Disney Magic, 7 night, Western Caribbean, 09 Feb 2008 to 16 Feb 2008

[Princess Tink]

Sounds like your day in GC was awesome........can't wait for the rest of your TR.

 

[Giefu]

I am really enjoying your trip report!! We had a blast on the cruise and really enjoyed meeting you two!! We are also thinking of going back to Grand Cayman for another trip, and I know that MH will definitely want to go after reading your scuba review!!

Did you recognize the people I mentioned meeting on embarkation day?? Chuck is still giggling about the guy with "pooh" on his leg.

Sherri

 

[TinksDH]

After the lifeboat drill, we returned to the stateroom, dropped off the jackets, and headed to the top deck for the sail away party.
It was spitting rain, but it was still quite a nice party. We waved at the people at the terminal and at Jetty Park as we departed Port Canaveral.

Here's one of those "un-nerving" things that can only happen in this day and age of digital photography and the internet.

I noticed by the title of your thread that you two were on the same cruise as my family and I, so I decided to read your TR. While looking through your pictures of the sail away party, I clicked through one of them to your website and browsed some of the images that you had not posted in the TR. While browsing, I noticed a picture of me in one of your shots. When I clicked to see the larger size, I could tell that it was taken just as I had finished taking some video of my kids dancing out on the deck during the sail away party and was turning to my DW to say something. You got my face in mid-turn, and I know the exact time that was taken. FREAKY!! Big Brother is watching -and he has a camera!!

 

[Princess Tink]

Here's one of those "un-nerving" things that can only happen in this day and age of digital photography and the internet.

I noticed by the title of your thread that you two were on the same cruise as my family and I, so I decided to read your TR. While looking through your pictures of the sail away party, I clicked through one of them to your website and browsed some of the images that you had not posted in the TR. While browsing, I noticed a picture of me in one of your shots. When I clicked to see the larger size, I could tell that it was taken just as I had finished taking some video of my kids dancing out on the deck during the sail away party and was turning to my DW to say something. You got my face in mid-turn, and I know the exact time that was taken. FREAKY!! Big Brother is watching -and he has a camera!!

Not to hi-jack this.......but, you were on the same cruise as us....and we too are from the KC area!

 

[podsnel]

The dives sound fantastic- I'm so happy Sherri made it to 105 ft!!! Can't wait to read the rest-

 

[emtmom]

Did you recognize the people I mentioned meeting on embarkation day?? Chuck is still giggling about the guy with "pooh" on his leg.

Sherri

Yes, I did recognize that--I even told MH "Wow your dad's tattoo got a mention in their trip report!!"

 

[cruisinpenguin]

Great trip reports and photos Chuck & Sherri!! Didn't we have the best weather!! It was so nice being someplace warm when it was freezing back home!! It was also nice meeting you Chuck before the life boat drill!! Laurie

 

[Hypermommy]

Great TR! I'll be on the Western on 19 April and it's my first cruise ever anywhere, so I'm looking very much forward to the rest of your report.

 

[TinksDH]

Not to hi-jack this.......but, you were on the same cruise as us....and we too are from the KC area!

Very cool Princess Tink! I like your pics - we did the "lifestyle" portrait on Pirate Night as well. We liked them so much in fact that we picked one for our Christmas card this year:

And we liked this one a lot too....

 

[Princess Tink]

Very cool Princess Tink! I like your pics - we did the "lifestyle" portrait on Pirate Night as well. We liked them so much in fact that we picked one for our Christmas card this year:

Great pics. I love the Christmas card, I would have never thought of getting those in Feb....I think it's a great idea, I wish I would have done it!

 

[Giefu]

We were scheduled to arrive in Cozumel at 9:30 am. At just after 9:00 am we were docking so everything looked right on schedule. We were pretty confident about our activities here. First of all, because Chuck had been here before and secondly, it was one of those places we had tripled checked our itinerary with. We had two major events planned for the day. An 11:00am Royal Dolphin Swim at Chankanaab National Park's Dolphin Discovery and a 1:00pm express two tank drift dive with Dive Paradise. We confirmed the time zone, because unlike all of the other places we stop Cozumel is on Central time, everything else is Eastern. So we changed all of our clocks, but we forgot to change the cameras so they were still on Eastern. We also confirmed that the dolphin experience would be over with by noon so we would have plenty of time to get to our dive.

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Best laid plans as they always say. Once we were given the all clear, we grabbed our gear and headed out the ship. There was no tendering this morning, so it was just down and out the gangways. We walked down the dock and out to the shopping center. That is where it got a bit confusing. The entire mall wasn't there the last time Chuck had been to Cozumel so it was a new experience. We saw taxis on the lower levels but couldn't figure out how to get to them. A lot of taxi drivers were holding up signs, but wanted larger groups than just the two of us, so we kept walking. We got past all the vendors and went down the stairs on the other side. Not an easy task when you are carrying a duffle full of dive gear.

When we reached the sidewalk we found other people waiting for taxis. We were asked where we wanted to go and we said Chankanaab National Park. The group next to us, a family of four, said that is where we are going too. That worked out great. We not only shared a taxi, but found out that we were all going to do the same experience at the same time. They were great. We just can't remember their names, so if you are reading this, and you know who you are, drop us a note.

We got to Chankanaab National Park and Dolphin Discovery in plenty of time. The cab fare was about $20 US. We hung out by the pool for a minute and then the other family joined us and told us where the lockers were. The lockers weren't big enough for all of our stuff, but we did change into our body skins (.5 mil wetsuits) and put some of our stuff away. We wore the body skins to help protect us from the sun and to keep us warm since the water was a little colder than we would have liked. They really want you to wash off any sunscreen and so forth, so we figured the extra coverage was probably a good idea. We still got sunburned on the tops of our feet and Sherri did a good job on the back of her ears. Odd place, but yep, burned the points of her ears. However, there were a lot of people a LOT worse off than we were so no complaints.

