July 30th - August 6th Report....trip of DISers!!!

[jlawall]

Yes, that's right...we were a group of at least 30 DISers - approximately 10+ families...many of us "hung" out all week and truly had the trip of our lives!! We met on this board and communicated for almost a year in some cases.

Day One....July 30th

Since many of us stayed at the Grand Californian at DL, we met the night before in Whitewater Snacks. We met Lucy & Bob (PA), Lynn & Keith (GB), and Debi & Micco (NY) and their kids. My "rents" and I were there as well.

My family consists of.....my DH, myself, 3 DDs (21, 18, 15) and my parents, Bill & Alice.

Because we talked on this board, many times, we decided to leave our hotel at 9am on Saturday morning. I had used the Prime Time Shuttle at the LAX airport but was NOT happy with this service so we switched to another taxi service which we obtained from the GC front desk.

We arrived at port at about 9:45am and were given a card which stated that we were in group 2 to board. Since we stayed at a DL resort we were able to register in the conciege line. It took a few moments before we could check in, about 20-30 minutes. Fortunately, we were meeting some of our DIS friends and the time passed quickly.

Next, we waited in the boarding waiting room, where we met many other DIS friends. We were able to board at 11:45am and pics were taken on the way to the ship.

Off to Parrot Cay for lunch and spa/PALO ressies. We had no trouble getting PALO brunch ressies and the spa treatments that we wanted on the upcoming sea days.

Our luggage did not arrive right away and we were not permitted to our staterooms so we swam in the Quiet Cove pool and waited there. After the drill, we unpacked and prepared for our first PALO meal at 6:30pm.

I highly recommend eating a dinner in this restaurant. We had Ann Marie from South Africa as our server. She was outstanding, request her if you can! We were early so we went to the bar and Ann Marie from Latvia was our bar server. She was a class act as well!

After dinner, we check on our DDs who were eating their first dinner in Lumiere's with Dwight from Jamaica as our server. He was professional and efficient and we enjoyed his service throughout the week! A cool thing that happened in the dining room was that a server that we had two years ago, Sompong looked up and recognized my husband by name. We were really surprised to see him and it felt neat that he remembered us after all this time.

After dinner, we had arranged to meet our DISer friends at Scoops at 10pm. We met many couples and shared a brown bag swap with our new friends. The brown bag contained approximately $10 worth of trinkets and a food item from our hometowns. It was fun to meet people from.....NY, NH, CA, NV, VA, GB, WA and NJ! It was chilly on deck so we were all in our sweatsuits but we had a nice long visit and started to plan some rendevous for the following day!

 

[lookingforward]

What a great idea about the bags! I can't wait to hear more about the cruise.

 

[jlawall]

Day two - August 1st!

On Day 2, my resolve not to overeat and workout was in place. I headed to the fitness center early and worked out on my abs and cardio for over an hour. On our first sea day, we scheduled PALO brunch. I had never done that before and it was great! Really outstanding food selections and service, I highly recommend it! We met Lynn & Keith from Great Britain and they joined my parents and DH for brunch. This was another couple who we met on the DISboards. It was really cool to get to know them better while enjoying such wonderful food!

Next, I was off to the Quiet Cove for sunning. It was still early but we had good sun so the Deck 9 area was full. I went up to Deck 10 and my family joined me there. It was alittle chilly in the morning but by noon the sun was out and we chilled there all afternoon.

I love sea days. Just enjoying the ship ammenites is a pleasure!!

It was already formal night, so we dressed and had family portraits taken.

That night we had our first meal as family with Dwight and Ian who were our servers in Animators. We felt that the menu was BETTER THAN EVER all week. After dinner, we went to Diversions to meet our new DIS friends and then headed over to Rockin Bar D, where we danced with the Charles Marshall band. It was a rocking night and the band was outstanding.

 

[pppiglet]

More, more!

 

[lwilliam]

please

 

[Alicnwondrln]

yes more please

 

[jlawall]

I again felt the need to workout!

After then............we went to Topsiders for breakfast!!

Finally, I went to the spa and had a Stone treatment......and facial.......well worth it!!

We ate lunch at the Outlook Bar. They have amazing panini sandwiches and bar service until about 2pm. It is a fantastic way to spend the afternoon! While we were hanging out there, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee stopped by and we were able to get some pics with them on Deck Ten.

