Live From the May Repositioning Cruise

Here is a link to our May 28 - June 4 cruise photos...
you will have to register, but then you can view them.
Start with Disney Cruise first, then Day 1, then Day 2-7

http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=100...c=SYE/otsi=SALB



What a great cruise! It was really fun to finally put faces to all the screen names.
Jedisan/JediJazzMan-Thank you for the door presents and glow necklaces!
GrammieGail-Thanks for the great cook book!
LegalBriefs-What a fun person you are and what a fantastic pirate!
C&Ssnyders-Congratulations on all the Bingo winnings!

Our check in went very smoothly. Apparently some people had 2 and 3 hours of boarding time, but ours was very quick as was our debarkation, probably about 15 or 20 minutes total once Disney started lining us up.
We had the Early LAP rotation for our dinners and while on the subject, may I say that those meals are all 5 star meals... not Dennys quality. Our server was SACHIN from India and MARTYNA from ????both were fantastic. Well actually Sachin was Fantastic (this was his word).. Martyna was so/so... she seemed preoccupied or deep in thought perhaps concentrating on her job or had a week-long headache, not sure, but she did her job, but didn't "shine" at it like Sachin... but then I guess anyone would NOT shine next to him as he went above and BEYOND his job.

We had Pirate Night on Tuesday night and it was a blast. This being our first cruise, we were all psyched up for it and brought our stuff from home to wear. We had a great time. The party started hopping when Captain Hook showed up and took over the ship. We had fireworks and music and even a pirate ship off our port side as we departed Puerto Vallarta.

PuertoVallarta - ZipLine Excursion...
that was GREAT... I strongly recommend this for anyone that wants to do a once in a lifetime thing. It was not very physical except for the 10 minute walk at the end as it is UP-hill DUUUUUUH... I had not given it much thought that the walk would be UP-hill. THAT was exhausting! I would have paid $100 for a donkey to ride back up, but there weren't any around. :crazy2: We had team B (as in BEST) and they were all VERY nice, friendly, and helpful. They all spoke English and Spanish, and one even spoke French. The guides strapped us up and showed us how to keep from twirling as we zipped along, and they were always there to keep us from slamming into the trees at the end. They kept us laughing with jokes and pointed out the native plants and trees. Lots of interesting trivia that I don't remember as I was busy trying to take pictures and NEVER got to take one as I was distracted by the fun I was having. They also highly encourage you to leave your camera and valuables at the base camp in a locked container that they provide for your convience because IF you drop something, they aren't retrieving it for you and at times you really are about 90 feet hign in the tree tops. Plus, they want to assure that you will want to buy their video/DVD at the end of the experience. One of the guides zips along with a camcorder filming you as you go. They edit it later with music from Indiana Jones and Mission Impossible etc... so it should be a hoot to watch when we get it in about 6 weeks. Cost is $40w/shipping for Video and $52 w/shipping for DVD. There were 8 in our group so we bought 1 video and will make copies to share. What can I say, we're cheap. :laughing:

