OMG our first cruise NEW PICS ADDED 11/30 Thank godness it was Disney!! October 17-24

[bourgie]

It all started wayyyy back in May of 2008. Doberlady said to me “we are going on a Disney cruise”……..soooooooo with very little discussion, my DH and I booked. We were going to sail October 17-October 24 on the Magic Western Caribbean……..

Fast Forward October 2009: The countdown began…magnets were being searched out and made, FE was being made, FE gifts were being decided on and purchased, schools and work were notified of our upcoming magical journey. My DH and I have never cruised before. Doberlady and family have cruised before, but on Carnival.

We were to fly down on October 16th in the morning and arrive in Orlando around 10:30 or so. Doberlady’s family flew Delta, we took Jet Blue. We were texting each other at the wee hours of the morning on our way to the airport. Doberladys plane left at 7:15, ours 7:30…..pretty much an uneventful flight for both, except my DD kept pointing out the window at stuff and hitting her head on the window..(and she says I embarrass her!!))

While waiting for our luggage we noticed a couple of wheels and suitcase parts on the conveyer belt that holds the luggage…..YES they were part of our suitcases….My husbands and DD suitcases were damaged with big holes where the wheels once were. Jet Blue replaced my daughters with a brand new one (and nicer than the one we had!!)…and we were given a voucher for my husbands…which really does not help since we still had to go to a hotel, and there would be many more hands on his luggage. BUT, he taped it up as best he could and we were on our way. We walked over to the Delta terminal, found Doberlady and family, got into our van and were on our way to the hotel….on our way we saw one of the ships in the port. Not sure if it was the Wonder or Magic, because the next day they were both there.

Doberlady did some research and we decided to stay at the Radisson….our room was clean, my DH and I did not like the bed, the kids did, the pool was nice, bar was nice and we had a great lunch at the restaurant….we were starving!!! Our waitress was really nice and went out of her way for the kids. For our purposes the hotel was perfect. Our rooms were very far from the pool and restaurants, but we were only there for a night. We had reserved a 10:00 shuttle and checked in early Saturday morning. Which I am grateful for because we were the first two families called to the shuttle, it was a little later than 10, but that was fine. While we were waiting for the shuttle we met a woman who was going to be going on her 35th Disney Cruise……WOW!!!!!, now there is someone who can give you some info on cruising!!

....girls at the pool.....

We got in the shuttle and after a very short drive we were at the port and very, very excited. I could not stop taking pictures of the Ship!!!!.....we went inside, checked in and were given a number 8 to board…..no big deal. While the CM was checking in, he took our boarding voucher and he forgot to give it back, we forgot to take it etc…SO we had to go back and he gave us a 7 instead, which was good, cause Doberlady had 7 too. So we waited, and not to long we were called to board!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bourgie]

Forgot to post these earlier!!! Love Jet Blue!!!

[lucky1]

Can't wait to hear more.

[Kay1]

It's nice to hear a positive review of the Radisson shuttle. Thanks!

[bourgie]

DD's at the port



DD boarding...



while they were introducing our family......

Sooo, we boarded the ship…and WOW how beautiful!!!! We hurry up to Deck 9 to get a table and check out the Mickey pool……and of course get something to eat……It was actually kind of overwhelming to me at first. I had never been on a cruise before and still could not imagine what it was going to be like once we left the port. The kids were splashing around in the pool, we were hanging out at a table with our rolling luggage filled with beer and water, which by the way REALLY works out nicely…it seemed like on every floor by the elevators CM’s were there trying to sell beer and water packages…way tooo expensive. We stopped at a 7-11 on the way to the Radisson the day before and got our beer and water.…… by 1:30 on the nose our staterooms were ready and we were on our way to check them out.

I was delightfully surprised by the size of the stateroom. Doberlady said that her stateroom was bigger than the one they had on Carnival. We wasted no time whatsoever decorating our room while we waited for our luggage. Once we got into our stateroom this is what we saw!!!!!! Somewhere in the back of mind I new we were lucky…somewhere I read on the disboards about being able to see the Wonder in port at the same time, and there she was!!!

[Donald_Quackers]

Sounds like a great start already! It's rare to have both ships in such proximity to each other I understand.

Keep those updates coming!

[doberlady]

oh I can't wait to hear more about our trip haha.

Where a pic of MEEEEEEE

[praisehisname]

Great start!

[PizzieDuster]

Wow, being able to see the Wonder in port at the same time...priceless!
Great trip report, love the pictures!

[bourgie]

I have realized that I never introduced the cast of this trip!!!

Me----- First cruise ever!!! My DH and I got engaged while on my first trip to Disney World.
DH-----First Cruise as well…. We booked this trip to celebrate our 40ths and also 15 year wedding anniv.
DD (13) Loves the ocean, Loves Ariel.
DD (10) Also loves the ocean and loves Tinker Bell.

Doberlady – 2nd cruise, first Disney cruise. My bff
DDDH- 2nd cruise, first Disney cruise.
DD (13) my dd’s bf……boy are they lucky they got to go on a cruise together!!!!
DS (11) nicest kid you ever could meet!!
DD (4)….what can I say.. cutest girl ever!!!!!, my DD(10)’s side kick…. 



After decorating our door and receiving all our luggage, we went for a walk all around the ship. We went up to the stores and took some pictures. I loved the rugs on the Magic, especially where the designs were! My DD was making fun of me, and still does!! Ahhh well. We went to the sail away party......Some folks on here were saying it is not that big of a deal......i say otherwise...i thought it was great and really got everyone in the vacation mode!!!!!









Dinner on the first night was at Animators Palate. Our servers were Leroy and Willie. They were fantastic!! I loved how they put the kids first for serving. I thought the theme of the restaurant was really cool, but was not that impressed by it. Maybe because I have seen so many pictures of it on the DISboards that I knew what to expect…who knows…..

cut like butta!!

Anyway, the food was excellent. Service was great, kids enjoyed themselves as did the adults...

After dinner we walked around a little more, doberlady and family headed off to bed. We went up top to check out the scene. We saw a Carnival ship out as well. It looked so beautiful at night!!! I would love to see our ship at night!!! DH and I ordered some beer in the take home mugs…yummy..tasted so good!!!.........

[praisehisname]

Originally Posted by bourgie

They've changed the design of the chocolates since last year...I like them better now! Great update!

[lmhall2000]

I would love the carpets too!! It's all in the details!! Great trip report, I love reading reports from first timers, it builds excitment!

Tara

[ArmandXG]

subscribing!

[NCjenn]

I've been away from the boards for a while since I was so sad to be back home after our cruise. I popped in tonight and was so happy to see this report. My family was on the same cruise with you! Love the pictures! Anxious to here more...

Still sad to be home : (

Jennifer

[bourgie]

Originally Posted by NCjenn

I've been away from the boards for a while since I was so sad to be back home after our cruise. I popped in tonight and was so happy to see this report. My family was on the same cruise with you! Love the pictures! Anxious to here more...

Still sad to be home : (

Jennifer

I Love looking at pictures from other people who were on this cruise as well!!!! We had a fantastic time..wish I was on it now!!

We are definately going again......

More to come!!!