October 17, 2009 Western

[jeanneg]

We are also back home. Just wanted to thank everyone for all the lovely FE gifts. Some of them entailed a great deal of work and I sincerely appreciate it.
I also only got to meet a handful of people....probably because my cabin was located far from most of the others. I agree the weather was pretty lousy, but we still had a wonderful time. For those who stuck it out at Castaway Cay after the downpour, we ended up with almost 2 glorious hours of sunshine....well worth the wait. And add me to the list of people still feeling the rocking of the boat. I seem to suffer from that more than motion sickness onboard.....go figure.

 

[lucky1]

Jeanne - Did you run the 5K at Castaway Cay?

We stuck out the downpour I was under an umbrella and DH, DD were with our tablemates in the ocean. Much better than Tuesday, where the rain never let up.

I only "rock" when sitting up.

Laura

 

[NCjenn]

We made it home around 5pm yesterday and I am still so sad...wishing I was back on the boat. DH and I are still feeling the rocking sensation...feeling it more now than we did onboard. Hope it goes away soon.

We had such a wonderful trip. Our dinner servers were amazing and we loved getting to know them a little. And our stateroom hostess was so sweet and wonderful too. We never wanted for anything...now back to reality where I have taken on all those roles again...serving everyone and cleaning up messes...still working on my mountain of laundry.

We loved our first cruise and really hope to do it again...sooner rather than later...Our next door neighbors are doing the 7 night Western in January...maybe I can fit into their suitcase!!!

Jennifer

 

[NCjenn]

ok, just saw my ticker...8 days SINCE my cruise...how sad

 

[jeanneg]

Jeanne - Did you run the 5K at Castaway Cay?

Laura

Yes, my husband and I both did.....and were dead last! But at least we did the whole course. I know that some participants cut off one of the loops!

 

[marinecruiser]

Question - Was it just because the seas were rough or did the stablizers not work on Sunday and Monday? Luckly we did not get sick, but saw plenty of ohters sick on the those days. Monday evening several folks had to leave palos dinner because they were not feeling well.

Laura

I had a bad seasick on Monday, the formal night and couldn't eat at the restaurant at all. However, after I went to get a chewing medicine from the guest service, I felt so much better.

I am back to reality now. It was a great vacation in spite of cold weather for couple of days. We headed back to All star music resort and spend all day at the pool to soak up last minute sunshine. kids took a nap by the pool for couple of hours after a busy week on the ship. Then we headed to DTD at T-REX cafe for a dinner.

Thank you so much for all the FE participants! My kids were so excited to find surprises every time in their pockets. I really enjoyed this experience.

 

[AnkaG]

thanks everyone for the FE gifts, it was fun!

I was worried about seasickness but I use the "patch" behind my ear and had no problem. However, for the last 2 days I have been feeling like I am still on the boat, like the ground is rocking!

We booked a new cruise onboard ... in 23 months!!! We are going on the transantlantic cruise, sept. 2011. woohoo!

Alright, gotta do some laundry, and get ready for work tomorrow.... noooooooooooooooo

 

[lucky1]

Then we headed to DTD at T-REX cafe for a dinner.

Hanae - What did you think of T-REX? We had dinner there on Wednesday night before the cruise. We were not really impressed. Plus I found it just too loud. But my ribs were very good... The meat just fell off the bones.


Laura

 

[yazee1]

Hey, there. Will someone please tell my inner ear that we disembarked a day and a half ago and to please behave like we're on firm ground? I know it takes two to three days for us to get rid of that swaying feeling but it's a kick in the pants to no longer be on a cruise but still feel like you're on the ship. I wonder if we all looked drunk as our family walked around the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday.

Guess what? We had sickies too. Dh was feeling really tired Tuesday night but he thought it was just from so much swimming in the ocean during his dive in Cozumel. He doesn't get much exercise anymore. By Wednesday afternoon he had a serious fever to go with the fatigue and a scratchy throat. He stayed in the room for two days under our own self-imposed quarantine. He switched beds so that I shared the big bed with my daughter and he slept on the converted couch bed - less contact that way. I told our room hostess so she could be even more diligent about sanitizing and I asked her to change all the bedding in the room. I brought him his meals except for semi-formal night. The server arranged for his dinner to be brought up to him. None of the rest of us were sick although Leah came down with a high fever just this afternoon.

