Back from disney Magic Western 01/23/2010

[bemery1963]

We just got back from 7 night western cruise on Disney Magic.

I have spent the last two months reviewing cruise discounts on a different websites looking for cheap cruises. On January 14, 2010 I saw that we could book a gty cat 12 for 3 for $2195.00 on the January 23 sailing. The last 7 day cruise we took was a western on Carnival in October which I paid $904 for 3 people.

I really debated taking this cruise because I am a cheap person and knew I could get a different cruise line cruise with almost the same itenerary for about $1200.00. But we really love Disney. We have been DVC members since 1994 and have been going to Disney world two or three times a year ever since. I thought I probably would not get a much better price on a Disney cruise in the near future so I booked it.

To save money we decided to drive to Cape Canaveral instead of flying. Since we live in Wisconsin it is about a 20 hour drive if you drive an average of 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.

We left at 4:00 pm on Thursday and drove to Mufreesboro TN where we spent the night at Days Inn. The room was clean and adequate for sleeping but we definitiely did not like the breakfast they supplied. We ended up getting breakfast at Waffle house.

We left Murfreesboro TN about 10:00 am and arrived at Cape Canaveral Residence Inn about 8:30 pm. We had a one bedroom suite which was very nice. The pool was about three times the size of pools that I have seen at most Residence Inns and they had an outdoor bar. So we bought some drinks and ordered Chinese food for delivery. I can't remember the name of the company we ordered from we got the menu from the front desk. Just note that if you do order from them there portions are enough to feed two people. We had a lot of leftover food.

 

[bemery1963]

We left the hotel about 10:30 am and arrived at the dock about 10:45. We did not have to wait in line to register. We were handed boarding pass #8.

We asked if there were any upgrades available since we did receive a cat 12 room. We were hoping people would continue to upgrade thus freeing up a cat 10 room with a bath and a half. We were told that the ship was full and no upgrades were available. We then sat down and waited to board the ship.

I think they started boarding the ship about 12:00 pm since we were number 8. We probably waited about 1/2 an hour. Since we were so early we found a place to sit so we really did not mind waiting. When we got on board they announced our name and then one of the employees walked with us and answered our questions as we were getting out of the way of other people coming in. I thought that was a nice touch. There was hardly anybody in the lobby area, which is an unusual experience for us. When we took cruises with other cruise lines the lobbies are usually packed with people and are a zoo.

I read on the boards that Parrot Cay was the place to eat lunch when we boarded so we headed there. When we got there the hostess was telling everyone that there were no tables available and that we should go upstairs to the Topsider instead. I told her that I would wait for a table. She said ok and let me through. I walked into the restaurant and was seated right away. There were at least 15 empty tables in the restaurant. I was thrilled that we got a table right away and we did not have to wade through a maze of people and luggage to find a place to sit down.

We went to our room # 5629. I was pleasantly surprised to see the room was about the same size as a carnival inside room. My husband thinks it is the same size, but I think it was a little bigger since they had a couch at the end of our bed instead of a chair like they do on Carnival. The bathroom was definitly smaller than Carnival's bathroom.


We walked around the ship and I was glad that it was decorated the way you would expect a Disney Ship to be decorated. I told my daughter to look for hidden Mickeys and she had a great time finding them even where they weren't for the rest of the cruise.

Our luggage arrived well before the life boat drill so we started to unpack. When we got to the muster station for the life boat drill we were sent right back to our room since my husband has to use a walker and they wanted to give him time to grab an elevator before they let other people go. Most other cruise ships do the same thing, this is not a Disney thing. After they anounced the drill was over my daughter and I went to the welcome aboard party. It was well done. I would say it was the best welcome aboard party that I had been to. The cast did an excellent job getting people to dance and the show was Disney caliber. I was really looking forward to the rest of the week based on the effort disney put into the first few hours we were aboard.

After the party we brought our pillow cases to guest services and went to supper in Lumineres (I know I'm spelling it wrong). Unfortunately I can't remember everything I ordered but I know I had escargot and it was wonderful. I was surprised that they did not provide bread or crackers to put it on but I thought it was just about perfect. I remember thinking of all those people that said they did not like the food and wondered what they ordered.

