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

[momssurprise]

Drat! We are docked in Port Canaveral...what a quick 11 days. We had so much fun with all of you -- hope everyone had a great trip and a very Merry Christmas! I loved the sunshine and 90 deg weather on Christmas Day!

 

[thegales]

What a fantastic trip! It was great meeting everyone.

 

[IceSk8ersMom]

Fabulous Holiday Cruise! At the airport...Delayed, delayed...

 

[STLUCIELADY]

Amazing cruise! We didn't want it to end. The kids wanted me to book next years Christmas cruise while we were on the boat, especially the one who was soooo disappointed about going in the first place because "it wouldn't feel like Christmas"
Anyone else feel the nightmare of Disembarkation? They said they were doing a trial run for the Dream since they opened the new side. Crazy!!!!!

Also, anyone have any theft problems this cruise? It was unusual. My daughter had her Iphone 4 stolen. It was her Christmas gift. She is unconsolable. It is black but had a lavender Otterbox case to keep it safe.
I saw Melanie (miatamel) and their party had a wedding ring stolen.

 

[Liz Arjay]

Drat! We are docked in Port Canaveral...what a quick 11 days. We had so much fun with all of you -- hope everyone had a great trip and a very Merry Christmas! I loved the sunshine and 90 deg weather on Christmas Day!

Well here I am back at work - that was fast!

The cruise was terrific and we will have our memories, photos, and fabulous FE gifts to enjoy for awhile. It was terrific to meet everyone and have all the special Disboard events and touches. This has been a great group.

Travel safely everyone, and hope you avoid any bad weather delays or problems.

Liz

 

[MommyLissa]

Had such a wonderful time! Thank you to everyone for sharing info, magnets, and memories. I am not looking forward to the flight back to Iraq tomorrow, but at least I won't be there much longer, and, MORE IMPORTANTLY, I got to spend the holidays with Paul & Anna.

Thanks again! Safe travels to everyone. Feel free to keep in touch on Facebook or at wilkes2147@yahoo.com.

Melissa Wilkes

 

[BBQMommy]

Safe travels, Melissa. It was so nice meeting you and your husband. I'm so glad you had a wonderful trip.

WOW on all the thefts

We made it to Macon, GA after a detour to try to see Sea Island, GA (no dice, not a guest/no passage in), but we did tool around St. Simons Island and hit the GA Pig BBQ stand. A nostalgic tour for DH, but the BBQ did not live up to expectations.

I am beat! 6 more hrs driving tomorrow til home, unpacking, getting Bulldog, and remembering how to cook and clean.

I really enjoyed meeting the DISers who I encountered. Nice bunch, the lot of you. I wish I could have met up with you all. Thank you SO much for all the FE gifts. DD6 and I both had a lot of fun delivering and receiving.

We were so lucky to be seated with 3atsea for meals and had a blast. Going to miss you!

We booked a dummy date to hopefully finalize with a Thanksgiving cruise in 2012 or 2013. I guess our big news was that a room service operator named Natalie chose us as her Family of the Cruise on Day 2 and we got the perk of ordering hot breakfasts and anything off the AP/L/PC menus at night as well as a treat delivered each evening. Having a sick DH and DD for a few days, this was REALLY appreciated.

Off to sort photos - safe travels for everyone!
Caryn

 

[BBQMommy]

Customs Question:

How would you all classify spices, peppercorns specifically? Food? Seeds? ???

I had prperly sealed packages and unproperly sealed ones from the Guadaloupe spice market. Our US Customs agent did not really know himself. Looked around for help for about 2 seconds, then sent us along.

 

[miatamel]

Anyone else feel the nightmare of Disembarkation? They said they were doing a trial run for the Dream since they opened the new side. Crazy!!!!!

Also, anyone have any theft problems this cruise? It was unusual. My daughter had her Iphone 4 stolen. It was her Christmas gift. She is unconsolable. It is black but had a lavender Otterbox case to keep it safe.
I saw Melanie (miatamel) and their party had a wedding ring stolen.

Actually, the wedding ring was lost, we think at security in Birmingham airport. But, we keep hoping it will show up in a pocket or bag somewhere. The German did buy me a beautiful pair of Mickey silver and sapphire earrings for Christmas on the boat; one of which I promptly lost on our last sea day. I was so hoping someone would be kind and turn it in--I mean, it's ONE earring! But, no luck. However, Flannery's lanyard WAS stolen during the Christmas kid's deck party on deck 9. It was sitting on top of her shoes and then it was gone. I convinced myself someone picked it up by mistake but since it never got turned in we have to believe it was stolen for all the pins. It kind of really bummed us out but our precious tablemates, Kitster and spouse, along with our new BFFs, momssurprise family, kindly filled her lanyard back up with their extras.

