May 12, 2007 -- Taking the Magic to the Mediterranean -- 14 day Repo Cruise!

[Euchre_U]

Hi All its good to be back home on Folly Beach WOW what a trip and we met so many of you wondderful fun people - so many GREAT memories - Thanks to all and thanks for all the candy and gifts in my Fish Extender

What about the beer that we left at your door in Barcelona? Sorry, I took the scotch home with me.

We looked up Folly Beach - Marlea, Kyan, and I were through there when we stayed in Charleston (on our way to the beach).

Kurt

 

[Scoobypop]

Yay, congratulations to your Daughter Deanna!!!

Kelly, so happy to see you again! Welcome, thanks for the trip reports! Look forward to seeing you (and anyone else in DL) hopefully in November.

Hi to everyone else, and thanks again for the tears when you show pictures and make us think about what was happening a month ago at this time.

 

[nanaguide]

Deanna - congrats to your daughter. Just look at how many skills she learned by competing and the scholarship is an extra plus. I'm not at all surprised she won - just look at who her Mom is. It runs in the family.

Kelly - we just got back from Typhoon Lagoon with grandson, Aiden. We had a ball in the BIG WAVE. All he can talk about is going to California Disney. He thought when we were gone on our cruise we had gone to California Disney without him. That was the first thing he asked me when we saw him at the Orlando airport. We keep telling him he has to eat his vegetables to grow so he can go. So now he asks, "Is this California vegetables?" He is not a good eater like Zoe. I told my husband we must go to Blue Bayou and Goofy's Kitchen according to what Susie and Kelly say. I've added that to my list. Is Erik having trouble booking Grand California in November or did I miss a post? That is oh most 6 months away. So I'm wondering if I should book it now? Even though we aren't going till May 29.We definitely want to stay there 4 nights before we take Aiden to Yosemite for 4 days. I lived in Manhattan Beach with my Dad and that was a favorite family adventure to go to Yosemite. I'll keep reading the thread to get pointers about Disneyland.

My best memory is standing on Deck 10 watching the fireworks show over Barcelona - talking to Connie and her son Michael and some other people we met on deck who we found out live about 2 miles from us - small world. That was the most awesome fireworks show and backdrop that I'll probably ever see. The picture they took is a full color print on the front of our Disney Eyes and Ears newspaper this week. I showed everyone in the office last night where I was standing on deck 10. The picture is awesome. If anyone would like a copy of the Disney paper just PM me and I'll pick up some copies at Epcot and send it to you.

Two other people in my office were on the cruise and they got back before I did and told everyone they didn't have a good time then I come popping in telling everyone how great it was. The other ladies were unhappy that we only had 2 days of sunshine - me, I loved the rolling of the boat. I slept like a baby. They thought the food was terrible the last week - me, I thought everything was fantastic. I'm trying to take off the pounds I gained. Maybe I was so excited because everywhere you went you saw people you knew and it made the cruise special. I think any trip is what you make it.

 

[Hoagie Pie]

Nanaguide - I agree with you - it is what you make it and we couldn't have asked for a better time. You can't blame DCL for the weather. Deanna - CONGRATS to your daughter. If she was dancing like you, how could she not win. Eller, your son was hysterical and I loved reliving all those memories with you - especially the Barcelona fireworks. I just picked up my pictures today and have been studying them like I will have an exam at the end of the day. Pat, you better win the debate with your wife. Tell her the Caribbean will be much calmer and we will have so much fun! She looked like she was having a great time with the monkey! Deb, received your pictures in the mail that I ordered and they are great! I like when people take pictures of what I thought to take a picture of, but never did. It works out great! Hadley, hope you had fun with your SIL. I just broke down today and had a Dr. Pepper after 5 days of NO soda!!!! HELP!!!!!

 

[Scoobypop]

Deanna - congrats to your daughter. Just look at how many skills she learned by competing and the scholarship is an extra plus. I'm not at all surprised she won - just look at who her Mom is. It runs in the family.

Kelly - we just got back from Typhoon Lagoon with grandson, Aiden. We had a ball in the BIG WAVE. All he can talk about is going to California Disney. He thought when we were gone on our cruise we had gone to California Disney without him. That was the first thing he asked me when we saw him at the Orlando airport. We keep telling him he has to eat his vegetables to grow so he can go. So now he asks, "Is this California vegetables?" He is not a good eater like Zoe. I told my husband we must go to Blue Bayou and Goofy's Kitchen according to what Susie and Kelly say. I've added that to my list. Is Erik having trouble booking Grand California in November or did I miss a post? That is oh most 6 months away. So I'm wondering if I should book it now? Even though we aren't going till May 29.We definitely want to stay there 4 nights before we take Aiden to Yosemite for 4 days. I lived in Manhattan Beach with my Dad and that was a favorite family adventure to go to Yosemite. I'll keep reading the thread to get pointers about Disneyland.