Then back to the pool for more relaxing. At 3:30pm, Ian showed up for pool games. There was a belly flop contest with mostly men participating. For some reason, I did it too. Ian was hysterical as each participant had their turn. A skinny 18 year old won....he was really good at it!

Some of our new DIS friends joined us on Deck 10, which was pretty cool.

After another wonderful meal with our servers, we went to RBD and were diverted to Diversions due to overcrowding where we watched the comedian, Rich Purpura. He was really funny as usual. Immediately after the show, we moved to RBD for 80s night. The DCL dancers were outstanding!!! The show was cute. Then we danced with our new DISer friends and enjoyed the Charles Marshall band again! The club emptied out early, I believe it was b/c so many of us had early excursions the next day. A really great evening!!

 

[jlawall]

On this day, we had to change our excursions due to my husband's rib injury. Our DDs all went to the canopy tour without us. I was a little scared to do this (I think I would have bailed if I had gone) but the girls said this excursion was the highlight of their trip. I highly recommend it if you are not afraid of heights like I am!

DH and I went to Paradise Beach with the "rents"; lwilliam's family and friends. The resort reminded me of a Palace Resort I stayed at near Cancun. It was very large, there was a mini-zoo, several pools and a very large beach area. We were able to use boogie boards and kayaks for free. There was a jetty you could walk out on with a Ten Commandment tablet there. The neat thing about this entire trip was how often we saw flying or leaping fish in the Mexican water. The water was warm, very salty but murky in color. Not what we were expecting. Evidently, there are many rivers emptying into the ocean in PV and the runoff from the land causes the water to get quite dark (due to rainy season.) We also received a free drink during this excursion. Some of the people enjoyed the pool area, my DH and I stayed at the beach. Even though the water was murky, I did swim, boogie board and kayak. It was nice but I felt the need to shower before getting back on the bus. The highlight of this excursion was "chillin'" with Lucy, Kathy and their families on the beach!

I've since heard that many other excursions at this port weren't that great (except for the canopy tour; some said the Los Veranos version was actually better) A few people have mentioned that the pirate ship tour was also excellent.

When we got back to the ship, we ate lunch at Lumiere's and then waited for our DDs to return. This was nerve-racking!

Next, we decided to set out for the town. We went on our typical quest for HRC T-shirts. The white cabs are supposed to be more expensive than the yellow ones. However, the white cabs were cleaner and a driver joined us on the journey into town and he gave us a lot of interesting info as we traveled there. We walked around (in the heat) and found a Woolworth's! We bought some shampoo,etc. and used American dollars and received pesos in change.

We did some souvenir shopping and then for some reason squeezed into a very small cab. Definitely negotiate your cab price before entering the vehicle.

Back on board, we cleaned up and watched the comedian which was the show this night. He was very good. Next, it was time to prepare for pirate night!! We had brought peasant skirts and striped shirts and bought bling, eye patches,etc. in the POC store in DL the previous week. Actually the ship also sold many appropriate trinkets to help you dress up. My DH bought a pirate scarf in town that day as well. All of the girls had a bandana on which matched our outfits.

Next we set off to get our family portrait. Word to the wise.............get there early. We were late for dinner b/c we stood in line for 20 minutes waiting to get our pics taken. It was annoying!

Fortunately, Dwight was very tolerant of our lateness and we actually were still done before the 9:45pm pirate show. On top of that, the photographers came around to the tables and took our pics again (we ended up liking that photo better!) Each person received a red pirate bandana so the entire ship looked dressed up by the end of the night.

I felt that most people were dressed up. Earlier posts have indicated that people mostly didn't dress up. I think the word is getting out.

The Pirate Deck Party was fantastic! I don't want to go into too much detail to spoil the surprises but it was ten times better than the tropical deck party used to be. There was a show and then the crew staff led us in many different line dances.........so much fun! Debi and I and the girls (Disfan13) danced for hours. The ship photographer took a lot of informal pics of us and our families which was great. (The only pic we didn't buy, was the one we waited 20 minutes for before dinner.)

On a negative note, the kids left us and headed off to Karoke night in RBD. It turns out that you need photo ID (18 & older) to be in this bar. I think this is something that should be written in the Navigator(to bring your ID with you.) I realize that this is standard practice in all bars, but my DD18 felt harassed after she went to get it. She told us that at least 3 different staff members asked her for it on the same evening in RBD. She wasn't ordering drinks so I don't understand what the problem was. There were not many people in the bar and the implication was that she was too young. She is 18 1/2 years old and finally she became fed up and left.

