BeanoC
I almost don't feel the way I do.
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2000
- Messages
- 3,875
We are just returning from our best cruise vacation yet, the 10/12 western Magic!
We spent 5 days in WDW prior to the cruise, and although it was great and we love the parks, I was ready to leave and get on that ship. We met with some fellow DIS cruisers at the Radisson on Friday night, and enjoyed each other's company at poolside for a couple of hours. The shuttle got us quickly to port on Saturday morning, and wet met the rest of our DIS group there.
Check-in was a breeze, and we were thrilled to finally be in our stateroom, ready to cruise!
Sail-away was great, with all the DIS'ers hanging out on deck right above the Goofy pool.
We had the PLAPLAP rotation, so our first night was casual at Parrot Cay.
With that, let me start by listing my disappointments with this cruise, and save the good stuff for last!
1. The menus were virtually identical to last years, with the exception of the Mexicali night, which we skipped for Palo anyway.
2. Our servers were HORRIBLE. They tried to rush us, and as much as told us that they would move us along as fast as possible so they could get ready for the 2nd seating. I told them right away that I had no intention of being rushed, but they still tried to go fast. They never once offered us coffee with dessert. We had to ask for it and then it took them quite a while to get it.
It was like pulling teeth to get 2 entrees or appetizers, and it got to the point where it wasn't worth it to ask, unless we wanted to be there all night. We made our frustrations known to our head server, but it didn't seem to make any difference. Then to cap it all off, on the last night, our server all but begged us for high marks on the response card, saying he could lose his job and couldn't make his condo payments!! (Yes, I am serious). So for that very reason, he got LOW marks across the board on the card. Sorry dude, I have house payments too. You sucked.
So, after that you must be wondering why it was such a great cruise??
Well, in spite of the fact that the menus were the same, the fact is that the food was great, and it had after all been a year since we'd eaten there! We certainly go to our favorite restaurants more often than that! And, we also skipped the dining room twice.
Once for Palo, which was fabulous, and once to hang out with friends and just have cheeseburgers and beer! Actually that was probably my favorite night!
Aside from the dining crew, the rest of the crew on the ship was amazing. Robin, April, Ian, She-She, and a few others made it a constant laugh riot. Robin belongs on stage doing stand-up, but he's a great bingo caller too! He was calling the day I won my jackpot. They all kept us very entertained all week. Since this is a family board, I won't share with you Robin's karaoke routine of Sinatra's "My Way"!
Then there was the DIS group.
What a great bunch of people. I was fortunate enough to spend time with them both individually and as a group. Ian ("3cheers4Dis" DH) and I enjoyed each other's company for a couple of hours one evening in ESPN, catching up on NFL scores and getting to the bottom of a couple of mugs of beer. I also enjoyed some time at ESPN with dvgreg and her DH. All nice people. And of course Kamgen and Tarzanman, better known as Kamy and Tim, were gracious enough to spend alot of their time with my wife and I, and we spent the entire time laughing until we cried! We were very fortunate to have that time together.
The same is true for MO64RN's kids, who spent much of their week with ours, and they had a ball!! It was a great match-up and I am so thankful for that. It really made the cruise extra special for our kids.
We also enjoyed our time together with OKWMiester and his DW, Paulcrsb and his DW, and Denine and Jerry, all of whom cruised with us last year as well. Great folks.
Because the kids were tired, we didn't see much of Key West, but enjoyed what we saw. The weather there was great and I look forward to another chance to better see that port of call.
DS and I had an excursion planned for Cayman. I woke up early and went out on our verandah around 6:15 AM, and there was Cayman just off the side! Hurray, we made it! Well, almost.
I got my DS out of bed, we went up to Topsiders for breakfast, and we were literally walking out our stateroom with our snorkeling gear in hand when the Captain came on the loudspeaker to break the bad news. The tenders could not run and all local businesses had cancelled their excursions, so we could not stay. SOOO close! But the good news is, the Captain made the decision to go full steam to Cozumel, and we got there in time to get off the ship that night. 6 of us headed off the ship around 10:30 PM, and enjoyed a few (maybe a few too many!) cold ones at Carlos and Charlies, and Senor Frogs. It was a fun time, and we enjoyed seeing many of the CM's letting loose there as well. From what I was told, there were only 26 CM's who did not get shore leave that night, and I think I saw everyone else in town!! Some of them I didn't see back on board for a couple of days, so perhaps they had even more 'fun' than me!
The next day we hit every shop in Cozumel, where my son got a nice chess set that I got to carry all the way back to California!
I purchased a ring at Diamonds International, and we got several other standard tourist-trap items; t-shirts, fridge magnet, etc.
DD got her hair braided and still has them in. She wants to show them off at school for a week before mom takes them out!