Mazatlan - Old City Walking Tour...
It starts out with a wild fast breath-taking ride in a taxi that Disney had waiting for us as we got off the Magic. We had a driver that spoke great English and he basically gave us the city tour as he drove. His name was "El Gato" meaning the cat and he asked us to ask for him if we needed to go anyplace after the tour. He was incredibly friendly and knowledgable about the town, BUT he drove like a mad man, going THRU stop signs and just plowing into and across traffic to deliver us to a place by the ocean where we met up with the rest of our tour group... My mom was in the taxi behind ours and she said her driver never spoke to them, but drove just as wildly as he seemed to be trying to catch up with our taxi.
The tour began after everyone was delivered to the beach location... about 20 of us. We had a very nice tour guide named Carmen, very friendly, knowledgable and great English. We were there on June 1st and it was quite warm. Be sure to bring a hat, sunglasses, sunblock and WATER. I don't know how anyone will fare during July and August as after 30 minutes I was sweating buckets. The actual walk was nicely paced and not strenuous at all, so most anyone would be able to do it. You do have to keep an eye out for the dog poo on the sidewalk as you go AND for drivers that drive their cars along the sidewalk for a bit before deciding to park ON the sidewalk! This was hillarious as our guide had just told us to stay ON the sidewalk where it was safe. She had just finished uttering those words when a car came towards us and scooted itself onto the sidewalk and drove ON the sidewalk for about 40 feet before parking. Alot of us had to actually jump out of the way and BACK into the street to get out of the way of this car! :rotfl2:
Carmen took us to see statues, a bakery, an old museum, (I didn't go in as I was too hot to go into a hot unairconditioned museum) a church, an opera house, and a restaurant where we were only allowed to get a drink as we were too short on time to get something to eat. As I said it was a very warm day and EVERYONE was hot, thirsty and hungry.
I don't recommend this tour unless you are totally into history and old buildings that are being restored and dont' mind being HOT.

CaboSanLucas - Walking Tour
Decided NOT to do this tour as we were burned out from the Mazatlan walking tour. We decided to eat the cost of the ticket than do the hot walk again. Although now I regret not going as it was BEAUTIFUL in Cabo and it was very cool and breezy there.
You must take a little boat called a tender off the ship to get to Cabo as we can not park along the dock as the water isn't deep enough. At least that is the way I understood it. Once we were on land, there are LOTS of local people standing there ready to take you anywhere you want to go. They have all kinds of things to rent and excursions to take and at 1/2 the cost of booking thru Disney. The whole town seems very clean, touristy and friendly and ready to serve you. There were lots of shops and restaurants and lots of Americans everywhere. This is a very nice place and I highly recommend going there and plan on going back to enjoy more of it. The only regret I have is we didnt spend more time there. I feel Disney should drop Mazatlan altogether and spend 2 days in Cabo San Lucas.

Back to the real world... Work, Bills, and dreaming of the next cruise.
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sandysplayhouse said:
Our server was SACHIN from India and MARTYNA from ????both were fantastic. Well actually Sachin was Fantastic (this was his word).. Martyna was so/so... she seemed preoccupied or deep in thought perhaps concentrating on her job or had a week-long headache, not sure, but she did her job, but didn't "shine" at it like Sachin... but then I guess anyone would NOT shine next to him as he went above and BEYOND his job.
->__________________


How funny is this - we were at the table (four of 4) right next to you all week. Alyssa came over one night and told us jokes and did magic tricks for us. I agree totally about our serving team. Sachin was great and Martyna seemed to not be all there some nights. We even did the same excursions you did and felt the same way about them. Our pictures are on allearsnet.com

I am ready to go back, Vacation is much better than work!
 
Those were awesome pictures! Thanks so much for sharing... I can not wait for it to be our turn to cruise. :Pinkbounc
 
In Mazatlan... on the Kayak tour... did anyone get pictures of my sister-n-law Juie and nephew Andrew when they flipped their boat and went swimming? Julie told us the story and it was hillarious. I'm hoping someone got a picture of it... please forward to sandysplayhouse@yahoo.com
 


I have a travel tip for anyone cruising soon. It credit my mother who ALWAYS packs a sewing kit with her. She has also instilled this habit in me. THANKfully I brought mine along with me. I got it at Wal-Mart, $2.99, has a needle, a needle threader, thimble, measuring tape, and several colors of thread.. very basic. No scissors. Get a tiny pair for those rascally t-shirt tags that rub your neck raw or those plastic strings that tie shoes together and you can't break off. Anyway, I threw the sewing case in the suitcase thinking I won't need it, but you never know.

