Cruisetoberfest Days 7 and 8/Final thoughts and tips.

RellingTwin

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 8, 2000
Fri. Sept 28 (Castaway Cay)

Room service was ordered for 8am but I woke up about 6:45am and looked out the window. OH NO!!!! Rain! I left the kids and DH sleeping and headed up on deck to check out the extent of the cloud cover. Heck as long as I am up on deck, might as well get a bite to eat right?? I spotted Papa and Kathy in Topsiders and joined them for a few minutes. The clouds were as far as you could see in any direction. And then the wind started picking up! I think it was about 8 am when the Captain made the first announcement. He said we are going to “hang around” for a while and see if the skies clear. I went down to get the family up, room service was delivered and being optimistic I had the kids put on their bathing suites! By the time we got up on deck 9 again it was about 9:30am and this time we spotted Rosemary and Richard, so we ate again! The crew did a great job of rearranging the schedule so that events that were to take place in the early evening (The Kids Show, the disembarkment talk) were moved to the morning, while we waited. I took advantage of the time to get some of our stuff packed. I also returned the beeper to the kids club. Just a few things like our formal clothes I knew we would not need again. Thankfully the wind died down and the sky started to clear up a little. The next thing I knew we were docked!!! I gave some fellow Dis’ers a quick call to let them know where on the beach to look for us and we grabbed our stuff and headed off the ship. It was still raining at this point but we didn’t care. We walked to the tram and hopped on board. I was glad we did because we would have had to traverse a HUGH, DEEP puddle if we had walked it. We got off the tram and walked down the pathways until we were about halfway down the Family Beach. We grabbed some lounge chairs with umbrellas, and a hammock and settled in. Within 15 minutes the rain stopped. I would LOVE to say it got sunny but it never did! It stayed overcast all day, which was fine with me. As long as it wasn’t pouring, I was happy! My new Motto…..A Rainy Day On Vacation Is Better Then A Sunny Day at Work!!!!!!
Amy, Andrew, Caren, Alan and kids joined us followed by Steve and Robin with the girls. The kids grabbed the snorkel stuff and went swimming. The water was very nice, much warmer the our last trip here in Jan.99. Eric and Anja stopped by on their way to the “Brat Free Zone”! Since we were so late getting on the island lunch was being served soon after we got there. Since I had basically eaten breakfast ALL morning was not ready for lunch yet, but did take DD to get a hot dog while DH and DS did the snorkel trail. When they got back DH and DS got their lunch. DH was NOT impressed with the Bar-B-Que ribs but enjoyed the burger. I was hoping for an announcement that we would get to stay a little longer then 4pm since our arrival was delayed but no such luck. The day was over too quickly! Another nice day with great company! We made our way back to the ship and joined the long line to board. The kids went swimming in the Goofy pool and DH and I watched the activity on the dock. WOW! Those crewmembers sure can move a bunch of stuff in a short time!
Dinner tonight is Animators Pallet again. Once again we took Cedric’s advice and both ordered the Quesadillas, Prime Rib, and Baked Alaska. Everything was very good. We gave the servers the tip envelopes and asked Cedric to please point out the head server. His name was Karoly Molnar, and he was the only “topped: crew member who I did not add extra to his tip. I gave him the recommended amount only because I had NO complaints with anything connected with our dinning room experience and figured if things run this smoothly then I guess he was doing his job. That said I think that it would have been nice for him to come by to say hello at least ONCE. We were in the dinning room for 6 out of 7 nights! Not really a complaint, just an observation. After dinner we took our walk around the ship, DH surprised me with a Christopher Radko Christmas ornament of the Disney Magic! We went back to the room to get the last of the luggage out in the hall before 11pm.
The wake up call came too early, but we made our way to the dinning room for our breakfast. It was so sad to be leaving! We said goodbye to Steve and Robin, who stopped by our table on their way off the ship, and to our table neighbors and finally to our servers.
Once off board we found our luggage, cleared customs and found the Radisson Shuttle. The friendly driver asked about our trip and before we knew it we were back at the Radisson and unloading the luggage into the car. That’s when DS realized he was missing his hat! The one with ALL his pins on it!I went to the desk and the desk clerked called the shuttle driver. I went back outside to await his return PRAYING it was left on the shuttle. While waiting outside I spotted a couple who were waiting to go to the ship. It turns out to be Peagreenid (Patty) from the Dis boards!!!It was so nice to meet her and her DH. The van pulled up and DS hat was there!!!!YIPEEE!!!!

