Tuseday morning started out as a good looking day! Our bus from the Boardwalk resort was scheduled to leave at 10:30 am so we decided to sleep in for an extra hour and catch a light breakfast at the bakery at the Boardwalk resort. We arrived at the Boardwalk, valet parked the car (valet is free at DVC resorts) and informed the CM we met at the valet that our luggage was to be held for the bus departing for the Disney Magic cruise.
We walked to the boardwalk area and each had a bagel and juice before going to the meeting area for DCL departure. I worned my DW & DD about the attack sparrows at the boardwalk. These birds are so used to people being in the area that they now are not afraid of people so when they don't get fed they now resort to dive-boming people and will not hesitate to grab food right out of people's hands while they are eating. We did not have much of a problem as there was another family next to us with two small girls that were feeding the birds their breakfast.
We then walked back inside the resort to an area just off the lobby to meet with the DCL CM that would be waiting with us until the bus arrived. There were about 30 of us that were leaving from the Boardwalk resort. The CM checked our names from the master list and cheked the number of bags we had against what bell services said that they had to be put on the bus.
By 10:30 we were all getting excited about the arrival of the bus to depart for Ft. Lauderdale. At 11:15 am we were told that our bus had just departed the Beach Club resort and was on its way to pick us up. At 11:45 when there was no sign of our bus I decided to call DCl myself and get the information first hand. After being on hold for 20 minutes we were told the a DCL manager was on their way with lunch vouchers for the people at Boardwalk. I did not get a direct answer on when our bus would be there but it did tell me that it would probably be awhile before it did arrive. At 1:45 pm the DCL manager had not arrived nor had our bus. One member of our group went to talk with a CM at the front desk and I once again called to DCL. This time I explained our situation and wanted to speak with a manager. The CM told me that a manager would not be able to tell me any more information than I already had. I insisted to speak with a manager. I was put on hold and after another 5 minutes the call was taken by a CM stating that they were a manager and that they "were doing all they could do and to have a nice day" and then hung up the phone on me!
The member of the group that went to the front desk faired better than me as a manager then took us to Spoodles where we thought we would be having lunch...well Spoodles doesn't serve lunch so from there we treked down the Boardwalk further to the ESPN club where we did receive lunch. At about the same time two other CM's from DCL arrived with the lunch vouchers. We were told to "eat fast" as the bus would be arriving soon. We gulped down our lunch and headed back to our waitng spot at about 2:45pm. Our bus finally arrived at about 3 pm. We all loaded on and headed off to another resort to pick up other guests and by 3:30 pm we were finally off to Ft. Lauderdale.
We took a route to the FL turnpike for our drive to Ft. Lauderdale. However there were three buses in the caravan and from the conversation I overheard between our driver and another driver, the other driver did not know the way so our driver traveled at 50 MPH (in a 70 zone) to allow the other buses to catch up and follow. About 90 minutes into our drive one of the other drivers called our driver to state that they were having transmission trouble. We then stopped at the next rest stop and waited for the other buses. Our driver took out some transmission fluid and they added it to the bus with the problems. After about 20 minutes we took off again at the same 50-55 MPH all the way to Port Everglades.
Upon arriving at the exit for the Port, sturing began in the bus and after about 5 minutes we were within sight of the port. Well you never heard such a cheer as you did on our bus when we came within sight of the Magic. You would have thought we were all watching the super bowl and our team just scored the winning touchdown! Our arrival time was 7:20 pm and the ships departure was held for us as we were the last guests to arrive.
This is our first cruise and the first time we had ever seen either of the Disney ships. It was a sight to behold! I now know why all of you veteran crusiers now love to look at the Port Canaveral web cam when the ships are in port. Needless to say I will be one of you from now on! LOL!
We jumped off the bus and headed into the terminal to process our documents. I took one of the suggestions from the veterans and had a two pocket folder with our docs and information handy. It made our process easy as I had everything together. We were in and out walking to the ship in less than 25 minutes. As we passed out of the large door from the terminal to the area to board the ship all we could do is look up (we looked like tourists that just got to the big city looking up at all the skyscrapers) as we got our first look at the Magic close up. We quickly walked up the gang plank (no fan fair, pictures, or name announced here) we handed the CM at the entrance to the ship our KTTW cards and they swipped them into the computer and verified our cabin number. With that I quickly remembered the first two rules, shore excursions and PALO!
Since we were not originally scheduled to sail on the Magic we had to scramble for shore excursion reservations. We went right to deck 3 Guest Services desk. The line was quite long as others had the same ideas. We quickly decided to choose the mainland Mexico excursion to the ruins at Tulam. My DD is an explorer like her dad and loved the idea of exploration. We also inquired about upgrading our cabin (we were in cat 11 inside stateroom) but were informed that the ship was full.