It was a bizarre trip for us. I got on expecting it to cure many ills that not even Mickey can be expected to cure and so my expectations were not realistic to begin with. That being said, I hope Disney can right the ship, pun intended, and come out of these growing pains in good shape. This trip was far from the magic we experienced last cruise and I think DCL is really going to need to fix some problematic areas before repeat cruisers decide they are no longer worth the cost and trouble.

I met so many of you and promptly fell in love and there were so many I hoped to meet that I never even got a glimpse of. There were SO MANY delightful and clever FE gifts. I just glanced at them as they came in but brought every single piece of candy and paper home-much to the German's chagin--to go over and savor and look at and ooh and aah in the proper space and time they deserve.

Thanks to all who asked about my dad--recovering nicely, thank you very much--and so funny how many recognized my kids and knew me as Lola's owner. Such a wonderful bunch of folks.

 

[ricka47]

My wife has asked that I see if anyone has a video or pictures of Ricky Kalmon's 6:30 PM show in the Walt Disney Theater. She was laughing so hard that she couldn't hold the camera. If you were there, I was the guy who thought my shoe was Simba! Thanks!

 

[HFC1969]

Best vacation ever!!

Made it home to crappy weather STL.

Upnpacked one suitcase yesterday and hit the grocery store.

Very laid back cruise but was the best ever. It was so magical watching it all through our daughters eyes. She cried at the end of Dreams, because she didn't want the show to end and she cried when we had to get off Mickey's boat.

This video pretty much sums it all up for us.

Vika with Donald & Daisy

Justin had a great time!! Made lots of friends.. We purchased the pic of him and Grant incase you snowtini people would like a copy. It was a great time for everyone.

I would say the service was a bit lacking this cruise. I think the removal of 30% from each ship for the Dream might have cut a bit too deep. I let them know on the comment card.

All in all we loved it.

Only did 1 excursion and 1 taxi ride.

We are booked for Dec 24, 2011. Who is with us?

 

[ricka47]

Best vacation ever!!

Made it home to crappy weather STL.

Upnpacked one suitcase yesterday and hit the grocery store.

Very laid back cruise but was the best ever. It was so magical watching it all through our daughters eyes. She cried at the end of Dreams, because she didn't want the show to end and she cried when we had to get off Mickey's boat.


Justin had a great time!! Made lots of friends.. We purchased the pic of him and Grant incase you snowtini people would like a copy. It was a great time for everyone.

I would say the service was a bit lacking this cruise. I think the removal of 30% from each ship for the Dream might have cut a bit too deep. I let them know on the comment card.

All in all we loved it.

Only did 1 excursion and 1 taxi ride.

We are booked for Dec 24, 2011. Who is with us?

I have to agree about the service. This was our 4th DCL cruise (19th cruises total) and probably our last DCL cruise for awhile. While we had a great time, we just find that the extra cost (even with Florida Resident Rates) is just not worth it when compared with other cruise lines.

The food, with a few exceptions, was just OK and, in some cases, downright bad - and we are not fussy. We eat anything and everything! But, DCL can overcook fish in many different ways!

The ship, while in overall good shape, had a number of rust issues, dead light bulbs and a number of overall maintenance issues that should have been corrected. If I was the captain, and saw all of that as I walked around, someone would be having a meeting with me the next morning!

I did hear from a bartender one night that cost cutting has made it difficult to maintain a decent level of quality. In a number areas (especially food) the comment that my wife often made was "cheap" meaning that the quality just wasn't there.

Our favorite cruise line is Celebrity followed by Royal Caribbean with DCL falling below HAL and Princess. What separates DCL is the Disney characters, music, movies and shows. That is all great and my 10 year old granddaugher loved it as we all did - we love Disney.

But, it doesn't make up for mediocrity in most other areas and I wish that DCL would address this. Take away the "pixie dust" and you have a mediocre cruise line.

We were in 2134 and had a loud banging noise every night at exactly 11:00 PM and 5:00 AM. It was like someone standing in the cabin and banging two pans together - it was that loud! We called Guest Services every time it happened and visited them every morning. They were nice and promised to fix it but they didn't.

