Awesome Cruise 8/5/06added pictures 8/31

[mom x4 grandma x4]

This was our 12th cruise with DCL, it was totally awesome as were the last 11.
Our DD and her family went with us. Both grandkids (ages 12 and 15) didnt know we were going. We told them we were going to Cocoa beach. Then DH told them lets stop by the port and see if they will let us in to take a couple of pictures of the ship.
Of course they asked for ID, which we showed, then they ask if we are all going on the magic and DH said yes. Ana whispered to her mom, grandpa is going to get into BIG trouble, he just told that man we were going on the Magic. She didnt catch on, neither did her brother. We pulled up to unload the luggage and as we got out of the truck the grandkids said what's going on?? I told them I dont know what your doing, but we are going on a cruise!!! They were totally shocked!!After a couple of Minutes Ana, being a typical teen, said, I dont have anything to wear, I only brought shorts and tank tops for the beach. But her mom assured her she had packed everything for her in her luggage including a formal and pirates outfit.
DH told them we were going on a 4 day cruise to nassau and they were very excited to go some where new. But a few minutes later they discovered it was really a 7 day cruise to the Eastern caribbean.
They will never believe us again about vacations when they come to visit!!

We had #3 boarding pass so we boarded quickly.While waiting to board we met many dis board friends in the terminal. We were easy to spot because my DD showed up with purple hair!!! (Don't ask???)

upon boarding we went to the Topsiders buffet. Then to our room at 1:30. Then to change our dining time to early.
By then it was 2:30 and our luggage had arrived so I got it all unpacked before our 3 P.M. dis board meet in the Promenade lounge. It was a great meet. Only 2 people didnt make it. The people on these boards are the greatest. We ran into them all week long and chatted about their experiences on board.
Sail away party was fun and a good lively crowd. A new band called the Breakers played. they were very good and 2 members were from the Charles Marshall's band. It was great weather for the party.
As we pulled out I went to deck 10 and waved with my mickey hands til we were out of the channel.
Then off to dinner. We got it changed to 6 P.M. at Lumieres. But when we arrived they said NO, we should be at AP for dinner, so they escorted us to AP where they said No you should be at Lumieres. So after another phone call they escorted us back to Lumieres and we stood for about 5 minutes waiting for them to find our table. By the time we sat down they were done with appetizers and into the main course. Our wait staff was great and caught us up quickly.
next day we got a phone call to go to Lumiers at 5:45 for dinner, and that they had our permanent table. So we went to Lumieres for the second night . They seated us right away and then here came another family which had been assigned to the table where they sat us. OOPS!!! So they immediately picked up the table number and put it on the table behind us for them. The staff seemd a bit confused and embarassed but we thought it was funny and anew experience for us.
I wont go day to day or this would take 10 hours to read.
Here are a few highlights of the trip.
Only rained one evening and they closed pools and deck 10.
Calm seas and beautiful weather the rest of the time.
Did trivia a few times with DD
saw all the family and adult comedy shows. saw a new comedian singer that we had not seen on board before. John Charles. he was very good. he use to be at MK at the Diamond Horseshoe revue. And anew juggler. Rich Purpura was also there. The other shows were great a usual and we were very happy to see Roy Disney had been put back in the Golden Mickeys show!!

Oren Aviv, the president on charge of disney movies gave 2 talks on the ship which were great. He talked one day about the pirates movies and showed us a preview clip from the pirates 3. Never seen before. They also gave out pirate prizes. The second presentation was about up coming movies and ideas for new movies, and more prizes.

crafts, made a picture frame and a fish wind chime
did the paper plane making class too
cake and plate decorating,
chef demonstrated a blueberry cobbler
chef made crab cakes and of course all these food sessions had samples afterwards. YUMMY!!!
Towel animals
Napkin folding
Ice carving demonstration
Bartender bottle juggling and making drinks


Dessert buffet was excellant and they finally had some sugar free desserts which we had been asking for for 3 years now. DH is diabetic and prefers them. The entire thing was awesome!!

