MacGyverTDS
<font color=990099>Enjoys reading tags
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2002
- Messages
- 134
A long report, just a warning
This is my first go at a trip report, hopefully I don't bore y'all!
I'm going to touch on the ports of call mostly, as the days at sea were basically uneventful ones.
This was our 3rd cruise overall, but our first with Disney. Being DVC'ers we decided we could survive skipping the parks this year to give DCL a try. We looked into using points for one of us and cash for the other, but in the end went with points all the way. After crusing with Princess last year on the Eastern Caribbean and enjoying our balcony, we booked a veranda room #6098.
Knowing how the weather can be flying out of Detroit in the winter we left 2 days early and stayed at the Radisson. Thursday was pretty much lost to travel, but Friday we were out and about enjoying the warmer FL temps. We missed out on the meet Friday night as we hooked up with family and by the time we got back, there was no one out by the pool.
Saturday morning we got up and with great anticipation, headed toward KSC to get a glimpse of the shuttle landing. There were hundreds of people at the Visitors Center and we all were charged to be part of this experience. As time wore on, you could feel the change in the mood of the people in the lot. It went from excitement, to confusion as 9:15 came and went. Especially since we saw a KSC security car go tearing out of the parking lot at about 9:05. (I'm getting goosebumps over again just typing this)
Somebody had their car radio tuned to a local news station, and eventually we all tuned in too. NASA was launching a "contingency plan" we didn't know the lingo, but felt it wasn't good. Everyone was looking around in disbelief and couldn't beleive our ears when we heard for the first time that they thought the shuttle was "lost". We all fell into silence, people gathered together in silent prayer. Our hearts just broke for those lost on the Columbia and their families who were waiting for the landing.
A horrible tragedy for sure, but we all prayed for them to now be in "a better place".
Eventually, the groups broke up we got into our car and left. Once we got back to the Radisson, there was more information, and even video available in just that short amount of time.
We returned our rental at Avis and hopped on their shuttle over to the ship. Ahhh, The Magic....she really is a classy looking ship!
Dropped our luggage with the porters and headed for security. Check in was a breeze and soon enough we were on line. We were fairly far back but it moves quickly once they begin the boarding process. Got our picture taken and made our way on board to be announced. Kinda hokey, but still cool for us first timers! We went to check out our stateroom and drop our bags. Then off to Topsiders for lunch. We didn't do Palo or any Spa things so no rushing off for ressies. After lunch we wandered all over the ship. We loved all the artwork! We got through the safety drill, dropped our life preservers in the room, grabbed our cameras and headed up for the sail away party. Disney really does it right!
We had LAPLAPL for our rotation, late seating. All adults at our table, and curiously enough, all DVC members and one DisBoards lurker! Great group of people, we had a blast at each dinner and were usually the last one's out of the restaurant each nightl. I'm sure they all loved us!
Key West was ok, we didn't book any excursions, and that was fine. We spent the day wandering in and out of the shops, walked to the Southernmost Point in the US (looong walk!), saw Hemmingway's house and all that good stuff. We were back on ship by 4 or so and eventually wandered up on deck for the sunset. Had a great spot for picture taking, loved the flyover by the biplanes and even a flyover by some Pelicans!
Grand Cayman was great. We rented a car from Budget and after my 6'4" DH saw the size of that Suzuki Jimmy, he said , "You drive". Lovely. Ok, well, let's see, they drive on the LEFT side of the road in Grand Cayman, and the driver's side of the car we had was on the RIGHT. I can't tell you how many times I attempted to use the turn signals and actually ended up turning on the wipers!
It's a beautiful island, we drove up to Rum Point, what a picture postcard spot that is! Found the "blow holes" along the coastline, that was completely mesmerizing. We made the trip to Hell, kind of a tourist trap if you ask me. We made it to Seven Mile beach, but it looked terribly crowded. It was great to explore on our own, at our own pace. If something looked interesting, we just stopped to check it out. We booked a trip to Stingray City with Stingray City Charters. There were 6 of us along with our "Captain". What an experience! We all got to hold a Stingray as well as feed them. Really amazing creatures. We also had time to snorkel at the barrier reef where Leland, our Captain ,fed the moray eels and nurse shark. We had all kinds of time to explore the reef and see all the creatures living in there.
I know others have used Captain Marvin's or Captain Brian's, I would recommend Stingray City Charters to anyone. They go out in smaller boats so you get more one on one attention, but no professional pictures or video of your time with the Stingrays.
