Live from the 06 Turkeyday Magic!! (Not really but I started this the last 2 years)..

[DiszyGram]

Chuck and Lisa, I'm happy to hear Lisa's father is doing much better.

Just as it was all during the cruise, we ran into Chuck and Lisa again as they were rushing off the ship for the medical emergency.

The cruise was a magical experience and any small problems we had did not subtract from it.

We had early dining and will take the late dining if we sail again. Early dinner seems to rush you too much. Our dining room rotation was APL, which put us in beautiful Lumiere's on Thanksgiving and put us in Animator's three times. Our servers were Noel from France and David from Australia. They were great! Noel kept my 7 year old grandson entertained the whole time with jokes and magic tricks. On our last night he smacked Joey's hand and yelled "High Four". Since I knew Noel is still learning English, I whispered, "It's high five". He said, "No, it's high four", and showed me he didn't have his little finger. I never noticed it until then.

Our cabin was very nice but I would not advise any one else taking it. It was cabin 2586 and noisy. At first I thought people above us were tossing around suitcases and practicing bowling lessons. We called up the guest desk and discovered we were located right below Lumiere's galley. The rest of the nights were a lot quieter but we could still hear noises. I can't say enough good things about the wonderful staff at the guest desk.

More later....I still haven't folded and put away the clothes I washed today.

 

[DiszyGram]

This is a post about one experience that I thought was especially Magical.

My grandson, seven year old Joey, wasn't interested in getting an autograph book for the Disney characters to sign during the cruise. We saw many of them every day and he wanted to have pictures with them, but not their autographs. I did try to talk him into it. I believe his reason for not wanting autographs is he is profoundly deaf and doesn't want to reveal he has a problem. He is proficient at reading lips but some character's lips are impossible to read. Stitch is his very favorite character and we did get his picture with Joey.

The last full day we were on the cruiise, I took Joey into the ship's store and asked him to look and see if he wanted anything. I was very surprised when he picked out a Disney autograph book. It had a fold out picture of Magical Mickey on the front. He told me he wanted to get autographs now. We ran into Mickey and Minnie Mouse on the stairs and he was able to get his first two autographs. He was REALLY hoping to find Stitch and get his also.

We didn't find any more characters signing books before it was time for Joey to get some sleep. The next morning we had to be at breakfast and off the ship well before 9am. Joey was sad that he only had two autographs in his book. He fell asleep almost as fast as his head hit the pillow.

My daughter, Valerie, saw there was a final good-bye party that evening and decided to go see what it was. She was exhausted but still wanted to just check out what was happening at the party. I stayed with Joey. She was only gone a short time when she rushed back into our cabin and was very excited. ALL of the Disney characters on the ship were gathered together in one area and they were ALL signing autograph books! Valerie grabbed Joey's book and headed back out.

She got in line and saw she was the only adult among all the children. Someone hugged her around her neck and she turned to see Stitch standing there. Valerie told him that Joey was asleep and how much he loved Sitich. Her camera can record and she was able to record Stitch both signing Joey's book and throwing Joey kisses. He even put his big face right up to the camera.

Valerie got 10 more character's autographs that night and she recorded them all. Most of them also wrote special messages to Joey.

Very early the next morning, Joey woke up very grumpy from lack of sleep. Valerie handed him his autograph book and told him to look through it. You should have seen the surprise and glee on his face. Even more so when she showed him the recording of the actual signings. I felt myself tearing up watching his reactions.

It was a Magical experience.

 

[ICEMANPAD]

Gail--

What a wonderful Magical Story!! Chuck, Mason and I really enjoyed getting to know your family!! You are all very special!! We hope to see ya'all again on future cruises!! Mason really considers Joey to be his friend!!

My Dad's condition is still very serious. He is still in ICU, he has a breathing tube and is breathing via a ventilator. As it turns out, he has double viral pneumonia and also the trauma triggered a heart attack and a problem w/ one of his arteries. We are all hoping for the best. We appreciate the prayers and well wishes.

Lisa

 

[WMILLER86]

Lisa,

Texas sized prayers for your Dad.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Our prayers are with ya also Chuck.......all week long all I heard from the girls were "well, today we'd be at CC or totady we'd be at Gran Cayma, wouldn't be nice to be snorkeling about now"!

 

[shelwoj]

We had early dining and will take the late dining if we sail again. Early dinner seems to rush you too much. Our dining room rotation was APL, which put us in beautiful Lumiere's on Thanksgiving and put us in Animator's three times. Our servers were Noel from France and David from Australia. They were great! Noel kept my 7 year old grandson entertained the whole time with jokes and magic tricks. On our last night he smacked Joey's hand and yelled "High Four". Since I knew Noel is still learning English, I whispered, "It's high five". He said, "No, it's high four", and showed me he didn't have his little finger. I never noticed it until then.