Pirate party had made some changes since May when we last saw it. They were good changes. wont give details, dont want to spoil it for you guys.
Buffet was very good too. Right after dinner DD, myself and GD went to have our pictures taken with captain Jack Sparrow while in our pirates outfits. They came out great. it was so much fun. He talked with each person and stayed in character great.

On St.Maartin and St. Thomas we just shopped since we had been there a few times before. DD took kids and did the Regatta sailing excursion and loved it. Lots of hard work, but worth it. They raced against another ship and lost. Their captains name was captain Morgan which was kinda funny. We had told them they were doing the Butterfly Farm excursion, so again they were surprised.
We were the ONLY ship in port that day so the stores were empty.

On St. Thomas their snorkeling excursion was cancelled due to mechanical problems, so they did the tram to the top of the mountain and shopped.

CC was HOT!!!! We had our picture taken with Captain Jack Sparrow with the Flying Dutchman behind us. It was an awesome ship to see.
We snorkeled and then went to Serenity bay for lunch since they had T-Bone steaks there, which they dont have at Cookies BBQ.
Then it was getting way to hot, with NO breeze so we headed back to the ship for some quiet time at the adult pools and hot tubs.
I got all my packing done before dinner so we had the evening free to enjoy the farewell show and music.

For the first time we could actually understand our room Host and pronounce his name, Clifford. He never made towel animals, he made them out of our blanket! He was very good and his critters were very unusual.

It was truly a great trip, starting with surprising our grandkids, who still cant believe they wernt on a cruise instead of a trip to the beach.
The food was good,
The entertainent was great.
The seas were calm
The dis board people were awesome all week!!!
The islands were beautiful
Captain Jack was "HOT"
Lots of characters strolling around decks 9 and 10 every afternoon.

we all had a great time and cant wait til November when DH and I go again with DS and friend.

I intentionally didnt give a lot of details about events because I didnt want to spoil any surprises for anyone, but if you have any specific questions about the cruise, please PM me and I will try to answer them for you,
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[RoyalVizier]

Oren Aviv, the president on charge of disney movies gave 2 talks on the ship which were great. He talked one day about the pirates movies and showed us a preview clip from the pirates 3. Never seen before.

More info please!

 

[scottishwee35]

Oh bless, love that story and it was good to hear about your review.

Brilliant

Scottishwee35

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Oren Aviv is the new Preisdent in charge of all the upcoming disney movies.
He was the guest speaker twice on the ship. he was very good, hope they have him back again for future cruisers.
He talked a lot about the Pirates movies and how they were surprised how successful the first one was, he showed interviews with the cast and some special effects from both shows, plus interviews of the casts opinions of the 3rd movie. He had a short preview from the 3rd movie which was awesome to see, since the Magic was the only place it had ever been shown. he also anawered many questiona about those movies.
2nd presentation was about several upcoming disney moives over the next 2 or 3 years and ideas for furture movies beyond that. he had lots of rough draft type film clips, interviews too. then he answered more questions.
each session ended with prizes for lots of people.
I beleive we were the first to have him as a speaker. He just go the job 2 weeks earlier.
hope that answered your questions,
PM me if you have a specific question and I will try to answer,
kathy

 

[Babs417]

Your going again lucky lucky you

 

[angipoo]

We snorkeled and then went to Serenity bay for lunch since they had T-Bone steaks there, which they dont have at Cookies BBQ.
QUOTE]


Do they always have steaks at Serenity Bay instead of BBQ?

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Angie,
Not sure how long they have had steaks there. I read a few trip reports the last 3 or 4 months that mentioned them, so we decided to check it out for ourselves. sure enough they had them. They cook just a few at a time, so you may have to wait a couple minutes to get it done for you, but it is worth it.
Cookies still has the traditional burgers and such.

mom x4,grandma x4

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Angie,
Not sure how long they have had steaks there. I read a few trip reports the last 3 or 4 months that mentioned them, so we decided to check it out for ourselves. sure enough they had them. They cook just a few at a time, so you may have to wait a couple minutes to get it done for you, but it is worth it.
Cookies still has the traditional burgers and such.

mom x4,grandma x4

 

[Monstro]

Thanks for the report. Great job! What night is the dessert buffet?

