we took the auto train down and though i was hesitant i really loved it. we went coach and it was not very comfortable for sleeping, but the food was good the people very nice, and when you were not trying to sleep the seats were great. i did take some photos but so far haven't figured out hot to post them.
we stayed at the raddison but unfortunatly the room we requested with port view had no air so we were given another room no view but no big deal.we went to grills and used the discount coupon from their website , great food great price and entertainment.the waitstaff was very friendly and we had a great time there. to compare we ordered lunch at the raddison room service (family of 6) just lunch no dessert or drinks $66.00, went to grills for dinner dinner desert and drinks $60.00.
got to meet shirley and norm from the perfect gift, such genuine, nice people , absolutly loved them! they not only shared their recipe for key lime pie they actually brought one to the hotel to share with us unfortunatly i already had plans to meet my cousin at grills and so missed seeing them at the hotel,but returned the tupperware in the morning before boarding and sweet shirley gave us bubbles and lollipops for my kids. bless you shirley and norm you are truly wonderful.
on to the magic, we parked our minivan in the lot no problems there,arrived early so we walked right up and checked in, to our great surprise we found we'd be boarding an hour earlier woo hoo ! as we waited on line we spotted my dad checking in ,as he had flown in from cleveland, it was nice to be able to board together and have him in the photo, which they no do in the hallway outside the ship instead of actually on board liked it better onboard.
lunch at parrot cay which i prefer to topsiders very nice and on to kids clubs to sign up, no waiting no problem , antonio did me a special favor i won't go into so as not to start anything but let me just say antonio you rock!! and you made my little girl very happy
decided not to do palos this time it didn't impress me much last time and i don't do the spa thing so ressies are done and onto the cabins 7504-7506 cat 8 oceanview , again had verandah last time didn't care for it.dear dad was very impressed with size of room. nice beach towel and notice new shampoo nice but no minnie mouse .
just a few things randomly ,
servers: ,jeevan from india and conrad from jamaica, very nice jeevan was very entertaining napkin folding card tricks etc.. and conrad was sweet called my father "dad".
shows :, saw several all good personal favorite , island magic
movies: kids did see more then me however i only mamaged to fit in SIGNS one night .one thing ,we saw several people with the extra blanket from their cabin ,sent son back to get ours and was glad i did it was quite chilly in the theater.
characters: saw some this time i never saw before on the ship , king louie the orangatanand though i didn't see him i was told baloo was there too. always alot of fun dd,5 got her first disney autograph book and loved getting it signed and showing it to her big sister.
ports: key west, sorry Shirley but i just did not enjoy this port at all!! it may have been that it was just too hot to enjoy, but a word of caution here we did the glassbottom catamaran excursion. gave the kids dramamine , 2 daughters and my father ended up sick. the viewing window was too small for everyone to use and it was a miserably long time too be out in the hot sun sitting over a reef with no breeze and no shade. if you have children i DO NOT reccommend this excursion, and the only refreshments were soda for a dollar a can.
when we finally got off the catamaran we headed back to the ship there was a group of young adults yelling at the ship "look how big that fu**ing thing is ! why don't you all get back on your boat and get the he** out of our town!!" ok not exactly the friendly laid back key westeners i was expecting , got the same attitude from cashier wher i purchased souviniers , and heard it again from the "charming " group of homeless men in mallory square. please disney rethink this port.
Grand Cayman, i really enjoyed grand cayman was worried about tendering in as i have never done this before but it was no problem at all. we didn't wait long for the boat to tender in and it was 5 min to shore. before i went i printed a coupon for the blue iguana off the cayman discounts website.this was a nice store with good prices i bought tropical dresses for 2 of my dds for $11.00 each and they had some coffee mugs for only$1.99. and they were happy to take my coupon. went to del sol where i purchased 3 rings sold under the name "sol pearls" $9.00 each buy 2 get 1 free. went to touched by the sun to check out a t- shirt saw the same exact rings for $3.00. you do the math. ugh
did the island tour here . bus was very crowded but it was air conditioned. stopped at hell interesting and the turtle farm, kids loved the turtle farm where they even let my 5 yr old hold a turtle. they also stopped at a rum cake store but only 2 people got off the bus for this stop.