ON formal night, my daughter Brandy, was wearning a NEW $350 gown, I mention the price because it should have laster longer than it did! Anyway, she managed to walk into Animators Palate and sit down when her strap BROKE!... And if any of you have seen Brandy, you know that a broken strap is DANGEROUS! She could knock someone out with with those things. Anyway, she ran to Guest Services and they managed to get a safety pin for her to hold her together. I went and got my trusty $2.99 Walmart sewing kit and saved the day. We were able to finish dinner and go to the Golden Mickeys without delay.

Moral of the story, a stitch in time saves embarrassment. Take a sewing kit with you.
 
sandysplayhouse said:
I have a travel tip for anyone cruising soon. It credit my mother who ALWAYS packs a sewing kit with her. She has also instilled this habit in me. THANKfully I brought mine along with me. I got it at Wal-Mart, $2.99, has a needle, a needle threader, thimble, measuring tape, and several colors of thread.. very basic. No scissors. Get a tiny pair for those rascally t-shirt tags that rub your neck raw or those plastic strings that tie shoes together and you can't break off. Anyway, I threw the sewing case in the suitcase thinking I won't need it, but you never know.

ON formal night, my daughter Brandy, was wearning a NEW $350 gown, I mention the price because it should have laster longer than it did! Anyway, she managed to walk into Animators Palate and sit down when her strap BROKE!... And if any of you have seen Brandy, you know that a broken strap is DANGEROUS! She could knock someone out with with those things. Anyway, she ran to Guest Services and they managed to get a safety pin for her to hold her together. I went and got my trusty $2.99 Walmart sewing kit and saved the day. We were able to finish dinner and go to the Golden Mickeys without delay.

Moral of the story, a stitch in time saves embarrassment. Take a sewing kit with you.


Was Brandy with you at Acapulco Restaurant to greet the Magic?

Tracy
 


big cheeser said:
Advice please - did y'all need local currency for the stops - or does the almighty US $ serve anywhere? :confused3 Allan

I used my (Disney) credit card a couple places--they were very happy to do it, too. It saved them a lot of punching numbers on their calculators!!
 
kellib36 said:
I used my (Disney) credit card a couple places--they were very happy to do it, too. It saved them a lot of punching numbers on their calculators!!


Kelli....if I do recall...you used it in more than a few places!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Miss Ya

Elaine
 
Mickey&JoshNut said:
Kelli....if I do recall...you used it in more than a few places!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Miss Ya Elaine

Well......:blush: ...yes, but what I was refering to was the "true" Mexican places....like the jewelry store in San Jose del Cabo, and the "antique" store around the corner.....or the glass blowing factory....They all had their little calculators next to the cash registers, and IMMEDIATELY put them away when I pulled out my cc......

Seriously, if my shipboard charges were like my excursion charges, Keith would be a HAPPY man!!!! I still can't get over the gal that did my aromastone massage saying I could do it again in a couple days...uh huh.....too bad she wasn't buying....

Oh, Elaine--if you only knew....we only went shopping for an hour and a half at one port......

And, Elaine----its the WEEKEND!!!! Wahooooooooo!! (Couldn't come soon enough for me!!!)
 
kellib36 said:
Well......:blush: ...yes, but what I was refering to was the "true" Mexican places....like the jewelry store in San Jose del Cabo, and the "antique" store around the corner.....or the glass blowing factory....They all had their little calculators next to the cash registers, and IMMEDIATELY put them away when I pulled out my cc......

Seriously, if my shipboard charges were like my excursion charges, Keith would be a HAPPY man!!!! I still can't get over the gal that did my aromastone massage saying I could do it again in a couple days...uh huh.....too bad she wasn't buying....

Oh, Elaine--if you only knew....we only went shopping for an hour and a half at one port......

And, Elaine----its the WEEKEND!!!! Wahooooooooo!! (Couldn't come soon enough for me!!!)


Kelli

Yes, but what a fun time we had.

TGIF......Yippee!!!!!! I survived my first week back to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sent you an email

Elaine
 
sandysplayhouse said:
I feel Disney should drop Mazatlan altogether and spend 2 days in Cabo San Lucas.

