May 25, 2012 - Magical 8-night cruise - NYC to the Bahamas!

[padalyn]

I left everyone a phone message about this, but to explain again...I searched this thread for her and found the last post was in August. She posted that her son was getting married in a week (I guess it has happened already?) and she was looking for commentary. No further posts, no answers to PM, she wasn't on the FB page. I tried, I really tried. I had the cruise director and hotel manager search the database for their name combo (since I didn't have a last name it was a manual search). I killed my phone doing internet searches while enroute WDW...just no joy.

So, I apologize for the confusion and any issues that arose from this.

I hope everyone enjoys their FE gifts and that this was a pleasant experience overall!

THe cruise was wonderful, we had an amazing time. Michael thanks everyone who chose to include him in the FE gifts and thinks we are all a little nuts!

Cayla

 

[ge0rgette2]

FE gifts were wonderful - over and beyond.

I hope I gave enough in my little baggies!

Don't recall what you gave out Cayla, actually don't believe I saw anything
but all was fun and I'm glad that I did it.

PS - I did receive your phone message.

 

[padalyn]

FE gifts were wonderful - over and beyond.

I hope I gave enough in my little baggies!

Don't recall what you gave out Cayla, actually don't believe I saw anything
but all was fun and I'm glad that I did it.

PS - I did receive your phone message.

mine was a cd of "cruisin' music" it has three folders of mp3 songs...one is dance music from sailaway, another is disney music and the last are all songs with the word magic in the title!

 

[MermaidMama]

Hi gang! We want to thank our FE friends for the wonderful gifts. It was such excitement for Sophia and Sydney every time they discovered a surprise in their FE pocket. Each and every gift was a celebration! I have to give a shout-out on a few FE's . .

The dry erase activity books were awesome! The girls had such fun with them. I left them at the foot of the girl's bunks so they'd have something to keep them busy on mornings when Mommy & Daddy needed some extra sleep! Worked like a charm!

The CD's are a wonderful memory of the trip. I'm listening while I unpack and do laundry today! Kudos to Cayla & Cathy and Justin's Mommy

The sand brush from Justin's Mommy was a unique idea. We'll use it at the Shore this summer!

Georgette, those post-it clip boards were a hit! And whoever sent the specially printed "I'd rather be at Castaway Cay" post-its . . . LOVE IT!

Thea, thanks for the animation "how to" books. You're so creative!

The "I NY" tote bags and change purses have already been put to use. What practical and fun gifts!

The adult gifts were fantastic too. I especially enjoyed the little bottles! Hubby liked the waterproof money/card holder best. We used them when we went snorkeling in Nassau and CC.

I know I've left a lot of you out, but I just can't remember everything. All the candy, cards, pencils, and each and every little girly thing brought joy to my kids . . . . and isn't that what it's all about?

Fondly,
Susan & family

 

[SeaSpray]

Hi gang! We want to thank our FE friends for the wonderful gifts. It was such excitement for Sophia and Sydney every time they discovered a surprise in their FE pocket. Each and every gift was a celebration! I have to give a shout-out on a few FE's . .

The dry erase activity books were awesome! The girls had such fun with them. I left them at the foot of the girl's bunks so they'd have something to keep them busy on mornings when Mommy & Daddy needed some extra sleep! Worked like a charm!

The CD's are a wonderful memory of the trip. I'm listening while I unpack and do laundry today! Kudos to Cayla & Cathy and Justin's Mommy

The sand brush from Justin's Mommy was a unique idea. We'll use it at the Shore this summer!

Georgette, those post-it clip boards were a hit! And whoever sent the specially printed "I'd rather be at Castaway Cay" post-its . . . LOVE IT!

Thea, thanks for the animation "how to" books. You're so creative!

The "I NY" tote bags and change purses have already been put to use. What practical and fun gifts!

The adult gifts were fantastic too. I especially enjoyed the little bottles! Hubby liked the waterproof money/card holder best. We used them when we went snorkeling in Nassau and CC.

I know I've left a lot of you out, but I just can't remember everything. All the candy, cards, pencils, and each and every little girly thing brought joy to my kids . . . . and isn't that what it's all about?

Fondly,
Susan & family

The Castaway Cay post-its were from us! I'm glad you liked them.

I feel the same way; I love every single item that we received! Last night John and I started to go through our "goody bag" and every single item will be used by us. We already used the sand brush at Castaway Cay! People near us even commented on it. I was so glad that I grabbed it before we left the ship.

No matter the item, you could tell that people put effort into their gifts, and that is what I appreciate. I started out wanting to make home-made items but in the end I had to use items that I ordered, and I hope everyone liked them.

