July 18, 2007 07-18-07 Med Cruise

[nzdisneymom]

I'm so sorry to read about your DH's friend, especially with a sudden death. {{{hugs}}}

Glad you have 2 of your bags located; hopefully the 3rd will turn up shortly.

We're not ready to think about back to school yet; the boys are going to "camp grandma" starting tomorrow for a week and then we have 5-days in New Mexico and then a couple more days and school will start.

This summer has gone by way too fast.

So how is everyone doing adjusting back to "normal" time? I'm still waking up way too early...

 

[ariel39]

I'm so sorry to read about your DH's friend, especially with a sudden death. {{{hugs}}}

Glad you have 2 of your bags located; hopefully the 3rd will turn up shortly.

We're not ready to think about back to school yet; the boys are going to "camp grandma" starting tomorrow for a week and then we have 5-days in New Mexico and then a couple more days and school will start.

This summer has gone by way too fast.

So how is everyone doing adjusting back to "normal" time? I'm still waking up way too early...

Same here, sorry to hear of your loss!!

I am still waking up too early and going to bed way too early!! It is only 4am here and I could get another 2-2 1/2 hours of sleep.

Boy do I really miss that ship. I really wish Icould afford to do another cruise, but it probably will not be for a while.

A friend and his wife are cruising to Alaska next year and wanted us to go with them. It will be our 20th anniversary and thought it would be great to celebrate it that way. However, it isn't Disney and I don't know if I could enjoy it as much as I did this cruise.

Has anyone been on another cruise, after a Disney cruise?

 

[sharper_fin]

The time-zone thing isn't much of a problem for me (it's only one hour difference from Spain to England), but I'm having tourble adjusting to just three meals a day! I swear that some days onboard I managed to have at least seven. And one of those was the never-ending Palo brunch


Shaun

 

[nzdisneymom]

Kathie - we did our first ever cruise with Disney in Dec. 2005. In Oct 2006, I did a Carnival cruise with 20+ women from my church. It was an older ship, so I gave it some slack, but honestly it wasn't Disney. The food was great and the service was, too - it's just the on-board activities, loads of smoking, drinking, etc. - well, I didn't see that on the Disney ship and I saw too much of it on Carnival. Also the on-board entertainment was definitely not as "family-friendly" as I would be comfortable having my kids on-board.

However, that didn't put me off cruising with another company; in fact, I think cruising is an excellent way to get a sampling of different parts of the world with the conveniences of not having to pack and unpack, decide where and when to eat, and having the ability to book excursions takes the worries out of some off-board exploration should you need it.

We want to go to Alaska, too, and I would definitely consider going. Sure, you'll notice some differences, but you know what? I've read trip reports / reviews over on cruise critic of different cruise lines and I think you'll find excellent service, entertainment, etc. on other cruise lines - just no Mickey Mouse

 

[nzdisneymom]

The time-zone thing isn't much of a problem for me (it's only one hour difference from Spain to England), but I'm having tourble adjusting to just three meals a day! I swear that some days onboard I managed to have at least seven. And one of those was the never-ending Palo brunch

Hee hee. I bought pineapple at the grocery on Sunday because I got so used to having a bite of pineapple at breakfast every morning.

I was a bit disappointed to not have a free soft-drink machine at my office yesterday.

My work-mates made a "Where in the World is Cindy Durrett?" map that they put on my door while I was away - they had a map of the Med and used a marker to trace our route. Then they had a paper ship that they drew stick-figures of my family and they moved it each day to our new port and posted a copy of our door signs beneath it. They're so funny.

 

[ariel39]

Thanks Cindy.

My first cruise ever was September of 2005 and it was with Celebrity. My DH and I did the Mexican Riveria 4day cruise. It really was alot of fun and I thought Celebrity was awesome, but after a Disney Cruise, it isn't the same. Disney really knows how to pull out the red carpet and make everyone feel so special. I can act like a kid!! I know I embarrased my kids alot but in the end they have fun when I am like that. They laugh and laugh!!

I will have to think about it and convince my DH. This cruise would be just the 2 of us and not the kids.

