Since I am not real fond of watching something more than once or twice (unless it is Pirates of the Caribbean with Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp)
, we chose not to see Hercules and Disney Dreams (gasp! I know, I can feel Disers dropping from shock all over) LOL
We did, however, see the Welcome Aboard Variety show with Rich Purpura and Gary Delena. Very funny! We also caught both of their cabaret shows, which were every bit as funny and entertaining.
The movies playing on board were:
Treasure Planet (seen if before, didnt like it much),
Pirates of the Caribbean (has Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom..what more can I say. Watched it twice!)LOL
Spy Kids 3D (didnt care to see this one),
Brother Bear(awesome little flick, cried like a baby through part of it, but a happy cry),
Cold Creek Manor(didnt see it),
Finding Nemo (should soon be a Disney classic. I love this show), Under the Tuscan Sun (chick flick, didnt get to see it),
Veronica Guerin (never heard of it, no idea what it is),
Freaky Friday(good good movie, really enjoyed it),
and of course, the premiere of Haunted Mansion (simply ok, probably wouldnt watch it again).
One of the main stage shows was Darren Romeo: the voice of Magic. Ummmm...how can I nicely review this?
He could sing well when it came to impersonating other singers, but his magic was a bit lame and he was way too "showy". The first part of his act drug on and on and on...Then of all the arrogance, he kept coming out requesting the audience to applaud him some more! I just felt he was over the top.
Well if I still have any of you enraptured enough to continue...thought I would wrap it up with some highlights and lowlights and maybe some tips to help you all on your trips (I hope).
HIGHLIGHTS
The second day at CC. With it being decorated for Christmas, it just made it all the more special. Hanging in the Caribbean with Reggae Christmas music playing was pretty cool.
Our tablemates were absolutely wonderful and we enjoyed talking with them and making fun of some of the dishes with them. For instance, one night I ordered some sort of vegetarian dish (everything else looked ick) and when it came I about died! It looked exactly like caterpiller larvae! I kid you not! All of us were kidding about being on Fear Factor and maybe I would get $50k if I ate it in less than 2 mins. Believe me, it would take $50k to get me to put something like that even near my mouth! Yuk!
Catching up with our tablemates at Orlando airport: We all had a long wait on Saturday and our tablemate, Jeff, brought out his chess set and his laptop and he and our son played games until it was time to leave.
Walking the red carpet at the premiere of "Haunted Mansion". They have the camera on tape delay so you can watch yourself walk down the red carpet. Thank goodness there was no sound for our "interviews" as it quickly became "PG13" material! LOL Got to love those crewmembers! The other funny part was watching new people arrive in the theatre: there was a soundtrack of lightning and thunder and people would nearly jump out of their skin when it went off. Ah well, we amuse easily I suppose.
Spending Thanksgiving on the Magic and taking home a special menu as a memento.
Talking with the actors at the "Behind the Scenes". There were very few people attending this so we got to ask a lot of questions and I think they expounded on answers more than if there would have been a crowd.
Taking a bridge tour and seeing how that huge ship is run. Amazing that it takes very little to manuever it. Unfortunately, when my ds saw the "joystick" they use to manuever, he used that opportunity to extol the virtues of video game playing! "See mom, now I really use those skills!"
The Tropical Jeep Tour in Cozumel. Once again was a real highlight for us.
The service on board: while it wasn't quite the outstanding service we had had last year, Disney still knows how to handle crowds and make each person feel special. One example of this was: on the first day my ds spent most of the day at the pizza place (go figure) and made friends with a cm there. I went up there one time with him. That night he was playing basketball with a group and got smacked hard in the eye with the ball. Ds went looking for some ice and found this cm. The next day was our first day at CC and dh and I were walking back from the tram when I saw this cm and was shocked when he stopped us and said "How is your son? He had a bad accident last night with the basketball." Ok, now this guy has only seen me once with ds and this is at the beginning of the cruise! Yet, he still made the effort to come up and ask us how our son was! Thank you Eldon from Brazil...I hope Disney reads this and commends you.