I wish that I would've put a note in the bags explaining that the maple candy is from a Maple Syrup farm in my town. Actually it's in my neighborhood.

Robby and Chelsea included rice candy from Japan in their bags and that's because that candy holds fond memories for Robby of our earliest trips to WDW, and specifically Japan in Epcot. He'd save his money for months in order to buy as much rice candy as he could, to bring back home. lol



Did anyone else rebook onboard? We did, but we won't be sailing DCL again until 2014 so the booking CM just gave us a place-holder date for the end of 2012. Once 2014 itineraries are released we'll decide which cruise to do.

 

[jjb42974]

Hi all - We also want to thank everyone for all of the FE gifts. My kids were very excited to see what goodies awaited us when we returned to our room. (BTW - we gave out the Hershey bars - it didn't occur to me to label them with our names). The FE is a cute idea and we had fun with it.

While we had a relaxing, enjoyable trip and are glad we tried out a cruise, we won't be doing another any time soon. I think we like to be on-the-go more than we realized. Too many at sea days for us and our kids were exhausted by the time the adult activities were on so of course they went to sleep instead of the lab. We missed the comedians who, when we saw them briefly in the last show, looked like they were a riot. I have to say that the shows that were put on were fabulous.

Our excursion at Nassau was a waste of time and money. Castaway Cay was a really fun day for us. We had a cabana which was nice and got to enjoy snorkeling. We had to cancel our Palo dinner that night bc the kids were SO tired. WDW was so hot and pretty crowded but we had fun. I think we went on 7 or 8 rides in 10 hours but what can you do?? It's always fun there.

I thought that all of the employees that we encountered were so nice and always helpful - and we had great tablemates at dinner which was a relief!

Glad everyone had a great time too and enjoy your next cruise. We will probably do Beaches or another all-inclusive next time.

 

[drparoo]

We enjoyed all the gifts, too, everyone, thank you. Being from Tennessee, we had to throw in some Jack Daniels. I hope that didn't offend anyone.

It's funny how you never really know what ends up being the most useful until the time comes. I carried my soda can koozie everywhere.....one of the perks of being in the suite was free soda cans and I was NEVER without my koozie. I had a TON of people....even cast members....wanting to know where I got it, so thank you!!! And I, too, really loved the sand brush. I mean, who knew that would be so useful????

Some of you are just so creative, I am really impressed. Everything was so very thoughtful.

We enjoyed the cruise, even though it wasn't our overall favorite that we've taken. My son sprained his ankle playing basketball the night before Nassau, so it was lucky we didn't have any excursions planned. LOVED Castaway Cay and the cabana was worth every penny. Disney World was fun, but so crowded, and with Toy Story Mania being down for a couple of hours in the morning, it threw my "plan" off!!! It was a long day and less efficient than how we usually do the parks, but we were grateful to have some park time either way.

So great to meet many of you. Thanks for a great first FE experience!!

 

[drparoo]

(BTW - we gave out the Hershey bars - it didn't occur to me to label them with our names)

One of my kids' favorites!! Thanks!!

 

[drparoo]

I hear everyone, we had a graduation party our night back, and I told the kids, if you want food you'll go, cause I ain't cooking! No, Andrae here! I am bringing the cd's into school, can't wait to play them, the candy's all gone,, I hope everyone liked the candles, bandanas, beach balls and cards! I LOVED doing the fish extender. We also booked a dummy transatlantic cruise. I had so much fun getting to know everyone, that the cruise actually started a year ago on these boards!

My daughter wore the bandana to dinner....liked it much better than what the ship provided. I carried the cards with me all the time. I will say the beach balls got a little too much use in the rooms....my boy is 6' 5" and for some reason needs to play mock basketball no matter where he is, so he loved them. And the candle was a really sweet "final" gift. Thanks so much!!!

 

[annmorr]

Hi to all,

We don't cruise until the Aug 17 Magic, but I have spent a lot of time reading your posts both prior to your cruise, and now afterwards. You all seem to have had a great time, and I'm picking up lots of tidbits of information that will be helpful in my planning. I am especially intrigued by the "sand brush" that was mentioned as a FE gift..... can someone explain a little further? Is it something to sweep the sand off of your chairs, or off of your body, or just clean an area of beach? Or am I way off base?
We live at the Jersey Shore so spend lots of summer days on the beach, and these sound like a great idea......
Thanks for all the info you've been posting... I'd love to see Navigators or menus if anyone has those to share....

 

[MermaidMama]

We enjoyed all the gifts, too, everyone, thank you. Being from Tennessee, we had to throw in some Jack Daniels. I hope that didn't offend anyone.

