Favorite Cruise moments

[Invisible Penguinboy]

These are all great, and i know how hard it is to pick just one moment. Like everybody else walking on to the ship the first time is a feeling that jsut can't be beat. We did however decide on one night that stood out above the rest. We traveled with a large group of friends, and me being seventeen i was friends with all the kids ages 5-17. The three littlest girls had never gotten room service before and thought that it was cool that they brought the food right to your room and you didnt have to pay for it. So one night we all went back to my room (which didn't make my neighbors to happy)and ordered ten pizzas and a dozen cookies. We wanted to make this a fun night so we went to scoops and got jimmies (sprinkles), M+M's and ice cream and put it all on top of our pizza. I know that it sounds gross, but just seeing my friends putting candy and icecrem on their pizza was so much fun. The actual best part of this night came after everybody left. Only one of my friends were still there and i was putting all the dished and trays outside so they could take them away. My friend opened the door and the bottom tray hit the door and i dropped all the trays and dishes on the floor. THis would not have been a big deal during the day, but it was after midnight and we had just eaten all that sugar and the two of us just fel on the floor laughing, and we just kept laughing even when my neighbors came out and yelled at us. I did feel bad for waking them up, but it was just one of the funniest things i had ever seen.

 

[JanDave]

We've been on 4 DCL cruises, with 2 more this year. Some of my memorable times are:

1. Seeing the Magic for the first time.

2. Being awestruck as we boarded and entered the beautiful atrium.

3. Having fun with Captain Hook at the adult pool one evening, just Captain Hook, my DH and myself.

4. The DCL pampering is wonderful!

5. The evening Dopey danced with my goddaughter, Alyssa (who has Down Syndrome) in the atrium. The afternoon Pluto and Alyssa did the hula at the Goofy pool.

6. The beauty of the 4th deck -- the lounge chairs, the ocean in view and the peacefulness I feel.

7. Cove Cafe -- on our last Cruise (9/18/05) we spent an evening there with several other DISers. What a great evening we had.

8. Palo -- what can I say. Such a beautiful place. Great memories.

9. Best of all -- All the wonderful DISers I've met on the Boards and the ships and kept in touch with over the years.

I know there are more memories I could share, but these are some of my favorites.

Jan

 

[Jhalkias]

I've thought several times about starting a thread like this, and thought it had probably been done . . . reading what all of you have said gives me goose bumps!

I thought I had my favorite moment, but now I have to list 4 -

1. Walking on my own late at night, with my family in bed, on deck 10 with nothing but ocean around me, and the ship almost to myself, and standing at the very front of the deck with the wind blowing me senseless and happy.

2. On our second cruise, coming over that bridge to Port Canaveral and seeing that beautiful ship so close, and knowing we would soon be on it. It feels the same every time, but that second time was just awesome!

3. Being on deck 9 when one of the bands was playing later in the evening, and most people had left. They were playing "Brown Eyed Girl", and I was swinging my giggling 4 year old brown eyed girl in a wide arc off her feet by both arms as some people looked at us as if I was nuts, and others smiled.

4. Meeting up with friends from these boards on our one Eastern Cruise, and our last cruise, and being able to eat dinner and share friendships that have lasted beyond the cruises.

and oh, one more . . .

Being on the Golden Eagle Catamaran on our First Eastern Cruise with my then 14 year old son, and riding the waves on the way back like a great rollercoaster, while some of our group of DIS'ers sipped champagne, and others lost their breakfast - priceless!

John

 

[RKB]

Ours was this: We left Chankanaab park after a great day with the dolphins and snorkeling. We hailed a taxi. We only had to say the word "Disney" and the driver shook his head in a yes motion and we were on our way. As he drove us to the shopping/port area I was commenting on how I hadn't heard the ship's horn yet. My son mentioned that he had heard it and it was great. Well, the taxi pulled up and stopped and as we got out and were gathering our belongings the Magic sounded her horn - When You Wish Upon a Star! Right on cue - as if she heard me say that I wanted to hear her horn! We all looked amazed for a second then burst out laughing.

 

[poohssmum]

Although I have so many wonderful memories, seeing the Magic for the first time, hearing that horn, feeling the wind on my face, the absolute joy on my children's faces ... this is my absolute favorite memory.

