6-5-4-3-2-1...SAILAWAY!!! NY-CANADA June 17, 2012 /The End. Complete. Done!

[wildcatwmn]

I wanted those sneakers!! But, they didn't have them in my size on the ship or in MK!

 

[lpizzuro123]

Thanks, love the Halifax Mickey.

Linda

 

[dthogue]

Hi Tammy,
I'll get to "Day 4 - Saint John" sometime, but until then I can tell you that we LOVED the jet boats! DH did not ride. He doesn't do "thrill". He was the designated photographer and bag-watcher. You get wet, though. It might be a bit cold in September. Well, maybe not much more cold that it was in June! It was "refreshing"! In a sort of cold water in your face sort of way! The driver spun the boat a bunch and found some "dips" that would then cause a big wave and splash. If you like mild thrills and water, don't miss it!

Thank you - how did you get to the boat ride from the pier? Did you do the morning or afternoon ride? The logistics scare me - I don't want to be late getting back to the ship.

Love - the pics of the souvenirs - I hope they still have a good selection when we sail in September - maybe they will be on sale since we are the 2nd to last Canadian cruise!

 

[purplern]

I love the Halifax Mickey!!! He's soo cute!!

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

I wanted those sneakers!! But, they didn't have them in my size on the ship or in MK!

I KNEW I needed them as soon as I saw them, and thanks to the DISboard I knew to buy them as SOON as I saw them!

Thanks, love the Halifax Mickey.

Linda

He is cute!

Thank you - how did you get to the boat ride from the pier? Did you do the morning or afternoon ride? The logistics scare me - I don't want to be late getting back to the ship.
We took a cab which was around 10 dollars (12 for 6 of us). It was easy! There is a local bus, too, which we planned on doing but then we found a cab. Actually, we WERE going to walk there on the Harbour Trail, but the teenagers whined about the 30 - 40 minute walk.

Love - the pics of the souvenirs - I hope they still have a good selection when we sail in September - maybe they will be on sale since we are the 2nd to last Canadian cruise!

We took a cab - 12 dollars for the 6 of us (probably a few dollars less for a smaller group). We were going to take a local bus but the cab came first. Actually, we were going to walk (Harbour Trail, around 30 -40 minutes) but the teenagers rolled their collective 8 eyes at that one.

I love the Halifax Mickey!!! He's soo cute!!

When we were in Halifax "our" Mickey dressed in this outfit (forget what it's called - help me out Eastern Canadians!). Therefore I call the statue Halifax Mickey!

 

[Kristina - Mom]

great trip report....love it....followed your ptr. We are on the august 12th sailing so I can't wait to keep reading.

You are right, it shouldn't be called the New England Cost.....I am from that area and the ship doesn't make any stops there and you can't see it from the ship because you are in the middle of the ocean...I wondered the same thing.

Kristina

 

[vickxo]

I'm in big trouble. I want it all! Sept 12th can't come fast enough! hahaha

 

[DisneyDream2B]

Thank you for answering my questions, and for the great photos of souvenirs.

May I ask about the Jewish museum in Saint John? We are hoping to spend at least part of our day there.
Also, did you notice how much the Shutters Photo CD (all photos)cost?

Thanks again for all of your helpful comments.

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

Thank you for answering my questions, and for the great photos of souvenirs.

May I ask about the Jewish museum in Saint John? We are hoping to spend at least part of our day there.
Also, did you notice how much the Shutters Photo CD (all photos)cost?

Thanks again for all of your helpful comments.

You're welcome!
DH went to the Jewish Museum. It is located at 91 Leinster Street (a new address, some of the maps led him first to the old site near King St.).

He really enjoyed seeing the place though he said that if you are from anyplace that has a significant Jewish population the findings in the museum itself are not that impressive. For him it was more the experience of being a guest at the only Jewish museum in the province. He enjoyed talking to the two young people who were working there and were members of the Saint John Jewish community. He also enjoyed the walk there and felt like he saw Saint John in a way that we who stayed by the pier probably did not. He was out for about 2 hours and that included all the walking.

