Just got home from the 8/7 Magic

[MBFergie]

We had an incredible time on our trip! The delays getting off the ship were fine by us since we live in South Florida. There were alot of upset people due to flight problems, lack of hotel rooms in the Orlando area and no car rentals available for those who were able to switch flight out of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. While we were in line to disembark I spoke with Brent, the cruise director, he told me that they would leave port around 6:30 tonight. He anticipated alot of people to miss the ship at Port Canaveral but to catch up with it in Key West tomorrow morning. (It would be a 6 hour drive south.)

We walked off the ship at 12:30pm. To kill the time we went to a "Que and A" with Que after breakfast. Learned some interesting things like the quickest win on a Bingo coverall has been 49 number, Que is 26 years old, the captain works 2 months on 2 months off, his family can live on board with him, the oldest cast member is Mickey Mouse. After that we headed to the Basketball courts and then to play ping pong. So many people were hanging in the halls of deck 3 and 4 that deck 9 and 10 were pretty empty! It was AWESOME! I felt sorry for alot of the CM, today is going to be a very long day.

I hope the rest of my shipmates will make it home safely and with as little stress as possible given the circumstances. My prayers go out to all those in the areas hit by Charley.

Once the house gets put back together I will try to do a trip report. Since I lost my camera on Castaway Cay it's going to be my only memory of this trip!

If you have any ? let me know.

 

[Mary Anne]

Sorry about your camera, glad you got home safe!

 

[lbgraves]

Thanks for the inforamation. I imagine that DCL will probably be helping people get down to Key West since this is going to be such a big problem today. Glad that your home was spared in the storm as well. Sorry to hear about your camera but the memories in your heart will last forever.

 

[drclaws]

Originally posted by MBFergie
I spoke with Brent, the cruise director, he told me that they would leave port around 6:30 tonight. He anticipated alot of people to miss the ship at Port Canaveral but to catch up with it in Key West tomorrow morning. (It would be a 6 hour drive south.)

Interesting...I wonder if DCL asked for and was granted an exemption from the U.S. Maritime law that prohibits this?

 

[RickW]

Originally posted by drclaws
Interesting...I wonder if DCL asked for and was granted an exemption from the U.S. Maritime law that prohibits this?

Either that or Disney decided to pay the fine for passengers in this rare case. I have been reading some information about the Passenger Services Act recently and I believe that the fine is $200 per passenger. Disney may just decide that it is worth $200 not to have to deal with rescheduling/refunds.

Edited to add:
Here is a link with some interesting info about the PSA: http://www.sealetter.com/Oct-99/alancol.html

A quote from this site seems to suggest that that an exemption would be close to impossible to obtain:

The penalty for breaching the rules is a fine of $200 per passenger, even if the ship breaks the rules because of some emergency.

 

[SeaSpray]

I think that's pretty decent of DCL to pay the per-person fine and allow those guests who are able, to meet up with the ship in Key West.

 

[nuts4sn00py]

I was thinking the same thing Drclaws. I would guess in circumstances such as this it would probably be best to exempt DCL from those maritime laws. After all, with so many people already displaced do to the storm, can you imagine the havoc if you now have to add those people who have now missed their cruises? I would also think DCL may not be the only one being allowed to do this. I cruise in 2 weeks & was just thinking about what I would do in this type of situation. I would probably see if I could get a hotel room & try to go to WDW & Universal, etc. I am now seriously going to have to ask all parties involved what they are going to want to do if something like this happens again in 2 weeks. If I could catch the Magic in KW I would be willing to do that. Just my two cents! Kathy

 

[PinClubs]

MBFergie:

In another thread earlier in the week you posted that you were on your way to San Juan, but I never saw a follow up post.

What did you do? Did you talk to other passengers about their excursion on San Juan.

We are doing the Condado Beach excursion and I was just curious what others thought of their excursions.

Jeff

 

[Debbart]

I'm also wondering about the change from tropical to pirate theme and menu changes?

 

[smahoney6]

The pirate theme was great- the kids (and adults!) loved it! I had not been to the other parties before but loved being part of the very first pirate party! We enjoyed the food too (3 pounds worth) but once again did not know the old menu so.....

 

[wendym]

MBFergie.
So glad you got home safely. We were lucky to get our original flights home and got back to Scotland today. The menu for the pirates night was much better than Tropicali or Mexicali. I also liked the deck party.
Wendy

 

[CRSNDSNY]

MBFergie: I'm so glad to hear you had a great cruise and that you made it home without any problems. Can you tell me if the CC stateroom gift was any different for this San Juan cruise?

 

[eye R.N.]

Wendy, so happy you made it home on time.

Impressions for those not on the cruise:

San Juan, very glad we got out of the city and into the country for horse back riding. The country is beautiful. The horse back riding was nice, espically for such a large group. I would recommend the first session. It was hot when we got back and they use the same horses for both sessions, so I can picture some tired, hot, unruley beast on the second run. As for the city, we walked around but we just weren't all that impressed.

Pirates dinner The only night I had trouble choosing because there were too many things I wanted to try. I'll look for my copy of the menu and post it. I just haven't gotten to the laundry from that suitcase yet.

Deck party.I don't really have much to compare this too since I haven't done deck parties in the past. The music for the pirated segment was much better than the Mickey segments. I guess that is a reflection on my taste in Music. Lots of Disney top management on this cruise, checking out the new themes, so if something didn't work I guess it will be changed quickly.

Stateroom gift, was a beach blanket. They came in handy on the long drive home.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by eye R.N.
Stateroom gift, was a beach blanket. They came in handy on the long drive home.

Was it any different than the usual CC towel or was it different because of a new style?

 

[MBFergie]

I'm posting a new thread with some of the changes so more people can see it.

As requested here is the link...copy and paste.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=625715

 

[goingbacksoon]

Can you post a link here when you enter the thread in? I can't find it and anxious to hear some of the changes we should expect in a week.

goingbacksoon

 

[jlawall]

Thx for sharing! I'm glad everything worked out for cruisers!

 

[scrappermcl]

MBFergie- you said in your first post that you lost your camera on CC. I'm sure DCL has an efficient a Lost and Found system as the WDW parks. It couldn't hurt to call and report your loss, as they may have found it later in the day. At Epcot, my then 2 year old daughter tossed her hat out of the stroller which I did not realize until a bit later. I went to lost and found and was told to check in at the end of the day because if it was picked up by a CM they collect things like this and turn them in at different points of the day. Well, I did go back and they did have it, not in a box as I would have expected, but it the "hat" section, labeled with the date, time and location where it was found!

Also, try posting on this site-- maybe someone picked it up accidentally. It couldn't hurt

Anyway, sending pixie dust your way.... I know how upset I would be if I lost my vacation photos.

 

[MBFergie]

I'm not freaking out about the camera yet because we left CC earlier then anticipated I don't think all the lost and found stuff made it on board. Also, it was lost in a remote place so it may not be found until the CM who live on CC sweep the beaches or the next cruise goes on to CC (which was Satruday).

I filled out a form and plan on calling them tomorrow. If it's still not found the tears will be streaming down my face. THINK POSITIVE THOUGHTS and Pixie Dust will help!!

If not found I guess I have another reason to get back on the Magic sooner and get to buy another camera.

Thanks!

 

[scrappermcl]

Keep us updated on your camera situation.
Good luck!!!