This will be a long, multi-part folks - I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed reading everyone elses!
Day One
We arrived at Port Canaveral much earlier than expected (around 10:30AM). It only took us 2 hours to drive from Clearwater, we were expecting 3 to 4 hours since it usually takes us 2 hours to get to a Disney World hotel. We checked our luggage. DH parked the van while the kids and I went inside the terminal, through the security checkpoint and upstairs to check in. I was dragging two carry-ons and two kids so we took the elevator upstairs. The check process was fairly quick and painless. We were given our KTTW card and a paper that had a map of the ship on one side and hours for the Spa, Palo Ressies and other good information on the other. We decided to go ahead and stand in the boarding line. It wasnt very long but we figured we had sat enough on the drive over. I was VERY glad we got in line when we did. The line got VERY long, very quickly. We met with some of our travel group. (What a nice bunch of people) We all had matching DDL shirts. It was fun trying to spot shirts especially since most people had jackets on! Around noon one of the port CM came down the line telling people to have a picture ID and their KTTW cards ready. The line started moving. I was surprised how quickly it moved once they opened the doors. I was expecting the line to move slowly like a ride line. Once you go through the doors, the line splits into two. A lot of people bunched into one line and ignored the other. We walked right in. The only placed we stopped was for a picture. Im so glad we did it was the only good picture for the entire cruise.
We walked across the gangway and onto the ship. The crewmember asked for our name and where we were from. We were announced and the crew applauded. The kids thought it was cool. DH and I had decided to split up the tasks, then meet at Topsiders. He took the kids and went to guest services to have charging privileges removed from the kids cards and hole punched. I went to deck 9 for Spa appointments. We were traveling with a group and were able to make Palo ressies in advance made our To Do list MUCH shorter. The line at the Spa wasnt too bad. I scheduled a Surial bath for Monday 2PM (at Sea), a couples massage for Thursday 10:30 (at Sea) and a Facial for Friday (CC) afternoon. I did the facial late (4:30) and on the last day since they advise you to stay out of the sun afterwards. I met the family at Topsiders for some great shrimp. The crew served everything. Guest were not allowed to touch anything on the serving line. Drinks were already poured you even have to ask for sweetener. You get a Bac Down Antimicrobial Skin Wipe on your tray to use too. Better safe than sorry I guess. The shrimp were excellent; the beef was VERY tough. Dessert was excellent!
By the time we finished lunch it was after 1PM. We headed to our room, 6564. Our room looked down onto the gangway so we stood and watched the people coming on the ship for a bit. Our room steward, Sharon came into vacuum. She wasnt quite finished in the room when we arrived. She said Mickeys Magic was working a little slower than usual today. We had a welcome aboard gift of Champagne and petit fours since the group had more than 8 cabins booked. I snuck gift bags on for the kids with colored pencils, drawing books, crosswords, word search, bubbles and candy. The kids were very excited.
Our steward mentioned the problems with illness on the ship. She said she could be discrete if anyone had motion sickness, but if we went to the doctor there was a chance of a 72-hour quarantine. We left the room and went down on flight to the Oceans Lab. We signed the kids in, received our beeper and information. The kids got wristbands and nametags. We gave them sign out privileges (which later turned out to be a mistake). We went to the Promenade Lounge to get out complimentary AAA drink mugs. The AAA mugs are not as nice as the Magic mugs. They look similar, but instead of the Magic they say AAA. Also there is no choice in colors. The lady handing out the mugs asked if we wanted the lanyard /strap holders. I said sure. She did tell me they were $2 each! We never used them, but they make cheap souvenirs I guess.
Now that we had cups, we went to Deck 9 for soda, then back to the room. Some of our luggage had arrived so we started unpacking. Security called the room. They said there was a problem with one of our bags. Some one had to go down to Deck 1 forward. DH went with the luggage keys. Apparently we had packed too well and too tightly. The security people could not distinguish all the items with the x-ray machine. Mike unlocked the bag so they could search it it had our 12-pack of soda, a box of Capri Suns for the kids, cameras, walkie-talkies, and books - all sorts of stuff. After the search, DH brought the bag on the ship himself. It was out last bag (I wont tell you how many we had too embarrassing!)
We went back to Deck 9; the kids played Ping-Pong until time for the lifeboat drill. We all hated our life jackets of course. I know they didnt design those things for comfort but jeez! Theyre like 8 inches thick with no give at all. Its like wearing a chair cushion around your neck! After the drill we went back to the room to get rid of the jackets. We made our way to Deck 10. The sail-away party was already in full swing. We watched the Holland America ship have their lifeboat drill. Before we knew it the ship was leaving the dock. The kids had a couple of frozen drink no alcohol of course. My DS chased bubbles around the deck. After we clear the dock, the Magic blew her horn. Very cool!
