5/6/06 Western - Long and with Pictures!

I am so enjoying your report and pics. I was on the exact sailing as you, and hope to get organized enough to be able to post mine soon. But just wanted to say reading yours is like reliving mine!
 
Thanks for the report and all the great photos. I love the black and white ones.
 
Great report!!! GREAT photos!!! Thanks for taking the time to share!! :sunny: :wave2: :wave:
 
Day 5: May 10, 2006

Today we were in Cozumel. You can guess the first 2 things about today: we slept in and went to Topsiders for breakfast. We did have our first excursion booked through Disney today, so we had to be at the Promenade Lounge at 9:15 to tender to the island. Again, the process was painless and we were on the tender in no time. The water at Cozumel was breathtaking. It was the most beautiful shades of blue and green. I could have spent hours just staring at the water. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died right after we got off the tender so I don’t have many photos.

This photo doesn't do the colors justice, but here is is anyway:

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We elected the reef excursion snorkel. I had originally wanted to take an independent one that left from Paradise Beach, but it was overbooked so I had to settle for this one. The first thing that intrigued me was the verbiage on the sign for the tour: Unlimited snorkeling. My DH has declared that I was a dolphin my past life because I simply cannot get enough of the water. The tour price included the taxi rides to the snorkeling location, so we lined up to get on the taxi. I felt really bad for one guy’s family in our group. We lined up and DH and I were second to last in line. As he walks by, I hear him say to his wife and daughter (maybe 8 years old), “F#$%ing last in line again.” I’ve personally experienced a high level of frustration at WDW before, but this comment really bothered me because of this daughter. The line was maybe 20 people long and we were on a taxi within a few minutes. This was the lowest point of the trip for me, but it didn’t last long.

We made it to the snorkel area after a 5 minute taxi ride. We wore t-shirts today to avoid further sunburns. We entered the snorkeling area from a rather rocky area on the beach, and I was kind of startled by the temperature of the water. The water at Grand Cayman was perfect, and this water was a little on the cool side at first. Of course, once you got in and got going, it was fine. The snorkel itself lasted about an hour, and it was rather disappointing. The water was beautiful, and there really were some beautiful fish, but it appears that the hurricanes have just destroyed the reef. I don’t recall seeing anything of interest—it looked like concrete smashed to piece all over the bottom of the ocean floor. It was cool to be snorkeling in water that was deeper than Grand Cayman. It was probably 25 feet. I would skip this excursion on future cruises and try something else.

We exited the ocean and the guide told us we could go again if we wanted. Anywhere else I would have jumped at the opportunity, but there just wasn’t enough to keep our interest here. We taxied back to the tender area and did some shopping.

DH picked out a ruby and diamond ring and got it for me. I also saw a beautiful tanzanite pendant that was $32,000. I told the salesman it cost more than a car. Within minutes they had dropped the price $10,000. We weren’t even seriously considering it, but it was interesting to see how quickly they were willing to negotiate on the price.

At about 2:00, we finished our shopping and headed back to tender. Again, it was a quick and easy process. We went to our stateroom and ordered our first room service. I jumped in the shower while DH went to get drinks. Lunch arrived in no time. This was the only time we used room service, and I think we should have used this more. Oh well—next time!

We napped again and got up again in time to see us leave port. There was no show this evening since it was pirate night, so we scheduled a meeting with the DVC representative. This turned out to be the most expensive part of the cruise as we ended up buying! We figure Disney gets our money every year anyway, and this will ensure that I can cruise again. ;)

We decided to skip eating in the dining room because we wanted to make sure we got a really good view for the Pirate show. We were really disappointed with the “show”. It was a lot of dancing, which was fun, but I expected more of a stage show. The fireworks were not like they are in the parks, but it was incredible to see them while we were cruising in the middle of the ocean. Too cool!

Pirate show pictures:

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We were going to watch Pirate’s on the jumbo screen, but we both petered out pretty quickly after the fireworks so we headed back to the stateroom.

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we were on this cruise as well and had a blast...I thought the Key West Sunset was lovely although I heard many people were quite disappointed with it because of the clouds..It did make a nice background for pics..

We loved our stingray/city tour through Disney..We will probably book outside of them next time just for the experience, but we had plenty of time for everything and 2 snorkeling stops for stingrays..Im glad we did Cozumel on our own at Paradise beach..AWESOME!!!
 
;) Thanks for the info on the Hyatt. We are staying there for are cruise in July. :thumbsup2
 
Day 6: May 11, 2006

Today was our second day at sea, and I don’t remember much except we relaxed a lot. We had breakfast at Lumiere's and I wasn't impressed with the Eggs Benedict. We were able to snap some good photos while it wasn't crowded though.

