Back 2 Back Magical Adventures on DCL-Completed

[tinknme]

Glad to hear you made it safely Becky! Look forward to more reports & pictures.

Terry & Vicki will be very happy to see PM is using his seatbelt

 

[ReAnSt]

Well we had to get off the boat today a little by 9am. We went through customs and then we got to go back up to the terminal. We had to wait until about 10:30am before we could check back in.

We checked in got our new Key to the World keys and they found somebody to unlock the doors so we could get back on the ship. I am sitting up on deck 9 by the Quiet Cove Pool, and watching people in the terminal. My laundry is washing down on deck 7.

We had a fantastic week in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Key West and Castaway Cay. Yesterday I went parasailing which was awesome and then snorkeling for about 4 hours. Lets just say I got a bit much sun on my back and it is painful to sit.

Hope to post more later. I have been working on the trip report. I will post in once I get back as I want to post pictures at the same time and my internet connection is not that fast now. Plus I have a limit on what I can upload.

See ya later. Eastern Cruise is starting soon.

 

[PNO4TE]

Sounds wonderful, Becky! I am glad your first leg was so much fun. Here's to just as much fun on the second week!

 

[tinknme]

Sounds like you are having a great time!

 

[disneydance]

sounds like you are having a wonderful time without me

 

[ReAnSt]

So I'm home about an hour and going through major withdrawals. I had an absolutely fantastic time. The rockiest night was the first and it was not bad at all 8 - 12 foot seas. You could hardly feel the motion at all. I am walking around like normal, no land sickness for about 2 weeks, feeling like I am still on the ship like the last time.

I ate way too much, relaxed and had a great time. I hope I still fit in my clothing, did I mention I ate way too much. Went snorkeling, parasailing, regattiang. I got a sunburned behind, OK not really just my way upper legs.

First load of laundry is drying, more to go later. That's all for now. Off to bed. I gotta be at work tomorrow at 9am. I hope I can stay awake.

Thank you to everyone who is reading. I hope to work on this, but I have lots to do since I have been gone for over 2 weeks and am at work already tomorrow.

 

[PNO4TE]

I am delighted that you had a relaxing 2 week trip, Becky! Welcome home!!

 

[Muushka]

So I'm home about an hour and going through major withdrawals. I had an absolutely fantastic time. The rockiest night was the first and it was not bad at all 8 - 12 foot seas. You could hardly feel the motion at all. I am walking around like normal, no land sickness for about 2 weeks, feeling like I am still on the ship like the last time.

I ate way too much, relaxed and had a great time. I hope I still fit in my clothing, did I mention I ate way too much. Went snorkeling, parasailing, regattiang. I got a sunburned behind, OK not really just my way upper legs.

First load of laundry is drying, more to go later. That's all for now. Off to bed. I gotta be at work tomorrow at 9am. I hope I can stay awake.

Thank you to everyone who is reading. I hope to work on this, but I have lots to do since I have been gone for over 2 weeks and am at work already tomorrow.

Loved your report, sounds like great fun. I also suffer from the land sickness. Did you do anything special or was it because the seas weren't 30 feet? I would love to not have that feeling when I get off the ship!

 

[ReAnSt]

Loved your report, sounds like great fun. I also suffer from the land sickness. Did you do anything special or was it because the seas weren't 30 feet? I would love to not have that feeling when I get off the ship!

I took ginger root 2 times a day starting the day before my trip. The first day on the ship I took a Bonine. By the end of the trip I wasn't taking anything.

I think I didn't suffer from the land sickness because the water was pretty smooth for most of the cruise.

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Tfs

 

[Muushka]

I took ginger root 2 times a day starting the day before my trip. The first day on the ship I took a Bonine. By the end of the trip I wasn't taking anything.

I think I didn't suffer from the land sickness because the water was pretty smooth for most of the cruise.

I had that rocking feeling for about a month after a cruise with 30 foot waves. The rocking lasted about 2 weeks on a cruise similar to your last one (highest waves were 12 to 15 feet). And the last one had waves at 6 feet, max. I rocked for just a few days after that one. All 3 I used Bonine and the last cruise included ginger also. I will try adding the ginger a couple of days before with the Bonine. Thanks!

 

[ReAnSt]

We were driving our rental to the University of Central Florida and we decide that we need to get some lunch. We were thinking about going to Fazoli's, on the way there we see the sign for Chick Fil A. By the time we see it and think about going there we are past it. So we do a U-turn, the first of many for the day. As we are driving by Chik Fil A again, my brother sees the sign for Don Pablos. So we decide to go to Don Pablos for lunch. Another U-turn and we are there. We are quickly seated, one person comes over and brings us water, asks us what we want to drink, another brings our drinks a third brings us salsa and tortilla chips, a fourth comes to take our order. At this point we have no clue who our actual server is. We order the steak and chicken fajitas for two. It was good, although we needed more tortillas to make the fajitas.