We made our way back to the room to get ready for our 6PM dinner in Parrot Cay. There were instruction on the bed about hand washing and a warning about cold and flu season. At 6 PM we headed to Parrot Cay. There was quite a line waiting to go in. It only happened the first night. I believe it was because everyone had to be shown their table. Our servers were Melwin and Michael. Michael was fairly new but very nice. I wasnt very impressed the first night, but they both grew on me as the week went by. Dinner the first night was OK. I had a steak. It was MUCH better than the one at lunch. After dinner we headed back to the cabin. We were all pretty pooped. I tried to talk my crew into going to the show, but no one was interested. The kids decided to go to the Aloha Party at the Lab. Mike and I stayed in the cabin and did some organizing. The kids came back pretty early and we all turned in. We had NO idea what was ahead
Day One
We arrived at Port Canaveral much earlier than expected (around 10:30AM). It only took us 2 hours to drive from Clearwater, we were expecting 3 to 4 hours since it usually takes us 2 hours to get to a Disney World hotel. We checked our luggage. DH parked the van while the kids and I went inside the terminal, through the security checkpoint and upstairs to check in. I was dragging two carry-ons and two kids so we took the elevator upstairs. The check process was fairly quick and painless. We were given our KTTW card and a paper that had a map of the ship on one side and hours for the Spa, Palo Ressies and other good information on the other. We decided to go ahead and stand in the boarding line. It wasnt very long but we figured we had sat enough on the drive over. I was VERY glad we got in line when we did. The line got VERY long, very quickly. We met with some of our travel group. (What a nice bunch of people) We all had matching DDL shirts. It was fun trying to spot shirts especially since most people had jackets on! Around noon one of the port CM came down the line telling people to have a picture ID and their KTTW cards ready. The line started moving. I was surprised how quickly it moved once they opened the doors. I was expecting the line to move slowly like a ride line. Once you go through the doors, the line splits into two. A lot of people bunched into one line and ignored the other. We walked right in. The only placed we stopped was for a picture. Im so glad we did it was the only good picture for the entire cruise.
We walked across the gangway and onto the ship. The crewmember asked for our name and where we were from. We were announced and the crew applauded. The kids thought it was cool. DH and I had decided to split up the tasks, then meet at Topsiders. He took the kids and went to guest services to have charging privileges removed from the kids cards and hole punched. I went to deck 9 for Spa appointments. We were traveling with a group and were able to make Palo ressies in advance made our To Do list MUCH shorter. The line at the Spa wasnt too bad. I scheduled a Surial bath for Monday 2PM (at Sea), a couples massage for Thursday 10:30 (at Sea) and a Facial for Friday (CC) afternoon. I did the facial late (4:30) and on the last day since they advise you to stay out of the sun afterwards. I met the family at Topsiders for some great shrimp. The crew served everything. Guest were not allowed to touch anything on the serving line. Drinks were already poured you even have to ask for sweetener. You get a Bac Down Antimicrobial Skin Wipe on your tray to use too. Better safe than sorry I guess. The shrimp were excellent; the beef was VERY tough. Dessert was excellent!
By the time we finished lunch it was after 1PM. We headed to our room, 6564. Our room looked down onto the gangway so we stood and watched the people coming on the ship for a bit. Our room steward, Sharon came into vacuum. She wasnt quite finished in the room when we arrived. She said Mickeys Magic was working a little slower than usual today. We had a welcome aboard gift of Champagne and petit fours since the group had more than 8 cabins booked. I snuck gift bags on for the kids with colored pencils, drawing books, crosswords, word search, bubbles and candy. The kids were very excited.
Our steward mentioned the problems with illness on the ship. She said she could be discrete if anyone had motion sickness, but if we went to the doctor there was a chance of a 72-hour quarantine. We left the room and went down on flight to the Oceans Lab. We signed the kids in, received our beeper and information. The kids got wristbands and nametags. We gave them sign out privileges (which later turned out to be a mistake). We went to the Promenade Lounge to get out complimentary AAA drink mugs. The AAA mugs are not as nice as the Magic mugs. They look similar, but instead of the Magic they say AAA. Also there is no choice in colors. The lady handing out the mugs asked if we wanted the lanyard /strap holders. I said sure. She did tell me they were $2 each! We never used them, but they make cheap souvenirs I guess.
Now that we had cups, we went to Deck 9 for soda, then back to the room. Some of our luggage had arrived so we started unpacking. Security called the room. They said there was a problem with one of our bags. Some one had to go down to Deck 1 forward. DH went with the luggage keys. Apparently we had packed too well and too tightly. The security people could not distinguish all the items with the x-ray machine. Mike unlocked the bag so they could search it it had our 12-pack of soda, a box of Capri Suns for the kids, cameras, walkie-talkies, and books - all sorts of stuff. After the search, DH brought the bag on the ship himself. It was out last bag (I wont tell you how many we had too embarrassing!)
We went back to Deck 9; the kids played Ping-Pong until time for the lifeboat drill. We all hated our life jackets of course. I know they didnt design those things for comfort but jeez! Theyre like 8 inches thick with no give at all. Its like wearing a chair cushion around your neck! After the drill we went back to the room to get rid of the jackets. We made our way to Deck 10. The sail-away party was already in full swing. We watched the Holland America ship have their lifeboat drill. Before we knew it the ship was leaving the dock. The kids had a couple of frozen drink no alcohol of course. My DS chased bubbles around the deck. After we clear the dock, the Magic blew her horn. Very cool!
We made our way back to the room to get ready for our 6PM dinner in Parrot Cay. There were instruction on the bed about hand washing and a warning about cold and flu season. At 6 PM we headed to Parrot Cay. There was quite a line waiting to go in. It only happened the first night. I believe it was because everyone had to be shown their table. Our servers were Melwin and Michael. Michael was fairly new but very nice. I wasnt very impressed the first night, but they both grew on me as the week went by. Dinner the first night was OK. I had a steak. It was MUCH better than the one at lunch. After dinner we headed back to the cabin. We were all pretty pooped. I tried to talk my crew into going to the show, but no one was interested. The kids decided to go to the Aloha Party at the Lab. Mike and I stayed in the cabin and did some organizing. The kids came back pretty early and we all turned in. We had NO idea what was ahead
