Mom2Belle&PeterPan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2003
- Messages
- 1,107
Disney Cruise Report
6/10/04 to 6/21/04
The Disney Magic 7-Day Eastern Caribbean itinerary
Sail date = June 12, 2004
CM = Dh, ds-13, dd-9, and myself
Dear Disney friends,
Here is my trip report, although somewhat belated. I admit to procrastination! I felt if I put it off awhile, then the cruise would continue. Well, this is true but only in my/our wonderful memories!
Tips Learned (What we liked and what wed do differently)
1. Pack the days before, NOT the night before your clothes will not wrinkle too much, and those that do, you can have pressed on board for a small fee. Dh and I literally stayed up all night before our flight. We left our home at 3:30 a.m. to go to LAX and then slept on the plane. We had planned for a year in advance. We had some unexpected family trials the weeks before our cruise, but the thoughts of our upcoming trip only made us weather these with smiles. The day before we flew out was also my last day of my work school year. Now, all you educators know what a busy time that is still, the anticipation of our cruise made it all more than AOK, and Id do it again in a heartbeat!
2. We packed way too much and had to upgrade to a larger rental car at MCO in order to get more trunk space, lol! (from a full-size to a luxury at MCO, then to an SUV at Port Canaveral they did not have a luxury here.) I would still pack as much as we did as Id rather be safe than sorry. We had no problems with all we wheeled due to the nature of luggage today.
3. Brought the over-the-door holder, and although we did not use much in it, we were very glad to have it for the just-in-cases.
4. I brought gifts for our children prior, and this took too much space. They did not need any more than the new books/magazines, goggles, CDs, new stuffed Minnie for dd, and Game Boy games. Next time, they do not need all the surprises (and this from a mom who lives to give surprises to her kids.
)
5. Though we thoroughly enjoyed our excursions for many reasons, wed pick these differently and go out on our own next time. Too much travel time and not enough do time on these IMO. More on this to follow.
6. There is a very nice Target in Cape Canaveral should you need a few more things and arrive a few days early.
7. Take time to relax if that is what you desire! Next time, dh and I plan to spend much more time on Deck 4 aft watching the water pass by ohh, what beauty and peace!
8. Really glad we arrived to Cape Canaveral two days early. We stayed at the Radisson and had a one-bedroom suite. Found it to be clean and not worn out in the least. We were also glad that we had a bottom floor suite and did not have to lug everything upstairs. Our dd took a bubble bath with her swimsuit on in the room jacuzzi. Wish dh and I got to that, but we slept instead. We found the food at the Radisson to be very tasty.
9. We were also glad that we spent a few days at WDW after, but not doing the parks, just going to a few of the park restaurants and swimming in the Swans pool. We went to the Whispering Canyon Café one evening, Beaches N Cream one afternoon, and to the 1900 Park Fare on Fathers Day night. We had planned to do Typhoon Lagoon on Fathers Day, but were just too pooped, so we went to the hotel pool instead. Good choice for our family, we did not regret this change.
10. The lanyards from Wal-Mart were an excellent tip from this board. They were comfy and durable, and we highly recommend these. The DCL lanyards do indeed have a neck portion that would have been bothersome to me.
11. Downey wrinkle release works well! Make sure to give your clothing enough time to dry say, a couple of hours.
12. I did need the power strip and extension cord for my blow dryer and curling iron. Plugs in bathrooms did not work for mine.
13. There is LOTS of room to store things in a stateroom!!! We were very impressed by this! We had a Category 9 room on deck 2. We never felt the boat rocking save a little bit a few times. If you are proned to seasickness, this is the deck for you! We were towards the aft.
14. Needed light jackets in the Buena Vista Theatre.
15. The Walt Disney Theatre is where you really feel the ship moving; keep this in mind for seasickness!
16. We had very mild seas, but were still glad that we took our Bonine the night before embarkation then every night following. We had no problems. Taking it before bedtime keeps the possibility of drowsy side effects to while you are sleeping! (at least in our situation, and I tend to get sleepy from meds.)
17. NEW TIP! We did not need to do laundry as I packed undies for each day and more, but I bought 3 small boxes of Tide at our local Laundromat. They have many other brands. These were only 50 cents each, and the little boxes packed well. Then, I added dryer sheets to a Ziploc.
18. Dont forget your Ziplocs!!! Used these many, many, many times.
19. Had an envelope of $2.00 bills for room service, and two rolls of quarters for tolls and possibility of laundry. Handy! Also glad to have phone cards that could be used internationally to give to those special CMs.