We just got home this evening about 6:30. I can't say we're glad to be back. Not that our everyday life is a drag or anything, it's just that we were having such a great time on the cruise!

I'm glad I got to meet some of you more than just at the promenade lounge on embarkment day.

It might be a week or so before we (dh and I) write a trip report and add some pictures. You all know how it is. Once you get home, you hit the ground running.

 

[CastMember 02]

Who Rebooked a Cruise? I did 11/27/11 Mexican Riviera anyone going?

 

[bourgie]

Yazee1, I just read your post on your cayman experience!!!

my family and doberlady's family got off the magic and took the first tender to shore....raining the whole time, walked around the shops for a bit...it stopped for a bit and then we took a taxi to a beach/bar type set up where as we were talking to the driver to get his # and such so he could come back and pick us up it started to downpour!!!!!!! we sat under an overhang from teh restaurant orderd a drink or two and waited. There was a family next to us who walked from their ship (carnival) and were hanign out as well and as it ended up were from a town a hop, skip and jump from ours!! when the rain let up a little and there were no signs of lightening or anything we let the kiddos run around on the beach and check out the water which was like bath water..it was reallynice!! I got some great pics of the ship from this beach. We decided to give up at noon or so and headed back to the ship andfound out theywer giving out ponchos!!! That made me a little mad as they did not give any of the MANY people aboard the first tender anything..........

something else I thought was kind of odd was the lanyards. I know we did not have to buy them, but they did come in handy for the kids to wear theirs around their neck with their key cards on them...what i think is odd is that they were kind of cheap and would fall apart. my daughter lost hers on castaway but some nice lady found it and my friends son lost his at key west, again someone found it and turned it in. Why dont they just give you them? The waste so much food/drink etc... i am sure these lanyards do not cost a lot for them to buy them.

 

[lucky1]

Who Rebooked a Cruise? I did 11/27/11 Mexican Riviera anyone going?

Steve - We are going 2 weeks before you... We booked Mexican Riviera 11/13/11. After castaway cay starting thinking I am going to miss that part of the trip.

BTW... we booked a 9A category... Deck 7. Has anyone stayed in that part of the ship? Would we regret being so far foward?

Laura

 

[yazee1]

It would have been nice to have one of those ponchos as a souvenir. We actually never got wet because we were under cover of the pavilion before the rain started and stayed there until it stopped before taxiing over to our excursion site.

Dh had chartered a boat to take him diving and the rest of us snorkeling. The boat captain instructed dh to call him from the pavilion before catching a taxi because he knew the weather would be iffy. Sure enough, when dh called, the captain told him to hang tight where we were because a storm was rolling in. It wasn't too long before the storms swept over us. Once the rain seemed to stop, dh called again and the captain gave us the green light to taxi over. We were in the pavilion for at least an hour.

I could tell by the strained look on the captain's face and his tense manner we were probably not going to be diving or snorkeling after all, but he took us out to the first dive site anyway. Dh had been clinging on to hope as tightly as we were clinging to the sides of the boat, but we could all see it was way too choppy out there. The captain took us back to the marina and suggested we try the Paradise Restaurant for diving and snorkeling close to shore. He didn't charge us for the outing but dh gave him some money for his time and gas.

Our second shot at getting in the water was successful. Dh went diving with the owner as his dive partner and the rest of us snorkeled. We paid 5.00 each to snorkel (we had our own gear) from the Paradise's tiny beach front. I concur that the water was very warm. What a pleasure that was. The visibility was just "okay" but good enough to see colorful fish and the usual sea life. Several really large tarpon were swimming close to shore. They freaked out the little kids.

Dh said the visibility was a little better out where he was diving. They saw 2 moray eels, spiny lobsters, and some other interesting sea life. I'll probably post the pictures if I ever write a trip report.


I agree about the lanyards. They were junk. We didn't use them.

