"Cruisin' with the Sod God" - 7/22-29 Double Dip!!

[HYM8TNNCE]

WOW there were a bunch of DIS'er's on that 7/22 cruise!! If you aren't sick (yet) of trip reports, here's my FIRST EVER trip report!

But first, some background info:

Our adventure began four years ago when we (~100) of us went on our first 4-night Wonder (July 2002) to celebrate our DF Michelle's (AKA "Princess" Michelle) 40th birthday (or as she prefers, the 11th anniversary of her 29th birthday!! She took care of all the booking and planning with help from the DIS'ers (I'm proud to rat her out that she is a lurker--LOL) and needless to say we had a fabulous time! Suffering from post-cruise depression when we returned to the real world in 2002, we then decided to plan another 4-night Wonder trip for July 2004, which, by coinky-dink coincided with DF George's (AKA "Jorge", say it with me "en Espanol") 40th birthday. Some of you may have seen our personalized red can coolie cups in Palo ("gasp"--yes, we are THAT partying crowd!) that read "Summer of George". SO when THAT post-cruise depression set in and DCL released the double dip itinerary on the Magic, DF Princess Michelle called all the troops and told us to book (Costco) and start saving for our first ever Magic cruise!!! TWO stops in Castaway Cay???? We are sooooo there!!! I'd just started back to work full-time after an almost 16-year sabbatical (doing the full-time Mom thing), so we felt we would be able to do this trip. This particular trip would be yet another celebration of a 40th birthday--DF Jerry's 40th (obviously, he is the youngest of the group). Jerry (AKA "the Sod God") runs (with the help of his brothers) a sod farm here in O'Fallon, MO, hence this year's slogan!! None of us are particularly wealthy, we're just a group of friends who are crazy about the Mouse, love cruising on DCL's awesome ships, and most of all, enjoy celebrating our friendship which has obviously grown over the years!

Since I am the only official DIS'er (maybe some of you guys on the 6th floor caught DF Princess Michelle's "Lurker" sign I made her--LOL) , this TR will be written from my POV, so here's my story:

Cast of Characters:
Me - 44
DH - 44
DS - 17
DS - 15

PLUS 40 of our DF's!! Yep, I'm guessing we were the largest group on that ship, 44 of us total!!

While this was my DS's third Disney cruise, my DH and I were fortunate enough to sneak in a last minute 20th anniversary 4-night Wonder in October 2005 with two of our DF's (Lisa and Pat) who actually GOT ENGAGED in Palo on 10/25/05!! DF Princess Michelle and her DH Rick went alone (the nerve!) on the 4-night Wonder in 1/05, it was two of the families in our group's first Disney Cruise ever!

Friday, July 21 - We're on our Way!!

We woke up bright and early at 4:30 a.m. for a 7:45 a.m. Southwest flight out of Lambert. (Dang, that is early--still taking clothes out of the dryer and packing them--LOL). There were 16 of us on that flight--some of us were at Disneyworld a few days prior, and some were spending time in Tampa/St. Pete Beach. No problems with the flight, but we heard that we got out of there just in time, as another MAJOR storm hit St. Louis that morning and the airport lost power--heard on the national news about the 500,000 back home without power and felt so badly for them, as St. Louis, like most of the rest of the country, was going through a bad heat wave.

Arrived at MCO without incident, picked up baggage and DH went to pick up the car (Avis)--snagged a small SUV (we had LOTS of luggage, okay most of it was my SHOES--LOL!) Really, I must confess that we had seven checked bags and each of us had a carry-on!!! Drove to Cocoa Beach and to our hotel, the Marriott Residence Inn. We've previously stayed at the Hilton, and Ron Jon, and while we really loved Ron Jon, we weren't thrilled with the price ($250--YIKES!!!)

We booked the Marriott from everyone's help here on the DIS--it is a really new, clean, nice hotel. Someone messed up (dang it) and we were given a two bedroom HUGE suite for the night--it was really spacious and nice--told the boys not to get used to all of this space, as we would be in a cabin for the next seven nights!! I would highly recommend this hotel--it is sooo close to port it's crazy. BTW, the Sod God and his family couldn't get in this hotel since it was booked and stayed at the very nearby (also new) Comfort Inn/Country Inn, I don't remember but it is right next to Residence Inn--they said it was also a nice place to be!!

Grabbed some lunch, hit the pool (which we had almost to ourselves), and DF Pam and I discovered the pool bar, which opened at 3:00. In order to give an accurate trip report, we decided we'd take one for the team and try out their Pina Colada's, and I can say that Pam and I would recommend these (we give them a thumbs up!) DH and DS's played some basketball (yep, there's a hoop there) and then joined us at the pool. Cleaned up and went to dinner--the front desk clerk told us to stay away from Grills that night (some basketball playoffs in town or something), so Bethipoo, we missed you! Sorry we didn't post on the Cruise Meet thread, because with a group of 44 we have enough already!! Ended up at a place called Beef O'Brady's (I think)--publike atmosphere with food the teens would like, Cardinals on t.v., cold beer in hand, all is right with the world. After dinner, we went to Publix (right in the same parking lot) to stock up on our onboard beer/liquor. DH had FOUR CASES of Bud Light in the cart, and I made him put a 12-pack back (he looked so sad!) I didn't remember that you couldn't buy liquor at the grocery store down there, so we also had to hit the liquor store to get a bottle of raspberry Stoli which my DF Lisa assured me was quite tasty with lemonade (which is free onboard)--btw, she was right!!! By now you are all probably thinking, "hmmm she drinks ALOT!!" Au contraire mes amis, just socially--plus when you go with a gang our size, we always bring along our fair share of the drinks to enjoy either at the adult pool, Promenade lounge (our fave place to meet pre-dinner), Castaway Cay, or Deck 10. Bringing your own on board is a HUGE cost savings, trust me!! After the liquor store, it was off to Ron Jon's for some souvenirs for the DS's. We were all wiped out (my DS 15 didn't sleep the night before at all--"too excited to sweep" --I just love that Disney commercial!!, so we went back to the Marriott and crashed for an early wake up and our first Magic cruise!!

 

[RoyalVizier]

If you aren't sick (yet) of trip reports, here's my FIRST EVER trip report!