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Agree entirely with you. Enjoyed CSL much more especially "money gazing" in the marina!!

Much cooler and more set up for visitors. :flower:
 
sandysplayhouse said:
I feel Disney should drop Mazatlan altogether and spend 2 days in Cabo San Lucas.

I agree, and I told Heath (shore excursions manager) that at the end of the repo cruise. 6+ hours just was NOT enough time. We did the Coastal Highlights tour. We were rushed at every stop. While the glass blowing factory and the cactus garden didn't have as much "stuff" as I had expected, I would have liked to have stopped and looked at cactus and watched glass blowing, rather than run through with the camera to get to the gift shop and back on the bus in time.

The glass blowing factory had SO much inventory!! If I had been looking to buy a set of 6 glasses, or something along those lines, I'd have needed a LOT more time. I think they actually did a disservice by pushing us so much. I don't know if they could ship things home for you, because we were too busy trying to get back on the bus!!

San Jose del Cabo alone was a four hour stop as far as I was concerned, and we did it in an hour.

Bottom line:Acapulco and Mazatlan were not ready for us!! I admit I didn't do as much homework as I should have, but I knew we wouldn't be able to do much with my 83yo mil in a wheelchair anyway. I was disappointed after as many times as I've heard about Acapulco and Mazatlan as tourist places, and we didn't get to see any of it. Cabo was an awesome place, but not enough time!!!
 
kellib36 said:
I agree, and I told Heath (shore excursions manager) that at the end of the repo cruise. 6+ hours just was NOT enough time. We did the Coastal Highlights tour. We were rushed at every stop. While the glass blowing factory and the cactus garden didn't have as much "stuff" as I had expected, I would have liked to have stopped and looked at cactus and watched glass blowing, rather than run through with the camera to get to the gift shop and back on the bus in time.

The glass blowing factory had SO much inventory!! If I had been looking to buy a set of 6 glasses, or something along those lines, I'd have needed a LOT more time. I think they actually did a disservice by pushing us so much. I don't know if they could ship things home for you, because we were too busy trying to get back on the bus!!

San Jose del Cabo alone was a four hour stop as far as I was concerned, and we did it in an hour.

Bottom line:Acapulco and Mazatlan were not ready for us!! I admit I didn't do as much homework as I should have, but I knew we wouldn't be able to do much with my 83yo mil in a wheelchair anyway. I was disappointed after as many times as I've heard about Acapulco and Mazatlan as tourist places, and we didn't get to see any of it. Cabo was an awesome place, but not enough time!!!

Hi Kelli :wave2:

That's funny that you felt rushed on the tour...we felt the opposite. We watched the glass blowing (he made a turtle) and then had 20 minutes or so to shop. I know it's not a lot of time but we didn't feel rushed. Mom and I walked all around the Catus place looking for the Canadian Cactus he said they had (couldn't find it but did find a hidden Mickey Cacti!!!!!)

I do agree....skip Mazatlan and stay longer in Cabo. I would have like a lot longer to have explored the stores more in Cabo. I might actually have found the post office then!!!!! I think Cabo was the only place I didn't pick up any postcards. Oh well...another reason to go back!!!!!!

I was disappointed with Acapulco. I guess it was just my impression that it would be more Americanized. Remember trying to cross the road to the post office, Kelli!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Over all, I'm glad that Disney did stop at the places they did. They were all places I would never have gone on my own but I would now return to Curacao and Cabo San Lucas, if given the chance.

Elaine
 
Mickey&JoshNut said:
That's funny that you felt rushed on the tour...we felt the opposite. We watched the glass blowing (he made a turtle) and then had 20 minutes or so to shop. I know it's not a lot of time but we didn't feel rushed. Mom and I walked all around the Catus place looking for the Canadian Cactus he said they had (couldn't find it but did find a hidden Mickey Cacti!!!!!)
Interesting--I wonder how much of it was the order we did the stops? Glass blowing was your first stop, wasn't it? We had just started the tour when we saw you at the Italian restaurant.

