09/08/07 Early Check in September 8, 2007 Western

[JJCJFL]

That's it? not even... it was good... bad or ugly?

Sorry...it was awesome!
We had a great time.....ate and drank a lot and slept too little!

The weather was great except on Key West but we made the best of it during the pub crawl. Had a blast at Irish Kevin's!

Got hurt at the excursion that we booked but it was still great!

Jill

 

[Donnica]

Ate and drank too much and slept to little sounds about right!

Glad you had fun

 

[shoes99]

We are at the airport awaiting our 4:20PM flight back to EWR and reality. We left the ship at 8AM, picked up the rental van at Thrifty and we were back to the Boardwalk before 10AM. We dropped MJ and Jack at the Boardwalk Villas then we took the boat to Epcot to buy more PINS. We spent a fortune on PINS.
The cruise was fantastic. Best for us were Palos 3 times and Castaway Cay adult beach. I even got DH into the water. Ports were OK but the ship and CC were better.
More later.
Michele

 

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Well..got home about half a hour ago....one load of wash in the washer and one in the dryer. Suitcases are put away with piles of stuff everywhere!

Cat found the catnip toy that we bought her in Key West....I think we are forgiven.

Good to meet everyone that we got a chance to talk to. There were a few that we never met up with. Oh well...there's always next time....

Take care!

Jill (and Bob)

Hey Jill,
We ran into you guys every day but the last. Didn't get to say Goodbye.
Was nice meeting you and Bob. Too bad we couldn't find football every night.
Thanks for the tip on the catnip in KeyWest. We set the suitcases down when we got in and the cat started clawing at the one with the catnip in it! He loves that stuff.

Bill

 

[MCourtney]

Got home around noon.... but stopped at Animal Kingdom to do a dash in/dash out quickie ride on Expedition Everest... our first time and it was great! If anyone thought it was hot on the boat (or at Cozumel which I found to be hot as $@#) let me just tell you that this morning at AK was the HOTTEST I have been in weeks. DH said he saw someone on the ground (at 11 am ish) being attended to presumably for heat exhaustion.

Our trip was fantastic. Wish I wasn't home attending to boatloads (pun intended ) of laundry! This past week went SO fast! And to think that there were 3 named storms during our trip, and NONE caused us to divert off course. That alone is just amazing.

someone else is in my cabin now.... and i am sad......

Ready to re-book for 08?

 

[MCourtney]

BTW.... anyone know who the gorgeous couple with the 3 kids who got married (or vow renewal) early on CC? Just wondering..... I need to apologize as it was my daughter who in the middle of their taped ceremony decided to ask me very loudly...."Mommy...... can I PLEASE go peep in the water??"

(hopefully my "SHHHHHH.....no... there is a bathroom right there! " made it onto the tape too...... )

Just call me "mortified mom" now.........

 

[drclaws]

Thanks for the update!!! $400 on PINS!!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!!!

Wasn't so much the pins...but we did pick up the official navigational chart for the trip that was being silent-auctioned off outside of Treasure Ketch. Really an interesting piece and it arrived that same time I did this morning (7:00 a.m.) at Guest Services. Even better it survived the trip back home. DCL did a nice job of packing it in a mailing tube.

Found it interesting that the navigational officer and another high ranking officer who signed the things were both female! Also signed by the Captain. Getting it framed will cost a small fortune I'm sure.......

Gave the "lines up" and "lines secured" times for each post except Grand Cayman where it was "Anchor <something>" on arrival and, yes, "Anchor Aweigh" upon departure. The actual sailing route was very precisely and neatly charted on the map part of it, blue ink on the outbound portion (to Cozumel) and red fo rthe return.

The good news is that, according to the document, we have not yet arrived back at Port Canaveral! No time was filled in, so we must still be on the cruise!!

 

[JJCJFL]

Hey Jill,
We ran into you guys every day but the last. Didn't get to say Goodbye.
Was nice meeting you and Bob. Too bad we couldn't find football every night.
Thanks for the tip on the catnip in KeyWest. We set the suitcases down when we got in and the cat started clawing at the one with the catnip in it! He loves that stuff.

Bill

Yes, we looked for you yesterday AM but didn't see you. Would have liked to say goodbye and thanks for the medical supplies.
We went to Topsiders for breakfast after our server told us that our assistant server was getting off the ship and that he would be all alone. We got off around 8:30.
It was great meeting you both!

Jill

 

[ch10dad]

Ready to re-book for 08?

Already done for us...
We're booked on the 9-1-08 5 day with 2 CC days

Ray

 

[S.S.Oceanlover]

No rebooking for me. Disneyed out. Back to Princess and the likes. After that marionette show it was all over for me and Disney.

It was nice meeting everyone and hope all your future cruises are great!

