cdndizzylizzy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2007
- Messages
- 429
It's sad to write about the final night on board the Magic - I guess that's why I have procrastinated from finishing my Trip Report.
After our amazing day at Castaway Cay, it was time to clean up and enjoy the "Til We Meet Again" dinner and the show afterwards. The show was a fun bookend to the week, as it brought out the same characters as the All Aboard show just a short 6 days earlier...
The dinner was a bittersweet one. We had our tip envelopes ready for Andrea and Ivan, and the girls enjoyed hand-delivering these to them. We received excellent service from them, as always, and in particular Ivan had gone out of his way for our dessert. The night before, we had asked for flambeed bananas for me, and for the chocolate mint ice cream sundae for DD5. Even though neither were on the menu for this day, he made sure they arrived when it was time for dessert. I was pleased that he had made this effort. Over dinner we also reminisced with our table neighbors to the left and the right - over the course of the week we had enjoyed idle conversation - how was your day, where are your kids, so-and-so looks a bit sunburned... And now, we were saying goodbye, hope you have a nice life. It was the beginning of the sadness....
After the show, we braved Shutters - it was PACKED full of people. In the end, I found a great pic of DD5 taken that afternoon on the beach at Castaway Cay. It captured her spirit so fully that I simply could not resist! All in all, we spent less than $100 on pictures from Shutters - we brought home the Embarkation photo, semi-formal photo, 2 pictures with Cinderella (1 for each daughter) and the picture of DD5 mentioned above. I am glad that I did not buy a larger package, and have no regrets 2 months later about pictures that I recycled during the week (although I must admit that it is certainly painful to drop pictures into that slot!).
I was also waiting to speak to the booking agent to try to book while still on board. I now know that the night before disembarking is NOT a good time to do this. There were several families wanting to talk to her, and we really did not feel like she was in a position to sit down with us and really talk about our options. We ended up rebooking anyways, 3 weeks later, and I am down about $300 (from the loss of the 10% discount) plus my OB SR credits. So, note to self for next time, be prepared and see them midweek, or right away and get it over with, if you want to book again while on board!
Our main server had tipped us about the final farewell with all of the characters, so we made sure that we were in the Atrium for that special time. Sadly, DD10 was completely done - I mean exhausted. If you think about it - a week of activity, and particularly on this Friday in question - a full day in the sun and fresh air, 2 hours of snorkeling, a large-ish, yummy meal and 2 desserts, and it was already past her bedtime. She sat on the couch and sulked for a while, but we know when to let her be, so we did. DD5 was in her glory - she flitted from Peter Pan and Wendy, to getting her picture taken with Franco and the evil stepsisters and then on to the Fairy Godmother. At the end, we watched the grand finale on the staircase, and then we knew it really was time to head back to the room and get packing...
Back in the room, the frenzy of packing began. Exactly how DID we fit all of these shoes and things into these suitcases? Dirty laundry, even if folded, never fits into suitcases like it would if it was clean! The girls were desperate to go to sleep, but we kept them up and packing until 11 pm, including the last minute trip to get our souvenirs from She Sells Seashells, spoke to our room steward and made sure that he knew that we had a few more bags to get outside our door, and got everything done at about 11:30 pm. Sadly, we settled down for our last night and fell asleep quickly.
Saturday Morning
We were up just before 6 am, in order to get down to the Walt Disney Theatre for customs on time. This was handled very smoothly, and we were out of there with our passports back in our possession by about 6:10 am. Since there was some time before our breakfast time slot of 6:45, we went out to Deck 4 for a while (as we were already docked at Port Canaveral, DD5 was OK with Deck 4) and we watched the unloading of empties and the re-stocking going on. WOW - lots of beer kegs, LOTS of milk, and that was just in the 5 to 10 minutes that we were watching - truly a marvel that they turn the whole thing around so quickly, as it occurred to me that next week's cruisers were having breakfast somewhere and counting the minutes until it was time for them to arrive at the port!
We headed down to breakfast with Andrea and Ivan, and had a restful, relaxing breakfast with them catering to our every need - none of their other assigned families had come to Parrot Cay, so for once they were able to relax a bit and chat with us. Certainly in our case I did not notice any decline whatsoever in the level of service we received - I guess our tip was considered appropriate...
Begrudgingly, we headed out of Parrot Cay shortly before 8 am, and went for one more walkabout the Magic. We took some pictures with Mickey at the wheel in the Atrium, and contemplated whether we should just get going. It was difficult to drag ourselves to leave. Eventually, we headed out through the gates to the well wishes of the CMs, and headed down to get our luggage.
