Just back From the June 22nd Western!!

[rcdisneyfam]

We just returned from the "Magic" and it was truely Magical. Our third cruise and it was by far the best. Hopefully we will put together a trip report soon. Most of us from the Dis met up at the Radisson and the rest of them on the ship. We all had a great time and just to say that Cozumel was Awesome and the Catamaran Sail/Snorkel was great. Carlos and Charlies was Crazy to say the least, Wild!!! Our teenagers had a blast too and if you have any questions, post away!! BTW, thanks Shirley for the great basket for my DS birthday.

 

[KeenHo]

AWESOME!!! WONDERFUL!!!! How else can we describe the 7 day Western trip with all of our DIS friends and others we met on board. Trip reports will follow, but hilites would be..... Jeep Excursion in Cozumel, booking with Captain Marvin's direct for the 3 hour Coral Gardens, Barrier Reef and Stingray City excursion, the great service, shows, entertainment and crew of the Disney Magic. Fidelio & Carl in Off Beat's "Dueling Pianos", and the entertainment staff (including DJ L.A.) with the Match your Mate, and 80's and 70's dance parties.

Special thanks to Mike & Caroline (So good.. So good.... So good), Roberta, Ralph, Bob & Maryanne, Bob & Cindy, Beth & Tony, Joanne & Roger, Hud & Tiffany, etc... etc... etc..... what a great bunch of people to hang around with and call friends.

Much more to come later.... we are unpacking now.

Howard

 

[rcdisneyfam]

Hey Howard, we miss you guys already!! We are on load #2 and watching Ross' video from the teen goings on!! This video is great. We can't wait to watch the video that Ralph did. We have mostly everything under control. We arrived right on time today and things were fine on the home front!! Say Hi to Cam!! Talk to you later..........When you Wish Upon a Star!!!! I can't believe it is over

 

[mmouse37]

KeenHo.....welcome back!!!! Did they have a 50's night onboard? Isn't the entertainment staff just wonderful!!! We loved DJ LA on our FEb cruise and was hoping he would be there for our upcoming 8/3/02 cruise.

Who hosted Match Your Mate? We had John from Wales host it on our Feb trip (we found out later that was his first night hosting it). You never would have known it. He was great!!!

Glad you had a good time!!! This will be our 6th DCL cruise and I can't belive that they still get better and better.

MJ

 

[rcdisneyfam]

mmouse - Yes, they did a 50's/60's night a 70's night and the Match your Mate was great, don't remember who hosted it, but it was not John from Wales, he was a great guy and crazy at that!! We enjoyed all of the entertainment especially the Dueling Pianos, come to find out Fidelio is from Syracuse, NY and that is where we are from. Bob and Cindi that traveled with us lives next door to Fidelio's cousin. "Small World" but everything was great and being our 3rd cruise, yes, they do get better and better each time. Just waiting for a new itinerary and we will be there!!

 

[McTigger]

Hey,
sounds like you had a memorable time. our first cruise is 8/17/02 on the Western Magic. can you give us more information about Captain Marvin's? where do we make reservations for him, cost, did he have large or small groups for his tour? did you hear of anybody who went to see the ruins in Cozumal? what arrangements did they make? did they go on their own or through DCL? any other ideas about Cozumal excursions?

Donna

 

[Corl4]

Hey everyone!!! We're back....drove straight through and got home at 12:30 this morning. What a truly "Magical" week....great friends, great food and great times! I'm in the middle of my fourth load of laundry and ready to pack it all in and head for port! I can't believe it's over...I think we're all in a daze! Tony and I have already decided that we are booking the western (or the new one) for June of 2004. Lyns isn't sure she is going only because she will have just graduated and not sure about being an 18 year old on the ship. Oh, well...we're going, with or without her!
We've already watched our video over and over and over...Roberta...we have some great shots of your crew on the catamaran!!!!!
Well I need to get back to the wash and I guess I should go to the store since no one else will be doing the cooking this week!
Talk to you all soon!

Beth

 

[rcdisneyfam]

Beth, Just put my last load in the washer. I know what you mean, we had to get groceries too. Now we need to cook no one to do that for us. I can't imagine driving all that way back after getting off the ship. We had a great time and I have seen bits and pieces of Ross' video and Lyndsay looked like she loves to dance!! Cindi and Bob won't get back until 7/3 and Bob and Mary Anne won't get back until 7/2. We will all get together on 7/4 at Cindi and Bob's house in the pool and deck. I am sure it will be a great time. We are all wiped today and it is real hot here, had to put the central air on and it will be a hot week. Well, keep in touch and maybe we will take a trip down to see you guys. You are all welcome to make a trip to Syracuse any time too.