Noel wasn't our dinner server but we had him for lunch the first day in Parrott Cay and he was wonderful. We ran into a few more times at Topsiders and he made a point each time to come over and say hello. He was soooo nice.

 

[DiszyGram]

Noel told us a story about when he arrived at the ship for the first time. He brought a whole lot of clothes with him. (count me in with that too ) His cabin had a very small locker and all the uniforms he was given filled it up. He had no extra room for his clothes. I don't think he told us what he did with them.

We used the collapsable cloth shoe hangers and shelves for extra storage space. They worked out great!

The ocean was VERY rough when we arrived at Grand Cayman. Only three cruise ships were allowed in and all had to line up on the opposite side of the island for safety. The Disney cruise line made sure the Magic was one of the three. I heard another ship tried to get in but couldn't get past the heavy surf.

We had chosen the city tour, turtle farm, and butterfly farm as our excursion. All excursions that involved going into the water were canceled. We also went to Hell. There is still a lot of hurricane damage on the island and construction was going on everywhere. The turtle farm was fun. The butterfly farm didn't have many butterflies flying around inside their enclosure. I don't blame them. The wind kept blowing those beautiful insects into the net enclosures.

It was exciting getting back on the ship. We had a rolling ride back on the small boat and nearly slammed into the side of the Magic a few times while trying to dock. Once the ramp was connected, it was rolling up and down. Crew members were watching it and making sure we got across it, one by one, in a calm second. I still felt safe and loved the excitement.
Of course falling off would have spoiled the fun.

More later.

 

[DiszyGram]

OK, Where is everyone who sailed with us?

All of the shows on the cruise were VERY nice. We loved every one of them. Since my grandson does have the hearing problem, my daughter and I made sure we got in line early to get close seats. Even with the headphones on, he isn't hearing everything.

Each show had the same problem. In every navigater it states, Reserved Seat Policy: As a courtesy to all Guests we kindly advise that saving of seats is not permitted in the Walt Disney Theatre, Show Lounges, or for Sun Loungers on Decks 9 & 10

We were fortunate for the first few shows to get our three seats at least in the second or third row. Adults and children were saving whole and half of the seats in the front rows. They were aggressive about doing it.

We were about six people back in line for the last farewell show. By the time we got down to the front, the first 4 rows were completely reserved by a hand full of adults and children. When we turned around, most of the seats were already taken. We walked up about 15 rows and sat in three seats on the aisle. A woman yelled. "Those are saved!!" My daughter was furious and she read the Navigater policy to her, also saying my grandson is hard of hearing. She recounted her seats and said she had enough.

I was very upset at that time and went to the back of the theatre to at least express my anger to someone. A Disney staff member said he would see what he could do. I saw him checking for empty seats near the front. He came back and told us to follow him. Two close rows were actually reserved by the crew for some families with handicaps, and one family didn't arrive. We got three of those seats.

My daughter did write on a comment sheet as we were getting ready to leave the ship. She said that the no reserved seat policy should be honored or completely removed. I'm sure we can't be the only people who have had experiences like we did.

It was still only a small thing in comparison to the whole wonderful cruise experience.

 

[momsgoofy]

Hey! I wasn't on the cruise with you...was an original turkey back in 2004, but I am a sign language interpreter, so this is in my field. I am sorry that you all had to experience this.

I think you said your grandson doesn't sign, but that isn't an issue. Under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) your grandson would fall under that...his disability is deafness. He is entitled to front row, or very close seating, because of that. Disney, at least WDW is very good about providing that service. For example, any of the shows...Candlelight Processional, Beauty and the Beast, etc...all have front row seating for persons with disabilities and that means wheelchairs, vision, hearing, etc. I would assume that DCL would also have them...CMs should have made seating available to your grandson and all in the party with him.

I would suggest to you or his mom, write a letter to DCL and make a formal complaint about this. It may never have been brought to their attention and if it has, well, then it absolutely needs to be done again so DCL will correct the situation. The only thing that MIGHT exempt them from the ADA is that it applies to the USA and I think the ships are registered in the Bahamas. Even given that, the company that owns the ship is an American company and should be liable to follow a federal law. I'm not sure how old your grandson is, but it would be good to involve him in the process. It will be a good lesson in empowerment for him...he'll learn how to assert his rights as a person with a disability. And if DCL hears it from a child how the magic wasn't always there because it wasn't accesible (where he could read lips) it might be even more effective...just a suggestion.

