4 Night Magic 1/4-1/8/05 ~ Romantic cruise for 2

[TammiMcMan]

Cast ~ Myself (41) and DH (40)

Young at heart

For anyone non-Disney, it’s very difficult to explain why Jim and I would choose to take a Disney cruise without our kids. The easy answer is that Disney knows how to do things right. Their service is impeccable, the ships are amazing and we’re truly kids at heart.

When it came time for us to decide on where the 2nd annual parents only trip would be, it was an easy choice. With or without the kids, we love Disney. We’ve had some amazing family vacations there and we’ve done things on our “us” only trips that we normally don’t get to do. We had done the cruise in May and found it to be extremely relaxing. With vacation time in early January, I thought the Bahamas would be a perfect get away spot for this couple from New England. We picked another 3-night cruise, because that’s what worked out best for our schedule. Shortly after booking, Disney came out with a special 4-night cruise aboard the Magic. That ship normally runs the 7 nights, but it was out of sync because of the special extended Christmas cruise. The dates actually fit right into our schedule and when my Dreams Unlimited agent checked on pricing and availability, it was less expensive. I didn’t hesitate, I went right ahead and made the change.

I know everyone spends their money differently. Some like the security of having a nest egg in their savings account, others like new cars every couple of years and so on. With my family, it’s going big when we’re on vacation. I booked a category 3 suite for the two of us with concierge service. We planned on truly being pampered over the 4 nights.

From then on, I spent my time researching what the difference was between the 3 night and the 4 night. I joined the cruise meet thread and started my countdown clock. Life got back to what we consider normal and we waited. Similar to a Disney World vacation, the cruise also has priority windows that open up. For them, it’s the chance to book shore excursions and concierge guests can book dining options. The 4 night has a stop in Nassau and on the private island of Castaway Cay. Jim and I debated about what we’d like to do. He loves snorkeling and seeing marine life, I hyperventilate when it comes to stuff like that. Our oldest is a Marine Biology major in college, they enjoy dad & daughter time by doing these things together. I’m quite happy to be left out. Against every OCD Disney planning bone in my body, I agreed to just wing it. In all actuality, it’s very hard to have an itinerary when you take a cruise. Of course you know which days you’ll be in port, but until you receive your Navigator on board the ship, you don’t know what Disney is offering. For our May cruise, Jim and our daughter knew that they wanted to spend some time snorkeling in Nassau, so we did book that ahead of time. Everything else was planned on a day-by-day basis. In fact, it became part of our morning routine. We would have a continental breakfast in our room and look over the Navigator for that day. It worked for the 5 of us in May, so I honestly had no doubt that we’d be fine without a plan.

The next step was booking our flight. I had a credit with JetBlue, so I booked our flight down to Orlando with them. They do offer a direct flight, but I’ve seen too many things that can go wrong. A few years ago, we discovered the convenience of flying in the night before our vacation was set to begin. You do have the additional cost of one extra hotel night, but that piece of mind is priceless to me. I’m always tired after flying and it feels like I’ve lost a day. Now, we simply book the late flight the night before and we’re still able to work or go to school that day. We’re in Orlando not much later than 10pm and we all get a goods night sleep. It was especially important to do that this trip, because we fly in from New England where weather is a definite concern in the winter. Our flight was booked for Monday night and we opted to stay right in the Hyatt. At this point, we did have the DCL transfers and the Hyatt participates in this program. You simply leave your luggage out before going to bed and they will pick it up and load it for delivery to the terminal. In the morning, you check in at the hotel lobby and they escort you to the bus. Again, Disney just knows how to do things right. The next big dilemma was when to book our return flight. They advise you not to book anything before noon. Our choices for JetBlue were 10:30am or 3pm. I knew our chances were pretty good to make the early flight and we could always go standby for the later one if we missed it. I would have booked the later flight if I had the kids with us, but decided to try our luck with the earlier one.

 

[TammiMcMan]

One eye on the weather, one eye on my countdown clock

When we got down to about a week to go, I started getting a little nervous about our flight. I had booked the DCL transfer and my concern was not having any control about getting back to the airport. I debated between a rental or the town car service. After a trip to the DIS boards transportation forum, I decided to call Southern Elegance for a town car. We arranged for an early pick up from the Hyatt so that we could enjoy some time at the terminal before boarding. We also asked for an 8am pick up after the boat docked. The booking was very smooth and easy.

I kept checking the Bahamas weather on a daily basis. I didn’t want to carry more than one suitcase, so I was hoping sweaters weren’t going to be needed. As we crept closer to the date, the forecasters were saying that if you picked this week to go to the Bahamas, you were in luck. Highs were said to be around 80 and lows in the mid 70’s. I was happy to pull every sweater out of my packing pile. A fellow cruiser arrived in Florida a few days early and passed along the extended weather forecast to the rest of us. Even in Orlando, it was going to be nice and warm.

