kamgen
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2000
- Messages
- 3,671
We got back Saturday night and now I am at work! UGH!!! Well, it was great and we are ready for more! Here is my trip report! I could not include everything, so please ask questions!!
Travelers:
Me and DH (tarzanman) and our 2 cousins, Nikki age 16 and Stacy age 13.
Since there is A LOT of info, I will do highlights by category. If you have specific questions, please ask!
Travel: We picked up the girls on Friday night after work. Excitement was more than we could handle!
Dh and I didn't even get to bed until around 2:30am! We set the alarm for 4am and IT NEVER WENT OFF!! Luckily my parents were taking us to the airport and they called the house at 4:45 to say they were on their way! We were still in bed! So, with 15 minutes to get ready, we scrambled around, but still made it to the airport with time to spare. Ugh! Not the way I wanted to start my vacation, but at least we made it!
We flew on Northwest from Detroit to Orlando and arrived early into MCO. Flight was fine, we all slept a bit.
When we saw the DCL rep waiting for us, we knew it was time!!! She led us to the waiting area for the bus and we joined a large group already waiting. My impatience was at a high point. Started to wish we rented a car. After waiting for over 30 minutes, we were off on the DCL bus. Not too bad of a way to go, and the video was nice.
On the way back, Beanoc and family offered to let us ride to the airport with them, in a stretch limo! J We checked our bags with Northwest at the port and we rode back with them! It was great.
Embarkation Day: We arrived at the port and went smoothly through security (which is now outside). The lines were short and we were soon in the boarding line. We met up with our fellow dis folks at the port and shared stories until boarding started at around 12:30-12:45.
Our room, 2633, was ready upon boarding and we dropped off our bags. We had lunch at Topsiders great!
We got all our spa ressies but many slots were already gone and I was about the 4th person in line. Hmmm
We changed our dining rotation and that went smoothly too. They handled that in Sessions. We also had all of our Palo times.
We explored the ship, unpacked (our luggage was all there by 3pm). Our lifeboat drill was in Animators Palate and was quick and painless.
Parties onboard:
Sail-away Party! GREAT TIME!!!! Weather was good and the bonvoyage drinks were awesome as usual! We hung out with our dis group (BeanoC, okwmeister, 3cheers4dis, MO64RN, denine, paulcrsb, dvcreg, webmastercathycanada and others..sorry if I am forgetting anyone!)
50's Party- a lot of fun. Dh and I were in the twist dance contest! Hilarious.
80's Party- by far my FAVORITE! Me, BeanoC and his dw were in the "Battle of the Bands". I was the lead singer of the Go-Go's , Renee was on keyboards and BeanoC was in Bon Jovi! The girls won and it was so much fun!!! The party was at the Goofy pool onstage and the crowd was great. My 10 seconds of stardom
70's Party- dh was in the Village People and it was hilarious! Thank goodness BeanoC has it all on video.
Other deck parties- They were all a good time, since we were hanging out with our new dis pals. Weather was nice for all of them too!
Shows: We opted to not go to the Welcome Aboard Variety show and went and saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding instead! AWESOME MOVIE!!! We also saw Sweet Home Alabama. A really cute movie!
We saw Hercules- funny as usual with some updated jokes. Morty the Magnificent corny, but cute. Disney Dreams- still brings a tear to my eye! I love this show!!!!
We skipped WWTBAM and the Farewell variety show.
We did see Rich Purpura do his comedy and songs in Rockin Bar D- he is hilarious! And Michael Harrison do comedy and ventriloquism. Funny!!!
Dining: Our rotation was APLAPLA. The food in all the dining rooms was good. We really LOVED the It's a small world menu. We skipped the dining room on Mexicali night and on Master Chef's Night. We ate in Palo for dinner on Mexi night. Palo was fabulous as usual. We also had a DIS brunch in Palo on Monday. Salvatore took care of us and it was awesome! I am now addicted to the sweet pizza! Okwmeister and dw, paulcrsb and dw, and dh and I had High Tea at Palo together. It was a nice break to the day and the tea was fabulous!
We ate breakfast at Topsiders most of the time and lunch was usually from Pluto's. All the food onboard was good, but my favorites have to be the Cream of Cauliflower soup at Lumieres, the sweet pizza at palo, and the quesidillas! Also, the cheeseburgers are awesome! I cannot help wanting to eat one everyday!
Our servers, Pirom and Shantol were FABULOUS!!!!! And our tablemates were wonderful. We were at a table for 10 and really enjoyed it.
