'Lorne's Magical Milestone Birthday' Trip Report

[wvdisluv2]

Just wanted to check in before I go back to read

I'm already thinking.....I need to plan a Disney Cruise!

Hmmmmm me and Mom? Me and DH? OR Me, DH, Mom & Dad?!

I think you're going to be a bad influence on me

 

[retiredkid]

Love the updates! The empty ship pictures are woth getting up early for. And the sunrise was just beautiful! I enjoy watching the other ships dock also. Love the pirate picture!

It was fun to wander around the empty ship. I wasn't gonna post the stoooooopid pirate picture, then figured.......why not??? I'm amongst friends.

 

[retiredkid]

Just wanted to check in before I go back to read

I'm already thinking.....I need to plan a Disney Cruise!

YOU. NEED. TO. PLAN. A. DISNEY. CRUISE.

Hmmmmm me and Mom? Me and DH? OR Me, DH, Mom & Dad?!

You would enjoy any of those scenarios.
Actually with 4 of you, you could mix and match the activities/people.

I think you're going to be a bad influence on me

Wouldn't be the first time




You wont regret it.

 

[jordanyosh]

I would love to see the sun rise on the DCL...I'm usually still passed out....

The pirate pic...? can I laugh just a little?

I will always choose Eastern over Western Itinerary. Cozumel just doesn't interest me.

 

[retiredkid]

I would love to see the sun rise on the DCL...I'm usually still passed out....

The pirate pic...? can I laugh just a little?

I will always choose Eastern over Western Itinerary. Cozumel just doesn't interest me.

yes, Jordan, you can laugh a little. the only thing that would have made it funnier would have been 'the tongue'

 

[DISNEY4XMAS]

Well Cathy I am all caught up! I am think I think like everyone else that We need to do a cruise... I think we will wait till the kids are older and we will do it by ourselves! or maybe bring them and they can do their own stuff????

Love the sunrise pictures! reminds me of the sunrise on top of mount Haliaka in Maui. I got up at three am to see that sunrise. It was so beautiful.

Oh for the PIRATE picture my DH walked around WDW for all of christmas break with a red polk a dot pirate hat with goofy ears and earrings on the end of those ears

 

[retiredkid]

Well Cathy I am all caught up! I am think I think like everyone else that We need to do a cruise... I think we will wait till the kids are older and we will do it by ourselves! or maybe bring them and they can do their own stuff????

Love the sunrise pictures! reminds me of the sunrise on top of mount Haliaka in Maui. I got up at three am to see that sunrise. It was so beautiful.

Oh for the PIRATE picture my DH walked around WDW for all of christmas break with a red polk a dot pirate hat with goofy ears and earrings on the end of those ears

From what I hear from a lot of parents, the kids were off in the clubs so much, it was almost like being alone. IDK

I love it how adults morph at Disney. Luv the pic. Cute hat thanks for reading, Stephanie

 

[wvdisluv2]

Ok Cathy...10:30pm last night my Mom calls....she is NEVER up that late!?! (She normally gets up at 3:30am for work during the week) I'm worried...I think something is wrong..NO! She is LOVING Cathy's trip report!!!! Mom LOVED the pic of the naked ladies statue and that you were waiting for that guy to get up She is completely hooked
I TOLD her it was the DIS "cult" and once she gets in.....well she'll be hooked
Now we are both waiting to hear more (No pressure of course.... )

 

[retiredkid]

That's great to hear!! Thanks!! I should be posting another update tomorrow.

So glad you and your Mom are enjoying it. And I understand, I'm often up 'past my bedtime' on these darned boards.

 

[retiredkid]

Today is another ‘at sea’ day. We had planned on making this one a ‘do-nothing’ day. Just go with the flow.

We YET AGAIN had to move the clocks !! This is getting tiring.
Forward another hour and set alarm early ‘cause our character breakfast is scheduled for 8:15. The food was only so-so for those who ordered eggs. They all claimed them to be undercooked. I had blueberry pancakes and they were just yummy! The rest of the table ate everything but the eggs. Nothing was said as the plates were cleared. The characters were fun. But as someone posted on the boards, it’s totally different than meeting them in the parks. They did the parade, and played with the kids in the middle of the room. I really enjoyed it.

After breakfast, we split up. I tried the am session of BINGO, which happened to be a Pyjama Bingo. If you wore your pjs, you got extra chances at the snowball jackpot. Most wore pjs of some sort. And typically, I won nothing. Not even close. While I was there, Lorne went to the ‘Behind the scene with the performer’ in the WD Theatre. He enjoyed it.

We met up back in the room and then went to the Ventriloquism seminar. His name is Michael Harrison, and he is a comedian as well as a ventriloquist. He used a tennis ball to demonstrate how he started out.

