Eastern Caribbean Jan 28-Feb 5

[jerelle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcZy749at6s

 

[fumipappa]

We have posted a little video from the Animators Palate show at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKM3HewIYS0

Enjoy!

by seeing video, looks like our tables were very close each other!

 

[jerelle]

by seeing video, looks like our tables were very close each other!

Oh really? Did you have the same servers? I posted their pictures. Our table was 74 I think. Cool and I do hope you and your family had as wonderful time as we did!

 

[jerelle]

Really enjoying your report .... we had Loyd looking after us on the WBTA last September and he was fabulous !! Love your photos. So many wonderful memories !

Wasn't Loyd a doll? He is having twins!!!! Maybe even now-his wife is due the end of the month but he was heading home 2 weeks after our cruise ended. I couldn't believe how understanding his wife must have been...

 

[jerelle]

I woke up feeling very swollen. I looked down at my ankles and thought, OH BOY! I must be retaining water. I decided to try to eat plain foods today and maybe drink less alcohol(well at least the food part anyway!)

It was time to exercise and I headed alone down to Deck 4 because DH was complaining a bit about his back. I was surprised after my first trip round, to see him waiting for me by the doors. MY PRINCE!!! So we did a run walk thing and felt that at least we'd tried to get some exercise on this trip. 2.5 to 3 miles was our goal and run or walk, we always met it. Go US!

Since this was to be our character breakfast, we quickly headed back so I could get ready and wake Sleeping Beauty. DH decided it was not what he wanted to do and opted to head up to have early morning sun on Deck 10.

DD and I found the character breakfast to be lovely. We've had 3 other character breakfasts in the World. One at the Contemporary at Chef Mickeys, one at Cinderella's Castle and one at the Crystal Palace. We know the costs affiliated and appreciated the value of this meal. That said, if you have done a WDW character breakfast before, bear in mind that there are FAR more people for these characters to visit on the cruise than in the park or resort breakfasts. If you keep that in mind, you will not be disappointed in the rushed character experiences.

I will say that I was very pleased with something our server Zeljko did: when my camera ran out of the new batteries I had just put into it 5 minutes before we left for our breakfast(several times I wanted to pitch that camera overboard!!) and I had to run back to the room and get new ones. We were staying at the very opposite side of the ship and I was in heels, so lets say I was gone for about 10 minutes. During this time, our DD missed pictures with Chip and Minnie (our table mates were sweet enough to take pictures for me, but I wanted pics on our camera as well) When I returned, he told me what had happened and how he'd try and get them to return. He made it happen and I was able to snap a quick picture with both individually, before we left the dining room. They don't call that ship the Magic for nothing!

Since DD is 14, we didn't do autographs, so I can't comment on that aspect, but I can say it was definitely more rushed than the breakfast interactions we were used to. That said, it was excellent value(included in your cruise!) and delightful. The food choices were also good but far more limited I'd found than our Lumiere's breakfasts. It wasn't my favourite meal but quite frankly, no one is there to eat. Characters are ABOUND!

I had already made little flower hair pins and cut out Tattoos for our FE, so I made extra for Pixie Dust on Sea Days. I thought I would ask my DD, who used to be shy , to hand these out to little ones, which I hoped would help her come out of her shell more and also hopefully spread the Dust. They were well received and she got a lot out of that! Small things, right?

We spent most of our day on the loungers under the UV protected glass facing the ocean on Deck 9. I do love the sun, but was worried about the UV that beautiful sunny day and we had, IMHO already got our fair share of Vitamin D. USE THAT SUNSCREEN. I got a good enough burn with a waterproof 60, but I think I didn't reapply enough after ocean swimming.

From our loungers, we were able to hear the band and see all the action at the kiddie pool. Later in the day, they did ice carving at Goofy's pool, which was very cool. We watched from inside the pool(which, because of the seas that day had become our own personal wave pool!)