My best memory is standing on Deck 10 watching the fireworks show over Barcelona - talking to Connie and her son Michael and some other people we met on deck who we found out live about 2 miles from us - small world. That was the most awesome fireworks show and backdrop that I'll probably ever see. The picture they took is a full color print on the front of our Disney Eyes and Ears newspaper this week. I showed everyone in the office last night where I was standing on deck 10. The picture is awesome. If anyone would like a copy of the Disney paper just PM me and I'll pick up some copies at Epcot and send it to you.

Two other people in my office were on the cruise and they got back before I did and told everyone they didn't have a good time then I come popping in telling everyone how great it was. The other ladies were unhappy that we only had 2 days of sunshine - me, I loved the rolling of the boat. I slept like a baby. They thought the food was terrible the last week - me, I thought everything was fantastic. I'm trying to take off the pounds I gained. Maybe I was so excited because everywhere you went you saw people you knew and it made the cruise special. I think any trip is what you make it.

I am astounded when I hear people say they didn't have a good time. Like you, I LOVED every single second of being there. I thought the weather was absolutely terrific, I love the motion of the boat, I loved the food! When I hear someone say they don't enjoy the food, I wonder what they are eating every day in real life? I'm certainly not eating every dinner with a selection of appetizers, soup and/or salads, entrees (2 if I'm particularly hungry), desserts (at LEAST 2 every night) and exceptional service. I come home from work, grill some chicken breasts, plop some Stove Top Stuffing on the table, microwave vegetables and that's dinner in real life for people like me. I can think of nothing to complain about when it comes to the food on the ship. As for the weather?--Well, if it's not 85 degrees and sunny every day, I will certainly make my own fun with my own friends and groups, and still find nothing to complain about. I'm on vacation on a Disney Cruise! I'm glad some people love their jobs SO much that they get back and apparently would RATHER be at work than on a vacation where they apparently didn't have a good time. That's not us!

So glad to hear you had a blast!

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

How could you not just love the beauty of the water crashing against the sides of the ship on the bad weather days??? Beat Street windows with their little cushions were great for enjoying this!

How could you not get a thrill when the Goofy Pool created a Tidal Wave and splashed unsuspecting passers by??

How could you not get a giggle watching the ladies, especially me, trying to look dignified in their high heel shoes while swaying and tripping on those bad weahter days????

How could you not just laugh out loud when trying to descend the Walt Disney Theater steps gracefully on those bad weather days?

Scott and I were able to take latin dance lessons, race potato cars, learn about different countries, scrapbook, see wonderful shows, play a few games, perform in a talent show, have fun dancing silly at RBD, win prizes, meet Ducky Williams and his nice friends, eat french fries and ice cream whenever we wanted, have about 10 desserts each at midnight, take ship tours, party with princesses, find cute animals and chocolate on my pillow each night, and best of all meet some fine friends.

I just don't get it when people didn't like it.


The cruise met all my expectations and more!

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

Oh, we had Mac and cheese for dinner here. We are SO glamerous. The chicken and stovetop sounds gourmet to me! No, really, I can cook.We just spent the day at the pool. and I needed to get my kids off to church, so we did the easy thing for dinner.

Scott and I are going to see Ocean's (#?) tonight. I'm so excited! I get to watch all those hotties for 2 hours!

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

I have to agree it is all what you make it!

I can not imagine sailing on another line with thousands of people and not knowing anyone! Being able to pass someone in the hall and knowing that they are "one of the good guys" is so comforting and makes it that much better.

Besides, where else can you see this..... like we did one month ago:

Debbie

 

[Hoagie Pie]

Deb always knows what to do to bring a tear to my eye!!! I don't think I will ever travel another cruise line!

 

[roserae]

What were your funny moments on the trip?

My funniest moment was my 5 year old daughter telling us she had "a secret for only mommy and daddy" after picking her up from the Oceaneer's Club.

She says, "I kissed Jason!" (Jason is Pat's (tazzmcd) 6 year old son).
"You did? [pause] Um, okay"
"More than once!"
"Oh? Hmmm, how many times?"
"Oh, I don't remember."
"Ten?!?"
"No, maybe six or seven"
"Did you kiss him on the cheek?"
"No... [sheepish grin] On the mouth!...and one time on the knee!"
"Um, why did you kiss Jason?"
"Because he asked me to."
"Did he try to run away?"
"No."
"Where were you?"
"On the bean bag chairs."
"Um, Emily, you don't need to be kissing boys."
"Why? I kiss daddy all the time."
"Um....never mind."

What do you say? Didn't want to make too big of a deal about it. But thought it was very funny. I told Pat and Joyce about it later and told them to watch their boy around my innocent little girl!

 

[littleowensmommy]

We just got DSL up and running this evening!

