Happy Halloween everyone!
Just wanted to let you all know that we did do Whispering Canyon this morning for breakfast, Cass will be posting some pictures later when she is feeling better. She is still quite ill and is resting as I speak.
Thanks for all your well wishes and I'm hoping as much as everyone here that she feels better soon. Her voice is still shot and didn't sleep well last night.
I just wanted to also say a few things about my experience last week on the Magic, which are:
- Technical
- One of the things that I enjoy is hearing the Captain's reports from the bridge. However, I found on our trip that we couldn't hear them most of the time. If you were in your stateroom, you had to leave the room to the main lobby area to hear it. I remember from our last trip that we could hear these announcements in our room and wish that was still the case. Also, a note is that in the back of the ship on Deck's 9 & 10 outside on the deck; we couldn't hear anything the Captain or Brent were saying as well, even when we stood right next to the speakers! I hope they look into this ASAP and turn up the volume!
- BTW: I love the technical details Captain Thord gave, such as depth under the keel, distance travelled, expectations for weather, etc. Great job, just wish I could have heard most of them and that TV station with the trip report was there, I loved it as well. Perhaps put some DCL trivia on it 
- Service
- I would have to say that the service from the staff was great most of the time, though our dinner service was not the same as the first time, it was to be expected I guess since one of our previous servers works in Palo now and deserves to be there. Our Assistant Server didn't get Moose's drinks right most of the trip, she was still asking which drink he wanted on Friday night. Attila (The Assistant Server from our first trip) only needed to be told once on the trip and we always had the right drink every night.
- Food
- Though Cass was disappointed 1/2 the trip, I would have to say it was delightfully awesome; the fruit was fresh, the pastries delicious (hmm, I think all I really ate was the choclate croissants actually), and the quality was awesome. Great job you guys for the phenomenal food, I loved it!
- Other
- I loved Pirates In the Caribbean, great idea. I hope that for your longer cruises you'll consider doing a costume ball, that would be a blast!
- I really wanted to be at the Captain's Signing, but as far as I knew it was only one night and we happened to be at a show at the time and we had to get ready shortly after for supper. I hope Captain Thord will consider making his signing opportunity on two nights in the week at different times, perhaps during the day if he could. I can't believe how tall he is and again, thanks for the safe journey!
- The farewell wishes on Friday night was awesome, I just wished that there was an opportunity during the week (or on Friday afternoon) to get autographs from some of the crew and cast members instead of 15min at the end of the cruise the night before you have to get up at 5am the next day to be at customs on time. Having it earlier in the night would be awesome and making it longer would be great, a lot of kids didn't get to get pictures with the characters due to the large variety of them and how many people were there. It sure is an impressive display!
- I wish there was some way to turn off the A/C in the room and that the thermostats were marked with temperature settings instead of "warmer/colder".
- Internet service. Wish is was wireless in everyroom and really, 250min doesn't go far especially when you have logoff or connection problems. The only real way to make sure you're logged off, turn off your wireless card when your done and don't bother trying to connect from your room. I tried a few times, it comes up with the logon screen on occassion but then times out when you try to accept, which in fact you might connected after all but the browser times out and you just eat up your time. For $100USD, I should have as much Internet access time as I want and really, you should be charging by the MB download/upload and not by the minute. That part really ticked me off since that's how DCL is paying for their satellite connection access. Almost makes me want to bring a satellite phone.
- Shutters: Thanks for the great pictures, but I wish they would give you the image file too; for the $200 we paid for photos, I should have the original as well. They should be able to offer you for $30 more all the photos you want to buy with the original JPEG file on a USB flash drive and they wouldn't have to print photos. Heck, that would decrease the amount of paper they waste and it's better for the environment. The best scenario would be if they would scan your KTTW card everytime you got a picture taken, which would then be accessible for viewing back at your stateroom on a special Shutters TV channel. If you wanted the picture, you could buy it from your stateroom and pick up the USB flash drive at the end of the cruise with all your pictures on it. When you pick up the drive, they would show you on a monitor all the pictures you are buying and show you the ones you didn't want just in case. Just an idea, sure beats fighting with people in such a small room looking for pictures.