Our room steward: Sean from Jamaica. He was always nice and said "go'day" and never failed to ask how we liked the ports etc. He also made the coolest towel animals!
LOWLIGHTS
Ok, I know I may get flamed here, but the major lowlight for us was dealing with other passengers! They were rude, pushy, thought only of themselves, and taught their children that same bad habits! We had one family that felt the need to yell the "f" word at each other for over a half hour one night...in the hall! Unfortunately, these same people were seated one table away from us and every night were loud and obnoxious! They even railed on the staff for every little thing. I wanted so much to go over and dump the bottle of wine they were complaining about on their head! I mean, hey...you're on vacation...lighten up!
The food: was pretty bland, didn't like the selections (or lack thereof), and they took my sea bass off the menu! nuf said.
Not getting a stateroom gift from my travel agent, whom I wouldn't "Dream" of mentioning!
Our servers forgetting our anniversary cake on the last night. They were too concerned with collecting tips and getting their last minute "Give us an excellent" speech.
Being aft on the ship when docking: ok, that ship does shutter and shake when it backs into port! We never needed a wake up call because it would wake the dead!
Finally, keep in mind that we went on this cruise to relax. Therefore we did not do alot of the real energetic stuff that a lot of people do on these. My point is: if you want to constantly be doing something on Disney, it's there for you. I had just returned from a hurried trip to Dallas for my grandfather's funeral about 10 days prior to the cruise and the last thing I wanted to do was stay out late and dance! I wanted to relax, unwind and enjoy life and the good things in it, and thanks to Disney, I could do just that!
Disembarkation was a breeze as usual. We had breakfast at 8 and were off the ship by 9 am and to the airport by 10.
Let's see what did I leave out? We had LAPLAPL rotation., saw many more people dressed formally this year, both for the formal night on Monday and on the semi formal night on Thursday., Castaway Club party was very nice., there were new questions on the comment card about how likely would you cruise Disney if they moved to the West Coast, the Mediterranean, Alaska? The Captain did mention they have bids out for a new ship, but nothing firm yet. Well hope some of you made it through all this and found something you can use!
Happy sailing!
Lisa
, we chose not to see Hercules and Disney Dreams (gasp! I know, I can feel Disers dropping from shock all over) LOLWe did, however, see the Welcome Aboard Variety show with Rich Purpura and Gary Delena. Very funny! We also caught both of their cabaret shows, which were every bit as funny and entertaining.
The movies playing on board were:
Treasure Planet (seen if before, didnt like it much),
Pirates of the Caribbean (has Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom..what more can I say. Watched it twice!)LOL
Spy Kids 3D (didnt care to see this one),
Brother Bear(awesome little flick, cried like a baby through part of it, but a happy cry),
Cold Creek Manor(didnt see it),
Finding Nemo (should soon be a Disney classic. I love this show), Under the Tuscan Sun (chick flick, didnt get to see it),
Veronica Guerin (never heard of it, no idea what it is),
Freaky Friday(good good movie, really enjoyed it),
and of course, the premiere of Haunted Mansion (simply ok, probably wouldnt watch it again).
One of the main stage shows was Darren Romeo: the voice of Magic. Ummmm...how can I nicely review this?
He could sing well when it came to impersonating other singers, but his magic was a bit lame and he was way too "showy". The first part of his act drug on and on and on...Then of all the arrogance, he kept coming out requesting the audience to applaud him some more! I just felt he was over the top.
Well if I still have any of you enraptured enough to continue...thought I would wrap it up with some highlights and lowlights and maybe some tips to help you all on your trips (I hope).
HIGHLIGHTS
The second day at CC. With it being decorated for Christmas, it just made it all the more special. Hanging in the Caribbean with Reggae Christmas music playing was pretty cool.
Our tablemates were absolutely wonderful and we enjoyed talking with them and making fun of some of the dishes with them. For instance, one night I ordered some sort of vegetarian dish (everything else looked ick) and when it came I about died! It looked exactly like caterpiller larvae! I kid you not! All of us were kidding about being on Fear Factor and maybe I would get $50k if I ate it in less than 2 mins. Believe me, it would take $50k to get me to put something like that even near my mouth! Yuk!