After changing,we rejoined our new friends and it was time to go and watch an orientation film. We were led to a small room, right next to the lockers we had just left, and we watched a film about what we were going to be doing and what to expect. Once the film was over, a guide came in and once again went over the agenda and made sure we knew how to position ourselves for the different experiences. Once she was satisfied, we broke into two groups and headed for the dolphins.

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We had to wait a little bit on the dock until all the trainers gave the signal. While waiting we met the videographer and the photographer for the experience. We also got on our life jackets and were told where we could leave our stuff. Everyone had to take off their shoes and leave them on the dock. This is also where we left the remaining gear we were still lugging around. At this point, we were also noting the time. It was almost 11:30 and we hadn't even started, it didn't look like we would be getting out of there by noon.

Then we were signaled, the videographer started recording and we headed to the dolphins. We were introduced to the trainer and shown the dolphins in the pool behind us. There was a youngster in there that was a joy to just watch. Then we filed down into the water and awaited our instructions.

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We first got introduced to the dolphins that we were going to be working with, Chaac and Itzamna, and them to us. First the dolphins did a few swims so we could just watch them, then they got close enough so we could pet them as they came by. Chuck was the first one to go out and do a fin swim with the dolphins. He swam out a ways into the pool area and then posed like a T. The dolphins then came up behind him and, once he felt their fins in his hands, he held on. When that was done, he swam out just a few feet and put his arms out and a dolphin swam into his arms and he got to cradle it for a moment. This was called a hug. Sherri did the exact same thing right after Chuck did and was thrilled with the whole experience. However, we both forgot to take their sunglasses off. The rest of the group completed these tasks as well; however, maybe not exactly in that order. Next came the kisses, and each of us took turns kissing a dolphin and being kissed by the dolphin. Then we swam out again to do our foot push, or what Chuck calls, the Superman. We each took our turns doing this as well.

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Once everyone got to have their turn, then it was time for a few group activities. We swam out a bit and formed a kind of semi circle. We waved our hands and sang, and the dolphins came out and swam among us and sang too. It was a lot of fun. Then we put our hands above our heads and spun around. The dolphins danced and spun with us. After that it was getting towards the end of the experience and we headed back to the platform. The trainer had the dolphins do a few impressive leaps for us and then we all waved goodbye.

As we filed out of the pool and back up to the dock where our stuff laid in wait, we noted that it was already very late. We were directed to go upstairs to watch our video next; however, we were out of time. Did we mention, best laid plans? We didn't watch the video, knowing we were going to buy it anyway, so we headed out to find someone to help us. At that point, we split up. Chuck focused on getting the video and checking out, and Sherri focused on finding a phone and contacting the dive shop. Both jobs were not that easy.

The DVD had to be burned, and the phone book was in Spanish. There was a lot of, ”it will be ready in 3 minutes”, and then 3 minutes later, “it will be ready in 3 minutes”, they kept repeating. Sherri, on the other hand, did not have the phone number for the dive shop and was unsuccessful finding it in the phone book that one of the staff provided her. She was about to give up, when one of the staff helped her and found the number for her and let her use his phone to call. When she called the shop, they were very nice and wondered what had happened to us. Sherri explained that the dolphin experience went way over but they were about to leave and asked if we could still do the dive trip. It was already 12:50pm at that point, by the way. They said sure, but to tell the taxi to take us to the Villa Blanco hotel, NOT to the dive shop. We would just need to go across the street. This sounded easy enough.

Sherri hung up the phone to go find Chuck. Good timing, he just finished paying for the DVD and then we headed out to find a taxi. A nice gentleman signaled a taxi over and Sherri told them where to go. It wasn't that far a drive, the hotel was an easy landmark. We paid the fare about $10 US and ran across the street. At first we went down the wrong ramp and saw a gentleman across the way signaling for us to come over to the other side. So we went to the other side, and were quickly checked in. He told us to go out to the end of the dock and wait. In the meantime, he was taking a bunch of gear to the dock himself. We waited a few minutes and then the boat showed up. The Cascabel already had about 5 divers in it, a dive master, and a pilot. We were helped aboard the boat. They were double checking the gear requirements with everyone aboard. It worked out great. Apparently the boat had to stop at this location to load up some equipment anyway. We didn't miss our dives.

The dive master asked everyone what they were up for. Sherri said she wanted to take pictures. No one else really had any requirements so he chose to go to Santa Rose Wall. The ride was rough. Sherri was banging into her tank. The bumps were often knocking the breath out of us. Well, it was an express tour so it had to move fast. We were watching the parasailing around us and noting all the other dive boats we passed.

We were impressed how quickly the crew got everyone's equipment put together especially with how rough we were moving. Later we found out that moving that fast can cause a few issues, but that is later. The bio-tank buckle on Sherri's BCD confuses people, so we basically put our own gear together. Just like in Key West, we had to do a backward roll out of the boat. We were the last two to exit the boat.

Because this was a drift dive, the current was a little strong so instead of waiting at the surface for your dive buddy we were told to meet up down below. Sherri exited first and started to descend. She saw Chuck come out of the boat and start to descend as well. Sherri checked her camera and then looked around to see where everyone else was, then looked back for Chuck. Chuck was now missing. She looked at the dive master who signaled her to stay where she was. She then saw Chuck back up at the boat. Something was wrong apparently. Sherri looked at her watch, if Chuck did not come down in the next few minutes or if he exited the water, she was planning on beginning her ascent to join him. It was just a moment later when Chuck started his descent again. The dive master then asked if we were OK, and we signaled him that we were. It wasn't until the end of the dive that what had happen was made clear.