Bill

 

[xABearx]

We are also booking the 09/01/08 5 Night and then the 4 Night after that on 09/07.

 

[shoes99]

I booked 9/27/2008 Costa Maya double CC with husband's sister, bil, niece, nephew and his wife. I will share a cabin with niece's mother. DH does not want to go. Booked Cat 9 on deck 2.
Here are some pictures from the cruise:
Key West

Dis Jammie Breakfast

TwinPrincess Girls In Show

Milton In Pirate Make-up (He did it himself)

 

[shoes99]

More pictures of Castaway Cay:

,

,

 

[stina]

Finally back! Spent last night in Tampa getting acclimated to my new home that I will move to in about 4 weeks! Yay!

Cruise was fantastic! Although I am totally exhausted and feel like I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!

Just wanted to say it was a such a pleasure meeting all the DISers, I had great fun at the pub crawl getting to know JJCJFL and SgtSlovak and family. We had a great time dodging the downpour at the Rum Barrell and we hit some nachos and had a grand old time at Sloppy Joe's and Irish Kevin's. Thanks for making it so much fun! I also had a great time at the DISlunch, getting to know Janet and Lois and all the other fun DISers. I am still wearing my special DIS "cruising the magic" bracelet and I don't ever want to take it off. Thank you Ann, what a GREAT idea!

Christine and I had a wonderful time on the cruise, hanging out with our good friends fltink and family. I think we closed Rockin Bar D nearly every night, including the final night when they finally turned on the lights and we were still sitting there! This cruise was a great trip. I especially enjoyed the new Dumbo Tron giant screen TV and deck movies. There is nothing more relaxing than pulling up a lounger, having someone bring you a drink and watching Pirates at midnight on deck. Woohoo! Can't wait to do that again. I can say that I think that the AWFUL Rick Purpura (magician) got his just reward on the final night at the 6:15pm show. For those who weren't there... two hilarious Venezuelan kids exposed his magic trick and the crowd went wild! Honestly, it was revenge for the dreadful adult caberet he inflicted on us the previous night. LOVED LOVED LOVED Taylor Mason, but what the heck was Disney thinking with Rick Purpura and the house band High Frequency??? Those are my only complaints about the cruise, other than that it was FANTASTIC.

Don't know when we'll be cruising again, but hopefully it will be soon.
Keep in touch!

stina (Christina)

 

[TXBzean_DizKruzr]

FLOVED LOVED LOVED Taylor Mason, but what the heck was Disney thinking with Rick Purpura and the house band High Frequency??? stina (Christina)

I'm glad I'm not the only one to have thought the same about High Frequency. A thought came to my mind - I remembered the many times when Simon Cowell tells AI hopefuls that they sound like ones that can be found on cruise ships. Now I know what he means. They must have a contract or something though because we were just on a 7-day eastern in May and High Frequency was there too.

But I did like Rich Purpura. I also saw him on that May cruise, but find him somewhat likable. However, I thought that Taylor Mason was the absolute best on this cruise.

DW and I booked the 9/27/08 as well, along with our friends who were with us this trip as well.

We made it back to TX today, but today's experience was an adventure by itself. Our Mears shuttle (Disney's Magical Express) was scheduled to pick us up at 12:30 and was there early and driver refused to wait. Mears, however, chose to lie about it repeatedly. That was until another DME driver showed up to find the mess that earlier driver left. He confirmed exactly what I had told the Mears rep......sigh!

Anyways...back to work tomorrow, but sure wish we could be enjoying a day at sea instead.

 

[MamaKoss]

Just wanted to say what a wonderful time my family and I had on this cruise. Actually though, could someone PLEASE stop the rocking? I haven't gained my land legs back yet. A little off kilter today. Other than that, I think Disney is a little too on-time. We were off the ship Saturday by like 8:00 a.m. and at the Orlando airport by 9:00 a.m. The problem there was our flight wasn't until 2:05 p.m.! We had to wait for 5 hours in the airport. Yuk.

We were very pleased to meet the DISer's who we met (didn't meet all of you unfortunately). I still would have liked to have met Baracueda and family (never had the pleasure). Jill and Bob, you guys are wonderful! Anytime you are up near Cleveland, please contact us. We'd love to have you over for drinks and dinner. Dan (DNJLAW777) and family, congrats again on your impending addition. It was certainly a pleasure meeting you and your wife. Ever in our neighborhood, give us a jingle. We're in the book! Stina, you and HannaCanna are extremely nice peoples. Glad we had the chance to talk (the few times we saw you guys). SgtSlovak, again, pleasure meeting you. If I forgot anyone that I did meet and didn't mention, sorry. Glad to have met all that we did.

