May 10, 2008 Ship of Thieves! Stealing the Magic..AGAIN!!! Panama Canal FL to CA!!! Part 2

[seaulater]

I totally agree!! People always laugh at me when I go to the parks by myself, but I think it's very relaxing. MGM is my favorite when I'm alone, I ride Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower, and see all my favorite shows. When I'm alone at MGM I usually eat at the Tune In Lounge, it's great I can have a beer and they have a full menu right at the bar.

My favorite show at MGM is Beauty and the Beast. Since I don't do well on rides in "motion" I stick to the sit down things! Although I do know that when I went on Rock N Roller Coaster that is was 1 minute and 28 seconds long. Another 5 seconds and I would have lost it!

On a different subject entirely.....(but about the cruise!)

Do we need to change our US currency to something else for the different places on the cruise....and if so can we do that on the ship do you know, or do we need to come prepared....or does everywhere take US $???

I also need to find this out about Grand Cayman for this May I guess!


Cheers!

Every place takes US dollars and coins, no need for currency exchange for what we did.

When I took my last cruise on Celebrity in December, I attended a Cruise Critic meeting which was sponsored by Celebrity. They actually provided us a room, light refreshments and took a group picture. Do you know if DCL will allow DIS meetings in a private room? The CM also was able to give Audrey, our organizer printing meeting notices which other CM's delivered to our staterooms the day prior to the three meeings. We were also able to organize a private lunch.

Just my experience.

Noel

Yes, you can have anything you want for $$$$$. DCL charges for the private rooms. For the private lunch or pajama breakfast we just let DCL know the date and time we were planning on gathering for the specific meal so they had enough servers to cater to our every need. I have arranged to take group pictures before, I just need to arrange it with guest services (if we want a character in the picture) and Shutters. I know them, so I can arrange a Pirate picture on pirate night in the atrium if you would like.

I've been reading a thread on the general cruise page about what people don't like about DCL!!! I must stop reading it! Now I might find that the food is bland, people smoke each side of the verandah, children run up and down the corridor at 6am, last night is disappointing with everything closing down, Palo's is nothing special, etc, etc, etc!!!

I don't care!!!!

Obviously they haven't gone on one of the other cruise lines whose food is really bland, and the casinos and halls are filled with smoke because you can smoke just about anywhere.

The only time we had problems with "teenage" kids was on the 10 night CHristmas cruise when there were over 1000 kids on board. They had lots of problems. However, with the WB PC cruise in May, 2005, there were only 350 kids on board, and most of the time you didn't even notice kids. It was pretty amazing. Saw more "grown up" kids in lines for pictures with characters than actual kids. Even the family beach at CC looked pretty empty. But the adult beach was pretty packed that day!

 

[MrsMork]

I've been reading a thread on the general cruise page about what people don't like about DCL!!! I must stop reading it! Now I might find that the food is bland, people smoke each side of the verandah, children run up and down the corridor at 6am, last night is disappointing with everything closing down, Palo's is nothing special, etc, etc, etc!!!

I don't care!!!!

8 DCL cruises under our belt and we have experienced none of that stuff!

 

[NotSoLittleMermaid]

I've been reading a thread on the general cruise page about what people don't like about DCL!!! I must stop reading it! Now I might find that the food is bland, people smoke each side of the verandah, children run up and down the corridor at 6am, last night is disappointing with everything closing down, Palo's is nothing special, etc, etc, etc!!!

I don't care!!!!

I read that thread, too. Did you notice that the person who started it was a relative newbie (not many posts)? Is that what the call a "troll"?

I guess I don't get out much --the food tastes great to me!

One of my favorite quotes is, "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be." (A. Lincoln) One of the main reasons I'm looking forward to this cruise is all the really nice, friendly folks I'm getting to know on this thread!

 

[granmaz]

I read that thread, too. Did you notice that the person who started it was a relative newbie (not many posts)? Is that what the call a "troll"?

I guess I don't get out much --the food tastes great to me!

One of my favorite quotes is, "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be." (A. Lincoln) One of the main reasons I'm looking forward to this cruise is all the really nice, friendly folks I'm getting to know on this thread!

I certainly am going to enjoy and be happy and this group sounds amazing!!!

 

[granmaz]

According to the first page there are at least 97 groups of people!!! Wow!

 

[clynne]

yes...distag did not go as smoothly as it did my 1st cruise...i know some of our magnets got lost too!!!

i think next time i play i will simply say deliver 3+ gifts per day and not wait on magnets!!!!

Well, it wasn't due to a lack of explicit directions. You made everything very clear! It was still fun, though!

