2004-01-31 Western Cruise Afterglow

[KofPShannon]

Cap - Of course I meant that I didn't get to meet everyone! The people from our thread were all very nice. I had wanted to meet Janice and didn't get the opportunity to congratulate her on her health resolution. I didn't meet grandmaX2 or dizdad either.

I'm not a big coffee drinker other then one cup in the morning, so I didn't mind the coffee. What did I wish I had brought? Beach towels for the excursions. The ship's towels were a little small. I brought a fold up cooler and never used it. I brought a night light for the bathroom and that helped us see the clock (We moved it closer to the bathroom). I wish I would have brought more warm clothing for the evenings. I had mostly sleeveless dresses and was a little chilly at times. The jackets and sweaters I brought were too casual for the dinner dresses.

I brought enough clothing that we didn't have to use the washers. Some of the things (tuxedo socks) I washed in the sink and hung in the bathroom or the deck to dry.

What would I ask Disney to change? The sign in process for the spa and Palo's. Everything was handwritten on big sheets. The reservation people had to keep running back and forth and look at each other's sheets. It would make more sense and be more efficient to have the whole process computerized. It also would have been nice to have some sort of reminder other then the little card. We were nervous that we would forget with all the other activities going on.

 

[jedokids]

I would have to say the only thing that I would have to change onboard is the pictures at Shutters. They take wonderful pictures but if you have older kids-- who don't get pictures with the characters-- you have to beg them to get pictures of your kids!
My other complaint about pictures-- I bought the ten pack of 6x8's at the start of the cruise and thought-- 10 pictures in 7 days-- no problem! By Wed. I had only picked one picture! They took 8x10's on formal night-- which were another $20 each and so I asked if I could use 2 of my 6x8's for one of the 8x10's and of course they won't do that! I did get the 10 pictures but they never go to the Stack and so I only got one picture of my son!
On Formal night -- my in-laws picture was never found-- even after going through the negatives! Kinda disappointed about that!

 

[The4OfUs]

You know, I lost 2 photos too...the night in Lumiere's we found my DD's photo, but not my DS's...and there was also the "family" photo from that night. We looked and looked but never found it!!

I found the way they did the photos to be a bit stressful, actually, maybe because of my family history as cruise photographers, I expected it to be easier - but to HAVE to go every night or possibly lose photos, and then to HAVE to take them then and there...I liked how my dad's company did it, we would write down a #, and give a list to the staff, and on the last day have them all delivered to the stateroom! And the photos were up for days instead of what felt like such a short time.

Of course, that was in the 70s... *grin* Silly me, I love technological advances and such, but some things I want to stay the same!

We had to upgrade our package to 15, as DS decided to be a character freak and get his pic with many of them...and they were all so GOOD we couldn't pick, we only left like 5 behind!! But I agree, if you don't have the cutsie little kids, the photographers didn't seem to pay as much attention to us... =/

 

[Cap]

I'm with you all on the Internet issues. I did talk to one of the Captain's Staff members, (I think it was Mandy) about the Intenet and suggested that they move it into the 21st Century. Unfortunately it is a contacted outside service. The equipment needs to be maintained (e.g. mice rollers cleaned, printer cleaned up), the browser needs to have pop up blocking, and the connection speed needs to be picked up. Also, they need to have more stations, perhaps adding some in other locations.

Hangers - ladies, did you ask your stateroom attendant for more hangers? They will provide them, you don't have to pack and lug hangers.

Two areas that I think could use some improvement are the DVC Membership desk and the Cruise Rebooking desk. What the lady at the DVC Membership desk was polite and cheerful, she didn't have much information. I asked to look at point charts for the other resorts besides Saratoga Springs, so I could plan some time around another cruise. She didn't have any point charts. I asked for the URL for the online access to the DVC Member Site so I could look up the point charts and she said she didn't have any idea about that - she didn't do computer stuff. I would think that DVC would want to have point charts and lots of other member information available at that desk.

The Cruise Rebooking process needs to be improved. I know two people who just gave up after waiting over 90 minutes in line. They should either put on more staff on Thursday and Friday to handle rebooking, or should have a simple pre-meeting form to fill out indicating when you want to cruise, number of people, the booking information, TA question, stateroom category, etc. I was ready and completed my booking in 8 minutes from the time the lady asked the first question. It appears that many people booking took about 30 minutes, even though they ALL were at least second time cruisers. Since Disney is normally so very good at handling lines, I was surprised that they didn't have a better rebooking process.

Overall, however, I'd give the Cruise a real "excellent" rating.

How is reality for those of you who had to go back to work?

Dean - is the picture of you, Gary, and Randy running on the front page of this week's newspapers?

