From WDW to DL With Love - January 06, 2011 part 5

[goofprincess]

Arrived back home last night. Anxious to hear reports from ChipperMerlin re the 2-day cruise to nowhere!

Our experiences were up and down with GS and servers but had a wonderful time. Next cruise will be on the Dream and hope to see familiar faces.

 

[DCLtravler]

I echo the sentiments of many here! This was a wonderful cruise and meeting so many of you made it even better. Thank you to EVERYONE for your amazing and creative FE gifts. We had such a great time coming back to the room and seeing all of the treasures awaiting our return. Each time I would ponder your ability to think of so many different, yet equally creative, ideas...WOW!!

On the final at sea day, my sis and bro-in-law met a family who were on the cruise for the first time. They said that it was the BEST vacation they have ever had in their lives and plan on coming back again and again...I think we sometimes get so used to the "Disney" way that we forget just how amazing their service and programming is compared to so many other companies...even on their worst days. It is refreshing to be reminded of the magic that we all felt on our first DCL cruise experience and it makes me grateful for the time I could spend on my floating "home."

We are booked for the Mexican Riviera cruise on Feb. 26 2012...Which also happens to be my 40th b-day! So, I plan on going into my 40's with smiling and singing on the beautiful Disney Wonder. We also booked a "dummy" cruise in hopes of a Hawaiian Cruise announcement in the near future! My guess is that if they do one, we will be seeing many of you again!

Thanks again to all of you who went above and beyond to create and organize events and excursions to make our experience so unique. I have NEVER had so much fun!!

One final thing...to answer the "most favorite" question, I think it would have to be the "Outdoor Adventure" in PV! Boy was that water COLD, but I am already looking forward to doing it again next year.

I am almost done with all the laundry and unpacking. My next task is to buy frames for all of the pictures we now have (Ducky lithos, PC Cert, PC map...).

Blessings,
Melissa

 

[Tami0220]

I kept a list of everything I received in the FE and I had planned on sending each person an individual thank you. However, I am REALLY SICK! Fortunately it didnt happen til the 2nd to last night. But anyway, I was totally blown away by the thought and gifts that we received. Thank you one and all for all your efforts. We had a great time.

 

[Happy Goofy]

We went tp California Adventure with Russ and Judy- WaitingToMeet Dumbo- and had a great time. We did run into some other cruisers in the park. Saw the World of Color last night and it was great. It was very,very cool here. I know not like back in CT or MA.
Today john and I are going to Disneyland and we leave tomorrow for LV to visit some friends from the 08 PC cruise.
We will be home on the 27- that is in FL not CT

 

[sak0526]

What a wonderful trip!
Thanks to everyone for the awesome FE gifts.

Tenya we enjoyed your family at dinners. I hope Carly's foot gets better soon.

The airline gate checked our carry-ons and DH's did not get here. It has our video camera, underwater housing, digital camera, prescription dive mask and dive computers in it along with many other things. I sure hope they find it! What an expensive lost this will be.

I hope everyone had a great time and makes it home safe.

Thanks again to everyone for making our trip special!

OH NO!! I'm so sorry to hear they lost your stuff. The things - well they should pay to replace, but the pics and stuff, oh my! Thank you for working so hard to do the scuba thing. Jen loved it.

Carmen. Since I did not have the chance to meet you and your family, I had no clue that was your husband in the crew show. He was great. To sum up our cruise experance, they were not ready for a cruise this long. Our servers were wonderful. The food was great. Now our problem was with the horrible way they scheduled events. Clyaton even told my friend at the boat building race on the last day he would have to choose between seeing his child at Friendship Rocks or being in the contest that his family worked hard for a week or so. Really? He did not even try to help. My friend almost blew a fuse. This is just one of the few examples of major declines I noticed on DCL.

Yes, I agree scheduling was a bit off. But for 98% of the cruise - it was wonderful!

Arrived back home last night. Anxious to hear reports from ChipperMerlin re the 2-day cruise to nowhere!