Because we missed Cayman, the deck parties were switched around a bit, and we really enjoyed the extra time at sea. Both my wife and Kamy were "Go-Go's" and I was a member of Bon Jovi for the 80's "Battle of the Bands". What a kick. Only trouble is, the Go-Go's won! I demand a recount!!!
The weather at Castaway Cay was awesome! Hardly a cloud in the sky, and not a drop of rain. Beautiful day. We went parasailing at 10:30 and loved it. I think that may be the closest think to flying I'll ever experience. Between the music and the engine noise on board the boat, it gets awfully loud. As soon as you get airborne, you can't hear a sound from the boat and it is an amazingly peaceful experience. Viewing the Magic from that perspective is unbelievable. I never wanted to come down!
Later that morning, DS and I snorkeled and had a great time.
Then we ate at Cookies BBQ before meeting our DIS friends at Head's Up for a drink. All in all, a great day at CC.
For most of the week, the seas were rated as 'slight', and the motion of the ship concurred with that. It was never bothersome at all.
The food was fantastic even if the servers weren't, and Palo was incredible. The servers there were great! For our first brunch, we had Erika as our server, and she is still my favorite. She's just great. For our DIS brunch, we were served by Salvatore, and he was very good also. For dinner, our server was Kristian, and he too was outstanding. We have absolutely no complaints about anything at Palo.
The shows on board were so-so, and again, were much the same as last year. I think it's time for Disney to upgrade things a bit! Morty the Magnificent was much more a musical than it was a migic show, which disappointed my kids alot. The ventriloquism act has gotten stale as well. I think they've run their course!
Our room Steward was Iketut ("Ike") and he was great. The concierge staff was helpful and attentive, but I felt that we should have been given a few more 'perks' than we were.
It seemed that everything I asked them for, I paid for. Since the full restaurant menus are part of conceirge room service, all of those items were free. But just try and order something a little different and... cha-ching! For our DIS party in our stateroom, we ordered the potato skins from the menu, but they charged us for the finger sandwiches and the cheese spreads. I guess I just expected more for the price we paid. But it was still worth it! Having a stereo in the room was great, and the kids loved the big TV. The huge verandah was relaxing also.
On the 'ol 1 to 10 scale, I give this cruise a solid 9. Now we can start planning our TWO cruises for next year!!!!
Sorry this is so long; I guess I covered most everything!
Hope I didn't bore you to sleep!
'Beano'
We spent 5 days in WDW prior to the cruise, and although it was great and we love the parks, I was ready to leave and get on that ship. We met with some fellow DIS cruisers at the Radisson on Friday night, and enjoyed each other's company at poolside for a couple of hours. The shuttle got us quickly to port on Saturday morning, and wet met the rest of our DIS group there.
Check-in was a breeze, and we were thrilled to finally be in our stateroom, ready to cruise!
Sail-away was great, with all the DIS'ers hanging out on deck right above the Goofy pool.
We had the PLAPLAP rotation, so our first night was casual at Parrot Cay.
With that, let me start by listing my disappointments with this cruise, and save the good stuff for last!
1. The menus were virtually identical to last years, with the exception of the Mexicali night, which we skipped for Palo anyway.
2. Our servers were HORRIBLE. They tried to rush us, and as much as told us that they would move us along as fast as possible so they could get ready for the 2nd seating. I told them right away that I had no intention of being rushed, but they still tried to go fast. They never once offered us coffee with dessert. We had to ask for it and then it took them quite a while to get it.
It was like pulling teeth to get 2 entrees or appetizers, and it got to the point where it wasn't worth it to ask, unless we wanted to be there all night. We made our frustrations known to our head server, but it didn't seem to make any difference. Then to cap it all off, on the last night, our server all but begged us for high marks on the response card, saying he could lose his job and couldn't make his condo payments!! (Yes, I am serious). So for that very reason, he got LOW marks across the board on the card. Sorry dude, I have house payments too. You sucked.
So, after that you must be wondering why it was such a great cruise??
Well, in spite of the fact that the menus were the same, the fact is that the food was great, and it had after all been a year since we'd eaten there! We certainly go to our favorite restaurants more often than that! And, we also skipped the dining room twice.
Once for Palo, which was fabulous, and once to hang out with friends and just have cheeseburgers and beer! Actually that was probably my favorite night!
Aside from the dining crew, the rest of the crew on the ship was amazing. Robin, April, Ian, She-She, and a few others made it a constant laugh riot. Robin belongs on stage doing stand-up, but he's a great bingo caller too! He was calling the day I won my jackpot. They all kept us very entertained all week. Since this is a family board, I won't share with you Robin's karaoke routine of Sinatra's "My Way"!