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

June 17th, Embarkation Day

I was up and ready to roll at 5:30 in the morning! It was finally June 17th! We had arrived in NJ just under 2 days ago, so I was still a bit jet-lagged. But excited! I had some last minute errands to do at the early opening stores. 7:30 on a Sunday morning and I was the first one in the door at the CVS! Bonine, Sharpies, and a power strip. Phew. Things I "forgot". My other whoops – you'll never believe it. Later, though.

Pushed the last bits and pieces into the suitcases, gave positive reinforcement for those complaining but complying with the Mickey t-shirts they "needed" to wear, and we were out of the door at 10:45! My parents were driving us (two cars) and within 1/2 hour we were at the port!!!! We drove across the George Washington Bridge and then down the West Side Highway … 79th street and THE BOAT!

Just the smokestacks, as some other large tennis-shoe-shaped cruise vessel was blocking our view. By the time we got to the 50s, we had a great shot of our Magic.

Wow. We unloaded quickly. There was some "pressure" at the curbside drop-off to "move it move it" but we got the bags out, gave our kisses and hugs to the grandparents, and handed our luggage over to the porters. It was just 11:30! Our port arrival time exactly! The boat was RIGHT THERE! On the other side of the glass (?plexiglass) window! Yes, we had to take lots of pictures of it already!

Isn't she lovely….?! DH was not so sure about just walking away from our luggage like that. Not something you do in Israel, and probably not so often in NY either. But we made it inside. Security check (passport, tickets) and check-in. Security pictures, health form, signature form (that doesn't mean they really care how you sign your name; they want to know you agree to everything including paying). KeysTTW! Boarding number 7! "Is that good" asks DS15? "Excellent!" I declare! (Everything would be excellent on that day!).

11:40. The waiting room was very full. No seats free. And loud. They hadn't started to call boarding numbers yet. Statue of Liberty Minnie was receiving guests, but we were not going to stand on that line.

DH was getting a bit frazzled with the crowd. It was intense, but brief – 'cause at 11:52 our boarding number was called and we were on our way! The Royal "We" weren't in the best mood for the first picture, but it actually turned out nice. They stand you in front of a big 2012 sign. We didn't buy it, though, mostly because it reminded me of DH's mood during that 1/2 hour. But that changed SO fast as soon as we'd had our KsTTW swiped! We were dockside, in open air, with no one but a friendly Mickey-handed CM waving us by, and Mickey and his handler approaching us from the other direction!

Life. Is. GOOD!

No Mickey Ears to walk through, but no one but me knew to miss them. Up the gang-plank and poof! We're boarding! The Disney Magic Welcomes the Herman Family! We were directed to Parrot Cay but as we approached we were re-directed left to the elevators to go up to the Topsiders buffet on the 9th floor as PC was getting full. That was lucky timing. We were among the first up at Topsiders. The buffet was a welcome sight! We met our first DISgroup friend by the dessert station –EStewart, also known as Elizabeth, with her daughter Julianne. How cool?! Looking for some open space we opted for a table out by the Mickey Pool.

At this point, I think I started to breathe more normally. We were onboard. ...

 

[disneyholic family]

getting on board for your long awaited trip report (well i've been waiting for it!! )...

great start!!

did you take your kids out of the end of school? Or were they already finished when you left?

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

getting on board for your long awaited trip report (well i've been waiting for it!! )...

great start!!

did you take your kids out of the end of school? Or were they already finished when you left?

Glad you're here!
We did take the kids out a week early. It was the only year we could do it as all 4 were in middle school this year (same finish date) and the older kids were in 9th grade so no matriculation exams complicating the end of the year. They really did not miss anything other than collecting their report cards. DS15 and one DD15 did miss end of year performances in acrobatics and dance, but they were ok with that. I'm so glad we did the early pull!

Hope you're having a good summer!
Maybe we should open an Israeli-Anglo branch of DU here????

