May 5th 2007 Western Magic CINCO DIS MAYO!

[BLTOH]

Florida Kim...sounds great to me for a 2011 cruise. just want different ports to explore.



we had Ivan and Marcellito ...Ivan was great even stopped us and asked if he was going to slow or too fast or if we wanted anything changed. And the head server we had was Fitz..we saw him Everywhere on the ship..we tipped him a bit more as he went out of his way to seat us for a late seating to work around our key west excursion we had. Marcellito we tipped under as he was really slow and we had to constantly ask for the sugar for my tea, and he forgot amber's milk a couple times..but overall they did a good job at what they do.

We had a few hiccups with the older one (15yr old) and had to shut him down about a day and a half...but otherwise we just chilled out and went with the flow ourselves. We loved meeting all the new people and at one point we was sitting up on top deck and it was like everyone that went by us we knew from somewhere on the ship.

 

[Verandah Man]

Isn't it very funny how everyone can have a different experience.....i guess that is why we have to take everyone's experience and opinions with a grain of salt, huh? LOL!!!! My DH is VERY outgoing, so he brought Anastacia out of her shell right away....and I think since we had such EXCELLENT service on our last cruise, I couldn;t help but compare David to the last server....and he just didn't match up. but he did work hard. As for the head server....too funny....we had a totally different experience with him! He was constantly at our table, we got to know so much about him and his family (3 daughters, his wife works at disney in Paris, etc!!) and he was going to be going home for his two months off the day we got off of the ship! so, like I said....none of our opinions are wrong....we just had two totally different experiences and it almost seems like we are talking aobut different people....LOL!!!!!!!

Hi Bobbi--I saw spoke with Marc a few minutes this morning before he left to go to North Jersey. Sounds like you had a very nice time!!!

One question, was your Head Server, Stephan from France? It sounds like who we had in May 2006, he always stopped at our table and if he saw us anywhere on the ship, or a Castaway Cay, he always stopped to chat with us.

 

[mbw12]

MBW-You werent the one in Carlos N' Charlies that had her hubby pull down part of shirt to show us all a **** were you

No....that was definitely NOT me!!!! LOL!!!!!
I had on a pink top and black capri's. My Dh had on a button down short sleeve beige shirt and I can't remember if he had on black pants or black shorts....probably shorts. We were also sitting on the left side, towards the back.....our table was next to the table full of guys from France. and yes, i did see that guy doing card tricks....at first I didn't realize that he worked there....i just thought he was some drunk guy trying to pick up women....LOL!!!!!!!

 

[mbw12]

Hi Bobbi--I saw spoke with Marc a few minutes this morning before he left to go to North Jersey. Sounds like you had a very nice time!!!

One question, was your Head Server, Stephan from France? It sounds like who we had in May 2006, he always stopped at our table and if he saw us anywhere on the ship, or a Castaway Cay, he always stopped to chat with us.

Hey andy! Yes, marc told me that he saw you!!!!! Anyway, yes....our Head Server was Stephan from France!!!! Such a nice guy!!!!

 

[mbw12]

I did'nt care too much for them and they forgot Kaylin's food the first night and sometimes we would have our food before our drinks! I don't let it bother me, it's a vacation and my life is stressed enough
Kim

Oh KIm.....please don't think that I am complaining about my trip at all....I hope that is not how it came across! I had a wonderful time and nothing was bad....I was just commenting on things, and thought it was funny that some of us had the same serving staff and thought totally different things about the same people!

anyway, even the small little things that weren't perfect....were still better than having not been on the cruise or on vacation!!!! to me, any vacation is better than being at home!!!!!!!!

 

[Verandah Man]

Hey andy! Yes, marc told me that he saw you!!!!! Anyway, yes....our Head Server was Stephan from France!!!! Such a nice guy!!!!

Shucks, I wish I had known, I would have had you say hello to Stephan from us.

 

[sherrie]

ok gang watching for your trip reports having serious withdrawl

 

[iamdaisyduck]

We loved the cruise too, our DS Michael (who was a week shy of 5 when we boarded) had so much fun in the kids club. We got a replica of the ship because we brought more DVC points while on board and he keeps going up to it and saying "Hi Kids Club". It's really cute.

OK, so we booked another cruise, October 25, 2008 (Double Dip at Castaway Cay) Verandah on Deck 7. We also brought 50 more DVC points on board. Both were well worth the money in my opinion.

