Mr. Moose51
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2005
A quick, or maybe not so quick, report on our seven day Magic Cruise.
First, the cast of characters. My wife and I were on our 4th Disney Cruise. We're from West Michigan, I'm a school administrator and she is a nurse. I am a die-hard Disney person, who wore Mickey ears and vest with my tux at our son's wedding reception. (It was a halloween costume reception) We have been to WDW more than a dozen times, it'd be more but West Michigan is a tad to far for a quick trip. We were accompanied by our friends (Marc & Mary) who were on their first cruise. He also is an administrator in a school and his wife is a stylist. We flew down the day before using the Disney package program. Flights were great, and the Hyatt was an excellent place to spend the night, though a bit pricey. But it was warm! After ten days of below zero to 10 degree weather, and checking roads for school busses at 4:00 every morning, warm was wonderful.
1st day of the cruise. When you've been getting up at 4 it doesn't stop just because you are on vacation. We're up and ready for breakfast long before breakfast was ready for us. Hauled the luggage out in the hall (why did we take so much?) to be taken to the ship, grabbed our day bags and were among the first to receive the coveted "Captain Mickey" ticket for the first bus out of town. Watching the (new to us, been two years since the last cruise) video with the check in proceedures, and of course crossing the big bridge and seeing the ship in the distance got everyone on the bus pretty geeked. Our friends could hardly sit still. The major early comments were, "what a big, beautiful boat." Went through security w/o any real problems, why can't I remember to remove my watch? Got upstairs in group #4, checked in and pointed out the "map" of the caribbean inlaid on the floor. Our friend who were born with Nikon's in their hands went berserk clicking and flashing at everything, and that was before the characters showed up. Too bad that cameras are digital now, or I would have gotten rich by owning Kodak stock. Group 4 was announced and into the line we sprang. Picture (I looked good, at least as good as a "chubby, bald 55 year old guy" can look, and my wife was as gorgeous as always), walking into the atrium and hearing you name over the speakers with people clapping, how grand! Trust me, you don't get much of that kind of treatment working in a school.
We had made all Palo reservations on-line so we were free to go up to deck 9 and have lunch and enjoy the sunshine. What is that shiny thing, in west Michigan, home to cloudy days 95% of the winter thanks to "lake effect" it warmed my heart, and would have burned my head, had I not been wearing my trusty "Tilly" hat. So I look like a dork, nobody knows who I am. We got to our verandah cabin on deck 6, luggage arrived (why did someone pack so much?) and we started making our week long home look homey. Great suggestion by the way on the transparent shoe holder for the bathroom. We met Gerish, our room steward, donned our life jacket and headed to the drill. How humiliating! We lined up in height order. Of our two rooms I was the shortest (only by an inch, cause my wife had heeled sandals, and her hair was sticking up from the wind, and of course as previously mentioned, I have little to none to stick up). I got to stand with the youngsters in the front of the line. Once that humiliation was over, we finished unpacking and headed to Lumiers for dinner (first seating). Our servers were Chand from France, and Sanjeve from India. Jeevan was the head server. Great group, and we had an excellent dinner, not that anyone was hungry. We wandered down to the show after showing our friends all the entertainment venues (Is this really a boat?), and had a great time watching the juggler and the "World's Greatest Magician - almost", especially when one of the younger volunteers mentioned that his father slept w/o underwear. Ah, how good it is to know that your children are safely silent over 1,000 miles away. It was now 10:00, and after stalking around deck 10 with the wind in my, on my head, it was time to get acquainted with our first towel animal, and read the navigator before the first nights sleep. No snow day tomorrow!
First, the cast of characters. My wife and I were on our 4th Disney Cruise. We're from West Michigan, I'm a school administrator and she is a nurse. I am a die-hard Disney person, who wore Mickey ears and vest with my tux at our son's wedding reception. (It was a halloween costume reception) We have been to WDW more than a dozen times, it'd be more but West Michigan is a tad to far for a quick trip. We were accompanied by our friends (Marc & Mary) who were on their first cruise. He also is an administrator in a school and his wife is a stylist. We flew down the day before using the Disney package program. Flights were great, and the Hyatt was an excellent place to spend the night, though a bit pricey. But it was warm! After ten days of below zero to 10 degree weather, and checking roads for school busses at 4:00 every morning, warm was wonderful.
1st day of the cruise. When you've been getting up at 4 it doesn't stop just because you are on vacation. We're up and ready for breakfast long before breakfast was ready for us. Hauled the luggage out in the hall (why did we take so much?) to be taken to the ship, grabbed our day bags and were among the first to receive the coveted "Captain Mickey" ticket for the first bus out of town. Watching the (new to us, been two years since the last cruise) video with the check in proceedures, and of course crossing the big bridge and seeing the ship in the distance got everyone on the bus pretty geeked. Our friends could hardly sit still. The major early comments were, "what a big, beautiful boat." Went through security w/o any real problems, why can't I remember to remove my watch? Got upstairs in group #4, checked in and pointed out the "map" of the caribbean inlaid on the floor. Our friend who were born with Nikon's in their hands went berserk clicking and flashing at everything, and that was before the characters showed up. Too bad that cameras are digital now, or I would have gotten rich by owning Kodak stock. Group 4 was announced and into the line we sprang. Picture (I looked good, at least as good as a "chubby, bald 55 year old guy" can look, and my wife was as gorgeous as always), walking into the atrium and hearing you name over the speakers with people clapping, how grand! Trust me, you don't get much of that kind of treatment working in a school.
We had made all Palo reservations on-line so we were free to go up to deck 9 and have lunch and enjoy the sunshine. What is that shiny thing, in west Michigan, home to cloudy days 95% of the winter thanks to "lake effect" it warmed my heart, and would have burned my head, had I not been wearing my trusty "Tilly" hat. So I look like a dork, nobody knows who I am. We got to our verandah cabin on deck 6, luggage arrived (why did someone pack so much?) and we started making our week long home look homey. Great suggestion by the way on the transparent shoe holder for the bathroom. We met Gerish, our room steward, donned our life jacket and headed to the drill. How humiliating! We lined up in height order. Of our two rooms I was the shortest (only by an inch, cause my wife had heeled sandals, and her hair was sticking up from the wind, and of course as previously mentioned, I have little to none to stick up). I got to stand with the youngsters in the front of the line. Once that humiliation was over, we finished unpacking and headed to Lumiers for dinner (first seating). Our servers were Chand from France, and Sanjeve from India. Jeevan was the head server. Great group, and we had an excellent dinner, not that anyone was hungry. We wandered down to the show after showing our friends all the entertainment venues (Is this really a boat?), and had a great time watching the juggler and the "World's Greatest Magician - almost", especially when one of the younger volunteers mentioned that his father slept w/o underwear. Ah, how good it is to know that your children are safely silent over 1,000 miles away. It was now 10:00, and after stalking around deck 10 with the wind in my, on my head, it was time to get acquainted with our first towel animal, and read the navigator before the first nights sleep. No snow day tomorrow!