January 5, 2008--Our Second Cruise of Firsts

[CaptainJack]

Undoubtedly, this cruise report will be different than most.

This was our fifth cruise--all on The Magic and our second cruise of firsts. Of course, our first cruise in 2001 was our first cruise of firsts. It was our very first cruise. Our first time in Port Canaveral. Our first time ever at sea. The first time that the girls were part of a kids program. You know the drill.

This cruise was different for a number of reasons.

We did not plan on going on this cruise until after we got off The Magic on September 29, 2007. We are DVC members and wanted to use our DVC points for a 2008 cruise. We have always gone during Value season and the only Value season cruises were during January and February of 2009. I booked early January to try to assure that the cruise did not interfere with any skating competitions. (My daughters--twins-- figure skate).

After we booked the cruise, the girls started going one week each month to Detroit to train at the Detroit Skating Club. And, as fate would have it, the only week in January that we could coordinate all of the coaches' schedules was the week of January 14. This meant that we would be away from home for 2 weeks.

I called DVC to try to reschedule the cruise, which resulted in the the beginning of the firsts.

For the first time ever in all of my dealings with DVC, I had to deal with a DVC customer service representative who was rude, which resulted in the first time I ever had to complain to a DVC supervisor about a customer service representative.

For various reasons we decided to go on the cruise and deal with the logistics of doing so.

Because we live in the Atlanta area, we usually merely drive to the Port. (This is much to the chagrin of my children who believe that God created airplanes so children would not need to ride in vehicles for that long of a distance).

As is apparent, we could not drive our vehicle to the Port as we would be flying to Detroit from Orlando after the cruise. And, while Mickey is a very accommodating Mouse, I doubt that he would have driven my vehicle back to Atlanta for me.

Therefore, we rented a vehicle from Avis to drive from Atlanta and drop off at the Port.

We drove down on Friday and stayed at the Radisson at the Port, where we had stayed twice before. And, in fact, one of my daughters specifically requested this hotel. (Compare that to when I was raised where a stay at any hotel was a luxury and I would not even have thought about requesting a particular hotel).

We arrived at the hotel later than expected because of various logistical opportunities ecountered in Atlanta. (That is to say, the girls packed their own luggage and we were packing stuff that morning because every time I asked them whether they had packed a particular item, I received a look that looked strikingly similar to a deer caught in the headlights.)

As I stated, we had stayed at this hotel on two previous occasions without incident. Not so with this stay--another first. We arrived and were assigned to our room. As we were entering it, we were informed by other patrons of the hotel that the room had a problem with a toilet. Sure enough, it still had the same problem. We were given a perfunctory sorry and provided with another room. To the credit of the hotel, when I mentioned the problem at check-out, I was informed that they would refund the price of the room to my credit card, which they did.

Before dropping off the rental car, we went on a whirlwind shopping tour of the local Super Wal-Mart, which, by the way, is only about 5 to 6 miles from the Radisson. We went in for 2 bathing suits and several hundred dollars later we emerged with a new suitcase packed full of more stuff that we could not live without.

We dropped off the rental car at Avis and were taken to the terminal by shuttle. May I say that this shuttle was the best experience of being taken to the terminal of any shuttle I have taken there. On all previous occasions, when I boarded a shuttle to go to the ship, I believed that we were auditioning as actors told to play a can of sardines with the only thing missing being the oil. On this occasion, we were the only persons on the shuttle.

More tomorrow as you learn how, for the first time ever, we get to see the wonderful medical facilities on the Magic, learn that the Magic medical facilities has an X-ray machine, and hear how we met Dr. Nick on the Magic.

 

[tjeagle]

Okay....I'm curious....waiting for more!!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

ok , it's tomarrow, so lets hear some more of the story.

I am waiting,
mom x4,grandma x4

 

[crazed'boutmaryP]

suscribing. more! more! more!

 

[CraftyMouse]

I'm still reeling from the revelation that you live in Atlanta but your girls train in Detroit! Wow! They must be great skaters!

More trip report please.

 

[CaptainJack]

Sorry about the delay in the next installment of the trip report. I am still trying to convince myself that leaving the Disney Magic and traveling to Detroit for a week was the action of a sane person.

As you are aware, we arrived at the Port by Avis shuttle, which as you also know was an enjoyable experience.

