4/29/06 Eastern Magic - Day 1 & 2 (long)

[Lisa D]

Wild Fires & Rock the Boat

Cast: myself, DH, DS 10 and DS 13

We arrived in Orlando around 5:00 and rented a car from Budget to drive to Port Canaveral. When I saw the line for the rental cars, I was really glad I had used their Express Service. As we drove on the Beachline (formerly the Beeline), we noticed smoke from the wild fires that we burning. The next thing we knew, traffic was backing up as they were closing down the road and detouring us onto I95. We made a few wrong turns but finally wound up in Cape Canaveral around 7:30. I would have loved to try Grilles for dinner but we figured they'd be mobbed, so we just had pizza at Kelsey's.

We checked into the Residence Inn by Marriot - what a lovely place! DS's went swimming and DH and I had drinks by the pool, even though it was dark by that time. What the heck, we're on vacation!

The next morning, DH dropped DS 13 and I at the terminal with the luggage around 10:00, and he and DS 10 returned the car and took the shuttle back. Although we didn't know it yet, they shared the shuttle with some famous Dis'ers. We got Boarding Number 4. It was neat looking around for Dis'ers who looked familar, and we met a few right in the terminal.

We had the buffet lunch in Topsiders, and the kids went swimming in the Goofy pool before the crowds came. Later, we had a DIS meet in one of the stateroom suites and finally got to meet many of the people we had been chatting with for months.

Our dinner (6:00) was in Lumiere's. Our server was Ancell from Jamaica, and his assistant was Zibby from the Czech Republic. WARNING - there are NEW MENUS in all the restaurants! A few things are new on each one, and some of the old items are gone or changed (no more fried camembert!). I ordered Coquilles St. Jacques (new) and DH got the duck. The cold potato soup was still there and delicious!

Around this time, we are aware of the ship's motion. No problem, we thought, we're just crossing the Gulf Stream, and it's going to get a little rough. The kids are feeling a little queasy, so out comes the Bonine, and they got off to The Stack and Ocean Quest. The ship's motion is both up and down and side to side, and you could see the white caps on the waves. For the first time in three cruises, we actually had to use the railings in the hallways. Most of the clubs were deserted, but we went to Diversions to watch some baseball and drink some beer. Around 11:00 we were ready to call it a night.

 

[castlegazer]

Great detailed start to your report! I drove through the fires about 8 pm Thursday night and it was so bad. I couldn't breathe and I started coughing and choking. 528 was open at this time, but it was BAD!

I wish we could have hung out with you guys more. Suzie kept coming to dinner every night saying what fun she was having with you guys.

I just wanted to also state that the rocking was due to a tropical system and this was creating 8 foot swells, so what we felt was a lot worse than normal. But it did settle as normal by 1 pm the next day but it was due to the Captian changing course to help the enormous amount of sick people on board. Everywhere we went there were yellow caution signs up diverting you around wet areas of the rugs where people had been sick on the stairs and hallways. I got my first case of a seasickness headache ever. I had to go to bed that night and skip the show.

All was better by day 2.

 

[hccb]

Holy Cow! The seas were truly large the first night! We certainly did get bounced around...We enjoyed the motion, personally, but this is your thread

I'm posting because we had Ancell in Parrot Cay for lunch on embarkation and again in Topsiders one afternoon. Softspoken but very sweet, we thought.