I ended up having a full rolling suitcase, my carpetbag was only half full and that contained my carryon items. I had to plan on enough room for souvenirs. Instead of dresses for dinner, I had a nice pair of black pants and different tops for each night. There was some confusion as to whether or not there would be a formal night, so I did end up with one dress packed. Jim brought the garment bag for his suit and was able to get all the rest of his clothes in there.

The final thing on my “to do” list was putting together instructions for the kids. My oldest daughter was in charge and we had plenty of family around to check in on them. It’s funny to think that at her age, I was married. My biggest concern was that we would have no cell phone coverage once the ship left the port. That was absolutely no problem for someone born in the technology age though. Within minutes, my kids had set me up with my own AOL instant messenger account. Using the ships internet service, I could keep in touch with them.

The weather cooperated with our flight plans and it was actually the same temperature in Orlando as it was in Boston when we left. My husband works fairly close to the airport, so the plan was to drop his car at their indoor parking garage and take a taxi over. Well, if anyone knows Boston drivers, we are pretty bad. Someone cut our taxi off and then they proceeded to play cat & mouse for the next mile. Not wanting to start off a trip with a road rage incident, DH told the driver off and we proceeded to the airport without any further incidents and without giving him a tip. JetBlue is located in the international terminal, so they have their own security setup. We were able to bypass the customs area completely and it took all of five minutes to get through. We still had plenty of time to stop and get a bite to eat. The flight itself was full and as would be expected, there were lots of pre-school children on board. We had one directly behind us who played with her talking Elmo doll for most of the trip. For a little one stuck on a 3 hour plane trip, she was very well behaved. Elmo, on the other hand, should have been using his inside voice. There was an infant across from us and the poor thing cried for the first 30 minutes. I remember traveling when ours were that small and you just hoped that their ears wouldn’t bother them too much. I like JetBlue though and having your own TV to watch makes the time go by very fast.

We touched down in Orlando just a few minutes late. We had run into a head wind and the flight itself was a bit bumpy. The terminal was deserted. We took the shuttle over to baggage claim and for the first time had to wait for our luggage. We waited a good 15 minutes and then my suitcase was one of the last ones off. My cell phone has a pretty cool game though, so I kept myself occupied. With luggage in hand, we took the elevator back upstairs and walked over to the Hyatt. The registration desk was busy for it being 11 o’clock at night, so I just resumed my game while we waited. I’ve come to realize that this greatly reduces stress and hand held games are not just for kids. Jim belongs to the Hyatt club or whatever it’s called and they had given us a complimentary upgrade at check in. We got an executive room and it was very nice and big. Too bad we’d be spending less than 10 hours there, but it was a nice way to start the vacation.

Our first big decision was what to do about breakfast. Should we pre-order room service or just grab something in the morning. We’re not big breakfast eaters and there’s a Starbucks right outside the Hyatt, so that made for an easy choice. I sat down at the desk in our room and proceeded to fill out our cruise documents and put everything in order. We fell asleep watching the end of one of the football games.

 

[TammiMcMan]

Let the pampering begin (1/4/05)

I’m typically an early riser and vacation is no different. DH on the other hand, has to get up early for work, but when he’s presented with the choice, he’ll take sleeping in every time. I was up at 7am and luxuriated in the shower. I know this sounds strange, but every mother reading this knows that everything is fine until you step into the bathroom. That’s the precise moment when every child in your household needs something from you. I haven’t gone to the bathroom by myself in 19 years. My husband is so embarrassed because half the time, I don’t even shut the door. What’s the sense, it’s only going to be thrown open within minutes of me stepping in. Plus I try to use reverse psychology. If they don’t hear the bathroom door shutting, then they don’t know that I’m in there. It’s funny, but it does work sometimes. I checked on my husband when I finished my shower and no surprise here, he was still sleeping. Taking my cell phone into the bathroom, I called and made sure the kids had gotten up okay for school. Shortly after 8am, prince charming arose and started his personal grooming regiment. He’s a dad and for some reason, my kids don’t think he can tie shoes, find lost books, or even make a sandwich. I don’t think he’s ever been interrupted in the shower, or if he has, his response is probably to go ask your mother. If I’m not mistaken, he might even lock the bathroom door. Because of this, I’m always the one waiting for him. In my head, I know that we still have 45 minutes before the town car shows up, but I still want him to hurry. He’s finally ready and we take the short walk over to Starbucks for our morning coffee. I’m too excited to eat anything and I notice that even Jim eats only half his muffin. We gather our luggage and meet our driver in the hotel carport. The car is beautiful and our driver is professional and courteous. The drive down the beeline is fast, but we still notice some of the damage the hurricanes left behind.