 

[smilis]

I thought I saw a list of people blogging for this cruise. Does anyone know where I saw it? We're cruising on Aug 8th, and I can't believe it's nearly here.

Beth

Hi beth,
You might have gotten some blog addresses by now, but here is mine anyway.

www.joyfuljourneytravel.blogspot.com

I have one final post to make, hopefully now that I'm home I can do it.
Enjoy your cruise.

Sandy

 

[sharper_fin]

The guys in my office told me that they traced my journey too. "Where's Shaun today? If it's Monday it must be Rome!" that kind of thing. Fun, and nice of them.

We cruised to Alaska on NCL's Norwegian Sun ship out of Vancouver. Like Cindy said, it's not Disney, the 'magic' isn;t there, but it's still a great way to see different parts of the world.

How weird is this? Just a few short days ago we were sharing stories face to face on the Magic, now we're sharing them across time zones. Excellent.

 

[smilis]

We arrived home 7:30 PM Sunday night without too much fan fare. Was anybody else amazed at what total mass confusion the BCN airport was on Sunday morning? Terminal A was okay when we arrived at 6:45AM and took care of our VAT stamp and refund, but then we headed to Terminal B for Iberia airlines. There were people everywhere...no organized lines, very confusing as to which queue we should place ourselves in...WHEW! My poor DH kept having to move the luggage cart from one queue to another when I would see a new window opening We were a little nervous that we wouldn't make it to our gate on time, but alas, we did arrive in time. We had to change planes in Madrid, another longggg walk to get to the International gate, going thru security again, but made it in time. That 8 hour flight to Chicago and then onto Detroit was way too long
We fill very forturnate that the two pieces of luggage that we checked arrived at that same time and on the same flights as us.

I hope all those still with missing pieces eventually get them returned. Sunday night was a real short night (body clock wise anyway) as I had to be back at the airport in Detroit at 6AM Monday morning for a 1 day business trip to Washington DC. Boy was I a zombie Monday night Going back into the office a little late this morning, even though I feel like I'm coming down with a cold. I've got to start doing the laundry and sort thru the mail, souvenirs and emails.
We're probably heading over to Chicago again on Friday, DVC is opening their DVC store at Woodfield Mall, and the "perks" for adding on for existing members is better than they were offering on the Magic. Hope I feel better by then and my head is back on Michigan time.
It was great meeting so many of you and having familiar faces to run into on board the ship. We enjoyed talking to you and hope to see you on another Magical cruise in the future. We are thinking of doing one of the west coast cruises next summer. so perhaps we'll meet up again.

Sandy

 

[Dayub]

smilis, I will be in Chicago the weekend of Aug 18th for a wedding shower, is there somewhere online that list the perks if you buy additional ownership at the Woodfield Mall DVC store? The last thing I got in the mail was for Animal Kingdom but I did not receive anything about the Woodfield Mall store. Let me know. Thanks

 

[shortkathleen]

Our body clocks are slowly adjusting too. Yesterday all four of us were up at 3:30 am, way too early and that made for a very long day. There were times I thought I would fall asleep standing up. Luckily I am a stay at home mom so we were able to take it easy. Last night we were all sound asleep by 8pm, the kids 7pm. We were all up by 5am this morning. We got one bag last night and according to the computer 3 more arrived but we haven't seen them yet. I am jealous of you who have done your laundry and put it away.

Sandy- We were shocked by the confusion in terminal B as well, but we were there on Saturday. In fact, Disney should have gotten us there way earlier. We were the first group off the ship and arrived at the airport at 7am for our 9:20 flight and we didn't make it. You can read about it on my blog at www.mammacakes.blogspot.com

Have a good day.

By the way my inlaws who we were on the trip with bought two DVC contracts and gave us 125 points to use each year. They also gave my sil 125 points. I don't understand the point thing yet but we are excited that we will be taking more disney vacations.

Kathleen

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Weare still having a hard time adjusting to the time change going to bed way to early and getting up way to late. Thankfully none of us have to go to school or work just yet we don't start back until the end of August. Had to take the car in to be serviced it turned out needing new tires. Ughh back to reality of bils to pay and work to do. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just live on a Disney ship? Delat has still not located our one piece of luggage. It is probable still sitting in the mass confusion of customs in Atlanta.

