Best Vacation Ever!
Flew into MCO on the Friday night and stayed at the Hyatt Hotel. Worth every penny.
Checked in for Disney Transportation at 9am at the Hyatt and were on the 2nd bus to the Port. Had a short wait after checking in at the desk, but the line moved very quickly and we were soon welcomed aboard this beautiful ship. Headed to RBD to make Palo reservations and then Parrot Cay for lunch. Yummy.
Had a wonderful stateroom on Deck 6 Aft and a larger than average verandah which was just great - esepcially as we were onboard for 14days!
The first couple of days were pretty "rocky" - even our Assistant Server was sick, so must have been pretty bad! However, it didnt bother us: in fact we slept really well - due to the rocking of the ship!
By Tuesday, the seas were fine, and we visited St. Maarten. DH managed to buy yet ANOTHER Camcorder from "Klass"..........which kept him busy (and happy) for the remaining days of the cruise! We were lucky enough to see the Carnival in St. Maarten: very Caribbean in theme, but colourful and noisy. Those who headed back to the ship early missed a treat.
St. Thomas on Weds - we took the trip to St.John which was wonderful. Not a trip for young children though. Lots of sight-seeing, but more for adults. Sadly, the rain came down as we got to the beach element of the trip - but as they only planned a 15min visit there, it didnt really matter. Our guide was great - in fact...........what a "small world"........he turned out to be related to my SIL - a native of St. Lucia! Trust Disney to provide us with more "magical moments" than expected!
Castaway Cay of course is beautiful. We opted for some quiet time on Serenity Bay...followed by a delicious BBQ. Naturally, as we were on a back-to-back, we left CC knowing we would be back there the following Friday! What a treat.
Saturday, we left the ship (with a sense of triumph) - knowing we were returning later in the day to board with all the "new" cruisers. In fact, we were amongst at least 3 other couples who were on back-to-backs!
We took a taxi to Merritt Island Mall and bought a few bits and pieces, before returning to check in at the Terminal. Thankfully, we missed the crush of people who had been delayed boarding - due to a routine security alert. However, drill went smoothly and the ship sailed only a few minutes late. Great tribute to the speed and efficiency of Disney staff.
Our 2nd week saw wonderful calm seas and brilliant skies. Mind you, we were mildly amused at the number of guests who persisted in wearing "patches" and taking anti-sickness drugs to combat sea-sickness! Im assuming they thought they were fashion accessories!
Grand Cayman is rather disappointing if you are expecting lots of things to keep you entertained. Take an organized trip if you dont want to be bored. There is very little at the harbour to keep you interested.
We had been to Cozumel before, so took the Tulum Ruins trip. This proved to be the highlight of our cruise. What a great day it was. Beautiful weather (almost too hot). Great ferry across to the mainland, then a walk through the town to board the air-conditioned bus which took us (via a small market shop - selling various locally-made objects) to the Ruins.
Again, not a trip for children, but it was a real treat for those of us who like a bit of "culture"! Our guide (Pablo) was great: very funny, but spoke great English and filled our trip with an enormous amount of information about the area and history. The Ruins lie on a cliff-top, overlooking a lovely beach - where you did have time to swim if you so wished. We were also provided with a lunch (included in the cost). If you want to do something a little "out of the ordinary" in Mexico, then take advantage of this trip. No time for shopping on this day, but we didnt miss being hassled in Cozumel to buy the usual tacky souveniers.
The sea days were wonderful during the who cruise. Lots to do onboard, as expected.
We saw several movies, shows and talks: all of which were entertaining...........except "Stick It"!!! What a waste of time! Dont bother with it!
Our 2nd visit to Castaway Cay was even better than the previous week! Despite the 10minute downpour..........(during which time a poor bride had to race back to the ship and have her wedding in Palo).........the sun shone all day and it was HOT! We again went to SB for our BBQ, but before that we did the one hour bike ride on the new track. Great way to work up an appetite!
If you can afford to do it.........back-to-backs are just fantastic! However.........you have to pace yourself with the food! We were very good and limited our intake accordingly. We did a lot of exercise and used the stairs instead of the elevators (well, most of the time!). Not always easy if you are heading up to Deck 10 from Deck 1!
Bad Points: Umm, well..........not sure there were any! Probably just witnessing some guests being very rude to CM's when it was totally unnecessary. These people need to get a life frankly. Even at drill on both weeks we saw some families who just WOULDNT wear their jackets. Hope Im never cruising with them if there was an emergency! We even witnessed one guests demanding to have a change of server, as they were Indian. Unbelieveable! These guys work their socks off to provide a fabulous service for very little money and long hours. We had wonderful servers both weeks.
Highlights: the ship is beautful and the CM's are outstanding.
St. John and Tulum Ruins were highlights of the cruise.
The food onboard is lovely - especially in Palo.
The Brunch in Palo is not to be missed. There were lots of empty tables at High Tea, Brunch and Dinner - where people had booked and just not turned up. How rude. Disney should charge them. Other people could have had their reservations!
Our stateroom hosts were outstanding: these guys cant get much sleep either!
The whole experience was just the best. We are hoping to do one of the Med Cruises next year on the Magic. It may be more expensive than other cruise-lines, but the sheer "fun" element of Disney surely cant be beaten. We didnt miss having a Casino, or spending our vacation with the over 50's (which we are).
So, hats off to you Disney. You have two VERY satisfied customers here - who cant wait to do it all over again. Just need to win the lottery! Which reminds me..................the Bingo was rather dull onboard: maybe next year it will be a bit quicker and different games (ie: full houses also on each game). Hey ho...maybe Im just cheesed off that I didnt win the jackpot!!!