Ports:
Key West: Loved this port, but wish we had more time there. It was SO HOT! We shopped around, went to Truman's Little White House and indulged in rum cake and frozen chocolate covered Key lime pie!!! The shopping was good and we were able to get some cute things.
Grand Cayman: We never made it due to the Tropical storm. We missed our Capt Marvins excursion, but all the things were cancelled, so no one was charged.
Cozumel: Since we couldn't go to GC, Captain Tom got us to Cozumel on Tuesday night at 10pm. A group of us, BeanoC, paulcrsb and family, me and dh went off the ship. We hit Senor Frogs and "had fun" and then went to Carlos & Charlie's and "had more fun"! We stumbled back to the ship around 1:00am and hit Rockin Bar D! Since most of the crew was given the night off to go to Cozumel and "have fun", it was empty! We had a few more drinks and hit the sack! Long Day! The next morning we were up early in Cozumel and went shopping, the girls got their hair braided and we were back onboard to meet for our excursion.
Castaway Cay: What can I say? After 3 visits prior, this was expected to be great! But it was better than ever. We had an umbrella and chairs near the Head's up Bar and the weather was fabulous! I cannot say enough nice things about CC!
Excursions: We walked Key West on our own and were glad we did. In Cozumel, we did the Fury Catamaran Sail, Snorkel, and Beach Party. Awesome excursion. We loved the cat and the snorkeling was fun. The beach was nice, but they charged $7 for a cheeseburger. We weren't THAT hungry. The sail back was the best. Calm seas and sunny skies! The girls went out on the Fury Catamaran Teen Dance Party and LOVED IT!
In Castaway cay, we snorkeled. It is a great place to go early! But, it is far out there, so rest those legs.
We found the mickey statue and saw TONS of fish.
Spa: Dh and I both did the Spa Taster and LOVED IT! Dh almost did it again later in the trip! We also did the Surial Bath (alone time )! The steam room didn't work and the girl left us in there for 1.5 hours, so they took off some of the price. We were pleased with how they handled it. I did the Power walk three mornings and enjoyed it. I felt great through the day.
Exclusive Parties: We went to the Castaway Club Party. It was in Offbeat and Rockin Bar D. It was okay. The food was scrimpy compared to last year (only a few snacks, and no sweets), but the drinks were good!
We also went to the DVC party. Again, good drinks I also won a tote bag and everyone got a baseball cap.
Bingo: This was the first cruise we ever played BINGO. And we played 4 times! Never won any money, but BeanoC did!!!! Yeah!!! It was a lot of fun.
DIS: This trip was the best ever! And thanks go out to all our Dis friends. We were able to spend time getting to know some of them and doing things together. We had a DIS meet at the Sailaway, a DIS brunch, a DIS wine party in Beanoc's room, and met up for movies, bingo, dancing, etc.
Teens: Since we had two teens with us, we learned more about Common Grounds. Some of the activities did not appeal to the girls, but they loved the teen karaoke, dances, and the Gotcha game. They meet many new friends and spent time on their own going to movies, swimming, and hanging out. They really enjoyed their freedom!
Our Room: We had a Cat 10, 2633. It was fine for the 4 of us since we were hardly in the room at all. The over the door shoe holder is the best thing ever! Our stateroom steward, Grinda, was wonderful. Our room was always clean and she filled our cooler with ice everyday.
Other things:
· WE BOOKED! We got together with beanoc and family and we both booked 2 more cruises for next year! The onboard special made it worth it for us, so we jumped on it!
· DCL did a great job with the itinerary changes due to GC. We had a new navigator by 9:30am and the day was fun.
· They need more than one person handling rebooking. We waited in line for 90 minutes to book our cruises for next year. Poor Donna was swamped!
· The Midnight dessert buffet is almost all cake! So, if you don't like cake, skip it!
· Take Bonine just to be safe. We had many night where we were a rockin!
· The 7 night cruise is far more relaxing and low key than the 4 night. This was our first 7 night after 2 other 4 nights and it took time to realize the slow pace.
· The entertainment staff was great! Thanks to Robin, Ellen, April, Ian, and SheShe!
· Onboard photos- buy them when you see them. We went back on the last night and they had lost MANY of our pictures (as well as many other people who were upset). There were just too many to go through!
Also, a special thanks to my new DIS friends (you know who you are!)!!! We had a great time and cannot wait to see all the video!
Ask any questions, I know I left out a lot!!!! Whew! I will probably add more as I think of it. I am now back at work and eagerly planning next years trips! First though, I gotta do laundry!! Brrrrr......it is so cold here!! I miss the sun and fun of the MAGIC!
