NboroGirl
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2000
WHO: Me (41)
DH (40)
DS13 (13)
DS10 (10)
WHAT: 7 day cruise on the Disney Magic
WHEN: August 11 - August 18, 2001
MONDAY - August 13
I didn't sleep as well last night. I kept waking up. I finally got up at 7:15. Today was our character breakfast, and it was at 8:15, so we couldn't sleep too late.
The breakfast was in Parrot Cay. I wasn't very hungry, so I just ordered a bowl of Raisin Bran. Minnie and Pluto came to our table. I was glad Pluto made it because he's my favorite. His handler asked if I wanted her to take our picture, but I didn't take her up on her offer because I thought she was a kid (not his handler). We got plenty of pictures, and DH did the videotaping. I think DS10 and DS13 would rather have skipped the whole thing.
Our servers seemed much more chatty and personable this morning than they were that first night at Lumiere's.
After breakfast DH and I did the surial bath, and Fiona was our spa hostess. This was basically getting covered in mud and salt, sitting in a very hot steam room, (I had a problem with this part - I honestly felt like I couldn't breathe in the steam room, it was so hot), showering, and trying out various lotions, oils, gels, shampoos, body washes, etc. DH rested the bowl of muds and salt on one of the sinks and accidentally tipped it over. We managed to salvage the muds, but the salts were gone! Also, one of the showers in the steam room wouldn't turn off, and water from it leaked under the door into the "main" room and kept scalding my feet.
We got to sit on the heated tiled lounges in the Rainforest Room of the spa for a few minutes just before the Surial Bath, and immediately after (during the sales pitch). I had planned to schedule some time in the Rainforest Room (it's about half price if you schedule it on a day you're having another spa treatment) but never got around to it.
TIP: I suspect you can avoid the sales pitch if you just answer "no" to all the items on the health questionnaire you fill out before your spa treatment. I answered "yes" to one of the questions dealing with circulation and I immediately regretted it, because I figured out they'd probably use that to try to sell me products, and I was so right.
DH ended up giving in and buying a $47 bottle of a Ben-Gay like gel product (even smells like Ben-Gay) that is supposed to improve circulation. I asked "Are you crazy???" I thought that was a bit steep.
Afterwards, I went back to the cabin to blow dry my hair. On the room hair dryers, they have a vacuum cleaner-like hose that is not very long, so they're a bit awkward to use, especially if you're tall. They blow out very powerfully so it's hard to style your hair. The hair is hot (not too hot, though). The end of the dryer gets warm, but the hose and the connecter gets very hot, so you can't hold on to these comfortably. I just made sure I held the end and I was fine. The dryer worked OK for me, but I can see why they're not for everyone.
DS10 came back to the cabin with chocolate all over his shorts and shirt after his visit to Scoops, so I'm very glad I packed a stain stick.
DH, DS13, and I went to Pluto's for lunch. I tried a burger, which was a lot like a McDonald's Quarter Pounder. They had a condiment station with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, mustard,ketchup and mayonaise. It was good. For dessert I had chocolate soft serve from Scoops after checking out the desserts at the Topsiders Asiain b uffet. DH got banana cream pie from there and thought it was delicious.
We went to Shutters after lunch. DH wanted to buy the 5x7 Welcome Aboard photo. We also found our formal pictures taken the night before. He also liked the photo with the cheesy background (sea at night back drop with the ship railing and lifesaver? in front), but I didn't like it because I looked funny in both shots they took. I liked the pictures with the traditional background, but I thought my arms looked fat in them for some reason. I really liked how we looked in the shot in front of the Mickey statue because it was the only full-length shot and it showed off our formal clothes. However DS10 didn't look too happy in it. You can almost tell he had been crying. DH's eyes were closed in half the pictures, so that limited our selection. DS10 looked unhappy (or ambivilent at best) in all of them. Given his mood last night, that's no surprise. We ended up buying two of them (traditional background and Mickey statue). The one taken of DH and I at Palo's the night before came out OK, but we left it.
Disney is much better regarding picture taking than RCCL. On RCCL, it seemed every time I turned around, our picture was being taken: entering the dining room each night, at dinner each night, exiting the ship, etc. I guess Disney photographers are too busy with photo sessions with the characters to have time wandering around the ship much.
Back at our cabin I had a short nap and then went to the Island Magic show, alone. No one wanted to go with me. The Island Magic show included all the characters, and it starred Casey, who was Pluto's handler at our character breakfast this morning, the one I thought was a kid. The guy sitting next to me kept taking flash pictures throughout the show. He probably snapped 50-60 pictures in all. It was VERY annoying.
The four of us relaxed on deck 4 for a while. This seems to be a popular afternoon activity and chairs can be hard to come buy. It's incredibly windy out here today. The wind keeps whipping my hair in my eyes and they're starting to get bloodshot because of it.