Uhhh... is that even possible?

You're off to a great start! 44 of you! Now THAT is a party right there.

 

[Bethipooh4]

NOW the Sod God sign makes sense...I passed it several times a day on deck 6...we were in 6542....
And of course, me being the chicken that I am refused to knock and say hi.....

SORRY....I wish I had now....

 

[HYM8TNNCE]

"Cruisin' with the Sod God" Embarkation - July 22

It's here, it's here!! FINALLY after two years of planning, today is the day we set sail!! We set the alarm early to (try) to get to port as early as possible (I was shooting for a 9:30 departure, but we didn't QUITE make that!) My hair takes awhile (they don't call me HYM8TNNCE for nothing!!) and we enjoy the breakfast at the Marriott. (OK, RUSH through the breakfast--I was freaking out to get an early boarding number, as 9 of us still needed brunch at Palo, and I REALLY wanted to get that (DF Princess Michelle scored some ressies for our group 90 days out at 3:00 in the a.m. and I was supposed to get ours, but we overslept and they were sold out when we finally got online). Then that dang 60 day mark passed and I missed it again (time really does fly, guys, if you're waiting for your trip, it'll be here before you know it!)

My boys were doing everything possible to stall me, as they thought I was being ridiculous, but as teenagers they couldn't possibly fathom the importance of Palo Brunch!! FINALLY DH brought the car around and we were on our way! Wow that car ride is short!! DH drops the boys and me with our luggage, quick hugs to our DFs that we see outside the terminal and I make a MAD dash through the terminal! It is 10:15 a.m. and I am a crazy woman, but boarding group #2 is mine!! YAY!!! Ok now I can relax. To the Castaway Club line we go (DH is returning the car to Avis), I check us all in quickly, and we ALL get a lanyard with two pins. We get our KTTW cards and join our gathering/arriving friends. Our rotation is PLAPLAP--(this works well because our Palo dinner night is Tuesday, so we go to all restaurants twice. We go grab a cup of coffee for me and some snacks for the boys and all just hang out, chat and wait for our number--they call groups 1 and 2 together shortly before noon, we grab the boys, embarkation pic done, and we are announced!! I still get choked up when they do that and you walk on the ship for the first time--I'm a marshmallow!!

The four of us literally run to Rockin D' where a short line awaits for Palo ressies. A very cute bride and groom were behind us in their bridal mouse ears--so fun!!! So I obviously get the new guy at the reservation computer who can't understand that I need brunch for nine ANY of the two days (I don't even care what time!!) when P.J. steps in to the rescue!! DFPM (gotta shorten it!!) had already contacted DCL with a group request for dinner for our 20 adults (yes, the rest of our group was offspring....24 of them and they outnumbered us!!) and she'd asked me to confirm it since I was standing in line. Once P.J. found out we were the same group as dinner, he said no problem we'll get you all together for brunch --P.J. ROCKS!! We had the private dining room and the table outside of the room for BOTH dinner and brunch--make sure and contact DCL in advance if you're part of a large group!!!

So to Parrot Cay we go to enjoy the buffet--yummy!! The kids scatter, we all gather on deck 9 and dig in to a few buckets of beer (man, those bartenders loved our group!) , check out our stateroom (2528, cat. 9) and before you know it, it's time for the lifeboat drill. We lucked out this year and our station was in Walt Disney Theatre--nice and cool!!! Then we head back to the stateroom --we meet our cabin steward Sompop, who is brand new this cruise and boy was he awesome!! DH asked him to keep that precious cooler iced up and handed him some cash for this extra duty and we had to force him to take it!! He was really enthusiastic and patient with us throughout the cruise--more on that later. We changed into our special red Disney shirts that we all bought about two years ago for the sail away! (We always wear matching shirts for the sail-away--it's tradition!!) Here's a couple of pix of our motley crew:

My family:

Me and DFPM (oh and that's "Hor-hay" George on the left):

Some of the teen boys:

A bunch of scurvy pirates:

And our group from across the ship:

The party is great as usual, just waiting to sail!! The party is well under way, special sail-away drink in hand and that magical horn blows--we have still not left land!! Turns out someone's luggage was late (or something like that) and we waited for it--we finally waved goodbye to port and those awesome Mickey hands at around 5:20 p.m.!! QUICKLY changed for dinner (we had 5:45 seating--tough at times, but better than 5:30). Dinner in Parrot Cay was great, our servers Silvio and Aswalt (probably the best duo we've had yet). I cannot remember specifics but I had the beef tenderloin and it was YUMMY. DS 17 got the chicken wings and they were SO GOOD!!! We all had dessert (DH gets the Mickey bar EVERY NIGHT!!) then went to the Welcome Aboard show--it was really cute!! We were beat after that, so DH and I decided to crash--Sompop did a great job on our towel animal a really detailed lobster tonight!! We were woke up out of a dead sleep by DS 15 and his friend ordering room service at 1:00 a.m.!! This was their standard every night--curfew at 1:00 a.m. (my DS 17 thought that a bit harsh) followed by room service (always ordered in our room--phone RIGHT next to my side of the bed!!) but they had fun ordering a long list of food, and always 20 glasses of apple juice!! We were right by the elevators and the teens would gather on the steps there and eat QUIETLY, right??? (I honestly hope no one was disturbed....) Day 2 coming soon!!!

 

[disneypoor]

Hi, Neighbor! I'm loving your trip report so far! I bet it was so much fun to have such a large group! What did you think of your stateroom? We are booked for spring break across the hall in 2026.

 

[HYM8TNNCE]

Hey there back, neighbor! It was a great room, but a little noisy when we were in Cozumel (the tenders pulled up RIGHT outside our window--and I mean RIGHT outside (the door was below on deck 1). The only other day we noticed noise was when we arrived back to port on the last day (porters unloading luggage). Otherwise it was great--we've had previously (in order) an inside, verandah, and two small portholes (we booked a GTY 12 for our October '05 and were UPGRADED to a cat 10--deck 1--we were psyched!!). For the price we love the split br and the large porthole, and the lower decks are nice because the ship doesn't rock as much when you're lower (and for some reason that ship was MOVING some nights!! We were also DIRECTLY below the Rockin D bar and honestly heard NOTHING (boy was that convenient when you needed a cocktail!!!)