After dinner I headed off to the show. The show was a disappointment. It started off with the dancers doing a number which was pretty good. But then Brent told us what to expect during the week. He probably talked for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then the dancers would dance to another number and then Brent would talk again for about 10 to 15 minutes. The dancers would dance again etc. I think they also showed a short film about things you could do on the cruise but I could be mistaken. Anyway I kept wondering to myself, "Are they trying to make it so people would not go to anymore shows during the cruise because it was quite boring and tedious". I really was disappointed. I felt that one of the reasons I would not mind paying a premium for the cruise was that the shows would be Disney caliber shows.

After the show we finished unpacking and I went to The movie "Old Dogs" I thought it was hillarious. The whole audience was laghing. I heard some other woman say it was the worst movie ever made. But I thought it was so funny that I made my husband and daughter go to it the second time I saw it.

We then went to bed.

 

[MassDisLovers]

Looking forward to hearing more! Great start

 

[bemery1963]

I woke up about 6:00 a.m. I was hoping to sleep longer since we were not going to be in port until 12:00pm. Any way I went to deck 4 and sat in the comfy chairs and listened to my ipod watched people exercise and the sunrise.

We went to Lumineres for breakfast so we could order off the menu. I ordered scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and a Mickey Waffle. What a surprise. The service was super slow. I did not let it get to me as we were not in a hurry to go anywhere anyway but I could not for the life of me figure out why they were so slow. The eggs tasted like they were made from powder. The hasbrowns are the kind you get from McDonalds and the bacon I swear was microwave bacon. I just looked at my husband. I never had such a bad breakfast on a cruise ship before.

After breakfast we went to the DVC member gathering. Itr was pretty much what we expected. They were trying to sell us more points. Howevere we found it informative and did not have anything better to do so it was a nice way to pass the time.

We docked in Key west around 12:00 noon. We originally did not plan on getting off the ship because we had been there several times before and did not think we wanted to do anything there. However the night before the bartender offered us an amazing deal of 24 bottles of Beer for $105.00. So we decided that we would just buy some beer in Key West and bring it back on the ship. So I left on my adventure and took my daughter with me to help carry the bottles. Unfortunately I only found a small liquor store that sold me four six packs of imported beer for a total of $47.00 . I was not too happy paying that price but at least it was a short walk from the ship and I could carry it back with out any problems.

While we were walking around we saw people painted like statues and the statutes around the ship wreck museum so we went and got my husband to walk around with us. We ate lunch at Hosbreath and returned to the ship.

That night we ate at Artisit Pallet. I had read so much about this restaurant that I was really looking forward to it. I guess I had worked myself up too much. I was expecting the whole room to turn colors not just the outside walls. My daughter did not know what to expect and she enjoyed the color changes. The waiters kept saying that it was show night and they were going to do a show. Once again I was disappointed. Mickey came in walked around the room and the waiters followed him around the room clapping. On other cruise lines the waiters actually try to sing and dance. Once again I was disappointed.

Once again we were disappointed with the food quality I can't remember what we ordered but I know that all three of use ordered something different and no one liked what they ordered or what the other person ordered either. I was so surprised that the food could be so good the first night and so bad the second night.

After dinner we went back to the room and were contemplating what to do next. I think this was the night my daughter and I went to a Mickey trivia contest in the sea station. They did an ok job. But it was definitely geared for families with children younger than my 12 year old daughter. After the game my daughter went Ocean Quest. I went to the hypnotist show. I was late so I did not see the whole thing but what I saw was pretty funny. I enjoyed the show, but it was the same caliber as the hypnotist I saw on Carnival a couple of months before. So basically I was once again disappointed to think that I had paid twice the price on this cruise to get the same quality entertainment that I would have gotten on another cruise.

After the show I think I went to Surrogates in the movie theater. It was ok, definitiely entertaining.

Then I went to bed.

 

[sdjen]

I am really enjoying your TR so far. I am on a western cruise Feb of 2011 and love reading a about everyone else's experiences. Cannot wait to hear about the rest of your trip and the shore excursions etc...

 

[bemery1963]

Today was a sea day. I think I woke up about 6:00 am again. This time I decided that maybe I should exercise instead of watching everybody else exercise so I went on a walk on Deck 4. The ship has the whole outside balcony open for people to jog or walk on. Most cruise ships close off the enclosed areas where the anchors are located so you can not go around the whole ship on the outside. If you want to jog or walk you have to do it on the top deck. I definitly liked walking on Deck 4 better than deck 10.

I watched the sun rise and then went and woke up my husband and daughter for our character breakfast. I think the character breakfast was in Parrot Cay. They did a good job moving the characters form table to table and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves immensly. The quality of the food was the same as breakfast the previous day. At least now we knew what to expect.

