Beyond Live from the Magic 11/26/05

DiaLady

Ready for another vacation!
Joined
Apr 7, 2003
Well, I know I started the "live" thread, but this is the trip report that I didn't write when we were live .. .LOL

Casting:
Me (39)
DH (37)
DS (11)
DS (8 11/12)

DAY 1 - Arrival / SW
We arrived from Virginia on the Friday after Thanksgiving into MCO (Orlando). We stayed at the Comfort Suites across from Universal. We visited Sea World in the afternoon using our annual passes from Busch Gardens. Wish we were able to get into the Radisson by Sea World. Enjoyed Sea World, but only got to see one show :(

Day 2 - Emparking on the Magic
We had rented a car from Budget. We drove to Port Canveral and arrived around 10:30 AM. It was cool seeing the Magic as you crossed that last bridge. We all knew it was coming so we were looking for her.


DH dropped us off with the porters and returned the car to Budget. Check in as a Castaway member was quick and easy - only 2 or 3 people in front of us. I did attempt to upgrade at the port. The only room left was a category 3 (we're in a category 9). The cost was only $1500!!! If we'd had an extra $1500 we would have jumped on it. However, we had other things to purchase (see day 5) . . .

We were in group #6. I must say, I really liked the new boarding. It was rough last time (2003) when we had to have someone holding our place in line so we could board the ship. Our children don't sit still long :) The only challenge was hearing the announcements over the cartoons playing on the TV's.

We boarded and heard our names called. Only one person clapped, but hey, we didn't care. We had arrived on the Magic! We were off to Parrot Cay to enjoy the buffet.

I had heard about the Mango soup, but tasting it was out of this world. It was better than the Mango smoothies I get at home. Wow! DH loved the shrimp. He put away quite a bit. Our boys were biting at the bit to get to those kids clubs so they weren't hungry (except for chocolate chip cookies).

We headed to the kids clubs to get our pager for the week. When we noticed the new Ocean Quest was open for families, we headed down there. My DS11 found his favorite place for the cruise! He worked to learn to drive the ship on the simulator. It was impressive.

Our rooms were ready before we knew it! The last trip, we stayed in an inside stateroom. We were so excited to have a port hole. After checking out the room, we dashed up stairs to enjoy the DIS MEET. It was so cool to put a face with the folks we'd be chatting with for months. What a great group of folks. DH was suprised when folks were asking about his mom and how our kitchen cabinets were coming along . . .LOL. He felt at home quickly. My DS8 searched to find his email buddy. They hung out the entire trip!

After the boat drill with the new life vests (very sleek!), we headed to the room to start unpacking. DH, DS11, & DS8 headed up for the party on deck. By the time I got up there we were pulling away. It was fun to wave at everyone as we left port. DS11 used the journaling information provided to us at the terminal to look for bouys as we left. We were suprised how far out into the ocean the channel was marked.

For dinner, we were on the PALPALA rotation at 8:15 PM. It was just right. We went to Diversions to watch the beginning of the VA Tech game and then headed to dinner at Parrot Cay. Our servers were Pairoj (Thailand) and Jonathan (Phillipians). They were lovely and did a great job.

Shockingly! We couldn't drop the kids at the kids clubs the first night. DH and I were so disappointed. You can imagine how upset the kids were, too. We had looked forward to doing the Marriage match game, but couldn't b/c the kids didn't have any place to go. In the end, we watched the rest of the terrific VA Tech game on our TV in the cabin and hit the sack early.

More soon!

