LIVE from the May 10th Magic Western Cruise!

[MarkRG]

Well it's now Sunday Morning, we're getting near Key West!

Had a 7 am flight out of O'Hare that got us into Orlando a little after 10. We were on the bus before 11 and got to the port about noon. I was very excited to see the ship and start the adventure. It was packed! Waited in line and by the time we were getting checked in they started boarding.

Once on board Mary went to make Palo reservations while I went to topsiders with my parents. The Mickey radios came in very handy to communicate.

The DIS meet at 3pm was very well attended despite the heat and bright sun. Kathy made some awesome buttons for everyone, Bonnie did cute wrappers for life savers, and someone (sorry - forgot the name) brought a listing of everyones room. We brought the sign! Thanks to everyone for making this a great meet.

We got the rotation we wanted which starts in Animators Pallette. It's the kids rotation but hey we are big kids!

Our Server is Sylvester, Asst. Server Joel, and Head Server is MacLean. Great team!!!!

Dinner was wonderful - we had the veal and it was delicious.

Did a quick tour of the stores - they were packed. Also stopped in to see Mickey Mania. Cute, but we didn't stay long.

After that it was off to bed. We were beat.

After a great nights sleep we awoke to a beautiful clear day crusing off the keys. We had the character breakfast this morning which was quite fun.

Soon we'll be in Key West - look for the Magic on the Cam today!

 

[donnabres]

Glad that you are having a great time. We are on the ship Sat. We will be the ones when you are leaving

Have a great trip, and please let us know everything.

Donna

 

[#1Mouse]

Hope you and Mary have a great trip - hmmm, 7 days on the Magic, how much better can it get!!!!!!!!

Check your PM's I sent you a picture of the Magic as it was sailing by twopalms. I couldn't quite see you and Mary up on Deck 10 but the ship looked great!!!!!


Gail & John

 

[Jeanny]

is that you pulling into Key West right now?? Looks like the Mickey Ears from afar. Have a great time
J.

 

[Michelle]

Hi Mark and Mary! Hope you have a fabulous time and thanks for the report!

Ask Sylvester if he used to be an assistant server! We had a Sylvester in September of 2000 as our assistant when we did the "around the world" promotion and were on the ship. I heard he was a server now and just wonder if it is the same person.

Enjoy!

 

[Kaa]

Hey Mark!

Are the Mickey radios you are using the ones that are black and red? Target has the Buzz version on the clearance rack and if they work well, I would like to go ahead and get them cheap!!

 

[disneyeveryyear]

Tammy,

I bought the Mickey ones on clearance at Target and they work fine. They work with our other two-way radios and this morning we tested them in the cars onthe way to church. The kids loved the Mickey theme!

Bought them on the clearance rack for 1/2 price. Well worth the price!

P.S. Buy a lot of AAA batteries, they each take 4.

 

[rae519]

Maclean is a marvelous head server - he headed our 5/3 team (Roger and Giorgio were our server/assistant server).

Hope you found some shrimp - I tried to leave a few for the next cruise.....

Enjoy!

Rae

 

[MarkRG]

A very short update.. We're having an incredible time!

Key West was a blast, and Grand Cayman was simply incredible!

Do NOT miss the turtles(http://www.turtles.ky) or Stingray City.

I'll write up a more verbose report later on this evening, as we're about to go to dinner

 

[Auntie Bon]

Our Server is Sylvester, Asst. Server Joel,

Hey Mark

Tell the guys that the Fraser Family sends their "hellos". We sailed the week before you at table 66!

Glad to hear you are having a good time!

 

[scuba diver]

Tell Sylvester that the Burts say "HI". We had he and Carmen on the 92 Christmas cruise. They made it wonderful for our kids. In fact, we are going to request Sylvester for our 93 Christmas cruise.

 

[MarkRG]

Ok - here's the first 3 days (boy they went fast)!

Started the day with the Character Breakfast in Parrot Cay - great fun and lots of interaction.

Then we went to the DVC party. Kathy joined us and won a DVC towel. We didn't win anything, but everyone attending got white DVC hats. We can always use more hats!

Key West - pulled in a little early - about 11. Walked right off the ship. Glad we weren't on the Pride - they had to take a tram. Royal Caribbean was worse - they had to tender! Walked over the trolley stop and turned in our e-tickets. Very painless and we were soon on our way. We finally got off at stop #8 which is the Southernmost point. Wouldn't you know that is when our camera batteries died

Went to the Butterfly Conservatory which is awesome! So many beautiful species. Tried to get a picture of a beautiful blue one while eating, but he just wouldn't open up. Looked at the pictures and this is when we found we didn't get the shot we wanted at the Southernmost point - so a quick trip back there and it was taken care of. Cheesey tourist shot - but the one Mary wanted

Next to the Hemmingway House - cool! Saw some of the cats. The garden area was beautiful (better than the house in my opinion).

Next up was groceries at a place Shirley recommended. Fausto's (I think). got stocked with water and pop and headed back to the ship shopping out way up Duval street.

Dropped our packages off at the ship then headed back out for a little more shopping. Got a color changing frisbee at touched by the sun. Also hit the Key West Aquarium. A nice little stop with a turtle and ray pool that was doing a feeding while there. Got us in the mood for Grand Cayman!

Back on the ship dinner tonight was in Parrot Cay. This was the new grilled menu on the four course rotation. I had the chicken wings, sweet onion soup and the grouper - delicious. Mary had the plain steak and baked potato. Boring but good.

After dinner went up to see the world famous sunset. Got chairs to wait for it to happen and had a great view. Very nice - Mary really enjoyed it and said it was the best she had ever seen!

Back to the room - it was a long day and we were both tired!

Day at sea to follow.

