July 15-22 Magical Western Cruise

[noahsmom]

Cast - Myself, DH, and DS (8)

Our trip started with a 5 night stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge so there may be some references to this portion of the trip in this report. We used Southern Elegance as our transportation - they were FANTASTIC! I highly recommend them. On Grand Cayman we used Native Way (see previous post), again a terrific group and I would highly recommend them.

This will get long since it's a 7 night cruise. Here are the first few days. I hope to post the rest tomorrow.

Initial thoughts - I love 7 nights on the ship. Personally I prefer the Wonder to the Magic (reasons scattered throughout the trip report). Didn't care for Cozumel, loved Grand Cayman. My perfect cruise would be 7 nights, alternating between Castaway Cay and sea days. That being said we did have a fabulous time!

July 15th – The Magic!

We all slept in until about 8:00 and then went down to the concierge’s lounge for breakfast. After eating and discussing our dissatisfaction I went down to the lobby to speak with a manager. The man at the check-in que was very nice, asked if there was anything he could help me with. I told him that our current conversation was the longest I’d had with any cast member at AKL, when I told him we were concierge guests he became very concerned and went to get a manager (he had told me that he wasn’t leave his post, he was collecting data on how the que lines were going). He came back with Marilyn. I’m not sure what her position is but she seemed managerial. She apologized for the inhospitality that we experienced and said she would look into it. Bill thought she should have done something for us, but I didn’t ask and she didn’t offer. It made me better to say something and I will followup with an email.

After breakfast it was time to pack. Bell services took so long to come to our room that in our rush we didn’t do our usual room check. Left behind was a Gameboy cartridge and the big battery and charger for the video camera. The car was waiting for us and soon we were on our way to Port Canaveral. The ride was uneventful and comfortable. The driver stopped at the Publix where we purchased beer and Seagrams Raspberry coolers (yum!). Next stop – the Magic. It’s so wonderful to see the beautiful ship as you go over the bridge. We were dropped off right in front of the terminal which was different, on previous trips we were dropped off across the street in a parking lot. This was much nicer. Security only questioned if we had ice in the cooler, even though there were signs everywhere saying you couldn’t bring your own alcohol, it was no problem. We were given boarding number 19. By the time we checked in and got Noah registered for the Oceaneer’s Lab we walked right on the ship - very efficient. We were directed to Topsiders but once we arrived saw how crazy busy it was went to Pluto’s instead. The chicken tenders were wonderful. Bill had a chicken sandwich which he said was good too. After we ate we could go to our room, 6584. Loved this location! Just 2 doors down from the laundry but never heard any noise. The hardest thing was getting used to being on this side of the ship. On our previous cruises we were on the other side.

Waiting on the bed was Noah’s basket from The Perfect Gift. Once again Shirley outdid herself! I ordered the medium sand pail and it was quite big. She stuffed it to overflowing with sand toys, snacks, juice packs, and pirate items. Noah was thrilled. Upon checkin we each received a Castaway Club lanyard which was very nice and there was a nice tote bag waiting for us in the room. Our luggage had not arrived but I had put Noah’s swim gear in our carryon so he changed and we went back up to deck 9. At 3:00 we had our DIS meet on deck 10. Nice to put faces to names. Our dining rotation was APLAPLA with 5:30 seating. Perfect rotation, the seating time was a bit early, I like 6:00 better. Some days it got a bit rushed.

For dinner I had the Baked Tomato appetizer, Butternut squash soup (my favorite), Filet, and chocolate cake for dessert – YUM!! Noah had chicken noodle soup, Mickey pasta with marinara sauce and a Mickey ice cream bar. I don’t remember what Bill had but we were all happy! Noah was chomping to get to the lab so off we went. Bill and I explored the ship. Our cabin host was Allan and was very nice. Always whistling and happy! He filled our cooler with ice, which ended up being a mistake. At about 3:00 a.m. when I got up to use the restroom I found the carpet was all wet – the cooler leaks! It stayed in the bathtub for the remainder of the cruise (unless of course someone was using the shower).

Tomorrow morning is character breakfast at 8:00! No sleeping in for us. Key West is also on schedule for tomorrow.

July 16 – Key West

The character breakfast was nice. The characters only stop once and you better be ready. We had purchased a photo folder at Shutters and had each autograph it. Nice souvenir. After breakfast, Noah wanted to go to the Lab – big surprise! He was not happy when we discovered they were in the Stack. He grudgingly agreed to go and look and quickly decided to stay. It is very cool there. He stayed there until we arrived in Key West, he had requested that we get him so he could watch the ship dock.