Carolyn

 

[clynne]

I am not up for sending gifts over the months, but putting in the fish extenders would work for us. We will probably try to come up with a little something to tuck in each fish extender we find also.

Are you talking about Secret Mickey?? I had assumed (yes, dangerous!) that it was played on the ship. I don't think I'd want to mail stuff, either. But, I'm all for delivering onboard, if anyone wants to play.

Carolyn

 

[tink1963]

Are you talking about Secret Mickey?? I had assumed (yes, dangerous!) that it was played on the ship. I don't think I'd want to mail stuff, either. But, I'm all for delivering onboard, if anyone wants to play.

Carolyn

I made the same assumption. I never thought about mailing.

I'm all for playing on board too.

Venetia

 

[UKANGEL]

I've been reading a thread on the general cruise page about what people don't like about DCL!!! I must stop reading it! Now I might find that the food is bland, people smoke each side of the verandah, children run up and down the corridor at 6am, last night is disappointing with everything closing down, Palo's is nothing special, etc, etc, etc!!!

I don't care!!!!

Haven't expereinced any of this Marilyn, except maybe smoking one side of us on the verandah I don't find the food bland, have never had any noise from kids in the corridor (or adults either come to that), can't remember ever having nothing to do on the last night...and Palo is wonderful!

Don't worry, you'll love it!

 

[mishoe01]

pssst.....Laura is Aunty Brat!!!

I realized that when I went to bed last night----I was thinking "did I just type Linda instead of Laura???"


Sorry about that !

 

[mishoe01]

How cool that you and DH met through the DIS first! I hope that happens to me too! Hmmmmm....maybe I should be looking for a DCL singles thread.



lol....it was very very cool indeed....sometimes we have to wait quite a while to meet our soul mates! (and kiss a few frogs along along the way to meet our 'prince'!

Holly,
Check out www.dismates.com - set up by the same people as this board. There is also the singles/solo thread on this board too.

 

[MrsMork]

Secret Mickey - Like Secret Santa...you submit names and then someone draws names and sends info out and you send secret gifts and treats to that person. I have also played it where you did it on the ship and left goodies in the fish extenders.

Laura

My post was in response to this one where Laura talks about sending gifts. This appears that she was talking about 2 different versions of Secret Mickey. I'm up for on the ship only.

 

[mishoe01]

I thought the Secret Mickey was on the ship too - I think that's a great idea.

Hope everyone's day is going well. I'm hear waiting to get a call from my sister saying she's up for a visitor (leaving it all up to her cuz she's really tired). Mom's cooking up a turkey (smelling yummy) warming up the house

Thanks for the pms re: bracelets .... pm me at mishoe01 (it says mishoe1 on page 1). The place I'm leaning towards has a symbol of a skull & crossbones if we want to add that too. Regarding the saying....I like Jackie's (ibouncetoo) ideas - need to keep in mind that there's space for only 20 characters per side. Keep those thinking caps on! I figure I'll have to get mediums (for the kiddies) and larges for the adults. So if you're pming me for the 1st time, let me know what size you would need (and how many of each). I will touch base with those who've already pmd me.

Those stories that you guys wrote....had my eyes filling up. Great stories. Thanks for sharing.

 

[tigger137]

I've been reading a thread on the general cruise page about what people don't like about DCL!!! I must stop reading it! Now I might find that the food is bland, people smoke each side of the verandah, children run up and down the corridor at 6am, last night is disappointing with everything closing down, Palo's is nothing special, etc, etc, etc!!!

I don't care!!!!

We found all the food to be excellent with plenty of choice to suit both me, a very plain 'picky' eater, and DH who is far more adventurous.

Smoking is luck of the draw, but I have to say I'd be disappointed if I couldn't sit out because of smokers next door. I wish it was like at my work where they can only smoke in one designated place.

Didn't suffer any noise from children (or adults!) running up and down the corridor, but that could also be luck of the draw. Although I would hope a call to Guest Services would soon put a stop to the problem. Or a tripwire.

We enjoyed a quiet, romantic walk on Deck 10 after dinner on our last night.

I have to confess we were not impressed with Palo's, although we did only have brunch because the dinner menu didn't appeal. We expected something different, more like the brunch on the Queen Mary (Long Beach) which is spectacular.

Everyone is different, it would be a pretty boring world otherwise. We loved our cruise because we found it soooooo relaxing and the service was amazing. No doubt other people love it for different reasons.

I'm not one of these people who thinks Disney can do no wrong, and I find it interesting to see what others think of Disney and DCL. My main gripes were the completely disorganised (very un-Disney!) and early non-US immigration on arrival at St Thomas, and the early non-US immigration on return to Port Canaveral. I've read that Disney don't have any control over this, but can't help but feel they would negotiate something better (as other cruise lines apparently have) if a higher percentage of their guests were non-US. And I think they should send the immigration officials on a Disney course to teach them how to be more pleasant to people!

