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

[thegales]

In all the reports about the cruise, I don't think anyone really mentioned the entertainment.

We are a family that will usually go to the activity in the Walt Disney Theatre each evening. On this cruise we had, with my thoughts:

12/18 All Aboard! Let the Magic Begin
Always a great way to start the cruise. Our family tries to figure out what characters the various people will be playing later in the shows.
12/19 Jeff Civillico
Very funny. We also went to the adult cabaret
12/20 Villains Tonight
We did not enjoy this as much as we were hoping we would. I think a lot of the comedy is based on audience reaction, and the audience was somewhat dead for our performance. Pain and Panic were funnier in Hercules the Muse-ical, and I think I was waiting for that kind of dialog
12/21 Once Upon a Song
DD12 skipped this one, but the rest of us enjoyed. DD14 danced in the aisle the man who played Hades and Franco.
12/22 Changes in Latitude
I went to this one by myself. I really enjoyed.
12/23 Tron
Conflicted with Pirates IN the Caribbean. No one went.
12/24 Ricky Kalmon
Very funny. The adult cabaret was even funnier.
12/25 Twice Charmed
Just as good as always
12/26 Los Pampas Gauchos
What the heck! DW and I went a little late, and sat in the back row. We left after less than a minute. I know Disney tries to have a wide variety of entertainment so everyone finds something. Not sure about this one.
12/27 Disney Dreams
Went to the matinee. Pan did not fly one time since they missed hooking him up. I was a little concerned about the cable smacking him in the face. Then the evening performance was scaled back due to the rough seas. The downstage lift was not used at all for safety reasons. But still a good show. And in an odd twist, 'Anne Marie' was one of the dancers for the Adult cabaret that night. I was trying to figure out if her dance partner was Pan, but I don't think so.
12/28 Remember the Magic
A great way to end. I think the second variety act was supposed to be Michael Holly instead to the Los Pampas Gauchos. I also think Disney needs to update some of the videos/pictures that are morphed with the Disney movies/characters

So for 11 nights, I think they did okay with different shows. I was hoping that they would pull out one of the old shows, but I understand all the logistical issues.

 

[miatamel]

Lola has fallen in love in the rare MS snow

 

[thegales]

Lola has fallen in love in the rare MS snow

I have fallen in love with Lola.

 

[miatamel]

David, she has that affect on men.

 

[mndisfam]

Running around Melanie and haven't been posting too much - but thinking andwondering how you guys were coping. Thank God, Lola can show me all is well...

 

[3PrincessGrandma]

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[/QUOTE]

Liz, I would be happy to make you one. Just PM me with your full name and address. Give me a month or so as I just returned to work today (income tax season).

Lois

 

[Liz Arjay]

Liz, I would be happy to make you one. Just PM me with your full name and address. Give me a month or so as I just returned to work today (income tax season).

Lois

Thanks! That is so sweet of you!
Sending you a PM now.
Liz

 

[CrusinLattas]

It was so wonderful to meet you all on the cruise! This was our 6th Disney cruise - our 5th holiday cruise, and by far the best DIS group! We are booked on the Dream for NYE this year, so hopefully we may see some of you again!

I was blown away by some of the F/E people put together - so thoughtful! I am so glad we kept the group large - it was really fun!

We had a wonderful cruise! I would have to agree with many who saw the service level dip this time. There were a couple days we didn't get a Navigator in our room - on of them was the Villian's Tonight day where I had made T-Shirts to wear that day - so we were in the wrong outfits...smile. Our servers were not up to the level we have come to expect over the years, but they did get much better as the cruise went on. I thought Zan was the best Head Server by far of any I have had - I think he was compensating for the new staff. Palo remained top of the line with food and servers.

There were times my husband thought Carnival had taken over the ship - Honestly I didn't notice the disrepair, but he did mention it. I was amazed at how disorganized getting off the ship was! It was very difficult to get in to eat breakfast and then waiting so long to get off after that - That is the one area Disney has always had over the competition. Hopefully they get what ever the problem was fixed! I can't imagine it with a ship that is 50% larger!

I was disappointed to hear about the thefts so many experienced and the tween issues. I didn't have any problems with this.

It was also interesting that Disney must not have sent anyone down before our cruise to check out the new islands very well. I enjoyed Barbados, but Guadeloupe was not a very well thought out stop. The locals were very nice and happy to see our ship - but had such a struggle with the English language and the excursions really sounded disappointing at best. We planned on walking to the Aquarium, which many had the same information about it being near the port, but didn't think it a good idea to walk there and with the language issues had a difficult time just learning this was a bad idea. Next time they are searching for filler, how about stopping at Castaway Cay on the way down and back?