In the end, we had a blast with many of our new DISer friends on Pirate night. We stayed on Deck 9 for hours. The cruise entertainment staff were outstanding!

 

[MickeyMania]

I am closing my eyes and imaging a stone massage.... only 7 months to go....

 

[DisneyTart]

Really enjoying your trip report...keep it coming!
~Bethany

 

[jlawall]

On this day we set out early with the Deer Island Kayak and Hike Tour thru DCL. We took a boat right off the ship to the island. As we turned the corner away from the ship we passed a rock island with a few fishermen standing on an outcrop of stone next to a cave. I have no idea how they got there, it was so cool. Around the bend we landed near a trio of three islands: goat, deer and bird islands. I guess it took about 20 minutes. A very clean, well-run ship. Deer island was in the middle. We had to tender and were transported by smaller boats to the island. There we were led to a canopy with chairs under it. There were unlimited soft drinks and water provided in coolers with an opportunity to purchase beer. They also provided fresh fruit and cookies, etc.

Absolutely beautiful, clean, warm water. May I say that we never encountered the jellies that were reported earlier at any port on this trip.

So we were split into two groups. Our group hiked first. Some of the kids on the trip bailed on this and just swam and hung out while we were gone. (You had to be 10 years old to do this excursion.) The hike was quite vigorous and fast-moving. However, it was worth it when we arrived at the top. What a view! Evidently we were on volcanic islands (like in Hawaii) and the cliff and birds were absolutely gorgeous. Evidently there was a hawk there that they didn't see much as well as vultures and other beautiful birds. We passed cacti along the way and the guide was happy to answer questions throughout the journey. This was the highlight of the excursion for me. We could see the kayakers as we toured the island which was cool.

Next, it was our turn to kayak. It was basically a 20 minutes ocean kayak tour out and back. A little on the grueling side, but quite a nice adventure workout. The best part about it was the instruction they gave before it began. We just bought two ocean kayaks at the shore in NJ, so I was happy to get alittle free training on this trip!!

Finally, after a fruit and drink break we swam around in the water until it was time to return to the ship. On the way back, we played alittle water balloon (hot potato) game. It was really cute and the time back passed quickly. Great excursion and i think we saw the best of Mazatlan!

(Sort of like a deserted island feel to the whole excursion)

We had to go thru a Maz marketplace before we could take a tram back to the ship. Wasn't thrilled with this so we just went back on board.

Next we decided to just chill onboard, grab lunch and sun. Due to the outstanding weather all week, we were all getting quite a tan. I was on a Bingo strike ever since Que left the ship so I was getting quite a suntan all week!

We were alittle tired after two vigorous days of touring the ports so we did not go to 60s night (again, I missed Que's Austin Powers) so we lingered over dinner and had a early night after doing our nightly walk on Deck 10.

 

[pppiglet]

I am so jealous you had sun! We didn't on the ship at all so didn't get to experience the pools this time. Wish I had come back with a tan. When I booked the cruise last year, that was all I pictured was laying by the pool. Never happened. Had to book another on board just so we could try again!

 

[jlawall]

I'm really sorry to hear that about the weather ppiglet! I was prepared for the worse and was pleasantly surprised. Evidently, it was tough every week until our week. On the last day, it was chilly and windy (but still sunny) so I hope that helps!!

 

[jlawall]

Day 6: Cabo

This was the port we were really looking forward to. Most previous sailors seemed to think that this was the best. Cabo was the most beautiful but we did have a few breath-taking moments and a few unfortunate events. Lesson to be learned: Buyer Beware - never forget that you are in a foreign country especially if you go out on your own!

First, we got up early and caught a tender to the port. We had a very brief wait before we disembarked. We immediately hired a water taxi to go to Lover's Beach. We were told that we had to pay for both directions. This was ridiculous. In addition, we were charged $10 pp to go literally five minutes a way.