They did give us some onboard credit but that did not make up for being exhausted the entire trip. My wife, daughter and granddaughter ended up sleeping until late morning missing much of the trip and were tired all the time. My wife does not go back to sleep easily after being awakened twice every night by such a loud noise - must be a "Mom Thing!"

We had a great time and will probably be back if the price is right but I had to say on the comment card that I wouldn't recommend DCL to others based upon the price to value ratio.

 

[miatamel]

We were in 2134 and had a loud banging noise every night at exactly 11:00 PM and 5:00 AM. It was like someone standing in the cabin and banging two pans together - it was that loud! We called Guest Services every time it happened and visited them every morning. They were nice and promised to fix it but they didn't.

They did give us some onboard credit but that did not make up for being exhausted the entire trip. My wife, daughter and granddaughter ended up sleeping until late morning missing much of the trip and were tired all the time. My wife does not go back to sleep easily after being awakened twice every night by such a loud noise - must be a "Mom Thing!"

We had a great time and will probably be back if the price is right but I had to say on the comment card that I wouldn't recommend DCL to others based upon the price to value ratio.

We were on an excursion with a young family that said the exact same thing--she described it as someone banging a wrench on a pipe over and over. They were first time DCLers and she was mad as a hornet about it. She also said they were all exhausted because they were getting no sleep and guest services was doing nothing about it. She also was someone who was getting really bad service in dining and ended up at Topsiders every night. Someone also on that excursion were platinum members and they told her to write Carl Holtz (?) an email directly because he was the reason things were happening--Disney Adventures was his baby and so now the cruise line has become the redheaded stepchild, so to speak.

Our tablemates were also on Deck 2 and having trouble with the tween crowd running the halls every night due to the Edge being on that floor. We didn't have any stateroom issues, thank heavens, but a few other things really bothered us.

My kids, ages 7 & 9, went down for the "Friendship Rocks" show and were told they were "too old." I promptly called down there and they said it was for 3-10 so figure that one out. A children's area manager did call later that evening to find out which counselor told the girls that, so at least there is that. But it perturbed me they missed out on that fun show.

Here is the thing that got my goat every time, which may seem like nothing to some. When we were told to be at a place for an excursion at, say, 8:30 we made sure we were there at least 10-15 minutes ahead of time to do what had to be done--check in, get towels, etc. EVERY SINGLE TIME some family would lollygag in around 8:40-8:45 and Justin or whoever would say okay we are waiting for some others, etc etc and then they still had to fill out waivers, blah blah blah. It just infuriated us. I know Disney's big thing is they don't want to make anyone mad, but come on! Leave those folks a time or two and they would learn to be on time. Instead, they cater to one or two families and make the rest of the room mad for cutting into our excursion time. It seemed every one of our excursions started as much as 45 minutes after they were supposed to waiting on late folks.

Our dining service was just tolerable: 10:00 pm was just too late for us to still be eating supper. On the up side, our dine and play seemed to work. I know some kids were missing that because they didn't have their food even at 9.

Again, small things...but small things can sometime add up to one big thing in your mind. I can honestly say that the people we got to know here before made the trip worthwhile for us and I wonder how we would be feeling about the trip if it hadn't been for that.

Oh! Gotta add---excursion on Fiesta party boat to Claret Island on Guadeloupe--Best. Excursion. Ever. Honestly one of the best days of my life.

 

[ricka47]

We were on an excursion with a young family that said the exact same thing--she described it as someone banging a wrench on a pipe over and over. They were first time DCLers and she was mad as a hornet about it. She also said they were all exhausted because they were getting no sleep and guest services was doing nothing about it. She also was someone who was getting really bad service in dining and ended up at Topsiders every night. Someone also on that excursion were platinum members and they told her to write Carl Holtz (?) an email directly because he was the reason things were happening--Disney Adventures was his baby and so now the cruise line has become the redheaded stepchild, so to speak.

Again, small things...but small things can sometime add up to one big thing in your mind. I can honestly say that the people we got to know here before made the trip worthwhile for us and I wonder how we would be feeling about the trip if it hadn't been for that.

Pipes being hit with a wrench over and over is more accurate than my comment about pans. I think the family that you mentioned may have been in the cabin next to us. Either way, it was loud. The fact that it happened on schedule at 11:0P AM and 5:00 PM should have made it relatively easy to locate. It also happened during the day but I didn't usually hear it.