DS13 and I grabbed a cookie from Topsiders, and I also took some fruit from Scoops and we went back to the cabin to relax before dinner. Dinner was in Parrot Cay. DH and I met our head server Gonzolo. The menu was a bit different than what was posted on the web, and the entree I had planned to order wasn't there. I ended up ordering the pasta shells...it was one of the entrees recommended by our server. It was pretty good, but not as good as anything at Palo's. I also got a Mickey ice cream bar off the kids menu for dessert. This was very good - it tasted just like a Dove bar. DH had the roasted chicken (good, and it was a really large portion), the pot stickers and chicken wings (good) and the cream custard. He was quite full. DS10 couldn't finish his dinner, either so we asked if we could bring it back to our room, since I know he'll be hungry in about an hour. Our servers complied, and even offered to get him a fresh serving to bring back, instead of his leftovers, which we declined. My meal at Parrot Cay was my least favorite meal on this cruise.
Observation: It was almost dark by the time we finished dinner (around 7:00). Last night it didn't get dark until 8:00, so I'm guessing we're very far east in the time zone. There were no time zone changes on this cruise because the east coast is on daylight savings time. When the east coast in on standard time, this cruise does have a time zone change.
When we got back to our room, we had an unusual towel animal - it was an Eeyore, and it was sitting on the bed side-by-side with DS10's stuffed Eeyore. We still haven't met our room host, yet. It's funny how s/he always leaves 4 bath towels, 3 hand towels, and 3 wash cloths for the four of us. This actually works out fine, though, since we stagger our showers thoughout the day.
The show tonight was C'est Magique...sort of a play, with song and dance, about a magician, including a few magic tricks. It was OK - not great. DS10 called it corny, and that's exactly what it was.
After the show the boys and I went on deck in search of food. We were hungry. It looked like Pluto's and Pinocchio's were only serving drinks, and Scoops and Topsiders were closed. (I later learned that Pinocchio's and Pluto's don't serve food from 8:00-10:00.) So we went up to deck 10 to the front of the ship where it's really windy - only now it was really dark as well. How do people play basketball up there with all that wind? We went back to the cabin so DS10 could shower and get ready for bed. DH was in bed reading when we got there, so I went to Studio Sea alone to watch the family karoke. One teenage girl was very good, and she sang "Wind Beneath My Wings" to her grandmother. But the rest were very bad! When a not-very-good-singer started singing the theme from Titanic, I thought it was time to leave. I went to Rockin Bar D to see Tony Duncan, the juggler. The ship was rocking so much I had to hang onto my bar stool to keep from falling off (and NO, I did NOT have anything to drink! ) How could he juggle when the ship is rocking like that? It was freezing in there, so I didn't stay long and came back to the cabin to get ready for bed.
DH (40)
DS13 (13)
DS10 (10)
WHAT: 7 day cruise on the Disney Magic
WHEN: August 11 - August 18, 2001
MONDAY - August 13
I didn't sleep as well last night. I kept waking up. I finally got up at 7:15. Today was our character breakfast, and it was at 8:15, so we couldn't sleep too late.
The breakfast was in Parrot Cay. I wasn't very hungry, so I just ordered a bowl of Raisin Bran. Minnie and Pluto came to our table. I was glad Pluto made it because he's my favorite. His handler asked if I wanted her to take our picture, but I didn't take her up on her offer because I thought she was a kid (not his handler). We got plenty of pictures, and DH did the videotaping. I think DS10 and DS13 would rather have skipped the whole thing.
Our servers seemed much more chatty and personable this morning than they were that first night at Lumiere's.After breakfast DH and I did the surial bath, and Fiona was our spa hostess. This was basically getting covered in mud and salt, sitting in a very hot steam room, (I had a problem with this part - I honestly felt like I couldn't breathe in the steam room, it was so hot), showering, and trying out various lotions, oils, gels, shampoos, body washes, etc. DH rested the bowl of muds and salt on one of the sinks and accidentally tipped it over. We managed to salvage the muds, but the salts were gone! Also, one of the showers in the steam room wouldn't turn off, and water from it leaked under the door into the "main" room and kept scalding my feet.
We got to sit on the heated tiled lounges in the Rainforest Room of the spa for a few minutes just before the Surial Bath, and immediately after (during the sales pitch). I had planned to schedule some time in the Rainforest Room (it's about half price if you schedule it on a day you're having another spa treatment) but never got around to it.
TIP: I suspect you can avoid the sales pitch if you just answer "no" to all the items on the health questionnaire you fill out before your spa treatment. I answered "yes" to one of the questions dealing with circulation and I immediately regretted it, because I figured out they'd probably use that to try to sell me products, and I was so right.
DH ended up giving in and buying a $47 bottle of a Ben-Gay like gel product (even smells like Ben-Gay) that is supposed to improve circulation. I asked "Are you crazy???" I thought that was a bit steep.
Afterwards, I went back to the cabin to blow dry my hair. On the room hair dryers, they have a vacuum cleaner-like hose that is not very long, so they're a bit awkward to use, especially if you're tall. They blow out very powerfully so it's hard to style your hair. The hair is hot (not too hot, though). The end of the dryer gets warm, but the hose and the connecter gets very hot, so you can't hold on to these comfortably. I just made sure I held the end and I was fine. The dryer worked OK for me, but I can see why they're not for everyone.
