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

[3PrincessGrandma]

Two days of driving got us home with only a bad rain out of Mobile AL that only lasted about 15 minutes. DH has a really bad cold so tonight's celebration will be a bit shortened. Did manage to finish 7 loads of laundry today. Now only have a week's worth of ironing. Can't imagine how 2 people can have so many dirty clothes

Agree with most of the posts on our take of the service received onboard. Moving our table at dinner did make a big difference as our new servers were great with the kids and for the most part on top of things. The maintenance of the ship was an area we mentioned in our comments. We "missed" dressing for formal night because our safe was locked and had to be drilled open (at 9:30 that night) to get my jewelry and DH's ribbons, etc for his mess dress uniform. Our stateroom thermostat was inoperable and the room was always cold. We did get an extra blanket for sleeping which helped some.

I apologize to those who did not receive the cross stitched bookmark from me in their FE. I was only able to complete 35 before the cruise. If you didn't get one, and would like one, please PM me with your name and mailing address. I have 2 more made and 2 almost finished. I would be more than happy to complete more and mail one to you.

Enjoyed meeting everyone.
Lois

 

[kehonuamemano]

Im am not sure of your name but there was a father and daughter cheering our DD, 4 on as she made her first trip down the mickey slide. Not sure if you are a DISer but I have a great picture of your daughter jumping into the "big" part of the mickey pool. PM me if you recognize this story.

 

[Evans Family]

Small world story. We were at a New Year's Eve party last night and we were talking about Ricky Kalman. Turns out his wife grew up with a friend of ours. The Kalman's do not live far from us outside Atlanta.

For anyone wondering why Ricky was without his kids on Christmas....He is jewish.

What a small world.

 

[momssurprise]

I have many thoughts about the quality of the product DCL delivered and will post them later -- when I've finished unpacking -- which incidentally leads me to my "oh no" moment. I left one full drawer in our stateroom. How do I get the stuff back? Who do I call? I posted a thread on the main boards, too. I tried to call DCL but no answer b/c of the holiday. Unless the Orlando TSA agents absconded with the stuff (whole other story I may bore you with -- had an awful experience with the TSA in Orlando with two separate full body pat downs in front of my 9 year old DD who was bawling...).

Anyway, if anyone has experience with leaving stuff on the ship, please let me know.

I can comment unequivocally that you DIS'rs made the cruise for us and because of you we had a great vacation. DCL, not so much. 2-3 star product for a 5 star price. They should be ashamed. More on that later...

 

[thegales]

I have many thoughts about the quality of the product DCL delivered and will post them later -- when I've finished unpacking -- which incidentally leads me to my "oh no" moment. I left one full drawer in our stateroom. How do I get the stuff back? Who do I call? I posted a thread on the main boards, too. I tried to call DCL but no answer b/c of the holiday. Unless the Orlando TSA agents absconded with the stuff (whole other story I may bore you with -- had an awful experience with the TSA in Orlando with two separate full body pat downs in front of my 9 year old DD who was bawling...).

Anyway, if anyone has experience with leaving stuff on the ship, please let me know.

I can comment unequivocally that you DIS'rs made the cruise for us and because of you we had a great vacation. DCL, not so much. 2-3 star product for a 5 star price. They should be ashamed. More on that later...

On one of our trips, we had left something in the room. I called Lost and Found (which did take a few tries due to their hours). When we finally talked, I told them our stateroom and a description of what we left behind. She asked if we had left some lanyards as well. Oops, as soon as she said that, I remembered that we left them hanging in the stateroom. When they were turning the room over, they put all of our left behind things in a bag with the stateroom number. So they had all the stuff together. They shipped it all back to us with no issues.

I tried to find their lost and found phone number on their website, but no luck. I would suggest calling the main number on Monday, then having them give you the correct number.

 

[cjjr6892]

Thanks Angie. I'll PM you with the info!