We checked in at the Castaway Club counter and received number 15 to board. Another first, a double digit number to board. On previous occasions, we boarded with either group number 3 or group number 5.

We boarded and I wanted to head for Parrot Cay with what seemed like 42 bags in tow. And, I was assigned the task of carrying 40 of them. (All of the married men and single moms can feel my pain). I was out-voted and was told to head to Topsiders so we could "eat outside of Topsiders." (Here is the bonus for this trip report, head to Parrot Cay if you are boarding with group number 15). We finally got a table INSIDE of Topsiders and ate lunch.

The one advantage of boarding so late is that, as soon as you are done with lunch, you can go to the stateroom, which we did. We were on Deck Number 5 in Stateroom 5012 in a Category 8 stateroom. This was the first time that we had not been on Deck 9. On all previous cruises, we had been in a Category 9 stateroom. We had changed to Deck 5 only because, when we booked the cruise, the only Category 9 cabins were on Deck 1 and I was informed in no uncertain terms that, for some undisclosed reason, WE did not want to be on Deck 1. I learned later that WE want one large porthole and not 2 like they have on Deck 1. I am still unsure when we decided that WE do not like Deck 1. (I am afraid that Deck 1 residents will now feel disenfranchised about this revelation. My apologies to all Deck 1 resident about what WE believe).

The girls then informed us that they wanted to go to The Stack. I informed them that going to the The Stack would proved largely futile since we would need to be at the Lifeboat Drill at 4 p.m. My family promptly believed this was the opportunity to take a nap. I was the designated person to stay awake--lucky me.

I decided to go up to Topsiders to get a Coke. There was now plenty of space to sit outside of Topsiders because it was raining.

The Lifeboat Drill was uneventful other than the fact that my spouse informed me repeatedly that I needed to be quiet. I merely stated that, in describing what to do when the abandon ship signal is sounded, most people will scream and run prior to quietly placing their vests on and going to the designated gathering station.

The girls went to The Stack with explicit instructions that they needed to return for dinner. One of only 3 dinners that they had to attend--first night, formal night, and one other night to celebrate their mother's birthday at the end of the cruise. This edict was greeted with about as much enthusiasm as if I had announced that they all needed to visit the dentist as some point in the cruise. They also attempted to negotiated their way out of the dinners--to no avail.

At dinner, we met our server and assistant server. We had the main dining and the LAP rotation. Our server, Edward Wardle, was the best server that we ever had. (This is not to say that the other servers were bad--all were good. Edward was the best of the 5 that we have had).

My wife and I attended the All Aboard show. The girls, of course, disappeared into the mist immediately after dinner and went to The Stack. The show was good, but the same show as we saw in September with one exception Rachel was the cruise director in September and Brent was the cruise director on the most recent cruise. We then got to stay up past midnight waiting for the girls to return from The Stack. Although we set a curfew of midnight, it was adhered to, I believe, on only one occasion--the first night.

Sunday morning we slept in. We went to eat breakfast shortly before lunch time. We, therefore, went to brunch at Lumieres. The girls graced us with their presence at brunch before again disappearing to The Stack.

Later that day as we were leaving the Stateroom, we got to hear Raquel calling Rebekah on the radio asking her if she was in trouble. About that time, one of the counselors from the kids club saw us walk by and grabbed us. We went to the forward stairs on Deck 5 to find our daughter Rebekah sitting on the floor with her left leg up. She had been on a scavenger hunt with the teens from The Stack. And, the combination of her running down the stairs and the boat rocking because we were in four to eight foot waves resulted in a twisted ankle that we did not know was sprained or broken.

The counselors had called one of the nurses. I learned that there are at least three on the ship. She was there within minutes with an ice pack and a wheelchair was called. That arrived several minutes later. We then made our way to the Medical Center where we met Dr. Nick.

He examined the ankle, which was swollen twice its normal size, and x-rayed it. Dr. Nick was fairly sure that ankle was not broken but that she had torn a ligament. He then bandaged the ankle with an Ace bandage and put an air splint on it. She was also assigned crutches and provided a wheelchair.

At this point, she was moritified at the prospect of showing up at The Stack in a wheelchair and tried her negotiation skills at getting rid of the wheelchair. She was unsuccessful. She then consented to go to The Stack in the wheelchair.

