Hello from the 11/6 Magic cruise !

[jlawall]

Stingray City is a special excursion, I'm glad to hear it's back in business!

 

[MiaSRN62]

Sat, Sun, Mon, Thurs (Formal Night?) and Fri

Our formal night was Monday and our semi formal night was Thurs. I wouldn't leave out Wed (Cozumel night) as this is Pirate Night and was a very fun dinner. So maybe leave out Tuesday night ? It's a tough call. If you have an APL rotation, then Tuesday would be your repeat night in Animator's Palette and they don't do the light show that night.

On a side note.....
Did anyone get a request from DCL to fill out a survey regarding the Nov 6th cruise. Mine just arrived yesterday.

 

[thumpery]

Hi Maria,

We were also on the Nov. 6th cruise. I was enjoying reading and remembering our magical trip. We loved it so much, my family cried while leaving the ship. Even my 11 year old son! I thought we really got blessed with our weather.

As far as a survey, we haven't received one yet. Do they do this with all the cruises?

Did you book another cruise while on board? Danielle sure was busy!

 

[jel0511]

Did you book another cruise while on board? Danielle sure was busy!

I agree about missing the Magic, but luckily we re-booked 2 onboard! I rebooked our 2006 early in the week, and didn't have to wait at all to see Danielle. We rebooked our 2005 on Friday, and I didn't put the deposit down right away as we weren't sure we wanted to cruise again next year. Well, we decided to and Danielle gave me her number to call her to let her know to place the deposit down. She said she'd slip the confirmation under our door, but she probably wouldn't get to it until after Midnight. Well, when we woke up on Saturday morning, there was no confirmation, just our bill! So, I went down to Guest Services to leave a message for Danielle to make sure it got booked, in case she didn't get my voicemail. The CM at Guest Services told me that Danielle was in the office booking cruises until 2:30AM and that she was understandably very tired, but was sure she got to it. I left my e-mail for Danielle for her to contact me when she got up. She e-mailed me that the confirmation had gone under the wrong stateroom door, but she had completed everything. I'm sure in the early morning hours, everything looked the same to her!! I felt so bad for her that she was up so late re-booking passengers, but as she said in her e-mail, "It's good for business!".

 

[MiaSRN62]

We really did get very lucky with the weather. Didn't book another cruise on board but that's mainly due to the fact that we don't know what the future holds with my ds (17) going to college next year and all. We don't think he'll be interested in going again as the ONLY reason he enjoyed the cruise this year was the teen club. We're waiting a little to fee things out and may just end up booking something in 2006 with just my dd's and he'll stay home. He'll be 19 going on 20 in 2006 (can't believe I just typed that !.....where's does the time go ?).

As for the postcard, all I can say is we didn't get one after our 11/02 cruise.

 

[sjcubedofct]

We also cruised on the 11/6 Magic, and had a great time with the stingrays. Our tour guide dove for a conch, brought it up, and pulled the conch out for the kids to see. All the kids got to bring home a souvenier shell!! Nativeway is the way to go. Eldon was a great tour guide, telling us about how the damage and following cleanup efforts have affected the residents and business. Ah...and the water was so blue and so warm....

In Cozumel, we did the Dunebuggy tour and had a WONDERFUL time!! We got a personal tour by Phillipe who pulled over on the way to pick up his girlfriend, then he took us snorkeling, then we drove out by the beach in the bush. We stopped at a volcanic rock beach to find shells that were better than what they were selling in the shops- our guides even found shells and gave them to my mother in law who was with us and is limited in her mobility! We stopped by the tour guide's friend's house and sampled fresh coconut milk and flesh, then continued on to a spot on the beach where he prepared grilled chicken, rice and guacamole. From there, we travelled a bit further to a ruin on the beach. Then it was the long drive back through the bush, which my husband LOVED! My 9 year old son and my 70 year old mother in law had as much fun as my husband and I did. It was an awesome time, we got to see a Mexico that our travelling mates didn't.

That evening, we shopped and spent some time at Carlos and Charlies. Which is not for children, but a good time nonetheless. I don't think I've read anywhere on this board that it is for children- it's a bar. It was great to see so many crew members boogying on the dance floor, taking advantage of a well deserved break.

What an awesome, magical vacation!! We booked another, and I'm regretting not booking two...

 

[thumpery]

It sounds like everyone who went on this cruise LOVED it! We rebooked for November, 2005 but am keeping it a secret from the kids for awhile. They are still living on the MAGIC from this cruise! As a matter of fact in their lunch boxes today, I stuck in one of the mints from the nightly turndowns of our bed(yes, we had a few left over). I taped it on a piece of paper and wrote "REMEMBER THE MAGIC". Just another way of extending our vacation a tiny bit.

You know I've read before people loved their 2nd, 3rd etc. better than the last one. I thought that was hard to believe, but it has happened to me! Next year will be our 3rd! Wish it was the Western again, but due to the boy's school schedule we're heading to the Eastern again. Wish they would change it.
I'm jealous of all of you that have booked 2 more while on board.

Maria - I understand what you are meaning regarding your son being 17 and not sure if he would want to go again. That is why I pushed for 2005. My oldest son will still be in the lab; after that it's up to the stack and I don't know how he'll do there.

 

[MiaSRN62]

sjcubedofct, the dune buggy tour sounded fantastic. I'll have to remember that for next time. I have heard very good things about Nativeway and glad you had a positive experience. We booked with Capt Marvin's and likewise had a terrific time. They had a videographer on board who taped everything----us snorkeling/swimming under water and even the moray eel up close ! We broke down and purchased the tape which should arrive within the next 3-4 weeks. I'm anxious to see it and relive the experience again with the stingrays and all.

Thumpery......I hope that eventually when your ds gets to be the age required for the Stack that he has as much fun as my ds did both in '02 and on this recent cruise. He made so many friends there and they are all emailing and IM'ing eachother on the computer this week. Most are from NJ (which is very local to us being near Philly) and they have a teen meet (as I call it) planned for this summer at Hersheypark. Not sure if they'll all carry through with it, but if they do I'll drive my ds there as it's only 2 hours, at most, away.
I think that's so cute what you did with the mints ! We brought ours back too and I was going to put them in the kids' stockings, but the lunch box idea is good too.

 

[jel0511]

We also cruised on the 11/6 Magic, and had a great time with the stingrays. Our tour guide dove for a conch, brought it up, and pulled the conch out for the kids to see. All the kids got to bring home a souvenier shell!! Nativeway is the way to go. Eldon was a great tour guide, telling us about how the damage and following cleanup efforts have affected the residents and business. Ah...and the water was so blue and so warm....

I have to agree about Nativeway!! We also had an awesome time, and our conch shell arrived home in one piece!! We wrapped it in our Castaway Club towel, and it traveled home fine. I then soaked it in bleach/water as our guides recommended, and it looks GREAT!!!

sjcubedofct - The dune buggy tour sounds fun, was that a DCL excursion or a privately booked one? We'll be back in Cozumel on the 11/4/06 cruise, so it's not to far to be thinking about excursions yet, is it? HA HA!!! If it's a private tour, who did you book through. This definately sounds like fun, and I might consider doing this instead of the Dolphin Encounter.

 

[Mindymom]

It's almost hard to read these posts because I miss it so much!

 

[sjcubedofct]

Lori, it was through Cozumel Vacation Homes- I can get you the website if you need it. It was worth every penny.