Lissa

 

[scottishwee35]

3 luggages still missing!!!

I phoned yesterday and told me that they got 2 luggages and will delivery today.

Nothing happen, I phoned again, and told me that 3 luggages are still missing

I am very disappointed with Iberia airlines. I won't booking with them again.

Never happened to us after lots of travelling. Iberia airline is a thump down!!

Scottishwee35

 

[seaulater]

We got home yesterday. I did blog my trip and you can find it at:

www.seaulaterinthemed.blogspot.com

It was so fun meeting everyone. Wish we didn't have so many ports because we just didn't have alot of free time this cruise, although we knew that before we embarked on our incredible journey.

Jamie and Robert were totally surprised when we got to New York on Sunday and they started yelling at me when I headed to ground transportation. MOM-you are going the wrong way, we need a connecting flight! That's when I said-oh I forgot to tell you, I have a surprise, we aren't going home tonight we are going into the city.

Met our friends and went to the final bow for Beauty and the Beast in New York at 6 p.m. It was wonderful. However, by the time it ended it was 3 a.m. in the morning to us since we were still on Spain time!

Now I need to unpack.

Hope to see you all on a cruise in the future. My next cruise is the DVC members cruise in October and then the Thanksgiving week cruise on the Magic!

 

[scottishwee35]

Hi Linda

Remember we had some fun in Castaway Member Club, cannot believe that you had done 12 times on Disney Cruise. lol.

We will see you next year on May 08

Maybe two interpreters will come along too.

Scottishwee35

 

[Barbie3-4]

Hi everybody, we too are home safe and sound.

Mom was a trooper on this cruise. To tell the truth, I was very concerned because we had booked way back in March and in May she had major emergency surgery for a blocked intestine and was in the hospital for 5 days. She had lost weight (the doctors believed that she had not digested most of her food for weeks before that) she wasn't eating well and was very weak. I was very worried about how well she would do physically on the trip especially on all those excursions, but she insisted that she didn't want to cancel the cruise or the excursions. She had a great time and walked along with everyone else, stayed up late (we had the late dinner seating) in fact we were just sitting down to dinner when she would normally be getting ready for bed at home. Now we are busy planning her 85th birthday party in November.

It was great meeting everyone and running into many of you on the ship and the excursions.

About the Barcelona airport, I agree, it was very confusing. We were finally at our gate waiting and waiting to board our plane when they made an announcement (in Spanish) and everyone began to run in the opposite direction. I told Mom to run with them even though we had no idea what was going on. Then an announcement came on that the gate had changed and we had to go downstairs and board a bus to a new plane. I was glad that our connection in Madrid to Dulles (VA) was not for two hours so I didn't stress too much about missing it. On board, the pilot apologized and told us that the gate contraption had scraped the side of the plane and they decided to find another plane for our flight.

We got all our luggage quickly at Dulles and headed to my house. The next day, Sunday, I drove Mom down to Richmond but had to wait to get her dog at the kennel (Sunday hours) and therefore I didn't get back onto I95 going north until 6:30pm (after dropping by my daughter's house to get her to put my pics on the computer and give my grandkids their presents). Then it hit me, I'M ON I95 on a Sunday evening when all the beach traffic is coming back from VA beach, Nags Head and all those cars from New York returning from Florida. My usual 1 hour 15 minute drive took THREE HOURS!! I was so tired but at least I didn't have to fly on from the east coast off the the midwest or west coast like some of you did. And I don't return to work until the last week in August.

 

[Barbie3-4]

About other cruiselines,

I'm taking my next cruise with Royal Caribbean on August 19th to Bermuda sailing out of Baltimore so I don't have to fly anywhere...just about a one and one half hour drive. I took the same cruise last summer and had a good time. The service wasn't as good as the Magic but that's probably because our waiter jumped ship and stayed in Bermuda and so our head waiter had to do double duty and was very stressed. Can't imagine that anyone would give up their job at Disneycruiselines like that.