I also got an outdoor chair massage on a sea day-perhaps it was today-in any case, it was very nice and only $46. My therapist was named Katie. I am an RMT so I appreciate the hard work for little money these therapists get. I also won't pay $140 for a massage since I can get 2 for that at home (last of the big time spenders, I know!) but I had a kink in my neck that I needed worked out. I was pleasantly surprised with the knowledge and the pressure. Not like your normal relaxation massage and I asked Katie if she was registered. It's not exactly the same in the UK, but she definitely knew what she was doing.

**If you get a massage on the cruise, PLEASE tip well. My friend worked on the Wonder and made $20 on a $140 massage. They work long hours for little pay, as the other staff do, but I think people don't always know this, since the spa prices don't reflect what their hourly wage actually is.

We started to watch Cars on Funnelvision, but we had booked Tea with Alice and had to run off to get ready for that. It was so sweet and even though it is geared for little ones, we LOVED it too. I did have a heads up that they don't really serve tea, just apple juice with the cookies, so I grabbed some from the drink machines before we headed to the show. There is an opportunity to take photos with Alice and the Mad Hatter after the show and I felt it was well organized.

The show that night was Dreams and I thought it was the best show all week. It was a lovely salute to many favourite movies and featured Peter Pan. My DD finally bought something on her sea card that night: a chocolate smoothie for the show and DH and I brought wine from our room.

Here, I must mention that you can pick up wine glasses at any bar and we were NEVER given a hard time at all. Only a "here you go". GOD bless you DCL-our bank account LOVES you. (We had also ordered some up before dinner, alongwith some cookies and milk, from room service.)

After the show, DD and I headed to Jason Bishop's Cabaret show, since we were already dressed for dinner. DH missed out as he chose to see the Dreams show in casual clothing. Jason played his own versions of popular and retro songs and was very funny.

Dinner was semi formal and the Captains Gala. I think you could have met the Captain and Crew as well beforehand in the Atrium, but we declined. We dined in Animator's that evening and while they didn't do the SHOW, we stayed almost until 10:15 each night and were fortunate enough to see the last part where they light up the room as an added bonus because we'd stayed so late!

DD went to her club after dinner for a special Homecoming Night and DH and I went up for a nightcap at Sessions. We really enjoyed the atmosphere in that bar and the quite talented piano player Ed Kelly, who we found out was a fellow Canadian! It was a lovely day at sea! ​

 

[jerelle]

 

[jerelle]

 

[jerelle]

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[jerelle]

 

[jerelle]

They choose a March Hare and a White Rabbit to join them for tea. So sweet.

 

[jerelle]

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[jerelle]

 

[jerelle]

 

[jerelle]

 

[jerelle]

Under the Beatles!

 

[jerelle]

 

[jerelle]

I'd like to shoutout to 2 couples who we saw regularly, almost every day a few times a day. You know who you are and I'd like your permission before I name you. (I'm always concerned about people's privacy.) That's why I've never used anything other than first names of our tablemates, nor have I included any photos of them. That was indeed our favourite part of the cruise: connecting with new people and meeting new friends.

The couples in question: Couple A: J and J celebrating their 25th Anniversary and couple B: C and J also cruising ALONE. It was so nice to meet and talk to you both. Several times, we'd run into couple A when DH was looking for me or I was looking for him. It became a running joke that we needed one of those kids bracelets for the adults. We'd run into couple B often at breakfast or dinner.

It was lovely meeting you both and also meeting our table mates from Niagara Falls. xo​

 

[5boyz]

Thanks everyone. Works been busy but I will try and post Day 2 and 3 later today.

BTW: Does anyone know how I can make these pics bigger? I think I am doing everything right but somehow they are coming out thumbnail size.

Ask Lauren ..Im sure she will know... Ok so on our first cruise JD also forgot his pants and that was the joke of the week with our new friends/table mates..this cruise I was one of those that had to leave the table the first night at PP. We had Godwin too. So far trip report A+

 

[TifffanyD]

The show that night was the Villains show, which I found to be fantastic(as good as any at the parks) and we ate in Lumiere's that night for formal night.

Did you hear when Hades said that the suck-ups sit in the front??? He was talking to schimj! LOL

 

[jerelle]

Did you hear when Hades said that the suck-ups sit in the front??? He was talking to schimj! LOL

WE DID hear that! Hilarious!!!