He pulled a little guy out of the audience who just couldn’t get the clues/signals/cues that were given to him. It was soooo funny. I'm sure that if the little boy had played along like he was supposed to, it would not have been quite so comical. Michael had to be on his toes and adjust his act to fit the boys reactions. The At the end, the little boy got the tennis ball and he was so happy.

We returned to the room, retrieved the picture frame that came with the Romance package, and went to the Captain’s signing at Treasure Ketch. He wrote 'Happy Birthday Lorne - Captain Tom 3/13/08

It made for a lovely souvenir.

It was now lunchtime and we decided on Lumiere’s. We ordered a hamburger and a turkey sandwich, intending on switching half-way through. (we do that a lot) But we were both too full after eating the first half. We had great service there from a fellow from Germany. Sorry, sir, I forgot your name. He asked if anything was wrong with the meal. We explained that we were just too full and he said “Nice to hear”. This was the only meal where we didn’t have dessert.

We then spent some splendid quiet time on secret Deck 7. Just a little bit of heaven. The final, giant jackpot BINGO session was held in the WD theatre and it was quite full. I can’t remember how much the session was, but it was more than the usual $50 for 4 games. The big winner ended up with $3300. Boy, the winner was cool, calm and collected. I would have made a fool of myself, I’m sure.

We rested in the room for a little bit, then dressed for semi-formal night. We got our first ‘formal’ pictures taken by the photographers. We only did this because we were entitled to a free 8x10 with our Romance package. Otherwise, we would not have bothered.

Tonight, lobster tail was on the menu. So the four of us at the table ordered it. Our servers plated it, and removed it from the shell. We all found it to be a little on the dry side. We then discussed the food in general on the cruise. We all agreed that the service was fabulous, if not rushed a little. And the food was consistently pretty good, not excellent. I managed to squeeze in a sunset picture just before dinner. Its a little blurry, 'cause I zoomed through the restaurant window and the porthole.

I am going to split this post too, because of the number of pics. Continued below.

 

[retiredkid]

We changed back into our casual clothes and went to the theatre to watch Dreams. It was a FABULOUS, FANTASTIC, TERRIFIC show!! It has won the Emerald award for ‘BEST SHOW IN THE CRUISE INDUSTRY’ You cannot miss this show. It wasn't until I was posting here that I realized I took over 100 pictures of this show.

My pictures cannot even begin to do this show justice. If this is playing on my next cruise, I will be sure and watch BOTH the matinee and evening performances.

After the show, we retreated to the room. We filled out the card for a room service breakfast tomorrow.

Our towel animal tonight was an alligator.

We started out wanting this to be a 'do-nothing day'. We ending up having a full day, but nonetheless it was relaxing.

Good night, everyone.

 

[MomofCKJ]

Sounds like a fantastic "do nothing" day! Sometimes those wind up being the very best!

Allyson

 

[stagemomx3]

That was a busy do nothing day. The show sounds wonderful!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Cathy,

Love the pics. I agree, Dreams was just the most awesome show. My eyes got watery at the end.

 

[retiredkid]

Sounds like a fantastic "do nothing" day! Sometimes those wind up being the very best!
Allyson

It was great!!

That was a busy do nothing day. The show sounds wonderful!

Busy, but still relaxing.

Cathy,

Love the pics. I agree, Dreams was just the most awesome show. My eyes got watery at the end.

It sure did tug at the heartstrings. All those memories from our favourite stories.

 

[retiredkid]

Our last day on the ship ……Castaway Cay We were hoping that the weather would be good, as we had heard that it might be raining. However the Weather Gods were with us, and the weather was just perfect all day long. I was able to take some sunrise shots on the calmest of seas on our way to the island.

We got our 7:00 wakeup call, and had ordered the breakfast for 8:00. The phone rang at 7:35, it was room service saying our breakfast was on the way up!! Lorne was still in the shower, so we were lucky that we had only ordered muffins. There was a little bit of a mixup with the food, but the girl made it right very quickly. We got dressed for our day on the island & watched the ship dock.

Now I am telling you that we were probably docked less than a minute when the activity began. I took many, many pictures and some video as well, but I don’t know how to post those. The video would show exactly what I am talking about, but I will try with the stills. I swear the ramp (gangway?) was still moving down and the crew and cms were already on it, either carrying, pushing, pulling, driving or riding something. Someone would just dump whatever it was right there, and someone else would pick it up and take it to wherever. It was marvelous to watch. Oh, what a wonderful world this would be were everything so organized. I really do wish I knew how to post the videos.

Keep your eye on the blue canopy.

taken at 8:57.22

8:57.28

8:57.35

8:57.45

taken at 8:57.51

My point of posting the times on the above is so you can see just how quickly everything was set up. Only 30 seconds passed between the first and last pics. But look how much has been done. Amazing to watch.