As posted on other TRs, the disembarkation process, especially if you are ready to pay a few dollars for the porters, is smooth and seamless. We went down the escalators, and gave the nod to one of the porters waiting at the bottom. He led us to our area where our luggage was stored, based on our stateroom number, and all 4 of our suitcases were right where they should have been. He loaded them up on his carrier, and walked us straight to the waiting bus for ground transfers back to MCO. Before we could blink we were no longer on the Magic, and we were settled into seats on the bus for the 45 minute trip back to the airport.
For the most part, the vast majority of the bus passengers quietly snoozed, or slept outright, for the trip. Gone was the excitement and anticipation, replaced by the bittersweet emotions of just having had the best vacation of our lives.
We were at MCO some time between 9:30 and 10:00 am, giving us loads of time to check luggage, shop, have lunch, etc. before our 12:30 flight. We did those things, and DD10 settled into a chair to finish writing in her journal (her school assignment) about her adventures on board. She told me it helped make it easier to leave to write about the good times she had - I know how that feels - that's why so many of us write Trip Reports!
A few hours later, we were safely in Buffalo, and were home a few hours after that.
Afterword
I am finding it hard, 2 months later, to stop talking to my friends and co-workers about our adventures on board the Magic. I am sure that they are bored to tears now, and they are thinking to themselves that it's time for me to leave my vacation in the past. Soon, I suppose, we will stop thinking about our last cruise, as it will time to start the dreaming and planning process for our NEXT one!!!
A month or so ago, the girls spent the evening with their Nana reliving their holiday through creating their own special scrapbooks. Now, I am NOT a scrapbooker - kudos to all of you who are, but I just don't have the patience most of the time. But this was a really fun activity. I printed 15 or so of the best pictures (many of which are also in this TR), and they added these to their scrapbooks along with items purchased from a scrapbooking store, as well as cutouts from various DCL marketing literature (obtained before and during the cruise). They also put their KTTW cards, their airline tickets, and various other memorabilia into their scrapbooks. The luggage tickets are also prime items for a scrapbook! DD10 also has her ticket from her hair braiding appointment, and she stole my Boarding Pass as well - at least we will always know that we had #7 for our first voyage on the Magic!
So for now, this is the end of our adventure. I still find myself lurking the DIS, and have already joined my fellow cruisers on the Feb 24 2008 Meet Board!
Happy sailing everyone!
After our amazing day at Castaway Cay, it was time to clean up and enjoy the "Til We Meet Again" dinner and the show afterwards. The show was a fun bookend to the week, as it brought out the same characters as the All Aboard show just a short 6 days earlier...
The dinner was a bittersweet one. We had our tip envelopes ready for Andrea and Ivan, and the girls enjoyed hand-delivering these to them. We received excellent service from them, as always, and in particular Ivan had gone out of his way for our dessert. The night before, we had asked for flambeed bananas for me, and for the chocolate mint ice cream sundae for DD5. Even though neither were on the menu for this day, he made sure they arrived when it was time for dessert. I was pleased that he had made this effort. Over dinner we also reminisced with our table neighbors to the left and the right - over the course of the week we had enjoyed idle conversation - how was your day, where are your kids, so-and-so looks a bit sunburned... And now, we were saying goodbye, hope you have a nice life. It was the beginning of the sadness....
After the show, we braved Shutters - it was PACKED full of people. In the end, I found a great pic of DD5 taken that afternoon on the beach at Castaway Cay. It captured her spirit so fully that I simply could not resist! All in all, we spent less than $100 on pictures from Shutters - we brought home the Embarkation photo, semi-formal photo, 2 pictures with Cinderella (1 for each daughter) and the picture of DD5 mentioned above. I am glad that I did not buy a larger package, and have no regrets 2 months later about pictures that I recycled during the week (although I must admit that it is certainly painful to drop pictures into that slot!).
I was also waiting to speak to the booking agent to try to book while still on board. I now know that the night before disembarking is NOT a good time to do this. There were several families wanting to talk to her, and we really did not feel like she was in a position to sit down with us and really talk about our options. We ended up rebooking anyways, 3 weeks later, and I am down about $300 (from the loss of the 10% discount) plus my OB SR credits. So, note to self for next time, be prepared and see them midweek, or right away and get it over with, if you want to book again while on board!