Our first stop off the ship was the Aquarium. Noah loved the touch tank. Thankfully I had the internet 2 for 1 coupons – these saved us a lot of money! After the aquarium we boarded a trolley. It’s quite a long tour but very informative. We got off at stop 8 for the Butterfly Conservatory. As soon as we got off the trolley it started to rain – we were soaked by the time we reached the conservatory. The butterflies were amazing and the place was so pretty and peaceful. The rain was really coming down while we were in there which probably extended our visit there. When it stopped raining we decided to go to the Southern most point which is only a block away. Of course as soon as we left the building the rain started again. We were totally soaked by the time we had our picture taken. On our way back to the trolley stop we made a visit to an ice cream shop. Noah needed to use the facilities. He also got a wonderful smoothie, Bill had ice cream and I got a piece of chocolate dipped Key Lime Pie (yum). The rest of the trolley ride was pretty short and uneventful. We went past the post office which proved helpful later.

Bill & Noah decided to go back to the aquarium while I tried to mail some postcards, find a drugstore (Noah was getting pretty congested), and visit a couple of shops. Shopping first. I went to the Pearl store and got necklaces one white pearl and one black pearl for only $15. After that I went to the CVS which is almost next door and picked some cold strips for Noah. Then it was off to find a mail box. It was very hot, humid and I was tired and wet. So I was not happy when I was told that I needed to go to the post office. This was about 4 blocks away. I was so tired I just wanted to get back on the ship. Oh well, off I went. I walked past the Banyan House which looks very nice. There were some roosters in the lawn of the post office having a disagreement. Soon enough I was back on the ship. I had just enough time to get ready for dinner in Parrot Cay.

Personally I think that Parrot Cay on the Wonder is nicer. The decorations are a bit more elaborate on the Wonder than on the Magic. This kind of surprised me. We were table 38 which wasn’t very nice, we were basically always in the corner. Our server was Dobi from Bulgaria and the assistant server was Ian (I forgot where he’s from). John was the head server. I’m still not sure why we are expected to tip him, we rarely saw him. I had the trio of salmon appetizer, salad, and baby back ribs. The ribs were wonderful! After dinner we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean II. It was good; I thought it got a little long. Then off to bed – it was a long day! Tomorrow is a nice day at sea.

July 17 – Day at Sea

Again we slept in (8:00) and went to Topsiders for breakfast. The scrambled eggs on the buffet line were the worst eggs I’ve ever tasted! The Mickey waffles were also awful; they taste like there’s corn flour in them – very gritty. Not the Mickey waffles I remembered and no chocolate ones to be found. The omelets were terrific and that’s what we got every morning. Noah went swimming after breakfast while we relaxed on deck 9. Noah went to the Lab in time for lunch because we had Palo reservations for Brunch.

Wow! What a spread of food. Our server was Alex and he was terrific. We filled our plates with a variety of appetizers, had the stollen bread the way he suggested (whipped cream and berries on top), then we went for the entrees. We had half orders of all of them (there were 4) so we could try them all! Great suggestion by Alex. Bill has discovered a taste for Rum drinks! We rolled ourselves out of there, changed our clothes and went the DVC presentation. We had thought about joining a couple of years ago so we were interested in hearing more. After the presentation we made an appointment to speak with Scott later that afternoon. In the meantime we went to the art auction, there was a Helmsman Mickey print Bill had his eye on. From we could tell they never did auction that one. We prefer the silent auction. Someone paid over $1100.00 for a signed Jerry Rice Jersey. They were serving free cosmopolitans so I had a couple. The meeting with Scott went well. He was very interested in our AKL experiences. We did decide to join DVC.

Tonight is formal night. Thankfully I did all my ironing as soon as our luggage arrived on Saturday, there was quite a line for the iron on formal night. Dinner is at Luminere’s. Again I prefer Triton’s, I love the mosaic on the back wall at Triton’s. Again our table was in the back corner but this time it was in front of a porthole. This gave us a very nice view. We had our picture taken in front of the helmsman Mickey statue in the Atrium. Noah thought the sea looked rough. Ian informed us that there have been times when the waves hit the windows of Luminere’s! After dinner we changed out of our fancy clothes, Noah went back to the Lab while Bill & I wandered the ship and enjoyed some quite time.

We tried to get to bed somewhat early because tomorrow is Grand Cayman!

 

[mikelan6]

Great report ... do you have pics online?