Bethipoo, you saw DFPM/Rick's room (6616 and DF Janet/Mike's room 6618)! Sorry we missed you as well!! Most of our gang was on deck 7, with the exception of them on deck 6, us on deck 2, and I do believe we had all the SPH rooms on deck 5.

 

[disneypoor]

Thanks for the feedback! I was considering changing our room to aft, but I think I'll just stick with what I have. I was worried about feeling movement, but it doesn't sound like you had a problem with that. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

 

[HYM8TNNCE]

Cruisin' with the Sod God - Day 2 1st Stop at CC AND said Sod God's 40th!!

I wake up to a really annoying phone ringing somewhere--oh wait!!--now I remember where we are!!! Fumble for the speaker button so ALL can wake up to hear the Mouse!!! Oh boy is he glad we're here!!! Apparently there's some big doin's going on, so we need to get started!!! YAY!! We're on the Magic and at Castaway Cay!! I hear cruise director Rachel saying there are showers on and off today, but a quick check out the porthole shows SUNSHINE (we apparently slept long enough to miss the early a.m. showers!!) DH and I put on our walking clothes and shoes to walk to Serenity Bay and back before waking the boys (to ATTEMPT to abate the inevitable weight gain that comes after all that eating and drinking!!) The Flying Dutchman is there and is COOL!! We hadn't seen the movie yet, but it was pretty neat to see (saw the movie that night actually!). Here's a pic:

We walk a little further and boy is it HOT today!!! We're almost to the family beach, and we see Capt. Jack!! DH INSISTED I get a pic, even though I haven't done my hair (gasp!!) HYM8TNNCE, remember??? Seriously, honey, I am in my walking garb--can we please skip it??? But he insists and wins--I tell the CM that I probably smell since we have been walking, and she says, that's ok, Capt. Jack smells REALLY bad!! He was great and really kept in character--what a fun addition!

We pass our usual spot on the family beach and DFPM and her family are there already with hammocks and chairs and rafts (oh my!) We get to Serenity Bay (which we've never seen before, as even on our adults only trip in October, they shuttled EVERYONE there as a stand in for the Family Beach because the nets were down from the hurricane damage (Wilma), so we (naturally) avoided that situation and stayed on the Family beach!!) WOW is this place beautiful!! The sand seems whiter, the water bluer!! We also checked out the massage cabanas--I will have to treat myself to one of those someday!! We head back to the ship to rouse the boys and we run into Birthday Boy himself and his family!! Gosh, you are OLD Jerry!! DFPM and DF Kris made personalized t-shirts for them (the "God" and "Goddess", buttons for us all to wear, DH and I made him a birthday sign for his door and OF COURSE we had to have coolie cups!! This year's model is green with our slogan (CWTSG--I am getting lazy) and of course, a pic of the Mouse!!

We grab some coffee, water and the boys, and change into our beach garb--the boys and I have an 11:30 parasail, so we head to Marge's Barges. DS 15 and I had parasailed before, but it was DS 17's first time--we were all scheduled to parasail two years ago, but storms came in and they cancelled, so I was sure to book this excursion on the FIRST day of CC in case we needed a backup plan! It was AWESOME--tip, though--TAKE the camera with you--DH took the camera (he didn't parasail) and thought he'd get shots of us--clearly the pictures he took are of many, many others (we're not in ONE of them--LOL!!) The boat ride is fun, and the crew was a riot -- "everybody say Yea, Mon!!" and they kept calling me "Bahama Mama". We were with some fun people as well. This was probably the highlight of my trip, personally, as what can be better than sailing high in the air with the MOST AWESOME view of that gorgeous island, water, and our beautiful ship!! Try it and don't be afraid--it was amazing. DS 17 loved it so much we rebooked him for Friday's CC day (unfortunately, the impending storm/funnel clouds on Friday forced cancellation).

We found Dad, met up with the gang and off to Cookie's for a delicious lunch! I tried the jerk chicken (ok, and half a cheeseburger) and it was really good!! This seemed to be a new menu item since October. We ALL had some of that yummy ice cream (4th trip to CC, our first trying that ice cream--it was sooo good!!) Planted ourselves on our little corner of the family beach with all of our friends, and it was the perfect day. Some did the kayak, some did the stingrays, some snorkeled. My boys and a bunch of the teens had a 2:00 banana boat and headed there. They were running a lot behind, and finally got started almost an hour later--poor DH went back to our room to get the perfect pic of them as they came by our porthole, but again, he has pix of many, many others on banana boats!!! They started with a great ride, but then the boat tipped and a man on there FREAKED OUT so their ride was cut short by alot and they putt-putted back to shore. They said the boat drivers were clearly upset by this guy's behavior and felt really badly. No flames, please, but this is a boat ride--it is wild and crazy and you will most likely get wet!! Please don't even consider this excursion if you aren't expecting a wild ride. DH and I accompanied the kids 2 years ago, and I was thrown (he jumped in after me ) but we knew it was wild (Verandah Man even warned us!!) The kids (all teens from our group and DF Christy, the accompanying adult/mom of two of the teens) were so disappointed. She filled in a complaint card, though and Guest Services gave them another ride on Friday, so they made it right, which was really nice.

My cocktail of choice today was a Pina Colada (saving that Konk Cooler for Friday) and everyone had their coolers full of beer to share so we did not go thirsty!!

Back to the ship to change (after shopping at She Sells, of course!) Dinner tonight was Lumiere's, and we were all meeting in the Promenade Lounge for pre-dinner cocktails (like we needed THOSE!! LOL) Everyone had presents for DF Jerry, our guest of honor. Dinner was great as usual (I think this was Creme Brulee night)!!! The birthday boy got a cake and some DF's who couldn't accompany us sent some champagne and we all sang to him!