OK, that is all the negative feedback - now for the positive!

I thought the Oceaneers Club activities were better than ever and really loved all the character interaction the kids had there - it seemed like a much more magical environment than in the past, and I have always loved that area anyway!

I loved our room location! We were on Deck 2 mid-aft and it was easy to get around and no noise problems! I was so disappointed last year when we had a suite and it was so loud above us!

There were a few stand out crew members! I really loved Peter Pan who was so wonderful with my kids - he really made our cruise! He even got us invited to the little meet with the Characters before the Farewell show! That was a lot of fun! Leslie in Guest Services was also sweet! She adopted our family as her family of the week - I heard someone else talking about that - did anyone else have this experience? She sent us some nice treats to the room and even arranged for the bike, float and snorkle package for us on Castaway Cay. She really made an impression on us during the boat drill - not my favorite part of the cruise, but she added some fun to it! By the way, I hear you don't have to wear your life jackets on the Dream to the boat drill! That will make it so much easier - especially with small children! Mo in Palo was excellent and he even got me my Lasagna for dinner when it was not on the menu for that night - thanks also to the Palo chef! I also mentioned Zan earlier, who was the hardest working Head Server I have ever seen. Blake also added a lot of fun to the cruise. We also really loved Sharon from Midtown. The kids cried when she got sick and they didn't get to tell her good bye (I'm sure Patrick did too). I thought overall the food was good.

We had a very magical trip and really enjoyed the people we spent time with along the way!

 

[STLUCIELADY]

It should forever remain in your subscription list!

Hmmm how do I do that? That seems like a brilliant idea!

 

[momssurprise]

Renee, it was great seeing you guys on the cruise and glad to hear you had such a great time. Interesting that you had such a great experience with Zan. He apparently forgot our table entirely, but glad others got good service.

 

[3princessMommy]

Hmmm how do I do that? That seems like a brilliant idea!

It should be there already. You subscribe by manually subscribing or by posting on a thread. If you look at your subscription list, you should see it and it will be bold whenever there's a new post that you haven't read. I always find my subscriptions by using the dropdown menu on the bottom right side of the screen. You can also set up your subscriptions to notify you when there's been activity on a thread via e-mail.

Renee, it was great seeing you guys on the cruise and glad to hear you had such a great time. Interesting that you had such a great experience with Zan. He apparently forgot our table entirely, but glad others got good service.

I have to agree with Renee that Zan did a good job for us too. He moved us to a new table on the second day due to our problems with our servers, even though this put us with a different head server, he continued to check-in with us to make sure that everything was working out well.

 

[thegales]

Renee, it was great seeing you guys on the cruise and glad to hear you had such a great time. Interesting that you had such a great experience with Zan. He apparently forgot our table entirely, but glad others got good service.

Thanks for making this comment. I was not too impressed with Zan, and thought maybe it was just me. Our assistant server was not up to par with the usually Disney experience. I raised the issue with Zan, and the next night there were some improvements. But after that, it was back to the way it was before. Service wasn't awful, it just wasn't what we had experienced on all our other cruises. For me, this is where the Head Server should stand out. If there is an issue, take care of it. And in our case, that was not done.

But in the big picture, this was just one minor blip on an excellent cruise.

 

[BBQMommy]

Hello! Have laptop back after a stint in the Geek Squad hospital. Another fan of Zan here, I would request him next go around. Renee -- did you change rooms? The room # I had for cruisin' lattas had no FE anywhere near it. I was not sure you were on the ship Lola is rockin' that coat.


Caryn

 

[STLUCIELADY]

It should be there already. You subscribe by manually subscribing or by posting on a thread. If you look at your subscription list, you should see it and it will be bold whenever there's a new post that you haven't read. I always find my subscriptions by using the dropdown menu on the bottom right side of the screen. You can also set up your subscriptions to notify you when there's been activity on a thread via e-mail.



I have to agree with Renee that Zan did a good job for us too. He moved us to a new table on the second day due to our problems with our servers, even though this put us with a different head server, he continued to check-in with us to make sure that everything was working out well.[/QUOTE

Thanks for the info! I will try to find it.