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

The dessert buffet was Thursday at 11:15 to 12:15. However we arrived at 11 and they were letting people in by 5 after the hour.

mom x4,grandma x4

 

[michelle9343]

Thanks for the trip report. It was great that you actually surprised the kids! Great job.

 

[yazee1]

Great trip report!

 

[Monstro]

The dessert buffet was Thursday at 11:15 to 12:15. However we arrived at 11 and they were letting people in by 5 after the hour.

mom x4,grandma x4

Thanks again for the info. We'll be sure to get ther early.

 

[mandymouse]

Hi Kathy, thanks for sharing your trip report, it sounds like you have had another fab time and I'm glad that you managed to keep it a big surprise for the Grandkids

Mandy

 

[eeyorefan80]

Soundes lovely! Woohoo. I wish I had great grandparents/parents like you! What a treat for the kids!

 

[Hanover]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a great time.

We surprised our 5 and 9 year old boys with our 5/13/06 Eastern cruise and to see their reaction was priceless. It was a very hard secret to keep for 14 months, but so worthwhile. They knew we were going to the WDW parks for 4 days and thought we were going to Cocoa Beach to see the Magic and wave goodbye to those cruising that day. When we went through security, they thought we'd pulled a big one. When we pulled up to the porters, we gave our oldest ds his birthday gift (5/13 was his 9th birthday) which were the tickets to board. He couldn't believe it at all and said "please tell me your not lying and this isn't a joke." The first few days he kept saying over and over "I can't believe we are on the Magic." I don't know if we'll ever be able to top that surprise!

 

[gamecockinnc]

Hey the 8/5 was a great cruise but it went by way to fast. We sailed with my parents. The second sea day (Sunday) was a nasty day rainy and gray. It reminded me of a winter day but the great thing about DCL is there is so much to do inside that it actually makes you slow down and take advantage of the movies etc. which you do not find on many of the other cruise lines. This was my 13th cruise (not all on DCL) but the first time I ever felt sea sick.....that night when we were rocking and rolling with the conditions "rough" and 8-14 foot waves made me thankful for Bonine. I had never needed it before that day/night. I think that was Monday into Monday evening but then great weather then on out. But this was the first time we were aft so maybe be had a lot more motion?? My parents were in 6154 a handicap cabin with a balcony that I can not explain in words how huge it was and we were next door in 6152 so maybe that had something to do with the movement? My parents cabin being the handicap cabin was the very aft cabin and the balcony wrapped around the side of the ship to the very back. Do you know where the "secret" aft deck is our cabin balcony was directly under that and was that large and my parents was to the left.

But it was a great cruise wasn't it. I was just telling my sons yesterday I have never ever had a cruise go that fast and I would do anything to do it over exactly the same way. Same ports, same cabins everything.....I am glad you enjoyed it. What ever happened to the second couple we left in St. Thomas? We went back to get the family but not the couple? I wonder what happened to them?

I was in tears watching the mother running down the pier and then waiting to see if we were going back in......we were on the balcony's watching as was half of the ship and it was a sad sight but I am not sure if people saw the second couple run up. It was a younger girl and boy and she was crying. We guessed that they probably were a brother and sister but wondered what happened to them.

It just reminds people to watch the clock and be back on the ship bc that family was really, really lucky we had just pulled out and DCL came back in for them. Thank God!

Have another wonderful cruise!

GN

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

GN,
I'm sure they all got on board because at the show later in the evening or maybe the next night the cruise director commented about it and he said Captain Tom has NEVER left a passenger behind!! So they must of been on board ok.

mom x4,grandma x4

 

[gamecockinnc]

Thanks for the info....I missed that comment!


Glad it worked out!
GN

 

[disneypoor]

Thanks for the report! What would you suggest for a family of four (kids ages 9 and 12) while in St. Maarten and St. Thomas? We've never been and are going on the eastern for spring break? The kids LOVE the beach, but I wasn't sure how warm the water would be in March. Thanks again for the report. It gets me very excited for our spring break cruise!!!