7/22/06 or The Oh-Seven Double-Deuce Double Dip Desperados,now updated trip report

[Bethipooh4]

Ahhh I forgot to mention from day 2, our server Leo decided that the desserts we all ordered wasn't enough, and brought one of each for us all to try....the kids were smart when they escaped before dessert...

I also have to mention we also have a DS(16) who we never saw, so I don't mention him much...lol His only rules were he had to tell us where he was, be in time for dinner every night, and have at least 1 family picture taken during the cruise. Curfew was 2 AM.(mean mean mom I am)

Ok...SEA DAY!!!! Time to sleep in right??? NOT.....6:30 am, there I am sneaking off for my usual coffee and chocolate danish(ok today I added in a piece of stollen bread, OMG so good) and my usual spot on the verandah with a book.

Around 9 youngest and DH woke up(sleeping 16 yr sleeps like a rock), ordered room service to get them going(Thank you Diana for starting our day every day with such a pleasant voice via the room service button). Then off to the pool with DS. Lunch was a combo of topsiders, Plutos and Goofys Galley(i recommend the oriental beef wrap from there, delicious).

That afternoon was the Park West art auction(i had my eye on a pic of the Magic at CC) high tea for the girls WELL......things don't go as planned. As I was leaving the auction to change for tea, DS decided he did want to go to the cookie baking....so I called the girls to tell them to meet me at the lab, as I dropped off DS.(eldest DS had sitter duty since I wasn;t to sure of leaving youngest in the room, so he was sprung from that). Well I ran two decks down to tell DH (still at auction) that DS was in the lab..in the mean time, the girls and I missed each other somewhere....so there I sat waiting in front of the lab and there they sat in Palo waiting for me.

So, to the room I went....phone rings...where are you??? I am like where are you???LOL see where this is going? At this point its 3:15 and I tell them to go start, I will take some me time and read, while they enjoy tea. Luckily in walks DH about 20 minutes later....HELLO.....son in lab, sisters at tea...its just us..... WELL....my dear sisters finish tea early and in their sweet nature, decide to bring me a plate of sandwiches and cakes I missed...OH NO...there went the afternoon delight. Of course they found it hilarious and laughed the afternoon away at our expense. And then the beeper went off, seems the cookies ran out of pixie dust and had to be rescheduled.
Sigh.....

FORMAL NIGHT....got the kids tucked in at Lumieres and off to Palo for us. Ahh...poor green John..the seas were moderate(4-8 feet) and all the bonine in the world didn't help. But he was a trooper and went anyway. Well there we were center stage in Palo....our server Florencia(I hope Disney realizes what a gem they have in her) decided we had to try every appetizer and dessert on the menu....and I discovered Banfi thanks to the rave of another DIS'er on another thread(sprite for the green one). We had to be rolled out of Palo. Down to the room to change our clothes, and on to the first show we managed to see so far. We saw the Golden Mickey after show and Rich Purpura(adults only) he is a riot!!!!! And of course PIKEY!!! Who was kind enough to sit and chat with us all for a few minutes. He does read these boards!!! Part way through the show, there goes the beeper....DS wishes to be picked up from Deck 10....OH NO....oh well, show is over anyway....and off we go...
DS....what happened I asked....(secretly dreading the answer) I'm bored is the response..we had played 1 hour of dodgeball and I was bored..PHEW...no mean counselor?Oh YEAH..she was there...and...I asked how was she???Mean as usual.... OK time for bed....tonights animal was a swan....

Gripe of the day(non Disney related) WHY CALL IT A AUCTION when you have a set price...to me auction means you start at a price and bid on it....well the above mentioned picture I had my eye on was brought up for their so called auction while i was missing tea. Price 250.00....no auction, no bidding...set price take it or leave it...if thats the case, just put it up for sale on the side....geeze...I miss the silent auction on the Wonder. Park West isn;t that terrific in my opinion.

Tomorrow..Costa Maya

 

[Peggy Jean]

Glad to see everyone getting home, and unfortunately getting back into the swing of things Will be posting here soon also.

This was our third cruise, but the first one as a "DIS" member. That was great. Only got to meet and recognize maybe about 6 other DISers, but it was really great seeing someone you never knew before.

We did something new this time and that was the art auction, loads of fun.

I'll post more later.

 

[Bethipooh4]

Well, the nerve of the family to want me to cook dinner... and clean up from it..

So here I am still with laundry to do, so I am calling it a night. I hope to finish the week tomorrow(ok and the laundry too). I hope everyone has enjoyed the report as much as I did reliving it.

Oh, I did find the pesky pictures, but haven;t a clue how to transfer them to photobucket. So they have to wait a little longer.