On our first cruise, May, 2003 the Piano bar was where Diversions is now. We had late seating dinner and they had a family sing-along show between the evening show and late dinner. One night they had all the kids on stage to help them sing the Hokey-Pokey. Another night they asked the kids to come up on stage and sing a joke. My youngest DS, then 3-1/2 decided that he really wanted to tell a joke. I explained that he had to politely raise his hand and wait to be called on. He did exactly what I told him, then got upset when he didn't get picked. I said they couldn't see him, so he moved to the outside of our table, but right behind a pillar. The next time I told him he'd have to move a bit more so they could see him. This time, he raised his hand, didn't say a word, just walked right in front of the stage. Unfortunately, they had just chosen a child from the back. BUT one of the Piano players commented that he'd never seen anything more adorable in his life AND my DS got to go up on stage next. Of course, by this time, he'd forgotten his joke, but he got on stage just like he'd wanted

 

[jrabbit]

I just remembered another favorite cruise moment. Our excursion on St. Maarten got cancelled and DW asked the cruise director what was the pretiest beach to go to. He said Orient Beach (clothing optional ) so we went there . Up until that point DW was dead set against going on any excursion that had the "warning" about partial nudity being a possibility. Just another example of the Disney Magic

 

[Invisible Penguinboy]

Hey everybody- I love hearing these stories, they all make me want to go back on the cruise. Any I wanted to add another one of my favorite cruise moments so the thread would be moved up and more people could share their stories.
I have had a lot of trouble picking out favorite moment number two, but I think this one will do. On the first night we were on board, I was exploring the ship with one of my friends. We started as low as they would let us go, and when we finally got to the top it was after 11 pm and it was very windy. My friend was wearing a skirt and it kept blowing up (thats not my favorite part) so we ran to the very front of the ship behind this big plastic barrier thing. It was so cool looking up at the stars, and I thought it would be even cooler to pull a titanic (I'm the King of the World) so I went as far up as I could and stood on the rail and screamed as loud as I could "I'm the king of the world!" My friend although a little reluctant joined me and together we just stood at the front of the ship having fun, and I'm sure looking pretty stupid.

 

[auntrenae]

Thanks for making me cry happy tears,

I have a few memories I'll remember forever!

On our first cruise, my very conservative, very businesslike DH dancing in the hallways because he was happy.

on our 2nd cruise, seeing my DS21 snorkeling for the first time and seeing his joy when he saw the fish underwater and he grabbed my hand and thanked me for sharing the experience with him.

Same cruise, seeing my aforementioned DH being chosen as one of the Village People and dancing onstage like he'd been born to do it. This time 2 of our DS's were there and came up to us and said, 'Dad, I didn't know you could dance!'

On my last cruise, taking my 82 year old DFIL to stingray city. It was his first time with sunscreen, snorkeling, and swimming in warm water. He was a little scared, but Capt. Marvin (who is 87) said, if I can captain this boat, you can go in. He finally held a stingray in his arms and looked like a kid on his first Christmas! I'll never forget that moment as long as I live!

 

[geffric]

sp many memories.. it is hard to just list a few.. but first that comes to mind was our first cruise.. we did a 3 day to see if the kid, who were real little at the time, would be okay with the boat and all.. they loved the towel animals and the chocolates on their pillow and the fun at the club., the Mickey bars, playing at Castaway Cay... on the last night my DS#2 said " Mom, don't put the suitcase in the hall, let's live here forever. I love the Magic.!!"


another time , we were in St Thomas and were parked near another cruise ship It was so close that we could all see each other on the decks waiting for the ships to leave... at one point in time, the people from the other ship yelled" we have Casinos" and one person on the Magic said.. " we have babysitters" ..

then the other ships horn blasted a toot and the Magic sang her song.. way to cool... the people on the other ship yelled... we can't top that!!!..

 

[roscodog]

My DD5 is rather reserved. Kind of wallflower type of girl. It was rather surprising seeing her dance it up during the sailaway party.

 

[MariettaC]

The sailaway party at the start of the cruise and the children's show at the end.

 

[barkley]

oh the memories are flooding over me....several but here are a select few:

Halloween Cruise-seeing all of the cast members dressed in dalmation costumes.

Halloween Cruise-the cabin to cabin trick or treating that several of us on the DIS boards put together for the kids in our group.

Our first cruise-my (then 2 1/2 year old) son waking me up at 2 a.m. our first night saying "bye-bye mommy" as he ran out of the cabin and down the hallway!

Same cruise (same son) passing my husband and I in a common area one night with a tall, STUNNING ( and as they say "very well put together") 19 or 20 year blond female castmember on his arm. He got "bored" in the toddler center so he convinced her to "go for a walk".

Same cruise (you guessed-same kid) walks with us past 2 or 3 of the bars, and all of the bartenders start calling out to him "hey Spencer man-how ya doing?" (found out he was convincing his blond walking companion to get him maricchino cherries during their nightly strolls-the bartenders loved him because they had the hots for his companion and rarely got the opportunity to talk to her-they would give him a highball glass full of cherries so his visits would last longer!)