 

[The4OfUs]

I'm with you, Cap, I was actually surprised at how slow the satellite connection was...but I guess that's a sign of the internet generation, anything that takes more than 15 seconds is WAAAY too slow, right? *wink*

As for the DVC member URL, it was on the mouse pads she handed out, silly lady! *grin* I have mine here at work.... *points to mousepad*

I wondered about the rebooking, the lines never seemed to go down, thank goodness we can't afford that right now, we almost joined that line!

I could have used a bit more information about the Customs thing on the last morning...we stood in line because we were unsure about bringing back one more bottle of booze than we were allowed and it turned out that it was fine, they only charge tax if it adds up to over $10, and one extra bottle was only around $2...so that was one line I could have avoided with a bit more info. I'll know next time tho!

*sigh* I wanna go back...

*pouts and goes back to WORK urgh*

 

[Cap]

Nikki,

Yes - I forgot about the Customs thing. The sales people at Beat Street told me that I would be charged 10% duty on liquor over the 1 litre per person. However the Customs people said that was just wrong. I was instead charged Inland Revenue fees of about 21%. It was still a great deal versus buying it at our local liquor store, but I was surprised at Customs and glad that I did have enough cash with me for the charge.

 

[Juli]

Cap, I'm so glad you started this thread. Thanks!

Well, we had an uneventful trip home. We were up and off the ship in a breeze right after they started letting people off. Walked off the elevator and got right in line. We rented a car from Avis and we were on the road to Ft. Lauderdale by 8:15am. We were at the airport really early and had a pizza while waiting for our 2:35 flight. I hadn't had any pizza on board the Magic, so it was actually good. The boys slept the entire flight and I read my book. (Not finished yet Nikki, but I'm really enjoying it!) We walked into our house around 7:00 and sifted through our mail. Went to get the dog the next am early. She wouldn't give me any kisses, but she's back to her old self today. We have a full week of activities starting with today, so I got the laundry done yesterday and restocked the fridge. Now, if only I could get someone to take my darn order or bring me a drink, I'd be doing alright! We have the same automatic turndown service as Nikki; unmade bed from night before, but hey, I can squint and make it look like a nice turndowned bed can't I?

I think we were the biggest duds of the group on the ship. We were turning in so early every night. But I feel so rested now and that's what cruises are for aren't they? I didn't say anything to anyone, but one of our boys had a really bad cold prior to the cruise. He was all over it when we boarded, but then the other had it by the time we were in Key West. We kept him in the cabin for the next couple of days, but it really put a damper on family activities. The rest of us took turns doing things, like movies, walks, etc. We ordered a lot more room service this trip. Neither Tony nor I got the cold and from Grand Cayman on we were all great. I think it's really true that the kids have more fun if they can make connections on that first night or two in the clubs, but there was no way we could send them. They didn't spend any time in the club until our last day at sea and at CC.

So what would I do differently/change about the cruise/keep the same:

Pack less, pack less, pack less......it'll never happen, but one can have a goal.

Make a bigger effort to see more DIS folks. I think with one of the kids out of it the first 3 days really changed what we would've been doing.

Buy kids tuxes in advance instead of renting. The pictures look great, so we're happy we had them, but it would've been half the price and I could've reused them on another cruise or sold them on Ebay if they didn't fit next time.

Don't leave things in the rental car prior to boarding. I left a pair of Pete's glasses in the car and we had to wait at the luggage tent for the shuttle to bring them back. Otherwise we would have been one of the first ones on the ship. Just mildly annoying and would've been a real pain if we hadn't had the Palo's booked prior to boarding.

Glad we went our own way on Key West. A trolley tour and aquarium stop was plenty for us.

I was the only one in our family that held a stingray. Awesome! I steered the catamaran for quite awhile on our sail back as well which was great fun. It was like steering a pontoon boat!

The Tulum Ruins was a great trip. I'm glad we did it. I was hoping I could get something about the Ruins like in an attractions store. Surprisingly, all they had were vendors selling T-shirts and such. I'm so used the typical "museum store" at every US attraction, I was sure they'd have something. They weren't kidding that there was very little shade and rocky terrain there. A poor man from another tour either passed out or had a stroke or heart attack and fell down some rocky stairs. It wasn't exactly the best place to get hurt; definitely in the middle of nowhere. A nurse from our DCL group went over to help. She was a sweetheart and I'm sure helped get him stabilized before the ambulance came. We had a nice swim at the small beach there with great body surfing waves and then it was back to the bus for our Subway sandwiches, cervesas y pepsi-cola. Dos cervesas as Tony asked and received!

So many highlights and great weather, I could write too much....oh, I already did!