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Drift diving was a new experience. You really don't swim, you just float along the current. This made it more difficult for Sherri who wanted pictures of stuff, but it just kept going by. She used a lot of exertion to stay in one place. Chuck saw this and came to help her. However, this didn't last long because Sherri's camera had completely fogged up and there was no recovery at 50 feet from that. So she gave up with the pictures and just enjoyed the dive and the scenery. She made a few feeble attempts when something cool came up, an arrow crab, an eel, etc. But mostly gave up on the pictures and just floated around the reef.

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It wasn't long before Chuck started checking Sherri's dive computer to see how she was doing on air. He signaled to her that we needed to catch up with the dive master. Sherri had 1,100 psi at that point, which was pretty good for her, so she wasn't sure what the situation was except the last dive master had told them to let him know when they reach 1,000 psi which would be close so she figured that was it. We swam up to the dive master, signaled him. Sherri signaled that she had 1,000 psi left, and Chuck signaled with his air supply as well. Sherri was behind Chuck so she didn't see what he was signaling. The dive master told them to ascend with a mandatory safety stop. Again, Sherri puzzled because this seemed a little soon, but since she was the one that sucks up air the fastest this was probably a good idea. So we began our ascent. At around 17 feet, we leveled off and just drifted. We could see the boat not too far away.

Chuck taps on Sherri's shoulder and gives the out of air sign. Sherri moves her arms and he grabs her alternate air source. Was this for real? Was Chuck really out of air? Checking her air, Sherri has plenty so this was not a big concern, but did make her finally realize that he was the one low on air not her and that is why the dive ended when it did. Chuck stayed on her air while they waited out the safety stop and then continued to ascend at a safe speed. At the surface he explained that he wasn't completely out just below 200 psi which you should never do.

We signaled the boat that we were OK and the boat came over to get us. The boat pilot helped us out of the water. Once on the boat, more of the story came to light.

Chuck had checked his equipment before going into the water. Sherri did the same thing. We each check that the tank is secure in the BCD, that the weights are secure in their pockets. We each turned on our tanks, and checking the pressure in it, syncing it up with our dive computers, and then turn the tanks back off. This is where things differ a little bit. Once the boat reached its destination, Sherri turned back on her tank, synced her computer, and then puts on her BCD. She starts to scoot to the end of the boat, but is told by the pilot that walking is easier. Once she gets up and walks to the edge (which was easier) she is happy to exit the boat and get the weight off her shoulders. As we said before, she does a backward roll out of the boat. Chuck makes his way to the end of the boat after putting on his BCD and also does a backward roll out of the boat. It is when he reaches about 30 feet when he realizes he did not turn on his air. There was enough air pressure in the first stage that he was breathing comfortably up to that point. Sherri is too far away to help. Chuck fumbles around trying to reach the valve wasting time and air. He gives up and does an emergency swimming ascent to the surface. He gets back to the boat where the boat pilot assists him in turning his air on. At this point, Chuck is stressed and his breathing is heavy and rapid. Even though he gets it mostly back under control so he can descend again and continues his dive, this stress is causing him to go through air much faster than usual. And now, as Paul Harvey would say, you know the rest of the story.

We, again, were not that far ahead of the rest of the divers anyway. This also gave us a chance to get our stuff together while we waited. The divers started piling in, and the pilot was tearing down and putting new tanks on the equipment very fast. When the diver's started checking the pressure in the tanks, there was a lot of hissing from leaks. A couple of o-rings were either pinched badly in the switch or in bad shape to begin with. Chuck reconnected his and Sherri's (whose was tightened down so hard she couldn't unhook the tank) to fix the problem. The dive boat had no extra parts on board, but we did. So we offered our tools and our extra o-rings to fix the issues on the tanks that were still hissing badly. The dive master decided he would just switch out tanks. At that point we were ready to head off like gangbusters to our next dive destination, Yucab.

The ride to Yucab wasn't quite so rough. We had a chance to talk to some of our fellow divers. A few asked what had happened to us, and Chuck relays his story. Divers are great people. Most of them laughed and started recalling the “I remember when I did that” stories. In the meantime, Sherri is trying to figure out why her camera fogged. She does what she can to dry it out and then one of the veterans recommends that she put it in the bucket so it cools off and is more acclimated to the water temperature. She closes up the case and does this.

We reach Yucab and exit the boat as before, except Chuck makes darn sure his air is on this time. We then descend and meet up with the rest of the group on the bottom. Again, this is a drift dive so there is very little swimming involved. Sherri is able to get a few pictures off, but eventually her camera fogs again. She tries to point out to Chuck that her camera is fogging up, but he mistakes this gesture for her wanting her picture taken. Thus explaining the somewhat foggy pictures of Sherri

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Later she realizes that it was the dolphins. She had the camera in the water at the dolphin experience, not in the case. This put a lot of moisture in her camera that would take awhile to dry out. But she never gave it a chance to dry out. She sealed it in her deep water case and even with the silica packet in the case; it just needed more time to dry. So the camera fogged. Now she knows the cause and will take better precautions in the future.

The dive at Yucab was really nice. The life was not as plentiful as what we saw the day before in Grand Cayman, but it was very pretty. Drifting along was kind of cool as well. As usual, we were the first ones to start our ascent, but we were very happy and had some great memories to take back with us. We got a little envious when the other divers were talking about their plans for the night. All of the others were staying at Cozumel so they had more diving and some partying planned. Our big goal, get back to the ship in time for..... Pirate Night!