 

[IrishCowboy]

Enjoying your trip report. DH, DS (10), DD (15), DMIL and myself were also on this cruise. My DD and your DS became friends along with a lot of other teens. It was a great trip for us all and I wish it wasn't over. We booked another one so at least I have something to dream about!!!! This was our 9th Disney Cruise so we have to at least make it to 10!
- Vicki

 

[Diamond_Girls]

Bethipoo4 - great trip report! We're in the same stateroom as you in August. How did you like it? How did you like the location? I'm like you in that I'll be up early enjoying the verandah with a book! I can't wait!

 

[Bethipooh4]

Vicki,

DS mentioned he met a girl from Alabama...we use to live in Mobile. Its a small world. He really misses everyone he met on the cruise.

Diamond girls,
The cabin was awesome..and if Pichet is still on the cruise, he is a terrific stateroom host. Your view of castaway will take your breath away...

OK, I have a problem, someone sent me a email regarding the kids clubs and it went into my spam folder and was deleted(AOL gets on my nerves sometimes) before I could read it. If you are reading this thread could you please resend the email to me so I can answer you?

 

[Bethipooh4]

Well, I miss the coffee on the ship....yes...I really miss it...I drank a cup this morning here at home and thought ..what the heck is this????

Anyway,
After the sea day yesterday, poor green John was quite happy to see land. Him, my DH and DS(16, yes he was going off with dad) were scheduled for the Chacchoben Ruins offered by Disney. I wanted them to do the David and Ivan tour, but they were afraid that the boat would leave without them if something happened. 4 others in the group were doing the horseback riding tour, and us remaining girls were off to shop. DS 9 opted to stay behind since he didn't want to shop with the girls, and it was the labs time in Ocean Quest.

Well....remember the previous mentioned problem with a counselor. Today I got a first hand experience. Now grant it, I walked up on the situation, BUT....if one counselor has a problem with another, take it someplace private. Not in front of the Quest and for all to see. Not only was she demeaning to the other CM's, but the language..wow...and I had 3 other women with me as witnesses. All they could ask is that the one Michael won't go near, now we know why. So I looked at DS and told him to kill her with kindness, she is having a rough day. And off he went after assuring me he wanted to go. I was willing to stay on the ship with him if he didn't want to go to Oceans Quest. (post note, I asked him how it went, and he said fine, she wasn't with his group that day)

So we shopped in Costa Maya for a few hours, very clean, not as pushy as I heard it could be, and actually alot of fun. I wasn't use to bartering, and found if there was something I wanted, and they wouldn't barter down, it could be found a few places down for a price I wanted to pay. We were the only ship there that day, so it wasn't crowded.

The guys got back from the ruins tour around 2 totally in love with the place. Even DS was impressed. Took DS to the pool for some mom and dad time with him, and then at 3:30 we had the Rasual booked for us.... DS went to the lab for a pinata party. I won't go into details, but the rasual was very interesting to say the least. Very clean(the spa), and alot of fun. I did discover I am allergic to the seaweed mud-goo....couldn't get it off fast enough...

ANYWAY....
Overate at dinner that night as usual, is was the master chef menu, which was something new for us. Leo decided that not only did we need extra desserts, but we needed to be fed them...OH YES, I have pictures.

That night we went to see Twice Charmed, something I have been looking forward to since it made its debut. It was a very good show, spectacular as all Disney shows are, but I prefer Hercules better. I hate to say this but my DH fell asleep during it. The general overall from our group was it was OK.

We didn't do much after that, changed into some shorts and went and sat on deck and talked. DS was in the lab having a camp-out, and as soon as that was over, off went mr beeper...So into the room, call our friends at room service for some cookies and fruit, and off to bed we went.

 

[GoofyDisney]

Hello to all!

WOW What an amazing trip! We had a wonderful experience! Not one negative thing to say!

We saw some old friends, and made some wonderful new friends! We loved our dining partners (whom we met in the terminal! Hi LisaTaylor, we miss you guys so much!)

Thanks professormom for the bag idea, peggyjean for the Maryland bag (I made egg salad with my Old Bay yesterday), Bethipooh4 for the magnets and other do-dads and Iggbees for the pins!

For all of our new friends who we stalked all over the ship...we miss stalking you. And Michpoit, thought you would like to know that not only are we REALLY stalking each other, but your family showed up in half of our pictures....it is pretty funny!!!

We came home with fantastic photos! Some wonderful shots of the rain on Castaway Cay on Sunday and then of the funnel clouds on Friday. SOme great family shots! Some fun shots of the two ships together! We took about 700+ photos. Thank God for digital cameras!!!!!