On Cozumel we had booked the Dolphin Swim at Chankanaab with Dolphin Discovery. We grabbed a taxi over to the park and had plenty of time before our 2 p.m. swim. We checked out the tour of the "ruins" and had good seats for the sea lion show. We snorkeled for quite a while and saw tons of fish. I couldn't tell you what kind we saw, but we saw lots of them! The park is very clean and well kept. There were lifeguards at the beach, and they kept a close eye on all that were in the water.
Time came to get ready for our swim. They provide lockers for you to store your gear, which was great. Each person is issued a life jacket, and then you watch a short video on how to behave around the dolphins. Then the moment we all had been waiting for..the walk out to the swim "pen". They have a videographer and photographer there and tell you when you are interacting with the dolphins to make sure to look at the camera and smile! Our two dolphins were Scarlet and America. We started out on the platform with each of us getting and giving a kiss to Scarlet and then a handshake to America. We all got to do the dorsal fin tow, wow what powerful swimmers! We also swam out in pairs and held a bar up out of the water and Scarlet and America jumped over the bar. Next was the "foot push", you lie out on your stomach with your arms out like Superman, your knees must be locked, and feet pointing downward. Before you know it, you feel something touch your feet and you are being propelled accross the water at what seems like lightspeed! You actually are pushed up out of the water to almost a standing position. Incredible!!!
Afterwards we all got back into the water and formed a circle, Scarlet and America weaved in and out between us, allowing us to pet them as they swam by.
Absolutely an experience of a lifetime!!
Castaway Cay. We walked down to the family beach because we intended on snorkeling around the "trail". What gorgeous weather we had, and the water temps made it easy to be in there for about an hour and a half! It's a fairly large course, even though there were quite a few people out there with us, we really felt like we had it to ourselves. We were pretty wiped out afterwards
Lunch at Cookies was delicious. We stayed a little longer after lunch but the sun was hot, and there wasn't too much shade to be had. Our impressions of Castaway Cay.....
We enjoyed it very much. We did think that some of the sunken treasures on the snorkel trail might be too far out for some younger snorkelers. But overall, Disney got it right one more time. A great place to hang out, clean, well kept and everyone on the island was very friendly.
For those of you that stuck with me through this rambling account of our trip, thanks! If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them, and I promise my answers won't be so long winded!
To Marie and Brendan.....I beat you to the trip report, so now you get to fill in all the blanks on meals and "stuff". Hope you had a great trip through FL and I look forward to reading your trip report.
This is my first go at a trip report, hopefully I don't bore y'all!
I'm going to touch on the ports of call mostly, as the days at sea were basically uneventful ones.
This was our 3rd cruise overall, but our first with Disney. Being DVC'ers we decided we could survive skipping the parks this year to give DCL a try. We looked into using points for one of us and cash for the other, but in the end went with points all the way. After crusing with Princess last year on the Eastern Caribbean and enjoying our balcony, we booked a veranda room #6098.
Knowing how the weather can be flying out of Detroit in the winter we left 2 days early and stayed at the Radisson. Thursday was pretty much lost to travel, but Friday we were out and about enjoying the warmer FL temps. We missed out on the meet Friday night as we hooked up with family and by the time we got back, there was no one out by the pool.
Saturday morning we got up and with great anticipation, headed toward KSC to get a glimpse of the shuttle landing. There were hundreds of people at the Visitors Center and we all were charged to be part of this experience. As time wore on, you could feel the change in the mood of the people in the lot. It went from excitement, to confusion as 9:15 came and went. Especially since we saw a KSC security car go tearing out of the parking lot at about 9:05. (I'm getting goosebumps over again just typing this)
Somebody had their car radio tuned to a local news station, and eventually we all tuned in too. NASA was launching a "contingency plan" we didn't know the lingo, but felt it wasn't good. Everyone was looking around in disbelief and couldn't beleive our ears when we heard for the first time that they thought the shuttle was "lost". We all fell into silence, people gathered together in silent prayer. Our hearts just broke for those lost on the Columbia and their families who were waiting for the landing.
A horrible tragedy for sure, but we all prayed for them to now be in "a better place".
Eventually, the groups broke up we got into our car and left. Once we got back to the Radisson, there was more information, and even video available in just that short amount of time.
We returned our rental at Avis and hopped on their shuttle over to the ship. Ahhh, The Magic....she really is a classy looking ship!
Dropped our luggage with the porters and headed for security. Check in was a breeze and soon enough we were on line. We were fairly far back but it moves quickly once they begin the boarding process. Got our picture taken and made our way on board to be announced. Kinda hokey, but still cool for us first timers! We went to check out our stateroom and drop our bags. Then off to Topsiders for lunch. We didn't do Palo or any Spa things so no rushing off for ressies. After lunch we wandered all over the ship. We loved all the artwork! We got through the safety drill, dropped our life preservers in the room, grabbed our cameras and headed up for the sail away party. Disney really does it right!