After breakfast my daughter went to Disnye Quest and my husband and I were planning on taking a nap. We did not want to inconvenience the steward by being in the room while he was cleaning it so we went shopping on board while we were waiting. The stores are well stocked and the prices are pretty much what you would expect on a disney cruise. We bought some ornaments and towels and charms for our daughters charm bracelet.

When we got back to our room the room steward still hadn't cleaned our room. He did not finish cleaning it until 12:00 which was time for lunch. My husband went to Lumnieres by himself and had a steak sandwhich which he said was great. I can't remember what I did but I know I did not eat with him. Anyway after a while we took a small nap and then went to see "Old Dogs Again"

It was formal night so we were pretty excited about what we would have for dinner since most cruise ships have prime rib or lobster on fromal night. Guess what we were disapointed again. No prime rib or lobster. Once again I can not rememebr what we orderred but it was not good and no one ate their meal. I felt really bad for the waiters because they kept offering suggestions on what we could eat and we just kept saying no.

I do want to point out that our waiters were Wemick from India and Marcos from Chile. They did an excellent job. They were very professional and patient with the picky eaters. I think Wemick told our Head waiter Fritz that we were havng a hard time finding something good to eat because Fritz came over and asked how our service was and we said excellent. He then asked us how our food was and we said so so. Fritz said that he would tell the chef we were not happy with the food.

That night they had the show Twice Charmed. I had to go by myself as my daughter was more interested in watching tv after the first two shows and my husband was not feeling well. It was great. The cast did a great job and it was defnitiely the Disney Caliber that I expected.

After the show I think I just hung out in the adult's pool area played my nintendo and listened to my ipod. Then I went to bed.

 

[bemery1963]

"]I am really enjoying your TR so far. I am on a western cruise Feb of 2011 and love reading a about everyone else's experiences. Cannot wait to hear about the rest of your trip and the shore excursions etc... "

Thanks

I really won't be able to tell you that much about shore excursions because we pretty much do our own thing in ports. It's usually much cheaper than booking shore excursions with the ships. But I will tell you what we did.

 

[bemery1963]

Today was Cozumel. This is one of my favorite ports. I love gong to Chankanaab National park and sitting on their beautiful beach. I told my husband that just once I would like to spend all day at Chankannab and just relax instead of snorkel and then leave to go elsewhere

I think I woke up about 7:00 am and did my usual walk and sit and watch the sun rise. .

Just a side note when you get in the taxis you should watch your head. I was wearing a hat and did not realize how low the ceiling was in those vans and smacked myself pretty good. I think it took about 3 or 4 days for the swelling to go down enough so I did not feel the skin on my head tighten when I smiled.

When we got in the taxi we told the driver that we wanted to go Chankannab he asked us if we were going to swim with the dolphins. We told him no that we had been there at least 6 times before and it is one of our favorite beaches. He then asked us why don't we try a different beach Cozumel had many beautiful beaches. So we asked him what he suggested. He told us Paradise Beach was a nice beach and was cheaper than Chankanaab. Of course the taxi fair was more expensive. $12 to Chnkanaab, $20 to Paradise Beach. Chankanaab charged around $14.00 per person to enter. Pradise beach is free admission. If you wnat to use their chairs and tables you agree to buy at leat $10 a person in food and beverages. He gave us an ad for Paradise beach wich showed all kinds of water toys in the ocean including trampolines, ice bergs and giant slides. They charge $12 a person if you want to use the toys. You only have to pay for the members in your party that want to use the toys. Of course my daughter wanted to go there instead of Chankanaab, and since I just smacked my head I really wasn't in the mood for snorkeling so we went to Paradise Beach.

Paradise Beach is a nice beach and the facilties were well maintained. I think we were there for about four hours and my daughter only came out of the water for about 20 minutes to drink down a virgin strawberry dacquorie (?) and then she was right back in the water. We ran into our table mates there and their 12 year old son spent most of the time playing with our daughter. The weather was perfect. We found out that the people that were sitting next to us were from Wisconsin so we had a good time comparing cruises with them They were on a Carnival ship. After they left another group of people came and sat down next to us. It turned out that they were from Wisconsin also. They were staying at an all inclusive in Palya Del Carmen and hopped a fairy over to Paradise Beach because the resort did not have a sandy beach or the waves were too big or something like that.

