March 24th Western - updated with tips from an 8 yr old -for kids only

[pclaire]

Well, we've been back for over a week now, so if I'm ever going to write a report, I better do it before I forget everything!! This wont be as interesting or detailed as some of the recent reports, but here goes.

First, hello to all the people I met on this board, it was great to get to know some of you (hi grammie mame - lynn and I are trying to find a time to go out)

cast - me and my dd8. this was our second cruise on the Magic - the first was in the summer of 2005 to Mexico. We loved it and I promised I'd take her again (as soon as I saved enough money!). we'd been talking about it for a long time, but she didn't know for sure we were going until christmas morning. she was thrilled I'd gotten the same cabin so she knew where to go!

We left Denver on Friday morning, flew into MCO and took a took a town car to the Radisson. We used southern elegance and would recommend them - no problems at all. I'd heard mixed reviews about the Radisson, but we really liked it. The pool and bar were open and there was a band playing, so we quickly got in the vacation mode! The margarita might have helped. (Note to readers: as i go on, it might sound like quite the lush. Actually I'm just a way- overstressed single mom lawyer with a tightly wound child who needed a vacation soooo bad). Anyway, enough explaining.

We ate dinner at a pizza/greek place next door to the hotel - cant remember the name and thought it was very mediocre. It didn't matter - we were finally on vacation! I also didn't really like the sleep number beds - of course it might have something to do with the fact that dd thought it was really funny to adjust mine (way up and way down) while I was sleeping. i wonder how often they break? i cant have the only child that thinks they're fascinating.

we woke up early and excited. The breakfast buffet was very good and the shuttle loaded us up right at 10:00. then a really great thing happened. My dd met a little boy she played with all week. he was with his mom and older sister, who were really nice, and the 2 kids got along great.

we got to the port, checked in - all painless. I allowed my dd charging privileges, and told her to try out her KTTW card by buying us a soda. she came back with the soda, and a $14.95 autograph book. we had a talk.

Once on board, we went to the mickey pool, met some dis-ers and had lunch. i really liked goofy's galley (which wasn't there on our last trip), but unfortunately a lot of the items (lie the breads, yogurts and salads) contained nuts. My dd is allergic to tree nuts, so she had to stick to pizza, burgers and chicken fingers. You can imagine she was heartbroken.

did the lifeboat drill and went to the sail-away party, which is one of my favorite parts of the cruise. we had early seating - at 6. its a little early for us, but 8 is just too late. Our tablemates were 2 couples, each with a daughter around my dd's age. the girls all got along great. Our server was Ever-lee from the Phillipines and oh my god i've already forgotten the assistant server's name from St. vincents. I liked Ever-lee, but he gave the excellent speech way too often. the un-named assistant server (I'll remember it soon, i promise) was just ok - it always took a long time to get a glass of wine, and its a good thing I didn't want two. disney lost some revenue there, thats for sure. Ever-lee was leaving for home the saturday we disembarked - and his daughter was turning 5, so my dd bought him a stuffed minnie mouse to bring home. we actually saw him in the airport on our way home - he was as sweet as could be and very excited.

Thats all I can think of for day one. a great first day, with no problems at all. life doesn't get much better, thats for sure.

 

[UKANGEL]

Oh I'm looking forward to reading this! We're off in 3 weeks for a Western cruise too so am very interested as we've only done the eastern before
Thanks!

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Great TR .. txs for sharing...

 

[pclaire]

oops, forgot 2 things about the 1st day (and I still can't remember the assistant servers name - this is why you need to write your trip reports the first week you get back).

Shirley's baskets- these were wonderful!! I ordered one for my dd as a surprise - it had binoculars, some pirate stuff, snacks, underwater camera and playing cards. beautifully done, and a great surprise for her. I also ordered one for my self with champagne (see, I told you about the alcohol) and cans of diet coke. although the fountain drinks one deck 9 are great (read - free), sometimes a girl just needs a real can of diet coke. I ordered diet coke with lime, and they sent cans of diet coke. with one lime. the fruit, not the flavor. It was pretty funny -we joked about during the week, and squeezed the lime to make our own. There's no need to order a basket just to get soda or booze, as you can bring your own, I just thought it would be fun to have gifts from Mickey and Minnie waiting for us. Plus, I had way too much stuff to carry to lug a bottle and cans on board.

Room service -I'm proud to announce my dd was the first person on the cruise to order room service. That girl does love ordering food on the phone. We did that a lot- she had a pizza and mickey bar most days.