Final Thoughts

I think it is fair to say I had pretty high expectations for this trip. I planned and thought about it a lot over the last 11 months. It EXCEDED all my expectations. It was the best vacation I have ever had! A very large part of this has to do with the Dis boards. Meeting so many friends was without a doubt what made this trip so wonderful. Yes. It would have been a wonderful trip if I never found the Boards, but meeting so many fabulous people put the trip in a whole other category! Everyone should go on vacation with 100 friends they’ve never met!!!
I HIGHLY recommend that future cruisers make the effort to join up with fellow Dis’ers before going.

Tips to pass along

We brought a soft sided cooler (with a rigid insert) on board with us. I packed it with bathroom stuff on bottom and disposable cameras, and film on top.I checked it at the port. Once on board, with bags unpacked we filled it with soda and beer and Paulett kept it filled with ice. It was VERY handy to bring to the beach at St Martin and Castaway Cay.
Don’t worry about your dinning rotation. I got my LAST choice APLAPLA and it was fine.
Do the Brunch! It was wonderful!
Listen to your servers; they know what is good and what isn’t.
Over the door shoe holder…..GREAT!
Bring your own beverages if you can…if you can’t buy some at St Martin. So handy and a real money saver.
Do your shopping in St Martin. Prices are better.
Use the aft and forward elevators (or stairs) when you can. The mid ship ones are very busy.
Deck 4 is a great place to relax and read a book or take a nap.
DH says…guys, wear a tux!
If you have a small luggage cart, bring it. We used it to haul carry on bags/beverages, again going to the beach, and finally when leaving the ship. It made things very easy.
Lanyard and a key hole punch! Kids did not lose their keys once!
Make SURE the kid’s keys are unable to charge if that’s what you want. This was ALMOST a 100.00 mistake!
Be at any scheduled event 15-20 early.

Read the Boards! Ask questions, and get to know other cruisers!

HAVE A GREAT TIME!!!

P.S. We are going again next Sept. Anyone want to join us???
 
Thanks Mary for the wonderful trip report. Event though our cruise is still over a year a way, I love to hear all about everyone's experiences.Its sounds like you had a great time! Thanks for sharing.
 
Thank you for sharing your wonderful trip report installments with us! You helped me relive certains moments of the 9/22 cruise, too! :)
 
GREAT trip report. Thank you so much for taking the time. I really enjoyed reading everything!!!:D :D
 


What a great report! Thanks for taking the time to post.
 
Mary,
Thanks for such an awesome report. I enjoyed reading it all week. Our turn is tomorrow when my family and I will be boarding the 10/6 Magic sailing. We also have a large group of DIS'ers and several meets planned. I hope it all goes as well as your cruise.

Thanks again,
Cathy
 
Mary - Loved reading your report. It brought back so many memories. I truly hope that we will meet again on some Disney Cruise or WDW vacation. It was really a pleasure. (And maybe I'll slow down enough to be able to actually sit and talk!):)
 


Mary - Outstanding job on the trip reports. Informative and detailed and enjoyable to read. It truly was a great pleasure to finally meet you and your wonderful family. We wish you guys nothing but the best. Take care. I know you guys are cruising in 2002, but perhaps you might go again in 2003. We are entertaining that year for ourselves and perhaps we can do this again together.
 
I totally enjoyed reading your informative and exciting trip reports. I am so delighted that you and your family enjoyed the cruise. It's so wonderful to be able to relive your cruise through someone elses vacation!!! The memories will NEVER fade!!!

We need to get in touch soon about the Dec. 1 cruise and you-know- what!!!! I'll e-mail you soon!

Beth
:cool: :cool:
 

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