Headed to the Walt Disney Theatre to see Rich Purpura--he was pretty funny, but the highlight was when he needed an engaged couple to help him with a "trick" (not many of those tricks, btw, but that's part of his appeal!!) DF's Lisa & Pat were "volunteered" (sometimes it's NOT good to have 44 friends with you--LOL) and it was so fun!! After that we headed to Treasure Ketch to get DH a new watch--they had a really cool one on sale ($38!!) and he needed to replace his DCL watch from 2002 which magically stopped working when we boarded the ship!! Also I needed a present for the birthday boy! We met up in Rockin' D for a scavenger hunt of sorts, but I didn't stay because I was meeting the DS's at POC 2 in the Walt Theatre. Apparently I missed some fun, because our dear birthday boy wore a BRA, (courtesy of DF Christy--wow is she fast!!) and was kissed by everyone (even men!!) and some of our DF guys were wearing girl shoes!! (Sorry no pix, I've only got video (Jerry, I can be bought!!) They all stayed for 60's night, and DH met up with me and the boys for the movie (10:45 p.m. is soooo late after a fun day at the beach!!) Good movie, (a little confusing, so I'll have to see it again), but what better place to see it than on the ship!!! It was fun when Capt. Jack first appeared on the film and everyone cheered!!! That dang movie wasn't over until 1:20 and we were beat, so off to bed (oh, and room service for the teens, of course!!) Oh, in case you're missing CC, here's a great pic DH took:

 

[tjeagle]

I am loving your report! What a great group you have! Looking forward to the rest!!

 

[vital]

I don't cruise until Oct 27, 2007! You are making me really jones for a cruise right now! Great pics also!

 

[HYM8TNNCE]

Cruisin' with the Sod God - Day 3 At Sea/Palo Brunch/Formal Night

Thanks everyone for the nice comments!! We did have a great group and it's really so much fun for everyone--there's always someone you (or the kids) know around to do something fun with! I made a boo-boo-- DFPM informed me that our group had 4 of the 6 SPH rooms (she thinks Roysbrew had one for sure!!) On with the report!!

I forgot to mention that when we returned to our room from the POC 2 movie at the almost crack of dawn, there was a giant green DIS sign on my door--"DIS'er's Sharing a Great Cruise!" I'm not sure who started it, but it made the rounds thru my little group, and DFPM passed it along to me--(remember, she had a DIS sign on her door, with "LURKER" on it-- LOL!!!) Anyway, how cute was that??? It was a "chain" sign, you were supposed to sign it and pass along to other DIS'ers on the ship (good thing there were directions on the back of it)! Too fun!!

So Mickey calls again this morning--he's still glad we're here, and oh, by the way, there's more big doin's goin on today!! (I never get tired of Mickey!!) The Mouse was right, there was big doin's--we had brunch at Palo!! I headed up to Cove Cafe for a latte and to check/send my e-mail (we bought the $89.99 length of cruise package so DH and I could check with family and work and the boys could communicate with their friends via Facebook/instant messaging). Sent a "wish you were here" note to my family and friends, got a Diet Coke for DH at the drink station, grabbed him and we headed up to deck 4 for the poundage-abatement plan (AKA 2-mile walk)--our boys were still sleeping, of course!! (TEENAGERS!!) After the walk, we got cleaned up and went up to Palo. We were the last to arrive (we are always late!!) We grabbed a champagne cocktail (YUMMY!!!) and our gang was waiting, some of them were getting the "food tour"; we hung with them a bit, till they told us we were seated with the rest of the gang in the private room!! This was fun, as we had never been in there!! It was a perfect day, calm seas and we had a great time! Our server was Rishi, who was really awesome! We tried EVERYTHING and ate WAY too much--some of our favorites--the crab legs, prosciutto wrapped melon, eggs benedict, and the margherita pizza (also those dang sticky buns are to DIE FOR!!) We would go and grab food, then Rishi would bring out so much for the whole table to try it was crazy!! DFPM's Mom Molly enjoyed FIVE (yep, FIVE) champagne cocktails (I only had TWO, thank you!) She is a riot and so much fun, this didn't even affect her!! DFPM's brother Rob was apparently "overserved" the night before at 60's night/celebrating the Sod God's birthday, so he wasn't feeling too well, but he sucked it up and enjoyed brunch! This meal lasted quite some time--started at 10:30 and didn't get out of there until 12:45, but it was so dang good and we all enjoyed each other's company!! We caught up with the boys, who were already roaming with their friends, and I had to find a DIS'er to pass that "chain sign" along to.....DFPM said that she knew for a fact that there was someone in the Walt Suite--HeelMD (see, because she was LURKING on the boards!!) , so I was heading there when I spotted a first-time cruiser and a "Yes, I DIS" sign on the cabin about 15 down from me!! YAY!! That was sweet, I only had to walk the sign a few doors down, since brunch made me too full to make that trek up to deck 8 and the Walt Suite (Sorry, Dr. Heel)!!

The rest of our friends had the table outside of the private dining room, so they were close by!!

Off to the adult pool we go, cooler in hand to meet up with our friends again! We had a great time enjoying that sea day, that is until "game time" hit the quiet cove pool!! Dang it, they want us grown ups to play games!! We thought this was the quiet cove pool!! So that emptied the pool cause they needed it for a game, so that was a bummer. Well, we whined a little, but we did end up watching (and yelling out trivia answers) just so we didn't look like poor sports!! DH and DF Pat went to play Bingo, some went to martini tasting, most of us stayed there chatting and having cocktails till it was time to get ready for formal night!

Our dinner tonight was in Animators--I just love this restaurant, it's just so Disney!! DF Christy brought in a couple of bottles of wine to share, and our servers gladly opened it for her, no fee!! The problem was tonight that that ship was REALLY MOVING--I mean it!! In October getting around Wilma, we had 22 foot seas, and this was WORSE!! The waves weren't even high, everyone said that it was the WIND making it so bad. We were all getting a little "urpy" but once the bread basket came, we all quickly forgot about it!!
We all enjoyed dinner and the show --here's Silvio and Auswald in their pretty vests:

We then headed to a VERY long line for the requisite family formal pic--hey, we just don't dress up that much, and DH had rented a tux, so what the heck!!

The boys headed with their friends to see Golden Mickeys--we joined the Sod God and his wife, DF Lesa for a drink in the Promenade Lounge, then joined a bunch of the gang in Rockin' D for the adult version of Rich Purpura--quite funny!! We wanted to stay for 80's night I think (it was one of those decades) but MAN Rockin' D was ROCKIN'!!! So off to the room we went where we found a dog (or elephant) wearing DS 15's sunglasses courtesy of Sompop!! The boys were at a movie, but you guessed it, they returned around 1:00 for their room service order and 20 glasses of apple juice!! That boat rocked so much that our curtains were moving, but we all slept well anyway--tomorrow we're in Costa Maya!!

