Live from the Christmas Cruise: Disney Magic

[tiggerwannabe]

I lost my entire post cause it said "I wasn't logged in"

Sorry, the castmembers I spoke to did not know of Pikey and my movie list seems to be lost in our cabin somewhere

If you check our cruise meets thread grimgrinnin posted a full list shortly before we came down...

gotta go drag my girls outta bed now to head onto st thomas, I got them up for customs and they went right back to bed...they've had some very late nights all this week.

They are actually enjoying the ship so much they aren't interested in the islands.

They are looking forward to Castaway Cay tho...we have a banana boat ride and glass bottom boat tour booked. They've heard so much about that island they cannot wait to get there

I'll bid you all TTFN,

~Have a Magical Day~

 

[budwmn]

Thanks for the posts and the current list of movies!

Hope you continue to have a great trip

 

[MrsMork]

Was the WDW Christmas Day parade boadcast on the Dumbotron? It appeared that there were live photos of the Magic with the parade on the screen, but we are wondering if it was truly live pictures.

 

[lmok]

Tigger,

Could you let us know what you thought of the Glass Bottom Boat tour? We were thinking of this but have not really heard anything.

Lisa
Oklahoma

 

[lbgraves]

Was the WDW Christmas Day parade boadcast on the Dumbotron? It appeared that there were live photos of the Magic with the parade on the screen, but we are wondering if it was truly live pictures.

Sure, Angie. That parade was all done live. You do know they tape that in early December? I think that with technology they could have easily put anything on the screen in editing once they shot it.

 

[MrsMork]

You're spoiling my Magic. I don't know that and Prince Charming is real.

 

[moet7]

Hi
Has anyone done any of the excursions on St. Martin or St. Thomas?
If Yes, can you tell me which ones and how they were?
Thanks

 

[jlawall]

Thx for posting, say "Hi" to Lynn and Keith from GB (LynnTarrant), we sailed with them last summer and they are terrific!!

Have wonderful trip!

 

[Aisling]

Has anyone done any of the excursions on St. Martin or St. Thomas?

On St. Martin, my 20 year old son did the Mountain Bike Tour through Columbier to Friar's Bay Beach. Chad said it wasn't a smooth and easy ride, more suitable for higher intermediate riders than for lower intermediates. The scenery was diverse, from cliffs overlooking the sea, to people living in poverty, to historical areas where slavery took place, etc. At the end of the tour, they stopped at Friar's Bay Beach for a beer, rum punch, soda, and/or water. My son enjoyed it very much, even with the scratched up arm from the brumble bushes on the path, and would do it again.

Also on St. Martin, my 13 year old son Jesse and I did the Under Two Flags tour. We got on a barely airconditioned bus, drove from Philipsburg to Marigot. The driver was a knowledgeable guide, pointing out all the interesting spots, and slowing down to let us get closer looks for photos. Again, we saw poverty, and I felt uncomfortable when the locals saw us drive slowly through their streets and neighborhoods. The streets are very narrow,and the driver said he has to put vasaline on the bus everyday so it could squeeze through the traffic and houses practically on the road. we did learn a lot about the history and relations of these two separate countries on one island.

St. Thomas...we did the 5-star Trunk Bat snorkle and beach trip. We rode the Leylon Sneed boat to St. John, about 45 minutes. The crew provided us with equipment. We put on the gear, and had the choice of being dinghied over to St. John, to go ddown the ladder and lower yourself into tghe 20 feet of water where we anchored, or to jump the 5 feet from the boat directly into the 20 feet of water. We jumped, and it was scary, but fun. The snorkling was beautiful, coral reefs, tropical fist, and even stingrays were seen by us all. Very cool. We swan to the pristine beach, lolled around on the sand, played in the water, and after an hour, started our swim/snorkle back to the Leylon Sneed. It was a very fun trip.

About Pikey, my son Chad hung out with Pikey, Amy, and Dazzler every night, mainly in Rockin Bar D. I will post some photos.

 

[slindamood]

DH and I were on the beach at Jetty Park to see you all off - looked like a great party!

We took lots of photos - it was such a beautiful day for sailing. I have posted them on a separate thread on the DCL Forum page.

Hope you all had fun - we did the Christmas cruise back in 01 and had a fantastic time. So very special.

Suzanne

 

[minniegrl]

Hi
Has anyone done any of the excursions on St. Martin or St. Thomas?
If Yes, can you tell me which ones and how they were?
Thanks

DH (grimgrinnin) and I did excursions on both St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

On St. Maarten we did the Golden Eagle Catamaran. The catamaran was really big with plenty of space for people to sit, although everyone wanted in the front, which did make it a little crowded. It was still a nice ride, though. We sailed to a small island with a beatiful sandy beach. DH snorkeled, while I sunbathed on the beach. I did take a walk back behind some trees because people kept going back there and coming back smeared with some type of mud. I thought that perhaps there was some type of mud bath back there, and so I walked back with two other women only to find that you were supposed to bring your own water to pour into little holes in the ground, to make your own mud, and then smear it on your body. One of the men in their party found a jug of water by a tree, so we used that. We rubbed sandy mud on ourselves all the while discussing how this would be a good funniest videos segment, only to be made funnier if they showed the spot a few hours later with wild animals crapping in the holes. I mean, seriously, we really had absolutely NO idea what we were rubbing all over ourselves! At any rate, I made my way back to the beach, only to see a new boat unloading its completely nude passengers onto the shore. This was quite a surprise to many of the families that were coming back from the snorkeling end of the beach. After dragging DH back to the catamaran, we boarded for our return trip. All in all it was a very nice day, although the crew of the catamaran wasn't that personable.