 

[Liz Arjay]

Thanks to Angie for my adorable CC5k certificate which was in yesterday's mail! Thanks for sending! I have brought it in to my office to hold my head up high with all the fitness buffs I work with. I am now inspired to run a local 5k in 2 weeks. Hope I have the same fun experience and fun fellow runners I had on CC!

Angie - thanks so much! You made my day.

Liz

 

[BBQMommy]

Go Liz!!

I know you all will understand. Realized I could make dining ressies for our June trip and did. Got Le Cellier for lunch and feel like I found the blasted Holy Grail. Will keep checking for dinner, but I am fine with lunch to watch fireworks from deck of Rose & Crown. Going with DD6 and our dear friend (age 42) who has never been to Disney.

 

[STLUCIELADY]

Ok I can't figure out how to subscribe without posting sooo........

 

[disneydash]

First I would like to thank everyone for their overwhelming generosity on the FE gifts. Coming back to the room to see what was in the FE became the younger boys favorite activity. Whoever left the Lightning McQueen hat for my son Carter, please know that it is now a permanent part of his wardrobe.

Overall, we had an awesome vacation with memories that will last a lifetime. There were various ups and downs but it truly was a Christmas to remember. Our serving team (Zan, Subhash and Gede) were excellent and went out of their way to address our oldest DD's dietary restrictions. Getting all together for dinner became our favorite activity. The food must have been good given the 7 pounds I gained (never could turn down a dessert).

Random Thoughts
Guadeloupe - Beautiful island once you got out of the port area. My three oldest kids did the hiking & canyoneering excursion. Although disorganized at the beginning, their guides and body surfing down the rapids easily made this the highlight of their cruise. My oldest DD said that Disney would have never allowed this excursion if they knew what was involved. Eating termites and taking the "Plunge of Death" will be memories to last a lifetime. I enjoyed swimming in the waterfall and watching my wife haggle in French despite only knowing "no merci".

Castaway 5K - Not very impressed with organization but it was fun to finally run again on land after stuffing my face for 10 days.

Orient Beach St. Maarten - Beautiful beach but my oldest DS and I are permanently scarred by our decision to visit the nude beach. It was just like the locker room at our Y in South Florida but with absolutely no modesty. Like a lot of things, the fantasy was nothing like reality.

Tweens - It was the one age group missing from our family. Except for stepping over them, never had an issue with either noise or bad behavior.

Christmas Morning - Really enjoyed sitting with Santa, getting the Cars calendar and eating treats in our matching shirts. Made for a great picture.

Toilet Issues - Both of our cabins had toilets overflow and ours happened in the middle of the last night. Thankfully it was "clean" water and Disney responded quickly both times.

Ricky Kalmon - Really enjoyed his adult cabaret show although it led to our Scariest/Most Memorable Moment.

Scariest/Most Memorable Moment - The three older kids offered to have our 2 year old over for a sleepover so my DW and I could go out. Went to show, walked around, picked up our DS (7) from the club and headed back to the room. Around midnight, we get a call from Flounder's Nursery saying that a cast member had found our son on Deck 8 (we were on Deck 6). Apparently the three older kids fell asleep and Carter woke up. He decided he wanted mommy so he unlatched the dead bolt, opened the door and left without waking anyone. We were 12 cabins down and he got lost. After our hearts started beating again, we were very impressed with how quickly they got him back to us. We now call him the "Night Crawler".

While there were a couple of issues, we would go on another Disney Cruise in a minute. I guess I better get back on the road and start accumulating Marriott points. Thanks to everyone for making this a great cruise.

 

[thegales]

...

Ricky Kalmon - Really enjoyed his adult cabaret show although it led to our Scariest/Most Memorable Moment.

Scariest/Most Memorable Moment - The three older kids offered to have our 2 year old over for a sleepover so my DW and I could go out. Went to show, walked around, picked up our DS (7) from the club and headed back to the room. Around midnight, we get a call from Flounder's Nursery saying that a cast member had found our son on Deck 8 (we were on Deck 6). Apparently the three older kids fell asleep and Carter woke up. He decided he wanted mommy so he unlatched the dead bolt, opened the door and left without waking anyone. We were 12 cabins down and he got lost. After our hearts started beating again, we were very impressed with how quickly they got him back to us. We now call him the "Night Crawler".
...

I thought you were going to say the scariest moment was during Ricky's show and involved a puppet.

Glad to hear all went well with finding your son. I think he actually just wanted to see the Walt Disney Suite, and thought a midnight trip would be the time to go.

 

[colormedisney98]

I miss you guys soooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We really should plan another cruise together