Day 1 Saturday, November 13, 2004 Embarkation Day
Travelers - Me (50th Birthday Cruise) and DH (51)
Kids - 2 - Away at College :thewave:
Woke up at 8 a.m. at the Courtyard by Marriott at MCO. We had arrived late last evening at 9:45 p.m. from Aruba via Miami without luggage. We had a buffet breakfast at the Courtyard and returned to MCO AA baggage area at 9:40 after picking up a few items at the local supermarket. Our luggage was waiting for us having arrived on the 8:45 a.m. flight from Miami. Boy, were we relieved! Left the airport and hit the Beeline 528 east toward Port Canaveral. We caught a glimpse of the Magic
as we came over the bridge onto the barrier island. WOW and yippee! DH dropped me off at curbside check-in at about 10:50 a.m. and went to return the car to Budget. I went into the terminal, thru the metal detector and up to the second/main floor. What a beautiful building, every detail thought thru. There was a sign for Castaway Club Member check-in for returning cruisers that had no line. I proceeded up to the front and as I was waiting to be directed to a Cast Member to check in, I met PoohJen from the DIS Boards. It DID help that she had a T-shirt on with her name on it! I was able to check-in without difficulty, as I had pre-filled out all my forms. I would just have to bring DH up to the front of the line to show a picture ID to the CM for him to receive his Key to the World card. I started to wander around the terminal looking for other DISsers and I soon found Hannosmom 
and DH, DD and Dsis. They had the same dinning assignment as us, just as we planned. They were waiting in the concierge area up at the front to the terminal
. I also met KYCruiseCrazy 
and KYCruisinSusan and their DDs who were at the next table. Even the famous cjsmom97 
came running by for a minute. We were all wearing our Mickey Head Boppers made by Hannosmom and her DD very COOL!
It was soon time for the Hannosmom to board 11:30 a.m. I took several pixs of the terminal; wandered off to wait for DH and ended up sitting down next to feenie and her DH! The started boarding the regular passengers around 11:45ish. DH arrived; we picked up his KTTW card, got on line, met JenB
from the DIS (didnt know she was sailing with us!) posed for our embarkation photo and were on the ship by 12:10 p.m. It is wonderful crossing the gangplank, entering into the 3rd floor atrium lobby and hearing your name announced. We proceeded past the Captain Mickey 
Statue, down the hall past Lumieres and thru the Promenade lounge to Parrot Cay. We had a great buffet lunch including the delicious jumbo shrimp and cold mango soup. We walked back toward the main lobby and who found us but House_Of_Princesses 
! She recognized me from my picture on the Hannomax site and DHs Aruba T-shirt! I told her we would see her at the DIS meet as she was just arriving and trying to get her group to lunch. We then went up to the Pool Deck 9 and walked around the area. DH purchased his jumbo ESPN mug from Signals and I had a Mudslide from the Outlook Bar to celebrate our cruise. We took a few pictures and I went into the spa at 1 p.m. I was able to make an appointment for a manicure and pedicure on Monday morning. We had pre-booked our couples massage for Wednesday evening at 5:45 p.m.
It was now after 1:30 so we were able to go to our cabin . it was located near the aft elevators, which was very convenient and quiet. We had many goodies delivered to our stateroom including our REAS Romantic Escape at Sea
Gift Basket, Birthday Mug, DCL water bottles and flowers from the Perfect Gift. And we just loved our Verandah!!! Had a hard time learning how to open the door but we spent a lot of time sitting and relaxing here. Luckily, our luggage arrived so it would be no problem changing into clean clothes for dinner. We were still wearing our clothes from yesterday due to our delayed luggage. Our Stateroom Host was Loel he was excellent the entire cruise, and made the BEST towel animals. Always ice twice per day plus filled our rolling cooler whenever needed.
At 2:30 we proceeded to the Promenade Lounge for our DIS Meet. We met MANY DISsers including Hannosmom, KY John and Susan, PoohJen, mrsmg, TinaRN, adisneymama, disneydreamer1970, rocadonismom, Hyundai and several others . before we knew it, it was time to go get ready for the 4:00 p.m. life boat drill luckily our station was in Animators Palate so no hot deck for us! We dropped off our life vests and proceeded to Deck 10 for the Sail-away Party. We saw the Cast Members waving with Mickey Hands from the terminal and heard the MAGIC-cal
Horn! It was great watching the Magic go out to sea and Verandah Man Andy captured our ship on the Two Palms Web Camera. The Party was well attended by DIS members; it set the tone for a great week at sea.
We returned to our room to unpack and relax before dinner we did not attended the opening night variety show but heard from others it was a very nice show better then before. The ship was rolling quite a bit so I took a 24-hour Dramamine just in case. We proceeded at 8:30 to Parrots Cay for our late seating dinner along with Hannosmom, KyCruiseCrazy and House_Of_Princesses. Our servers were Ancell from Jamaica and Collin from Trinidad our head server was Attila from Hungary, really! We enjoyed a great meal and then excused ourselves to return to our room, enjoy our verandah and sleep! It was a looooong day!