Cozemul. no planned excursion here , went the little mall right on the dock , there was a guy there with 3 macaws who would take your picture with them and part of it went to save these beautiful birds , i don't know how legit this is and i don't care it was one highlight of my trip i love parrots and enjoyed being able to hold them and have them sit on my shoulder.
misc. did the art of entertaining series really enjoyed it especially plate decorating and napkin folding.
rode bikes on castaway cay, loved it . thought it would be too hot but the ride was cool and both me and my son enjoyed it.
all in all it was a great time as usual disney went out of their way to make it special did pillowcases for us and also another special request.
happy sailing
was only able to post a few pics and you'll find them at this link: http://hometown.aol.com/majis/index.html
also check out this http://community.webshots.com/user/sumfun22
we stayed at the raddison but unfortunatly the room we requested with port view had no air so we were given another room no view but no big deal.we went to grills and used the discount coupon from their website , great food great price and entertainment.the waitstaff was very friendly and we had a great time there. to compare we ordered lunch at the raddison room service (family of 6) just lunch no dessert or drinks $66.00, went to grills for dinner dinner desert and drinks $60.00.
got to meet shirley and norm from the perfect gift, such genuine, nice people , absolutly loved them! they not only shared their recipe for key lime pie they actually brought one to the hotel to share with us unfortunatly i already had plans to meet my cousin at grills and so missed seeing them at the hotel,but returned the tupperware in the morning before boarding and sweet shirley gave us bubbles and lollipops for my kids. bless you shirley and norm you are truly wonderful.
on to the magic, we parked our minivan in the lot no problems there,arrived early so we walked right up and checked in, to our great surprise we found we'd be boarding an hour earlier woo hoo ! as we waited on line we spotted my dad checking in ,as he had flown in from cleveland, it was nice to be able to board together and have him in the photo, which they no do in the hallway outside the ship instead of actually on board liked it better onboard.
lunch at parrot cay which i prefer to topsiders very nice and on to kids clubs to sign up, no waiting no problem , antonio did me a special favor i won't go into so as not to start anything but let me just say antonio you rock!! and you made my little girl very happy
decided not to do palos this time it didn't impress me much last time and i don't do the spa thing so ressies are done and onto the cabins 7504-7506 cat 8 oceanview , again had verandah last time didn't care for it.dear dad was very impressed with size of room. nice beach towel and notice new shampoo nice but no minnie mouse .
just a few things randomly ,
servers: ,jeevan from india and conrad from jamaica, very nice jeevan was very entertaining napkin folding card tricks etc.. and conrad was sweet called my father "dad".
shows :, saw several all good personal favorite , island magic
movies: kids did see more then me however i only mamaged to fit in SIGNS one night .one thing ,we saw several people with the extra blanket from their cabin ,sent son back to get ours and was glad i did it was quite chilly in the theater.
characters: saw some this time i never saw before on the ship , king louie the orangatanand though i didn't see him i was told baloo was there too. always alot of fun dd,5 got her first disney autograph book and loved getting it signed and showing it to her big sister.
ports: key west, sorry Shirley but i just did not enjoy this port at all!! it may have been that it was just too hot to enjoy, but a word of caution here we did the glassbottom catamaran excursion. gave the kids dramamine , 2 daughters and my father ended up sick. the viewing window was too small for everyone to use and it was a miserably long time too be out in the hot sun sitting over a reef with no breeze and no shade. if you have children i DO NOT reccommend this excursion, and the only refreshments were soda for a dollar a can.
when we finally got off the catamaran we headed back to the ship there was a group of young adults yelling at the ship "look how big that fu**ing thing is ! why don't you all get back on your boat and get the he** out of our town!!" ok not exactly the friendly laid back key westeners i was expecting , got the same attitude from cashier wher i purchased souviniers , and heard it again from the "charming " group of homeless men in mallory square. please disney rethink this port.
Grand Cayman, i really enjoyed grand cayman was worried about tendering in as i have never done this before but it was no problem at all. we didn't wait long for the boat to tender in and it was 5 min to shore. before i went i printed a coupon for the blue iguana off the cayman discounts website.this was a nice store with good prices i bought tropical dresses for 2 of my dds for $11.00 each and they had some coffee mugs for only$1.99. and they were happy to take my coupon. went to del sol where i purchased 3 rings sold under the name "sol pearls" $9.00 each buy 2 get 1 free. went to touched by the sun to check out a t- shirt saw the same exact rings for $3.00. you do the math. ugh
did the island tour here . bus was very crowded but it was air conditioned. stopped at hell interesting and the turtle farm, kids loved the turtle farm where they even let my 5 yr old hold a turtle. they also stopped at a rum cake store but only 2 people got off the bus for this stop.
Cozemul. no planned excursion here , went the little mall right on the dock , there was a guy there with 3 macaws who would take your picture with them and part of it went to save these beautiful birds , i don't know how legit this is and i don't care it was one highlight of my trip i love parrots and enjoyed being able to hold them and have them sit on my shoulder.
misc. did the art of entertaining series really enjoyed it especially plate decorating and napkin folding.
rode bikes on castaway cay, loved it . thought it would be too hot but the ride was cool and both me and my son enjoyed it.
all in all it was a great time as usual disney went out of their way to make it special did pillowcases for us and also another special request.
happy sailing
was only able to post a few pics and you'll find them at this link: http://hometown.aol.com/majis/index.html
also check out this http://community.webshots.com/user/sumfun22
? Looks like I won't be buying those anymore! I have not been to Key West but will on next year's western. It doesn't sound like what I was expecting. 