Anyway we really did have a good time just relaxing and talking to people. But I did notice that the water toys are very hard to climb up. Quite a few people tried and failed to climb the iceberg. It took our daughter and her friend a good 45 minutes to figure out how to get themselves out of the water onto the iceberg. I saw a family with kids that were about 6 years old buy wrist bands for the kids to play on the toys, life vests were provided, however after about 15 minutes their Dad brought them back to play in the sand and they never used the equipment again.

So now for a comparison.

Chankannab is a beautiful beach, much prettier than Paradise beach. They have snorkeling, swimming with dolphins, authentically replicated ruins and nature trails for which you can get a guided tour. The tour guide works for tips only. They have a sandy area, however to get into the water you have to climb down rocky stairs and there is not much of a sandy bottom. They also have several lagoons with fish viewing areas if you do not feel like snorkeling. They have play equipment on the shore for children to play on and Hammocks to lay in. The also have little huts, for lack of a better word to sit in out of the sun. Clean facilities including restaurants, bar and shops. As I stated before I love Chankanaab and if I go back to Cozumel again I will probably go back there again.

Paradise beach is much smaller than Chankanaab. They do however have a bar, and restaraunt and is very clean. The chairs are closer to gether than they are at Chankanaab. I beliecve they also had some hammocks and a trampoline on the shore but id not venture very far to explore. Remember, head ache. I am glad that we went there and like I said my 12 year old had a magnificent time.

I think if you like to play on water toys and your kids are over 8 years old and you don't mind sitting right next to your neighbor you would probably be better off at Paradise Beach.

If your kids are younger and more interested in playing in the sand (although I heard Chankanaab has a kiddy beach area somewhere), or if you like snorkeling or want to hear stories of the Mayans or if you want to be a little more secluded, than Chankanaab is the better beach. Also a note to people with disabilities. Chankanaab has a limited amount of all terrain wheel chairs which come in handy because it is very hard to walk in the sand. If the wheel chairs are not available then I would go to Paradise beach because it is much closer to a paved area and you do not have to walk so far in the sand.

I think we got back to the ship around 3:00 pm we took a little nap.

I woke up arounf 5:30 pm and went up to deck 10 to watch the stragglers run up the pier so they would not miss the ship. This is always a great source of amusement for me. While I was on the elevator I heard the PA system calling two passengers names. A lady on the elevator made a comment that there must be some type of emergency. I told her no, that it was probably that they were not on the boat and the crew was checking to make sure that they did not some how get back on the ship with out having their card swiped. I told her I was on my way to deck 10 right now to watch them run down the pier. Now I have done this many times before. The ships that I have been on keep calling the passengers names and sometimes you even see the security guards open up the gates to let vehicles race down the pier to drop off the late passengers at the ships doors. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at deck ten to find out that we were already 50 yards away from the dock. I don't think the ship waited even a minute for those people to try and catch it. I then walked around the top deck trying to see if anybody was on the pier acting like they were in distress. About 5 minutes later I heard a the sound of a motor and I looked over the side of the ship and saw a pilot boat pull up to the ship and a young man in his early 20's was wearing a life preserver walked on the rim of the pilot boat and grabbed onto a rope ladder and climbed into the Disney Magic while both boats were moving. I thought this may be the missing passenger and waited for a woman to follow him nobody else got on the ship. So I returned to my room to get ready for dinner. When I got on the elevator there was an officer on it so I asked him how many people did not make it back. He said that they were missing two passengers and one crew member. I told him that I thought I just saw his crew member get on the ship and told him what I saw. He said that it was probably a pilot that they let on. He looked awful young to be a pilot but what do I know.

We went to dinner. Once again we were not happy with the taste of the food. The waiters really tried to get us to order something else but we told them what was the point. I felt so sorry for them because it was not their fault that we did not like the food.

After dinner we must have done something but for the life of me I can not remember what it was. I did not go to the show because it was going to be a juggler which I can see on any other cruise. Maybe I went to see "The Proposal" which is an entertaining movie. I like Sandra Bullock.

 

[bemery1963]

Grand Cayman

I woke up around 7:00 am and went up on deck to take pictures of the sun rise. It was a beautiful day and the sun rise was pretty. We went to breakfast at Topsider. This is the first time we ate there which is rather surprising because we usually eat at the buffet for breakfast and lunch on our other cruises. Anyway we thought maybe the food would be better than it was in the other restauruants for breakfast. To no avail, the same old powderry eggs and microwaved bacon, On top of that they did not have any tables available to sit at. My husband uses a walker. On most other cruise ships they have staff that signal out the disabled and get them a tray and walk around with them to get what they want to eat and then find them a table to sit at. No such luck with Disney. It took me five minutes to find a table and then I had to go back to the end of the line and get my husband's tray.