20. Take time to really look at the ship!!! The artwork and details are majestic!
21. The CMs treated us like royalty, and when a few problems occurred, they took care of it with efficiency and sincere courtesy.
22. Make yourself the magnetic door for your stateroom! It was special, and ours is now a treasured memory on our frig.
23. Make your children a pillowcase to have autographed! I think this is my favorite souvenir though, it is really dds!
24. We favored Palos Brunch over Palos Dinner, just a personal preference here. Our waiter Salvatore was charming and he looked just like the Italian side of my family. He gave the best service weve ever had!
25. REAS package is worth its weight in gold!
26. Wrote on our form prior to our couples massage Thank you in advance for not selling us anything after our massage, we appreciate it! We did not receive any sales pitch, hurray!
27. Talk to the CMs, they have lots of great stories to share with you about their countries and lives and the cruise too!
28. Pay close attention to your Navigator for meet times, and there are some typos, so double check. We almost missed an excursion as we were in the wrong place, and we were very organized still, this was our own fault. Keep asking questions even when you are told you are in the right place. As I did this, we made it to our excursion, I knew something was wrong!
29. Bring a highlighter for your Navigators!
30. I already wrote about our dueling horns with the Queen Mary 2 and RCCL upon leaving St. Thomas this was probably the best moment of the trip for dh and I!!!
Well, those are favorite tips. Here are some details for those of you who would like to read further!
Anguilla Dolphin Swim
Dh and I did this for our dd who has studied and written many reports on dolphins. Our actual swim was 30 to 40 minutes. The remainder included a ferry ride to the island of Anguilla, a short bus drive through the island, time on the beach (no snorkel gear as promised, everyone on our excursion was reimbursed for this), lunch, then swimming with the stingrays who were already full from eating all day, hermit crab races, and birds in the store on your arms. We were the last of the last to swim, which was just the luck of the draw. Our guide was not the best, but he meant well. They had to retake our photos with the dolphins as they lost them, and this held up everyone!!! (They lost other photos too on their computer.) Long story short, I think wed do this for dd at our local Sea World and next time see more of the local sites or do the beaches on our own. Too much travel time, not well orchestrated by Fantaseas. The dolphin swim was amazing, and the beach was beautiful though.
5 Star St. John Trunk Bay Excursion
Watched the BEAUTIFUL coastal areas of St. Thomas, but would have liked to be on the beach in St. John longer and snorkeled longer. Know now it is AOK to do these things on your own, we went the safe route for the sake of our children. Boat company was organized and very helpful. You have to decide what you and yours want out of your excursion. Wed do this differently too.
Shopping in St. Thomas
OK, musicgirl (Lorie) told me not to be shy about sharing so
Dh bought me a new wedding set in St. Thomas!!! My first wedding ring went flushing down the toilet when we were newlyweds when I took it off to put on lotion (both a sad and laughing story, I know!) After 22 years of marriage, he always wanted to get me a new special wedding set (the first was replaced). My new wedding set is platinum with diamonds and oh so beautiful. Im not a big jewelry girl, but this is very special. My jewelry consists of one set of pearls and one pearl ring. The remainder of my jewelry is costume. Clyde told us dh obtained a great deal (hes the ships shopping expert). Whether we did or did not, I adore it!!!
Parasailing on Castaway Cay
We had a 10:30 a.m. appointment, and this was great as was recommended! This was one of the highlights of our trip! Dd9 and I went tandem, as did dh and ds (they due to wind factors). Felt safe and had great captain and assistant on our boat. What can I say - Do it!!! I was determined to not be a wimpy mom, and kept it cool as I did not want to scare my dd. Only once did I think while up there I wonder if this rope is going to hold? lol!
Banana Boat
Ok, Ok so I chickened out. The boat out to parasailing was a bit choppy, and dd really wanted her new friend to go on the banana boat ride. So, I gave my ticket to her friend Aly. Dh, ds, dd, and friends all LOVED it! Glad I passed! They plan to do it again on our next cruise.
Castaway Cay
On word Heaven!!! (and we frequent our beautiful pacific beaches often!)
Hair Braiding
With our busy schedule on embarkation day, we missed making an appointment for hair braiding for dd on the ship. So, we made an appointment for Castaway Cay as dd really, really wanted this.