 

[mickeyteachers]

I have many thoughts about the quality of the product DCL delivered and will post them later -- when I've finished unpacking -- which incidentally leads me to my "oh no" moment. I left one full drawer in our stateroom. How do I get the stuff back? Who do I call? I posted a thread on the main boards, too. I tried to call DCL but no answer b/c of the holiday. Unless the Orlando TSA agents absconded with the stuff (whole other story I may bore you with -- had an awful experience with the TSA in Orlando with two separate full body pat downs in front of my 9 year old DD who was bawling...).

Anyway, if anyone has experience with leaving stuff on the ship, please let me know.

I can comment unequivocally that you DIS'rs made the cruise for us and because of you we had a great vacation. DCL, not so much. 2-3 star product for a 5 star price. They should be ashamed. More on that later...

A couple of years ago my husband left is wallet in the safe as we got off the ship in Barcelonia. When we got home he called Disney and they mailed his wallet back to him. It was completely in tack with all of the credit cards and cash. I was totally amazed. Now if Disney could only serve food in a timely manner and make sure hot food is hot.

 

[sarahlovespooh]

Hello All!
First of all a great big thank you to everyone for the fantastic fish extender gifts! What an awesome experience for the kids (and me!). It was like Christmas all cruise long! We had a fabulous vacation and really had no problems with service at all. Our servers were outstanding--very friendly, knowledgable and efficient. One was on his 2nd contract with disney, though he'd been with another line for like 12 or 15 years and our assistant was on his first contract but was doing just fine. Our cabin host was great maybe the best we've had over 6 dcl cruises and 3 on other lines. One thing to keep in mind regarding dining service is that not only were there "growing pains" as previously mentioned but also this was an 11 night itinerary with added dinner menus, dinner shows, different rotations to accomodate the holiday, etc..That doesn't come as an excuse just possibly explains some of the issues. Our kids thought the counselors in the club were awesome this trip! If I had to complain about something I guess I'd say I was disappointed with the entertainment in the main theater. We had previously done an 11 night southern on the Wonder several years ago and we got to see stage shows like Hercules (after it was retired) so I guess I was hoping for something special or more Disney or Holiday oriented.

Anyway, hope everyone has a terrific new year and thanks again for the fun and fantastic fish extenders!!

 

[Cam Fam luvs Dsny]

Happy New Year to those of you who we meet and those of you who we never had the pleasure of meeting in person.

After airport delays we arrived home at 3am Thursday morning, but thankfully didn't encounter any of the bad weather or snow disruptions reported by others. Incredibly it has been getting warmer each day and was 55 degrees in Toronto today and no snow on the ground!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the FEs, we loved receiving each and every FE and enjoyed the great variety of ideas and creativity! It is incredible how creative and talented some people are!

We spent today looking through all the FEs and listening to the wide variety of cds, which the entire family enjoyed. Thanks to BeadPirate (Rick and Lori) for the steel drum Christmas tunes. I had planned on looking for a cd of this sort on the trip and then with being in vacation mode forgot to look. I was reminded of my intentions today listening to your cd. Thanks again to everyone.

Angie, your 5K certificate looks great. We too were disappointed in the lack of a certificate. We did receive the water bottles described by Joann, on the evening of Castaway Cay.

Reading the many comments about service, we do agree that many of the expectations with regards to service, especially in the dining room, did not live up to past experiences. However, we know we will be back and are already talking about "the next cruise". Hopefully these are "growing pains" and will fixed with a little time (and more experience with some staff).

 

[HFC1969]

So ... after reading... I haven't found anyone who is going next Christmas on the Magic? Are we the only ones?

 

[STLUCIELADY]

So ... after reading... I haven't found anyone who is going next Christmas on the Magic? Are we the only ones?

Every one in our family wants to go on the Christmas cruise again next year. We are just waiting to see if better prices come out and which direction the economy goes. We hope to see you at Christmas!

 

[pennymike]

So ... after reading... I haven't found anyone who is going next Christmas on the Magic? Are we the only ones?