Mickey&JoshNut said:
I was disappointed with Acapulco. I guess it was just my impression that it would be more Americanized.
"Americanized"?!?!?!? :rotfl2: You're Canadian!!!!!!!!! That's the funniest thing I've heard for a while now!!! Back to the subject, though!! Our tour guide in Acapulco was great, I just wasn't blown away by it like we were in Curacao or Cabo. I think my main problem with Acapulco was the "after Canal" letdown....that was really hard on me. I'd been anticipating that day for SO long, and it was OVER so fast.....even after a couple days at sea, I felt very down! But I insist, they were NOT ready for us!!! (That's all I'll say!!!)

Mickey&JoshNut said:
Remember trying to cross the road to the post office, Kelli!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YIKES!!!! I haven't told Keith how close he came to being rich!!! (I'm worth WAY more dead than alive!!!) That was an incredible experience!! Glad we could share it!!! :rotfl:

Mickey&JoshNut said:
Over all, I'm glad that Disney did stop at the places they did. They were all places I would never have gone on my own but I would now return to Curacao and Cabo San Lucas, if given the chance.

I agree. I'd love to do Curacao and Cabo again....
 
:wizard:
sandysplayhouse said:
Here is a link to our May 28 - June 4 cruise photos...
you will have to register, but then you can view them.
Start with Disney Cruise first, then Day 1, then Day 2-7

http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=100...c=SYE/otsi=SALB



Sandy:

I have to tell you this. I read your post yesterday and looked at your pictures and saw all the balloons you had at the port to welcome the Magic coming to California. I saw pictures on another thread somewhere here too. I planned all week to make a trip down to San Pedro to watch her sail and to basically "get my bearings" and just where we would be departing from, where the parents will be dropping us off, where they could have lunch and watch us sail off.

Today, we went to watch the Magic sail away (we are leaving in two weeks). We went to the Port of Calls Restuarant and had a fantastic view of her sitting in port and her sail away. She IS the ONLY beautiful thing in that port :lovestruc

When we were leaving after we watched her sail away, my DH and DD6 waited for me while I snuck into Acapulcos to use the ladies room. When I came out, my DD was holding a lime green balloon. I said "Where'd you get that", thinking, how did I miss any DISers. My husband said he found it stuck in a tree and almost had to climb it to get for her. Okay, DISers :grouphug: and right then, I remembered your pictures. :bounce:

When we got home tonight I showed her your pictures. She's is thrilled! She was soooo excited to see the balloons on the computer and the meaning of it and Mickey's Boat. She tied it to her bed and wants to tie it to our car when we leave in two weeks. I said yes, we'll take it.

How cool is that! :wizard:
 
PizzieDuster said:
:wizard:
Sandy: I have to tell you this. I read your post yesterday and looked at your pictures and saw all the balloons you had at the port to welcome the Magic coming to California...
....When I came out, my DD was holding a lime green balloon. I said "Where'd you get that", thinking, how did I miss any DISers. My husband said he found it stuck in a tree and almost had to climb it to get for her. Okay, DISers :grouphug: and right then, I remembered your pictures. :bounce:

When we got home tonight I showed her your pictures. She's is thrilled! She was soooo excited to see the balloons on the computer and the meaning of it and Mickey's Boat. She tied it to her bed and wants to tie it to our car when we leave in two weeks. I said yes, we'll take it.

How cool is that! :wizard:

OMG PixieDuster! I can not believe there are still balloons around there... and how cute that your little girl found one and is keeping it. Tell her that I wish her lots of fun and wonderful memories on her cruise. Please post a picture of her with the balloon when you go on your trip.
Sandy
 
In Acapulco did any of you do either the Family Beach (Coco Loco) or the La Roqueta Island Getaway excursions? If so how did you like them?

Additionally, did any of you grab a local taxi as you debarked in Acapulco? Did you feel it was safe?
 

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