Our trip home was pretty smooth. We took some very good advice from Anna and dropped our DCL transfers to BCN and caught a cab from the port instead. We used a porter to transport our bags to the Continental check-in area. We flew nonstop to Newark on the 10:55am flight and had no trouble clearing customs. We had dinner at the airport before boarding our flight to San Diego. We arrived on time with all our our bags...8 checked bags and at least 4 of them weighing close to 70 pounds. We were prepared to present Ted's PCS orders to allow 2 of the 4 overweight bags but the agent let all bags go without question and no additional costs.

We're overwhelmed with unpacking boxes at the moment. We moved into our new house last Friday. We're all exhausted. The kids start camp next week so I'll get more done without them underfoot. We took a break today and went to the Del Mar Fair.

The 11-night was fun but the pace was intense. Didn't feel like we got to enjoy the ship as much.

I'll post a complete trip report soon.

We miss you all.

Kathy, Ted, Owen and Amy

 

[tig82174]

Greetings everyone! Here comes one of my infamous insomnia posts in the middle of the night from a strange hotel on a business trip!

So I have been reading the board but not necessarily keeping up perfectly......so in general: WELCOME HOME B2Bers!! It's so good to have you back, we missed you!

DizneyDAnn....obviously those of us who knew you on the cruise are not at all surprised that your daughter is offically a royal queen now.....the apple doesn't fall from the tree, my dear....and you were already the queen of DCL linedancing classes.....the queen of onbaord knitting classes....the queen of Rockin' Bar D....and Pirate queen of the Sexy Wenches! Seriously, though congrats to your daughter. That's amazing....and I'm certain that with all those kids you have to worry about one day putting through college that you're thrilled for every scholarship your young beauty can win for herself!!! (would it be TOTALLY inappropriate for me to start referring to you as the "old woman who lived in a shoe"....0k maybe not old...and maybe not living in a show....but you definitely have so many children you don't know what to do!!! I hope you get nominated for sainthood or whatever the LDS equivalent is sometime soon!!!)

I"m so glad to hear from Kelly and Kathy, too that all those ports in so few days was too much.....it's just further proof that we NEED a portless cruise!! We can take one 7 day cruise with a different crazy port every day and THEN do the cruise to nowehre!!! That was the only POSSIBLE complaint that Jason and could have had....was that after all those days at sea, teh rush and bustle and early mornings of the ports felt very taxing.....wonderful, but taxing!! Jason and I were even saying that as much as we LOVED being the first ever TransAtlantic voyage.....but I bet the August return voyage will be a lot better. Because they will do all the ports so close together and it will feel very very busy and then all of a sudden they'll get 6 or 7 days of endless relaxation at sea only to finish at the incomparable Castaway Cay before coming home......I'm glad we got be on the Magic first....but I bet the August repo is going to be just phenomenal in that way!

Again also I want to say thanks to everyone for the input on DL. Susie...I knew you weren't saying the DL hotel was bad or inferior....just that it wasn't as nice....I guess my point was to wonder if it so "less nice" as to make it worthwhile to fight for the Grand Californian.....but to be honest the more we looked at pictures and heard from all of you regarding the pools and theming (and beautiful Koi ponds!!!)....the more it sounds exactly like the kind of place we'd want to stay. So were're official that we're staying at the DisneyLand hotel in a "premium view" room. Now if only November would hurry up and get here!!!......oh wait.....actually what I want is SEPT. because w'ere going back to WDW for 5 days in September.....and Hadley's family with be there at the same time!!! So we'll get to hang out with them while we're all there.....and then in CA we'll get to see a bunch of you from the West Coast.....and then a cruise (Double Dip) next year with Chris and Rob , Hadley and her crew and Hoagie Pie and her family.....it's so exciting!!! Jason and I are so eagerly looking forward to all these mini trips and visiting wth all of you because it really does help us "Remember the MAGIC!!" (*clasps hands" FAITH! *extends arms* TRUST! *rubs palms together* PIXIE DUST!!


oh and p.s. I'm just glad that the pic of us very gay pirates went up in that glass display case after we were already off the boat! Although I kinda hope it stays there for a while, now.....because two of my cheerleaders are going on the last Med cruise in June......I bet they'd get a HOOT out of being onboard and seeing my picture in the Shutters display case!!

 

[NHdisneylover]

Kathy--YOU"RE BACK. I was resigned to not seeing anything from you for another month or so with all you have to do for the move. I am so happy you priotitize better than that Rio's not up yet (late night visiting with aunt Karen who was here for ONE day in between business stuff in Philly and Boston), but he will be totally excited to know Owen in back in town (I think he asks about twice a day, but it seems like so much more).

 

[kpros]

We just got DSL up and running this evening!