 

[carol31j]

Hello,

I loved browsing through your report. The pictures are great. I had to take out our album and reminisce.

Oh yeah, we had a magical time with our kids and their kids. But, we were nowhere near 44 in number! The more the merrier! Yours must have been a real fun party!

carol31j

 

[HYM8TNNCE]

"Cruisin' with the Sod God" - Day 4 Costa Maya & Palo Dinner

That dang Mouse calls again for the big doin's so we are up and at 'em!! We're meeting DF Lisa/her family and DF Christy/her family up at Topsider's for breakfast--we decide to skip our "poundage abatement" exercise program, since we'll be doing some walking in Costa Maya. Topsider's is good, just like Beach Blanket Buffet on the Wonder--this is new though, instead of having to wait for your omelet, they give you a number and bring it to you!! I was a little disappointed in the Mickey waffles--they were cold and T-H-I-C-K, like eating a rock!! Oh well, like I needed those anyway!

We got off the ship to take our first look at Costa Maya--it's a hot day, but the breeze off the ocean makes it comfortable.

We had no excursions scheduled--just thought we'd walk around and take a look. It's a cute little port, and the people are very friendly. There was a little stand with some locals in authentic dress with a "Welcome to Costa Maya" sign and you could pose with them--directly above them, however, was this--FREAKY:

....er, kinda weird, but I guess necessary.....anyway, it's a cute little port with mostly shopping and that awesome pool, EXCEPT the pool is closed for renovation today (had been all week)--too bad, since it looked pretty cool. To make up for this tragedy, we were given a free drink coupon for the place right next to said empty pool, so we could drown our sorrows in a XXX (Dos Equis)--here's my DS 17 "swimming" in the pretend water in the pool!!

There's a nice beach area with hammocks and chairs, and really no one was sitting there, so DS's just HAD to try out the hammocks--here's DS 15 in one of them:

We run into DFPM and her family right away checking out the market shop area. The good thing about Costa Maya's little "straw market" area is that the little "shops" are cool inside and really comfortable to look around in. No one really was pushy, and my oldest bartered for a pair of what we like to refer to them as "FOakleys" (fake Oakleys) I was proud of him, as he held fast to his price and the guy sortof followed him around offering him different prices and he would decline--he finally got them for what he wanted to pay ($10). What we did notice is a lot of (ahem) smoking "paraphernelia"--my youngest was shown many "pipes" and he said he didn't think his "Mommy" would like that very much -- LOL!!! After shopping a bit and grabbing some souvenirs, we decided to cash in those free drink tix--MAN was it hot!! So we went to the little bar by the empty pool and grabbed some Dos Equis some soda for the kids, and some chips/salsa. DF Christy ordered this funky multicolored gi-normous frozen margarita for us all to share--it was GOOD!!

We then explored the "permanent" (air conditioned) shops--the kids found a really cool shop that burned on leather bracelets for only $3--so they custom designed their bracelets and we waited for all of them to get a bracelet or two. We bought more some souvenirs (ok, TEQUILA!! --really this liquor store FORCED us to try their little tequila drinks--called Tequipal--they were in cute bottles and tasted REALLY good!! DF's Christy and Lisa both bought a bunch, but I just bought some vanilla (I do believe I was "overserved" in the liquor store!!) LOL

Made the boys pose for some more pix, then headed back to the ship--it really is a cute little stop, and I'm glad we got off the ship to see it!

My boys and a bunch from our crew headed to the matinee of Twice Charmed, but I wanted to relax by the adult pool. DF Keith was there and gave me his chair, since he had already baked in the sun enough!! DH went to get some chicken strips/fries (snacking purposes--they are SO GOOD!!!), and brought me an ice cream. We were relaxing when the Sod God and his wife appeared, who were on the other side of the adult pool, then came DF's Lisa and Pat, so the buckets of beer started magically appearing!! DF Pam had a Dolphin swim that day with her daughter (said it was AWESOME btw), and hadn't brought any $$$ with her, so she had arranged to meet up with one of the guys for her picture, but he never showed--she was so disappointed, so it was 2 for 1 margaritas for her!! (THOSE were tasty by the way). Wow, we are a PINK crowd (accidentally, of course!!)

We hung out there until 5:15 or so and OMG we have to get ready for DINNER at Palo!! The gals ran to the elevator, leaving the guys in our dust!! I ask DF Pam for a SIP of ONE of her margaritas and she gives me the whole dang thing and dashes off to her room (thanks ALOT Pam!!!) We run up to Palo and we are in the private room again!! Yay!! (Thanks Michelle!!) (The rest of our gang was at the table right by us again--thanks to P.J.) We have Rishi again and P.J. even helped serve our crowd--OMG it was soooo good!! I ordered a bellini and it was really good, then DF Rick shared his very awesome bottle of wine (I don't remember the name, but I'm betting I couldn't pronounce it)!! Rishi brought 2 of EVERY appetizer out for us to try, (the calamari is to die for!) the prosciutto, some type of pasta, shrimp, pizza's--too much food. The raspberry sorbets (palate cleanser) were new to us, but really were refreshing. Then we ordered the main course (filet for me, of course!) Rishi brings out a chocolate souffle for everyone at the table, then brings out EVERY dessert for us all to taste (the panacotta was sooo good, but by then we are all so stuffed!!) At the end of the meal we are all treated to the famous Limencello, which I've heard alot about, but only got to try on this, my FOURTH cruise! I think that is my new favorite drink! (for today anyway)

Most of our group (20 adults in all) head to Sessions where someone (I think DF Keith or DF Mike!!) ordered a round of Limencello's for the entire group. Well, they took a little bit to arrive, but that is because the poor girl had to go up to PALO to get them!! (Boy, does DCL spoil you!!) I was disappointed that since dinner took so long I missed Twice Charmed, but I was glad my boys got to see it. We headed to Rockin' D for the adult Jeff Civillico (not sure if that spelling is right...) show. While we were waiting for it to start, I remembered that I hadn't bought DFPM's birthday gift (her b-day was the next day--hmmm, that is a coinky-dink, DFPM always has a b-day on the cruise.....!!!) so DF Keith went with me up to Treasure Ketch to get her gift--a DCL charm for her italian bracelet (it looked like a dinky gift, but I knew she would love it!!) They put it in a really nice box for me and tied ribbon around it--they will wrap free of charge, too!! (Thanks for going with me, Keith!!)