 

[disneyholic family]

Glad you're here!
We did take the kids out a week early. It was the only year we could do it as all 4 were in middle school this year (same finish date) and the older kids were in 9th grade so no matriculation exams complicating the end of the year. They really did not miss anything other than collecting their report cards. DS15 and one DD15 did miss end of year performances in acrobatics and dance, but they were ok with that. I'm so glad we did the early pull!

Hope you're having a good summer!
Maybe we should open an Israeli-Anglo branch of DU here????

DCL is a "tad" over the budget of most israelis.... English speaking or otherwise...
you can get a lot more bang for your buck with just about any of the other cruise lines....and honestly, i'm not convinced that DCL is worth the difference...

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

For the next 1 1/2 hours, we camped there beside the Mickey Pool. We ate. The kids headed off in pairs to explore, looping back to tell us what they'd found. They "discovered" their clubs, the basketball court, the ice cream bar, and the soda bar. Happiness all around! Pluto wandered by and tried to beg a lick of ice cream off of DD15!

Our first Magical Moment! It was breezy and a bit chilly. Only a few brave (youthful, numb) children were going into the pool. Felt bad for the CM shivering at her lifeguard station!

At 1:30 we headed down to deck 2. EStewart already had their FE up and door decorated! There were I think 5 rooms on our end of the hall with FEs and door decorations. That was very cool, too. I took a bunch of pics of the room and the door (I always wondered what the inside of the steamer trunk looked like, and how big were those closets??).

18 hangers in the closet, of three different types. Just in case you were wondering!

Spa tour. Cruise meet in the Promenade Lounge. Raffle at the Spa (none of our DISgroup won anything). Muster Drill. We were at Animator's Palate, as were at least 2 or 3 other large groups. Couldn't hear a thing. But we were there. By this time it was 4:30. Up on deck, the Sailaway party was going strong. We watched from deck 10. It was quite loud but pretty exciting.

No Mickey Hands or streamers given to the guests (again, the rest of my family didn't know to miss that, so it was fine). Most fun was watching this granny standing next to us wave her arms and wiggle her bod! She was totally into it!

If I inadvertantly took a picture of anyone you know, tell them thanks for making the party a fun rockin' time!

We looked over at the Intrepid Air and Sea Museum in the next dock over. The Space Shuttle Enterprise was already onboard!

It's not open yet, but there it was! It was warm in the sun. Cool in the shade. Sweatshirts off, sweatshirts on.

Sailaway! 5:10 or so. Walked around, played a bit of shuffleboard, took lots of pictures. Watched NYC go by.

Waved to the water taxi, to the seagull, to the helicopter pilot. Over on the other side of the ship we could see Lady Liberty. Ellis Island.

Wow. Not wanting to miss anything, we sent the kids down to the cabin 2 at a time to change out of shorts. Guess who stopped by for a photo-op!

Stayed on deck until the SOL was well photographed, then finally headed to dinner. (At this point the camera took a break -- for tonight anyway!)

Our rotation was APLAP (Animator's Palate, Parrot Cay, Lumiere's...). We were seated at a 6-top (by request) against a wall, a good location for us, would turn out to be our "quietest" table location, DH was pleased. Only "problem" was that the picture over our table was broken and never got lit up. This only bothered on DD15. She enjoyed the color show enormously and pointed out every change (or lack thereof) to us all throughout the meal! We had our first ordering experience and though I won't go into every detail of what we ordered, let's just say that with some help from us and Mario (server) and Nishank (assistant server), the kids did great ordering new things and finding good basic foods as well. Our vegetarian DS13 also did great. Basically they all just wanted to get to dessert though. But that is for another posting!

The boat was rocking but not too bad. None of the family complained (I had taken Bonine just in case). After dinner we walked around. Looked at the shops, at Shutters, the Edge for DS13 and then back to the room to unpack. At 8:00 I went to Guest Services to drop off pillowcases for signing. There was no line at all! DS13 tried out the Edge and DDs15 and DS15 went to the Vibe. DH fell asleep. I went out to the teak deck chairs on deck 4. Watched the water. Wrote in my journal. The Queen Mary II passed us in the distance! Lit up like a carnival! By 10:00 I was in bed. Very comfortable gently rocking bed!
Having a Sea Day on Day Two is brilliant planning. Life. Is. Good.

