Magic Christmas Cruise 2010 (Dec 18th - 29th) **** PART III ****

[Fyrmedic654]

Ok I can live with some typos but darn out wrong words bother me....lol. I meant that Linda came out to advise me not abuse me. Gosh that would of put the cherry on top for this cruise. Thanks to everyone for their kind words. Everyone seemed to have some issues with cruise. Dare I ask if this is out of the norm for the repeat cruisers?

Wendy your door was great! It made me smile everytime we passed it!

 

[Liz Arjay]

. Everyone seemed to have some issues with cruise. Dare I ask if this is out of the norm for the repeat cruisers?

We have been on 3 and have only had very minor issues. Also, my boss just returned yesterday from his 6th DCL cruise (he did the 7 day Eastern on the Wonder - last cruise before it headed to Los Angeles) and said it was one of the best he's been on - and he and his wife (mid 60's) are considered pretty high maintenance cruisers. They requested a new room, and a new dining rotation, and he said each request was done immediately and DCL sent a platter of chocolate covered strawberries to the new room. They said there were tons of kids on board but he didn't see any problems. They ate at Topsiders and said it was great. Servers and room host were awesome, he said. Good to hear.

Miatamel - I agree with your FE comments! I was so touched by all the thoughtful goodies - and so much variety and originality! I know my DH thought I was crazy to participate, but that turned out to be a highlight. I even loved walking laps around the different decks, finding the rooms (that map helped) and seeing parts of the ship I never would have seen. I also am keeping my tie-dye bandana and not letting my DD have it!

Liz

 

[Evans Family]

I asked my son about the "running around" on the ship and he said a lot of it was because of the scaveger hunts the CM's sent kids on. So, it seems that Disney could cut out some of it by eliminating these hunts from the activities.

P.S. My son never participated in any of these hunts, ate food in the stairway, hid under tables, etc.

I'm sure the guilty teens were all non-diser's!

 

[STLUCIELADY]

i want to add the first aid kit, i cut myself shaving and used the bandaids the same day it came!

And the yankee candle air freshener! I might just have to copy that one on a future cruise!

I loved that air freshener too! Had it in the bathroom during the cruise and now it's in the car. Smells great. I may also steel that idea. Small package, useful gift. The best way to do a FE when you are traveling far.

 

[STLUCIELADY]

I had to substitute items on almost half of our FEs since I was not able to complete 64 cross stitched bookmarks of the "MAGIC". I am still making them and would like to mail one to anyone that received my substitute FE. Please PM me if you would like a bookmark.

Lois

You are so sweet to continue to make those beautiful bookmarks. I saw one when we were at Champagne girls at Connies room. They were very awesome! You are talented!

I apologize in advance to anyone who didn't receive 2 FE's from us. One from The Bezaks with a card and pirate candy bag and another that was either a white board magnet with DCL inserts or a special gift for the kids. If you were on deck 8 you may not have. I tried to go back and substitute stuff but I just didn't have enough extra. My kids didn't realize ( I didn't either) that some rooms were only suppose to get one FE even though there were 2 FE stockings in front. They just put the FE gifts inside each. We also didn't realize until the second go round that there were many people who were not participating in the FE but had FEs outside their door. I happen to be in front of the door when someone was walking out and I asked them if they had been upgraded because I didn't have them on my list for deck 6. They had no idea what I was talking about. I asked about the FE holder and she said that they had a bunch of rooms with family so they all had the FEs made so they could give each other gifts. I know that mickeysquared had a FE gift in each one (so if you didn't have enough of the ornaments-you know why). They had no idea what a FE was or even cared.

So again my apologies if you didn't get 2 gifts from us up on deck 8.
Thanks, Lisa

 

[STLUCIELADY]

Did anyone stay at the Country inn and suites pre-cruise? We are going on the Charity cruise on the Dream in 2 weeks and thought it may be nice to stay over night again. We stayed at the Residence Inn before the Xmas cruise. We used points and were not able to get queen beds instead of the King. We let the kids have the king since there were 3 of them. We had the sofabed and I walked crooked for 2 days. They still only have the king room this time around and I just can't do it. I love the Residence Inn but......
Were the accommodations nice..good shower, comfortable beds, clean, good breakfast and good internet? Was the shuttle easy and comfortable? Do you remember how much it cost? Was it a hot buffet breakfast like a Holiday Inn Express or a continental?
I have some Radisson points I can use there but I didn't want to waste them if it wasn't a great hotel to stay at.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[MommyLissa]