This is a good time to talk about the food. I know there are hugely divergent views on the quality, so here's my take for what its worth. The food in the dining rooms is not bad, nor does it resemble the food at Chili's or TGI Friday's, as I've seen written). The ingredients are excellent, and the menus well conceived and fairly sophisticated. There are always interesting sauces and the presentation is usually excellent as well. But to me, the food (with a few exceptions) is just eh -it often needed more flavor or spice, and about half the time it was overcooked. for example, the lobster had great flavor, but was a little tough. Same with the tenderloin. I think they are serving so many people at the same time, and with such different tastes, that it cant really be otherwise. I didn't dislike the food, but it certainly wasn't the highlight.

I did like the wine selection (when I was allowed to order), but its quite expensive. I'm spoiled in that I have a close friend who is a wine distributor, so I drink a lot of very good wines at wholesale, but I know the retail prices on some of the wines, and there were very hefty markups on many of the selections. The menus often (maybe always, I forget) have wine pairing recomendations that are good, I thought.

Palo is in a whole different category than the dining rooms, especially the brunch. This was my second brunch, and it didn't disappoint. you absolutely have to try it if you can. Excellent food and service. i had brunch by myself, but joined some dis-ers for dinner. If i had to chose, I think I like brunch better.

Goofy's galley has really good fruit, salads and sandwiches. It is a great addition.

 

[pclaire]

ok, on to Key West . . .

First, I had brunch at Palo, alone, with quiet and fabulous food. heaven.

We had not planned anything for key west - decided we'd just wander around and get some key lime pie. but then Disney cancelled our parasailing excursion on Castaway Cay. I'd heard about the prblems with the operator through this board (of course) but disney made it official by calling the house the Wednesday before we left. We were really bummed as we both wanted to try it.
So . . . thursday night I got on line and tried to find a reputable operator in key west - Sebago had good reviews on the cruise critic board, so I booked with them. When we were getting off the ship, an announcement cam on that a bunch of excursions were cancelled due to high winds. When we got to the dock, the scheduler guy said he didn't think we'd be able to go up, even tandem, because with the wind so strong, AND WE DIDN'T WEIGH ENOUGH. I of course was thrilled at the news about my weight, but my dd was rightly focused on our excursion. I would have married him but his teeth were completely black and rotten. I'm not making that last part up. Anyway, he said the captain would decide. the captain and his mate were wonderful - they told us they were going to the other side of the island and we'd see about the winds there. He was really careful measuring the wind speed, and finally told us we could go. There were six other people going up, but they weren't worried about them.

It was the coolest thing. I was a little scared at first (wondering at the very last moment whether i was a really really bad parent), but my dd just told me to chill. It was great - so peaceful up there. They dipped us, but just our feet - the other folks got wet up to their chests. I felt very safe with Sebago, and would highly recommend them.

here's something to consider about excursions- sometimes booking excursions on your own is a good thing. in both key west and grand cayman, disney cancelled a bunch of excursions due to wind, but the private operators we booked with made a last minute decision about the weather, and in grand cayman were able to change the snorkeling location. Captain Marvins (in grand cayman) told us the cruise ships cancel the stingray city excursion anytime there's wind, because there are so many people on the boat, its just too hard to control the situation, and too many people to watch.

After parasailing we walked around town, had that key lime pie and went back to the ship for dinner.
I think the show that night was Gary Delana, which we enjoyed a lot.

 

[Babs417]

You are doing a great job with your report. I cant wait for my cruise

 

[sherry]

Thank you for the trip report, I always enjoy reading them

 

[pclaire]

Allright - I'm not as senile as I seem!! Our assistant server's name was Irwin. as I said, he got better over the week, but he's not the best we've had.

On to the day at sea - actually, both sea days, cause they all run together. the highlight for me was a hot stone massage - really, really nice. I think the spa and fitness area on the magic are so great - its just an oasis of quiet, and I've never gotten a hard sell on products.

other than that, we basically just puttered around on sea days - we'd eat, walk deck four, eat, run the stairs, eat, swim, watch a movie, eat, make kites, play shuffleboard, eat -you get the picture.

I also love cove cafe - i'd go in to check my emails for a few minutes,and my dd would stay in the room or right outside. last trip she wasn't allowed to be alone at all, and she really liked this privilege. Its amazing how fast they want that independence.