Our original servers were Fabio and Satish and the head server I don't even know his name. We didn't like them at all. Fabio kept complaining all the time about how tired he was and Satish took FOREVER to get us our drinks. Neither was very accomodating if we asked for something special. The people that we were dining partners with didn't like them either and they complained, we jumped right on the complaining band wagon and our whole table was moved to a different section. We wound up with Sameer (server) and Angelina (asst. server) , both were awesome awesome awesome. We loved both of them and gave them both more than the recommended amount was. Our head server was Michelle and we really liked her too. She was very friendly, came to our table every night and we talked with her for a long long time. You could tell that she truly enjoyed talking to her tables. We saw her out and about during the day too and she was just as nice.

I heard that the servers and asst. servers don't make much money at all they just rely on their tips. Does anyone know how much they make? I heard an amount but it sounds really really low. I was under the impression that their room and board was included but supposedly that is taken out of their pay too.

I didn't really care for our Cabin Steward. Her name was Lillia. She was friendly enough but our room was never clean before noon....EVER, she only provided us fresh ice once a day, if there was still ice (mostly melted) in the bucket later on she would just leave it. We had a small cooler that she never filled with ice until I finally asked her to do it and even then I had to leave the note every day or it wouldn't get filled.

These are just little complaints overall the cruise was awesome. Next time we go my DS will be a little older and hopefully he will be able to stay up later. We missed out on a lot of night time activities because he was so exhausted from the kids club and the pool during the day.

I came home sick too, that stinks. I started feeling lousy Thursday night with a sore throat, Friday at Castaway Cay I was not well at all. By the time we got back to the boat I was running a fever of 101.3 (very rare for me to run a fever). I am still not feeling great. I think I may have an ear infection but my DS's birthday was today and I have so much to do that I don't have time to get my self to a Dr. I think I am going to try to squeeze it in tomorrow.

Oh Well, I will post pictures when I get a chance. It was nice to meet all of you.

 

[The Kirks]

Not at all MBW, I think everyone seemed to have a great time! That is so funny where you sat at Carlos N' Charlies, we must have been right beside you, I was the girl sitting right next to the card guy when he was doing his card tricks...green spag. strap tank and white capris. Matter of fact, he gave me an autographed card that read Kiwi Copperfield(yeah right) . Amazing you were right there and I did'nt even know! Darn!

Kim

 

[mbw12]

Ok....thought I would list some of the highlights of our trip!

Dolphin Encounter in Cozumel (for me, DH, DS9, and DD7)
Hot stone massage, pro collagen facial (for me)
Two deep tissue massages (for DH)
The rainforest room in the spa (me and DH)
Carlos and Charlie's Night out in Cozumel (for DH and I)
Kids Clubs (for DD7 and DS9....well, actually that was ahighlight for me and DH too.....it gave us lots of adult time...the kids never wanted to be with us!!!!)
Just sitting at the adult pool reading (for me)
Castaway Cay (for DH, me, DD, and DS)
Serenity Beach (for DH and I)

there are obvioulsy more, but if I have to pick just a few.....those would be it!

As for the "low" lights....well, I already mentioned our server, but like I said, I thought he was ok....just better suited for palo's than a restaurant full of kids.

and the biggest "low" light of our trip....having to get off the ship on Saturday. Oh wait....guess I could add our stateroom bill at the end.......but it was all worth it!!!!!

 

[The Kirks]

Our bill was all beer Funny though, we gave Kaylin the big girl right of keeping the Key to the World Card and the first night she handed me a bag from the store on board with a jewelry gift box inside and the first thing I thought was "Oh no, she bought me a $700 necklace or something! How am I gonna explain this when I take it back! Thank goodness my step son was like, "Don't worry, it was only $11.00!WHEW

 

[Madisonznana]