We have been to Grand Cayman quite a bit. We usually scuba dive. But my head still hurt and my husband is now disabled to a point that he probably could not get back in the boat. We heard that there was a Margarittaville on Grand Cayman that had a pool so we decided that we would just spend our time ashore there. This was a tendered port so we decided to wait until later to leave the ship so we would not have to wait in long lines to catch a tender. We probably went to shore around 11:00 a.m. When we got on the dock there was a Disney staffer with a Mega Phone repeating over and over that the boat leaves at 5:30. I guess they did not want to lose anymore passengers.

Margarittaville was packed when we got there. All of the tables in the DJ area were full so we got a table in a little room by the pool. If we sat just right we could see what was going on in the building. Our daughter went and joined the dancing and we ordered food. My husband and I each got a cheeseburger in Paradise and I had two Pina Coladas and he had two Red Stripes. My daughter oredered a pizza and two Virgin Strawberry Daqueries. Total Bll $90. We will not be going to that one again. Just a note that they included the gratuity in our bill. We had a party of three people. So you want to watchout and not over tip. Our waitress was not that great to warrant an extra tip. Anyway I forgot to bring my daughter's swim suit to shore with us so she could not go swimming. We talked to the people that were sitting next to us. Guess where they were from! Wisconsin!

Like I said we did not plan on doing anything on the island this time, last time we went to seven mile beach and stayed at Reefs Grill or something like that. The beach was crowded but beautiful and the food and drinks were good.

We also did the pirate ship shore excursion before. That was a great time if you like to swim in the ocean we had a blast.

We never did the sting ray bar because my daughter freaks even if she thinks there may be a fish near her and my husband would have a hard time getting in the boat. Some year I may do that.

So after our expensive lunch we went back to the tender. When we crossed the road, we noticed a super huge line of people waiting to get on the tender. It must have been three blocks long. I was thinking grreat, my husband would never last a wait like that in this heat. Then we noticed an ambulance pull up to the dock and I was thinking to myself that someone else apparently did not last in the heat either. I went to talk to a security guard in the shaded area of the terminal to see if he would let my husband sit down in the shaded area until my daughter and I came by in line and then he could join us. When we told him we were on a Disney cruise he let us right through. Apparently the line was waiting to tender to a different cruise ship. Somebody had become seriously ill on one of their tenders and the ambulance crew was working on them on the empty boat. There were several other empty tenders waiting to pick people up but the boat with the sick person was blocking the dock so they could not dock. I hoped that person would be all right. Anyway it made me glad that I bought trip insurance because I never know when my husband will get sick.

We took a little nap and then got ready for dinner. Tonight was Pirate Night a lot of people dressed up in Pirate costumes and there were bandanas at the table for those of us that did not have costumes. The waiters were dressed as pirates and they had a limbo contest which the kids at our table participated in. The themed dinner was done well and the entertainment was good.

Now on to the food. While we were eating Clive the chef came and told us he was told to come and talk to us because we were commenting that the food was not very good. My husband and I just looked at each other. I was dumbfounded. He then said that he realized that we were in the middle of dinner and he would come back later and left. Meanwhile my husband took a couple of bites of his food and said that he had enough and left. So there I am sitting there waiting for Clive to come back and trying to think of something useful to tell him other than we really don't like your food. Well Clive never did come back that night even after the waiter paged him to tell him that I was waiting. However while I was sitting there thinking about what I would tell him it occurred to me that every item on the menu had some type of spice or sauce added to it. There was not any fall back item on the menu other than baked salmon or chicken. I don't like salmon and I can only have so much chicken. I think if they had at least one dish of some type of comfort food to chose each night we would have been much happier. Since Clive managed to disappear I told the waiters that if he still wanted to talk to us he could call us or talk to us when he was not so busy and left.

The Princes and the Frog was playing for the main show that night. It was shown on a big screen located in the Walt Disney theatre. It was entertaining. After the movie my daughter and I went up to the deck for the pirate party. It was already going full blast. I went up to deck 10 to see if I could see anything. No such luck. I was able to manage an angle where I could see it on the big screen. The show was quite good. Usual Disney caliber and the fireworks were ok. They were the kind that I light off in my back yard, not the big fireworks that one would be used to at illumintations etc.