Oceaneer's lab - my dd went a few times during the week, but always said it was "boring." There's some history there, though. On our last cruise I made her to go to the club a few times (while I had a massage and Palo brunch), and she hated it. don;t know why, but she didn't. she was in a very clingy stage, so that was part of it. Well, kids are stubborn creatures and I think she's had it in her head for 2 years that she wouldn't like it. she went with her friend a few times and seemed to enjoy it when she didn't think i was watching (especially the cookies and animation drawing class)- but she certainly wouldn't volunteer to go there. no way would she do the graduation. go figure.

The shows -we'd seen them all last cruise, but enjoyed them again - especially Twice Charmed. we skipped golden mickeys and the farewell show - -too sad.

 

[tamim]

Great report! I am so looking forward to our trip in September. My husband and I are also stressed parents in need of a vacation with a few libations!
Hoping my kids like the clubs but since they are 11 and 13 I think they will make their own minds up!
Waiting to hear if you did any beach excursions and how they worked out.
Keep up the reports!

 

[BoardwalkBabe]

So Ever-Lee was on the ship! We had requested him to be our server but that didn't happen so we figured he was on his break (we had the late seating) - especially when we never ran into him.

He was our server three cruises ago and we loved him. The cruise after that, he wasn't our server but he came over to use every night to say hello and make sure that we were okay. He's the nicest man and I'm happy to hear he's going home to see his family.

 

[sherrie]

Thanks for posting cant wait to hear more, If your DD didnt like the club much where was she when you went to palo's and the spa.

 

[pclaire]

Grand Cayman!!!

First, in answer to where my dd was when I went to the spa and Palo, she was either with her friend and his mom and sister (who gratefully offered to let her hang with them - the kids were thrilled, of course) or she was at the club. We had a deal before we went - there were 2 things I wanted to do alone on the cruise - a massage and Palo, and whether she really liked the club or not, she had to go there for those few hours. And, she wasn't allowed to have me paged 3 times during my massage like last time, unless there was really something wrong. Practically child abuse, I know.

Anyway, we had booked (along with a bunch of ther Dis-ers) Captain Marvin's half-day snorkel trip - 2 snorkeling stops and a trip to stingray city. As we disembarked, we heard the Disney stingray city excursion was cancelled, so we were pretty worried. when we got to Capt.Marvins, though, they said it was not problem, just a little windy. We went on a van for about 15 minutes to get on the boat. There were about 25 of us on board. The snorkeling was fabulous, but it was a little choppy, so it took some effort. The crew was wonderful; and watched us like a hawk. This was the second time dd had snorkeled, and it wasn't that easy, so I was surprised at how well she did- very calm and slow movements, always motioned to me where she was headed, etc. Too bad my lessons on good manners and ladylike behavior haven't been as effective as my snorkeing lessons.
I digress. One time she got water in her mask and swam over to the rope to fix it - she was being pushed by the current a bit and grabbed my neck. I was fine, but one of the crew was in the water to help us in a second.

Then we were off to stingray city - it really is amazing. I found it a little disconcerting at first when they would brush up against me, but i gotr used to it. The rays were so tame, the crew could hold them, lify their tails and show us their stingers. There weren;t too many boats there that day (probably because all the cruise ships cancelled) so it was nice. highly recommend Captain Marvins.

After we got off the boat, my dd and I and some other dis-ers walked back to the ship with a stop for ice-cream (kids) and beer (adults). I literally cannot remember what we did for the rest of the day, but i'm sure room service was involved. I really enjoyed Grand Cayman.

 

[catecrew]

 

[conny264]

Great Report.
I´mhappy to read about your experience with capt.Marvins.We are going next year and I´m planning on doing the samm excursion.25 people does sound good and that the crew is very attentive.
Keep on writing,please.
Greetings from Germany
Conny

 

[pclaire]

My favorite day - Cozumel!!

We had booked the Royal Dolphin swin at Chankanaab park. Disney just does the dolphin excursion, but we wanted to swim with thwm, and "Swim" we did!!

We took a taxi to the park - shared it with my dd's new friend, his sister and mom. We were told it should cost $10, but we couldn't get the driver to go below $15. On our way home, the driver asked how much we paid to get there, and we said $10, which he accepted. So we lied - in a bargaining kind of way.