It's funny how you never really know what ends up being the most useful until the time comes. I carried my soda can koozie everywhere.....one of the perks of being in the suite was free soda cans and I was NEVER without my koozie. I had a TON of people....even cast members....wanting to know where I got it, so thank you!!! And I, too, really loved the sand brush. I mean, who knew that would be so useful????

Dear Doc,

Like I said, the "little bottles" were my favorite! Thanks!

So glad that you enjoyed using the koozie! They were actually my husband's idea! Hopefully it will continue to be a reminder of the fun you had on the cruise.

We also gave hand-beaded Mickey necklaces to the girls on the FE list. My 9 year old did most of the work, and as she would say, "they were made with love!"

All the best,

Susan
__________________

 

[StephBee]

Ah, the post-Disney depression has set in, lol

Although, my head still feels like it is sailing! How long does that last?!? Even had to take Dramamine Saturday night!!

That being said, our family of 13 had a wonderful time!!

Our one and only big snafoo was that our family was assigned to 4 different dinner tables. Disney stated that we were not connected in the computer system, which I know was untrue bc I could see my whole family's information when I logged into the Disney website. Anyway, the situation was rectified by the first dinner, although our table was less than desirable. Not so fun to be squeezed into the back of every restaurant with 5 young kids who wanted to go to the bathroom all of the time!

Definitely could have skipped Nassau, although Castaway Cay was wonderful! Would have preferred to spend 2 days there! For future reference, did anyone have a good port adventure experience in Nassau that they would like to share?

Loved all of the easy access to the characters! Who knew that you could almost walk right up to Mickey at 10 PM at night for a picture, or dance with Minnie Mouse at the Pirate party? Just awesome!!

We didn't use the kid's clubs as much as we wanted to! Felt guilty leaving the kids when there was so much else going on! We had planned on some "adult" time on the sea days back to NYC, but our youngest ended up with fevers/vomiting, etc. He still isn't exactly back to normal yet. Thankfully, we did have our family there to help us and were able to make it to our Palo dinner. That was wonderful!

Not sure when we will cruise again. This was our son's first trip to WDW, so we will probably do a week just at the parks next time. Although, I would LOVE to check out the newest ships!!

Thanks again to SeaSpray for organizing the get-together and the green leis. Also, a special thanks to Caryn for the lanyards...we definitely got a lot of use out of them!

AND, thanks to ALL of you for the information, advice, suggestions over the past few months. It was invaluable!! I really enjoyed "looking forward" to our vacation together!!!

Take care everyone...until we meet again!!

Stephanie

 

[ge0rgette2]

Did anyone else rebook onboard? We did, but we won't be sailing DCL again until 2014 so the booking CM just gave us a place-holder date for the end of 2012. Once 2014 itineraries are released we'll decide which cruise to do.

I did, as well as Phyllis too! I think I'm personally cancelling.
We booked a 4n Bahama for next May -- it's $3200.00 for the 4 of us - leaving out of PC so we have to fly or drive, not worth the money for us.. the discount was great and the 10% deposit, but I'm still unsure what to do!

Our excursion at Nassau was a waste of time and money. Castaway Cay was a really fun day for us. We had a cabana which was nice and got to enjoy snorkeling. We had to cancel our Palo dinner that night bc the kids were SO tired. WDW was so hot and pretty crowded but we had fun. I think we went on 7 or 8 rides in 10 hours but what can you do?? It's always fun there.

I agree with you -- Nassau was a waste of a stop for us! Castaway was just a complete delighful day!

We enjoyed all the gifts, too, everyone, thank you. Being from Tennessee, we had to throw in some Jack Daniels. I hope that didn't offend anyone.

It's funny how you never really know what ends up being the most useful until the time comes. I carried my soda can koozie everywhere.....one of the perks of being in the suite was free soda cans and I was NEVER without my koozie. I had a TON of people....even cast members....wanting to know where I got it, so thank you!!! And I, too, really loved the sand brush. I mean, who knew that would be so useful????

Some of you are just so creative, I am really impressed. Everything was so very thoughtful.

We enjoyed the cruise, even though it wasn't our overall favorite that we've taken. My son sprained his ankle playing basketball the night before Nassau, so it was lucky we didn't have any excursions planned. LOVED Castaway Cay and the cabana was worth every penny. Disney World was fun, but so crowded, and with Toy Story Mania being down for a couple of hours in the morning, it threw my "plan" off!!! It was a long day and less efficient than how we usually do the parks, but we were grateful to have some park time either way.

So great to meet many of you. Thanks for a great first FE experience!!