Our wonderful wait staff, incredible cabin stewards, fantasmic food...

 

[skyhawk]

Not a specific moment - there are too many to pick out just one. I must say however, that the overall experience of sharing this wonderful experience with my 2 kids. While my kids are "my kids", in many ways we are friends as well. We like to play games together, and hang out. The satisfaction of seeing them have the best time of their lives, was an amazing experience for me. I'm sure this is something they will always rememebr, and they can tell their kids about it.

Oh, and the sunset at Key West - I took an amazing picture of it.

 

[Susie51]

I enjoyed your stories of great memories. I'm going to be looking for those Mickey clouds.

This will be my first Disney cruise, so my best memories are from other ships.

1. Standing at the rail in Alaska around midnight with a glow in the sky, white-peaked mountains all around, and a ribbon of water twisting its way through unbelieveable scenery.

2. Snorkeling in Cozemul and seeing conch shells, starfish, nurse shark, baby sting ray, eels, and so many beautiful fish.

3. Anchored in Maui in March and watching hundreds of whales from the top deck. We could see them breach, lots of water spouts, surface together(momma, baby, and escort)

4. Just before sailing into San Francisco Bay, standing forward on the upper deck watching dolphins swim and dive towards the ship. They would jump together in unison, often 3 or 4 at a time. Out to sea, we could see the waves of dolphins approaching us. As we got closer to land, an otter( or it could have been a seal) went by, then following him a shark passed the ship.

Wow! I can't wait to make new memories on the Wonder. Each cruise has its own special moments.

THANKS FOR SHARING

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Sitting on deck four in those comfie chairs with my husband and our best friends as she ship sailed out of Florida just relaxing and watching the water go by. That was just awesome!

Staying with our Daughter in the same room that we had on our honeymoon. Such a great time! She was only 10 months, so really too young to know what was going on, but you could see that she was having a great time!

 

[jw2736]

A number of great moments come to mind but specifically back in 1998 when i was an WDW CM assigned to a VIP security team. We were headed to the port to provide security during the Magic's inauguration. It was to be a horribly hot day and we to to be in suits but that did not ruin the moment. As we headed to the port before daybreak, the van we were riding in became eerie quiet as we crossed over those now famous bridges. And there she was, the Magic, all lit up and those smokestacks gleaming bright in the dark night. My first time seeing how majestic the ship was, did bring a tear to my eye.
As the day wore on, VIP's arrived. The Magic had pulled out of port to make its grand entrance later. Then with motor boats, kites, fireworks and wave runners, the Magic made her way into port on cue with the crew members showering the ship with confeti. The stage show was full of activity and then Roy Disney and wife arrived in an old fashioned car to christen the ship. The picture of that day is on deck 4 in the lobby area.
The party moved into the terminal and those lucky people got to board the ship for her first voyage.
The next year, i had the privilege to again be there for the Wonder's first voyage. That time the Magic led the Wonder into port to have Tinkerbell Christen her.
My other best moment aboard was in June 2003. I had secretly invited my parents and my GF parents. We arrived on board on managed to stay hidden from everyone until going into the welcome aboard variety show. Needless to say she thought something was up. I had set up with Captain Henry to propose to my girlfriend during the formal night photo. There was a huge crowd and just after we had our pic taken, I knelt on one knee and proposed. There was a huge "ohhhhh" from the crowd. Our first anniversary in on MArch 26 and Im eager to get on board again.

 

[jrabbit]

Same cruise (same son) passing my husband and I in a common area one night with a tall, STUNNING ( and as they say "very well put together") 19 or 20 year blond female castmember on his arm. He got "bored" in the toddler center so he convinced her to "go for a walk".

Ah, to be a toddler again (or at least get that type of escort now!!)

 

[BethC1952]

I think all of my moments are favorites, but a few stand out more than others.

We've done four Disney Cruises, so here's (at least) one from each:

Cruise 1. May, 2001 - I don't remember telling the travel agent that we were celebrating our anniversary. It was a delayed celebration. Our anniversary is Dec. 30, but we couldn't get away until May because we were involved in some legal matters, which all turned out well. On our second night, we were dining in Animator's Palate, when they announced that there was one table in the room that had two honeymooning couples and an anniversary couple. We knew that there were two honeymooning couples at our table, and we wondered who could possible have that AND an anniversary couple. At that point, our head server, server and assistant server appeared at our table, with a special cake for each couple! DH swears he didn't tell anyone, and I know I didn't. To this day, I don't know how they knew, but it was great fun!