More later, but rest assured that once Rebekah went to The Stack the wheelchair was not the death knell to fun on the cruise as all of the guys there wanted to sit in the wheelchair.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Brilliant report - I hope your DD wasn't too badly affected by her injury, particularly with her being a skater.

 

[yazee1]

subscribing

 

[GQ's Ghost]

I assume you packed her skates...should have just laced her up....instant splint LOL!

 

[fairfax]

Great TR! Sorry to hear about DD. Look forward to more!

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Awesome... subscribing

 

[CaptainJack]

Back with more of the trip.

On Sunday, as you know, we spent most of the afternoon and the early evening dealing with Rebekah's accident. We finally got her squared away with crutches and wheelchair. We also learned the secret decoder way to get an elevator to go up to The Stack.

We missed, again, the Golden Mickeys at the theater, but saw a portion of it on the television in the Stateroom. The Stack activities were to go to 2:00 a.m. The girls left early probably about 1. For which I thanked God so I could get some rest on what was supposed to be a vacation.

On Monday, I started the day be being grateful to be on the Disney Magic instead of at work. The girls disappeared, again, to The Stack after Rebekah's bandage was checked.

Candidly, the purpose of the cruise was to do as little as possible. I had decided that I wanted to have 7 days of having to do nothing if I wanted to and of being left alone.

I did learn one thing on this cruise. My cell phone works now on the ship; however, I refused to answer it and did not return calls. (A big concession for someone who owns his own business and has clients calling on every vacation).

On Monday night, we went to the movie The Game Plan. I had no plans on going to this movie and even skipped it on the September cruise, but the movie was quite funny. And, I would recommend it to anyone.

Monday night, we were again awake waiting for our children to return from The Stack. From that night to the end of the cruise, the routine was pretty much the same for the remainder of the cruise. Wait up for the children, have my wife tell me several times that they were staying up too late, have her insist that we should make them come home earlier, finally convince them to come back to the Stateroom, and have them order room service. There was at least one constant from day to day and this was it.

And, no, I did not go to see Twice Charmed. I have been charmed by it twice before and did not need to be charmed again (even though it is well done).

Tuesday--Pirates in the Caribbean Pary. Because we had been at this dinner several times before, I had made reservations at Palo for dinner. I expected gleeful expressions of gratitude from my wife when I told her that I had made dinner and brunch reservations at Palo. Instead, I initally got the question about whether we really needed to spend the additional money on going to Palo while on the ship. (Perhaps some reader can explain why I got such a question. Also, does anyone out there want to go to Palo without questioning whether I need to spend that money?).

After undergoing questioning about going to Palo, I prevailed in explaining that it would be very nice to go and we went.

As an aside, if you are going to only one meal at Palo--dinner or brunch, here is my suggestion. Got to brunch. The meal is equally excellent at both as is the service, but the view is much better at lunch from Palo. At dinner, you see nothing but darkness when looking out the windows.

Our server at Palo was Roberto. Who was very good.

After Palo, we went to see National Treasure--Book of Secrets. Another very good movie. The movie was shown in the Walt Disney Theater. I foolishly believed that the theater would not be full because it was Pirate night. The theater, however, was full to capacity. (For those of you who saw the movie, any ideas on what is on page 47?)

By the way, the closest that I got to St. Maarten was to look at it from the ship. True to my desire to do lots of nothing including not going ashore. (I am confidant that some of you will view this view of not going to shore as heresy and trying to lead the faithful astray).

One thing that I made sure that I did not miss--the fireworks.

 

[Melrosgirl]

Thanks for the report!

As far as page 47 goes, LOL, I'm guessing it's gonna be revealed in National Treasure 3.

 

[taramarie]

(For those of you who saw the movie, any ideas on what is on page 47?)

.

All I can say is it is whatever the theme of #3 is going to be!
That is all DH and I could say at the end of the movie.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I am really enjoying your trip report! Sorry to hear about your daughter's accident!

Can't wait for more!

 

[sftnslky]

subscribing

 

[Oihane]

I'll subscribe...I'm interested in this, as we were on the same cruise

 

[dustermom02]

Enjoying the updates. My dh swears it said the fountain of youth on pg 47. I saw nothing.