<a href=http://130.94.75.33/showthread.php?p=7014121#post7014121>Click for Days 2 & 3</a>
<a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAtmzho3ZNWJM">My Pictures - Day 1 thru 3 - At Sea - Sail-Away, PALO Brunch, DIS Reception, Formal Night</a>
Travelers - Me (50th Birthday Cruise) and DH (51)
Kids - 2 - Away at College :thewave:
Woke up at 8 a.m. at the Courtyard by Marriott at MCO. We had arrived late last evening at 9:45 p.m. from Aruba via Miami without luggage. We had a buffet breakfast at the Courtyard and returned to MCO AA baggage area at 9:40 after picking up a few items at the local supermarket. Our luggage was waiting for us having arrived on the 8:45 a.m. flight from Miami. Boy, were we relieved! Left the airport and hit the Beeline 528 east toward Port Canaveral. We caught a glimpse of the Magic
as we came over the bridge onto the barrier island. WOW and yippee! DH dropped me off at curbside check-in at about 10:50 a.m. and went to return the car to Budget. I went into the terminal, thru the metal detector and up to the second/main floor. What a beautiful building, every detail thought thru. There was a sign for Castaway Club Member check-in for returning cruisers that had no line. I proceeded up to the front and as I was waiting to be directed to a Cast Member to check in, I met PoohJen from the DIS Boards. It DID help that she had a T-shirt on with her name on it! I was able to check-in without difficulty, as I had pre-filled out all my forms. I would just have to bring DH up to the front of the line to show a picture ID to the CM for him to receive his Key to the World card. I started to wander around the terminal looking for other DISsers and I soon found Hannosmom and DH, DD and Dsis. They had the same dinning assignment as us, just as we planned. They were waiting in the concierge area up at the front to the terminal
. I also met KYCruiseCrazy and KYCruisinSusan and their DDs who were at the next table. Even the famous cjsmom97 came running by for a minute. We were all wearing our Mickey Head Boppers made by Hannosmom and her DD very COOL!It was soon time for the Hannosmom to board 11:30 a.m. I took several pixs of the terminal; wandered off to wait for DH and ended up sitting down next to feenie and her DH! The started boarding the regular passengers around 11:45ish. DH arrived; we picked up his KTTW card, got on line, met JenB
from the DIS (didnt know she was sailing with us!) posed for our embarkation photo and were on the ship by 12:10 p.m. It is wonderful crossing the gangplank, entering into the 3rd floor atrium lobby and hearing your name announced. We proceeded past the Captain Mickey Statue, down the hall past Lumieres and thru the Promenade lounge to Parrot Cay. We had a great buffet lunch including the delicious jumbo shrimp and cold mango soup. We walked back toward the main lobby and who found us but House_Of_Princesses ! She recognized me from my picture on the Hannomax site and DHs Aruba T-shirt! I told her we would see her at the DIS meet as she was just arriving and trying to get her group to lunch. We then went up to the Pool Deck 9 and walked around the area. DH purchased his jumbo ESPN mug from Signals and I had a Mudslide from the Outlook Bar to celebrate our cruise. We took a few pictures and I went into the spa at 1 p.m. I was able to make an appointment for a manicure and pedicure on Monday morning. We had pre-booked our couples massage for Wednesday evening at 5:45 p.m.It was now after 1:30 so we were able to go to our cabin . it was located near the aft elevators, which was very convenient and quiet. We had many goodies delivered to our stateroom including our REAS Romantic Escape at Sea
Gift Basket, Birthday Mug, DCL water bottles and flowers from the Perfect Gift. And we just loved our Verandah!!! Had a hard time learning how to open the door but we spent a lot of time sitting and relaxing here. Luckily, our luggage arrived so it would be no problem changing into clean clothes for dinner. We were still wearing our clothes from yesterday due to our delayed luggage. Our Stateroom Host was Loel he was excellent the entire cruise, and made the BEST towel animals. Always ice twice per day plus filled our rolling cooler whenever needed.At 2:30 we proceeded to the Promenade Lounge for our DIS Meet. We met MANY DISsers including Hannosmom, KY John and Susan, PoohJen, mrsmg, TinaRN, adisneymama, disneydreamer1970, rocadonismom, Hyundai and several others . before we knew it, it was time to go get ready for the 4:00 p.m. life boat drill luckily our station was in Animators Palate so no hot deck for us! We dropped off our life vests and proceeded to Deck 10 for the Sail-away Party. We saw the Cast Members waving with Mickey Hands from the terminal and heard the MAGIC-cal
Horn! It was great watching the Magic go out to sea and Verandah Man Andy captured our ship on the Two Palms Web Camera. The Party was well attended by DIS members; it set the tone for a great week at sea.We returned to our room to unpack and relax before dinner we did not attended the opening night variety show but heard from others it was a very nice show better then before. The ship was rolling quite a bit so I took a 24-hour Dramamine just in case. We proceeded at 8:30 to Parrots Cay for our late seating dinner along with Hannosmom, KyCruiseCrazy and House_Of_Princesses. Our servers were Ancell from Jamaica and Collin from Trinidad our head server was Attila from Hungary, really! We enjoyed a great meal and then excused ourselves to return to our room, enjoy our verandah and sleep! It was a looooong day!
<a href=http://130.94.75.33/showthread.php?p=7014121#post7014121>Click for Days 2 & 3</a>
<a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAtmzho3ZNWJM">My Pictures - Day 1 thru 3 - At Sea - Sail-Away, PALO Brunch, DIS Reception, Formal Night</a>