We had the boat drop us off at the Barracuda Hotel dock. This is actually were most of the diver's exited. This was within a short walk to the pier where the ship was docked so it made the most sense for us to exit there. We headed up the street to the dock and went in through the gate that we missed when we had gotten off the ship, or that whole walking through the mall could have been avoided. We ran into a vendor selling roses and Chuck bought two for Sherri. We then went in through security and caught a Pedi cab the rest of the way to the gangway to the ship. We got back aboard and headed to our stateroom to cleanup and get ready for dinner.

The show that night was the movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets. We have seen the movie already, so we decided to skip it. We had some snacks delivered to the room, took showers, rinsed all of our gear, and Sherri took a nap. We totally missed the ship leaving port. We left the stateroom, running into our stateroom host and once again apologizing for the scuba equipment in the tub. At that time we asked him what the towel thing was the other night, and he told us a hound dog. That made it finally clear to us. Sherri mentioned that she wanted to see a monkey sometime and then we headed to Animator's Palate for dinner that night. Pirate garb was encouraged so Chuck wore his Pirates of the Caribbean shirt that his kids had gotten him. Sherri didn't have anything so specific. However when they got to the restaurant, she found bandanas at each of their places and she fashioned hats for her and Chuck. The rest of their tablemates were dubious about wearing the bandanas.

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At dinner we found out that our server, Saulo was not going to be there tonight. He was hurt in a soccer match between the crews of the Disney Magic and the Princess cruise ship. So we had the privilege of having the head server attend to us that night and for the rest of the trip. Dinner was excellent and we had lots of fun watching the pirates’ parade around the room. It was getting close to the pirate deck party, so we finished up our dinner and headed up on deck to watch the show and see the fireworks.

After the fireworks had ended, pretty much like the rest of the crowd, we decided to call it a night. We headed back to our stateroom where waiting for us was ... a monkey. Sherri awed over her monkey for a little bit and then added it to the menagerie on the back of the couch. It was a rough day, dolphins, deadlines, dives, and dinner. However, the day ended with parades, pirates, Mickey Mouse and a monkey.

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[Giefu]

We are down to only a few more days... be patient.
I have Valentines, Castaway Cay, and our departure to write up still. There are some fun stories about what we came home to I will be sure to share.

 

[Giefu]

Ahhh, a day at sea.

After the last few days we needed a chance to relax, and we couldn’t think of a better way to do just that than a day at sea. We started our day, well, late. Sleeping in was a real treat after the last few days. When we got up we pulled out the personal navigator for the day and decided to plan out a few little adventures. Sherri decided that since it was Valentine’s she would update our door magnets. She put a Minnie bow on our door and a few Valentine wishes for those who passed by.

We have loved all the shows on the ship, and were happy to see that a backstage tour at Walt Disney Theater was offered that morning. So we showered, got dressed and headed for the Walt Disney Theater. It was great to see all the people working behind the scenes. Sherri is a real theater buff, so this was a special treat for her. She misses her old theater days, so it was great for her to see a little behind the scenes again. She spent a little time explaining to Chuck what a few things were, and was really happy to speak to Andrew who was in charge of the whole thing.

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We left the theater and headed up on deck for lunch. We stopped for a moment to get our picture taken with Peter Pan and Wendy. We grabbed some food at Topsiders Buffet and took it out onto the deck to enjoy. It was a beautiful day and it was nice just to sit there and look out over the ocean. After lunch, it was time to head back down stairs. We were able to snap a quick shot of Snow White in the hall on our way.

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We had a 2:00pm wine tasting at Sessions. We found a table up front and were joined by our table mates, Leslie and Diane. Yes, these were the same ones that joined us for the beer tasting a few days ago. As we were waiting for the festivities to begin, we talked about our plans for the day. We mentioned that after this we were heading to Palo for high tea. They remarked that they may follow us up stairs and see if they could get in as well. We thought this was a good idea, the worst thing that they could say is no.

The wine tasting started. The host was the sommelier from Palo, Shaun. He was a terrific host. We had a great time. Sherri was especially interactive (putting it nicely). She really liked the Muscato that was served first. It was funny, because there were glasses at other tables where no one sat. Sherri said that she wanted to go finish off those as well. At the end of the tasting, the sommelier encouraged people to drink the wine they liked at the other empty tables. Sherri didn’t need any encouragement. She quickly grabbed a glass of the Muscato closest to her and drank it down. Now we had to make a dash upstairs for our high tea.

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We checked in for our high tea and were immediately seated. Leslie and Diane checked with the host for possible availability and they were pleasantly surprised when they were told that there had just been a cancellation. They were seated right behind us. We noted a few other empty tables set up for the tea. We were wondering if we had a lot of sea sick people again like we did the last time we had an at sea day.

Leslie and Diane got the same server, Tomas, they had when they had dinner at Palo on embarkation day. They seemed to be thrilled with this. We had a really nice server as well, Corina. We looked over the teas, although we pretty much knew what we were ordering, and ordered the Chai and English Breakfast. As our tea was brewing, we were brought a plate of finger sandwiches, including little miniature BLTs and salmon with cream cheese. We nibbled on a few of those and drank our tea. We could look out over the water and just relax. Sherri was still a bit buzzed from the wine tasting. Since her surgery it doesn’t take too much. The finger sandwiches were removed and a dessert tray was brought out. Sherri was done. Chuck ate something with lots of chocolate. Then the server brought out one more treat, a lemon tiramisu. We had to at least try it, and we did. It was rich and sweet. Even if we hadn’t been nibbling for the last hour, that dessert was too rich to finish.