However, I did take a 7 day to the Caribbean two years ago on Carnival's Valor. It was the first cruise for that new ship and everything was wonderful. The ship was huge...I loved the decor as it was totally geared toward American History. As you walked down the stairs, you were greated by massive murals depicting scenes from Am history across the entire wall. The elevators soared up to the top floors and you could look down onto a beautiful lobby with muted colors of red, white and blue including the top of the grand piano which was painted in muted strips with those colors. We were with a big party of adults and loved the night life on that ship. Again, if you're travelling with children, I'm sure nothing beats the Disney ship (I can't wait until my kids and grandkids come along with me on another Disney cruise) but if you're looking for fun late night crowds of partyers and you love to dance the night away, the Carnival was fantastic. The service and food on that ship was also top notch. It was much larger than the Magic but I understand that the news ships that Disney is building will give the other lines a "run for the money" in that category.

 

[Judah722]

Greetings you all,
We arrived without event on Sunday afternoon - we booked a hotel in amsterdam for our 9 hour layover and that worked somewhat successfully. So we got up early and arrived in DTW not having lost a nights sleep...we - I was ready to go to bed at 7:30...next day 10 hours of driving to pickup the kids and today wednesday has been my toughest day...who knows?

I gotta run - but a quick comment on the other cruise lines...we went on a 'dirt cheap' NCL cruise some years ago that left me with a solid committment to never cruise again! So I would warn anyone to book on a newer ship and on a line that has consistently good ratings like Disney....well hey that was a whole nother world

Final note - Air wars!
We booked air to florida for just over $100 round trip Indy to Orlando - so we are flying in Sept to our 4 night Wonder cruise with all the kids....it just didn't seem to make much sense driving when the cost was so low flying.

Bon Voyage you all
Ben

 

[smilis]

Our body clocks are slowly adjusting too. Yesterday all four of us were up at 3:30 am, way too early and that made for a very long day. There were times I thought I would fall asleep standing up. Luckily I am a stay at home mom so we were able to take it easy. Last night we were all sound asleep by 8pm, the kids 7pm. We were all up by 5am this morning. We got one bag last night and according to the computer 3 more arrived but we haven't seen them yet. I am jealous of you who have done your laundry and put it away.

Sandy- We were shocked by the confusion in terminal B as well, but we were there on Saturday. In fact, Disney should have gotten us there way earlier. We were the first group off the ship and arrived at the airport at 7am for our 9:20 flight and we didn't make it. You can read about it on my blog at www.mammacakes.blogspot.com

Have a good day.

By the way my inlaws who we were on the trip with bought two DVC contracts and gave us 125 points to use each year. They also gave my sil 125 points. I don't understand the point thing yet but we are excited that we will be taking more disney vacations.

Kathleen

Hey that's great Kathleen, you will love having the points to work with. They are way easier to understand the Interval International's banking system. We are driving to Chicago tomorrow to increase our allotment of points. Disney is opening a "vacation club" store in Woodfield Mall and offering special perks for those people who attend the grand opening this week.

Laundry is just about done Hubby did a bunch of the ironing last night while I muddled through all the souvenirs and papers that we collected. Hope the rest of your luggage arrives soon.

Sandy

 

[colleenlg]

Hi All-

I wish I could've had a chance to meet more of you! I thought the meeting time was from 4:30 - 5:30 & got there a bit late (close to 5:00) so most everyone had left already for the emergency drill. I'm glad I got a chance to meet a few of you & we were seated at dinner with MinneapolisMickey (Angie) & her family, which was great! We had such a fabulous time - my DH & I keep reminiscing about the trip & wishing we were still on the ship!

Our trip home was to be 18 hours to San Diego with our 2-y-o daughter, but it wound up taking 24 hours b/c we sat on the runway in Philly for 3 hours due to some bad weather in our flight path. Then the pilot made an announcement a few hours into the flight that we wouldn't be landing in San Diego, we'd be landing in Los Angeles instead & then bused to San Diego. This was b/c while planes can land at any time in SD, they can only take off starting at 5:00 or so in the morning US Air needed the plane to be back on the East Coast. So, we didn't get home until 3:30 AM & our DD's sleep in all sorts of messed up. In fact, she's getting up at 4 am each day. We had horrible customer service w/ US Air too - word to the wise - fly with another carrier!