 

[lucky1]

It would have been nice to have one of those ponchos as a souvenir. We actually never got wet because we were under cover of the pavilion before the rain started and stayed there until it stopped before taxiing over to our excursion site.

Oh my gosh... I never thought of the poncho's a souvenirs. If I had known you wanted them Monica, I would have saved them for you. We took them off when we got back on the tender back to the ship and left them in our room at the end of the cruise. We were sick of seeing them after our disaster at Boatswain. I did use one poncho on Cozumel to cover our beach bag when we had a brief shower there. Probably could have used it for Castaway Cay, but we just put everything under the unbrella and it was fine.

 

[doberlady]

When we got back on the ship in the rain hubby saw them handing out the Mickey ponchos and the guy gave us 5 for our family so I packed them to take home.

I am still rocking when sitting down but it's better. I was positively ill yesterday over it.

I will also write something and post pics but my house is a pigpen!! Where is Bennie when I need him (room steward).

I sure miss the assistant server cutting the kids food at dinner!

 

[doberlady]

While we had a super great time. Thought the ship was awesome, spotless, service was more then amazing, I liked the food and the drinks were yummy.

We will not be cruising again. Just not my cup of tea.

 

[kerickson]

We are back as well and had a wonderful time. Loved seeing some of you at the 3pm meet and around the ship (Lucky1, Castmember...) I kept looking for you Sue but we never got a chance to meet

We had a wonderful time, I'm still recovering from the rocking boat and the jet lag.

I am very bummed that Disney lost one of our bags the last night. We set it out with the rest of our luggage, but it never made it to our baggage station. It's a black rolling Disneyland duffle, looks like all the other Disney rolling duffles, so I'm thinking/hoping someone else picked it up. Not sure if we'll ever get it back, though, don't know how they'd get it out to California... I was in such a daze packing the last night that I'm still trying to remember what is in it. I know my favorite pair of jeans and all my shoes! Oh well, hopefully it will turn up or I'll get something from the Insurance for it, then I can go shopping!

We bought a washing machine yesterday but it won't be delivered until Wed (ours broke the day before we left for vacation)...so, all our laundry is sitting in piles on the floor and driving me crazy!! (well, driving my husband crazy, he's at home and I'm in the office today)

My last to do is to remove my trip countdown from my signature, I just can't bring myself to do it yet!

Thank you all for the helpful tips prior to the cruise, and a big thank you to those who participated in the FE. My kids loved the 'givings' as my DS called them.

 

[yazee1]

Laura, to be truthful, Warren would about kill me if I had any more cruise souvenirs than I do already.

We accidentally left the baggage area with someone else's suitcase but it wasn't anything like a duffle bag. I noticed it almost immediately once we stopped at the curbside outside the port so I took it right back inside. At the lost and found, no report had been made so I'm guessing I brought it back before anyone realized it was missing.

We won't be booking a Disney cruise in the near future but not for lack of wanting to. Yes, I guess it's time to remove the trip ticker.

 

[strega7]

We were sick of seeing them after our disaster at Boatswain. .

Ok, just curious, what happened at boatswain. I had this excursion booked but ended up not going...partially because it was raining, and mostly because part of our party was not feeling good. I was sad because we didn't get to go, but was also worried that the weather would be horrible, and it wouldn't be fun anyway.

 

[lucky1]

Ok, just curious, what happened at boatswain. I had this excursion booked but ended up not going...partially because it was raining, and mostly because part of our party was not feeling good. I was sad because we didn't get to go, but was also worried that the weather would be horrible, and it wouldn't be fun anyway.

Marci - Where in there in the morning at Studio C?

Here is my link on that

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2316468

Just to be clear, it probably would have been fine if it had not been raining. Honestly when I look at the price which was charged by DCL, I now would not recommended even if it was a sunny day. Just wasn't enough to to there for the price paid. But I wish we would have had more time with the turtles in a non rain situation. So maybe as just part of the island tour only.


BTW... We went from a rainy cruise to a -2 dew point here (which means we would have to drop 70 degrees to get rain here).