Theresa 8-)
 
So the kids clubs are not open on the first night? We were on the Wonder last March and the clubs were open on the first night. Is this something new? :confused3 Thanks and have a great time. :banana:
 
Echo queen said:
So the kids clubs are not open on the first night? We were on the Wonder last March and the clubs were open on the first night. Is this something new? :confused3 Thanks and have a great time. :banana:
Echo Queen,

We were also on this cruise with DiaLady and the thing about the kids clubs on the first night is..... They were trying something new for the first time on our cruise, it was a open house for the whole family to get the kids use to being there with their parents first to make it easier for them the rest of the time so they new what they where they were going and what they were going to do, and the counselors tried to make sure they talked to the kids and asked their names. I liked it becouse my kids are very attached to us and they would only go to the kids clubs a couple of times, and I even had to go with them some. So if I had to just drop them off there is no way they would have stayed at all.
amy
 
Day 3 & 4 - Days at sea

On Sunday, we managed to get up in time for the non-denominational church service. It was lovely. We felt so blessed to be on the ship and it was cool to celebrate God's blessing with others. We saw LisaRae & Steve again and decided to head up to TopSiders for Breakfast. What a fabulous spread. I especially liked the omelettes. The boys liked the sugar that came with their cereal - a specail treat . . . LOL. They don't get the sugar filled cereals at home.

Now, we've cruised with DCL before and I've been on boats my entire life, but I began to get a bit woozie toward the end of breakfast. After dropping of the boys to the clubs, DH and I headed up to the Rainforest. I had purchased the weeklong pass. What a bargain! We started in the mild steam room. It was toasty, but not uncomfortable. Unfortunately, it made me even more dizzy. After a short visit, I headed to our stateroom to attempt to sleep it off. I was feeling a bit better so I decided to take a shower to start getting ready for Formal Night. While I was showering, the club beeper went off. DS11 wasn't feeling well at Topsiders. By the time I got there, he had gotten sick . . .poor thing. B/c he actually got sick (instead of just feeling woozie), he was not permitted back into the kids clubs for 24 hours and had to have an okay from medical. Sadly, we made the decision not to attend formal night. I had bought suits and ties for the boys just for this occasion in hopes of getting a great Christmas picture.

DH went to Topsiders to get us some food. He was told he'd have to order through room service. (I still think DH miss understood). We called room service and they were kind enough to bring us dinner from Topsiders b/c we had to stay in the room - honestly we couldn't leave w/o feeling woozie again. DH was enjoying all the football he could handle with his new found friends at Diversions. We barely saw him all day on Sunday . . . LOL.

On Monday, I was still feeling yuckie, but DS11 was feeling much better. I decided to just to sleep for the day. I know this sounds like a terrible start to our vacation, but it turned out to be great. I didn't know I could sleep for 2 days. I don't think I would have slowed down quite as much. I also didn't touch my computer until Thursday! That shocked many of my friends when I returned home .. .LOL. I did try out laying out by the pool for a bit while the boys went and played video games. I think I lasted about 30 minutes. The wind was howling and the air was warm, but chilled by the wind. I went back to the cabin for another long nap.

We did get tickets to participate in the GingerBread House building. This is our third year of building Gingerbread house in our family. DCL did a great job! They had a pastry chef explain how to build it and then gave us plenty of materials to do it ourselves. The boys ate that house up all week!

By 5 PM, DH11 had gotten approval from medical to return to the kids clubs. He was thrilled. I decided I really wanted to eat so we all got dressed for our 8:15 PM dinner at Animators Palate. Even though we've seen it before, it is so magical to listen to the music and watch the changes to the walls.

After eating I was feeling much, much better. On the way to dinner, my DISboard friend, BAHOGG, told me I could get sea bands at the onship store. I didn't bring them b/c I didn't think I needed them. I couldn't wait to try them! However, the stores were closed until morning :( Looking back, I probably could have gone to Guest Services, but never thought of it. The boys went back to the kids clubs and DH was headed on deck to watch Monday night football on the big drive-in screen. Talk about big screen TV for football. It was one of the highlights of the trip for him. I stayed in the stateroom and watched a chickflick on TV. I was feeling so much better. Around midnight when the boys returned, we noticed we were passing St. Thomas. The seas were much calmer from then on . . . Went all went to sleep excited to see St. Maartin the next morning.

More to come . . .
 