And I do wish they had nicer orange juice! I make special trips to a specific supermarket here in the UK to buy Florida's Natural so was very disappointed to find the watered down stuff on the cruise.

But most of all, I wish I was back on the Magic NOW.

 

[mishoe01]

I've been on the Wonder 3x, and have not had any problems w/ the kids/people running down the halls, or the smoke (luckily as I'm allergic to smoke).

Re: Palo - I LOVE dinner, and will definately do that again. I have done brunch too, but if I don't get the chance to do brunch again, I won't be too upset. I do want to try tea.

I haven't been disappointed w/ meals on board...there was really only 1 dinner that I wish I'd chosen something else, but that was it.

I can't wait to eat at Lumieres for the 1st time!

 

[cdnmickeylover]

We have liked the food on board although we liked it less this past October but for no particular reason that we can put our finger on. I'm not that picky though and Jim is becoming much less picky.

We did do Palo dinner and did not like it or rather we didn't like the service. We found our server quite condescending and huffy after we said that we didn't want any wine (at the time we were both on medications that meant we couldn't drink alcohol). After that he treated us like morons -- gave us pizza and as he put it down on the table said "this isn't like anything YOU'RE used to." As for dessert we weren't given a choice he just said "I guess you want the chocolate souffle and then he brought it". We ended up afterwards wondering what all the hype was about.

We also had brunch in the private room with other disers -- my only warning about this is that the room can get mightly hot. We asked for a fan and were told there was nothing that could be done and no we couldn't move into the main dining area even though there were empty tables. Food was great but again the service was lacking.

Palo tea -- had a great, wonderful server and a wonderful time. Have every intention of going back.

No problems with noise or running kids. Our only problem really in terms of the elevators are people who insist on getting on before you can get off. This happened with both kids and adults pushing their way on as we were trying to get off.

We did have another problem with linking our dining reservations that DCL seemed to mess up and then proceeded to tell us they could do nothing about it. Wasn't impressed with our head server on this one.

Overall though - no real problems and have had great cruises.

Firmly believe in the adage -- if you want to have a good time you will and if you want to have a bad time you will.

Fiona

 

[granmaz]

I think we would be extremely disappointed to have smoking affecting us when out on our verandah. I have been trying to think of something annoying to do, but can't!! Childish I know but.......!!! I once read of someone who blew bubbles at smokers, but that will hardly work on the outside of a ship!!

 

[fourmcds]

And it all happened because my mom had a dream...and we carried it out.

This brought a tear and many memories to me...

My dad passed away in 1995 when our DD was just 10 months old. Our DD certainly made the last months of my dads life very full and lively! My DH and I had plans to go to DL and my dad passed away the day we were supposed to fly out. My mom and DSis insisted that we go and let "the magic" take us away for a few days as they new that I would need to take on everything when I returned. We saw the Candelight processional for the first time, when it was still held by the train station at the end of main street; David Ogden Stiers narrated and it was just magnificent. I cried the entire time remembering my dad and the special connection he and I had to music. It really was special that we had Disney to take away some of our pain.

My mom became even more a part of our world and our travel plans after my dads death. We took her to DL with us in 1996, 1997 and 1998, we lost her in 1999 when DD was just 4 and a half and they were so close. We all miss her tremendously and know that she would have loved to be cruising with us if she could!! She loved Disney!!

For those of you with your parents still... hold them close and treasure them!!!

Karen, wife of been2marceline[/QUOTE]

Trying to catch up here...wow, you guys are busy couldn't even imagine the other list!

These stories bring up memories. We were able to buy into DVC for the first time due to my inheritance from my GM. She was the first person to take me to WDW in 1977 and then I went with her regularly when I visited her in Florida over the years. She wanted me to enjoy disney so she gave me my inheritance before she passed away (she died in 2005 the day we got back from a 2 week WDW trip, we bought DVC in 2000) so that she could hear about our trips and see the pictures. She was never able to join us because she was so weak in her last years. But, everytime we go, we think of her

Now, onto trying to catch up with the rest of the pages.

By the way, what is a fish extender used for? I saw the picture of it, but i wasn't sure what people use it for!

 

[Meriweather]

First DCL trip
Can I steal the Ship of Thieves logo for my signature?

 

[mishoe01]

By the way, what is a fish extender used for? I saw the picture of it, but i wasn't sure what people use it for!

It's something you hang from the fish outside your door (hence the name) and you get mail and little goodies in the pockets.