DS10 came back to the cabin with chocolate all over his shorts and shirt after his visit to Scoops, so I'm very glad I packed a stain stick.
DH, DS13, and I went to Pluto's for lunch. I tried a burger, which was a lot like a McDonald's Quarter Pounder. They had a condiment station with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, mustard,ketchup and mayonaise. It was good. For dessert I had chocolate soft serve from Scoops after checking out the desserts at the Topsiders Asiain b uffet. DH got banana cream pie from there and thought it was delicious.
We went to Shutters after lunch. DH wanted to buy the 5x7 Welcome Aboard photo. We also found our formal pictures taken the night before. He also liked the photo with the cheesy background (sea at night back drop with the ship railing and lifesaver? in front), but I didn't like it because I looked funny in both shots they took. I liked the pictures with the traditional background, but I thought my arms looked fat in them for some reason. I really liked how we looked in the shot in front of the Mickey statue because it was the only full-length shot and it showed off our formal clothes. However DS10 didn't look too happy in it. You can almost tell he had been crying. DH's eyes were closed in half the pictures, so that limited our selection. DS10 looked unhappy (or ambivilent at best) in all of them. Given his mood last night, that's no surprise. We ended up buying two of them (traditional background and Mickey statue). The one taken of DH and I at Palo's the night before came out OK, but we left it.
Disney is much better regarding picture taking than RCCL. On RCCL, it seemed every time I turned around, our picture was being taken: entering the dining room each night, at dinner each night, exiting the ship, etc. I guess Disney photographers are too busy with photo sessions with the characters to have time wandering around the ship much.
Back at our cabin I had a short nap and then went to the Island Magic show, alone. No one wanted to go with me. The Island Magic show included all the characters, and it starred Casey, who was Pluto's handler at our character breakfast this morning, the one I thought was a kid. The guy sitting next to me kept taking flash pictures throughout the show. He probably snapped 50-60 pictures in all. It was VERY annoying.
The four of us relaxed on deck 4 for a while. This seems to be a popular afternoon activity and chairs can be hard to come buy. It's incredibly windy out here today. The wind keeps whipping my hair in my eyes and they're starting to get bloodshot because of it.
DS13 and I grabbed a cookie from Topsiders, and I also took some fruit from Scoops and we went back to the cabin to relax before dinner. Dinner was in Parrot Cay. DH and I met our head server Gonzolo. The menu was a bit different than what was posted on the web, and the entree I had planned to order wasn't there. I ended up ordering the pasta shells...it was one of the entrees recommended by our server. It was pretty good, but not as good as anything at Palo's. I also got a Mickey ice cream bar off the kids menu for dessert. This was very good - it tasted just like a Dove bar. DH had the roasted chicken (good, and it was a really large portion), the pot stickers and chicken wings (good) and the cream custard. He was quite full. DS10 couldn't finish his dinner, either so we asked if we could bring it back to our room, since I know he'll be hungry in about an hour. Our servers complied, and even offered to get him a fresh serving to bring back, instead of his leftovers, which we declined. My meal at Parrot Cay was my least favorite meal on this cruise.
Observation: It was almost dark by the time we finished dinner (around 7:00). Last night it didn't get dark until 8:00, so I'm guessing we're very far east in the time zone. There were no time zone changes on this cruise because the east coast is on daylight savings time. When the east coast in on standard time, this cruise does have a time zone change.
When we got back to our room, we had an unusual towel animal - it was an Eeyore, and it was sitting on the bed side-by-side with DS10's stuffed Eeyore. We still haven't met our room host, yet. It's funny how s/he always leaves 4 bath towels, 3 hand towels, and 3 wash cloths for the four of us. This actually works out fine, though, since we stagger our showers thoughout the day.
The show tonight was C'est Magique...sort of a play, with song and dance, about a magician, including a few magic tricks. It was OK - not great. DS10 called it corny, and that's exactly what it was.
After the show the boys and I went on deck in search of food. We were hungry. It looked like Pluto's and Pinocchio's were only serving drinks, and Scoops and Topsiders were closed. (I later learned that Pinocchio's and Pluto's don't serve food from 8:00-10:00.) So we went up to deck 10 to the front of the ship where it's really windy - only now it was really dark as well. How do people play basketball up there with all that wind? We went back to the cabin so DS10 could shower and get ready for bed. DH was in bed reading when we got there, so I went to Studio Sea alone to watch the family karoke. One teenage girl was very good, and she sang "Wind Beneath My Wings" to her grandmother. But the rest were very bad! When a not-very-good-singer started singing the theme from Titanic, I thought it was time to leave. I went to Rockin Bar D to see Tony Duncan, the juggler. The ship was rocking so much I had to hang onto my bar stool to keep from falling off (and NO, I did NOT have anything to drink!
) How could he juggle when the ship is rocking like that? It was freezing in there, so I didn't stay long and came back to the cabin to get ready for bed.