I am glad I am seeing more people post Trip Reports. I know a lot of people are working on theirs. I am hoping I can get at least Saturdays up sometime today.

jon
 
I am so sorry to hear that your trip started out with sickness. I was so worried about this, especially since we had never cruised before. Thank goodness no sickness (sea or viral) affected us. I think it is catching up with us now though....
We were excited to get our family picture done on Sunday too. I am glad you all still had a great time though! :goodvibes
 
Day 5 - St. Maartin

I guess I had slept so much over the past few days, that I couldn't sleep anymore. I was up before 6 AM. I went up on Deck 9 to the overlook to the side bridge. It was beautiful watching the sun rise as we cruised into the harbor at St. Maartin. The breeze was warm and refreshing even in the early morning hours. It was quiet and peaceful even with more and more folks milling about to watch the docking process.

I had premium view to watch the Captain and his officer dock this large ship. It amazed me how smooth the process went. Glad we had folks with experience. I had seen many of the crash my DS11 had made on the ship simulator in Ocean Quest . . .LOL. We docked about 6:30 AM. I headed back to our stateroom tired from watching the efforts of our officers :)

We got up again around 9:00 AM. The boys were anxious to head to the Clubs for the day. DH and I were headed into St. Maartin to do some shopping. We had attended Melonie's shopping pitch and purchased the discount book. DH was excited to get all the free stuff we could in St. Maartin . . .LOL.

We grabbed something quick at Topsiders (gotta love the Bain du Chocolate!) and headed for the water taxis. For only $5 / person you could ride them all day.

Our first stop in town was Diamond International. It was highly promoted by Melonie - she was even there. I was looking for a new watching and DH was, well, looking. After realizing high end watches were still too high end in prices for me, I settled on a simple silver Maurice LaCroix watch. Then I spotted the beautiful diamond rings. When we decided to get married, buying an engagement ring was not in DH's finances. We've been married for 12 years and I've always wanted an engagement ring. We looked at the wide assortment. . . and we were just looking . . not intenting to purchase (it wasn't in the budget for this trip). After some haggling and much thought, DH bought me a beautiful ring for my engagement ring! It's so nice to be engaged after 12 years of marriage . . . LOL. He did very well!!

After leaving DI, we wandered the streets for awhile. DH was hungry and headed to Subway (comfort food). We went to Del Sol to buy those cool color changing T-Shirts. So far, we were pretty impressed with all the freebies we were gathering . . . I was ready to head back to the ship for lunch and to enjoy the ship while in port (especially since it wasn't moving!).

DH went back to St. Maartin for my new ring; they were sizing it. He also was in search for a watch of his own. I checked on the boys at the kids club. They were having a blast. Making flubber is cool! I changed my clothes, picked up my book and headed to the Quiet Cove Pool. It is such a luxury to have a pool just for the adults! I met up with a few friends from the DISboards and just relaxed and began my tan. By 5:00 PM I hadn't heard from DH so I went to get the boys from the clubs. We wanted them to eat dinner with us.

DH returned about 6:00 PM. He'd had a great time exploring St. Maartin. He'd bought a fancy watch he'd been wanting to purchase for a few years. He got a decent price, too. We had now spent our wad on jewelry . . .LOL. We got ready for dinner and headed to see Chicken Little in the Walt Disney Theater. How cool!

After the show we wandered a bit until it was time for dinner at Parrot Cay. The boys were eating a lot of pizza and mac & cheese. Thankfully they served brocolli and carrots with it as well. Got keep up those anti-bodies! We were impressed how often we washed our hands or used the antibacterial wipes. With all the cough and sneezing going on around us, we were thankful.

After dinner, the boys headed back the kids clubs (this is getting repetitive here . . .). I was ready for my first night on the town . . or rather on Beat Street. However, DH was totally wiped from spending the whole day walking the island. We spent some time walking around the ship. DH loved a late night tip in the pool, too. We did a brisk walk around Deck 4. It's 7/10 mile for one turn around the deck. The teak decks and shuffle boards are a throw back to another era. Then we picked up the kids early and headed to bed. St. Thomas would be an early morning for all.
 