We stayed at the CI&S prior to sailing. It was very decent. We paid $116.00 for the "Park & Cruise". Had a great room with two double beds and pull-out sofa. Plenty of floor space for packing/rearranging and nice, large, clean bathroom. Our room had a microwave and refrigerator for snacks, plus the standard TV/phone/alarm clock/coffee maker. Wi-fi was free and fast. The shuttle was super easy! They basically give you a buch of different colored tickets when you check in.....one is for the dash of your car for parking, one is your shuttle ticket to the port, one is for breakfast on departure day, and another ticket for shuttle return (although if you forget that one, it's ok) Breakfast was a hot buffet....waffles, biscuits, gravy, sausage, bagels/english muffins/toast, yogurt, freash cut fruit, cereal, coffe, juices. Breakfast was, of course, a bit crowded....but we had no trouble getting in and out quickly. We took the 10:00 shuttle and arrived at the port at 10:10. The shuttle process was very well organized. A woman with a clipboard had a list of all the names and put us in groups based on which ship we were going out on (there were 4 customers going out on Royal Caribbean, the rest were all Disney!) The driver loaded the bags into the trailer for us (which he pulled underneath the awning due to the rain that morning) and off we went.

When we returned, the porter that helped us with our bags called the driver for us, and he arrived within 15 minutes. Again, he loaded us up and dropped us right back at the front awning. No issues with our vehicle, and we were back on the road to Orlando about 10 minutes later!

All-in-all, it was a very clean hotel with lots of cruise-savvy staff. The driver was hilarious and very helpful. I would highly recommend it!

Have fun!!

 

[3PrincessGrandma]

You are so sweet to continue to make those beautiful bookmarks. I saw one when we were at Champagne girls at Connies room. They were very awesome! You are talented!

Did you get a bookmark? I neglected to mark those cabins that got them. Would be glad to send you one if you didn't get one.

Lois

 

[3PrincessGrandma]

Did anyone stay at the Country inn and suites pre-cruise?

We stayed at CI&S and left our car there. Joann and Aaron had a "family" room that included a king or queen bed with 2 bunkbeds and one twin located in a slightly separate area partially walled off from the actual room. I had never seen anything quite like it but it made things easy for them to put the girls to bed before they were ready and could work on suitcases, etc after the girls were asleep. We ate at Zachary's (sp???) for dinner and had very good, tasty, well-priced meals. The shuttle was very easily handled. Even our porter after the cruise asked where we had left the car and knew exactly where to take our luggage.

Loi

 

[miatamel]

You are so sweet to continue to make those beautiful bookmarks. I saw one when we were at Champagne girls at Connies room. They were very awesome! You are talented!

Did you get a bookmark? I neglected to mark those cabins that got them. Would be glad to send you one if you didn't get one.

Lois

Mrs. Lois,
I sent a note to Joann via facebook about not getting one but loving to have one. Let me know if she didn't pass it on and I'll pm you my address.
Melanie

 

[BBQMommy]

We stayed at CI&S and when we disembarked the porter took us to the curb and Dwayne was there with the empty van, loaded our 6 bags and took us to the hotel right to our car. Not waiting to fill the van was awesome I will stay at CI&S again next cruise.

Been enjoying the air freshener in my car -- it's still Christmas!
The FE was a huge highlight of the cruise.

Caryn

 

[3princessMommy]

We have been on 3 and have only had very minor issues. Also, my boss just returned yesterday from his 6th DCL cruise (he did the 7 day Eastern on the Wonder - last cruise before it headed to Los Angeles) and said it was one of the best he's been on - and he and his wife (mid 60's) are considered pretty high maintenance cruisers. They requested a new room, and a new dining rotation, and he said each request was done immediately and DCL sent a platter of chocolate covered strawberries to the new room. They said there were tons of kids on board but he didn't see any problems. They ate at Topsiders and said it was great. Servers and room host were awesome, he said. Good to hear.

Miatamel - I agree with your FE comments! I was so touched by all the thoughtful goodies - and so much variety and originality! I know my DH thought I was crazy to participate, but that turned out to be a highlight. I even loved walking laps around the different decks, finding the rooms (that map helped) and seeing parts of the ship I never would have seen. I also am keeping my tie-dye bandana and not letting my DD have it!

Liz

So glad to hear things are on track on the Wonder - we'll be sailing with her to Alaska at the end of July. Anyone joining us?????

Did anyone stay at the Country inn and suites pre-cruise? We are going on the Charity cruise on the Dream in 2 weeks and thought it may be nice to stay over night again. We stayed at the Residence Inn before the Xmas cruise. We used points and were not able to get queen beds instead of the King. We let the kids have the king since there were 3 of them. We had the sofabed and I walked crooked for 2 days. They still only have the king room this time around and I just can't do it. I love the Residence Inn but......
Were the accommodations nice..good shower, comfortable beds, clean, good breakfast and good internet? Was the shuttle easy and comfortable? Do you remember how much it cost? Was it a hot buffet breakfast like a Holiday Inn Express or a continental?
I have some Radisson points I can use there but I didn't want to waste them if it wasn't a great hotel to stay at.