Loved the JD!!

As for the koozies, wonderful!!! I was looking for days before the cruise to bring them ... we never used the ones I brought, cause we had nice Magic ones!!

 

[padalyn]

we booked a 3 day placeholder that we just kicked over to DVC for the 14 night Transatlantic next May!!

My AWESOME fiance is taking me to Barcelona for my graduation present!!

WOO HOO!!!

 

[jjb42974]

Hi to all,

We don't cruise until the Aug 17 Magic, but I have spent a lot of time reading your posts both prior to your cruise, and now afterwards. You all seem to have had a great time, and I'm picking up lots of tidbits of information that will be helpful in my planning. I am especially intrigued by the "sand brush" that was mentioned as a FE gift..... can someone explain a little further? Is it something to sweep the sand off of your chairs, or off of your body, or just clean an area of beach? Or am I way off base?
We live at the Jersey Shore so spend lots of summer days on the beach, and these sound like a great idea......
Thanks for all the info you've been posting... I'd love to see Navigators or menus if anyone has those to share....

Hi! If you PM me your email address I can send u a pic. I have no idea how to post pics on here. They were really cute!

 

[SeaSpray]

we booked a 3 day placeholder that we just kicked over to DVC for the 14 night Transatlantic next May!!

My AWESOME fiance is taking me to Barcelona for my graduation present!!

WOO HOO!!!

Woo hoo! I'd love to be on the Magic for 14 nights! Have a great time!

 

[padalyn]

Woo hoo! I'd love to be on the Magic for 14 nights! Have a great time!

we are very excited, plus we are getting married 5 months later - this will be a great break from the running around getting things done.

 

[Ladyshopper]

We are just home today, so am catching up on the threads on here. Loved the cruise, and have had a fantastic few days in New York although now need a holiday to recover!!

We re-booked onboard for the Med sailing next year, although whether I can afford it or not is another matter, but at least you can cancel and get the deposit back or just move the date back.

I quite enjoyed Nassau, we walked to the free public beach and it was fine. Castaway Cay was amzing though, our first time there and would love to go back. Disney World - would have been great if my 14 year old hadn't been out at Vibe til 1am then been absolutely exhausted to the popint of feeling sick all day and being very grouchy - I was NOT happy with him that day.

Thanks for the all the FE gifts. I saw a few people using the tote bags I made and was so excited when I saw them (sorry, didn't have enough for everyone), but all the adults should have had a purse, bag or coaster from me along with magnets, then there was different things for the children depending on their ages. I really enjoyed doing the FE, I don't think you ever get too old for the excitement of coming back and finding something in there!

Padalyn - 14 days, wow, I am so jealous. Have a fantastic time!

Did anyone else stay in New York afterwards?

 

[drparoo]

We are just home today, so am catching up on the threads on here. Loved the cruise, and have had a fantastic few days in New York although now need a holiday to recover!!

We re-booked onboard for the Med sailing next year, although whether I can afford it or not is another matter, but at least you can cancel and get the deposit back or just move the date back.

I quite enjoyed Nassau, we walked to the free public beach and it was fine. Castaway Cay was amzing though, our first time there and would love to go back. Disney World - would have been great if my 14 year old hadn't been out at Vibe til 1am then been absolutely exhausted to the popint of feeling sick all day and being very grouchy - I was NOT happy with him that day.

Thanks for the all the FE gifts. I saw a few people using the tote bags I made and was so excited when I saw them (sorry, didn't have enough for everyone), but all the adults should have had a purse, bag or coaster from me along with magnets, then there was different things for the children depending on their ages. I really enjoyed doing the FE, I don't think you ever get too old for the excitement of coming back and finding something in there!

Padalyn - 14 days, wow, I am so jealous. Have a fantastic time!

Did anyone else stay in New York afterwards?

My coaster is sitting next to my computer for my morning coffee. Love our tote bags and loved the magnets too!!!

After experiencing an exhausted boy during our Baltic cruise because of late night activities, I gave my son a midnight curfew the night before WDW. I knew it would be too long of a day to deal with him so tired. Plus, I didn't want him making an already sprained ankle worse right before all that walking. But he did sleep on the bus on the way to the park. So....I feel your pain.

My son and daughter really enjoyed getting to know your kids!!

We stayed one extra night in NYC and saw Newsies, which we enjoyed immensely. I just adore the city.

 

[Minnie2024]

Hi SeaSpray, It was great meeting you and your family on the NYC Cruise. Thanks for organizing everything. I love your website and all of your pic's. We took a lot of pic's ourselves. Sincerely, Cheryl