I loved coming over that second bridge and seeing the ship in the distance. The new pickup/drop off area is very convenient. There were porters waiting to take our luggage and we presented our ID’s at the first security check. Our first stop was at the concierge check in desk. We read the notice about having to report any illness within the past 48 hours and wondered how many people actually do that and reschedule. Luckily, we were both feeling fine, but I had packed a small CVS pharmacy in my bag just in case. The second stop was the restroom and a look around the terminal. I know that it’s a cash less system on board, but I was surprised that there wasn’t an ATM machine. They had the kid’s club registration area set up and a few people were taking advantage of it. We met fellow DIS’ers Andy (Verandahman) and his wife Hazel. They were easy to spot in their lime green t-shirts. I did see a few other folks in lime green, but I always feel kind of strange approaching people and asking them if they’re from the DIS. We had a meet scheduled on board the ship, so I figured I would just wait until then. Jim and I stood out on the balcony and watched them painting the lifeboats and loading up the luggage. The whole process just seems to run like clockwork. We were really surprised to see that the terminal was still decorated for Christmas.

Close to noontime, they were ready to accept passengers. We presented our keys to the world cards and were the first couple on board. A quick stop for the photo and then our names were announced. I love that part. On our last cruise, we ate in Parrot Cay. This time we decided to visit the concierge meet and greet first and then grab lunch at Topsiders. Ana was available to make any reservations that we needed. We had already had our Palo’s dinner and brunch taken care of by Debbie, but as we were traveling without kids this time, we asked about dining in Palo’s every night. Ana said that it was no problem and she booked us for all 4 nights. The only thing left to do was to make our spa reservations. Ana sent us up to deck 9 where they would have a separate area for concierge guests. Unfortunately, they were having a problem at the spa and weren’t able to make appointments until 1pm. It was so beautiful that we decided to eat lunch on the deck outside of Topsiders. By now it was getting close to 1pm. Jim found a comfortable looking deck chair by the adult pool and I got in line for the spa. It wasn’t long before they opened the doors and started their bookings and tours. I was the second in line for concierge guests, but it gave me a chance to go over my requests again. I had printed out the spa offerings menu from online and we had both gone through it and picked out what we wanted ahead of time. When it was my turn, it was pretty easy to pull out my sheet of paper and read off the treatments and our first choice for days and times. Jim wanted the length of stay pass for the rainforest and he thought the chakra capsule looked pretty interesting. They offer 25 and 50 minute sessions. He picked the 50 minute because he thought it would take him that long to get comfortable. I went with a salon wash & style for our first night and a facial after Castaway Cay. I would end up adding to my list later on.

We were anxious to see our stateroom, so we went down the stairs only to find the gate still across our hallway. While we were standing there deciding what to do, an officer came by and unhooked the gate. Perfect timing. We were in a mid-ship category 3 this time. These are a different layout than the standard category 3’s and offer a little more room. The stateroom was beautiful. We had a living room with a couch, two chairs, an ottoman and a dining room table. There were two sets of sliding glass doors onto the deck. The bedroom had a queen size bed and another set of sliding glass doors. We had 2 bathrooms, a vanity area and a walk in closet. I counted five telephones. There were some family photos of Walt and his wife, which really added to the room. The verandah contained 4 chairs, a table and a lounge chair. It was huge. The concierge staff had left us some sodas, water and a fruit basket. There was a beautiful memory box given to us by our Dreams Unlimited agent. Unfortunately, our sound system was broken. We tend to spend a lot of time in our stateroom and had brought along a selection of CD’s to listen to. While we were checking everything out though, our stateroom attendant Ike stopped by. We showed him the sound system and within 10 minutes, someone from maintenance came by to look at it. He couldn’t replace it, because they didn’t have any on board, but he offered to try and make it work for us. It was actually the power button that had been broken. An hour later, he returned and hooked it back up for us. Jim loaded his Josh Groban, Enya, Andrea Boccelli, Wishes and Tapestry of Dreams CD’s into the player and hit the shuffle button. This beautiful music would play in our stateroom for the next few days.

Jim’s luggage arrived at about 2:30 and mine showed up at about 3pm. It didn’t take us long to unpack and hang everything. Finally at 4pm the announcement for the lifejacket drill came on and we proceeded to our stations. It’s a little embarrassing and you do have to move with caution or else risk knocking over a fellow passenger. The process is painless though and we were soon released back to our stateroom. Now came the next big decision, where should we go to watch the ship leave the port? I opted for the Promenade Lounge with the big porthole windows. As soon as we got there though, I decided that this was definitely not where I wanted to be. I wanted to go up to deck 10 and get the full panoramic view. Being the great guy that he is, Jim doesn’t say anything and we walk all the way back to where we just came from.

We seem to have run into a small snafu and the ship is not embarking on time. The sail away party is well underway, but we’re not moving. Then we see it, a Disney bus pulling into the terminal and people racing on board. Not the best way to start a vacation, but at least they made it. The gangway is pulled back the minute they step onto the ship and we are underway. We end up being a few minutes late for the DIS meet and out of the hundred or so that we have sailing, there are only a few who made it. I’m sure many were still enjoying the deck party and others were busy getting ready for dinner or the show. It was nice to meet everyone though and recognize faces over the next few days.