We finish and pay. We drive by the University of Central Florida (UCF) and head to where my apartment used to be. Then we drive onto campus and it strikes me how much UCF has changed since I was last on the campus in April 2005. UCF is one of the fastest growing Universities in the country. When I was a freshmenin 2000 there were about 28,000 students, now there are about 46,000. It is now the 6th largest University in the country.

We were planning on walking around but due to the on and off rain we decide to drive around. New buildings include, multiple new dormitories and parking garages, a brand new football stadium, a new convocation center for Basketball, an alumni center, a visitors center, and a huge new on campus shopping center just for starters.

Everything in these pictures is brand new

I miss this Gym with its rock climbing wall

One of the multitude of parking garages, I think there are almost 10 now

I apologize for the side trip and all the pictures. But I truly love and miss that place and I need to brag.

 

[ReAnSt]

Then we head to Walmart, BJ's, Barnes and Noble for various last minute pre-cruise purchases. At BJ's my friend Nicole meets me. We head over to Sonny's for dinner at 6pm, where I meet several other friends. There are 11 of us in total including my brother and I. The service was kind of slow, we head out and the talking on the parking lot begins. We finally leave the UCF area around 8:45pm, although I know I could have stayed and talked for many more hours. I really would like to go back for Homecoming in November, but airfare costs are ridiculously expensive.

We head to the Residence Inn at Port Canaveral. It was very nice, we head a queen suite. So we had 2 queen beds, a full kitchen, 2 TV's etc. All the rooms are suites. We used rewards points for the stay so it was free. We checked out the pool and bar area which was closing soon. We met some people leaving on the Carnival ship in the morning and due to storm damage they were not sure where they were going.

Some pictures of the hotel, there are more from tomorrow

The awesome waterfall window. I want one.

Breakfast tables

Seating area/ kitchen in our room

Kitchen/ pantry/ table

Sleeping area

Bathroom

Vanity Area

Basketball court

Pool

Hot Tub

Bar

Too excited to sleep

Off to bed, but we are too excited to sleep. Although we slept due to exhaustion, as it was almost midnight and we had been going since 3:45am.

Up next, boarding the Magic

 

[ReAnSt]

If you can't tell by now, I took tons of pictures.

So today is the day we get on the Mickey boat for 14 days. I can not believe it is actually happening today. My countdown was about a year and a half and I honestly thought I would never go on this trip.

We quickly get up, get dressed, grab breakfast in the hotel lobby. It did not take long to get up, as we were uber excited.

It was far from your typical hotel breakfast, they had a waffle making station, eggs, hash browns, cereal, yogurt, fruit, juice, milk, oatmeal, an Asian station with rice, tea and Miso soup. It was the nicest free hotel breakfast I have ever seen.

Coffee

Granola and yogurts

Bread and pastries

Fruit and Cereal

Condiments

Milk and eggs, hashbrowns and southern gravy to go with the biscuits

Juice and Waffle making station

Asian Station

Front desk

Some plant I couldn't identify. Does anyone know what it is?

One of the hotel staff asked if I worked at a hotel, since I was taking pictures. He said he did to improve their hotel. I said nope just trying to share my trip with others.

OK, so I lied I didn't quite get to the Magic yet, but it is next. I promise, but the terminal comes first.

 

[ReAnSt]

We go back to the room and repack the few things we had in the room. We had packed our airplane carry-ons to include the stuff we needed for our flight, that night, the next morning and through to clothing for dinner the first day on the cruise. This way we had what we needed without needing to lug all 6 bags in the hotel and search for what we needed. We did have toiletries in one other bag which we brought in due to the FAA liquid restrictions.

We loaded up the PT and headed to the port. We could see the gorgeous Magic on our way to the port. We had to wait a bit to get into the Port, so we were able to park across the street until it opened. Once it opened they checked our photo ID's to the cruise roster to make sure we were allowed to enter. I dropped Stephen off, as we thought that he could go up and get a boarding number. I drove the car to the luggage drop-off point and dropped our 4 checked bags. As I was preparing to leave Stephen was coming back so I waited for him.

DCL plates in the parking lot

He did not get a boarding number as he would have had to completely check in, which we did not know. So we got our number later.

We drove to the Avis rental car location. We get there and there is a bunch of people waiting for the shuttle. We drop the car off and wait with our carry-ons for the shuttle. We get on the shuttle, it is a good thing we dropped our bags at the port as the luggage area is full from the others who are also taking the shuttle.

We quickly ride to the port, they recheck our ID's and we take our carry on bags and go through security. Up the escalator we go and get into the line for check in. Since this is our second DCL cruise, we could get in the Castaway Club line, which is the club for repeat DCL cruisers. We however elect to go in the normal line as it looks shorter and there are more windows to check in at.

This was a good idea as we got through the line quicker then those who would have been right in front of us in the Castaway club line. Remember just because it is a perk doesn't mean it is always the fastest. Especially since about half the cruisers tend to be Castaway members.

We get to the check in counter and we are given Key to the World cards. We then ask about our Castaway club lanyards and pins. She asks if we are repeat cruisers and then looks it up. The cast member then asks for our cards back. She disappears for a little while, comes back with our new Goofy KTTW cards, pins and lanyards. We were given a number 8 boarding number, before we checked in.