 

[JOANNEL]

We are a sad bunch here. I can't believe it is over. We stopped in downtown disney t o do some shopping and arrived home about 5 yesterday. Nine loads of laundry later and everything is clean. Grocery shoppping is done also. I actually got to float in the pool for a little while. I want to thank all of you guys for the great info ahead of time. It made everything so much easier. We are ready to go back. I also realized I didn't take enough pictures of our new disney friends. So if any of you have pictures of yoursleves I would love to add them to my photo album.

Thanks again and our doors are open to all who want to visit Florida. It was great I and I miss you already. I wish we were still on Castaway Cay with a drink in our hands.

Take care all and keep in touch

 

[BethA]

Spent last night at the Contemporary and got home a few hours ago. the only bad thing I can say about the cruise is that it had to end!!! Beth

 

[rcdisneyfam]

You guys, I want to cry, we all miss everyone and all the fun we had. Joanne, Beth Corl, just saw some of the kids pictures they had developed today at Walmart. There are 2 cute ones of Rianna with Logan and one with Rianna and Patrick. Rianna said she will email the pictures to them on attachments. We will probably get our pictures developed this week. Joanne, next time we are in Pensacola, we will definitely look you guys up. Please everyone, keep in touch and maybe we can do another cruise together some day!!! If anyone wants to venture up to Syracuse, don't hesitate to call. I will email everyone our phone # and address soon. Take care everyone and miss you all......

 

[KeenHo]

Here is the Captain Marvins information for Grand Cayman.... we booked online and received confirmation via e-mail. Their website is www.captainmarvins.com.

We had booked a 2 hour snorkel and Stingray city excursion, but went to Captain Marvin's a bit early and asked to get on an earlier trip so we could have more time on 7 mile beach later that afternoon. We ended up going on a 3 hour excursion with one additional stop. We went on to the Coral Gardens to snorkel, then the Barrier Reef (saw a huge eel and a shark up close and personal), and Stingray City... We LOVED it and would highly recommend it to anyone. I am not sure of the price since Cam booked it. I am sure you can get pricing information via their website listed above.

Thanks for the inquiry.. I hope this was helpful!

Howard


Cruise passenger inquiries:
7:30am to 3pm EST Monday through Friday

Captain Marvin's
PO Box 1776 GT Ph: (345) 945-6975 Ph: (345) 945-7306
Grand Cayman Fax: (345) 945-5673 Fax: (345) 949-2411
Cayman Islands E-mail: captmvn@candw.ky
E-mail: captmvn@candw.ky

Please note: e-mails are answered as quickly as possible, Monday through Friday.

 

[KeenHo]

We landed in Philadelphia around 4:10 pm and jumped in our airport shuttle. We arrived about 5 pm and we set to doing laundry (2 loads total - not too bad) and unpacking. We saved most of the unpacking for today though. What a depressing thing to do. We went out to dinner yesterday and today, no one wanted to cook anything. We also went food shopping today.. We're with all of you on this.

Beth Corl: While on board we booked rooms for us and friends on a late April 2004 cruise. June 2004 was not able to be booked yet, it is too far out and pricing has not yet been set. We booked on board to get the $200 per state room on board credit and we will move the booking to late June 2004 as soon as it becomes available. The on board credit will move with it. We would love to have you and Tony on board with us!!! That would be a great thing to look forward to. We are doing the Western cruise again. We loved it so much!!!

We are amazed at what great memories and friends we made on this trip with all of you. I cannot thank you enough for all the great times, good conversation and friendship we all shared while on the Magic. We will be getting the film developed early this week. I will scan and e-mail photos to all of you that are interested. Please send me a note and I will include you on the list. KeenHo@aol.com.

Tomorrow is work again.... yuk. I am sure I will be daydreaming about Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Castaway Cay. And the following..... "So Good! So Good! So Good!, Whistles at Carlos & Charlies and all that followed, Wine Tasting with Joanne & Roger, Late night chats in the elevator lobby with Mike, Caroline, Roberta, Ralph and Cam, The Jeep Excursion on Cozumel, the Pee-Pee Station, the Hot Tub and Signals Adult pool, the great dinners and brunch at Palos, the couples massage and many, many more.