Jim and I headed up to the spa. He went off to do the chakra and I waited for the salon. While I was waiting, a woman was talking about the ion detox and how she had lost 4 inches. It sounded fabulous, so I went up to the desk and asked about it. I was a little nervous about having electrical impulses going through my body, so I booked the seaweed wrap detox package. It basically does the same thing, only natural and with a massage. Luckily, before I could book anything else, my name was called and my hair appointment began. I was looking to have it styled for dinner, but of course talk turned to how often I colored my hair and when was the last time I had it cut. Well, the grays don’t lie and it’s been almost 2 years since I’ve been in a hair salon. That led to another booking of a hair color and cut on the sea day. Did I mention that this was a pampering cruise? I had fulfilled my dream of having a spa appointment for every single day.

When I got back to the stateroom to dress for dinner, Jim had already returned. He wasn’t too sure if he got any benefit from the capsule. He was willing to give it another try and hold off judgment until then. My hair was looking fabulous, so I was a happy camper. By this time, the ship was rocking and rolling. I swear I hadn’t even had a drink yet, but I was bouncing off the walls in the hallway. Not a pretty site. I was feeling fine though and neither one of us had a reason to take the Bonine that I packed.

We arrived at Palo’s and were seated at Kristian’s station. He is from Croatia and had been on the Magic for 5 years. For our first night, we stuck with what we liked and ordered the portabella mushroom appetizer, the filet mignon entrée and chocolate soufflé for dessert. We did take Kristian’s recommendation for a lovely Amarone wine and we were not disappointed. It was a delicious meal and the restaurant didn’t seem to have more than a dozen or so people. We did notice a lot of the crew eating here tonight.

Jim and I both enjoy football, so after dinner we changed and went to Diversions to watch the big USC game. It ended up not being much of a game, so we challenged each other to backgammon. We used to play this game all the time as newlyweds, but for the life of us, neither one could remember how to set up the game. It took us a while, but we finally figured it out. The club had a snack station with hot dogs, spicy wings and nachos.

Ike had turned down our beds and left a beautiful swan. I’m not sure if it was a pillow top mattress, but the bed itself was extremely comfortable. I could feel myself rocking back and forth throughout the night. Kind of like sleeping on a hammock I guess. The swaying was very soothing and I slept well.

 

[TammiMcMan]

How to lose $40 in less than 30 minutes (1/5/05)

I was up to see the sunrise this morning. It was already looking like another glorious day. After walking the decks for a little while, I made a stop at the Cove Café and signed up for their unlimited internet service. I logged in, found the AOL software and within minutes I was chatting with my girls. My son had already gone off to school, so I promised to check back in later in the day. It was finally 8am and time for my seaweed detox in the spa. I’ve had a few spa experiences over the years, but this was my first time going au natural. Well, almost anyway, I was wearing paper panties. The seaweed mixture went on really warm and then I was wrapped up in tinfoil and a blanket. I felt like a baked potato. During this time, I had a nice foot massage. Finally it was time to shower and scrub it all off. Once again, I was wrapped up tight and got a scalp massage this time. Back to the shower for a final cleansing, then onto the table for a back massage. I know I didn’t fall asleep, but I don’t think I could have been more relaxed.

When I got back to the cabin, Jim was getting himself ready and I was starving. We decided to eat breakfast outside at Topsiders again. Probably not the best choice when you’re in port though. It was like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Birds. They were hovering all over the place and many guests just left their trays on the tables when they were finished. This caused a feeding frenzy and we didn’t stick around too long.

Our original plan was to enjoy the ship and head into Atlantis in the late afternoon. We had found out that the captain had given the crew the night off and they wouldn’t be sailing until 2am. It was so nice though, we decided to get off the ship. Jim wanted to take the water taxi over. For some reason, he thought this was our best option. It ended up being a pretty far walk from the boat dock to Atlantis. I thought he was taking me in the wrong direction. From the ship, you see this beautiful coral color building, but we were walking towards this gaudy pink thing that looked like a Holiday Inn. Come to find out, this is part of the resort and the coral building houses the Towers and casino. We walked through the marina and admired the yachts that were docked there. Our main objective for today was to spend $40 in the casino. It’s probably been 15 years since I last touched a slot machine. We cashed in our bills for quarters and went to search out a lucky machine. I was looking for quarters and I think Jim headed right for the dollars. I play one quarter at a time and I have fun. Within 30 minutes I had $50. Okay, but when did they stop dispensing the quarters when you win? I loved hearing the sound of them dropping down. Now, when you “cash out”, they print off a voucher that shows how much money you’ve won. It’s just not the same. I found Jim and he was reaching into his pocket and pulling out another $20. I ended up giving him $10 of my winnings and he ran off again. I think it was minutes that he was back, his hands empty. I still had my $40, so I asked if he wanted me to cash in and we’d have lunch, or did he want half. He grabbed half and took off on me. I sat back down and played my .25 cent machine. I still had $20 when he came back empty handed, I didn’t offer him anymore. We left the casino and took a quick walk around the resort. They had designer stores that I was afraid to even go inside. We’re not smokers and you can smoke anywhere in this resort. We didn’t stick around for very long and we were heading back to the ship by 1pm.