This was our 2nd Xmas Cruise in a row (3rd all together), and in order to keep peace in the family with my in laws, I do believe we are going to have to stay closer to home for Xmas 2011! We'll be with you in spirit.....
Penny

 

[kehonuamemano]

So ... after reading... I haven't found anyone who is going next Christmas on the Magic? Are we the only ones?

DH will be in Afghanistan next XMAS....we'll see in 2012 depending on the itinerary.

 

[Liz Arjay]

You may recognize a few of the teens in this picture on homecoming night. My daughter Jessi is second from the left. Which one is yours?



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The teens looked so nice on this cruise - what lovely dresses, and handsome young men in tuxes and suits.

If anyone has photos of my DS Turner and Henry (16 and 15), could I ask you to email me at elizabethallport@hotmail.com? They didn't have cameras, so we have no photos of any of the bulk of time they spent in the Vibe, or at the teen-only events. Thanks!

Liz

 

[Liz Arjay]

So ... after reading... I haven't found anyone who is going next Christmas on the Magic? Are we the only ones?

If it were up to my teenagers, we would be back next Christmas! They thought it was fantastic, but I think it was due to the other great teens they met onboard grouphug: Raven, Paige, Alyssa, Gabby, Peter, Tyler are some of the names I heard). As for those paying the tab, we will monitor the rates and see if any deals arise. It is an excellent time of years since no school is missed, and things are slow at the office. Maybe we will see you!

Liz

 

[guitarguy]

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!

Rick, we have video of the show that night. Will try to pm or e-mail you with the the video, but need to post a couple of more times to have access to do so.

 

[VA Girl]

Does anyone in this group have a DD named Amber who would have played with my DD Morgan (with bright red hair) in the kids club on the cruise? I was trying to touch base with the mom to see if the girls could be pen pals...Morgan talked a lot about Amber and how much fun they had. Maybe she had the name wrong. I looked on the FE list but didn't see any girls named Amber. DH and I saw her family around the ship many times and said hello but unfortunately never got to officially meet them. I know they were at the wine tasting our group did, as I remember seeing them there, so maybe someone here knows who they are. I think they may have sat with LizArjay and her DH at the wine tasting. The mom had blonde hair and the dad had either really short hair or was balding I cannot remember.

Thanks!

Kimberly -

You do have the name right, it is Amber. She also had a great time playing with your daughter, Morgan. I would love for them to be pen pals. Send me a PM and we'll get them connected.

Gretchen

 

[ricka47]

Rick, we have video of the show that night. Will try to pm or e-mail you with the the video, but need to post a couple of more times to have access to do so.

Thank you so much!

 

[itutorfortravel]

Kimberly -

You do have the name right, it is Amber. She also had a great time playing with your daughter, Morgan. I would love for them to be pen pals. Send me a PM and we'll get them connected.

Gretchen

Hi Gretchen,

I'm so glad you saw my post! I just PM'ed you...

Kimberly

 

[decked out]

The huge downer for us was that DH got a GI illness on board. The ship doctor said it had to have been contracted on board because he didn't come down with it until the 23rd. The doctor said there had been a lot of GI illness on the previous cruise. Anyhow, because they could not determine if it was norovirus or food poisoining, my DH was quarantined for 48 hours. Not once during those 48 hours did anyone from DCL guest services (or any other dept. for that matter) call to check on my DH. I told him it was good that we all weren't sick or we would have been in bad shape. Anyhow, watching the whole thing unfold we are convinced that he had food poisoning and it likely came from Topsiders. His illness came on fast and furious with stomach cramping, throwing up and diarrhea but no fever / chills / headache like is common with norovirus. Also, DD nor I ever got sick which I think would have been a complete miracle if it had been norovirus.

Kimberly

Our family definitely got hit with some type of stomach virus. DS got it first, then DW two days later, then DD after we got home. It also seems like the continuous partying takes its toll, I got sick after my last 7-day cruise. Now I have a miserable head cold. Can't wait to do it again.