Day 6 - St. Thomas

I must say that this was the day I had been waiting for! We opted to do a non-DIS excursion with HighPockets. We sailed with just our family, the owner and a first mate, to St. John. It took weeks of convincing to get DH to agree to this wonderful opportunity. I didn't find out until we were on board that he had never sailed on a sailboat before! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We rose early for the inspection process. It took awhile, but was relatively painless. Kinda fun watching who was up and ready to go and who was barely making it there in there PJs.

We went back to the room to get ready, grabbed a bite to eat at Topsiders and headed out to catch our cab. Highpockets send a cab for us which was great! However, DH was having a hard time swallowing $12/person each way (almost $100 when tip was included). This rate is government sanctioned so there's not much you can do about it. The bay where the Magic parked was a good ways from anything.

We met HighPockets at Red Hook (named after the red looking cliffs) and tendered to the sailboat. What a beauty. We were off to St. John before we knew it. The weather was spectacular! I had wanted to go to Trunk Bay, but the seas were choppy on that side of St. John. With DS11 & I still fighting off seasickness (thank God for those bands!), we didn't want to risk it. So we stayed in the calm of the bay.

I've gotta share how impressed I was with HighPockets. My DS11 has a sailing badge he can earn for scouts. I had emailed them the link to the requirements. The first mate took DS11 and showed him the ropes . . literally! He didn't earn the badge, but he'll be farther ahead on the next try. I was so impressed they were prepared to help him.

At St. John, we got out to snorkle. The first Mate was our guide. He knew all the names of fish. He wanted to take the boys to where the sea turtles fed. It looked like quite a swim, but the snorkling was so interesting we didn't even notice.

Watching the sea turtle in his natural environment was amazing. We'd watched them at local museums, but nothing held a candle to being there with them! DS8 kept following the turtle everywhere he went. DH even swam down to get a upclose picture (still gotta develop those!) Then it was back to the boat. The cool thing about snorkling is that it's great exercise, but so relaxing. I could do that every day.

After snorkling, we ate a lovely lunch on board. We were pretty hungry at this point. Then we lounged around the boat a bit. DH decided to do some diving from the boat before we headed back. It was something he'd always wanted to do :)

We sailed back across the bay, jumped into the waiting taxi and headed back to the Magic. We enjoyed watching her sail away from St. Thomas toward Castaway Cay

Tonight was Pirate Night. No one in our family wanted to dress up, but they were sure excited to get those cool bandanas at dinner . . .LOL. Even DH looked fierce in his bandana :) We were so impressed with our DIS friend who dressed up. Some of them went all out. The pirate party on deck was a blast. We had a great time dancing and watching the show. Since we had a late seating for dinner, we weren't too hungry for the buffet, but we did sample it. It amazed me to see the fireworks. I wonder how many folks in St. Thomas and surrounding islands get to watch them, too. After the fireworks, DH & DS11 headed back to bed. DS8 & I started to watch Pirates of the Carribean on the big screen. What a great way to watch a movie! It was a bit too violent and too late for DS8 so we followed the rest of our family back to the cabin ready for another restful night on the Magic (my new waterbed . . .LOL).

More tomorrow . . .
 
DiaLady said:
Day 6 - St. Thomas
Tonight was Pirate Night. No one in our family wanted to dress up, but they were sure excited to get those cool bandanas at dinner . . .LOL. Even DH looked fierce in his bandana :) We were so impressed with our DIS friend who dressed up. Some of them went all out. The pirate party on deck was a blast. We had a great time dancing and watching the show. Since we had a late seating for dinner, we weren't too hungry for the buffet, but we did sample it. It amazed me to see the fireworks. I wonder how many folks in St. Thomas and surrounding islands get to watch them, too. After the fireworks, DH & DS11 headed back to bed. DS8 & I started to watch Pirates of the Carribean on the big screen. What a great way to watch a movie! It was a bit too violent and too late for DS8 so we followed the rest of our family back to the cabin ready for another restful night on the Magic (my new waterbed . . .LOL).

More tomorrow . . .

Wasn't Pirate Night after St. Maarten not St. Thomas???

jon
 

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