On St. Thomas we did the afternoon Dubloon Sail and Snorkel. I highly recommend this excursion. It was a blast from beginning to end. The ride isn't the most comfortable, but it totally makes up for it in entertainment. It was packed, but we didn't mind it so much. The ride to Buck Island was fun, due in large part to Billy Bones, one of the crew who does most of the entertaining on the trip out. Once we reached Buck Island, I was slightly disapointed to learn that it was not an island with a beautiful beach where I could get out and stroll. It was a very rocky shore, and people are not allowed to swim to it because it is a bird sanctuary. I quickly got over my disappointment when Billy explained that we were in what is called "Turtle Cove" because sea turtles frequent the cove. He explained that if you are very still that they will not see you as a threat and might even come up for air close to you. He said that if a turtle were to come near you, you shouldn't talk or move around because it would get scared and leave, and that you should stick to these guidelines so that everyone has a chance to see the turtles. While I did not plan on snorkeling (I have issues with the breathing procedures required of it), I did still hope that if I swam or floated around I would still see a turtle. By the time I got in the water, most of the snorkelers were already quite a ways down the cove with Melinda, our resident bar wench , who is also an expert snorkeler and marine life expert. I spotted my husband in the opposite direction and motioned him to me so that I could show him where the rest of the snorkelers were. He had already been hanging out with a sea turtle until a loud group of people came his way. I had high hopes of seeing a turtle that afternoon. My high hopes were shortly dashed when a man who spotted a turtle in my general area started screaming "turtle! turtle!" He then proceeded to splash around trying, unsuccessfully, to move toward the turtle, which promptly scared it away. At that point I decided to just kick back, relax, and enjoy the cool Caribbean water.

The ride back was much more eventful. We were served banana benders nonstop! Our glasses were barely touched when Melinda would show up and refill it each time. Billy came around and slapped (and I do mean SLAPPED in some cases) a pirate tatoo on each person. He was very good at reading who would be offended if he put their tatoo in a "questionable" location. He pulled the front of my suit down slightly and popped a tatoo on my chest. It was hilarious. Then, the captain, who had barely spoken the entire day, got up and modeled the Dubloon merchandise that we could purchase. After leaving the Dubloon, we followed Billy Bones to purchase our merchandise at the Dubloon shop (which is on the way back to the Magic). The fun didn't stop because they were still serving free drinks in the shop and the crew was just as entertaining inside the store.

Grim and I are not big drinkers, but we were both VERY tipsy by the time we boarded the Magic. It was a really fun day.

We also did excursions on both islands on our last cruise.

On St. Maarten we did the Lagoon Kayaking tour. We were disappointed in this excursion because the description made it sound like it was going to be this beautiful lagoon, so of course we were picturing scenes from "The Blue Lagoon". Talk about disappointing...we were in a bay on the Dutch side of the island, and most of the trip was in a very industrial looking area. I could swear that there was oil floating in the water from all the big, industrial ships around us. The mangroves that we were supposed to kayak through was a strip of vegetation downhill from a busy highway, and while we did get to see some cool jellyfish and a sea cucumber, it was just not beautiful at all. Not to mention that it was really windy and parts of the kayaking were extremely tough....and we weren't beginners. Oh well....bygones.

St. Thomas was a totally different story, or St. John, rather. We did the Champagne barefoot catamaran excursion, which wasn't offered through Disney for our latest (Christmas) cruise. It originates at the Bolongo Bay resort on St. Thomas, though, so if you're really interested, you may be able to book it on your own. At any rate, we loved every minute of this excursion. The crew was fun and personable. We had a great conversation with one of the crewmembers which resulted in her emailing us all kinds of information about St. Thomas. The catamaran sailed to St. John. I think it was Honeymoon Bay (can't remember exactly) which was a beautiful white sand beach. It was truly breath-taking, and most of the island is a nature preserve. We snorkeled down on the preserve end of the beach, and then hung out on the sand for a bit. They served yummy sandwiches, and all types of drinks. The one and only drawback is that is was a LONG ride each way. However, if you love sailing, and I did, its a really amazing excursion.

Ok, that's probably a WHOLE LOT more that you wanted to know, but I got on a roll.

Hi to all my fellow Christmas cruisers! LUMU (ok..that's just something I made up in the spirit of LYMI to let you know that Grim and I love you and miss you! )

Minniegrl

 

[tiggerwannabe]

Our Glass Bottom Boat Tour was cancelled due to choppy seas

Our Banana Boat went out and my crew thought the ride was a bit too mild...me thinks Chad REALLY wanted to see someone fly!

I finally saw Pikey!

Rockin Bar D the last night of the cruise! They did a cool skit and he was the ballerina on the end...If Chad didn't get pics I managed to get 1 or 2 I can post later.

I am currently uplaoding my 300 pics into my photobucket for all to see

 

[nskjerven]

We did the dolphin encounter on St Maarten, actually on Angullia(sp)

It was WONDERFUL!!! I'd book a cruise again just to do that Dolphin Swim again. Okay it helps to have great company, Jill, are you in again???

My little guy, 5, was nervous about the swimming part and clung to daddy the whole time. No need to worry the life jacket was very safe.

The boat ride over to the island was a bit long, for so early in the morning, yawn...same ride back inthe afternoon was fine...

questions in detail pm me happy to provide more info if asked.

Nan