I know it won't change what happened on the Thanksgiving cruise, but at least you can try to make it better for the next time.

If you have any questions, please PM me and I would be happy to help where I can. Also, you might post on the DISabilities board...there are some smart cookies there with lots of information.

OK, Where is everyone who sailed with us?

All of the shows on the cruise were VERY nice. We loved every one of them. Since my grandson does have the hearing problem, my daughter and I made sure we got in line early to get close seats. Even with the headphones on, he isn't hearing everything.

Each show had the same problem. In every navigater it states, Reserved Seat Policy: As a courtesy to all Guests we kindly advise that saving of seats is not permitted in the Walt Disney Theatre, Show Lounges, or for Sun Loungers on Decks 9 & 10

We were fortunate for the first few shows to get our three seats at least in the second or third row. Adults and children were saving whole and half of the seats in the front rows. They were aggressive about doing it.

We were about six people back in line for the last farewell show. By the time we got down to the front, the first 4 rows were completely reserved by a hand full of adults and children. When we turned around, most of the seats were already taken. We walked up about 15 rows and sat in three seats on the aisle. A woman yelled. "Those are saved!!" My daughter was furious and she read the Navigater policy to her, also saying my grandson is hard of hearing. She recounted her seats and said she had enough.

I was very upset at that time and went to the back of the theatre to at least express my anger to someone. A Disney staff member said he would see what he could do. I saw him checking for empty seats near the front. He came back and told us to follow him. Two close rows were actually reserved by the crew for some families with handicaps, and one family didn't arrive. We got three of those seats.

My daughter did write on a comment sheet as we were getting ready to leave the ship. She said that the no reserved seat policy should be honored or completely removed. I'm sure we can't be the only people who have had experiences like we did.

It was still only a small thing in comparison to the whole wonderful cruise experience.

 

[DiszyGram]

Thank you for posting Laura. My grandson is 7 years old. He does know a lot of signing and is very good at reading lips. He also hears but sounds are very distorted. I once heard a recording of how children with his rare problem, auditory neuropathy, hear and it's amazing how well he speaks. Unfortunately he loves to sing. Nice and loud one note songs.

No one would know he is deaf unless they tried talking when he wasn't looking and concentrating on them. He did not want to go on stage for the graduation ceremony from the oceaneers club. Too noisey and crowded for him and he was afraid of messing up. He still loved being in the club. He was also picked to be a dwarf in one show but he turned it down.

The club gave my daughter and I some quiet time since he can often be a motormouth. The guest desk staff let him use the headphones free of charge for the whole cruise.

 

[DiszyGram]

Back to happy thoughts. Our room server was Pa from the Philippines. She was soooo nice. Pa took a special interst in Joey, my grandson, and went beyond her duty to make him happy. He couldn't wait to get back to the room each night and see what she had done.

I had been buying Joey a steady collection of the Disney characters in cruise dress from the ship's store. Pa had a lot of fun using them in her towel sculptures. He howled with laughter when he saw she made a large alligator and had it eating Pluto. I don't know when she ever got a break but her smiling face was there to greet us everytime we headed back to the cabin.

The last night, Pa decorated our large porthole with pretty ribbons that had character face decals hanging from them. All 7 of Joey's characters, which included Stitch, the beloved one he brought from home, were looking out the porthole.

We were signed up for a submarine ride on Cozumel. Because of rough seas, all water excursions had to be cancelled. We changed our reservation to a day on the beach. It did save me some money since it was less expensive. The water was still rough but the colors of the water were absolutely beautiful. I could stare at it all day. My daughter and grandson went in it for a short time.

A Mexican buffet was included in the excursion. I did not eat the fresh fruit or vegetables because we were warned not to. What I did eat tasted good. My daughter didn't follow her own advice. She wore sea bands on the whole cruise and also took anti motion sickness medicine daily. That night she lost a whole lot of weight the hard way.

Unlike the Grand Cayman, the ships at Cozemel had cement berths to dock in. You could walk right into your ship from the shore. It was impressive to see so many massive cruise ships docked side by side in one area. Makes you feel pretty small.

 

[ICEMANPAD]

Gail: we have been posting on next year's thread, but if you email me at icemanpad@aol.com, i have some very good pictures of your grandson i can send you - ie i need a street address b/c these are not digital.

Chuck

 

[DiszyGram]

Hi Chuck! Thank you and I just emailed you. I'll have to check out the next year's thread.

I was worried that something else happened to Lisa's father when I didn't see you here.