What was your favorite experience from a DCL ship?

[miatamel]

There are so many from our 11/06 DD cruise. It seemed like every day brought another surprise to our door from a cast member (Magical moments certificates, autographed bucket hats from the Club, dancing with Snow White during The Golden Mickeys and on and on) but this was a special highlight. My daughter has been Peter Pan obsessed for almost 3 of her 6 six years. We were there everytime Peter was out, usually first in line (I even left Palo's supper early to get her there!), often in her Peter Pan outfit that he "left" her the first night on the ship. Peter, and Wendy, never failed to call her by name and talk to her. (I think in part because I took a mat to have just him sign at GS the first night and included several little goodies for him, including a b'day party invite with her dressed as him and a note from me telling him how much she loved him, so he seemed to know who she was from the get-go.) Hook and Smee couldn't talk, but would do the same when they saw her--even acting afraid of her when she was in costume. Well, the last night we got invited to a special, private meet and greet with the characters (I have no idea why! I'm telling ya--it was a magical vacation all around!) and when Peter walked in the room, my daughter just RAN to him (she had eyes for no one else) and he had brought to her, and gave her, her very own bag of pixie dust. It is in a special place now in her room and almost every day she asks to sprinkle it and fly to Never Land. I don't know how much longer I can think to put her off about why she can't, but it's a moment that never fails to bring tears to my eyes when I recall it.

Here are a couple of pics from that meet & greet--she is showing off the bag to Goofy and hugging Peter as he gave it to her. (Believe me, there are tons of others with her showing every character that bag of pixie dust, but I won't bore you! Suffice it to say, she was proud of it!) The others are snaps from other times with him.

Gotta tell ya--This CM was FANTASTIC and I hope he knows, whatever he does later in his life, how happy he made one little girl and her mother.

I wanted to edit and add: we scrimped and saved and fretted about what it cost to take this vacation. It was moments like this, and the others, when you realize you can't put a price on some things. She will grow older, and quit "believing", but for seven days, she was able to believe with all her heart in a story she loves and Disney made that possible. A truly, truly, priceless vacation.

 

[JustJus]

Love the tales on here

 

[MSWint]

Hanging at goofy's pool

DW sunning and reading, myself in the hot tub watching whatever is playing on the Dumbotron (aka Ariel TV), DD10 playing with her friends jumping in and out of the pool and the hot tub ... bliss!!

Dinner with DW at Palo at sunset

... nuff said!

Cookies and milk on the Verandah

We like to order cookies and milk each night before bedtime, get in our jammies and sit out on the verandah and just enjoy the fresh ocean breeze.

 

[PeggyPup]

These really are magical moments, so awesome. I'm dying to go on a DCL now(Planning a senior graduation trip).

Hopefully magic will still come to me even when I'm graduating high school...perhaps including Goofy or Pluto? What a dream come true that would be.

Keep telling your stories, these are awesome. Any special Mickey moments?

 

[jamielynn]

Too Good of a thread to let it fade away -

BUMP!!!

 

[OceanLvr]

Well if we were to pick just one, it would be Steve in the Cove Cafe...

 

[goofymania101]

these moments are just amazing...

The Peter Pan one with the private meet 'n greet is so touching! Looks like a ton of characters were there!

 

[GoofyFD]

Great Stuff!!!!

 

[kiddisney]

it's been so much fun reading these posts - and remembering -

for me - as an engineer - the new ship was special - our first cruise was in '98 and it was amazing to just sit on the deck and watch the ship 'slide' over to the dock w/the side 'thrusters' - new technology -

and my kids were 8 and 6 at the time and we took them snorkeling - and it was the first time my son 'saw' fish - and he screamed so loud that i had to swim w/him on my back to keep him safe from the fish - we remind him of it all the time - he 'loves' it

and then my kids and i took my sister on a cruise - and we saw the prem'ear' of Pearl Harbor - it was so cool to see the movie before anyone else did - and walk down the aisle with all of the paparazzi - she was amazed at the attention to detail

and on another cruise we spent a lot of time at the games - and watched the stanley cup from the sports bar - and then won the sports trivia - and then won mickey mania - the kids still have their medals hanging up on their bed posts -

ahh - so many memories - can't wait to go back

 

[JerseyBelle]

These are wonderful stories that bring back memories for me. We took our first cruise in 11/06 (3 day Wonder) and had a wonderful time. It is hard to narrow it down but here are two:

Stingray Encounter on Castaway Cay. We are not experienced at snorkeling but this activity was outstanding. It started out with the opportunity to feed the stingrays which was awesome. We actually recommended the CM on the card at the end of the cruise. We didn't even know his name but his other job was the sandcastle builder. After a truly enjoyable feeding adventure, we swam with the stingrays. It was great swimming fast to keep up with them. I enjoyed gliding along over top of them and trying to anticipate which way to turn to keep up.