Personally, I think our experience was not usual. Beads fell off, long braids were too skinny. I should have spoken up. Local gal who did it talked too much to friends while braiding, did not give dd too much attention. Next time, Id do it on the ship. Theirs looked much better. Design was pretty though, ask to see photos of the designs prior, they do have examples to share with you. Also, place beads against hair for your dd to see. Some look better than others.
Food:
We ate it all! All four in our family ate escargot, and it was pretty tasty in a garlic spinach sauce! We ate everywhere and never ever were at a loss for food! Mickey bars were even yummier on the ship! By the last nights, me - the big dessert-eating fanatic, could not even think about eating another sweet after dinner! Just come hungry, and you will be well taken care of! (BTW, dh and I had our daily bloody Marys they were excellent too! And of course, we always just had to try the drink-of-the-day too! Really, we are not big drinkers, but we did enjoy on this trip!)
Staff:
We had Sammy from Thailand and Adem from Turkey as our wait staff. They were awesome! Funniest story was when our dd told Sammy that we had a dog named Sam. He said, Oh yes, I really like dogs . (and they eat dogs in his country, lol!!! We died laughing!)
Our stateroom hostess was Violeta from Poland and she was OUTSTANDING! Every time we returned to our room, it was in spit-spot condition. She was a very hard worker, and we really appreciated her. She made our family some awesome towel animals! She was leaving after our cruise for 6 months to visit her family in Poland. Hope some of you get the pleasure of having Violeta as your stateroom hostess too!
Tablemates
This was our icing on the cake! We had late seating with DIS musicgirl (Lorie), her dh, and ds. Then, we also were with a family from PA who had a dd9 (same age as our dd). We had so much fun with our table, and they were really one of the highlights of our trip! We laughed and visited and laughed more. We like our down time, but also like to be with other people. Again, its a personal choice, but to us, half the fun of a cruise is to meet new people! Our tablemates will always be dear to us, and we hope they come to CA to visit us sometime soon. If not, well just have to go together on another cruise!!! Our waiter Sammy could not believe we did not know each other prior to the cruise as we were indeed like dear old friends.
Final Comments
It was so much fun planning and waiting for our cruise! It surpassed all our dreams and expectations. We had the trip of a lifetime, and cannot wait to return!
Thank you for reading our trip report, and happy cruising to you and yours! We are booked on the 14-day Panama Canal DCL next August, and Ill be around to answer any questions you may have!
Have a MAGICal summer!!!
Barbara
6/10/04 to 6/21/04
The Disney Magic 7-Day Eastern Caribbean itinerary
Sail date = June 12, 2004
CM = Dh, ds-13, dd-9, and myself
Dear Disney friends,
Here is my trip report, although somewhat belated. I admit to procrastination! I felt if I put it off awhile, then the cruise would continue. Well, this is true but only in my/our wonderful memories!
Tips Learned (What we liked and what wed do differently)
1. Pack the days before, NOT the night before your clothes will not wrinkle too much, and those that do, you can have pressed on board for a small fee. Dh and I literally stayed up all night before our flight. We left our home at 3:30 a.m. to go to LAX and then slept on the plane. We had planned for a year in advance. We had some unexpected family trials the weeks before our cruise, but the thoughts of our upcoming trip only made us weather these with smiles. The day before we flew out was also my last day of my work school year. Now, all you educators know what a busy time that is still, the anticipation of our cruise made it all more than AOK, and Id do it again in a heartbeat!
2. We packed way too much and had to upgrade to a larger rental car at MCO in order to get more trunk space, lol! (from a full-size to a luxury at MCO, then to an SUV at Port Canaveral they did not have a luxury here.) I would still pack as much as we did as Id rather be safe than sorry. We had no problems with all we wheeled due to the nature of luggage today.
3. Brought the over-the-door holder, and although we did not use much in it, we were very glad to have it for the just-in-cases.
4. I brought gifts for our children prior, and this took too much space. They did not need any more than the new books/magazines, goggles, CDs, new stuffed Minnie for dd, and Game Boy games. Next time, they do not need all the surprises (and this from a mom who lives to give surprises to her kids.
)5. Though we thoroughly enjoyed our excursions for many reasons, wed pick these differently and go out on our own next time. Too much travel time and not enough do time on these IMO. More on this to follow.
6. There is a very nice Target in Cape Canaveral should you need a few more things and arrive a few days early.
7. Take time to relax if that is what you desire! Next time, dh and I plan to spend much more time on Deck 4 aft watching the water pass by ohh, what beauty and peace!