 

[sillykidsmom]

The report is looking good. I really enjoyed reading it and can't wait to read more. I'm trying to work on one, but time is not on my side lately. It's been crazy since we got back. I do have to agree with you on Parrot Cay. I did enjoy it so much more on the Wonder for some reason.

 

[Babs417]

Bring a big trash bag for your soft sided coolers put the cooler in the trash bag so it wont leak all over the floor.

 

[Ker-Bear]

Bring a big trash bag for your soft sided coolers put the cooler in the trash bag so it wont leak all over the floor.

Great tip! Thanks. I bought one from disneyshopping and I was surprised that it leaked

 

[curlybop]

What a great report so far. Thanks for taking time to share!

 

[noahsmom]

Thanks for all your comments. Most of our beverages fit in the ship's cooler so once we were able to fit the few that remained in our carry on cooler we were ok (Allan didn't put anymore ice in it). I didn't want it wet for the trip home.

Here's the rest of my report - enjoy!

July 18 – Grand Cayman and Bill’s Birthday

I was the 1st one to wake up which was good because I was able to put up Bill’s birthday door magnet. We had breakfast at Topsiders again. We all enjoyed the omelets and the cream filled Krispy Kremes. Because I booked our Island tour and Stingray City excursion on my own I was a little nervous about getting off the ship. This is the 1st time we’ve had to tender. After breakfast we went back to our cabin, gathered our things and went to the Buena Vista Theatre. We sat there for about 5 minutes and then were taken to the tender. I believe we may have been on the first one. We were on the pier about 45 minutes before we needed to be which was fine because I did have some trouble identifying where we needed to meet Native Way. There are many, many tour operations trying to get your business when you get to the pier. When one woman approached me I told her that we had already booked with Native Way but I wasn’t sure where to find them. She was very helpful and called them on her cell phone, then pointed us in the right direction. Once we found our meeting point we went over to some shops to kill some time.

At 9:30 we met back at a gazebo type structure for the start of our tour. We were taken to a bus area behind the shopping area (about a one block walk). There were only 7 of us on the tour. The other four people were from the Carnival ship that was also in port. Richard was our tour guide. He was very informative and kind. I think that because our small group he let us stay longer at some of the sites. We stopped in Hell. The man working in the small gift shop is a riot. He’s dressed like a devil and uses the word “hell” in every sentence. It amazed me how he was able to do that. After Hell we went to the Tortuga Rum Cake factory. We were able to sample all the different rum cakes and they we could sample as many types of rum that we wanted. I was very disappointed to find that we couldn’t buy any rum from them. Apparently any alcohol purchases have to be delivered to the ship and Disney doesn’t accept deliveries. Instead of buying the rum cake six pack and carrying it around all day, I decided to get it back by the pier.

Almost directly across the street from the factory is the Boatswain Turtle Farm. I was very impressed by this facility. It was much nicer than I had anticipated. There is a lot of construction going on and Richard told us that by this fall they hope to make the Turtle Farm an all day destination. They are putting in swimming pools (for people), restaurant, and some other things that I forgot what he said. There is a very large pond where all the breeding Green Sea Turtles live. They have a large beach area where they can lay their eggs. There are a variety of smaller tanks that have turtles of various ages. The touch tank has turtles that are about 1 year old. Noah LOVED holding the sea turtles. There shells are very beautiful. It took a good deal of coaxing to get Noah to leave the turtles. The gift shop is very nice as well. There are a couple of small, independently owned gift shops that rent space in the building. They are located outside the gates. We stopped in one and got a nice polo shirt for Bill and a t-shirt for Noah for less than $30.

Back on the bus it was time to go to the marina. Richard dropped us off and Chris took over. He was the captain of the boat that took us to Stingray City. There are many beautiful houses by the marina. The trip to the sandbar was uneventful, no one felt sea sick. Because it was now early afternoon the sandbar was not very busy, there were only about 4 other boats there. Chris found us a good spot and it was time to jump in. Noah jumped in with no fear and Bill was right behind him. I was a bit nervous because every time I was about to jump a stingray swam out from under the boat. Finally I chose to use the ladder. The water was wonderful and only about waist deep. Noah had no problems at all. I let out a couple of shrieks when the stingrays would bump into me; it’s a very strange feeling – like someone is trying to push you over. The stingrays are huge (at least the females), we got excited when we thought we saw a baby but found out that these much smaller stingrays were the males. Chris caught a stingray so we could touch it, get a good look at it and give it a kiss. Then Chris pulled out the stingray food – squid. We each had a chance to feed them. I did it once; Noah must have done it 8 times. After about an hour it was time to go back to shore. The folks from the Carnival ship were getting concerned because they had to be onboard before we did and time was running short (the tour went long which was fine with us). The ride back to the piers was quick and I’m sure they made it back in time (their tender line was very, very long). Bill and Noah headed right back to the Magic, I stayed behind to find my rum cakes, and mail some postcards. Thankfully they believe in mailboxes so I didn’t have far to look.