We had LAPLAPL for our rotation, late seating. All adults at our table, and curiously enough, all DVC members and one DisBoards lurker! Great group of people, we had a blast at each dinner and were usually the last one's out of the restaurant each nightl. I'm sure they all loved us!
Key West was ok, we didn't book any excursions, and that was fine. We spent the day wandering in and out of the shops, walked to the Southernmost Point in the US (looong walk!), saw Hemmingway's house and all that good stuff. We were back on ship by 4 or so and eventually wandered up on deck for the sunset. Had a great spot for picture taking, loved the flyover by the biplanes and even a flyover by some Pelicans!
Grand Cayman was great. We rented a car from Budget and after my 6'4" DH saw the size of that Suzuki Jimmy, he said , "You drive". Lovely. Ok, well, let's see, they drive on the LEFT side of the road in Grand Cayman, and the driver's side of the car we had was on the RIGHT. I can't tell you how many times I attempted to use the turn signals and actually ended up turning on the wipers!
It's a beautiful island, we drove up to Rum Point, what a picture postcard spot that is! Found the "blow holes" along the coastline, that was completely mesmerizing. We made the trip to Hell, kind of a tourist trap if you ask me. We made it to Seven Mile beach, but it looked terribly crowded. It was great to explore on our own, at our own pace. If something looked interesting, we just stopped to check it out. We booked a trip to Stingray City with Stingray City Charters. There were 6 of us along with our "Captain". What an experience! We all got to hold a Stingray as well as feed them. Really amazing creatures. We also had time to snorkel at the barrier reef where Leland, our Captain ,fed the moray eels and nurse shark. We had all kinds of time to explore the reef and see all the creatures living in there.
I know others have used Captain Marvin's or Captain Brian's, I would recommend Stingray City Charters to anyone. They go out in smaller boats so you get more one on one attention, but no professional pictures or video of your time with the Stingrays.
On Cozumel we had booked the Dolphin Swim at Chankanaab with Dolphin Discovery. We grabbed a taxi over to the park and had plenty of time before our 2 p.m. swim. We checked out the tour of the "ruins" and had good seats for the sea lion show. We snorkeled for quite a while and saw tons of fish. I couldn't tell you what kind we saw, but we saw lots of them! The park is very clean and well kept. There were lifeguards at the beach, and they kept a close eye on all that were in the water.
Time came to get ready for our swim. They provide lockers for you to store your gear, which was great. Each person is issued a life jacket, and then you watch a short video on how to behave around the dolphins. Then the moment we all had been waiting for..the walk out to the swim "pen". They have a videographer and photographer there and tell you when you are interacting with the dolphins to make sure to look at the camera and smile! Our two dolphins were Scarlet and America. We started out on the platform with each of us getting and giving a kiss to Scarlet and then a handshake to America. We all got to do the dorsal fin tow, wow what powerful swimmers! We also swam out in pairs and held a bar up out of the water and Scarlet and America jumped over the bar. Next was the "foot push", you lie out on your stomach with your arms out like Superman, your knees must be locked, and feet pointing downward. Before you know it, you feel something touch your feet and you are being propelled accross the water at what seems like lightspeed! You actually are pushed up out of the water to almost a standing position. Incredible!!!
Afterwards we all got back into the water and formed a circle, Scarlet and America weaved in and out between us, allowing us to pet them as they swam by.
Absolutely an experience of a lifetime!!
Castaway Cay. We walked down to the family beach because we intended on snorkeling around the "trail". What gorgeous weather we had, and the water temps made it easy to be in there for about an hour and a half! It's a fairly large course, even though there were quite a few people out there with us, we really felt like we had it to ourselves. We were pretty wiped out afterwards
Lunch at Cookies was delicious. We stayed a little longer after lunch but the sun was hot, and there wasn't too much shade to be had. Our impressions of Castaway Cay.....We enjoyed it very much. We did think that some of the sunken treasures on the snorkel trail might be too far out for some younger snorkelers. But overall, Disney got it right one more time. A great place to hang out, clean, well kept and everyone on the island was very friendly.
For those of you that stuck with me through this rambling account of our trip, thanks! If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them, and I promise my answers won't be so long winded!
To Marie and Brendan.....I beat you to the trip report, so now you get to fill in all the blanks on meals and "stuff". Hope you had a great trip through FL and I look forward to reading your trip report.