Catching up with our tablemates at Orlando airport: We all had a long wait on Saturday and our tablemate, Jeff, brought out his chess set and his laptop and he and our son played games until it was time to leave.
Walking the red carpet at the premiere of "Haunted Mansion". They have the camera on tape delay so you can watch yourself walk down the red carpet. Thank goodness there was no sound for our "interviews" as it quickly became "PG13" material! LOL Got to love those crewmembers! The other funny part was watching new people arrive in the theatre: there was a soundtrack of lightning and thunder and people would nearly jump out of their skin when it went off. Ah well, we amuse easily I suppose.
Spending Thanksgiving on the Magic and taking home a special menu as a memento.
Talking with the actors at the "Behind the Scenes". There were very few people attending this so we got to ask a lot of questions and I think they expounded on answers more than if there would have been a crowd.
Taking a bridge tour and seeing how that huge ship is run. Amazing that it takes very little to manuever it. Unfortunately, when my ds saw the "joystick" they use to manuever, he used that opportunity to extol the virtues of video game playing! "See mom, now I really use those skills!"
The Tropical Jeep Tour in Cozumel. Once again was a real highlight for us.
The service on board: while it wasn't quite the outstanding service we had had last year, Disney still knows how to handle crowds and make each person feel special. One example of this was: on the first day my ds spent most of the day at the pizza place (go figure) and made friends with a cm there. I went up there one time with him. That night he was playing basketball with a group and got smacked hard in the eye with the ball. Ds went looking for some ice and found this cm. The next day was our first day at CC and dh and I were walking back from the tram when I saw this cm and was shocked when he stopped us and said "How is your son? He had a bad accident last night with the basketball." Ok, now this guy has only seen me once with ds and this is at the beginning of the cruise! Yet, he still made the effort to come up and ask us how our son was! Thank you Eldon from Brazil...I hope Disney reads this and commends you.
Our room steward: Sean from Jamaica. He was always nice and said "go'day" and never failed to ask how we liked the ports etc. He also made the coolest towel animals!
LOWLIGHTS
Ok, I know I may get flamed here, but the major lowlight for us was dealing with other passengers! They were rude, pushy, thought only of themselves, and taught their children that same bad habits! We had one family that felt the need to yell the "f" word at each other for over a half hour one night...in the hall! Unfortunately, these same people were seated one table away from us and every night were loud and obnoxious! They even railed on the staff for every little thing. I wanted so much to go over and dump the bottle of wine they were complaining about on their head! I mean, hey...you're on vacation...lighten up!
The food: was pretty bland, didn't like the selections (or lack thereof), and they took my sea bass off the menu! nuf said.
Not getting a stateroom gift from my travel agent, whom I wouldn't "Dream" of mentioning!
Our servers forgetting our anniversary cake on the last night. They were too concerned with collecting tips and getting their last minute "Give us an excellent" speech.
Being aft on the ship when docking: ok, that ship does shutter and shake when it backs into port! We never needed a wake up call because it would wake the dead!
Finally, keep in mind that we went on this cruise to relax. Therefore we did not do alot of the real energetic stuff that a lot of people do on these. My point is: if you want to constantly be doing something on Disney, it's there for you. I had just returned from a hurried trip to Dallas for my grandfather's funeral about 10 days prior to the cruise and the last thing I wanted to do was stay out late and dance! I wanted to relax, unwind and enjoy life and the good things in it, and thanks to Disney, I could do just that!
Disembarkation was a breeze as usual. We had breakfast at 8 and were off the ship by 9 am and to the airport by 10.
Let's see what did I leave out? We had LAPLAPL rotation., saw many more people dressed formally this year, both for the formal night on Monday and on the semi formal night on Thursday., Castaway Club party was very nice., there were new questions on the comment card about how likely would you cruise Disney if they moved to the West Coast, the Mediterranean, Alaska? The Captain did mention they have bids out for a new ship, but nothing firm yet. Well hope some of you made it through all this and found something you can use!
Happy sailing!
Lisa