It probably would have been a good idea to at least glance at our daily Navigators. If we had, we would have known that they stop serving lunch in the ships restaurants at 2pm. We got back on board at 1:59 and we were starving. We ended up at Pluto’s Dog House. I got the chicken tenders and fries, Jim had a hamburger and a hot dog. We carried them over to the adult area and ordered smoothies to go with them. By the time we were finished, I knew my kids would be getting home from school and I wanted to check in with them. Jim decided to get a head start on the rainforest room in the spa. I went to the Cove Café and logged in. I saw that my oldest was on-line and I sent her a message. I guess you can set up a response to automatically reply if you’re away from the computer. Her’s came back telling me that she had left to go pick up the kids and she’d be home soon. I kept busy by catching up on the DIS boards and soon I was chatting with the kids. They were getting along fine and life was running smoothly. I logged off and went to join Jim in the rainforest.

I can’t be described as a relaxer. I just like to be doing things. If I’m in the mood, I can sit and read a few chapters of my book, but then I need a change. Jim looks at vacation as his one and only chance to relax. For him, the spa is a religious experience. It’s like church, you don’t talk, you sit quietly and reflect. I bounded into the rainforest to find him snoozing on one of the tile loungers. Being a thoughtful parent, I proceeded to update him on the kids and pretty much relate our entire conversation word for word. He nodded his head in the appropriate places and then when I finally stopped talking, he asked me if I had tried out the steam room yet. He’s no dummy, the steam room is a completely separate room and there would be a door between us. I am definitely the Ying to his Yang. I took the hint and left him in peace. I don’t know how we work so well together, but we just do.

When we thought that we’d be spending the afternoon and early evening at the Atlantis, we made our Palo reservation for 9pm. Luckily when I stopped by our stateroom, there was a message from the dining manager. They had some cancellations and we were free to come anytime after 8pm. We still had plenty of time, so we relaxed in our stateroom and had a chance to iron all our clothes. The concierge staff had dropped off some desserts and invited us to a get together. We went up on deck 10 for the concierge party and they had drinks and snacks. We even got to see the sunset. It was beautiful.

Finally dinnertime rolled around and we requested Kristian’s area again. He is an amazing server and it was uncanny the way he could figure out exactly what we would like. Jim and I shared a secret smile or two as we listened to the kid’s club pagers going off around us. We love our children dearly, but I have to admit that this was very nice. Tonight we decided to go with the chef’s specials and we weren’t disappointed. Three hours later and after lots of wonderful conversation, we were finished with dinner. We decided to check out the clubs, but ended up back at Diversions playing backgammon. I know that there’s limited smoking area’s, but you could see the haze of smoke when you looked into the club and we just turned around and walked out. Diversions also allows smoking at the bar, but there were not more than 5 people in there, so it wasn’t bad at all. We came back to our room to find an elephant sleeping on our bed. Ike certainly had a way with towel animals.

 

[TammiMcMan]

Our own private island (1/6/05)

As usual, I was up at the crack of dawn and walking the decks. I wasn’t alone though. I noticed quite a few that also appreciate the solitude. Before we had gone to bed last night, we had decided to have breakfast in our stateroom. Unfortunately, Jim forgot to order it the night before. Not wanting to relive the birds, we ended up going to Parrot Cay for their buffet breakfast. We sat with a nice couple from North Carolina and their young daughter. This was their first Disney experience and they were just gushing over how wonderful everything was. They had done the 3 days on land first, so they really appreciated the transfers and the luggage service.

We did a quick check on the kids and we took off to discover Serenity Bay. We took the tram over. You can walk, but it’s pretty far and honestly, I don’t want to work that hard on vacation. We did notice a lot of heavy equipment on the island. They had work crews repairing a number of areas. It took a hit from at least one of the hurricanes and the damage was widespread. Jim was a little disappointed when we got to the adult area because they only had a few hammocks set up and these had already been claimed. We did find two lounge chairs under an umbrella and that worked fine for us. As is our custom, he lay right down and I went for a walk on the beach. You can see a lot more marine life here, but walking is not easy. The slope made it difficult to get your footing and there were lots of shells and rocks in the area. By the time I walked back, Jim was ready to do some exploring. We found some beautiful shells, some crabs, snails, a huge starfish and several smaller ones. Sea urchins and small fish were all over the place. We even found some coral and a huge sponge. We stayed out exploring for almost 2 hours, but the time seemed to fly by.