The Double-Dip may have been our favorite part. We enjoyed David & Ivan. We loved Palo! (as always)

The food and the service were phenom!

Will write more later....laundry awaits. But for now, just know that I wish we were all back on the ship!!!

 

[Bethipooh4]

DS told me about the funnel clouds, I chalked it up to him exaggerating. I would love to see those pictures. I did notice that the life guards cleared the beaches really quick. Some of the lightning was pretty intense.

 

[Bethipooh4]

Its PIRATE NIGHT!!!!!

Ok we are in Cozumel as well....lol

They are still using tenders, but it was very painless and quick. OK...a but rough as we tendered in the rain.

This is the day we all had something planned, DH and DS had the reef snorkle planned, and it was a huge disappointment. I just went back to the website, and the description has changed since we booked it 4 months ago. It is not a reef snorkle, but a beach snorkle. Be warned. If anyone would like more info on it for a upcoming cruise, PM me and I will give you the details.

DS and I had the Atlantis sub tour scheduled. We did some shopping before hand, and stopped at Senor Frogs for a snack and a drink. Then off to the sub. I am not afraid of enclosed spaces, but more of the thought of being 100 feet under water. Fear not, it was fun but Kinda scary being 105 feet under. DS was disappointed he didn't see a shark(lol) and the underwater destruction was very apparent as well. This is how it works, you meet on the dock(we did cause our tour was at 1 pm) and off in a taxi to the tour. You board a boat and travel about 3 miles out to a reef where you actually board the sub. This is a snap unless you are in the boat in the middle of a thunderstorm...lol...yep, we were....they could only load the sub 2 at a time cause of the wind and rain. But it was alot of fun, and Ds did enjoy it, even without the shark.

Back to the boat for us and time to get ready for pirate night. Thanks to the Creative DIs'ers we had shirts for the 12 of us, as well as eye patches, hats and foam swords....the pictures turned out awesome...we had a little to much fun with it all at dinner. Which of course Leo overfed us, with appetizers we had to try and desserts whether we ordered them or not. Of course we had no choice but to eat them. It was the guys turn tonight to be fed them...

After dinner we did some shopping, then off to wait in like to have our picture take with Captain Jack. 40 minutes later we were done with the pictures and off to get our spot for the party on deck. We all agreed to meet on Deck at at around 9 pm...well by the time we got there, the deck was full, however my favorite spot was free....deck 10, overlooking the goofy pool at the back in front of the funnel. Sent Dh off to get a chair, when the rest of the group showed up, and they went to find their own chairs. At this point we had changed into yet another pirate shirt and waited for the party. What a blast!!! We had Pirate Pikey right under us dancing(yep, more photos, I am becoming a huge fan of Pikeys at his point) and the dancers even gave our group of 12 a shout out!! Yes we were the crazy ones all in black on deck 10 dancing. We even had Mickey fly right over our head!!

The fireworks were awesome as usual, and our spot was perfect to view them. Off to the buffet(witnessed one grown man have a hissy fit cause they were out of turkey legs..get a grip man, you weren't going to starve)and I had a bit of dessert and some delicious ham. POC 1 was playing on the dumbotron, life is good....I brought some glowsticks for our group and handed them out to some of DS9's friends from the lab who were on deck with us.

After that it was off to bed for all of us, we had the 8:15 Character breakfast the following day.

Green John did very well during the party, he was just a pale shade of green instead of his usual dark green.

 

[sillykidsmom]

We were on the 7/15-7/22 cruise and I wonder if that was the same counselor my son was complaining about. I gave her the benefit of doubt until I heard other children complain about her. Then I had a little run in with her. She was extremely rude to me one time when I picked him up. It got to the point were my son didn't even want to go to the club. I encourage him to go and don't let just one councelor ruin his time. I don't even think I ever saw that Disney smile she was suppose to be wearing.

 

[Bethipooh4]

Did you send me the email? I know I received one and my spam folder deleted it.

I am almost positive we are referring to the same person, I never saw her smile at all either. I tried to be positive with DS about it, but by the end of the cruise if she was there, he wouldn't go to the Lab. Its a shame that one person can ruin our childrens cruise. I did note her name and my complaint on my survey at the end of the cruise.