Back on ship we had enough time to get ready for dinner. It was back to Animator’s Palate, this was the first time we’ve eaten there and not had the show. Thankfully they ran cartoons so Noah was happy. We were all stuffed when they brought Bill his birthday cake, but somehow we managed to eat some more. The cake was better than the ones we had on previous cruises. Noah asked to go to the Lab so off he went. Bill and I were going to go to Golden Mickey’s but somehow never made it. We have a very relaxing evening – I think Bill had a very memorable birthday! We tried to get to bed early but it was after 10 again. Noah is starting to show signs of being overtired. Tomorrow is Cozumel.

July 19 – Cozumel

Bill booked the golf excursion for Cozumel and had to meet at 9:15 so he was up early. I wanted Noah to sleep in as long as possible – he needed it and tonight is Pirate Night. Once he woke up (about 7:30 not nearly late enough) we went up to Topsider’s for breakfast. After we ate went directly to the pool. Our excursion to the Atlantis submarine was scheduled to meet at 12:50 so we had lots of time. Due to lack of sleep Noah was being a little difficult. He was very upset that we were not going to a beach, only on the submarine. Only on the submarine – I’ve got to be the meanest mom in the entire world! We had a quick lunch at Pluto’s then went ashore. Our meeting point was easy to spot and Disney is well organized. We were all (48 people) loaded into cabs and taken to the Atlantis office. Here we waited for our tender to the sub. The tender ride was about 20 minutes and Noah fell asleep instantly. I had to wake him up when we arrived at the sub.

The sub is “docked” to another tender boat as we boarded. There is room for 48 passengers and every seat was full. This is ok but if you were looking out the port side and something was sighted on the starboard side you were out of luck. There was no room to turn around. Noah spotted a Hawk’s bill sea turtle which was exciting. I was a little disappointed in the coral reef. I don’t know if it sustained a lot of damage with the hurricane but it wasn’t as colorful as I thought it would be. We saw many fish and the drop off – the high light for Noah. The sub has a display showing how far down you are, we got down to about 119 feet below sea level. The drop off is exactly that – the sea floor goes from about 100 feet to 6,000 feel instantly. It was amazing. The excursion was interesting but I don’t think we’d do it again. The trip back to the ship was uneventful and we made it back just in time to get ready for dinner. Pirate night had arrived!!!

Noah dressed in his pirate costume, Bill wore his pirate head scarf and I wore my Goofy pirate ears. Dinner was at Parrot Cay. But before dinner was the Castaway Club reception. This started at 5:00 and dinner was 5:30 – too close together. The appetizers were amazing, as were the carved watermelons. It amazes me how they carve the melons so beautifully. I had way too many coconut shrimp and Bill loved to rum drinks they were serving. Noah was bored with the whole thing so Bill told him he could wander around a bit. This was a mistake; we should have been more specific as to where he could go. It took us forever to find him and I was getting frantic. Turns out he was riding the midship elevators (no he doesn’t push all the buttons, he just likes to ride them). We were about 15 minutes late for dinner and all of us were a bit upset about the situation. Bill and I because we couldn’t find us and Noah because we were upset, he was only doing what we said he could do. Oh well, it didn’t take too long to recover once we were at dinner. Loved the menu, which you get to keep. I can’t remember which appetizer I had but the Mr. Smee’s salad was good (loved the raspberry vinaigrette). My entrée was the Macadamia nut dusted Mahi Mahi – it was fabulous! For dessert I had the Walk the Triple Layered Chocolate Gangplank Cake, this was awful. I couldn’t eat it. It’s hard to describe but it was so moist that it was wet. Not eating one dessert certainly wouldn’t make me starve!