8. Really glad we arrived to Cape Canaveral two days early. We stayed at the Radisson and had a one-bedroom suite. Found it to be clean and not worn out in the least. We were also glad that we had a bottom floor suite and did not have to lug everything upstairs. Our dd took a bubble bath with her swimsuit on in the room jacuzzi. Wish dh and I got to that, but we slept instead.
We found the food at the Radisson to be very tasty. 9. We were also glad that we spent a few days at WDW after, but not doing the parks, just going to a few of the park restaurants and swimming in the Swans pool. We went to the Whispering Canyon Café one evening, Beaches N Cream one afternoon, and to the 1900 Park Fare on Fathers Day night. We had planned to do Typhoon Lagoon on Fathers Day, but were just too pooped, so we went to the hotel pool instead. Good choice for our family, we did not regret this change.
10. The lanyards from Wal-Mart were an excellent tip from this board. They were comfy and durable, and we highly recommend these. The DCL lanyards do indeed have a neck portion that would have been bothersome to me.
11. Downey wrinkle release works well! Make sure to give your clothing enough time to dry say, a couple of hours.
12. I did need the power strip and extension cord for my blow dryer and curling iron. Plugs in bathrooms did not work for mine.
13. There is LOTS of room to store things in a stateroom!!! We were very impressed by this! We had a Category 9 room on deck 2. We never felt the boat rocking save a little bit a few times. If you are proned to seasickness, this is the deck for you! We were towards the aft.
14. Needed light jackets in the Buena Vista Theatre.
15. The Walt Disney Theatre is where you really feel the ship moving; keep this in mind for seasickness!
16. We had very mild seas, but were still glad that we took our Bonine the night before embarkation then every night following. We had no problems. Taking it before bedtime keeps the possibility of drowsy side effects to while you are sleeping! (at least in our situation, and I tend to get sleepy from meds.)
17. NEW TIP! We did not need to do laundry as I packed undies for each day and more, but I bought 3 small boxes of Tide at our local Laundromat. They have many other brands. These were only 50 cents each, and the little boxes packed well. Then, I added dryer sheets to a Ziploc.
18. Dont forget your Ziplocs!!! Used these many, many, many times.
19. Had an envelope of $2.00 bills for room service, and two rolls of quarters for tolls and possibility of laundry. Handy! Also glad to have phone cards that could be used internationally to give to those special CMs.
20. Take time to really look at the ship!!! The artwork and details are majestic!
21. The CMs treated us like royalty, and when a few problems occurred, they took care of it with efficiency and sincere courtesy.
22. Make yourself the magnetic door for your stateroom! It was special, and ours is now a treasured memory on our frig.
23. Make your children a pillowcase to have autographed! I think this is my favorite souvenir though, it is really dds!
24. We favored Palos Brunch over Palos Dinner, just a personal preference here. Our waiter Salvatore was charming and he looked just like the Italian side of my family. He gave the best service weve ever had!
25. REAS package is worth its weight in gold!
26. Wrote on our form prior to our couples massage Thank you in advance for not selling us anything after our massage, we appreciate it! We did not receive any sales pitch, hurray!
27. Talk to the CMs, they have lots of great stories to share with you about their countries and lives and the cruise too!
28. Pay close attention to your Navigator for meet times, and there are some typos, so double check. We almost missed an excursion as we were in the wrong place, and we were very organized still, this was our own fault. Keep asking questions even when you are told you are in the right place. As I did this, we made it to our excursion, I knew something was wrong!
29. Bring a highlighter for your Navigators!
30. I already wrote about our dueling horns with the Queen Mary 2 and RCCL upon leaving St. Thomas this was probably the best moment of the trip for dh and I!!!
Well, those are favorite tips. Here are some details for those of you who would like to read further!
Anguilla Dolphin Swim
Dh and I did this for our dd who has studied and written many reports on dolphins. Our actual swim was 30 to 40 minutes. The remainder included a ferry ride to the island of Anguilla, a short bus drive through the island, time on the beach (no snorkel gear as promised, everyone on our excursion was reimbursed for this), lunch, then swimming with the stingrays who were already full from eating all day, hermit crab races, and birds in the store on your arms. We were the last of the last to swim, which was just the luck of the draw. Our guide was not the best, but he meant well. They had to retake our photos with the dolphins as they lost them, and this held up everyone!!! (They lost other photos too on their computer.) Long story short, I think wed do this for dd at our local Sea World and next time see more of the local sites or do the beaches on our own. Too much travel time, not well orchestrated by Fantaseas. The dolphin swim was amazing, and the beach was beautiful though.