After the show they had the grand buffet, but I wanted to see a movie in the movie theatre so I did not stand in the long line to get something from the buffet.

 

[bemery1963]

Sea Day

Today I actually slept in until 8:30. I could not believe it. We decided to eat at Luminieres for Breakfast since we had such a hard time finding a table in Topsiders the day before.

Remember how I said that service in Lumnieres was slow. Well you would not believe how slow it was today. We were sitting there for at least 15 minutes before a server came and gave us a menu and asked us if we wanted something to drink. Well apparently this was not his assigned table and took pity on us. Because when he was asking what we wanted Dwight from Jamaica came over and yelled at him for taking his table. The server apologized to Dwight and then left. So we waited another 5 minutes before Dwight came by to get our order I ordered breakfast and juice and then my daughter ordered breakfast and then my husband ordered breakfast and juice. At this point Dwight could not contain himself any longer. He told my husband in no uncertain terms that he was the waiter. It was not his job to get juice. If my husband wanted juice he would have to ask the assistant waiter. My husband apologized and said he thought he heard me order juice and was confused as to who he should order juice from. Dwight then left. About 5 minutes later an assistant waiter came and took our juice order. So we have been there about a half an hour and have not even had a drink yet. The assistant waiter goes and gets our drinks and then brings a Danish basket around and my daughter and I take one. My husband says no thank you. The assistant waiter leaves never to be seen from again. Meanwhile about 10 minutes later Dwight comes walking by our table and my husband calls him over and says he doesn't know who he should ask but he changed his mind and would like to have a danish. Dwight looks at him and says sir we are very busy you will get your danish in a minute. (There were at least 3 empty tables to one occupied table in the dining room) We were the only ones sitting in Dwight's area at the time. Anyway I am just looking at my husband with my mouth wide open. I watch Dwight as he takes a leisurely stroll around the whole dining room, come back to his station pick up the danish basket and come back and snidley remark here is your danish sir. I really couldn't believe it. I just want to say Dwight if you ever read this board we will never forget you. You have become a household name in our family. Please remeber that Dwight is not our usual server and our servers Wemick and Marcos were excellent servers, unfortunately we probably will forget their names after a few years.

After breakfast we play bingo, I won a book in a drawing, stroll the decks play shuffle board and pingpong, take naps just chill out. I ordered room service for lunch and have pizza on the deck. Tonight is formal night. My husband and I are very uneasy about this one. Guess what? They had lobster but not prime rib. My husband is disappointed becasue he wanted prime rib. Anyway I ordered the lobster. Clive shows up at our table while we are eating. I look at him and tell him that the Lobster is amazing. I asked him if he knew why it was amazing. He just looked at me. I said because it is lobster. You just cooked it. You did not put some fancy sauce on it and try to make it taste citrusy you just cooked it. I then asked him if he used fresh eggs for breakfast and he said they used fresh eggs that were deshelled and put in bags before they come on the ship. I told him that I they tasted like powederred eggs to me and that his bacon tasted like microwave bacon and the hash browns were McDonald hashbrowns. He said they do get their bacon precooked. We also discussed how it was hard for us to chose any items off the menu because he was always adding some type of spice or sauce to the meat instead of leting us enjoy the meat as meat. He then asked us if we thought we should have breakfast with real eggs and bacon. We both looked at him and said yes that would be a great start. He then said when we go to breakfast the next morning we should tell the head waiter that Clive said that he would make our breakfast with real eggs and fried bacon. He then said any item on the menu can be modified, so if we don't like the spice or sauce we should tell him the night before and he would see that the item was made with out the spice or sauce. He left and my husband asked to see the menu and ordered some modified food for the next night.

Tonight's show was Once Upon a Dream. It was very good. Up to the usual Disney caliber. We were pretty tired so we went to bed after the show.

 

[bemery1963]

Cast Away Cay

I woke up around 7:30. I went up to deck 10 to watch us pull into the Cast Away Cay pier. I walked around the ship for awhile taking pictures and then decided to get my husband and daughter up for our special breakfast. My husband was already waiting for me. We go to Lumniers and my husband asked to speak to the head waiter. She came to our table right away . A far cry from yesterdays breakfast. We then explain to her that we would like a real breakfast and order fried eggs, grilled bacon, toast that is actually toasted on both sides and then I order hash browns. I knew Clive did not say he would make real hash browns but I ordered them anyway. With in 5 minutes our breakfast was there. He even had them make me scattered hash browns not McDonald hash browns. We are beside ourselves with glee and gulp up our breakfast. We ask to speak to the head waiter again and tell her that we were grateful and to please relay our message to Clive. We then tell her that the servers who took care of us that day were also very good, friendly and efficient. I do not remember their names, I think one was Ali. I know it is a sad commentary how I can remember the bad but struggle with the good. Any way after breakfast my husband decided to lay down becaause he was not feeling very well.