Lover's Beach is the last beach at Lands End. It is near Los Arcos. What a spectacular, picturesque, white sand beach. There were no restrooms so plan accordingly! When we arrived there were very few people there. We swam on the calm side (harbor.) Then we walked over to the ocean side. We were told not to swim there. It was so beautiful and wide. There were a few local guys who were surfing there. It did look very dangerous but so beautiful. You could explore some rock formations and caves but mostly it was just fantastic to be there. We looked out into the water and there were MANTA RAYS JUMPING OUT OF THE WATER on the Pacific side. It was so cool! I've never seen anything like that before.

We stayed there for an hour and a half and then waited for our water taxi which we had already paid for! After a half an hour we finally took a different one back. Guess what? We passed the one as we were leaving. It was ridiculous! I'm definitely going to call the tourism bureau. I have never been cheated like that on vacation before.

Next we shopped alittle and stopped at a sidewalk cafe for refreshments.

Then we lined up for the harbor cruise which we had booked thru DCL. We loved this excursion, the boat was beautiful and clean. It took us around the bend and we saw both sides of Lover's Beach, Los Arcos, Land's End, etc. Very nice.

When we arrived back we went off on foot in search of the nachos at HRC. After shopping there we did relax and set off for Cabo Wabo. Both places were fun but then we had to head back to the ship for our early departure (4pm) We did buy silver bracelets from two different vendors. Guess what?! One of them pulled a "sleight of hand" and did not give me one of the bracelets! I was so disappointed when I got back to the ship. We also bought a hand-painted tile of the ship and some turtle whistles on our way back.

We did have a great day but I was disappointed by the two rip-offs that we endured. In the end, I guess it was our own fault but we were having such a great trip that I became too comfortable. It's experiences like this that make you appreciate the USA more than ever!!

In my next report, I will share the end of this remarkable day!!

 

[Dreamer04]

"diverted to Diversions"


Oh the irony!!

 

[jlawall]

more to follow...................

 

[lwilliam]

waiting......

 

[jlawall]

Ok,OK, ....the final report!

The end of Day 6 and Day 7: Final Sea Day!

After we returned from our day in Cabo, it was time to start packing and prepare for our dinner and 70s night. A few years ago, I was picked to be a participant in the Gloria Gaynor lip syncing contest, so I am always excited but wary before this evening. It was also one of our last nights to "chill" with our new DISer friends so we were all looking forward to this evening!

Once dinner was over, DH and I headed over to Rockin' Bar D. There was a ventriliquist comedian performing and he was funny (Michael Harrison). When we arrived Kathy (littleowensmommy) was holding over 20 seats for our group so we helped her out until others arrived. Finally, 70s night began and our new friends were there!

First, the CMs came out and started dancing and encouraging us to join them. Soon all the women were asked to join them on stage. Then the men were sent up. Believe it or not, most of the men from our group were out there. Then.............lo and behold................MY DAD HAD A NEON NECKLACE ON HIS NECK!! Soon, my dad was sitting with two other younger men and HE WAS JUDGING THE GG LIP SYNCING CONTEST. Having been a participant, I knew what was next.......

The entire group of DISers were screaming with laughter, as Ian interviewed the John Travoltas. Finally, Dad was up competing with his version of JT. So, so funny! Ian was hysterical as well!! In the end the other competitors had no chance and Dad (Bill) won! He really was great!

For the rest of the evening, we all danced to the CM band. I really love to dance to those 70s tunes. We enjoyed watching the band perform, doing a few line dances and having a great last night with our new friends.



On our last day onboard, the weather was sunny but the breeze was strong. Packing was the plan for the morning. In the midday, we had ressies for wine tasting. It was truly better than ever. The sommeliers were excellent and informative and we had a blast. Many of our new friends were there including.....Debi & Micco; Jenny; Kathy; Lucy & Bob and friend and my DH, DD and myself all sat together. I highly recommend this activity.

After our last dinner, we went to Diversions for the Pub Night. It was fun but very crowded. After this, all the DISers met for a photo in the Atrium and said our goodbyes. WHAT A GREAT TRIP!! It truly could not have been better. We made good friends, had great times and enjoyed being with our family. DCL is an excellent vacation and after 5 cruises we are still have more fun each year!!

 

[DisneyMom13]

OK that last entry is making me cry...again. Miss you guys!!!
Debi

 

[appink]

JoAnn,

I am so jealous. We had such a good time with you guys last year. I would have love to go again this year. We have to wait for 2006.

Tell your hubby he is still my hero for saving my camera when we were on Captain Marvins sting ray excursion.

Hope to see you on another cruise someday.

Patti