OK, back to Rockin' D --Jeff Civillico (sp?) is a juggler/comedian/unicyclist that is REALLY good and funny!! Well tonight he picked on my DH because he wore his tux again to dinner (it comes with 2 shirts, and we wanted to get our $$$'s worth!) so he was "volunteered" for one of his acts!! He had to wear a pink Disney princess party hat, one of those blower party favors (again, PINK) that Jeff cut off, then he blindfolded him and he threw a bowling pin at him to knock the thing out of his mouth!! It was so funny!!! DH kept just cracking up!! Again, no pix of this, but I have the movie (thanks Rick!) and honey, as I mentioned before, I can be bought.....The show was really funny (he picked on two other "volunteers") but when it was over we were full and tired and it was time for bed. (First we had to sneak to DFPM's room, since we made a surprise birthday door sign for her!) The DS's were playing basketball then catching the late movie, so I guess we wouldn't see them till room service time. We had another MAGICAL day!! Here's our VERY COOL stingray Sompop made:

 

[disneypoor]

Keep it coming! I am really enjoying reading your report!

 

[debster]

Great report! Makes me very excited for our cruise

 

[Disney owl]

Great reports & brill photos

Thanks for sharing

 

[HYM8TNNCE]

Day 5 – Cozumel/Pirate Night and DFPM’s Birthday!! (29 AGAIN!!)

My kids hate the speakerphone--Mickey wakes us up again today telling us to “get started!” “Big doin’s!!” –oh yea, Mouse?? You say that every day!! I’m fumbling for my glasses when I hear a VERY loud noise right outside our window—I looked out and lo and behold, there was a boat (with PEOPLE in it!!) right outside of our cabin!! Turns out that since Hurricane Wilma we have to tender in due to the damage to the dock, so said tender is being loaded right below us on deck one—that was kindof funny!! Good thing I had my Mickey p.j.’s on LOL!! We’re meeting our DF’s Lisa & Pat/Christy/their families again at Topsiders for pre-Cozumel breakfast. Our plan was to hit the beach (Paradise) then do some shopping as we didn’t have any Disney excursions planned. We’re enjoying our breakfast when a honking storm blows through—wind, lightning, thunder, and LOTS of rain! We wonder if we should come up with “Plan B” when the storm stops just as quickly as it started.

We hit the tender on deck 1 and don’t wait very long—the Birthday Girl (DF Princess Michelle) and her family board and we all wish her a very Happy Birthday, and hey, thanks for planning this trip, we are having an AWESOME time!! The tenders were wet from the rain, and the ocean is not calm—we pull away from the Magic in all its majesty (gosh, don’t you feel sorry for all the other cruisers on different boats—ours is soooo pretty!!) It’s a short tender ride to the dock, but a sobering one—the pier is still being worked on by many, many workers and the damage this little island must have sustained is apparent—but I’m told it is really coming along from what it was, so that is encouraging! The water is so many colors of blue and turquoise, it really is gorgeous!

Our room is the large porthole above the smaller one:

We hop off the tender and DCL has a water station with ice cold cups of water and (of course) a hand sanitizing station!! Don’t you crack up every dang time you walk in a restaurant and are handed a wet wipe??? I feel like I’m in preschool!!--"this is the way we wash our hands...." LOL!! Better safe than sorry, though!! We arrange for a very large van to transport the 16 of us to Paradise (DF's Pam & Dave and their kids are joining us as well). Our driver is very nice and wants to take us on a tour, but we just want to get to the beach, since the sun is shining and it looks like it will be a gorgeous day! Once we arrive at PB, a man greets us and asks how many bracelets we’ll need (we buy them only for the kids—I have no interest in climbing that iceburg!! $8 a pop, so that’s not bad and includes all water sport equipment. We’re then led to a very long stretch of empty beach chairs where we decide to park it for the day. A waiter appears for our food/drink order, and the kids hit the water to conquer that iceburg. One MAJOR problem: NONE of us brought towels!! Aaargghhh!!! What is THAT about??? We are so used to DCL spoiling us that we didn’t think of this—however, this is a NON-DCL excursion!! Remember to grab a few towels from the ship when doing a non-DCL excursion!!! The kids enjoyed the iceburg/water trampoline/kayaks even through the RAIN, yep, it started to get dark and decided to rain—it was a bummer. The sun peeked out after a while, but then the skies OPENED up and we all made a mad dash for the restaurant/bar on the beach (covered like a palapa). The storm was not going to let up, so after a few XXX (Dos Equis to drown our sorrows!) we asked our driver to take us shopping!! (When all else fails, right??) We did a little shopping and grabbed some souvenirs then headed back to the ship to get ready for the Castaway Club reception and Pirate Night!

I really love this pic of the Magic from Cozumel:

WOW is that reception BIG!! We were told by Rachel (cruise director) that there were 900 repeat cruisers—the CC reception had to be held at the adult pool there were so many of us!! It was so fun seeing everyone in their Pirate attire!! We had a couple of appetizers and a couple of those YUMMY green drinks (freebies!!---gotta love that!!) and posed for pictures. DFPM had given her brother-in-law George (AKA “Hor-hay”) a really cool pirate costume for his b-day—George is always the crazy one dancing at 70’s night and singing Karoake, so it fit his personality! When he arrived with his family, all the little kids thought he was the real Capt. Jack, it was so cute!!! We didn’t see Capt. Thord, I guess he was busy chatting with everybody.