Then there was the DIS group.
What a great bunch of people. I was fortunate enough to spend time with them both individually and as a group. Ian ("3cheers4Dis" DH) and I enjoyed each other's company for a couple of hours one evening in ESPN, catching up on NFL scores and getting to the bottom of a couple of mugs of beer. I also enjoyed some time at ESPN with dvgreg and her DH. All nice people. And of course Kamgen and Tarzanman, better known as Kamy and Tim, were gracious enough to spend alot of their time with my wife and I, and we spent the entire time laughing until we cried! We were very fortunate to have that time together.
The same is true for MO64RN's kids, who spent much of their week with ours, and they had a ball!! It was a great match-up and I am so thankful for that. It really made the cruise extra special for our kids.
We also enjoyed our time together with OKWMiester and his DW, Paulcrsb and his DW, and Denine and Jerry, all of whom cruised with us last year as well. Great folks.
Because the kids were tired, we didn't see much of Key West, but enjoyed what we saw. The weather there was great and I look forward to another chance to better see that port of call.
DS and I had an excursion planned for Cayman. I woke up early and went out on our verandah around 6:15 AM, and there was Cayman just off the side! Hurray, we made it! Well, almost.
I got my DS out of bed, we went up to Topsiders for breakfast, and we were literally walking out our stateroom with our snorkeling gear in hand when the Captain came on the loudspeaker to break the bad news. The tenders could not run and all local businesses had cancelled their excursions, so we could not stay. SOOO close! But the good news is, the Captain made the decision to go full steam to Cozumel, and we got there in time to get off the ship that night. 6 of us headed off the ship around 10:30 PM, and enjoyed a few (maybe a few too many!) cold ones at Carlos and Charlies, and Senor Frogs. It was a fun time, and we enjoyed seeing many of the CM's letting loose there as well. From what I was told, there were only 26 CM's who did not get shore leave that night, and I think I saw everyone else in town!! Some of them I didn't see back on board for a couple of days, so perhaps they had even more 'fun' than me!
The next day we hit every shop in Cozumel, where my son got a nice chess set that I got to carry all the way back to California!
I purchased a ring at Diamonds International, and we got several other standard tourist-trap items; t-shirts, fridge magnet, etc.
DD got her hair braided and still has them in. She wants to show them off at school for a week before mom takes them out!
Because we missed Cayman, the deck parties were switched around a bit, and we really enjoyed the extra time at sea. Both my wife and Kamy were "Go-Go's" and I was a member of Bon Jovi for the 80's "Battle of the Bands". What a kick. Only trouble is, the Go-Go's won! I demand a recount!!!
The weather at Castaway Cay was awesome! Hardly a cloud in the sky, and not a drop of rain. Beautiful day. We went parasailing at 10:30 and loved it. I think that may be the closest think to flying I'll ever experience. Between the music and the engine noise on board the boat, it gets awfully loud. As soon as you get airborne, you can't hear a sound from the boat and it is an amazingly peaceful experience. Viewing the Magic from that perspective is unbelievable. I never wanted to come down!
Later that morning, DS and I snorkeled and had a great time.
Then we ate at Cookies BBQ before meeting our DIS friends at Head's Up for a drink. All in all, a great day at CC.
For most of the week, the seas were rated as 'slight', and the motion of the ship concurred with that. It was never bothersome at all.
The food was fantastic even if the servers weren't, and Palo was incredible. The servers there were great! For our first brunch, we had Erika as our server, and she is still my favorite. She's just great. For our DIS brunch, we were served by Salvatore, and he was very good also. For dinner, our server was Kristian, and he too was outstanding. We have absolutely no complaints about anything at Palo.
The shows on board were so-so, and again, were much the same as last year. I think it's time for Disney to upgrade things a bit! Morty the Magnificent was much more a musical than it was a migic show, which disappointed my kids alot. The ventriloquism act has gotten stale as well. I think they've run their course!
Our room Steward was Iketut ("Ike") and he was great. The concierge staff was helpful and attentive, but I felt that we should have been given a few more 'perks' than we were.
It seemed that everything I asked them for, I paid for. Since the full restaurant menus are part of conceirge room service, all of those items were free. But just try and order something a little different and... cha-ching! For our DIS party in our stateroom, we ordered the potato skins from the menu, but they charged us for the finger sandwiches and the cheese spreads. I guess I just expected more for the price we paid. But it was still worth it! Having a stereo in the room was great, and the kids loved the big TV. The huge verandah was relaxing also.
On the 'ol 1 to 10 scale, I give this cruise a solid 9. Now we can start planning our TWO cruises for next year!!!!
Sorry this is so long; I guess I covered most everything!
Hope I didn't bore you to sleep!
'Beano'