Travelers:
Me and DH (tarzanman) and our 2 cousins, Nikki age 16 and Stacy age 13.
Since there is A LOT of info, I will do highlights by category. If you have specific questions, please ask!
Travel: We picked up the girls on Friday night after work. Excitement was more than we could handle!
Dh and I didn't even get to bed until around 2:30am! We set the alarm for 4am and IT NEVER WENT OFF!! Luckily my parents were taking us to the airport and they called the house at 4:45 to say they were on their way! We were still in bed! So, with 15 minutes to get ready, we scrambled around, but still made it to the airport with time to spare. Ugh! Not the way I wanted to start my vacation, but at least we made it!
We flew on Northwest from Detroit to Orlando and arrived early into MCO. Flight was fine, we all slept a bit.
When we saw the DCL rep waiting for us, we knew it was time!!! She led us to the waiting area for the bus and we joined a large group already waiting. My impatience was at a high point. Started to wish we rented a car. After waiting for over 30 minutes, we were off on the DCL bus. Not too bad of a way to go, and the video was nice.
On the way back, Beanoc and family offered to let us ride to the airport with them, in a stretch limo! J We checked our bags with Northwest at the port and we rode back with them! It was great.
Embarkation Day: We arrived at the port and went smoothly through security (which is now outside). The lines were short and we were soon in the boarding line. We met up with our fellow dis folks at the port and shared stories until boarding started at around 12:30-12:45.
Our room, 2633, was ready upon boarding and we dropped off our bags. We had lunch at Topsiders great!
We got all our spa ressies but many slots were already gone and I was about the 4th person in line. Hmmm
We changed our dining rotation and that went smoothly too. They handled that in Sessions. We also had all of our Palo times.
We explored the ship, unpacked (our luggage was all there by 3pm). Our lifeboat drill was in Animators Palate and was quick and painless.Parties onboard:
Sail-away Party! GREAT TIME!!!! Weather was good and the bonvoyage drinks were awesome as usual!
We hung out with our dis group (BeanoC, okwmeister, 3cheers4dis, MO64RN, denine, paulcrsb, dvcreg, webmastercathycanada and others..sorry if I am forgetting anyone!) 50's Party- a lot of fun. Dh and I were in the twist dance contest! Hilarious.
80's Party- by far my FAVORITE! Me, BeanoC and his dw were in the "Battle of the Bands". I was the lead singer of the Go-Go's , Renee was on keyboards and BeanoC was in Bon Jovi! The girls won and it was so much fun!!! The party was at the Goofy pool onstage and the crowd was great. My 10 seconds of stardom
70's Party- dh was in the Village People and it was hilarious! Thank goodness BeanoC has it all on video.
Other deck parties- They were all a good time, since we were hanging out with our new dis pals. Weather was nice for all of them too!
Shows: We opted to not go to the Welcome Aboard Variety show and went and saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding instead! AWESOME MOVIE!!! We also saw Sweet Home Alabama. A really cute movie!
We saw Hercules- funny as usual with some updated jokes. Morty the Magnificent corny, but cute. Disney Dreams- still brings a tear to my eye! I love this show!!!!
We skipped WWTBAM and the Farewell variety show.
We did see Rich Purpura do his comedy and songs in Rockin Bar D- he is hilarious! And Michael Harrison do comedy and ventriloquism. Funny!!!
Dining: Our rotation was APLAPLA. The food in all the dining rooms was good. We really LOVED the It's a small world menu. We skipped the dining room on Mexicali night and on Master Chef's Night. We ate in Palo for dinner on Mexi night. Palo was fabulous as usual. We also had a DIS brunch in Palo on Monday. Salvatore took care of us and it was awesome! I am now addicted to the sweet pizza!
Okwmeister and dw, paulcrsb and dw, and dh and I had High Tea at Palo together. It was a nice break to the day and the tea was fabulous!We ate breakfast at Topsiders most of the time and lunch was usually from Pluto's. All the food onboard was good, but my favorites have to be the Cream of Cauliflower soup at Lumieres, the sweet pizza at palo, and the quesidillas! Also, the cheeseburgers are awesome! I cannot help wanting to eat one everyday!
Our servers, Pirom and Shantol were FABULOUS!!!!! And our tablemates were wonderful. We were at a table for 10 and really enjoyed it.