George (Hor-hay) & DF Denise and their kids:

Here's the Sod God's youngest Pirate, Drew:

Headed to our Pirate Night dinner (Lumiere’s)—the waiters had their pirate gear on and we got those fun special pirate night menus. Silvio came over to tie my bandanna on my head properly!! What a cute menu with all the pirate-y descriptions of food!! I had a Rusty Anchor (DH had a Bud Light), we tried the Pirates Golden Pasta Envelopes, and Black Beard's Jumbo Crab Cakes, the boys tried the Jerk Chicken Salad. DS 17 and I had The Black Pearl's Oven-Roasted Beef Tenderloin, DH had the Castaway Cay's Chicken Rubbed with Pirate Island Spice, and DS 15 was adventurous and tried the Treasure-of-the-Seas Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops (he liked it, sortof....) For dessert, DS 17 had the Shiver-Me-Timbers White Chocolate Cheesecake, and DS 15 and I had the Walk the Triple Layered Chocolate Gangplank Cake (I asked for ice cream on the side, and Silvio asked "which side?" so the two of us decided "both sides!!" DH had his Mickey Bar, with sprinkles, though, since tonight was a special occasion!! (you get to keep the Pirate Night menus, so I remember exactly what I had that night!!

We sang Happy Birthday to DF Princess Michelle, the head server (name escapes me!! ---spoon fed her whipped cream then "accidentally" shoved it in her face!!!, and she was overwhelmed when her DH Rick surprised her with a trip to ITALY in October for her birthday present!!! Whew, that was a hard secret for me to keep, since I (and most others in our group) knew about this surprise for almost two weeks!!!

DS 17 and I got our pic with Pirate Mickey, (the line was REALLY long for Capt. Jack, so we ditched)

Then we met all of our friends up on Deck 10 for the big Pirate Party—the kids had split after dinner and “pimped” their pirate costumes (made them better!!), adding more tattoos, eyeliner, fake beard, etc. It was so fun to see even the older teens get into the spirit (wow, they even danced to the cha-cha slide during the party!!!) Here’s a couple of pix:

Look how crisp and clear the "Dumbotron" is!!!

Here's my DS 15 and "Coach" Rick!

Aarrggh!! Pirate Teens!! (My DS 17 on the right)

DS 15 Nick and DF Amanda

Here's a good looking bunch of wenches with a couple of scurvy pirates:

DH and I had been to the Pirate party in October, but the kids hadn’t been yet--they loved it, especially when Pirate Mickey flew down from the smokestack and the fireworks!! So cool to see fireworks when you’re at sea in the middle of the ocean with nothing else in sight!! After that Pirates (the first one) was playing on Ariel View (AKA Dumbotron!), so DH and I stayed to watch that, the boys went to see POC 2 (again) in the Walt Theatre, some went to bed, and the birthday girl (DFPM) and some others went to watch George (“Hor-hay”) karaoke!! It was soooo windy up on that top deck and it really bothered my contacts, so we ditched halfway through the movie—but how fun was that, watching POC on a giant outdoor screen while at sea????? Towel animal tonight was a funny hanging monkey, with DS 15’s sunglasses—

I forgot to mention that when we left the room that morning, we had forgotten to take off the privacy sign, so the room wasn’t made up when we returned from Cozumel. Well, we were all beat, damp and sandy so we had to take showers—Sompop was waiting outside of our door the MINUTE we left for dinner to clean/make it up—plus, he ALWAYS iced down our cooler and placed it in the shower for us (yes, regrettably, the neat softside rolling coolers from Costco we all bought that held 52 cans LEAKED!! -- ALL of them)!! We left ours in the shower on the ship,!! Anyway, Sompop rocked!!

 

[curlybop]

What a great report! Love the photos also.

 

[iggbees]

man, we saw you guys all over the place and even sat next to you on the beach at castaway cay the second day! i didn't know you guys were dis!

 

[HYM8TNNCE]

What a coinky-dink!! Well I sure hope we were behaving, Iggbees!! Only ONE DIS (me)...the rest just lurk!!

Thanks for all the nice messages, you guys are keeping me going (no one told me how time consuming TR's are--but it's so fun reliving the trip!!) Here comes more if you're not over us!!


Cruisin’ with the Sod God Day 6 - At Sea/The “A Mouse-ing Race”/Semi-Formal Night

We are sleeping IN today!! (But we have the Mouse call anyway at 9:30 in case we “oversleep” in!!! –we don’t want to miss too much!!) The boys are crashed (all THREE of them!!)—not a sound/movement from them, I head up to the drink station, grab some coffee and head into Cove Café see what’s happening in the real world and check my e-mail. Grab a Diet Coke for DH, then we head to deck 4 (you guessed it—we are back to the poundage abatement program) LOL!! The way we ate/drank we would have had to walk CONSTANTLY while on the ship!!

After we walked/cleaned up, we woke the boys to see if they wanted to join us for lunch ---YUMMM, chicken fingers/fries (did I mention that the ones on the ship are the absolute BEST we’ve had??) DS 15 came with, but DS 17 wanted to sleep some more…his POC 2 movie was over VERY LATE!! I thought I’d try a “lighter” lunch (gross!!) and checked out Goofy’s Galley and got a jerk chicken wrap and some fresh fruit, DH and DS got those yummy chicken fingers/fries, and I just couldn’t pass them up, so I ditched the fruit and wrap and ate the fingers/fries!! The three of us ate near the adult pool together, DS 17 showed up and he and DS 15 found their friends and hit the road--we found ALL of our friends already parked at the adult pool!! DFPM had some MAGICal news for us--she REBOOKED us for the 4 night Wonder in Jan. '08 (for her DH Rick's 50th--oh yes, we are getting near that age now--time for more trips!!) This will be an ADULTS ONLY cruise 1/20/08 but she handled all the booking for us all while we were on board (technically the 08 dates aren't out yet, but will be SOON so we just have to switch our 12/07 reservation!!) YAY!!! Now we have another Disney Cruise to look forward to and plan for!!