Since it was now about 8 pm we could go right to our room. Along our way we heard an anouncement that the ship would sail without the normal safety drill but that it would be held at 10:45 am then next day. Our cabin was on deck 6 (6303) which was the forward most cabin on deck 6. It was small but we did not plan on spending much time there (and we didn't). Our luggage was already there. My DW and DD started to unpack and I was off like a shot to PALO to get any reservation that we could.
Our KTTW card stated that our dining schedule was LAPP- 2nd seating. So we decided to try for Friday (as that would be the night of the repeat of our dining room tour. Upon my arrival at PALO I was informed that all reservation were booked up and that we would be able to wait list for a cancelation. My thoughts of that chocolate suffle' for desert were diminishing quickly.
After that I collected my DD and DW and headed off to dinner at Lumiere's. We met with our dining mates and hit it off from the start. The others were a couple and their DS from Louisville, KY and a woman traveling by herself from Northern CA. Our dinner was just average (maybe it was our long trek or my expectations were too high). I had beef tenderloin that was just average served over garlic potatoes that were barely warm. Desert was double chocolate cake and I also had an apple ice wine with desert. Most of the dinner was conversing with our dinner companions as we got along swimingly and for the duration of the cruise we usually were the last ones out of the dining room each night as we could not stop talking and sharing our Disney experiences. We were very lucky to have such nice people to dine with.
After dinner it was off to the Stack with our DD. She had been looking forward to this opportunity to spred her wings (she just turned 13 this year). The Stack is the teen area of the ship for teen age 13 to 17 ONLY. There is a sign outside the entryway on Deck 10 that states the STACK is for ages 13 to 17 ONLY. We went with her as far as the door and she dissappeared into the abyss! We waited for about 5 minutes to see if she would return but she did not. My wife and I then went out on the deck to experience being out on the deck of the ship at sea, in the darkness and looking out into the Atlantic Ocean. There were a few other ships that we could see (due to their lights) but much was darkness.
From there we just waked to some of the other parts of the ship such as the clubs on deck 3, gift shops on deck 4 and settled in at the Prominade lounge on deck deck 3 for a night cap before turning in. We headed to our cabin about midnight. Our DD had not yet returned to our cabin so I just changed into shorts and a tee shirt and sat on the end of the bed and checked out the TV. After it got to be 2 am and I could not sleep due to our DD not returning I went to the Stack to see what was going on. Upon my arrival at the entryway the door was closed. I then found a security officer that told me not to worry that this happens all the time and when the teens make new friends they ofter take off for other places to keep talking with their new found friends and not to worry (easy for them to say). I went back to our cabin and along about 10 minutes later our DD showed up all excited with info about the Stack and her new found friends. Sleep by this time was easy but tomorrow would be in my mind as I could not wait to explore more of this magnificent ship!!!
We walked to the boardwalk area and each had a bagel and juice before going to the meeting area for DCL departure. I worned my DW & DD about the attack sparrows at the boardwalk. These birds are so used to people being in the area that they now are not afraid of people so when they don't get fed they now resort to dive-boming people and will not hesitate to grab food right out of people's hands while they are eating. We did not have much of a problem as there was another family next to us with two small girls that were feeding the birds their breakfast.
We then walked back inside the resort to an area just off the lobby to meet with the DCL CM that would be waiting with us until the bus arrived. There were about 30 of us that were leaving from the Boardwalk resort. The CM checked our names from the master list and cheked the number of bags we had against what bell services said that they had to be put on the bus.
By 10:30 we were all getting excited about the arrival of the bus to depart for Ft. Lauderdale. At 11:15 am we were told that our bus had just departed the Beach Club resort and was on its way to pick us up. At 11:45 when there was no sign of our bus I decided to call DCl myself and get the information first hand. After being on hold for 20 minutes we were told the a DCL manager was on their way with lunch vouchers for the people at Boardwalk. I did not get a direct answer on when our bus would be there but it did tell me that it would probably be awhile before it did arrive. At 1:45 pm the DCL manager had not arrived nor had our bus. One member of our group went to talk with a CM at the front desk and I once again called to DCL. This time I explained our situation and wanted to speak with a manager. The CM told me that a manager would not be able to tell me any more information than I already had. I insisted to speak with a manager. I was put on hold and after another 5 minutes the call was taken by a CM stating that they were a manager and that they "were doing all they could do and to have a nice day" and then hung up the phone on me!
The member of the group that went to the front desk faired better than me as a manager then took us to Spoodles where we thought we would be having lunch...well Spoodles doesn't serve lunch so from there we treked down the Boardwalk further to the ESPN club where we did receive lunch. At about the same time two other CM's from DCL arrived with the lunch vouchers. We were told to "eat fast" as the bus would be arriving soon. We gulped down our lunch and headed back to our waitng spot at about 2:45pm. Our bus finally arrived at about 3 pm. We all loaded on and headed off to another resort to pick up other guests and by 3:30 pm we were finally off to Ft. Lauderdale.