After dinner we had some pictures taken. We did the lifestyle portraits in our pirate outfits and then got in line for Capt Hook and Mr. Smee. I was a little disappointed with our photo opportunities. I had initially purchased the minimum packages for both the 6x9’s and 8x10’s. Because Noah wasn’t interested in character pictures we only had about five 6x9’s. It seems that most of the pictures are now 8x10’s. We ended up getting the 10 package for the 8x10’s and individually purchasing the 6x9’s. Now that we are home I don’t know what I was thinking! What am I going to do with all these 8x10’s? I wanted to get Christmas cards but none of the pictures really worked for that.

By the time the Pirate party arrived Noah was very tired. The party isn’t quite what he expected, too much dancing. It was also very crowded and hard for kids to see what going on, adults didn’t think twice about pushing their way in front of kids. Anyway after a meltdown we took Noah back to our cabin. He was very upset about missing the fireworks and once they started going off, well that didn’t help. Luckily we had a perfect view of them from our veranda! As soon as they were done he was in bed and fast asleep. Since tomorrow is a sea day he can sleep in (hopefully). Bill went up to the buffet line and brought some things down to our cabin, he said it was an amazing spread of food.


July 20 – Day at Sea

Noah did sleep until after 9:00 this morning – much needed sleep! We went to Luminere’s for breakfast (Topsiders was getting old – not much variety). Our server seemed very indifferent to us, but the food was good – pretty much the same menu we had for the character breakfast. Bill ordered the pancakes and they tasted just as bad as the waffles. They have a gritty texture, much like corn meal.

After breakfast we went to deck 9. Noah swam and we just relaxed. We were going to eat lunch at Luminere’s because we saw that our servers were working there but never made it. Noah wanted to get to the Lab and based on the schedule just ate at Pluto’s. Noah went to the Lab for almost the rest of the day. There were some activities he wanted to do and then they had the kid’s show in the afternoon. Bill and I had Palo reservations for dinner so we wouldn’t see him until 8:00 – in time for Disney Dreams.

I went on the galley tour in the afternoon – very interesting. However, it is important to try and stay in the front of the group or it can be very hard to hear what is being said. The chefs have a very hard scheduled. When they sign their first contract they are on the ship for 8 months straight, doing the same job the entire time. So if they are a butcher, that’s what they do for 8 months. At the end of the contract they receive a bonus and if the re-sign they get another bonus and the length of contract is shortened. They also have an opportunity to change positions. It was an interesting tour. They were making a wedding cake in the pastry kitchen. The pastry chef said they usually have about 5 weddings per cruise but this time they only had one.

The kids show was wonderful. Different than the ones we had on the Wonder but that was two years ago, before the changed the program. The Mickey ears hat with tassle is very cute. We enjoyed it very much and of course, I cried since this marked the beginning of the end.

After the show we had to get ready for Palo. Louise was our server and she was great. It was also lobster night! Since neither one of us had ever had lobster we ordered one to share. For our appetizer we ordered a pizza to split and we each had an order of calamari. Both were excellent. The filet was what we both chose for an entrée which was nice with the lobster. The lobster was good, but not good enough that I would pay the price at other restaurants. For dessert we each had a chocolate soufflé. Louise also brought another dessert for us to try, I don’t remember what she called it but it was like a custard with berries on it – very good. We just love Palo!

After dinner we stopped back at our cabin to change clothes quick then went to get Noah for Disney Dreams. This is definitely our favorite show. I love the “Under the Sea” portion, they could do that over and over for me.

When we arrived back in our cabin we were surprised with our 2nd blanket animal (Allan did a terrific job with these). Tonight we had a large sea turtle on our bed. Allan had found the stuffed sea turtles that Noah got at the turtle farm and placed them on top of the one he created, very cute. Our other blanket animal was Cozumel night and I think it was some kind of Mayan creature – not quite sure but we liked it!

Tomorrow is Castaway Cay – our most anticipated day of the entire journey.


July 21 – Castaway Cay

I woke up full of excitement and anticipation. We just love this island (who doesn’t). Sadly it was raining. I was so upset and so tired of rain! How could it rain on Castaway Cay day? We all got ready and went to Topsiders for breakfast. This morning I remembered to ask for an egg white omelet – yummy! We ate inside and laughed when we saw someone put their tray down at a table outside and then come back in (assuming for something to drink). As soon as he stepped away from the table 4 seagulls swooped down and made off with most of the food! Do Not leave your trays unattended while in port!