Thanks for all your help!

We really liked the family room - the small partitioned area with three twins (a bunk and single) was great for our three kids - they made a little den! I'm not sure I'd say the bed was "fantastic" but we did sleep just fine. We'd definitely stay there again.

Melanie - Don't worry! Your bookmark is en route! I forwarded the message immediately to Mom and she sent it out to you.

 

[3PrincessGrandma]

Mrs. Lois,
I sent a note to Joann via facebook about not getting one but loving to have one. Let me know if she didn't pass it on and I'll pm you my address.
Melanie

I mailed yours yesterday. Please be sure to let me know if it doesn't arrive. Thanks for asking for one.

Lois

 

[STLUCIELADY]

I was so bummed to see our thread fall to the 2nd page of the forum. That means in a few weeks I won't be able to find it since it was never put on the Disney Magic cruise meetsthread. So sad. I will miss you guys.

Thanks for all the great insight into the country inn and suites. I think we may stay there and enjoy the extra space. Glad to hear the shuttle ran well and didn't wait to fill up to leave. I really don't like that. A nice breakfast is important to us. When there is only powdered donut holes and cold cereal, it really is not a good start to the day, at least when you are on vacation. We are getting very excited for our cruise on the Disney Dream. I can't believe we will be on her two weeks from today. I have been stalking YouTube to find any interior pictures or videos I can.

 

[Hmorale]

Skypixie was the one with the wonderful idea of the Yankee candle freshener. After hearing about all the odor problems on earlier cruises she thought we should have something to help out.

I was the one who gave out the candy cane holders and I apologize to the peeps on deck 6 for my kids were helping and got a little fe crazy and gave some to people with just stockings out etc. So we ran short. Everyone should have gotten the shower scrub though.....

 

[3princessMommy]

I was so bummed to see our thread fall to the 2nd page of the forum. That means in a few weeks I won't be able to find it since it was never put on the Disney Magic cruise meetsthread. So sad. I will miss you guys.

It should forever remain in your subscription list!

 

[skypixy]

Thank you, creative Maranich family for the "brown bag" memory book.
Such a treasure!
And Jenedpey, your bag became my camera bag/evening bag. Love, love, love!
So glad to hear people enjoyed the air freshners, I still have one in my car & it reminds me of our special Christmas trip.
I ordered them in bulk off ebay, go ahead & use the idea next time for a compact FE gift.
Have a great day everyone~see you on facebook...
Beth Anne

 

[pennymike]

Just an FYI for everyone: My DH wrote a lengthy letter outlining the good and bad that we experienced on the 12/18 cruise. He received a prompt email back directly from Karl Holz expressing his concern. He even asked for a phone number so he could contact us personally. Haven't done that yet, but glad to get such a prompt response. Here's the address DH sent his feedback to, in case anyone wanted to give feedback who hadn't gotten an online survey:

dcl.guest.communications@disney.com

 

[Liz Arjay]

Thank you, creative Maranich family for the "brown bag" memory book.
Such a treasure!
And Jenedpey, your bag became my camera bag/evening bag. Love, love, love!
So glad to hear people enjoyed the air freshners, I still have one in my car & it reminds me of our special Christmas trip.
I ordered them in bulk off ebay, go ahead & use the idea next time for a compact FE gift.
Have a great day everyone~see you on facebook...
Beth Anne

I also loved the brown bag book, the Jenedpey bag, and that fabulous air freshener! It is now in my closet and giving off a "Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe" vibe - smells like a snowy pine forest every time I enter my closet. LOVE IT!

Lois, I did not get a cross stitched book mark, but I saw Connie's and it was adorable. I don't want to trouble you to make and mail, just wanted to say that it was so lovely, and I can't believe you did so many of those! I also love Joann's cross stitched ornament. I can't believe you guys can find the time to do those. I am still working on a cross-stitch sampler that MY MOTHER started to mark my birth (and I'm 48). Tried to finish it for my DD, but now she is 14, I guess it will mark her daughter's birth...

Liz

 

[cquick]

Ok I can live with some typos but darn out wrong words bother me....lol. I meant that Linda came out to advise me not abuse me. Gosh that would of put the cherry on top for this cruise. Thanks to everyone for their kind words. Everyone seemed to have some issues with cruise. Dare I ask if this is out of the norm for the repeat cruisers?

Wendy your door was great! It made me smile everytime we passed it!

I would say your problems are definately OUT OF THE ORDINARY. I can't imagine why so many things would happen to just one family. Of course,there will be challenges when traveling, but....... I am so glad it didn't turn you off completely from cruising.....I am sure your next experience will be much better!