Our experiences were up and down with GS and servers but had a wonderful time. Next cruise will be on the Dream and hope to see familiar faces.

I didnt realize ChipperMerlin were doing the 2 day. Yes, looking forward to hearing from all who did it how it was. A CM told me there are 1,200 kids on that one!! LoL!

I kept a list of everything I received in the FE and I had planned on sending each person an individual thank you. However, I am REALLY SICK! Fortunately it didnt happen til the 2nd to last night. But anyway, I was totally blown away by the thought and gifts that we received. Thank you one and all for all your efforts. We had a great time.

Us, too - on way home from airport we called a clinic and both went over to get checked out. sigh. what can you do. A lot of FEs i got were mixed up in that tags came off. so just a hearty THANK YOU to all you creative people for all the FEs!

17 degrees when we got home..,, I'd do this again in a heartbeat though!!

 

[carmie3377]

Smug Mug account is in process now. It was opened last night and galleries were created. Now I'm learning about it, how to create subgalleries, download, ect. I want to make sure I can answer questions before I send out the information. The site is kinda slow, but I guess that has to do with the fact that it doesn't compress the photos. It seems to be a great site but I feel like I have a bit to learn about it. I'm going to spend some time on it today and plan to get sign on information sent out by this evening.

 

[aan1701]

Yes, I agree scheduling was a bit off. But for 98% of the cruise - it was wonderful!



I didnt realize ChipperMerlin were doing the 2 day. Yes, looking forward to hearing from all who did it how it was. A CM told me there are 1,200 kids on that one!! LoL!

Yes the scheduling was a bit off. At first I thought it was because we missed Castaway but it really never changed. The pin thing was done poorly, but on flip side no one forced me to wait in line. Yes chipermerlin is on the 2 day. I will be seeing her at work today and I look forward to hearing her stories.

 

[carmie3377]

Carmen. Since I did not have the chance to meet you and your family, I had no clue that was your husband in the crew show. He was great. To sum up our cruise experance, they were not ready for a cruise this long. Our servers were wonderful. The food was great. Now our problem was with the horrible way they scheduled events. Clyaton even told my friend at the boat building race on the last day he would have to choose between seeing his child at Friendship Rocks or being in the contest that his family worked hard for a week or so. Really? He did not even try to help. My friend almost blew a fuse. This is just one of the few examples of major declines I noticed on DCL.

Thanks Alan. We didn't do the boat building but I did notice in the navigator that the finale conflicted with the Friendship Rocks. I mentioned to DH that I thought it was odd that they were at the same time.

As far as the FE gifts, so many great gifts!!! Thanks to everyone. We had a lot of fun coming back to the cabin to find all the awesome things in our FE.

I was bummed about not doing DL or the 2 day but now that we are home and settled, it is nice to be home and have a chance to unwind before tomorrow. Started back at the gym yesterday trying to get these 10 added pounds off Leaving in 20 minutes to hit the gym again.

Sorry to those who got sick or injured. Hope you still had a WONDERful cruise!!!

 

[Shoshie]

And, I love my SM gifts too - the mickey bag is packed for the office (what is office and why do I have to go there??) tomorrow morning.

I'm so glad!! I think at day at the office is bearable if Mickey is with you

 

[aan1701]

Thanks Alan. We didn't do the boat building but I did notice in the navigator that the finale conflicted with the Friendship Rocks. I mentioned to DH that I thought it was odd that they were at the same time.

That is just one example of poor planing. Also did anyone else notice the spell checker for the navigators did not work well?

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

We are home! The 2 day was crowded crowded crowded! But we just hid away in our cabin..

We had the most wonderful time! Even waiting for pins...we loved meeting people and chatting. Thank you to everyone who made this trip so special.

The suite was the most incredible thing I have ever seen...we loved every moment of it. I am happy to be home though...now..back to reality..school..work...Girl Scout cookies..

Thank you again!

 

[Shoshie]

We are home! The 2 day was crowded crowded crowded! But we just hid away in our cabin..
!

Can't wait to see the pictures!

And ditto the pin waiting -- we had a kick hanging out with everyone.