 

[3dots]

Hi, I am on AOL too.......so I understand the SPAM trouble, also had trouble sending messages while on the Magic. My family was on the same cruise as your family. I sent you the earlier message. I have be lurking on the DIS board for a while (3dots). Sorry we didnt have the chance to meet. I am writing because I read your report about the kids club. My DD9 attended the kids club on the same night as your son. She beeped us early as well, and when we picked her up she was crying. She is a shy child and it took a lot of courage for her to attend the club on her own, so we were devastated that she had a bad experience her first time out. She wouldnt give us much info, but would only say that kids were out of control and there was a lot of yelling from counslors. Because of this, she wouldnt go back to the club again. We had a wonderful cruise, and lots of family time, but were disappointed with the Oceaneers Lab. (DD6 had a great time in her club.) My oldest DD12, prefered to hang with us.

 

[3dots]

Hi, I am on AOL too.......so I understand the SPAM trouble, also had trouble sending messages while on the Magic. My family was on the same DD cruise as your family. I sent you the earlier message. I have be lurking on the DIS board for a while (3dots). Sorry we didnt have the chance to meet. I am writing because I read your report about the kids club. My DD9 attended the kids club on the same night as your son. She beeped us early as well, and when we picked her up she was crying. She is a shy child and it took a lot of courage for her to attend the club on her own, so we were devastated that she had a bad experience her first time out. She wouldnt give us much info, but would only say that kids were out of control and there was a lot of yelling from counslors. Because of this, she wouldnt go back to the lab again. We had a wonderful cruise, and lots of family time, but were disappointed with the Oceaneers Lab. (DD6 had a great time in her club.) My oldest DD12, prefered to hang with us.

 

[Bethipooh4]

Hi 3dots,

I am sorry we didn't have a chance to meet. And I apologise for the email. Please send it again, I would love to talk.
I have tried so hard to be positive about the whole Lab experience, because DS did have a good time despite it all.
I was hesitant to post any problems at all because of prossibly getting flamed for posting something negative. I know how hard all of the counselors work and would not want their job at all. I respect all of them for their commitment to our children. BUT if there is a issue it should be brought up. This wasn't DS's first time in the Lab, he was in it on the Wonder as well as the club on the Wonder.
I am sorry your DD had such a bad experience. This is the first time we have ever encountered anyone so negative. We have always had a wonderful experience with the club and lab.

 

[iggbees]

so of course when i got home, i was sick in bed for practically all of sunday and i went home yesterday early as well. today, i'm just trying to get by without going home again. i've got a wicked head cold. sore throat and everything.

 

[Bethipooh4]

so of course when i got home, i was sick in bed for practically all of sunday and i went home yesterday early as well. today, i'm just trying to get by without going home again. i've got a wicked head cold. sore throat and everything.

I am so sorry you are sick..I know when we got to the hotel Saturday night I took a 2 hour nap, woke up to eat and went back to sleep for the night.
Had a bit of a sore throat but chalked it up to sinuses...

FEEL BETTER SOON!!!

 

[clmelton]

I had to go back in doctor-mode on the beach where a man collapsed and I took care of him until the medical staff arrived.

We missed the meeting too (for which I was teased about by DH for getting all my Texas goodies and lugging chips and hot sauce in my carry on bag) and not getting to go to meet folks.

I'm not sure if you were one of the two MDs who came to my daughters' aid when one fainted in the gym and the other caught her and started yelling for help but a giant thank you to all who came to their assistance. I was WAY less than pleased with the spa's response to this mini-disaster but she was fine after a trip to First Aid.

Our trip was wonderful (with the one exception above) and of course we didn't want to leave but had to come home to work to pay for the next one - a year and eight days and counting!

 

[DBinMV]

so of course when i got home, i was sick in bed for practically all of sunday and i went home yesterday early as well. today, i'm just trying to get by without going home again. i've got a wicked head cold. sore throat and everything.

You too?? I sound like Barry White today. Must've been something on the ship - the boys were complaining about their throats on the plane ride home, and my niece was sick on Sunday.

I'm still working on trying to put my trip report together - maybe by the end of the week. Our vacation ended very abruptly - my younger boy got carsick on the way home from the airport (after not getting sick the whole trip w/o meds), the car got a check-engine light on the same trip home. Sunday, I got the sore throat, and my wife got a viral eye infection. Vacation - OVER. <sigh>

My MIL and FIL want to go back in 2008 for their 40th anniversary. DW doesn't want to go, but the rest of the family does. Being the good husband, I'm keeping my mouth shut.

At least I made sure I booked another cruise while we were still onboard so we can move it when the 2008 iteneraries are announced - just in case.

DBinMV

 

[HeelMD]

"I'm not sure if you were one of the two MDs who came to my daughters' aid when one fainted in the gym and the other caught her and started yelling for help but a giant thank you to all who came to their assistance. I was WAY less than pleased with the spa's response to this mini-disaster but she was fine after a trip to First Aid."


I was one of them. Glad to hear she is doing ok.