Thanks again to DCL, the crew of the Magic, and everyone at CC for a wonderful and magical time. Wish we weren't sick for it but it was still a phenomenal time!
Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando
I would have to say the RPR has one of the most business friendly hotel rooms I've stayed in. The desk was at a great height, the chair was comfortable, cables easily accessed, and the power was close for access. Not only that, but they have a 3.1 theatre system with a DVD player! The bed was comfortable and pillows were soft! A very well designed room layout and I enjoyed being there.
What I didn't enjoy is the 45min it took me to find out how to buy a bathrobe of all things and the 20min it took me to find the laundry facilities that weren't clearly marked nor did most of the hotel staff know where they were exactly. Heck, the gift shop staff thought it was on the Lobby floor! Even after I found out where the laundry was, the coin machine was empty so I had to hike back from the 1st floor to the 3rd floor and back again to get change!
BTW: for those wondering they have 3 sets of washers/dryers, a 17" TV in the room with cable, and Tide/Bounce are $1 each. The washers/dryers cost $2 each and are timed by the type of clothes you put in (i.e. whites, colours, gentle, etc). They use Maytag commercial equipment which look to be relatively new and I'd say that if you used a large load of laundry in the dryer it might not dry in time. My small load was enough to dry but I doubt a large load would be.
It also wouldn't hurt the hotel if more of the staff smiled.
Universal Orlando:
- I would have to say that IOA is still one of my fav parks though it has seriously deteriorated since I seen it's opening. One of the washrooms had urine all over the floor which was disgusting (this by the children's urinal) and it looked like it had been sitting for a while (this was by DD).
- Your staff need to smile a LOT more and be more courteous if you want to compete with Disney's magic. The staff looked depressed working there and we seen some frustrated workers as well, bickering in front of guests about whose job it is to do something isn't appreciated.
- Universal Express isn't all it's cracked up to be and we found some lines going into the regular line only 1/2 way through the cue. What's up with that?
- More lockers would be nice on those busy days, we found them all full near Hulk and Dudley's and decided to skip one ride and just hold M&J's stuff. We were sick anyways and didn't feel like getting soaked.
This next rant is for Disney, Universal, and DCL; and is my own personal opinion so I hope the rest of you don't take offense as it's something I feel very strongly about.
INCONSIDERATE SMOKERS ON THE CONCOURSE!
Ok, you have a map which shows you where to smoke and if these people aren't in the smoking area, why are your Staff not doing SOMETHING about it?!!! Is it my responsibility as a GUEST to tell these inconisiderate people that their smoke is not wanted to be blown in our face? That their throwing their dirty butts on the ground is a pathetic show of disrespect to the park and the magic of the experience? That they have no respect for their fellow citizens or to their or other CHILDREN by spewing smoke into their lungs?!!!
I saw several smokers walk on the concourse blowing smoke into other peoples faces while Disney or Universal staff walk on merrily by & doing nothing about it!
If there was any one reason that would stop me from vacationing again at the parks, this is it.
Not only am I allergic to smoke but I don't want that junk in my body.
I told several people again this trip that they shouldn't be smoking where they were and perhaps by wearing my name tag that scared them into complying. I shouldn't have to do this, ever. Take a stand for the rest of your non-smoking guests and for the children, do something about smokers that are outside the smoking area and BAN children from being near smoking areas. & Parents, please don't smoke around your children. Lets get some corporate and parental responsibility going here. 'Nuff said.
On that note, I'm off for a nap with Cass and we hope to be well enough to enjoy Halloween tonight and to all of you, have a Scary Night & Happy Halloween!
Best scary wishes from
Cass & Robert
I join everyone else in get well wishes for Cass and yourself. Being sick on vacation really is a bummer! Hope you are both well enough to go to the MNNSHP tonight. Here's some more pixie dust sent your way 
Sending lots of pixie your way! 
) today. 
Happy Halloween 