We got the all clear to leave, so we picked up our towels outside and walked to the merchandise shop area where I rented snorkel equipment. Of course, along the way, I had to take the requisite shots. These have been posted a lot, so I wont post that many, I don't wanna bore you. But...

We took the tram to Serenity bay. I wanted the hammocks, and we had to walk almost to the end of the beach to get them.

We got the second last ones. It was worth it.

After a little while, I decided I would go snorkeling. So, I walked back and caught the tram back to snorkeling area. I only took a few shots with the disposable underwater camera, but the bottom was stirred up quite a bit, so they didn’t turn out so well. I will not do the snorkeling experience again. Maybe ever. The only time I have snorkeled before, was in Hawaii. We were only in chest high or waist high water, so it was easy to stand on the bottom if you needed to. I really enjoyed it there, so I was looking forward to it here on this trip. However, here on Castaway, you had to wear this inflatable vest, which I just couldn’t get to fit /inflate properly, and it became a problem for me. I was uncomfortable in the water with it, and was clinging to the ropes. I semi-panicked as well, so it was not an enjoyable experience. I returned the snorkel equipment. This is still early, and the fellow at the shop said are you sure…. And I said.. REAL SURE!!!!

So back on the tram to the adult beach. Lunch was beginning to be served, and Lorne was waaaaaaaaaaaay down at the end. So I trudged down, picked him up and trudged back to the BBQ area. Lorne had a cheeseburger and I had a steak. I can’t remember what else came with it. However, we were hungry and enjoyed it.

So baaaaaaaaaaaaaack to the hammock for an hour or so. Wanna know what that was like? sigh........

We were both turning a little red, and in real danger of falling asleep in the sun, so we decided to return to the ship. Boy oh boy……we get to walk baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack to the tram. My legs were sore. Walking in sand is great exercise, and I sure got mine today, I’ll tell ya.

Somewhere along the way, we saw this modified wheelchair. How cool is that??

I just love the special things that Disney does.

On the way back to the ship, I took a bunch of pictures...here are only a few.

 

[retiredkid]

After showering and changing, we decided to order room service. We got the ‘All Hands on Deck’ cheese and crackers platter, a fruit bowl and a couple of cokes. We sat on the balcony and enjoyed these. Then Lorne was tuckered out after all that sitting around in the sun so he went for a nap. I of course got my camera out and took photos of the beehive of activity that was the reverse of this morning.

THE WELCOME BACK COMMITTEE:

They were even painting the outside railings. They were on these ‘crawling’ do-thingys that moved along the railings. It was fun to watch them. They went right along the entire length of the ship. You can see another crew below them.

They went right by our window. And again, I have video of that, but oh well.

We got dressed for our last dinner, which was in Animator’s Palette. A new couple joined us tonight. They had apparently been hopping tables all cruise, because they couldn’t get the early seating that they wanted. They were told that they could just check at the podium and if they could be fitted in at a table, they were. What a nice way to meet a lot of new people.
I didn't know you could do that.
Our new tablemates were a wonderful couple named Tom and Mary. The live in Celebration, Florida!!!!! He is a supervisor for the Photopass program, and she works for Disney Cruise Line. (Maybe that's why they could switch around dining?)
I asked them if they would like to adopt me, but sadly, no. I could have talked to them all night, but didn’t want to bother them too much. Boy, I bet they could tell some stories. I must have been so wrapped up in them that I didn’t take notes on what we ate that evening. Oh well, lets just presume it was very good. The parade of nations at the end was nice to watch, but just brought home that this cruise was ending.

BAKED ALASKA:

PARADE OF NATIONS:

We went to the WD Theatre for the “Remember the Magic” show, but only caught a bit of it. We were happy to watch the ventriloquist again. But we commited the cardinal sin of not packing a single thing yet, so we needed to get crackin’. We snuck out of the show early and started packing. Our cases were out of the room by 10:30. (whew)

The towel animal tonight is anybody’s guess…sorry, Rodolfo.
Bunny? Puppy? Alien? (that was Lorne’s guess)

At any rate, for the last time from the ship……Good Night Everyone.

 

[stagemomx3]

I don't want it to end! Your pictures are great, and what a fun couple to have dinner with on your last night.

I know you can up load video to youtube but I don't know how.

 

[ddstratton]

I've really been enjoying your trip report. The cruise sounds absolutely wonderful!!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Love your updates - sorry you are at the end of the cruise though.

I didn't know they had a character breakfast. Either I totally missed that last February or maybe it is something new?

How nice that you got the captain to sign your picture frame - great memory.

The sunrise and sunset pictures are my favorites!

Sounds like an awesome cruise!