I had heard that the food selection wasn’t that great at the adult beach, but we decided to check it out anyway. We ended up having just a snack and then we grabbed our beach stuff and took the tram back. Cookies BBQ had a bigger selection, so we ate again. As I said, I’m not a huge fan of marine life, but I knew that Jim really wanted to snorkel. We checked out some gear and went to the snorkel area. Just a little tip, put your fins on in the water. It is so much easier. I’d already done it in May and I think the added security of having that netting up around the area made me feel comfortable. I did hyperventilate a little, but I just stayed close to Jim and didn’t let him out of my sight. It was late afternoon and with all the beach goers and other snorkelers, the water does get a bit cloudy. We had to swim pretty far out before we could see any fish. Then we would run into schools of them. I was doing okay until a jellyfish swam right next to me. That was it, I was finished. We made our way back to the beach, turned in our equipment and went back to the ship. The weather was beautiful, but the water was cool and I was feeling pretty gross when we got out. I desperately wanted a hot shower. Jim was having his second chakra capsule and I had a facial scheduled for the early evening. I got us some coffee drinks from the Cove Café and Jim enjoyed time in the hot tub. I don’t think we could have relaxed anymore, but we still had spa appointments to keep. My facial was wonderful. I didn’t fall asleep, but just sort of floated there for a while. I actually didn’t even realize how relaxed I was until it was all over. They do advise you to get up slowly and drink lots of water afterwards. Well, I did fine until I got to the women’s lounge and walked right into the wall. It was at this point, that I decided to rest on the chaise lounge until I had my feet under me again. While I was there, I met a spa virgin. She had absolutely no idea what to do. I asked her if she was having a treatment done and she replied that her and her husband were having a couples massage. I explained that she just needed to strip down to her comfort level, put on the bathrobe and wait for the attendant to come and get her. She wasn’t very comfortable taking anything off and I did try to help her out by saying how professional the attendants were and that they would keep her covered at all times. She was really uptight though and I felt bad. She was pacing because they were 5 minutes late and she was worried about her children. They both hated the kids club. She had a 7 and 10 year old. I left before she came back, but my guess is that she really didn’t get much out of the massage. Jim’s final vote for the chakra capsule was two thumbs up. He had fallen asleep within the first five minutes this time and came out feeling very refreshed.

We followed our familiar routine of eating with Kristian in Palo’s. Our goal for this trip, in addition to the pampering was to try different things. Kristian had already introduced us to a new wine and we felt like we were in very capable hands. Once again, we went with his recommendation for the chef special and he suggested champagne for dinner. We had a beautiful bottle of Rose Cuvee. Everything was excellent. When he asked if he could surprise us with coffee, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. He made an incredible espresso martini that was a perfect ending to dinner. Each night, I think we were spending more and more time at dinner. It was just so nice not to rush.

I'm not sure how we planned it, but after we changed into casual clothes, we decided to stop by and see the pirate party on deck 9. The kids looked like they were having a great time and just as we were leaving, they set off some fireworks. I know this isn't normal for the 4 night cruise, so we really appreciated it. We ended the evening by playing backgammon in Diversions. Ike had left us a hanging towel monkey. He was wearing Jim’s sunglasses and eating our chocolates. Very cute. I couldn’t believe that we still had another full day on the ship. We slept with the sliding glass door open and fell asleep to the gentle sounds of the ocean and Josh Groban.

 

[TammiMcMan]

A day at sea (1/7/05)


We had only done a 3 night previously and it felt incredible to have this additional day at sea. As usual, I was up and out early. I really do enjoy these quiet times. I had a salon appointment scheduled for 8am, so after a quick internet check on the kids, I went to the spa. Jules did a wonderful job on my hair and you really can’t beat the view from the hair stylist’s chair. I was sad to see so much of my hair on the floor, but that’s what happens when you don’t get your hair cut regularly. I admit that it feels and looks a lot healthier now. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get my length back.

This morning we were joining another couple for Palo’s brunch. We had met them through the DIS boards and it turned out that we had a lot in common. With very little introduction, we were talking like old friends. We had an incredible breakfast and between the food and the company, we could have sat and lingered there all day. As it was, we drank them out of champagne and right into high tea. The servers were gracious and probably would have allowed us to keep the booth even longer, but we did want to enjoy a few hours of sunshine.

We went back to the stateroom for a change into bathing suits. Jim was going to the rainforest and I wanted to give him his space. I wandered around looking for a quiet spot, but that’s not easy on a sea day. Nearly every chair was taken. I remembered the private area out on deck 7, so I went in search of it. It didn’t take me long to find and there were only 3 other people sitting out there. I laid in the sun and read my book for close to an hour. That’s about my limit though. I’m not a big sun worshiper, so I moved inside for a little while. I had a nice coffee in the Cove Café and decided to check on the weather for our trip home the next day. It wasn’t looking too good. They were calling for snow in New England, but even 24 hours is too far in advance to predict any amounts.

Jim and I finally hooked up again at the adult pool. One of my favorite past times is people watching and you can certainly get an eyeful here. I know that people complain about the kids not reading signs and jumping into the pools, or running on decks, but I can tell you, some adults are not much smarter. We saw grown ups eating ice cream in the hot tub, bringing in beer bottles and other forms of alcohol. They were smoking in the pool and we witnessed one group that had an entire bottle of Absolute Vodka and Tequila on the edge of the pool. Their mother or some other maternal relative was screaming at them from her lounge chair to bring back her booze. I’m sorry, but if you need that much liquor, you might want to consider a vacation at Betty Ford the next time. It didn’t take us too long to decide our stateroom verandah was probably a nicer place to sit.