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DH watched Eight Below, but I didn’t want to watch it because I didn’t want to be sad. Sure enough, he came back to the stateroom and he was kind of depressed.

We did have our exotic rasul tonight, so we missed the show Disney Dreams. I was kind of sorry to miss it, but hopefully we’ll sail again and can see it then. The rasul was wonderful. We are not typically spa kind of people, but the scrub and the mud and the steam left our skin so soft. The sauna area was really hot—I had to keep running the cold water on my feet so I could stand to be in there. I don’t know for sure what all of the other products were in the basket, but I used just about all of them and walked out relaxed and smelling good. I managed to smear some of the mud over DH’s sunburn and I think it helped facilitate its healing.

Tonight was our last dinner with our servers, and only the dad from our dining partners showed up. I kept wanting to tear up but managed to contain myself because I realized we would see our dining partners and servers one last time at disembarkation breakfast. We exchanged emails and parted for the evening.

They were having a huge dessert buffet tonight, complete with chocolate fountain. I wanted to go, but there was a line to get in and I really didn’t feel like waiting just to get to calories that I don’t need. We wondered around the ship for a little bit and then retired to our stateroom.

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I am really enjoying your report - thank you for taking the time to write it. I LOVE the pic of the Magic with the palm tree in the foreground - really great perspective - get screensaver material! And congrats on DVC - I have slowly been trying to break DH down, so we'll see what happens when we cruise in Nov!! :thumbsup2
 
Day 7 & 8: May 12 & 13, 2006

I knew today would be a hard day, and I was disappointed to wake up and see a gray sky when we docked; however, I was relieved to know that at least we made it to Castaway Cay. We got up and got off the ship as soon as we could. Our cruise director Brent indicated that it might be a good idea to get some beach time and water time in before it started raining, and I was determined to get my last day of snorkeling in.

Gray start to the day:

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A few hours later:

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Tip #whatever: At Castaway Cay, take your underwater camera but don’t take any pictures until you are snorkeling back. We missed a lot because we had used up all of our film.

So, we started snorkeling and were all the way out to the Nautilus (several hundred yards) when the lifeguards started hollering for everyone to get back to shore. I wasn’t worried, but I did start heading back to shore. I was enjoying the snorkeling though and that is where most of my focus was. At one point, I looked up and it was like being in the Perfect Storm—hard rain swishing the water everywhere. DH said the rain was coming down sideways. I really couldn’t see out of the water and could breathe just fine through my snorkel, so I kept on at while I worked my way to shore. At one point, I saw a stingray swim by and I pointed it out to DH. He got really irritated and pointed, rather angrily if I do say so myself, to a sandbar that we could stand on. I immediately thought “Why bother standing there because I am doing just fine?” So, I kept at it. I had a strange calmness during the storm as I watched the fish and felt the rain on my back.

We finally reached the shore just about the time the rain let up. I got out and that’s when DH told me his version. He said that’s the first time he actually thought he might die. He said people had stopped swimming and were calling for help because they couldn’t go on. He helped a couple onto the sandbar to stand and saw the lifeguards grabbing people and helping them make it to shore. I was absolutely oblivious to all of this.

We got out and everyone had to stay out of the water for about half an hour. When they let us go back in, we snorkeled back out. By this time it was about noon, so we headed to Cookies for lunch. Everything was very good. I especially liked the ribs and chocolate chip ice cream. We could hear the steel drums and it was my definition of paradise.
After lunch, we headed back to our beach chairs, and I had to make the decision if I wanted to snorkel again or go to the adult beach. I chose snorkeling. I LOVE to snorkel.

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We headed back to the ship at about 3:00. We showered and went to deck 9 for a snack. Just after we finished, they played the ships horn. I instantly started bawling. This is when it really hit me how much I was going to miss this wonderful time and beautiful ship. I managed to pull myself together and we wondered for a bit. Shutters was a madhouse and I ran one crew member working that night who I felt was a bit rude. It irritated me then, but looking back I’m sure she was probably just stressed by the huge swarms of people all wanting to buy their pictures.

We went to the show and had 7:30 reservations for Palo. I only saw one guy that was dressed inappropriately—jeans and a plaid button up shirt. DH and I are pretty simple people, so I felt a bit out of place. Kristian was our server and he was really a nice guy. The tortellini stuffed with crab was wonderful and the chocolate soufflé was excellent. He gave us 2 free drinks to top off our night. I don’t know what they were called, but they had champagne, vodka, and something that made them taste like lemonade. I could have drunk a gallon of the stuff.