Our main server had tipped us about the final farewell with all of the characters, so we made sure that we were in the Atrium for that special time. Sadly, DD10 was completely done - I mean exhausted. If you think about it - a week of activity, and particularly on this Friday in question - a full day in the sun and fresh air, 2 hours of snorkeling, a large-ish, yummy meal and 2 desserts, and it was already past her bedtime. She sat on the couch and sulked for a while, but we know when to let her be, so we did. DD5 was in her glory - she flitted from Peter Pan and Wendy, to getting her picture taken with Franco and the evil stepsisters and then on to the Fairy Godmother. At the end, we watched the grand finale on the staircase, and then we knew it really was time to head back to the room and get packing...
Back in the room, the frenzy of packing began. Exactly how DID we fit all of these shoes and things into these suitcases? Dirty laundry, even if folded, never fits into suitcases like it would if it was clean! The girls were desperate to go to sleep, but we kept them up and packing until 11 pm, including the last minute trip to get our souvenirs from She Sells Seashells, spoke to our room steward and made sure that he knew that we had a few more bags to get outside our door, and got everything done at about 11:30 pm. Sadly, we settled down for our last night and fell asleep quickly.
Saturday Morning
We were up just before 6 am, in order to get down to the Walt Disney Theatre for customs on time. This was handled very smoothly, and we were out of there with our passports back in our possession by about 6:10 am. Since there was some time before our breakfast time slot of 6:45, we went out to Deck 4 for a while (as we were already docked at Port Canaveral, DD5 was OK with Deck 4) and we watched the unloading of empties and the re-stocking going on. WOW - lots of beer kegs, LOTS of milk, and that was just in the 5 to 10 minutes that we were watching - truly a marvel that they turn the whole thing around so quickly, as it occurred to me that next week's cruisers were having breakfast somewhere and counting the minutes until it was time for them to arrive at the port!
We headed down to breakfast with Andrea and Ivan, and had a restful, relaxing breakfast with them catering to our every need - none of their other assigned families had come to Parrot Cay, so for once they were able to relax a bit and chat with us. Certainly in our case I did not notice any decline whatsoever in the level of service we received - I guess our tip was considered appropriate...
Begrudgingly, we headed out of Parrot Cay shortly before 8 am, and went for one more walkabout the Magic. We took some pictures with Mickey at the wheel in the Atrium, and contemplated whether we should just get going. It was difficult to drag ourselves to leave. Eventually, we headed out through the gates to the well wishes of the CMs, and headed down to get our luggage.
As posted on other TRs, the disembarkation process, especially if you are ready to pay a few dollars for the porters, is smooth and seamless. We went down the escalators, and gave the nod to one of the porters waiting at the bottom. He led us to our area where our luggage was stored, based on our stateroom number, and all 4 of our suitcases were right where they should have been. He loaded them up on his carrier, and walked us straight to the waiting bus for ground transfers back to MCO. Before we could blink we were no longer on the Magic, and we were settled into seats on the bus for the 45 minute trip back to the airport.
For the most part, the vast majority of the bus passengers quietly snoozed, or slept outright, for the trip. Gone was the excitement and anticipation, replaced by the bittersweet emotions of just having had the best vacation of our lives.
We were at MCO some time between 9:30 and 10:00 am, giving us loads of time to check luggage, shop, have lunch, etc. before our 12:30 flight. We did those things, and DD10 settled into a chair to finish writing in her journal (her school assignment) about her adventures on board. She told me it helped make it easier to leave to write about the good times she had - I know how that feels - that's why so many of us write Trip Reports!
A few hours later, we were safely in Buffalo, and were home a few hours after that.
Afterword
I am finding it hard, 2 months later, to stop talking to my friends and co-workers about our adventures on board the Magic. I am sure that they are bored to tears now, and they are thinking to themselves that it's time for me to leave my vacation in the past. Soon, I suppose, we will stop thinking about our last cruise, as it will time to start the dreaming and planning process for our NEXT one!!!
A month or so ago, the girls spent the evening with their Nana reliving their holiday through creating their own special scrapbooks. Now, I am NOT a scrapbooker - kudos to all of you who are, but I just don't have the patience most of the time. But this was a really fun activity. I printed 15 or so of the best pictures (many of which are also in this TR), and they added these to their scrapbooks along with items purchased from a scrapbooking store, as well as cutouts from various DCL marketing literature (obtained before and during the cruise). They also put their KTTW cards, their airline tickets, and various other memorabilia into their scrapbooks. The luggage tickets are also prime items for a scrapbook! DD10 also has her ticket from her hair braiding appointment, and she stole my Boarding Pass as well - at least we will always know that we had #7 for our first voyage on the Magic!
So for now, this is the end of our adventure. I still find myself lurking the DIS, and have already joined my fellow cruisers on the Feb 24 2008 Meet Board!
Happy sailing everyone!