I travel a great deal and rarely complain about things. I know that ships make noise but this was abnormal and truly affected our trip in a negative manner as everyone but me slept until noon each day to recover from the loss of sleep the night before. We felt like Zombies and were frustrated when we considered the cost.

I have written an email and sent a letter but as long as DCL can keep filling ships with the current product, I'd be surprised if much is changed. It's unfortunate - I'd love to have the same enthusiasm for DCL as I do for the parks (we're Seasonal Passholders) but I simply cannot say that.

 

[3princessMommy]

Overall this was a great trip for us! We LOVED meeting everyone! And Caitie was so upset to be leaving all her new friends so quickly - so any of you that fancy a trip to Uganda - please come and see us!!!

We spent the day traveling yesterday. I really thought that the trip from the ship to DC wouldn't take so long, but it seemed to take forever! We finally got to the hotel about 8:30pm and went straight to bed. I woke up with a whopper of a cold!!! Sent Aaron out to get some Sudafed this morning and waiting for it to kick in.

I really enjoyed our vacation, but must agree that on several occasions the service was not up to par. On most occasions when I complained about the service, or lack thereof, it was corrected with a sincere apology. But you couldn't miss the occasion bucket or fan in a hallway where something had sprung a leak or the dirty porthole windows you could hardly see out of. There is definitely an older air about the Magic than there has been before.

We rebooked onboard, but on the Fantasy for next summer. We'll see how that goes.

We lost a pair of flipflops for Alex - don't know if someone swiped them or they just were forgotten by the pool, but we never did find them. They were her nice beaded flipflops from Uganda. At least we can replace them when we get home.

Aaron took lots of photos - including when he spotted Disers having fun (Sailaway party etc.) so we'll post them here for everyone.

Stay in touch!

Joann

 

[miatamel]

Oh, I'm such a terrible photographer...I think I only made about 20 pictures the whole cruise. So if any of you got shots of the girls or any of my bunch please email them to me at mmplum@ms.metrocast.net or facebook me. Thanks so much!

Joann, I meant to ask....what happened when you asked about the Castaway Cay 5K participation "reward" or lack thereof??

 

[skypixy]

Laundry, laundry, laundry.....My husbands souvenier is a head cold.
My youngest son (Matthew, 8) woke up Tues. with a cough & earache. I was concerned about our flt. home, so we went to see Dr. Pierre in the Health Ctr. $160 later & a bottle of Robotussin = no D&B bag for me! So, he is fine.

Long day of travel, hope everyone gets some rest after our fun vacation.

I kept running into the same great people, and I felt like I spent the holiday with friends.

I can chime in & agree about service, but I refused to let it get in my way of enjoying myself. The FE gifts, ornament xchange, brunch with DISers, that was my pixie dust.

My kids say-BEST vacation ever!
Beth Anne

 

[Evans Family]

I am knee deep in dirty laundry. My washer/dryer has been going since 7:30 this morning with no end in sight. Overall, we had a great trip. Even with the hiccups it was a great value for the price we paid. We are all glad we went. A few thoughts:

1) The Good
a) our inside Cat 11 room that I was dreading was not so bad. It worked out well and we were pleasantly surprised. We were above the WD theatre. I was glad I was prepared for the noise from the theatre, so it was not a surprise. However, the 11:00 PM showing of Tron was a bit much.
b) we had an excellent cabin steward. He was perfect. I wanted to bring him home with me.
c) our serving team for dinner was good/very good. They were friendly and kept the meals on track
d) The FE was fabulous. Thank you to everyone for the thoughtful gifts. Each one was appeciated. Kudos to those crafty Dis'ers. I am in awe!
e) I never get tired of Ricky Kalman and John Charles. The are two of the best in the business. I will never think of Thing 2 quite the same again!!!!!
f) Kudos to the captain for docking at CC. I was a little worried.
g) I thought the food was above average. The "aged" taste I have complained about in the past with the beef was gone. I was so happy. The steaks/beef all tasted great. Palo's was great. I was pleased and have a few pounds on the scale to prove it!
h) I enjoyed the reception on X-mas morning in the atrium. It was fun and unexpected.
i) we didn't run out of Krispy Kreme donuts.