 

[DisneyDream2B]

Thanks for the update, and for answering questions.
Great photos!

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

Day Two:
I slept very well. The mattress was so comfy! The gentle rocking was calming, there was just a quiet hum from the engines (it was a sea day, no docking sounds...), and the room was very, very dark (we left on one bathroom light).
My thoughts on the room (pictures mostly posted already on Day 1):We were in a Category 10C, Deluxe Inside Stateroom, connecting rooms #2145 and 2143. Split bath – brilliant. Small, just enough room for one body. But great to have the extra two separate areas. Closet quite ample! Nine hangers on each side, some with clips, some straight, some for pants. Cloth laundry bag – embroidered. We wanted to take it home! Wonder if they sell them anywhere ?(and I don't mean on ebay…). We didn't bring an over-the-door pocket organizer, and didn't miss it at all. Also didn't bring the pop-up hamper – and didn't miss it. We stuffed our washing into the two cloth bags, and then transferred them to plastic bags to put in the empty "laundry" suitcase later. Toilets flush quite noisily. Think airplane toilets. Tap water very drinkable. Good storage in bathrooms, too. Corner shelf and both under and over-sink shelves! Electrical outlets – glad we brought a power strip. We needed to plug in a CPAP machine by the bed and it was a challenge to get to the plug which was at the head of the bed down below mattress line. But once we were plugged in it was fine.
Those are my thoughts on the room!

I woke up at 6:30 am, still a bit jet lagged. No desire to sleep more – too much to do! DH and DS15 awake, too. Up to deck 9: it was overcast, windy and chilly out!

We had our first breakfast at Goofy's Galley, which opens at 7:00. Fruit, yogurt, muffins, cereal. Hot chocolate and coffee from the drink station. At 7:30 I ACTUALLY went to the spa and did a stretching class! It was wonderful! Unfortunately I never woke up this early again, so it was a one-time wonderful event for me! It was quite mild, good for all types of folks. Maybe 10 – 15 participants. Lasted around 20 minutes.
By 8:00 Topsiders was open. Time for a second breakfast! Just me and DH sitting and noshing, I think I just had fruit and coffee this time… I think! DH had roughly 3 breakfasts every day. He loved the breakfast buffets! Afterwards we went to see what Cove Café was all about, sat together outside in the sheltered area there, nice soft loungers. 9:30, and the rest of the teens had finally dragged themselves awake. Time for … breakfast #3! Enjoyed watching them – I really didn't "need" a third breakfast yet!

We all walked around and DS15 and I went to browse the stores. He likes to collect pins and we found a limited edition Saint John pin mixed in with all the regular pins! Pixie Dust – they were only supposed to be available at a special pin event that evening! I bought myself a Statue of Liberty "Tervis" type of cup, and a little embroidery thread bracelet that says "Magic". Took a bunch of pics of the souvenirs (also in previous post!). Don't love the NY-Canada designs too much. Why do they call it New England Coast???? Anyone??? Did I already rant on this?

We walked by the princess meet-and-greet – cuteness! No little princesses in our family, though. Only sleeping beauties! Back in the room we found DH happily watching "Thor" on TV, and learned that DS13 had gone off to see Chimpanzee. He went to four movies in 5 days!

I packed my canvas bag and went out for some "me" time. I was really happy I had a "tote bag" as DH had commandeered the backpack, and it was great to have a small bag to carry around the ship! Sitting on a lounger in the protected deck by the Quiet Cove, with a fleece blanket tucked around my legs, I read over the days' Navigator. There was some sun, but mostly overcast. Not many were swimming. In fact, almost no adults. Maybe a few in the hot tub. A mom and her tween daughter took loungers by me and a CM very nicely told them that this was an adult only area. Thumbs up! Plan: 10:30 Art of Entertaining; 11:30 Animation Class; 1:00 Mickey 200 with kids; 4:00pm, Art of the Theme ship tour; 5:45pm dinner; 8:30pm, show – Twice Charmed. That was the plan… are you wondering if I did it all?