Cruise 2. Dec. 2003 - It was DFIL's first vacation ever (like so many others here). DMIL wouldn't come with us (she's afraid to travel). We were standing on Deck 10 during the sailaway, and I couldn't find "Pa". Then I saw DH laughing hysterically. "Pa" doing the "Cha Cha Slide" with a very hot young CM who was on vacation! I'm not sure which was more surprising--that he had this hot "babe" on his arm, or that he knew how to do the Cha-Cha Slide! Like so many others, we never even thought of the camera!

Later on that same cruise, we were returning from The Cadillac Lounge sometime after midnight. None of us had been drinking anything except Coca-Cola. DH and his father were dancing to the Christmas music playing in the hallway on our way back to our room. It was great music. DH swears it was James Brown singing "White Christmas", but I can't verify that! Anyway, they danced their way from the mid-ship elevator almost to our room (6085) before they stomped on some empty room service dishes which went clattering everywhere and making huge amounts of noise! DH is normally very restrained, so his is dad. This was so out of character for either of them!

Cruise 3. Dec. 2003 - We had a family group of 9 with us, including my DGD, who was 3 1/2. She couldn't wait to get dressed up for our night at Triton's. She was planning to wear her blue Sleeping Beauty dress, and had talked about it for weeks. We told her not to be disappointed if she didn't get to see Princess Aurora on the cruise, or if Princess Aurora was wearing her pink gown instead of the blue one. Well, she was the first one to spot Princess Aurora, wearing her BLUE gown for a photo session. DGD waited patiently in line for quite a while. However, when she got to the Princess, they ended up having a wonderful conversation! Princess Aurora explained to DGD that Merriweather had just changed her gown from pink to blue because she saw that there was another lovely princess in the line in a blue gown (incredibly, all the "young princesses" ahead of us were in pink). DGD was also the last person in line. As she started to walk away, Princess Aurora asked if we could wait just another minute. At that point, the rest of the princesses came out, too (and some who aren't princesses) and posed for a picture. Princess Aurora, Belle (in her yellow gown) Snow White, Mulan, Alice, Wendy and Minnie Mouse all gathered around, fussed over our princess for a while, and let us take loads of pictures. On the last night of the cruise, when we returned from dinner, there were several of those photo holders (the card stock ones) from Shutters on DGD's bed. There were pictures of her with each princess, one with all of them, and they were all autographed! That was major pixie dust.

Cruise 4. Dec 2004 - DH and I were standing in shallow water at CC, just watching the water. Suddenly, he started looking down with a surprised look and said "Something just swam into my foot". We looked down, and there were two sting-rays! A parent and a baby! It was awesome!

Beth

 

[jlowejd5]

My favorite memory is one I actually brought home. When DW (then GF) and I went on our first cruise together, we were going through kind of a rough patch. Med school was really kicking her in the teeth, and I'd just gotten laid off (thank you, Bernie Ebbers @ WorldCom).

But I had done a lot of planning, and the BC portion had gone amazingly well. Both of us were so relieved to finally be on that ship that we were grinning like fools. She was on the verandah (after fifteen minutes spent trying to open the stupid door), overlooking the parking lot, and I took a picture of her that is still my favorite one in all the world. She was just so happy, so relaxed, and so natural.

Thanks, Disney.

 

[Invisible Penguinboy]

Hey everybody. Since I started this thread I have been thinking about my cruise and all the great times I had. I also love reading all of the other stories, it really makes my day better to hear about everybody having so much fun. Any way I thought of another of my favorite moments.

Me and two of the other boys in my group (both twelve or thirteen at the time) played Mr. Toad's Wild race(which we had to leave our advanced viewing of the Princess Diaries 2 to get to). It was pretty simple, all you had to do was lift the rope the right was and the frog hopped to the end. Anyway I went into the competetion planning on letting one of them win. So it was the three of us and this guy that was probobly like 40 and I figured he would let them win too. He didn't. He was trying to win with all his might, so I stepped up and tied him at the very end. So we watched the rest of the competitors (mostly little kids) and my friends waited with me untill it was my turn to race again in the semi finals. The guy who I had tied wit before had already made the finals, and this time I was racing against kids who were probobly 14, and I felt bad beating them but I really wanted to get back at this guy. So now were racing in the finals and its the two of us and this other father with his little daughter. Now as soon as I saw her I assumed that this guy would let them win, but again he tried with all his might. My two friends who had been with me got everybody who was watching to cheer my frogs name (Seth-it was named after our invisible friend) :thewave: and of course I ended up beating him. It was great having all htese people that I didn's know cheering for me. I now have my Mr. Toads Wild Race Champion trophy sitting at the very front of my trophy collection.