 

[glindamood]

I'm so glad!! I think at day at the office is bearable if Mickey is with you

My thoughts exactly! Thanks again!!!!

 

[Lisa]

While you all were going thru the Panama Canal, I was home watching 28" of snow fall, saving pictures of the Wonder going thru the locks for my mom who was on the cruise.

If anyone wants me to share the pics thru Shutterfly, pm me your email address, and I'll send them along.

P.S. Bruce C, thank you sooo much for sending the pictures of Eilean doing the zipline. My mom is a brave woman, I wouldn't have done it, gotta give the gal credit!!

 

[aan1701]

Can't wait to see the pictures!

And ditto the pin waiting -- we had a kick hanging out with everyone.

The pin line is what you made it. We held a Sorry tounament. It was fun.

 

[sak0526]

I know we're (temporarily??) done with the Wonder, but anyone found a webcam of it in LA doc? thanks!

 

[carmie3377]

Just an FYI...
PM's sent to all Smug Mug Participants. Please let me know if you don't get it

 

[TxMermaid1]

I kept a list of everything I received in the FE and I had planned on sending each person an individual thank you. However, I am REALLY SICK! Fortunately it didnt happen til the 2nd to last night. But anyway, I was totally blown away by the thought and gifts that we received. Thank you one and all for all your efforts. We had a great time.

I lost my voice the next to last day and have been sick as well. I think a lot of us were sick from the air in Manzanillo!

 

[WeLuvDCL]

Made it back home last night by 10:30pm. I'm exhausted but had a great time. DL was crowded on Sat.

Just an FYI...
PM's sent to all Smug Mug Participants. Please let me know if you don't get it

Thanks Carmen! I'll be uploading mine this weekend. I also have a CD from my DFIL and DU with pics from the Panama webcams.

That is just one example of poor planing. Also did anyone else notice the spell checker for the navigators did not work well?

I completely agree with Alan that they were not ready for this cruise. I encountered many issues. Nothing that ruined my cruise but just frustrating. Mainly shore excursions, lack of communication and new employees that were not informed properly. For example, I asked the first day of the cruise if they were doing Tea with Alice, I was told no. Well, I was walking by Studio Sea about midway through the cruise and guess what I say...people having Tea with Alice! At least guest services tried to make up for it by sending my daughter a stuffed Mickey. That's more than I can say for the shore excursions desk. Oh well, at least our servers were great. I heard many people complaining about poor service in the dining rooms but we had an experienced server that was great. I think our assistant server was new but was still good, just a little slow on refilling drinks.

I'm really thinking about doing a trip report but not sure I'll get around to it but definitely sending an e-mail to DCL.

It was so great meeting a lot of you. We didn't get to join in very many adult DIS events but did meet a lot of you with kids. LOVE all the FE gifts. THANK YOU!

 

[Wyndi Mother]

For my daughter and me, I have nothing but positive reports for our first time cruising. We joined friends--TracyVP and family--for this amazing journey, and I am sure the experience was all the better for having a veteran to guide us.

We loved our servers, Yhokey, Liliana, and Tomas. We loved our room host--Charito. We thought Christiaan did a fantastic job as CD, and we enjoyed the whole staff immensely. When I try to fix on highlights, it is hard to narrow it down. Just wandering the ship and appreciating the beauty in the details--the art, the lamps, the gracious curve of the metal-work in the Walt Disney Theatre. Susan Egan was our absolute favorite main stage performer, and we loved John Charles too. We loved the low-key Cadillac lounge name-that-tune activities, Pirate Night when Christiaan and Clayton 'broke it down', the ship tour with Nick's genuine enthusiasm, the lovely dining experiences at Palo--we managed to fit in brunch, tea, and dinner. We loved the lazy at-sea days, and thoroughly enjoyed our independent excursion through Aruba and our ziplining tour of Costa Rica. The fish extender gifts were remarkably clever and reflected creativity and practicality and were SO appreciated.

Final summation: We had a blast, and can't wait to do it again. Alaska here we come!