Juli

 

[Juli]

I talked with DCL today and they said they would extend the same offer that DVC does. You can rebook up to 3-days after your cruise and recieve the onboard booking incentive. This would mean you have to rebook by the close of business tomorrow. The CM didn't say I had to ask for him, just mention I had called and was told they could extend the booking incentive 3-days.

I forgot to ask if the incentive included the 3 & 4 day Wonder cruises. Did anyone see if it did? Also, could you apply the incentive to 2 seperate bookings? Say a 4-day this spring or next winter and a 7-day year plus from now?

I was really hoping he'd say you had to book on the ship so I wouldn't have to decide. I'm so tempted to book a value season date as far out as I can and see if we want to move it to any of the new dates coming out in 2005.

Just in case you haven't seen the threads, you can book with DCL, get the booking incentives and then transfer to Dreams Unlimited and recieve their booking rebate which is offered through February 2003. You just have to travel by Dec. 2005. I wouldn't want to take a commission away from a DCL employee, but I'm not sure that's the case. You read about people doing this all over the boards.

OK, this was supposed to be a short post. Now I'm in a conumdrum about rebooking.

Juli

 

[Juli]

That one of the Mickey Ears in the pool was for swim diaper kids. My kids were the only one of couple of kids in the pool on Port Canaveral day and they were swimming like crazy in that pool. It pays to read doesn't it. They would be grossed out if they knew even though there weren't any babies or toddlers there when we were there.

Juli

 

[Juli]

Extension cord: I couldn't get my hair dryer to work with any outlet. DH thought it needed more watts than outlets could handle. Would an extension cord taken care of this?

Coffee maker. Oh yuck on the coffee. The coffee on deck was awful. Sometimes the room service coffee was ok. Can't explain that inconsistency. Maybe I needed the caffeine on some days more than others. I'm a coffee snob. If I thought I could bring my own ground coffee and maker, I would have. The fact that my hair dryer wouldn't work has me wondering.

Juli

 

[Juli]

You know, I'm talking to myself here too. I'm silly.
Juli

 

[dizmomof2]

Hey Juli, I bet your kids were swimming wioth my kids on PC day!
We also went to the Goofy pool and were almost the only ones there too! It was really warm which was great as I don't do cold water!

 

[The4OfUs]

Originally posted by Juli
Extension cord: I couldn't get my hair dryer to work with any outlet. DH thought it needed more watts than outlets could handle. Would an extension cord taken care of this?

Coffee maker. Oh yuck on the coffee. The coffee on deck was awful. Sometimes the room service coffee was ok. Can't explain that inconsistency. Maybe I needed the caffeine on some days more than others. I'm a coffee snob. If I thought I could bring my own ground coffee and maker, I would have. The fact that my hair dryer wouldn't work has me wondering.

Juli

Yep, Juli, an extention cord would have worked for that....I had one that I used near the desk, and it was the only place I could get my hair dryer to work. The one in the room has POWER, but no HEAT! Grrr.

And as for the coffee inconsistancy, Glenn thinks it's cause the room service stuff was fresh, where as the one up on deck 9 / Topsiders was made "en masse" and had probably been sitting there...coffee tastes bad after sitting a while, and BAD coffee tastes awful after sitting a while! Honestly, I'm going to take a small "Maxwell House" instant coffee next time, or maybe those coffee "tea bag" type things.

I wish we had gotten the chance to hang out more...we'll just have to book again together!!

 

[dheller97]

Good morning, all-

No problem getting off the ship and was at the airport by 9 AM. Came back here to 19" of new snow and about 19" of stuff on my desk. Have a meeting with our Board of Directors on Thursday so don't have much time to prepare.

It was very nice getting to meet everyone on board. We make quite a group, don't we. Had great dinners with Karyn and her family and superb servers, Fitz from Jamaca and Tomislav from Croatia.

Will try to pop in from time to time to stay in touch with some of you wonderful people. Thanks for sharing your week with us.

Dean

 

[natdencro]

How lovely to hear your stories from your cruise. It sounds like you all had a truly wonderful vacation!
I was lucky enough to meet Gary and Gail onboard last year, and would love to have been on the same cruise this year, but wont be on the Magic until 6th March. Im sure there was never a dull moment!
Look forward to hearing more about the trip! Thanks. Nat

 

[kmc33]

Hi Everyone!! I am so glad that there is a new thread. I wanted to tell everyone that I met, that it was truly a pleasure. And I am sorry that I didn't get to meet everyone.

We had a wonderful vacation. We just got back last night. After debarking on Saturday my sister's family and my family shared a van back to WDW. We stayed two nights at the Dolphin. And despite the cold temperatures (Sunday morning at early entry to MK the wind chill was 32!) we enjoyed spending two days at WDW.