Happy days.
Flew into MCO on the Friday night and stayed at the Hyatt Hotel. Worth every penny.
Checked in for Disney Transportation at 9am at the Hyatt and were on the 2nd bus to the Port. Had a short wait after checking in at the desk, but the line moved very quickly and we were soon welcomed aboard this beautiful ship. Headed to RBD to make Palo reservations and then Parrot Cay for lunch. Yummy.
Had a wonderful stateroom on Deck 6 Aft and a larger than average verandah which was just great - esepcially as we were onboard for 14days!
The first couple of days were pretty "rocky" - even our Assistant Server was sick, so must have been pretty bad! However, it didnt bother us: in fact we slept really well - due to the rocking of the ship!
By Tuesday, the seas were fine, and we visited St. Maarten. DH managed to buy yet ANOTHER Camcorder from "Klass"..........which kept him busy (and happy) for the remaining days of the cruise! We were lucky enough to see the Carnival in St. Maarten: very Caribbean in theme, but colourful and noisy. Those who headed back to the ship early missed a treat.
St. Thomas on Weds - we took the trip to St.John which was wonderful. Not a trip for young children though. Lots of sight-seeing, but more for adults. Sadly, the rain came down as we got to the beach element of the trip - but as they only planned a 15min visit there, it didnt really matter. Our guide was great - in fact...........what a "small world"........he turned out to be related to my SIL - a native of St. Lucia! Trust Disney to provide us with more "magical moments" than expected!
Castaway Cay of course is beautiful. We opted for some quiet time on Serenity Bay...followed by a delicious BBQ. Naturally, as we were on a back-to-back, we left CC knowing we would be back there the following Friday! What a treat.
Saturday, we left the ship (with a sense of triumph) - knowing we were returning later in the day to board with all the "new" cruisers. In fact, we were amongst at least 3 other couples who were on back-to-backs!
We took a taxi to Merritt Island Mall and bought a few bits and pieces, before returning to check in at the Terminal. Thankfully, we missed the crush of people who had been delayed boarding - due to a routine security alert. However, drill went smoothly and the ship sailed only a few minutes late. Great tribute to the speed and efficiency of Disney staff.
Our 2nd week saw wonderful calm seas and brilliant skies. Mind you, we were mildly amused at the number of guests who persisted in wearing "patches" and taking anti-sickness drugs to combat sea-sickness! Im assuming they thought they were fashion accessories!
Grand Cayman is rather disappointing if you are expecting lots of things to keep you entertained. Take an organized trip if you dont want to be bored. There is very little at the harbour to keep you interested.
We had been to Cozumel before, so took the Tulum Ruins trip. This proved to be the highlight of our cruise. What a great day it was. Beautiful weather (almost too hot). Great ferry across to the mainland, then a walk through the town to board the air-conditioned bus which took us (via a small market shop - selling various locally-made objects) to the Ruins.
Again, not a trip for children, but it was a real treat for those of us who like a bit of "culture"! Our guide (Pablo) was great: very funny, but spoke great English and filled our trip with an enormous amount of information about the area and history. The Ruins lie on a cliff-top, overlooking a lovely beach - where you did have time to swim if you so wished. We were also provided with a lunch (included in the cost). If you want to do something a little "out of the ordinary" in Mexico, then take advantage of this trip. No time for shopping on this day, but we didnt miss being hassled in Cozumel to buy the usual tacky souveniers.
The sea days were wonderful during the who cruise. Lots to do onboard, as expected.
We saw several movies, shows and talks: all of which were entertaining...........except "Stick It"!!! What a waste of time! Dont bother with it!
Our 2nd visit to Castaway Cay was even better than the previous week! Despite the 10minute downpour..........(during which time a poor bride had to race back to the ship and have her wedding in Palo).........the sun shone all day and it was HOT! We again went to SB for our BBQ, but before that we did the one hour bike ride on the new track. Great way to work up an appetite!
If you can afford to do it.........back-to-backs are just fantastic! However.........you have to pace yourself with the food! We were very good and limited our intake accordingly. We did a lot of exercise and used the stairs instead of the elevators (well, most of the time!). Not always easy if you are heading up to Deck 10 from Deck 1!
Bad Points: Umm, well..........not sure there were any! Probably just witnessing some guests being very rude to CM's when it was totally unnecessary. These people need to get a life frankly. Even at drill on both weeks we saw some families who just WOULDNT wear their jackets. Hope Im never cruising with them if there was an emergency! We even witnessed one guests demanding to have a change of server, as they were Indian. Unbelieveable! These guys work their socks off to provide a fabulous service for very little money and long hours. We had wonderful servers both weeks.
Highlights: the ship is beautful and the CM's are outstanding.
St. John and Tulum Ruins were highlights of the cruise.
The food onboard is lovely - especially in Palo.
The Brunch in Palo is not to be missed. There were lots of empty tables at High Tea, Brunch and Dinner - where people had booked and just not turned up. How rude. Disney should charge them. Other people could have had their reservations!
Our stateroom hosts were outstanding: these guys cant get much sleep either!
The whole experience was just the best. We are hoping to do one of the Med Cruises next year on the Magic. It may be more expensive than other cruise-lines, but the sheer "fun" element of Disney surely cant be beaten. We didnt miss having a Casino, or spending our vacation with the over 50's (which we are).
So, hats off to you Disney. You have two VERY satisfied customers here - who cant wait to do it all over again. Just need to win the lottery! Which reminds me..................the Bingo was rather dull onboard: maybe next year it will be a bit quicker and different games (ie: full houses also on each game). Hey ho...maybe Im just cheesed off that I didnt win the jackpot!!!
Happy days.