Our trip home was pretty smooth. We took some very good advice from Anna and dropped our DCL transfers to BCN and caught a cab from the port instead. We used a porter to transport our bags to the Continental check-in area. We flew nonstop to Newark on the 10:55am flight and had no trouble clearing customs. We had dinner at the airport before boarding our flight to San Diego. We arrived on time with all our our bags...8 checked bags and at least 4 of them weighing close to 70 pounds. We were prepared to present Ted's PCS orders to allow 2 of the 4 overweight bags but the agent let all bags go without question and no additional costs.

We're overwhelmed with unpacking boxes at the moment. We moved into our new house last Friday. We're all exhausted. The kids start camp next week so I'll get more done without them underfoot. We took a break today and went to the Del Mar Fair.

The 11-night was fun but the pace was intense. Didn't feel like we got to enjoy the ship as much.

I'll post a complete trip report soon.

We miss you all.

Kathy, Ted, Owen and Amy

Hi Kathy - Welcome to California!!!

I've got a nice picture of Ted and Amy that I can forward to you. Is your E-mail staying the same or are you changing?

Ken

 

[newgeneb]

What about the beer that we left at your door in Barcelona? Sorry, I took the scotch home with me.

We looked up Folly Beach - Marlea, Kyan, and I were through there when we stayed in Charleston (on our way to the beach).

Kurt

Thanks for the Beer some others left all kinds of booze also My bar bill was very low on the second leg : Thanks to all Enjoyed meeting you next time in Folly give us a call and ill buy you a beer

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
As I posted before we only met a few of you during the cruise. Here's a link to a few of our pictures. A lot of them are of our dining table. For those of you who were on the late APL rotation we were the very rowdy table 23. A great time was had by all.

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/5815118

Mick & Lyn

 

[ssnyder]

We just got DSL up and running this evening!

Our trip home was pretty smooth. We took some very good advice from Anna and dropped our DCL transfers to BCN and caught a cab from the port instead. We used a porter to transport our bags to the Continental check-in area. We flew nonstop to Newark on the 10:55am flight and had no trouble clearing customs. We had dinner at the airport before boarding our flight to San Diego. We arrived on time with all our our bags...8 checked bags and at least 4 of them weighing close to 70 pounds. We were prepared to present Ted's PCS orders to allow 2 of the 4 overweight bags but the agent let all bags go without question and no additional costs.

We're overwhelmed with unpacking boxes at the moment. We moved into our new house last Friday. We're all exhausted. The kids start camp next week so I'll get more done without them underfoot. We took a break today and went to the Del Mar Fair.

The 11-night was fun but the pace was intense. Didn't feel like we got to enjoy the ship as much.

I'll post a complete trip report soon.

We miss you all.

Kathy, Ted, Owen and Amy

Welcome to San Diego!

Glad your trip home went smooth. I was on that Continental flight on the 26th and I also had no problems with it.

 

[milestogo]

I am astounded when I hear people say they didn't have a good time. Like you, I LOVED every single second of being there. I thought the weather was absolutely terrific, I love the motion of the boat, I loved the food! When I hear someone say they don't enjoy the food, I wonder what they are eating every day in real life? I'm certainly not eating every dinner with a selection of appetizers, soup and/or salads, entrees (2 if I'm particularly hungry), desserts (at LEAST 2 every night) and exceptional service. I come home from work, grill some chicken breasts, plop some Stove Top Stuffing on the table, microwave vegetables and that's dinner in real life for people like me. I can think of nothing to complain about when it comes to the food on the ship. As for the weather?--Well, if it's not 85 degrees and sunny every day, I will certainly make my own fun with my own friends and groups, and still find nothing to complain about. I'm on vacation on a Disney Cruise! I'm glad some people love their jobs SO much that they get back and apparently would RATHER be at work than on a vacation where they apparently didn't have a good time. That's not us!

So glad to hear you had a blast!

I'm with you, it is exactly what you make of it. For many of us who have sun all year, it is great to have the less sunny sunburn weather. I did go back to buy the gay pirate picture, but it was gone and new boring family was up there!

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

Okay, the words "Gay Pirate Picture" are just cracking me up! I saw that picture, too, btw, and I wanted to buy it, but I thought it might be a touch rude, since the gay pirates were still on board! Darn, I should've grabbed the loot. (I was going to say "grab the booty, " but that has a whole different conotation and I don't think the gay pirates would want the old woman in the shoe grabbing their booties...okay, I said it anyway)

I would LOVE being the old woman in the shoe. We even named my property Indashoe Acres. Cute, huh?

I should put Katey's dance on Youtube, so anyone interested can see it. I'm still working on pictures. I'm computer dumb.

Welcome home, Kathy!

 

[eller]

Darn, I should've grabbed the loot. (I was going to say "grab the booty, " but that has a whole different conotation and I don't think the gay pirates would want the old woman in the shoe grabbing their booties...okay, I said it anyway)QUOTE]



Lori