Ports:
Key West: Loved this port, but wish we had more time there. It was SO HOT! We shopped around, went to Truman's Little White House and indulged in rum cake and frozen chocolate covered Key lime pie!!! The shopping was good and we were able to get some cute things.
Grand Cayman: We never made it due to the Tropical storm. We missed our Capt Marvins excursion, but all the things were cancelled, so no one was charged.
Cozumel: Since we couldn't go to GC, Captain Tom got us to Cozumel on Tuesday night at 10pm. A group of us, BeanoC, paulcrsb and family, me and dh went off the ship. We hit Senor Frogs and "had fun" and then went to Carlos & Charlie's and "had more fun"!
We stumbled back to the ship around 1:00am and hit Rockin Bar D! Since most of the crew was given the night off to go to Cozumel and "have fun", it was empty! We had a few more drinks and hit the sack! Long Day! The next morning we were up early in Cozumel and went shopping, the girls got their hair braided and we were back onboard to meet for our excursion.Castaway Cay: What can I say? After 3 visits prior, this was expected to be great! But it was better than ever. We had an umbrella and chairs near the Head's up Bar and the weather was fabulous! I cannot say enough nice things about CC!
Excursions: We walked Key West on our own and were glad we did. In Cozumel, we did the Fury Catamaran Sail, Snorkel, and Beach Party. Awesome excursion. We loved the cat and the snorkeling was fun. The beach was nice, but they charged $7 for a cheeseburger. We weren't THAT hungry. The sail back was the best. Calm seas and sunny skies! The girls went out on the Fury Catamaran Teen Dance Party and LOVED IT!
In Castaway cay, we snorkeled. It is a great place to go early! But, it is far out there, so rest those legs.
We found the mickey statue and saw TONS of fish.
Spa: Dh and I both did the Spa Taster and LOVED IT! Dh almost did it again later in the trip! We also did the Surial Bath (alone time
)! The steam room didn't work and the girl left us in there for 1.5 hours, so they took off some of the price. We were pleased with how they handled it. I did the Power walk three mornings and enjoyed it. I felt great through the day.Exclusive Parties: We went to the Castaway Club Party. It was in Offbeat and Rockin Bar D. It was okay. The food was scrimpy compared to last year (only a few snacks, and no sweets), but the drinks were good!
We also went to the DVC party. Again, good drinks
I also won a tote bag and everyone got a baseball cap.Bingo: This was the first cruise we ever played BINGO. And we played 4 times!
Never won any money, but BeanoC did!!!! Yeah!!! It was a lot of fun.DIS: This trip was the best ever! And thanks go out to all our Dis friends. We were able to spend time getting to know some of them and doing things together. We had a DIS meet at the Sailaway, a DIS brunch, a DIS wine party in Beanoc's room, and met up for movies, bingo, dancing, etc.
Teens: Since we had two teens with us, we learned more about Common Grounds. Some of the activities did not appeal to the girls, but they loved the teen karaoke, dances, and the Gotcha game. They meet many new friends and spent time on their own going to movies, swimming, and hanging out. They really enjoyed their freedom!
Our Room: We had a Cat 10, 2633. It was fine for the 4 of us since we were hardly in the room at all. The over the door shoe holder is the best thing ever! Our stateroom steward, Grinda, was wonderful. Our room was always clean and she filled our cooler with ice everyday.
Other things:
· WE BOOKED! We got together with beanoc and family and we both booked 2 more cruises for next year! The onboard special made it worth it for us, so we jumped on it!
· DCL did a great job with the itinerary changes due to GC. We had a new navigator by 9:30am and the day was fun.
· They need more than one person handling rebooking. We waited in line for 90 minutes to book our cruises for next year. Poor Donna was swamped!
· The Midnight dessert buffet is almost all cake! So, if you don't like cake, skip it!
· Take Bonine just to be safe. We had many night where we were a rockin!
· The 7 night cruise is far more relaxing and low key than the 4 night. This was our first 7 night after 2 other 4 nights and it took time to realize the slow pace.
· The entertainment staff was great! Thanks to Robin, Ellen, April, Ian, and SheShe!
· Onboard photos- buy them when you see them. We went back on the last night and they had lost MANY of our pictures (as well as many other people who were upset). There were just too many to go through!
Also, a special thanks to my new DIS friends (you know who you are!)!!! We had a great time and cannot wait to see all the video!
Ask any questions, I know I left out a lot!!!! Whew! I will probably add more as I think of it. I am now back at work and eagerly planning next years trips! First though, I gotta do laundry!! Brrrrr......it is so cold here!! I miss the sun and fun of the MAGIC!