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Wine, tea, food, sweets, it was time to head back to our stateroom. Sherri, yep, you guessed it, took a nap. Chuck, however, took this opportunity to grab a beer and read out on veranda. There was only about and hour and a half before we had to think about getting ready for a show and dinner, so we took advantage. Tonight was a semi-formal night, but it was also Valentine’s and we had dinner reservations at Palo. As a result, we wanted to be dressed to the nines tonight

Once we got moving, Sherri realized that her sunburned feet were not going to appreciate her dress shoes, but with no other real options, she lotioned up and got dressed. Chuck still fussed with his tuxedo. This time he opted for the cummerbund instead of the vest, just to be different. Once we were all dressed, tiara and all, we headed back down stairs to watch Disney Dreams in the Walt Disney Theater. It was interesting, because we had seen the set pieces, costumes, and were told about some of the effects and how things worked just this morning, so we were keeping an eye out for those things.

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After the show, we went out to the lobby, got our picture taken, and then headed back upstairs for dinner at Palo. Sherri was handed a rose with a ribbon around it and then we were seated at almost the same table we had for brunch just a few days ago. Our server was…. Tomas. Since we were already familiar with him and knew a few stories, we were happy that he was our server that night. We ordered a bottle of the Muscato that Sherri liked from the wine tasting earlier. It was actually cheaper than the premier wine selection that Chuck was directed to choose from, but when he explained that it was what he wanted, they brought it to us. Sherri hadn’t been drinking much wine, so Chuck had been basically drinking a bottle a night on his own because he purchased the package. If this was something she wanted to drink, then it is what he wanted to get.

Then we saw him, Shaun the sommelier. He was a few tables behind us taking with other diners. Chuck not only got a bottle of wine from the wine package, but he also got one for the romance at sea package we ordered. Plus with the wine tasting earlier, well, it was a day for wine. We motioned for the sommelier to come over and he immediately recognized Sherri. He took up a very serious posture and in a very slow and deep voice turned to Sherri and said “You, madam, are very loud”, emphasizing the “very”. Sherri actually blushed and was trying to apologized, but then he laughed and smiled. He was just teasing her. At that point, he became the fun person we remembered from the wine tasting earlier. He recommended a wine called Purple Angel. It was a popular wine recommendation that evening. We finished the Muscato and started working on the Purple Angel with our meal.

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Going away hungry was not an option. We both ordered an appetizer; however, a few more showed up on the table then what we had ordered. This was a good thing because when we tried the grilled shrimp, which was recommended, we both liked it better than what we had originally ordered. Chuck ordered the filet mignon and Sherri ordered the lamb. Both were excellent but since they were serving lobster as part of the Captain’s Gala in the main dining rooms, Chuck also got one of those. The lobster was excellent. Before our entrees were even brought out, our server wanted to make sure that we knew about the chocolate soufflé because if we wanted it, it takes time to prepare. You would have to be in a hole if you hadn’t heard about Palo’s chocolate soufflé at this point in the cruise, so Chuck said he definitely wanted it. Sherri declined, because knew she wouldn’t make it through the meal that far anyway. We paused for a moment when we left to admire the lighting in the hallway. It really did appear to be some medieval torture device. Chuck pushed the middle to see if he could trigger it. Sherri stayed out of the way, just in case.

Once we had finished our desserts and had polished off the last bottle of wine, it was time to call it a night. Tomorrow we were going to be at Castaway Cay and we needed to get moving because we wanted to be out snorkeling before the water got too stirred up. When we reached our state room we were greeted by a large peacock on the bed, along with the obligatory chocolates. We studied the towel bird for a few moments and tried to gently move it to join the others on the couch. It is then when we noticed one of our swans was missing. AH HA! The swan had turned into a peacock. With smiles on our faces, we got ready for bed. Sherri was asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

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[dmi188]

Great TR! Making me anxious to go on our Western in April!!

 

[Giefu]

We slept in a bit later than anticipated, so we were already backing into port when we awoke. Yep, we said backing into port. It was impressive to watch. We could see Castaway Cay, even the Flying Dutchman, from our veranda.

It didn’t take long until we were given the all clear to head to the beach. Sherri went upstairs to Goofy’s Galley and got some breakfast, just some fruit and muffins. She also picked up a few towels by the pool, but we found out later we could have just grabbed some as we got off the ship. When she returned to the stateroom, she found Chuck up and getting ready. We ate a little bit and took some pictures from the veranda.

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We spent a lot of time applying sunscreen. Sherri had gotten some heavy duty-won’t come off-high SPF stuff at the dive shop in Grand Cayman. Although Chuck hates sunscreen, he dutifully put it on, having Sherri assist with the hard to reach places. We then got the rest of our stuff ready and headed out to the beach. We decided to walk to the beach instead of taking the tram. If you walk you get some great views of the Flying Dutchman, and you can also run into Jack Sparrow as he poses for pictures. We continued walking and found Mickey posing for pictures at Mount Rustmore. We even caught Minnie and Pluto boarding a golf cart, whereabouts unknown.

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We were planning on snorkeling first thing, so we took our own masks, fins, and snorkels with us off the ship. There was a requirement to wear a snorkel vest while snorkeling but we got those at the beach. The family beach had a designated snorkeling area. There were already a lot of people out there. As we approached the area, we were told that the water was pretty cold. Cold is relative, and we knew it was not the 50 degree water we had at Lake Mead, so we were going to give it a shot. It was a bit cold when you first got in, but we got used to it rather quickly. The water temperature was actually 75 degrees according to our dive computers. We were hoping that the colder water would keep some of the snorkelers away, but it sure didn’t seem to deter anybody.

