom, grandmom and Sister didn't want to go, so dad and I went on the two hour one really early in the morning so we could get back in time to shop with the rest of the family. The stingrays were really awesome! I was a bit scared at first, but by then end, I ended up holding one!

Cam- I was right behind you getting on the Tender to get to Grand Caymen, but I wasn't 100% sure and didn't want to make a fool of myself, so I didn't say anything!

[keenercam]

Hey, Nicole!! You should have said "HI". I would have loved to meet you!
Mtdewbuzz-- we absolutely loved the jeep excursion. It was very RUGGED and exciting. We drove through town to a stop at the pee pee station, then to the offroad adventure--four-wheel driving through non-existent roads-- more like paths through the tropical forest! We stopped for 10 or 15 minutes at the easternmost ruins of the mayan empire, but it wasn't a very significant stop-- a brief history by the guides and cold beverages, then on to the beach. the beach was absolutely gorgeous with beautifully violent waves and only our tour and another on the beach. There were umbrellas set up all along the beach with mexican blankets under them; very relaxing. There was also a volleyball net and frisbee. The food was authentic mexican fare, with home made flour tortillas, beef & chicken fajitas, cheese quesadillas, quacamole, and hot and mild salsa. We LOVED our time on the beach and the unspoiled beauty of it. Then back to off-roading, back to civilization. I think there were 14 jeeps total, with the guides in the first and last jeeps. Each jeep held four people, so if you were a couple, you shared with another couple--we were a party of four and loved sharing the adventure with mike & caroline. The jeeps are old and beat up but very sturdy, considering what we put them through. We didnt' even care that our speedometer, odometer, radio, a/c (if any), didn't work!! Some of the drivers in our "caravan" were very very adventurous and plowed through every mud puddle so the occupants of their jeeps were covered head to toe. We were a bit more cautious and ended up only slightly dusty! Hope this helps. We absolutely loved this excursion and would do it again in a heartbeat--I would NOT personally recommend it for children, however.

[rcdisneyfam]

Well everyone, we just watched our video of 6/22 cruise. What a hoot!!:p The Carlos and Charlie's part of it was crazy and it was so funny reliving it. Watching everyone getting get their shots and the whistles blowing. What a crazy place. You need to see it to believe it:smooth: The last night on the cruise at the Dueling Pianos was......So good, so good, so good.....to see Caroline and Mike and all of us having a good time. Sitting up by the elevators on the 6th floor till the wee hours of the morning remembering the good times we had on the ship. Then it all had to come to an end. Cam & Howard, Caroline & Mike, Joanne & Roger, Beth and Tony, Deb & Wes and everyone else we met.....We miss all the fun we had with all of you whether it was on the Catamaran or at Carlos & Charlies or at the Clubs at night, it was all fun. It was tough going back to work today. Well, keep the posting coming, it is great reading everyone's posts.

[CAROLINES]

What a great trip!!! Mike and I said that it would be very hard to top the week we just experienced. The group of people we met were super. I just love having friends wherever we went. People to talk to, laugh with, and have a good time with. That may not be correct English but you know what I mean.

Cam, Howard, and Roberta have hit the highlights so I won't be repetitive but I do want you all to know that you made our trip special. I hope we can stay in touch and maybe do the new itinerary when it comes out.

Mike and I really let our hair down (so to speak) and it was nice to not have to be the mean grownups for a week. Well back to reality.

Love to you all,

Caroline

[hokie5cruiser]

I was one of the names called on Cozumel night-but I was on board. My KTTW card had to be hand entered each time I got on or off the boat for some reason, and the security person must not of punched me in. This did scare my mother for a moment. LOL

[Debbie H]

Glad you were actually on the ship but I can imagine how frightened your family was!!! Always wondered what happened to the ones called!!!

Roberta, I imagine you can probably black mail my son with the video. He seemed to really enjoy himself. Lindsey and Ross have since spoken on the internet. Sorry to hear that our Lindsey wasted Ross' week on the cruise.

[Mjasp]

Glad you all had FUN. But where are all your trip reports. I'm waiting...I want to relive mine.


Did anyone rebook for the 5/17/03 Eastern for next year?

Joanna

[leslieh]

Was he a big blondish goodlooking dude about early 20s? If so he was on the magic last july when we did the 7-7-01 cruise. He kept showing up all over the place, we also had three blond teenagers!!! He is even in our family pictures. Just wondering if he is the same guy and still with the cruise line? Loved reading you guys post, it makes want to go back again!!!!! SOunds like you made a good bunch of friends and had a great time.