Ana from concierge stopped by with our tip envelopes and a beautiful picture to take home. It’s the Disney gang eating dinner at Animators Palette. I told Jim that I had just seen this picture downstairs at the silent auction and the opening bid was $250. We had eaten dinner in Palo’s every night, so I wasn’t sure what was the correct procedure for tipping the other servers. We had already been tipping Kristian nightly. I decided to go with the recommended amounts because we did eat in the restaurants for breakfast and lunch on a few occasions and perhaps our servers were working there. I don’t know when they actually get the money, so I tipped our stateroom attendant through our account and also included some additional cash. I guess that bottom line, you have to do what you’re comfortable with.

Jim’s dream job is to be a meteorologist, so I asked him to take a look at the weather channel before we went to dinner. By this time, our town was under a winter weather warning and the prediction was for 4-8 inches of snow. The timeline was 9am-6pm with reduced visibility and snow accumulating at an inch per hour. We debated on whether or not we should just extend our vacation by a day, or go with the assumption that our weather forecasters have not been right yet and why should this time be any different. We decided to have guest services check on availability at the at Disney resort. Because of the marathon though, they did not have a vacancy anywhere. We were very close to dinnertime, so we set aside our travel concerns and figured we would just check it again in the morning.

We did not grow tired of Palo’s at all. Each night was a culinary experience. This evening, Kristian brought the chef out to meet us. That was very cool. Tonight it was very crowded. I guess a lot of people decide to do dinner here on the last night. Once again we outlasted nearly everyone in the restaurant. That’s one thing about my family though, dinner is an occasion. If we’re all together for this meal, it can last for hours.

We didn’t break from routine and finished our evening with a glass of Baileys and a few games of backgammon. We were joined by our fellow DIS couple and time passed too quickly. Back in the stateroom, Ike had left us a cobra. It only took us a few minutes to pack up and we decided to hang onto our luggage as the town car was scheduled to pick us up at 8am. Once again, we slept with the balcony doors wide open and the beautiful breeze coming in.

 

[TammiMcMan]

All good things must come to an end (1/8/05)

As usual, I beat the sunrise. At 6am, we were already docked at Port Canaveral and the process of unloading had begun. I was anxious to check on the weather, so I went downstairs and logged in. The winter weather warning was still up, but the accumulations had been reduced to 3-6” with the chance of it changing over to rain. I went back to the room and gave Jim the update. We decided to pack some extra clothes in our carryon, just in case and chance trying to get out this morning.

We lined up in the atrium at about 7:25. There were probably about 100 people waiting to get off early also. I made sure to have my customs form, our ID’s and passports all ready for the customs officer. At 7:40 or so, they opened up the gates and started allowing passengers to disembark. It took all of 5 minutes to get waived through customs and walk over to the pick up area. I was hoping our driver would be early, but he arrived promptly at 8am. It was the same gentleman who dropped us off earlier in the week. He recognized us and was able to pull right into the pick up area. Normally, the drivers do have to park across the street and walk over with their welcome signs.

Once again the car was in beautiful condition and our driver had us in the airport by 8:40. The JetBlue skycap told us that the plane was nearly empty and we had our choice of seats. I know that it was pretty full when I booked it, so quite a few must have decided not to chance the storm and stay until Sunday.

The security line had about 10 people in front of us and it was moving quickly. We did notice one knucklehead lady who thought it would be fine if she just flashed her boarding pass and cut everybody in line. She actually ducked under the gate and got in the shortest line, which was also the “special search” line. It didn’t take long for the TSA security guards to swarm her and pull her aside. In this day and age, I have no idea what people are thinking sometimes. It took Jim and I ten minutes to get through security and make it to our gate. We had plenty of time to get some coffee and relax. The plane arrived at the gate and that’s always a good sign. They were running about 15 minutes behind though and were trying to make up some time. The boarding went fairly smoothly and we ended up in row 2. There was an older, professional looking couple traveling and when they discovered that the 1st row was open, they wanted to play musical seats. First of all, the wife was sitting with us in row 2 and her husband was in the aisle seat in row 3. Common sense would have you simply move up and sit down, but not this gentleman. He insisted on moving his overhead luggage one bin forward. The flight attendants are insisting that he take his seat because the planes door cannot be shut until that time. Well, this causes him to go into slow motion and he not only has to move his baggage, but he has to take some items out and basically this guy is repacking. Now we all know that with New England weather, these 5 minutes can be the difference between us landing in Boston or being redirected to goodness knows where. By this time, his wife is even yelling at him. He has the final word though as he takes some more precious time to remove his suit jacket before sitting down and buckling up.

I really wish that I could sleep on planes, but at least the TV makes the time go by fast. I was even able to check the weather channel and it was looking good for us to land. We did end up having to circle Logan for about 20 minutes while they cleared off the runway. I’ve never landed in bad weather, so this was a bit nerve wracking. I was wondering if the plane had snow tires. I know that I’ve skidded on the ice driving my mini van at 25 miles an hour, how the heck was this huge thing going to stop. It stopped without any problem though and I breathed a sigh of relief. In three hours we had gone from sunny 76 degrees, to a wintry mix of snow, ice and 31 degrees. We have new friendships and some wonderful memories to keep us warm through the winter though.