After breakfast we went back to our cabin to await the all clear. When it came we made our way down to deck 1. There was no line to get off the ship – probably because it was raining. The crew was handing out ponchos to everyone brave enough to go ashore. With ponchos on we made our way to the tram. Because of the rain the photo ops were non-existent. We found a great spot on the family beach (not too difficult when only 20 people got off the ship). Noah couldn’t have cared less about the rain and went right into the water. Bill went with for a little bit but the rain was quite cold and he soon came back to sit with me under the umbrella. We had showers off and on until about 10:30 (we didn’t have a watch so all times are estimates). While we never did have sun, at least it didn’t rain all day. It was warm enough to enjoy the beach.

Noah and Bill started making a big sand castle; soon other kids came to help. There was a girl about Noah’s age, I think her name was Leah, and she helped quite a bit. Savannah also helped and I think Zach did too. The castle project continued most of the day until the fort in the water opened (water level has to be 5 feet before it opens). Noah and another boy found hermit crabs on the fort and had fun collecting them for the sand castle (all were released before we went back to the ship!). Lunch at Cookies was ok at best. I had some ribs that were mostly fat – they were awful. Bill had a burger that was ok. I ended up going back for a hot dog. Noah hardly ate – how could he waste time eating when there was a beach to play on!? Even though he had wanted to go to the kid’s area he never did – the ocean and beach were just too much fun. About 3:00 we decided to head back to the ship. On our way back Noah saw the water trikes so they went on one for a little bit. According to Bill this is quite a leg workout! They did get great views of the Flying Dutchman on the trike. The Flying Dutchman is very cool. I’m sure the photographers from Shutters take some great pictures with it in the background. Unfortunately they were not out due to the weather. Even with the rainy start we had a great day on Castaway Cay.

I think the worst part of this cruise is the fact the Castaway Cay is the very last day. So once you are back on board you have to figure out how you are going to get all packed by 11:00, plus go to dinner, plus go to the final show! With too much to do it’s very difficult to enjoy the last evening.

We got ready for dinner, went to the final show, got squared away at Shutters then went back to the cabin to pack. I got the last suitcase out at 10:50! We then went to bed (Noah had fallen asleep about an hour earlier). Tomorrow we go home.

July 22 – home

Because we had main seating we were to be at breakfast by 6:30. This is just a ridiculously early time and Disney really should reconsider this. Just about every kid was tired and cranky. We made it through breakfast, which was served very leisurely (on previous cruises this seemed very rushed – trying to get us out as soon as possible). After saying our goodbyes we figured we’d be walking right off the ship (based on previous cruises). Our towncar was to pick us up at 8:00, we were done with breakfast at about 7:15 so this was going to work great!

We got down to the atrium and saw the large crowd. Immigration had not released the ship yet. I stayed with all of our carry-ons in the atrium and Bill took Noah to find the end of the line. He called me on the cell phone and said they were just outside Parrot Cay! At 7:45 I called Southern Elegance to inform them that it was unlikely we would be out to get our car by 8:00, he said not to worry the driver would wait. Finally at about 8:15 they opened the doors. We quickly found a baggage handler and or bags and were through customs quickly. I don’t even think they look at the forms. Our driver was waiting for us (it was the same person who drove us there) and he recognized us. We were instructed to wait by number 5 while he went to get the car. Soon I saw a big white stretch limo pull around the corner, I asked Bill if the front plate said Southern Elegance and he said yes! Our driver hoped out, saw the look on our faces and said he likes to upgrade whenever he can!! Woo Hoo!! It was a wonderful limo, very comfortable. He had Finding Nemo in the DVD player, and the cooler was fully stocked with Coke products on ice. It was one of the most comfortable rides we’ve had – sadly he didn’t want to take us all the way home.

We checked into the airport easily – Midwest Airlines is wonderful and our flight was perfect. The hotel shuttle picked us up in a timely fashion and soon we were back in our own car and on the way home. While it is nice to be home, we do miss the ship and her crew. Since we joined the DVC we are currently working on our next trip which at this time looks like 3 nights at Saratoga Springs and a 4 night cruise. I wish I could convince DCL to skip Nassau and go to Castaway Cay instead!

 

[Babs417]

Great ending thanks for taking the time

 

[WDWLVR]

Thanks for sharing your trip report with us. Sounds like you had a great cruise!

 

[Lindy Loo]

really enjoyed your trippie, thanks for sharing!

 

[sherry]

I really enjoyed your report. Thanks for sharing.

 

[DISNEYMOMTO1]

Thanks so much for sharing. We are getting so excited for our cruise in September. Your Noah sounds like my DD who will be 8 on the cruise. I am "the meanest mom in the world" every other day. Poor babies. I wonder how many other kids get to celebrate their birthdays on a Disney cruise, I keep asking her!