We really enjoyed our time on the Magic. And what great weather!!! My regret is that I didn't get to know more of all of you!!

Juli - I don't know about this...

I think we were the biggest duds of the group on the ship.

I think that honor goes to us!!! We were in bed between 10:00 and 10:30 just about every night! We had planned to come to the 10:00 Promenade meet on the first night. But, DH was falling asleep during the Welcome Aboard show. We were in our cabin asleep by 10:15 pm. That and the Golden Mickey's were the only shows that we saw. And I didn't see a single movie!! But we did get a lot of R&R.

We did do dinner and brunch at Palo. For dinner we had Kristian from Croatia for our server. And for brunch we had Marco from Italy. Both were outstanding. And DSis and DBIL had Florencia the night they went to dinner and said that she was fantastic!!

Our dinner servers were Attila (Hungary) and Kendell (Trinidad). I thought they were super. Each was good on his own and together they worked well as a team! A couple nights into the cruise, discovered that Juli and her family were seated not far from our table. We had the APL early and it worked well for us since we had three kids under 5 between DSis and myself.

Make the last day an at sea day

YES!!! I said the same thing to DH while we were packing after dinner on Friday night!! We didn't get to enjoy activities going on the last night because we had to pack. I think with a day a sea, we would have gotten a start during the day and it wouldn't have been so overwhelming that last night.

I am sorry that we missed the British Pub night!!!! I would have loved to come it that night.

Well I am just getting settled in here this morning. It's tough being back. We did rebook while onboard. We figured there was nothing to lose (except that we had to put down the deposit ) The 10% off and $200 oboard credit was good incentive. That's great that they will extend this offer for a few days after returning. Too bad they don't give longer to think about it. But at least anyone who was contemplating it or couldn't get a chance with the agent (Donna), still could do it. Our goal is to go on the Western again in January 2006, but those dates weren't open yet. So, we booked for January 2005 and will most likely move it when the dates become available.

Good luck to anyone else trying to decide for today!!! I am going to put together a review, but it will most likely take me a couple of days.

Hope everyone is getting back into the swing of things at home! We still have to finish unpacking when we get home from work tonight! -- not to mention laundry

 

[The4OfUs]

Originally posted by kmc33
And DSis and DBIL had Florencia the night they went to dinner and said that she was fantastic!!

Honestly, she was absolutely without a doubt the very best server I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I adored her, her knowledge and her commitment and complete PASSION in regards to her work (this is not just a "job" for her, you can tell) and the food and wine she serves - I'd say how wonderful the food was and she would say Thank You, as if I was complimenting HER personally, that's how completely personal she takes every phase of her work. She is one of my favorite memories on board, and having the added pleasure of meeting her husband during one of the cooking demonstrations was just a bonus.

I could go on and on about her, but I'll just finish with the thought that if every person who was in the business took as much pride and interest in the diners as she did, dining out would be a privledge in such a huge way...

 

[KofPShannon]

I don't mean to put a damper on Florencia's parade, but we had her as a server at Palo's for dinner too and don't quite see what all the fuss is about. She was Disney nice and everything, but was probably the least outgoing and warm of all our Disney servers (We all know that's still quite a leap over normal-world wait staff). Florencia seemed distracted through most of our meal. We had Kristof from Belgium at Palo's brunch and found him much more chatty and attentive. Maybe it was too late (9 PM start) and she was tired. The manager did say she was sick the next day at brunch.

I'm glad you all enjoyed her so much though and I'm disappointed that we didn't get to see that side of her.

I agree with Kim and Juli that I wish I could have stayed up longer to attend more of the shows. We only made it to one movie (matinee), 2 shows (6 PMs) and one night at the bars (and that was only because we were forcing ourselves to stay up for the midnight dessert buffet). But we managed a nice, long nap EVERY day. This being old and tired is for the birds.

 

[The4OfUs]

Yeah, I talked to her husband and she was sick enough to get the next day off (which is apparently impossible??? *shrug*), so I bet that was it...I had her both for brunch and dinner, and was blown away both times. However, I'd love to meet some of these other wonderful servers too!

 

[OKWMEMBER]

We had Antonio and Luis for our servers and they were wonderful!!! We had Antonio as an assistant server on our last DCL cruise and he has been promoted to server now. We requested him for this cruise. We had John for our head server and found him to be a little on the annoying side. Our room host Nick was a great guy who always had a smile and nice greeting when we saw him, plus we loved the towel animals!!! He put a hat and sunglasses on our towel monkey, which was hanging in the middle of the room!!!

HADD!!!