The second experience was my daughter in the end of cruise graduation from the Oceaneer's Lab. Not that it was anything overly spectacular but we were glad we didn't miss it. My daughter was so proud to be on a real Disney stage. When the audience clapped she put on her "proud" face. This is a face we have seen many times and I always get warm all over when I see it. She puts on a really big smile and raises her chin. It is hard to describe but I am sure many parent see the same or similar face on their children.

We are looking forward to our 7 Day Western in March 2008 and many more memorable experiences.

 

[Tink*s_mama]

These stories are soo wonderful. I cannot wait for our first ever Disney cruise this fall! Please don't stop sharing your stories!

 

[booksw]

I love the stories - thanks for sharing!!

What about cool sightings on the ship - like sea life, storms, celebrities, etc???

I think it was 1999 or 2000 leaving Port Canaveral coincided with a launching of a space shuttle from Cape Canaveral. The press were all stationed on Deck 10 which I guess had the best vantage point in the area of the launch. We were very close and got to watch the launch live and in person! For the rest of the cruise, whenever we would go up to Deck 10, DS3 would say "Let's go see the rocket!" I just love that memory.

 

[zack&alexmom]

There are many but the one that I usually tell people to explain the DCL difference is on our first cruise in 2004. My daughter is a princess fanatic and one day when we were getting an ice cream the CM said "What kind of Ice Cream would you like Princess Alex?" It took us a few minutes to figure out that he must have looked at her club bracelet to know her name. Just the fact the the person who was serving ice cream would take the time to notice her name and use it to make her feel special is the difference between DCL and other cruise lines.

 

[Buckeye Gal]

Bump!

These stories are just too good to get lost!

 

[DisneyFreak71755]

I've got two, one on our first DCL cruise, and one on the last one (we've done 4 so far):

1. On our first, a 3 night, DD who was 6 at the time, was very attached to her pillow and pillowcase, so she decided to carry it onto the ship. Here we go, through the Mickey Head, and she decides to run WAY ahead because she is so excited to be there. So she comes RUNNING onto the ship, carrying her pillow, and all the CM's broke out in applause, and she turned around and gave us the biggest grin we had ever seen. Of course, the camera was in the suitcase .

2. On our last cruise, DH had brought a picture of Ariel in a frame onboard the ship secretly, to have it "signed" by Ariel and given to DD. She LOVES mermaids and wants really badly to believe they are real. We gave the picture to concierge to get it signed. The next night, we were coming back from the show, and DD (then 8) walked into the cabin, to see the surprise that "Ariel" had left for her on the bed. Ariel had written a note to DD, and signed it "your friend Ariel". There was sparkly confetti all over the bed, and going from the bed to the floor, to the verandah door, and out on the verandah; it looked as if Ariel had jumped onto the verandah, come into the cabin, and placed the picture on the bed, leaving behind "mermaid pixie dust". DD said "I KNEW it was true, mermaids ARE real!". I cried like a baby!

That picture now hangs in my DD's bedroom.

I just about cried when I read this... How MAGICAL! Nothing beats Disney, nothing... I have chills just reading these wonderful memories... Thanks for sharing!

 

[goofyshell]

We have been blessed to take two cruises (with more to come!!) and even with so many magical memories, the best one was seeing my Mom enjoying her room service on her verandah. She had literally just finished chemo and radiation the day we flew out and was so sick but she was sooo determined to go. She went through so much and to see her laying in her big bed, and orderering room service and enjoying the ocean, well, I have no words.
And on a much smaller note, after the farewell party we were meeting all the characters. My dd7 had her picture taken with the fairy godmother and told her "you're my mom's favorite". The fairy godmother gave me the biggest hug and insisted on a picture and made ME believe she was real!!

 

[michellej2000]

our favorite memory from our 7 day eastern magic mother day cruise in 2006 was.....

the first moment my dd12 and i walked on to the ship and realized this was our "magic moment" and our "dream come true".....

we had many many many more favorite magical moments the whole 7 days....
and we can not wait to go on our next 7day western magic adventure !!!!

 

[Tink*s_mama]

Keep the stories coming, please!!

 

[cruisemutt]

Hi everyone....I usually stick to my two "disney family" threads but saw this and branched out. This is for all the folks that go on DCL that don't have kids.

I can't pick ONE fantastic moment---they go from embark to debark for me but I can say that just being able to do crazy things that NO ONE would understand that hasn't been there. A pic is worth a thousand words.....

For my nanaheads.....(go post! Kathy is waiting!)

 

[Babs417]

Im a grandmother so sitting as a family every night for dinner was great