My daughter and I got off the ship to explore the island. If I am thinking right, this is the island that premier cruise line used to visit on the Big Red Boat. It has been almost 20 years since I have been on the island. It does not look familiar at all. The island is beatifully landscaped. We take pictures of the landscaping and the flying dutchman. We walk the whole length of the island from the pier to the teen beach. We then go to Groupers Pavilion to see if my daughters Ocean Quest group is there. They already left on an adventure. So we play pool, ping pong, basket ball and shuffle board. We then went and rented bikes and road on the bike path to the observation tower and along the road by the adult beach. Very pretty landscaping on the road by the adult beach. There were things to look at along the trail to the observation tower but not what I expected from Disney. The bikes were awesome. Nice big seats for my nice big but. No strain on the knees what so ever. I am going to have to get me one of those bikes.

I then drop my daughter off at groupers pavilion to wait for her Ocena quest group and then I head back to the ship to get my husband. I pick him up and take a tram to the family beach. After you get off the tram you can see a little area off to the left that has all terrain wheel chairs. I get one for my husband and take him along the shops and bulidings by the family beach. We go back to groupers paviliion to see if my daughter has caught up with her group. She is still there, her group was not there but she was playing with one of her friends and did not want to eat with us. I take my husband to the tram to the adult beach and go to the area where they have rib eye sandwhiches for lunch. They were cooked to perfection. They were so good, I had to have two. Something to keep in mind is that they only serve food on the island until 2:00 pm. If you want anything to eat after that you can grab bags of chips from the main bar, otherwise you have to go back to the boat. I grabbed another all terrain wheel chair and proceeded to push my husband along the beach when an attendant stopped me and asked me if I wanted him to push him for awhile. I said no that we were not going any place in particular just looking around.

One thing you may want to bring with you on the island is bug spray. Apparently if anybody would sit on the beach chairs for a period of time they would be attaked by sand fleas. So since we did not want to get bitten we went back to the family beach area to look around there.

We ended up spending some time at the heads up bar. Since I had my husband sitting in a nice shaded area and he was striking up a conversatoin with the bartender, I decided that I would have myself a float in the ocean. When I went to rent a float a nice lady told me to just take one, so I did not have to pay to rent the float. There was only about an hour left. So I went and floated in the water for about half an hour. It was great the water was refreshing. A lot of people said it was cold, but I am from Wisconsin and it felt great. I did not have to hold my breath and tip toe in or anything. After I was finished floating I returned the float and went back to the bar. It was already closing. We told our daughter to meet us there so we sat around and waited for her. While we were waiting we looked over the pier ralings to see if we could see fish. We saw a barricuda, zebra fish, pipe fish, some type of blue minnows and even a great big sting ray came swimming by. We had a real nice time just watching all of the fish. Our daughter came back and then about 15 minutes later the ships horn blew. So we headed off to the tram stop. There were lots of people waiting for the tram so Idecided to push my husband back to the ship instead of waitng for a tram. On the way back several disney emplyees asked me if I wanted any help. I declined, I was the one that made the decision to push him all that way. I was not going to make someone else do the work after that. But it was very nice of them to offer.

We then got ready for dinner. There was a slight mix up with my husbands special order but Wemick got it straightened out. I had the beef tenderloin even though it said it came with bernais sauce. Luckily tonight they decided to add the sauce as a side item and I could decline the sauce. The tenderloin was very good. After dinner I finished packing, and went to the show, they had a couple of comedian groups who were very good but nothing that I would not see on any other cruise ship. My daughter and I then went to see "When in Rome", but I was too tired by the middle of the movie to stay up, so Iwent to bed.

 

[lsjones]

I'm interested to see how the rest of the trip was! Was this your first Disney cruise? As you can see, I am from WI too! We are going on the Westers in October, so I am especially enjoying this report!

 

[PizzieDuster]

Great review!

I remember the sand nats...

 

[DisFamily10]

What part of WI are you from?