I was very nervous throughout dinner because I hadn’t gone to the debarkation meeting and I wasn’t sure when our luggage needed to be out. I also felt fidgety because it looked to be a beautiful sunset and we missed it. We did see a beautiful full moon, though.

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I don’t think I would do Palo again on the last night. Someone on these boards said it was a good way to end the trip on a high note, but I think it would work better for me earlier in the trip.

We finished up just after 9:30 and headed straight for our stateroom. We were almost all packed, so it wasn’t an issue and we made it far in advance of the 11:00 deadline. I peaked out the verandah and saw that we were passing some island. My heart sank a little to know this would be my last look out at night. I had a really hard time going to sleep. The slight rocking of the ship was my last memory of the night.

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We woke up at 7:00 on Saturday. Both of us were rather silent and I thought about skipping breakfast. I was worried about making it to the airport for our 12:15 flight. I took one last look out on the verandah and saw them loading up a billion or so melons for the next round of cruisers.

We made our way to deck 3 and saw it was swarmed with people in a huge line to leave. At this point, I decided breakfast would be fine. So we chatted one last time with our tablemates over breakfast, and said official goodbyes to our server Roberto. Claudia had disappeared and we didn’t get to tell her goodbye. I think that’s a good thing though because she does this wave thing like the Queen of England and I’m pretty sure I would have cried if I had seen her doing it.

We made it through customs with no problems and found our luggage quickly. We got outside of the terminal and found the huge line for Delta. One thing that was really convenient about booking airfare through Disney was that we gave them our bags at the terminal, and they gave us our boarding passes at the terminal. So, we didn’t have to mess with baggage until we got home and we already had our boarding passes when we got to the airport.

Of course I sniffled a little as we left port and for a few minutes after. I’m sure who saw me each time I cried but they must have thought I was a nutcase.

I loved, loved, loved our cruise and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Despite the rough start, it really was perfect.
 
I really enjoyed your report and the fab pictures :thumbsup2

Really getting me excited for our July Western cruise.

Aloha,
Jen
 
That was an awesome report. You are a great storyteller and your pictures are just beautiful. Thanks for all of your insights and for sharing your experience with us.
 
MOMTOCUTESTDOGEVER said:
Thank you. My camera is a Canon Powershot A620. This feature was one of the selling points for me. You can tell it to focus on whatever color you want (in this case red) and it will make everything else black and white. Another cool feature is the color swap. You choose a color and then tell it to change that color to whatever other color you want it to. So, for example, I could have made the ships stacks purple.

The other selling feature is that you can customize the sounds it makes. (Remember it's the little things that make me happy.) So, when I take a picture my camera barks like a dog.

I would highly recommend this camera for its great features and its ease of use.

Wow, I didn't know you could do that with the A620!?! I guess I should read my manual. I bought the same camera before we went on our 7 day western in Jan. I already had a decent camera but it was more the size of an SLR and I wanted a smaller one and finally decided on the A620. Wish I knew what all the camera could do.

Your trip report and pictures are great! The pictures added to your report make me almost feel like I was there.

Thanks for taking the time to include everything.

:banana:
 
Thankyou for your trip report. :thumbsup2

IM soooo looking forward to our July Western cruise.

I also think your dog is fab. Very Cute.
 
A Sunny Day said:
Wow, I didn't know you could do that with the A620!?! I guess I should read my manual. I bought the same camera before we went on our 7 day western in Jan. I already had a decent camera but it was more the size of an SLR and I wanted a smaller one and finally decided on the A620. Wish I knew what all the camera could do.

Your trip report and pictures are great! The pictures added to your report make me almost feel like I was there.

Thanks for taking the time to include everything.

:banana:

I really, really love this camera. And thanks for reading!! :goodvibes
 
Thanks for the great trip report and the wonderful photos from your trip. I am looking forward to our JAn 07 Western cruise; your report left me wanting to go next week (I can't as I am moving June 28)
 
Great report! I am glad you had a wonderful time. I never finished my report from January as I got a bit ill...maybe next time!! :lmao:
 
We were also on this cruise! It was our second week of a back-to-back, and the seas were MUCH calmer than the first week!

Also dined in Palo on the Friday evening: maybe we were neighbours! It was lovely.

We took the trip to the Tulum Ruins on the Mexican mainland, as we had seen Cozumel before. It was by far the best day of the entire trip. What a beautiful place, and the tour-guide was great. Such a lot of information given - along with plenty of fun and laughter. If you get the chance to go, then do it! (Not with youngsters though).

Also saw "8 Below".............bit disappointing, but what an improvement on "Stick It", which we saw the previous week! What a waste of time........they certainly CAN "stick it".........where the sun dont shine!

Magical times aboard..........cant wait for the Med cruise next year! :thumbsup2
 


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