 

[RGirl]

Joining in! I am really enjoying hearing about this cruise - I love to hear about the more unusual itineraries. And I have to say I really loved seeing Liberty Minnie!

Can't wait for more!

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

Joining in! I am really enjoying hearing about this cruise - I love to hear about the more unusual itineraries. And I have to say I really loved seeing Liberty Minnie!

Can't wait for more!

!!
On the last night there was a character greet with BOTH M and M in their NY gear!!! I also loved the Halifax Mickey in his yellow slicker!

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

10:30: Art of Entertaining was entertaining. Salmon in filo dough! By chance I had ordered this dish the night before and it was yummy! I plan to try to make it sometime. But I would skip the sauce it sits in. Chef Corey was very amusing!

They served everyone a piece of salmon and a glass of wine. As you may recall, I had just sat through three breakfasts. Still, I "had" to taste it! There was a short wine talk, too, but I didn't stay for that.

And, alas, I didn't stay for the Animation Class. Next time? When I went back to check on the family, I decided that the kids needed some help to "get out". The lack of sunny weather had them a bit stumped. So the four teens and I headed to play "The Wheel", i.e. Wheel of Fortune, in the Promenade Lounge. It was all done on a projection screen and was really fun!

Lots of cheering and hooting, lots of spirit! Met a few nice folks who we would then bump into here and there to say hello! Right after WOF was the Mickey 200. My guys were the oldest competitors, and as such I allowed them to wield their own blunt knife to create the race car out of a carrot and a potato.

I really didn't interfere. It didn't roll too well alas (in fact it got stuck in the start gate, but don't tell them I told you!) but it was sure fun! Lunch together at Topsiders, then we all went in our own directions. Older teens went to the Vibe for an ice cream social, , went to Guest Services to add our Disney Reward card to our account, and then DS13 and I delivered some FE gifts…

At 4:00 pm I was at the entrance to Palo for the Art of the Theme tour. I thought it would be about "art" but it was more about "theme", still very interesting and a fun way to spend an hour!

Lots of little details pointed out. Particularly loved the story of "Monica Blue", the color of the bottom part of the outside of the ship (almost black). Does anyone know that story?

5:45 and we were ready for dinner at Parrot Cay. Did you have a funny feeling it should be semi-formal night tonight?

Well, we didn't! Haha! Yes, with all of my uber-planning, I actually got the nights MIXED UP and did not get us "dressed" for semi-formal tonight! The funniest part is that I didn't even realize it until hours later!!!! Of course we noticed that there were people really dressed up, but some other nights we noticed that, too. And this WAS only our second cruise dinner ever. So we felt blissfully comfortable as we were! The funniest part is that I think I had myself so convinced that THE PLACE for semi-formal night would be Lumiere's, that I simply made it so! The kids all thought it was pretty funny. And yes, we dressed up (well, as dressed as we get) for Lumiere's the next night. Hermans do semi-formal when, and where, Hermans WISH to do semi-formal!
Back at Parrot Cay (where it was semi-formal night, did I mention that?), it was also show night and we got a kick out of our napkin hats.

Server Mario and Asst. Server Nishank played around with us a bit and the team presented DS13 with his birthday cake and song.

After dinner, DS13 went to see Muppets 3D (he was the movie maniac!) while DD15, DH and I went to see Twice Charmed. Impressive? YES! I think the other two went to the Vibe for "Pump It Up", where they go use the exercise stuff at the spa! We had a great day. A Sea Day. Tomorrow: Halifax. Good night!

 

[RGirl]

Great update! Y'all are doing a great job of taking advantage of all there was to do on the ship. We really sucked at that!

That is too funny about semi-formal night!

!!
On the last night there was a character greet with BOTH M and M in their NY gear!!! I also loved the Halifax Mickey in his yellow slicker!

That is so cool! For some reason, I am nearly obsessed with characters in different clothes. The whole idea just dazzles my brain - I mean they are in costume and then in costume again!