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We snorkeled for over an hour. We noticed buoys in place marking some of the more interesting sites: submarine, boat, rocks with bunches of fish. We even snorkeled out to the edges and found some unique fish out there. However, we didn’t find the hidden Mickey we so wanted to see. We asked the lifeguard and he pointed to the first buoy as you enter the water. Apparently we just completely missed it. So we headed that way, and sure enough there he was. The water had really gotten stirred up in that area so it wasn’t as clear as it could be, but it was still good enough for Sherri to get some pictures and video of Chuck with the sunken Mickey. We swam around a little more and decided we needed to get out and dry off before our next big adventure.

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The next adventure was a couple’s cabana massage at Serenity Bay. So, we gathered up our stuff and turned in our snorkel vests. We found some tubs to rinse our equipment in as well, which was great since we knew it was going to dry out before we got a chance to rinse the salt water off back at the ship. As we are heading out, Sherri stops to pick up a little shell. She actually starts playing with it. She shows it to Chuck because it is a little hermit crab. It was hard to get pictures of it because it was moving so much. We needed to get going, so she was about to put the crab down when she spotted a family nearby. She thought the kids would get a kick out of playing with the crab so took it over to the parents and explained that she thought that the kids would like this. They really did and were very grateful. Happy, we headed over to catch the tram for Serenity Bay.

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Serenity Bay is an adult only area, so no kids. Right where the tram stops is the BBQ place, so since we had a few minutes, we went in there to eat. There was quite a selection, hot dogs, hamburger, chicken, and even a really good steak. Once we were done eating, we went over to the cabana area and checked in for our massage.

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It didn’t take long to check in, and we were escorted by our massage therapists to our cabana. The cabana had a great view of the beach. This made Sherri a little nervous as she stripped down for her massage, because if she had a great view, maybe so did they. Chuck chimed in with the standard “who cares, you will never see these people again”. This is all well and good, but we know from disboards that you do see the same people over and over again. However, it was more likely that no one really cared.

The massages were great. The therapists used just the right pressure, and tried working out the kinks from diving and overindulging the last few days. We were frequently asked if the pressure was good or if they needed to get us anything. Sherri practically fell asleep, but as you can probably tell from this report, that isn’t saying too much. The massages ended too soon, we were warm, comfortable, and relaxed. However, we had to get moving because we had something else planned for that afternoon.

We got dressed and headed out, thanking our therapists. We caught the tram back towards the family beach. Sherri wanted to look in the store for just a second to see if there was anything she wanted to get later. She found a scuba diving Mickey, a t-shirt, and a sarong. She made note of these things and then we had to book it over to Marge’s Barges.

We had to check in for our 2:30pm parasailing excursion. We got all checked in and were told to wait up by some tables. There we met a few others who were also going parasailing. A few moments later, the woman who checked us in, showed up in a parasailing harness and explained to us what we were going to be doing. She stressed the fact that we were not to pull or tug on the harness once it was on us. It would adjust itself. If we pulled it up to high, well, it would become a hyper-wedgie once we got in the air. We were also told to leave all our shoes and any other supplies on the dock. Do not bring them on the boat. Sherri heeded their warnings but wouldn’t let go of her camera.

It wasn’t long after that that we were broken into groups of 10 and lead down the dock to our boats. We loaded in, having to adjust a little to distribute some of the weight. We were broken into teams of two, because the wind made it impossible for individual flights. As a result, everyone went tandem. We thought this was great. What better way to experience this for the first time than together.

We watched as the first two got suited up and hooked up to the parasail. They were taken up in the air with no problems. We watched as the line went out and the boat did circles to give them different views. Being on the boat still, the waves would come up over the bow and catch us. They were cold, but it passed rather quickly. We watched as each group was taken up. We were going to be the last ones. The captain of the boat attempted to dunk two people in the water, but they squealed and pulled up their feet so they wouldn’t get wet. We had made a plan that we were going to take that opportunity to get wet if the captain decided to dunk us.

We were next. We were put in the harnesses and hooked up to the parasail. Chuck was in place behind Sherri. Then we sat down on the deck the best we could as directed. The boat starts to gain speed and the parasail is let go. It was just a moment and we were off the boat and gaining altitude. People will describe the experience as peaceful. We always wondered how that could be, but it is true. Once you are up in the air, you feel rather secure. The only bumpy feelings happen when the line loosens and tightens again, usually when the boat is changing directions.

​

Sherri took the opportunity to take pictures and a lot of video. It seemed over too soon and we saw that we were being reeled in. We waited and, not to disappoint us, the captain dunked us in the water. We splashed our feet in the water before we rose back up and were placed gently on the stern of the boat. Sherri’s feet were wet and she had trouble maintaining her balance, but eventually recovered. It was a great experience. Everyone was little jealous of Sherri taking her camera with her, but she offered to share her pictures with anyone who wanted them. We had the chance to give a few people our web address.

We wanted to tip the captain and his mate, but forgot to bring any cash with us on the island. So we explained to them that we would be back with some money. They told us that if they weren’t there to give to a young woman on the dock. We thanked them again for the wonderful adventure and headed off to the ship. Once aboard the ship, we dropped off our gear, changed into some dry clothes, grabbed the aforementioned cash, and headed back out. We didn’t have much time left at Castaway Cay, so we needed to make the most of it by getting to the gift store before it closed. We went to the dock and dropped off the tip money for the captain and his mate. We then booked it to the gift store and purchased the items Sherri had picked out earlier. They actually had a smaller selection of stuff then than they did before. She had to settle for a medium in the shirt she wanted, and for a black sarong instead of the rainbow one. Scuba Mickey was just what she wanted and will be her mascot for her diving adventures to come.