We had a blast on Key West (getting caught in that down pour was awesome!). Grand Cayman was especially nice for us. We had a great tour guide (Carlton) who gave us such an indepth history of the Island and took us to all the stops we wanted to go. Cozumel was nice, but we were a little put-off by all the people accosting us to go into their stores. We had a genuine mexican meal at La Mission and then went to the Chaunkanab National Park to do our dolphin swim. That was probably the highlight of the cruise for me. If you have the chance, do it. What an experience!

Castaway Cay was way too hot. I'm not a beach person so for me CC is just a big beach. It's lovely to look at; but I'd rather stay on the ship and enjoy the quiet. My DD's enjoyed the Teen Beach though. They had a great time hanging out in The Stack with all the other Disney Teens. We barely saw them the whole cruise! They exchanged e-mails and MySpace info with their new Teen friends and will stay in contact that way.

To all those cruising in the near future on the Magic - Have a great time. Make the best of your vacation. We had such a lovely and relaxing time. It's sad when it's over, but it just gives you wonderful memories to look forward to the next cruise. I'm not sure when we will cruise again, hopefully in about 3 years, but we will be sure to go with DCL. They are the best!

Also, wanted to mention that when we got back to our hometown (Cleveland, Ohio) it was only 54 degrees outside! Talk about a shock! I was in a tank top and shorts and was freezing on the way home from the airport. I was ready to turn the heat on in the car! Brrrrrrr. I do love the cooler weather, but coming from 90ish degree weather to 54 is a drastic change!

Hugs and Kisses.

 

[alleluia5]

Well back home - I really wish it could have lasted so much longer. But it really was a great cruise. What was amazing was how the storm in Castaway went almost completely around us - talk about a little pixie dust!

 

[ch10dad]

It was good to meet some of you at the Mickey Pool meet & greet... unfortunatley I didn't print out a schedule of DIS planned events so we never caught up with you folks until the end of the cruise. (When we bumped into Grumps and Princess and Ann a few times.)

Finally caught up with Barecuda (or she caught up with me...)

We had a great time. Didn't plan much (by design!) and had a great time doing it Our youngest met another 7yo (Hi K) and had a great time.

Sooooo, where IS that waiter with the desert menu anyway?!!?

Ray

 

[stina]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to have thought the same about High Frequency. A thought came to my mind - I remembered the many times when Simon Cowell tells AI hopefuls that they sound like ones that can be found on cruise ships. Now I know what he means. They must have a contract or something though because we were just on a 7-day eastern in May and High Frequency was there too.

But I did like Rich Purpura. I also saw him on that May cruise, but find him somewhat likable. However, I thought that Taylor Mason was the absolute best on this cruise.

I really didn't care for High Frequency. It's nothing personal, I'm sure they are very nice people, it's just that every song sounded like "My Big Fat Hungarian Wedding" and it was just so annoying! I did spend a lot of time in Rockin' Bar D so I had no choice but to hear them. Musically/instrumentally they were fine, but the singing left a lot to be desired. We even mentioned to Rachel the cruise director that we didn't care for them, so who knows what will happen. She told us they have been on the ship for 6 months, so for some reason Disney must like them. Two years ago, the house band was The Charles Marshall Band and let me tell you, they were nothing short of spectacular! I guess that's why HF seemed like such a disappointment too. I also noticed that there wasn't as much live music on the ship this time around. No Mariachi band or calypso band. Hmmm... I did think that DJ Dan did a GREAT job though. He played all of our requests, including the song "I've Had the Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing when one member of our posse decided to vault off a chair to do the lift scene from the movie. Well, DJ Dan didn't know what to make of that! I think we scared him, especially since he was all alone with us in the club at that point, and he announced over the microphone that if we hurt ourselves we should contact Carnival Cruise Lines to complain!

In fact I heard quite a few Carnival Cruise Line put downs on this cruise, even from Rachel herself! But by far the funniest one was from a random 8 year old on Castaway Cay. We were riding the tram back to the ship about 4:15, and this kid sitting in front of me turns around and says to me "Did you have a magical day? Or did you have a Carnival Cruise Line day?" Well we just busted up laughing! I said "Did Rachel tell you to say that?!" Kids say the darndest things.

 

[Grandma4ever]

Well I am finally getting to feel like myself. We had a wonderful time on this vacation, of course, the exception of my sister deciding to die while the rest of us were at sea. We still do not know why she died yet. However, she had MS but it doesn't seem like that was the cause. We had just booked her on the 9/1 five day when we got the word. So we made some changes and booked 3 weeks right after dry dock for Janet and I. Shoes99 I will see you then. It was wonderful meeting everyone we did and I am sorry to have missed those we did not run into.

Everyone please take care and remember to tell those you love how you feel. We never know when we may be called home. Lois