[mmouse37]

Hi leslieh.....we were on the 7/7/01 cruise also. John from Wales was on that cruise. We also saw him on our 2/23/02 cruise. He is tall with dark hair and a great smile. He was one of the cruise staff that greeted you when first entering the ship on embarkation. He also hosts many of the pool activities and club activities. Very nice guy. We wanted to see if he was going to be onboard for our upcoming 8/3/02 cruise.

MJ

[rcdisneyfam]

Deb H - I thought Ross and Lindsey had a great time, at least he said they did, he never mentioned his week being wasted. We watched our video and DH must not have had it on when you son was up on the stage. He is a great dancer and I think it is great that an 18 yr. old can have a great time and make his own fun on a cruise like we did. You kids are great kids and very personable and a pleasure to have met. I hope Ross didn't say anything bad to Lindsey.

[JOANNEL]

Good Morning all. I hope every one had a happy and safe 4th. Unfortunately I am not off today. In the tourist business we don't get many summer holidays. I miss you guys. I know my boys have been busy on the IM chatting with alot of the kids. I made Konk Koolers yesterday. Wishing we were back on Casatway Cay.
They weren't as good as theirs but it was a nice touch to the 4th. We spent the day at the beach until thunder & lightning sent us running. Went back for the fire works.

Take care & keep in touch.

Joanne

[rcdisneyfam]

We had a great 4th, got together at Cindi and Bob's for a BBQ and swimming. Bob and Maryanne were there along with Ralph and Cindi's family. It was in the 90's but it cooled down considerably today only in the mid-70's. We miss everyone too. We all looked at pictures and wanted to go back. I need to get the scrapbook put together now, bought one in Mickey Mates like I did last year. It is fun to put it together. Miss everyone, keep in touch....

[Corl4]

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great July 4th! Of course it would have been better if we were on the Magic.......! I have been in a funk all week, I just can't seem to get back in to the swing of things. Since I have the summer off it's been really hard to get motivated to do anything...I'm definately going through Magic withdrawl! JOANNE L..Tony and I made Konk Koolers today and thought about last Friday when we were actually sipping them on Castaway Cay. I think ours were a little stronger than Disneys:bounce: ! We've also watched our video over and over and had our pictures back on Sunday afternoon...that one hour photo is great! Today I sent a bunch of pictures to Jeevan and Jean, our servers on the Magic!! We had so much fun with them!
It really was great getting to meet everyone...if you're ever visiting Lancaster County PA, please look us up!
Beth:cool:

[Debbie H]

Beth,

You are right down the road from us. We are in York County, almost Adams. We all have been in a funk too. However, my son Wes is going to a lacrosse camp as a coach tomorrow and my dd Lindsey is off to Michigan to spend the week at the beach with a friend from school. So at least things are still hopping around here. Oh yeah and DH and I get to work!!!
I must admit around 8 this morning I sort of chuckled knowing that the people on the Magic were debarking! :) :cool: I felt so mean!

So far I think the Catamaran Fury trip has seemed to be the favorite in this house. I will do that one again.

Have a good weekend and try not to get depressed at 5 today.:(

[KeenHo]

Hi everyone!!!

Belated Happy 4th.... I hope it was great!!

We were away in Plymouth, MA for the long weekend visiting Cam's Aunt Rosemary. Cape Cod is beautiful this time of year... but nothing like 7 mile beach in Grand Cayman or the adult beach in Castaway Cay.... Cape Cod has a lot of rocks, crabs and muscles. We made it up there in 7 hours on Wednesday night, but it took over 8 hours to get home! There was a lot of bumper to bumper traffic (not moving)... it all makes me appreciate the Magic and that few other vessels that can rival her at sea.

We have finished scanning our pictures and we in the process of sending them out. Joanne and Caroline have seen them. Roberta and Beth Corl will get them next. Anyone else care to see them? Let us know... talk to you all soon!!

Howard

[KeenHo]

Bump...

[Debbie H]

Roberta,
I private messaged you the answer to your question.

Debbie

[snelsonbrown]

that everyone had such a wonderful time - I want to thank each of you that I spoke to and want you to know I wasn't there in body, but I sure was in spirit and thought.
Keep in touch -my feet are finally on the ground and back to normal
Take care and God bless each of you super good.
Hugssssssssssss from Shirley

[BethA]

Howard, We would love to see your pictures. It helps relive the cruise. Thanks. Beth