We took a route to the FL turnpike for our drive to Ft. Lauderdale. However there were three buses in the caravan and from the conversation I overheard between our driver and another driver, the other driver did not know the way so our driver traveled at 50 MPH (in a 70 zone) to allow the other buses to catch up and follow. About 90 minutes into our drive one of the other drivers called our driver to state that they were having transmission trouble. We then stopped at the next rest stop and waited for the other buses. Our driver took out some transmission fluid and they added it to the bus with the problems. After about 20 minutes we took off again at the same 50-55 MPH all the way to Port Everglades.
Upon arriving at the exit for the Port, sturing began in the bus and after about 5 minutes we were within sight of the port. Well you never heard such a cheer as you did on our bus when we came within sight of the Magic. You would have thought we were all watching the super bowl and our team just scored the winning touchdown! Our arrival time was 7:20 pm and the ships departure was held for us as we were the last guests to arrive.
This is our first cruise and the first time we had ever seen either of the Disney ships. It was a sight to behold! I now know why all of you veteran crusiers now love to look at the Port Canaveral web cam when the ships are in port. Needless to say I will be one of you from now on! LOL!
We jumped off the bus and headed into the terminal to process our documents. I took one of the suggestions from the veterans and had a two pocket folder with our docs and information handy. It made our process easy as I had everything together. We were in and out walking to the ship in less than 25 minutes. As we passed out of the large door from the terminal to the area to board the ship all we could do is look up (we looked like tourists that just got to the big city looking up at all the skyscrapers) as we got our first look at the Magic close up. We quickly walked up the gang plank (no fan fair, pictures, or name announced here) we handed the CM at the entrance to the ship our KTTW cards and they swipped them into the computer and verified our cabin number. With that I quickly remembered the first two rules, shore excursions and PALO!
Since we were not originally scheduled to sail on the Magic we had to scramble for shore excursion reservations. We went right to deck 3 Guest Services desk. The line was quite long as others had the same ideas. We quickly decided to choose the mainland Mexico excursion to the ruins at Tulam. My DD is an explorer like her dad and loved the idea of exploration. We also inquired about upgrading our cabin (we were in cat 11 inside stateroom) but were informed that the ship was full.
Since it was now about 8 pm we could go right to our room. Along our way we heard an anouncement that the ship would sail without the normal safety drill but that it would be held at 10:45 am then next day. Our cabin was on deck 6 (6303) which was the forward most cabin on deck 6. It was small but we did not plan on spending much time there (and we didn't). Our luggage was already there. My DW and DD started to unpack and I was off like a shot to PALO to get any reservation that we could.
Our KTTW card stated that our dining schedule was LAPP- 2nd seating. So we decided to try for Friday (as that would be the night of the repeat of our dining room tour. Upon my arrival at PALO I was informed that all reservation were booked up and that we would be able to wait list for a cancelation. My thoughts of that chocolate suffle' for desert were diminishing quickly.
After that I collected my DD and DW and headed off to dinner at Lumiere's. We met with our dining mates and hit it off from the start. The others were a couple and their DS from Louisville, KY and a woman traveling by herself from Northern CA. Our dinner was just average (maybe it was our long trek or my expectations were too high). I had beef tenderloin that was just average served over garlic potatoes that were barely warm. Desert was double chocolate cake and I also had an apple ice wine with desert. Most of the dinner was conversing with our dinner companions as we got along swimingly and for the duration of the cruise we usually were the last ones out of the dining room each night as we could not stop talking and sharing our Disney experiences. We were very lucky to have such nice people to dine with.
After dinner it was off to the Stack with our DD. She had been looking forward to this opportunity to spred her wings (she just turned 13 this year). The Stack is the teen area of the ship for teen age 13 to 17 ONLY. There is a sign outside the entryway on Deck 10 that states the STACK is for ages 13 to 17 ONLY. We went with her as far as the door and she dissappeared into the abyss! We waited for about 5 minutes to see if she would return but she did not. My wife and I then went out on the deck to experience being out on the deck of the ship at sea, in the darkness and looking out into the Atlantic Ocean. There were a few other ships that we could see (due to their lights) but much was darkness.
From there we just waked to some of the other parts of the ship such as the clubs on deck 3, gift shops on deck 4 and settled in at the Prominade lounge on deck deck 3 for a night cap before turning in. We headed to our cabin about midnight. Our DD had not yet returned to our cabin so I just changed into shorts and a tee shirt and sat on the end of the bed and checked out the TV. After it got to be 2 am and I could not sleep due to our DD not returning I went to the Stack to see what was going on. Upon my arrival at the entryway the door was closed. I then found a security officer that told me not to worry that this happens all the time and when the teens make new friends they ofter take off for other places to keep talking with their new found friends and not to worry (easy for them to say). I went back to our cabin and along about 10 minutes later our DD showed up all excited with info about the Stack and her new found friends. Sleep by this time was easy but tomorrow would be in my mind as I could not wait to explore more of this magnificent ship!!!