1) The bad
a) we had three excursions cancelled. St. John snorkle, parasailing on CC, and a private snorkle trip in Barbados. While we found other things to do, each cancellation was a BIG disapointment.
b) The entertainment was lacking with one of the entertainers missing. The extertainment really fell off towards the end of the cruise.
c) we needed more on board movies for the length of the voyage. We saw all of them within the first few days
d) the service was lacking. I saw many new folks who were training. I didn't see many familiar faces. It was sad. The bottom of our experience was waiting 50 minutes for our appetizer in Lumieres on 12/24 for lunch. We had missing courses, and the food was cold when we received it. It was the worst dining experience we have had on our 45+ days on the Magic.
e) why can't Disney cook a burger? they all tasted/looked like hockey pucks. I tried them in Lumieres, at Cookies and on deck 9 with the same result everywhere.

I'm sure I'll think of more later.......

 

[Liz Arjay]

Laundry, laundry, laundry.....My husbands souvenier is a head cold.
My youngest son (Matthew, 8) woke up Tues. with a cough & earache. I was concerned about our flt. home, so we went to see Dr. Pierre in the Health Ctr. $160 later & a bottle of Robotussin = no D&B bag for me! So, he is fine.

Long day of travel, hope everyone gets some rest after our fun vacation.

I kept running into the same great people, and I felt like I spent the holiday with friends.

I can chime in & agree about service, but I refused to let it get in my way of enjoying myself. The FE gifts, ornament xchange, brunch with DISers, that was my pixie dust.

My kids say-BEST vacation ever!
Beth Anne

Sounds like we all had a similar experience. Every time I asked about one of our old (great) servers, hosts, etc, I was told they had left a few weeks ago for the Dream. I think they skimmed the cream of the crew, and it showed.

Both my son and I got a 24 hour stomach flu. Several others we spoke to had the same condition (fortunately it passed quickly). We all felt like we were coming down with colds yesterday. Taking vitamins and crossing fingers!

I also noticed the rust, and felt the bathrooms could use a facelift. Perhaps with the Dream they will be able to pull the Magic out for some renovations, even a section at a time.

We were also on Deck 2 (aft), and I heard lots of thunking and clunking. Earplugs seemed to solve the problem. I was bothered more by the vibration of backing into each port.

But despite those issues, we had a fabulous time. The DISboarders made this a very special time. I so enjoyed meeting you all!! Thanks to Connie for the Champagne party! Thanks to Momssurprise for jogging with me! Thanks to Dagny for my nametag and Bead Pirate for my buttons and Tinkmischief for my rockin-cool Mickey bandana! Thanks to Gretchen and Larry for some fun times. Thanks to Joann for making it all happen behind the scenes. Etc, etc. Thanks to those people whose names I will remember as soon as I hit "submit".

And who made that adorable doll/gnome with the hand-stiched toes and behind? He (she? it?) became our trip mascot and posed at our porthole with binoculars.

It was a great trip...
Now to laundry
Liz

 

[tinkmischief]

Sounds like we all had a similar experience. Every time I asked about one of our old (great) servers, hosts, etc, I was told they had left a few weeks ago for the Dream. I think they skimmed the cream of the crew, and it showed.

We were also on Deck 2 (aft), and I heard lots of thunking and clunking. Earplugs seemed to solve the problem. I was bothered more by the vibration of backing into each port.

And who made that adorable doll/gnome with the hand-stiched toes and behind? He (she? it?) became our trip mascot and posed at our porthole with binoculars.

It was a great trip...
Now to laundry
Liz

I agree. Had a fabulous time but felt the service was missing, which in my mind was the biggest value and what set them apart from the others. Actually had my server ask me if I was "going to eat all that" when I ordered 2 different appetizers one night. Yep I get it, I am not a size 2 it was my favorite menu from the last cruise Thanks for making me feel more self conscious.

We have only ever stayed on deck 2 aft but I noticed a LOT more noise this time. I thought it was the different location but maybe not.

The doll was made by my mom (craftygramma who doesn't make it onto the boards near enough) I will pass that on - she will get a kick out of that

Thank you all so much for chatting with me on board (Caryn/BBQMommy I love how often I ended up bumping in to you ) and for all of the fabulous fe gifts. Every single one brightened our day and I agree some very talented people on board!

Not even gonna start on laundry right now. Has been snowing off and on (lucky to make it home as roads were closed last night due to a winter storm) so I don't think we will need shorts or swimsuits before tomorrow anyway