Chankanaab got hit badly by the hurricane 2 years ago, and it hasn't been fully open for too long, but they are doing a wonderful job. Its new and clean, the food is pretty good and we had a great time. Before our dolphin excursion we found chairs on the beach, and went snorkeling. The water was warm and pretty calm. It is very rocky getting into the lagoon, which it might freak out little kids a bit. The snorkeling was good, though not as impressive as the Caymans. They have an underwater photographer swimming around with some fish food - he got a great picture of my dd and I sourrounded by fish.

After snorkeling we got a bite to eat (good quesadilla and gross chicken nuggets) and the kids played in the new pool, which is really nice.
Then it was time for the dolphins. I loved this so much!! There were 10 of us in the enclosure, with 2 dolphins - Chuck and a name no one could understand, so we called him Izzy. One by one each person would swim to the center of the enclosure and do either the dorsal pull or the foot push. Next time around you'd do the other trick. In the dorsal pull you float, make a "T" with your arms, and when the dolphins swim by, you grab their dorsal fins and they take you for a ride!! Its a blast - they are really fast. In the foot push you float on your stomach, legs extended and knees locked. The dolphins swim up behuind you and each one starts pushing a foot. You rise up into the air and off you go!! We also had the obligatory dolphin hug and kiss.

All of these activitites were captured by a photographer (of course) but the photos are so good, no parent could resist. I did say no to the video, impressing myself with my restraint. All in all, this was a very expensive excursion, but the best ever.

We took a cab back to ship, with a quick shopping stop at a jewelry store across the street. I bought a very cool necklace, but I was too tired to bargain, so I'm sure I paid way too much. Back on the ship, we both fell asleep, which was a good thing for pirate night.

After dinner we donned our pirate gear and got a great picture with Captain Jack Sparrow. That guy is good - he has the mannerisnms down pat. Either that or he just stays slightly drunk, which is what I'd probably do if I had that job. Anyway - the pirate party was fun. We'd missed it last cruise because my dd was just too tired to stay awake. the dancing was the usual songs with the usual moves (which to an 8 yr old girl are about as good as it gets)and when Mickey swoops in and the fireworks go off - you can't help but be impressed. Its moments like that when you realize why you pay what you do for disney. We didn't stay for the buffet because 1) we were exhausted, and 2) it was dark, noisy and crowed and I was too nervous about whether I could really find out if there were nuts in the desserts. didn't matter - it was a great day and sleep sounded better than sugar.

 

[sherrie]

Thanks for all of the details on the royal swim, we are doing this also. me and my 8 yrs old dgd. Great report.

 

[pclaire]

miscellaneous thoughts before I get to Castaway Cay day . . .

Hair braiding. My dd had this done sunday morning, and I just took the braids out today, so they lasted 3 weeks. you''ll see a lot of girls on the ship with braids - they really do look cute.

The bartender at the bar near the goofy pool (cant remember the name) mixes the best margaritas. I think he is trained to see THAT LOOK in a parent's eye (you know, the I cant take one more minute of this look), and he pours accordingly.

Shutters - can there be a bigger rip-off? and could it be any more crowded and inefficient? Its 2007, why wouldn't the photos be available on cd? and why are they mostly 8x10s? Last cruise I spent way too much, so this time I chose judiciously. I have to say I got the most wonderful picture of dd on the sand at cc. And the Johnny Depp one is quite fetching. But still, somebody fix this.

Jumbotron - brilliant idea. thats all.

Allergies - from the kids club to the dining room, they make you feel very safe.

Arcade - save me.

Character breakfast - I found it quite hectic, but the kids love it. Great photo ops.

That all I can think of for now.

 

[Minnie328]

Hey Pclaire!
Glad to see that you had fun on the dolphin swim! We were in the same group, right? We got the DVD, and as we look back on it everyone in our group was from the Magic!
--Minnie
P.S. we learned from the DVD that the other dolphin's name was Itzama (sp?)

 

[pclaire]

miscellaneous thoughts from my 8 yr old daughter - and tips for kids:

1. Try not to go to the kids club too often - in my opinion its kind of boring.

2. order room service as soon as you get on the boat. you can order Mickey bars even though they are not on the menu.

3. convince your parents to give you charging privileges because with their permission, you can buy anything.

4. go on the mickey slide alot - it is really fun.

5. If Gary Delana is on the boat - go see him, he's hilarious.

6. Try to stay awake for the pirate party because its really cool.

7. The most important tip -HAVE FUN

 

[Minnie328]

The most important tip -HAVE FUN

I second that!!