Since they have not yet started boarding and we are a number 8 boarder, we get in line for Captain Mickey. I am not one to wait in line for characters but there really isn't much else to do, but wait. We wait for a little while and are greeted by Ann (Bareacuda) from the DISboards, her and her husband Howard are our fellow Back 2 Back cruisers. Well actually they are Back 2 Back 2 Back cruisers. Yep thats right folks 3 weeks on the Magic. Western-Eastern-Western, they are still on that Western cruise.

Mickey is switched out by Goofy and we have our picture taken with sailor Goofy.

We wonder outside for a bit to watch the loading stuff on the boat. We come back inside and they are boarding. I run to the restroom, come back and still am waiting. There was no character out, but Mickey comes out again and since there is about 4 groups in line, we hop in as well.

 

[ReAnSt]

Right after we have our picture taken, the call boarding for group 8. So we hop in line to board. We quickly go under the Mouse ears, have our picture shot, and they welcome us to the ship. Since there is no line for guest services we go there to add Disney rewards dollars to our room account. There is a sign that says Mickey Ship is full there are no upgrades available. There were about 2800 people on board. We then head down to Parrot Cay for lunch. Or so we think.

OK, well that was the plan, we do head to Parrot Cay, but are told it is full. We ask how long the wait will be? They tell us they don't know, so we begrudingly head up to Topsiders. We didn't want to drag our carry on bags through the food line, like we need to at Topsiders, then drap our tray and bags around to find a table at Topsiders. At Parrot Cay they seat you, you leave your bag at the table, they bring you a drink and then you can go to the buffet and don't need to juggle your food and a bag. The food is good, despite our lack of desire to be in this restaurant.

This is the one bonus of 2 weeks as the next week we got to do Parrot Cay.

My 3 desserts, lets just say my healthy eating went out the window this trip. Although I just ate a bit of each. If I recall as I didn't take notes they were Mango Dome-which was good, chocolate cake- which was dense the way I like chocolate cake, cheesecake- was alright but I was not a huge fan of the cheesecake on my cruises and I love cheesecake.

Topsider pictures

Packing the ship

Mickey Hand supporting the slide

We find a table in front of the Goofy pool, which is surprisingly empty. This cruise seemed to have very few kids, compared to the next week. Which was very nice, there were definitely kids but more the next week. Then again there were 200 fewer people on the ship next week as well.

 

[ReAnSt]

This one disappeared so I am trying again.

We watched the pretty fish on the Ariel View. This really is a nice addition and I liked it a lot.

We sat in front of the empty Goofy pool for awhile. There were more people but less kids on this cruise then the next week.

We look over the Navigator and it is soon 1:30pm and we head to our room. We stayed in 7067, it is a category 11 which is an inside stateroom with a non-split bathroom. Personally I didn't mind as I was hardly in my room and it is much cheaper then the outside staterooms.

Before I filled the closet up. The one thing that drove me nuts is the hangers in the closet are basically too long for the depth of the closet and the door is a pain to close.

The propeller clock was upgraded. It now plays when you wish upon a star

 

[ReAnSt]

We drop our bags, explore our Castaway Club gifts and then head out to explore the ship.

The Castaway Club gift is for those guests who have sailed one or more times on the Disney Cruise line. You get one of these per stateroom with a Castaway club member in it. It should be waiting in your room on arrival.

It is a tote bag, two mesh drawstring bags, magnet, 2 flags, cups, bracelets, bath tub toy, notebook, and sanitizing hand wipes.

The other Castaway Club gift you get at check in. It is one lanyard with card holder and two pins for each Castaway club member. There are 2 lanyards in the picture but each person only gets one.

Stitch had to check out the hair dryer

The H20 Spa products were very nice shampoo, conditioner and lotion. You still got bar soap. I wish it would have been body wash, but that was available in the gym bathroom.

It is soon 3pm, which means DIS meet at the Mickey pools. We meet several of the DISboardsers who we have communicated with for many, many months. I did not take any pictures. Everyone was very nice

We soon hear the announcement that the life boat drill is happening soon, so we head back to our room.

That is all for the night. Up soon Adventures Away.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Perdie]

Can't wait to hear the rest....I am counting down the days until my second DCL cruise-February 2nd-9th on the Magic!!

Your pics are great-we take our Goofy with us everywhere we go...sort of like your Mickey and Stitch : )
We even dedicated a page on our website to him

I love reading your posts!

 

[Tinkaroo]

Becky, what a great start, and I can't wait to read everything. Your pics are fabulous! I've been holding a reservation for our evening at the port at both the Marriott and at the Radisson, and I think I will be for sure canceling the Radisson now - the Marriott looks very nice! And that breakfast sounds great!

I was just wondering the other day what exact "line" of the H20 products that the DCL has on-board, as I've gotten into their products recently, and would love not having to lug a ton of hair care stuff on board. Your pics answered my question perfectly.

Eager to hear more!