 

[MarkRG]

Today had one goal - relaxation! We certainly did that. We spent a good part of the morning out on the veranda watching the sea (which is smooth as silk) and reading our books. Went to the DVC presentation for non DVC members, but DVC members were welcome to share their stories. Mary won a DVC waist pack and water bottle holder.

Lunch was at Parrot Cay for the Aisan buffet.

Mary went out a ships tour and said it was really good, not quite as great as when Imagineer Tom Acomb did it on the member cruise, but really good.

The Castaway Club party was tonight - over 900 members.

Also tonight was Palo - our first time and wonderful. Honestly, we could have had possibly a more romantic time without the parents. It was a 'bit too classy for them'. Also, it was about 6pm, and the Sun was having a running battle with the a/c, so it was a bit on the warm side. For our Server, we had Tibor, who said he's been there since the start. Now, being we attended the DVC reception, we already had appetizers, and really skipped out on them a lot for dinner. I had the calamari, however, which was interesting, to say the least. And the main course of orrichette, and followed by the mandatory Chocolate Souffle. Mary had the beef tenderloin, which was possibly the best she has ever had, also followed by the mandatory Souffle. Now how this became mandatory was by Tibor. He saw we were being lean on the appetizers and then announced he was going to order a double dessert for us. This turned into a souffle for all 4 of us and one each of the other desserts offered that evening! Kind of a huge dessert sampler! They were all very interesting in their own ways and we all sampled from them!

Next up Grand Cayman.

 

[Mjasp]

Hey Mark,
Glad you're having a GREAT time. If you see Cris and Stephen (Jetsgirl85) with their 2 kids Jillian and Eric, tell them Joanna is thinking about them and hoping they are having a blast. They are our old neighbors.

Have lots more fun
Joanna

 

[MarkRG]

This is it - the day we have been waiting for since we booked last year! Would we be able to make Grand Cayman? Not to worry - we woke up to very, very calm seas! As smooth, if not smoother, than we experienced in February on the Member Cruise. Woke up at 6 am as our tour left at 7:50 and we wanted to get breakfast in.

Celebrity was already there, followed by us, and then Carnival. It was going to be a busy day. Had breakfast at topsiders, then went back to the room to get our swim masks, suntan lotion, water, etc. Check in for the tour was fast and efficient. After a wait of about 1/2 hour we finally headed out to our tender. Then into busses and we were on our way.

First stop - Hell! Cute in a touristy way. Passed the last church before Hell, sent ourselves a postcard, got a magnet. The usual. Fascinating rock formations that gave Hell its name. They are actually limestone, but look more like volcanic rock coming up out of the water. Yet they are far from the waters edge and far older. At night they even light them with red from below and they really look hellish, but we will be long gone by nightfall.

Next stop the turtle farm. We've checked out the web site just about every week and were looking forward to this. We weren't disappointed (with the exception we wish we could have stayed longer). There were about 10 different tanks holding large quantities of different age/size turtles. When each group would approach they would come to the sides and poke their heads up to say hi (ok I know they were getting air, but they looked like they were saying hi) Each of us got to hold one of the young turtles and they are very cute. The sad part was looking at a tank of 2-3 year olds. They would soon be turtle soup Most of them luckly are released to the wild and food is food, but we couldn't stay looking at them too long!

Next up was a ride to the double decker boat and the 1/2 hour ride to the sandbar known as Stingray City. Amazing! As soon as the boat pulled up (and there were already 10-12 boats there) they started coming over. Smart stingrays - they know when new food is headed their way. We were soon in the water! Mary held one right away, but never got the knack of feeding them. I got that knack quickly and had them swarming around me for most of the hour. Words can't describe how wonderful this was. Do it! It is worth it! BTW - those of you who heard about Mary getting a perscription mask - it worked great!
Hopefully some of the shots from the 2 disposable cameras we took will come out!

Heading back to the city we stopped at the rum factory store. We stayed on the bus. Not for us.

We did some shopping in town. Lots of jewelry shops with gemstones, but we aren't in the market for that. Got my polo shirt at the turtle farm. Found a small stuffed turtle and stingray for Mary and we were happy.

Got to the dock and a tender was waiting. Back in the room it was after 2 so lunch was done. We ordered room service, took our showers (get that salt water off) and relaxed until dinner. I've been wanting to try the ship's kettle (the tomato soup) for a while and was not disappointed!

Tonight we were back in Animator's Pallette. Around the world night. I had the scallops, followed by the Greek salad ( a little too sour for my tastes) and the Indian Roasted Chicken - very different, but very good. Mary stayed with good old American prime rib!

Some pin trading with the officers, and then to the internet cafe (where we are typing this).

That brings you up to speed! Tomorrow is Cozumel, then a day at sea, Castaway Cay, then home So far this cruise has far exceeded our expectations - pretty good since this is our 5th one!

 

[MarkRG]

Donna, we are taking good care of the ship. It will be ready and waiting for you and all the 5/17 cruisers!

Gail, having a great time. Wish you and John were here - you'd love the stingrays. We will check pm's and e-mails when we get home (wacky computers here).

Kaa - yes we have the Disney radios and they are working great for us.

edit- Andy, We did get your emails- just can't open them with these shipboard computers, the attachment keeps goofing them up.

 

[Verandah Man]

Mark,

Enjoying your reports, keep 'em coming!!!

Andy

 

[jlawall]

Thx for the reports! Have a great trip!!!

 

[beanteam]

Thanks for posting to us about your activities. I am so excited for our Western in June!

 

[OurDogCisco]

Thanks for your reports! We'll be on the cruise next year during Mother's Day, too. Did they do anything special for Mother's Day? Have tons of fun!

Tina