We made our purchases and headed back to the ship. We heard the ship’s horn blow telling everyone to head back in. We love that horn!! The tram had just arrived so we took it back instead of walking. We got off the tram, and headed for the gangway. We spotted Chip and Dale between the two gangways so we bypassed the aft gangway and headed forward. Remember the ship was backed in. Sherri wanted her picture taken with them so we stopped and did that. We continued on our way, throwing our towels in the bins designated for them, and sanitizing our hands once more. We would be heading to our stateroom to drop off our purchases, and then think about heading to the show. We would only be sanitizing our hands like this a few more times and then the cruise would be over. We are on our final night.

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We got to our stateroom and had a little time to kill. So what do you do on your last night aboard the Magic, well, you pack. We knew that our luggage had to be out between 9pm and 11pm; however, if we go to the show at 6:15pm and the show lets out at 7:15pm, when we come back we won’t have much time to back before 8:30pm dinner. So far we have been lucky to get back from dinner before 11pm. So we packed and repacked until we were satisfied and headed out to the show.

On the first night the show was called “Discover the Magic”, on the last night the show was called “Remember the Magic”. The show reviewed some of the events and activities that happened on the ship. The last of the entertainers had their moments on stage as well. We got a special kick out of the rendition of “We got the cleanest hands in the world”, sung to “He’s got the whole world in his hands”. The ventriloquist also came out and put on quite a little performance. He took a little boy from the audience and made him his “dummy” for the night. The show bid a fond goodbye and kept reminding everyone “to have faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust” in their lives every day.

After the show, we headed back to the room to finish any of our packing. We asked our stateroom host if it was OK if we put our luggage out a little early because we didn’t know when we were going to get back to the room. He assured us it was just fine, so we put the luggage tags we received on our luggage and placed our luggage outside the door. Now it was time for dinner, so we headed to Lumiere’s.

We got there a little early. Sherri wanted to take a few pictures of the restaurant before it got too crowded. We sat down at our table, and were quickly joined by our other table mates. We all liked the covers of the menu. Sherri wanted to smuggle a menu out for a keepsake. She took a few pictures of the menus and then we figured out what we were going to eat. For his last bottle of wine, Chuck ordered the Muscato that Sherri liked. There was some debate on this, since again, it was cheaper than what he “could” order, but once it was figured out, we were all set.

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Dinner was wonderful as usual. Our server still wasn’t back so we had the head server still waiting on us. This was indeed a treat. As we approached dessert, the serving staff disappeared. An announcement was made and, in true cruise trip tradition, a parade of flaming baked Alaskas came out of the kitchen. A few moments later another announcement was made regarding the diversity among the crew of the Disney Magic and all of the serving crew came out to a disco version of “It’s a Small World” waving the flags of their home countries. We all clapped and waved as the crew came marching by and back into the kitchen, followed closely by the still flaming baked Alaskas.

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We were a bit worried that Diane's birthday had been overlooked. There were birthday cakes popping up everywhere, and the strains of Happy Birthday were being massacred by the entire room. We wanted our turn. The concern was that since our server was out, that it may have been forgotten. Chuck went to our head server and asked about it, and he was guaranteed that it was all being seen to. A few moments later our dessert orders were taken and we were exchanging contact information with the rest of our table. Desserts came out, including a cake for Diane’s birthday. We all finally got to sing Happy Birthday to Diane. The cake had a white chocolate piece on top that had a screening of the Magic and the words Happy Birthday. Sherri took a few pictures, but we were so full we really couldn’t enjoy the cake.

We had noted that on previous nights there were people going to different tables offering people cake because there was no way they could get through it. Now we knew how they felt. Dinner was over and we all said our goodbyes and headed to our rooms. On the way, we stopped at Shutters one last time to look at the pictures taken during the cruise by the photographers onboard. We got one free with our romance package, but hadn’t planned to purchase any more. However, some of the pictures were so good that we ended up buying seven more of the 8x10s.

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We knew that tomorrow morning and debarkation would come soon enough. Back at the stateroom we were surprised when we found a scorpion there to greet us. It was kind of cool looking, but apparently scary enough to frighten off the rest of the menagerie from the back of the couch. Then again, it was large enough; it may have already devoured them.

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We did a last minute check around the room and got ready for bed. Sherri had packed her PJ’s but she was cold. Chuck was nice enough and let her wear his. She was happy to find out that she is small enough now to do just that. Sherri fell asleep quickly and had dreams about the trip and what they would be doing next. Tomorrow would come far too soon.

 

[Giefu]

OK, I have one more day to post and I am not in an hurry to post that day because when I do that means that all of my tasks remaining from my vacation are over and that seems so final. So I will get what happened on dembarkation day posted. Items such as what happened to our luggage, hanging out at the airport way early, having them run out of cars so a Limo picked us up in Las Vegas, and getting our dog from our friends house and seeing what she did to their lawn and cement. Those kind of things.

 

[Giefu]

Great TR...You make me want to take up scuba diving. I have never been but now I am thinking of taking lessons.

Can't wait for more.

Loralie

I love scuba. Where I live Sports Chalet does a Discovery Scuba class for free every third Saturday of the month. It gives new people a chance to don scuba gear and try it out before making any real commitment. I recommend this to anyone who is interested. You may want to check in your area for something like this.

However, you may want to read my story from the next day. Things can go wrong.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=23522505&postcount=31

 

[jodifla]

Great report! Sorry we weren't able to meet up with you on the cruise, but I'm so glad you had such a good time.

jodi

 

[Giefu]

As expected debarkation day came way too soon. We have a 1:00pm flight back home so we are not sure if we are supposed to be in the first group off the ship or not. The break was 1:00pm so we could go either way. Chuck called guest services and asked. They recommended that we head out early. So we got moving, triple checking that we were not leaving anything behind. We did have to leave the Mickey shaped basket that our robes and picture frame came in. It was a great basket, but there was no way we were going to be able to pack and carry it. We also left a half case of beer from the beer package Chuck bought. We let our stateroom host know it was there and was hoping it could be a donation to him. He guaranteed us that it would be taken care of.