5 Star St. John Trunk Bay Excursion
Watched the BEAUTIFUL coastal areas of St. Thomas, but would have liked to be on the beach in St. John longer and snorkeled longer. Know now it is AOK to do these things on your own, we went the safe route for the sake of our children. Boat company was organized and very helpful. You have to decide what you and yours want out of your excursion. Wed do this differently too.
Shopping in St. Thomas
OK, musicgirl (Lorie) told me not to be shy about sharing so
Dh bought me a new wedding set in St. Thomas!!! My first wedding ring went flushing down the toilet when we were newlyweds when I took it off to put on lotion (both a sad and laughing story, I know!) After 22 years of marriage, he always wanted to get me a new special wedding set (the first was replaced). My new wedding set is platinum with diamonds and oh so beautiful. Im not a big jewelry girl, but this is very special. My jewelry consists of one set of pearls and one pearl ring. The remainder of my jewelry is costume. Clyde told us dh obtained a great deal (hes the ships shopping expert). Whether we did or did not, I adore it!!!
Parasailing on Castaway Cay
We had a 10:30 a.m. appointment, and this was great as was recommended! This was one of the highlights of our trip! Dd9 and I went tandem, as did dh and ds (they due to wind factors). Felt safe and had great captain and assistant on our boat. What can I say - Do it!!! I was determined to not be a wimpy mom, and kept it cool as I did not want to scare my dd. Only once did I think while up there I wonder if this rope is going to hold? lol!
Banana Boat
Ok, Ok so I chickened out. The boat out to parasailing was a bit choppy, and dd really wanted her new friend to go on the banana boat ride. So, I gave my ticket to her friend Aly. Dh, ds, dd, and friends all LOVED it! Glad I passed! They plan to do it again on our next cruise.
Castaway Cay
On word Heaven!!! (and we frequent our beautiful pacific beaches often!)
Hair Braiding
With our busy schedule on embarkation day, we missed making an appointment for hair braiding for dd on the ship. So, we made an appointment for Castaway Cay as dd really, really wanted this.
Personally, I think our experience was not usual. Beads fell off, long braids were too skinny. I should have spoken up. Local gal who did it talked too much to friends while braiding, did not give dd too much attention. Next time, Id do it on the ship. Theirs looked much better. Design was pretty though, ask to see photos of the designs prior, they do have examples to share with you. Also, place beads against hair for your dd to see. Some look better than others.
Food:
We ate it all! All four in our family ate escargot, and it was pretty tasty in a garlic spinach sauce! We ate everywhere and never ever were at a loss for food! Mickey bars were even yummier on the ship! By the last nights, me - the big dessert-eating fanatic, could not even think about eating another sweet after dinner! Just come hungry, and you will be well taken care of! (BTW, dh and I had our daily bloody Marys they were excellent too! And of course, we always just had to try the drink-of-the-day too! Really, we are not big drinkers, but we did enjoy on this trip!)
Staff:
We had Sammy from Thailand and Adem from Turkey as our wait staff. They were awesome! Funniest story was when our dd told Sammy that we had a dog named Sam. He said, Oh yes, I really like dogs . (and they eat dogs in his country, lol!!! We died laughing!)
Our stateroom hostess was Violeta from Poland and she was OUTSTANDING! Every time we returned to our room, it was in spit-spot condition. She was a very hard worker, and we really appreciated her. She made our family some awesome towel animals! She was leaving after our cruise for 6 months to visit her family in Poland. Hope some of you get the pleasure of having Violeta as your stateroom hostess too!
Tablemates
This was our icing on the cake! We had late seating with DIS musicgirl (Lorie), her dh, and ds. Then, we also were with a family from PA who had a dd9 (same age as our dd). We had so much fun with our table, and they were really one of the highlights of our trip! We laughed and visited and laughed more. We like our down time, but also like to be with other people. Again, its a personal choice, but to us, half the fun of a cruise is to meet new people! Our tablemates will always be dear to us, and we hope they come to CA to visit us sometime soon. If not, well just have to go together on another cruise!!! Our waiter Sammy could not believe we did not know each other prior to the cruise as we were indeed like dear old friends.
Final Comments
It was so much fun planning and waiting for our cruise! It surpassed all our dreams and expectations. We had the trip of a lifetime, and cannot wait to return!
Thank you for reading our trip report, and happy cruising to you and yours! We are booked on the 14-day Panama Canal DCL next August, and Ill be around to answer any questions you may have!
Have a MAGICal summer!!!
Barbara