 

[vvv]

We were on the same cruise as you and watched the man get off the pilot boat and on the ship from our sixth floor verandah. I however, distinctly remember him to NOT be wearing a life jacket as I even commented to my wife about it.

I happened to find a video on youtube of this man that somebody from the Carnival ship docked next to us took of this whole process. Very interesing to watch.

I started a new thread about the video but I am going to copy everything I posted in that thread here so it is easy to follow.

The ship actually waited for the stragglers to return and I saw at least 6 people get back on board after 4:45.


We were on the Jan. 23rd Disney Magic Western Caribbean sailing which stopped in Cozumel on Jan. 26th.

This was our fifth cruise and one thing I always enjoy is watching the late stragglers rushing back to the ship and getting back on at the last possible moment. Our verandah overlooked the pier so I was able to watch the action as there were several people running down the pier at 4:45.

However, 4:45 came and went and we were still tied up. Everything else was put away and just the one gangway was still going from the ship to the pier. An officer stood at the end of the gangway talking on a radio almost constantly while looking down the pier and seemed very upset. At 4:50 I saw a man and woman with 2 young children come running down the pier and board the ship. A couple of minutes later two middle aged ladies came down the pier riding on one of the those tricycle taxis and the you could tell the poor guy was peddling as fast as he could. He pulled up to the gangway and the ladies boarded our ship. The officer was very animated in his conversation and you could tell that he was very upset with them.

To my suprise, they still did not pull the gangway and waited about 5 more minutes. Finally they pulled the gangway and we left almost immediately after that.

I went back in the cabin for about 10 minutes and decided to look back out the balcony. The ship had already turned around and was starting to pick up speed. I looked to the back of the ship and noticed a pilot boat pulling up along side. Not unusual of course but it is always interesing to watch the pilot get off the ship and into the pilot boat. All of a sudden a young man with a black shirt and no lifejacket on stepped on the side of the pilot boat and got ON our ship. That really suprised me and I even commented to my wife that I can't believe the pilots wouldn't wear lifejackets for the transfer and that I couldn't figure out why he was getting on the ship when we were leaving the port.

Today I decided to search on youtube for Disney Magic cruise videos posted in the last week to see if anybody had posted any videos from our cruise. I was surprised to find that somebody from the Carnival ship docked next to us had videotaped the whole process and posted it on youtube. The video starts with the young man running down the pier and then talking to the port authorities while looking very distraught. The authorities check his identificaton and start talking on their radios. A few minutes later a pilot boat picks the man up from the pier and that boat takes him to the Disney Magic. You can tell from the video we were quite a bit away from the pier and moving when the transfer took place.

Heres the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5j74JJzaFE

All I have to say is that he is one lucky dude that they made the effort to get him on board.

 

[shenaniganzz]

Wow about the stragglers!

I love reading trip reports! We are leaving for the Western this week! I am sorry it was hit and miss but I have a question about the food. One of the things that stood out when reading other TRs was that usually Disney goes all out to be accomodating - even read a story about someone having Indian table mates and the Chef making them authentic Indian dishes. Why not just ask for something with no sauce, spices, etc. - something "simple"? It sounds like the staff wanted to help and make sure you'd enjoy your meal. Of course, I am talking dinner here but how nice of them to make you a "real" breakfast, too!

 

[glnrcker]

shenaniganzz,
We were also on this cruise and it's funny how different people have different views. We found the food to be pretty good, and our servers did let us know that if we didn't like something to try something else. I think they were worried because my husband and I are light eaters and they thought we just didn't like the selections. I am also handicapped. I was in a wheelchair and twice at the buffet, I was asked if I wanted someone to help me getting my food or to even bring my tray to my table. My husband happened to be in front of me so I guess they thought I was on my own. Even when I explained that and told them our table was all the way by the Goofy pool, they still offered to help us to make it easier for my husband.
Yes, the sand fleas were annoying (and today I'm still itching), but it was a beautiful day and a vacation can only be as good as your attitude!
We completely enjoyed our first Disney cruise.

 

[Max02215]

I agree with Glnrocker. We were on the same sailing and thought the food was great! It really comes down to a person's own preference. To the person that started the thread: where you able to try Palo's? Curious to know what you thought.

My advice to future cruisers: Don't try to research everything. Let some stuff be a surprise. If you go in expecting this and that, you maybe disappointed.What some may like, others may not. Have fun!

 

[MexiFinn]

Was Pikey on the Magic?

 

[glnrcker]

Great advice Max02215, we live in a time of over researching everything online!! What did we do before the internet??