So we headed downstairs to the atrium where a line was already forming. We ran into our table mates, Steven and Michelle, the newly engaged couple. We TOTALLY forgot to mention that on the first day. We had this really great couple at our table at Lumiere’s on the first night. Ok, they were great every night, but this was special. Sherri noticed that the girl was staring at her hand. Sherri finally had to ask, “new ring?” Michelle was beaming. Ten minutes before dinner, Steven had proposed. She was totally shocked. Apparently he had already told her folks because he had to ask permission from her dad, and a few of their friends knew as well, but to her it was a complete surprise.

So we stood there for a few moments talking with them, when we saw Dan and Diane go by and then Lesley and Diane as well. Apparently everyone was planning on heading out early. The line started moving and we went with the flow. Michelle and Steven had an early flight and were told to stay in line, whereas, we were directed to go downstairs to customs. So we walked through the warehouse full of luggage from the ship. Our luggage was already gone. We used the onboard airline check-in service so we would not see our luggage again until we reached Las Vegas. We walked right up to customs, showed our passports and customs forms, and were cleared in no time at all.

At that point, we headed to the bus. We seem to make it a habit to get on the first one out, whether it is buses or tenders. We boarded the bus, and oddly enough, a little bit later our tablemates Michelle and Steven, and Leslie and Diane also joined us on the bus. Our other table mates, Dan and Diane were heading to Walt Disney World for a few days so no airport for them. Somehow, we got through our processes faster than they did so we were on the bus first. We figured that it was probably because there was no line where we were directed, but later on we bet there would be.

On the bus ride to the airport we watched the live action version of Pinocchio. We got to the airport in no time at all. The bus stopped at different terminals to let passengers off. We got off at the Delta terminal and headed to the gate. We were already checked in (part of the express service) and we already had our boarding passes so there really wasn’t much to do besides head to the gate.

The lines at security were long, but moved really quickly. Sherri’s carry on was pulled and checked by hand. We figured that the large picture frame in the center of her luggage probably looked odd on the x-ray. Guess what, we were through security and had almost 3 hours to kill at the airport. It was about 9:30am at this time. There was an Outback that opened at 10:00am right where we were at, so we decided that we should eat there. We waited until 10:00am and were one of the first tables seated. We ordered some drinks and something to eat. Service was not the greatest, but it would do.

When we finished, we headed to our gate to wait for our flight. We still had a two hour wait, but we didn’t really have anything else better to do, so we just hung out for a while. The time passed pretty quickly and it was soon time to board the plane. We had assigned seats, so we were in no hurry to rush the door, but we do like to get on soon enough to ensure we have a place to put our roller bags.

We got in our seats and settled in. Our flight home is just like our flight to Orlando. We have to stop and make a connection in Atlanta. The flight is pretty bumpy, which is fine with Sherri because for some bizarre reason, turbulence puts her right to sleep and that is what she wanted to do. So she was out like a light for most of the first leg of the flight. Not much else to report there. We got to Atlanta, made our connection, and were off to Las Vegas. They played the Bee Movie on the flight, but neither of us was really interested in watching it. We both read our books that we had brought and started really looking forward to sleeping in our own bed that night.

We get to Las Vegas a little early actually, right about 6:00pm. Since we had placed a reservation with BelTrans for a car to pick us up, we headed directly to baggage claim to meet up with our driver and eventually our luggage. We thought because we were so early we may have trouble finding the driver, but she was right there with our name on her sign. Our luggage actually was some of the first ones out. Sweet! Early flight, driver waiting, luggage out fast, things were going really smooth. Last time we were on a flight from Orlando, our luggage was lost for a day.

We followed the driver out to the car, and found a stretch limo waiting for us. We always reserve a sedan so we were surprised to see a limo. Our driver explained that they were a little short on cars, so we got the limo. No complaints here. We loaded up the limo and headed to home. Even traffic was on our side this night.

We were home in no time, got our luggage unloaded from the limo, tipped the driver, and walked into our house. It was weird being home. It was also strangely quiet. Then, we called our friends who were watching our dog while we were gone and asked if we could come get her. They said sure, so we headed to the car.

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It was then when Chuck realized that he hadn’t even driven a car in over a week. We headed over to our friends house, knocked on the door, and were welcomed in. Our dog looked up but at first did not seem fazed by our arrival. As we got closer, and she got a sniff of Sherri, she went, true to her name, loca. Yes, the dog’s name is Loca. She gets so excited she starts spinning wildly and we begin to worry about her stability for a bit. Our friends ask us about her pacing. We honestly didn’t really think her walking was that bad. She would walk around the table in the dining room, then Sherri usually takes her for a walk outside and that ends it.

Then they took us out and showed us there backyard. Loca had walked so much in the same path while we were gone that she not only made a path around the whole edge of their yard, but removed all traces of grass and actually dug a pretty good rut. In addition to what she did on the grass, she followed the same path onto their cement where she left a dark trail. It was impressive. We didn’t know that such a little dog could do so much in a week.

We apologized profusely and were told that the grass will grow back and that she was fun to watch. But we were still embarrassed and a bit surprised. We loaded up the doggie and all of her supplies and headed home. With the living room full of luggage and the doggie stuff strewn about, we all decided to just call it a day. It was time for everyone to just go to bed. It was still only Saturday and we had a few days before we had to be back at work to take care of all the other stuff.

END OF REPORT

Next – Lessons Learned

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

Thanks for sharing the story of your trip and all your terrific photos! I can't wait for our trip and reading about your only makes me more excited!