We hopped in and chatted (my favorite place to be is on that water “shelf” where you can lay out and still keep cool). SO the drink of the day is a Panama Hat—what’s a Panama Hat??? I’ve only been on 4-night cruises, so we haven’t been privy to more days—which means more different types of DRINKS OF THE DAY!!! Here’s the deal—the drink of the day is the cheapest one (of all the fun, fruity drinks)—sometimes we like the drink of the day, and sometimes we LOVE the drink of the day!! Today was the latter—it was soooo good!! So I decide to lay out and order a Panama Hat, and the nice bartender brings me TWO—yep, it’s two for one at that particular time!!! $5.69 for TWO drinks on DCL (including 15% gratuity, but we always add to that). OMG, I cannot possibly drink them both (well, before the ice melts in one of them, anyway and gets warm, come ON!!) So I give one to DF Lisa (who is sitting on the edge of my chair) then the bartender tells us “this offer, should you choose to accept it, will self destruct in FIVE minutes”!! DFPM’s Mom Molly is next to me, so she orders two, DF Lisa orders two, I order two, and the cute Italian man on the other side of me orders two!! (he was from New Jersey with his son who lived in Orlando—if he belongs to a fellow DIS’er, he was a very sweet man and I really enjoyed talking to him!!) We had a LOT of Hats that day!!! No worries, we didn’t drink them ALL, we were forced to share (I mean we ENJOYED) sharing those drinks with the rest of our friends!! At precisely 2:30 that CM came for the "fun" adult pool games (aarrgghhh--not again!!!) We actually rooted for our favorite team (they had to do like a pyramid thing in the pool--my hat goes off to you guys--my PANAMA hat!!) It was pretty funny when at the end of those games, they tossed that CM into the pool!!! LOL!!

DF Kris and DF Rick (DFPM’s wonderful, Italy-trip surprising husband) planned for a 3:30 meet in the Promenade Lounge of just our group (44 remember –well, except some of the smaller/younger ones who refused to leave the kids clubs) for the “A-Mouse-ing Race”—you know, like the Amazing Race—DCL style!! We all slowly started arriving and Kris started forming teams. Then the truly unbelievable happened—the TEENS showed up!!! On their own!! We didn't FORCE them!! They were so pumped and ready to compete, and we had so much fun with them all!

Wow, the trouble Kris and Rick went to!! They put one adult with a group of kids and gave each team a digital camera--all the clues were typed in red Disney script font, with a cute Mickey on them and they were FUN!! To those other DIS’ers on our cruise--If we accidentally plowed over anyone, please accept our apologies—if you took a picture with a crazy group of people in their lifejackets, thank you! If you are a crewmember who had to pose with some of us, we really appreciate it!! And if you were forced to play a game of Horse in basketball or to five in ping-pong, you are so nice!!! They had directions to make your own towel animal, or you could use the previous night's (if it was still around). My DS 17 destroyed our monkey from the previous night after he got a pic with it to slow down his brother, so DS 15 his DF Alex and DF Taylor, who were on my team, ran down to find Sompop (our rocking room steward) who quickly and gladly made them a towel animal!!! We were all laughing/running around and having so much fun!! I loved the one where you had to get/eat an ice cream, get a picture with the anchor chain in it (that was hard to find), but best of all was the FINAL clue:

"Roadblock: A person over 21 must order the drink of the day and drink it before receiving your next clue" (we didn't know it was the FINAL clue!)

So yet ANOTHER Panama Hat!!! Arrrggghh!! Our team was second to last, so the bartender in Promenade knew the drill—“drink of the day”? he asked. Yes, but LOTS of ice!!! The two teams vying for first place was DF Lisa with her DS Blake 17 & my DS Chris 17 vs. DFPM and her DS Trey 15 and her neices--my son thought "no problem" Lisa will sooooo school Michelle---even Lisa was like, "BRING IT!!" HOWEVER Michelle was NOT knocking back 2 for 1 Panama Hats at the adult pool, only a couple of Mich Ultras, and boy did she suck that drink down and won that race!! It was so funny!!! By the end of this race, most of the adults were a bit, shall we say, "overserved". They even had DCL gifts from Mickey’s Mates they gave out to the top three teams!!! The A-Mouse-ing Race was a highlight of the trip for my family and me, thanks you guys!! (Kris and Rick)
Here's our group's self portrait:

And one with the bartender--she was really nice!

Here's DF Christy's son Taylor with the anchor chain:

They even had DCL gifts from Mickey’s Mates they gave out to the top three teams!!! It was so fun!!

Here's DS 17 with his 2nd place magnet:

Tonight is semi-formal night and that means LOBSTER!!! We were in Animator’s Palatte again and just took a couple of pix. DS 15 tried lobster for the first time and LOVED it!!

Those boys clean up pretty well when they want to:

One of my Panama Hat partners in crime, DF Lisa:

And this guy must have said "nothing" for dessert!! (Love this!!!)

I just love sea days---here's why!!

We went up to Shutters to check out our pix, then we headed to Disney Dreams--this is my FAVORITE of all the shows--it still makes me cry at the end--leaving the Walt Theatre I had to catch up to DFPM who I KNEW was also teary-eyed (we are wierd that way!!) We headed to Mickey's Mates and Treasure Ketch to "officially" souvenir shop--DS 17 wanted the POC watch that you got with a $70 purchase (while we bought a few items/birthday gifts over the week, none of them totalled that amount). So I picked up the DCL 2006 scrapbook (yep, I'm also one of THOSE!!) one of the scrapbook packs, a travel mug, a Christmas ornament, the DS's picked up a few things for their "friends" back home (girlies!!), some pins, etc. When we were checking out, we asked the CM if we had enough for a watch, and she said "you have enough for TWO watches!!" Ruh-roh!!! Oh well, that is good, honey because we have TWO kids--see two watches is a GOOD thing!!!

Met up with most everyone in Diversions (did I mention that we love it here!!) because the CARDS were playing the Cubs. DS 17 and Blake 17 also really wanted to check out the game, so they came on in--at 10:00 the CM asked all the kids to leave--our boys stayed (they are both a couple of months away from their 18th birthday), and no one said a thing. DS 17 was so happy to be able to watch the game!! One of the CM's (the cute pubmaster from Alabama, her name escapes me) came in and started a trivia game which we had fun with DURING THE COMMERCIALS--otherwise we were watching the GAME, hello!! (Well, and enjoying some nice cold frosty Budwieser products!!) OK so that ended badly because our first place Cardinals, the pride of the 'Lou got schooled by those dang Cubbies, but it really is a fun, friendly rivalry and so fun to watch those games!!

Headed to bed to rest for the nightly room service party at 1:00 a.m., courtesy of the teens!! Here's our elephant from Sompop (guess that was a pig or a dog a few days back!!)