Have a great day tomorrow.

Howard

 

[KeenHo]

MJ:

DJ L.A. was the host for the Match Your Mate and 80's, 70's parties and Karaoke. I missed the 50/60's dance party. John was the scorer for the Match Your Mate game and was always around at all of the parties. The entertainment staff was great! We really enjoyed being around them, they were a lot of fun.

Howard

 

[rcdisneyfam]

Hey guys, just came home for lunch hour and work was o.k. not too chaotic. We have not booked another cruise yet, kind of waiting to see if they put up some new itineraries maybe by year end. Anyway, the kids are still talking about the trip and cannot get time in edge wise on this computer. It is 90's here today and I guess I am used to that temperature. All those memories, Howard will keep us going for a while. Take care everyone and keep in touch. Miss you all!!

 

[keenercam]

Hi, everyone from hot, sunny Delaware! I don't know much more to add beyond what Howard has said, but I have to tell you that this was the best vacation I have ever had. If I hadn't missed Jen and Andy and Cali so much, it would have been so perfect! Everytime I think of it, though, I get choked up. Who would have thought that so many people who were mostly strangers 6 months ago, could feel so close so quickly?! It was amazing to finally meet so many of the people who have been posting here and we enjoyed every minute we spent with each of you. Really sad that I never had/made the time to meet some of the DISers, but amazed that we met so many. It was a lot of fun to see so many smiling faces all week. I would have to say that the highlights of the trip were: being the first in the DCL terminal with Roberta and Howard; seeing sooo many green ribbons at the port and at the sailaway party; hanging out with everyone at Rockin Bar D (drinking Ralph & Roberta's wine !) and Off Beat (Caroline you will always be "Sweet Caroline" to us!); a couples massage; hanging out at the adult pool & hot tubs (often completely alone w/DH); the wine tasting with Joanne & Roger; kissing a stingray!; a WILD jeep safari to the most beautiful beach I've ever seen; an absolutely crazy evening at carlos n charlies (featured on MTV's spring break show); trying every new frozen concoction that Sharon (our favorite beverage server) could come up with; and floating in the beautiful blue water at castaway cay with Howard and then Caroline; "meeting" a barracuda and an eel up close and personal ; eating fresh fruit early in the morning at castaway cay, courtesy of sharon; and an intimate dinner for 12 at Palo's!!!
I made lots of notes all week so I hope to put together a pretty comprehensive trip report very soon.
Joe-- please tell Nicole it was fabulous to meet her and tell Alex I miss her smile and her wonderful hugs!
miss you all!

 

[hokie5cruiser]

I'm sorry that I did not get to meet you all last week. We were with a large family group that kept us running. I wore my green ribbon here and there, but didn't get to meet you.
Were you the group that were chatting at the mid elevators on the 6th floor late on the last night?
Thanks to everyone for the hints and suggestions that added to our trip. We did miss a few things that we wanted to do--so I guess we'll just have to go back. LOL

 

[KeenHo]

Jeannine:

That was us..... Caroline & Mike Sowell (Mitchell, GA), Cam and Howard Keener (Wilmington, DE) and Roberta & Ralph Cometti (Syracuse, NY). Sorry to have missed you! There were only three or four of the DIS'ers we didn't get to meet. We are already planning to go back. We hope you and your group had a great time. We all certainly did!!! We miss the ship and all of our friends.

Howard

 

[Mtdewbuzz]

Hey KeenHo-

Can you give me a little info about the Jeep trip? What you liked so much about it, how were the La Palma ruins that you visit, how the beach was, how the meal was, etc.? I'm considering doing this one when I go in August.

Thanks!

 

[Debbie H]

Hi all,

Well, it's over...... But what a great time
It was really nice to meet all of you. I certainly wish we would have had more time to hang out with all of you.

We are back to work today. We drove straight through and arrived home around 12:15 a.m.. We would have probably made it sooner but we made some food stops that were a little longer than we normally do but it was nice to stop and stretch! Nice ride back though.

Wes (ds) spoke to a friend that flew back to Dulles and we ended up getting home before she did!!!!

Well, next Summer we are looking at a back to back. One week we will have all the kids (the 2 with us this time) their friends, and our married daughter and her husband. Then we will throw them off the boat and Wes (dh) and I will do a week on our own while we send the kids to Disney. Wes (dh) and I have a Western in November so at least we have something to look forward to.