~Tammi

 

[jdm]

Wonderful report, thanks for posting. You mean there is hope? Travel without children...... someday?

Jenn

 

[nrsldy]

Great Trip Report!!
I would love to go on a cruise after reading your report.

 

[TammiMcMan]

Jenn, there is definitely hope. It's taken us a while and many family trips, but we have thoroughly enjoyed our Disney vacations for 2.

Nrsldy, I never thought that I would like a cruise. As you read in my posts, I'm not one that can just sit around all day. I need to have something going on. The Disney cruise just fits the bill perfectly. There is something for everyone.

Tammi

 

[neverlandclub]

Great report Tammi! Glad you got back ok. Sorry its so cold there. We need another cruise, huh? We really had fun with you both. Maybe we will meet up again someday.
Take care,
Melissa & Shawn

 

[Credit Man]

Great report! Thanks for posting.

 

[Credit Man]

Great report! Thanks for posting.

 

[minniesota]

B]Tammi[/B] - Great trip report! You know how I love the details. I'm going to have DH read it and see if I can talk him into a parents only cruise! I think we'd have to lie to the kids though. They had such a good time last year and can't wait to go again. It's great that Jim is a Disney guy too. I'm at a disadvantage since DH can really take or leave Disney. But he does love the service and, as you say, Disney just does it right. What was your favorite thing about cruising concierge? Would you go that route again? Dining at Palo's every night would be fabulous - is that a concierge perk?

 

[bratray]

wonderful report- imagine PALO and the SPA on a daily basis- that must have been heaven!!

 

[TammiMcMan]

Hi Melissa, it was an awesome trip and a pleasure meeting you and Shawn. I hope our Disney paths cross again someday.

Minniesota That's so funny, because when we took our first parents only trip to Disney, we lied to our kids. Of course, they eventually figured it out and were not upset at all. They did have the pleasure of going on the 3 night cruise with us in May, so they weren't too upset about this one. We did have to promise them a 7 night future cruise though.

Jim is acutally not a big Disney guy. Although he could watch Illuminations every night and spend a day or two at Epcot, that's about it. He loves to be pampered at the resort and he likes to spend time at the spa. That's why we like the GF so much. When we went to WDW last January for our anniversary, I had so much fun exploring the MK on my own, while he spent hours at the healthclub.

Concierge on the cruise was very nice. They only have 18 suites on board, so you truly get personalized attention. The staff actually stops by your stateroom every day to check on you, deliver a small gift and see if you need anything. We had them make the dining arrangements and they would have taken care of any excursions we wanted, but other than that, we were pretty content. Ana seemed to be expecting us to ask for something though and she said that if her guests don't make requests, she's always concerned that there is a problem. I have no idea what more I should have been asking for, maybe a private bridge tour or dinner with the captain I guess. Jim and I were fine though and as long as we can afford it, we'll continue to book concierge.

bratray Our goal was to be pampered and we truly were. I don't think I've ever had a more relaxing vacation.

Tammi

 

[Michelle2]

Thank you for taking the time to write your report, it made me so excited for our very first DCL cruise (and first ever cruise) coming up! Your report made me feel like I was right along there with you guys!

 

[natsmom125]

Tammi..

Great report. We cruised on 12-4 and I've gotten to day 2.....anyway....

We, my DH JIM and I have had Kristian as our server in Palo for the past 3 cruises and we, well, me really, just love him dearly. He was our server every Palo visit this last cruise. He told us he was leaving for vacation on December 18 and would be gone for several months and might not even return to The Magic. So, you wrote he was your server on your cruise in early January.... Did he mention anything about leaving for vacation or maybe I had the wrong date?? I think he and another server, Kristoff were leaving the same day.....can you update me on this???

Phyllis

 

[TammiMcMan]

Hi Phyllis,

It sounds like the same Kristian. He was actually getting off the ship when we returned to port (1/8). He was going home for 9 weeks of vacation, but his first stop was in Hungary to go skiing with friends. He did mention that he had worked on the ship for 5 years and he hadn't made up his mind if he was going to return.

We greatly enjoyed meeting and spending those 4 nights with him.

Tammi

 

[natsmom125]

Tammi...that is him...their is only ONE Kristian as far as I'm concerned!!!!!! Like you and your JIM, he treated us like we were the only table he had all night....he will be missed. PJ knows how I love Kristian, so he automatically put us at his station!! He tried to talk us into a bottle of wine....we are big wine drinkers...however, it was $65.00 so we passed!!!!!

They must have asked him to stay on a little longer, because he was definitely leaving the 18th and I saw him the morning we got off and he told me how he was looking forward to being home for Christmas....I guess they offered him enough bucks!!!!!

It was quite a let down when I didn't find him standing in my kitchen ready to serve me when I got home....

So glad you had a great cruise...we did....it was our 6th and we hope to go again in early 2006.

Great report....
Phyllis