I'm home What a great trip and it was so fun to see you all! We got home about 8pm last night.
I am planning a trip report too! Boy, people will really be sick of our cruise!!
FL Kim, how can we get on that 2011 list? I would love to go on an inaugural (sp?) cruise!!!
We went to Carlos and Charlies in the afternoon. Hopefully they put more liquor in the pm yard high drinks! I mostly only have a drink on a vacation or special out to dinner type thing and I didn't even feel this one.
I started filling out a survey this morning for the cruise and I had to leave it for a bit and it timed out and I can't get back into it. I will just have to write a letter myself.
I enjoyed our servers! We had Dwight and Ana. Ana was especially great with kids.
I HATED our character breakfast. They were trying something new. Our breakfast was in Parrot's Cay. They had a dance party in the center with the characters. They would invite the kids to come out and dance and needless to say, Madison had no breakfast that morning, but did get her feeling hurt when some other little girl told her to go sit down, she can't dance. Ana to the rescue! She made her some little napkin critters to make her smile. No pictures, no autographs, just pushing kids and some parents that could care less if they stood in front of little kids to take pictures of their kids. Why should any other kids but theirs want to see the characters? Can you tell I did not enjoy the whole morning?
Disney World was wonderful! The longest line we waiting in was just under 30 minutes. The whole trip was very exhausting for a 5 year old. Madison had a major melt down when we got home last night. We could not get her to stop crying. Thankfully she was in a good mood all day today. Maybe by tomorrow she will be back to normal.
I better go start some laundry. Can't wait to read all of our reports!!
Karen

 

[CruiseBoundnKY]

Hey All!!! Welcome Home!

It's been a busy week getting back into the swing of things.

We loved our servers Wilson and Katarina were absolutely awesome. I didn't have a problem with the head server John either. We talked to him a few times and I didn't have any problem tipping him. It is really wierd to hear how some of us got the good, some got the bad and well... Seriously, that really stinks that you didn't get what you paid so dearly for.

Our Trip Highlights Were:

1. The Adult Pool - However, we only got in once.

2. The Kids Club - Great kids working in there. Loved having a break from our sweet little kiddies.

3. Grand Cayman was AWESOME!!! We did the Helmet Diving and it was super cool!

4. Our stay before the cruise at WDW ASMo was really fun.

5. The Chocolate

6. Tequila tasting (for my dh anyway, for me BLAH!!! Pass me a mixed drink)

7. Bingo, If only I were lucky.

8. Loved getting my groove on at the parties

9. Meeting all of you. Thanks to my Dis-friends I made it through the last 7 months of my over-planning frenzy. I almost always seen a familiar face anywhere we went. I'm sooooo glad I found the Dis board. I will wear my lime green from now on with pride.

10. Drumroll please.......and the best thing about the cruise was that we rebooked for 10/25/08!!!

All joking aside, you guys were a great bunch. We totally appreciated all the gifts that the kids rec'd at the meeting. I would like to present the following awards:

Karen and dh deserve the "Coolest grandparents ever" award. Madison is extremely lucky.

Tracy deserves the biggest award.....a really BIG umbrella to take with her on future excursions to keep her from getting sunburned and a BIG bottle of SPF 200.

Kim from Michigan deserves the award for patience. Although she didn't get her box in time, she didn't throw anyone from guest services overboard .

Can you tell it's been along day? I need sleep I too came home with a bad cold. Maybe I drank too much Nyquil? Goodnight!

 

[CruiseBoundnKY]

Oops Doublepost.

 

[schulzdisneylovers]

We also had Stephane as our Head Server and we LOVED him! Cecilia and Juan Pablo were our Server and Assistant Server, we LOVED them too!

If anyone can tell me how to post pictures, I can show ya'll some really funny pictures of the 3 of them!

 

[pppiglet]

Ok...we just got back tonight. We loved the cruise, but it wasn't as magical as our first one. The Character breakfast stunk for us too! Our servers were Hilash and Conrad and they were just ok...so slow...didn't seem to work well together. We loved our room steward Ike. Whenever we left the room he would yell down the hall to us "good bye....Debbie, Jim, and Tyler, Have a nice day". The best towel animals I ever saw too. We had a huge turkey made from the spare blanket in the room. Room maintenance was constantly going on in our room too. One day the curtains would be gone, the next painting, the next sanding, the next the shower curtains. Really weird!

We did not book on board. We see what the new ships have to offer and decide if we will do DCL again.

Our highlights were the jeep excursion in Cozumel...we had so much fun, saw crocodiles, vultures, a ruin, a lighthouse, lunch on a private beach (buffet style mexican food) and nice bath temp water to swim in.

The other was the Jet ski's on CC! Oh my gosh....I had never been on one and then the guy says "it's really rough out there today" and boy was it. Waves were splashing over my whole body and bike, and I was just slamming down on the other side of them and water was in my mouth and in my contacts and I really didn't know if I was going to be able to make it 1-1/2 miles out, but I did....then we had the ride back. The roughest was the area right in front of the Magic. My body ached for 2 whole days after that, but it was so much fun I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Didn't get to many of the shows this time, but had a great spot on Pirate Night and we did find the late night snacks from 11-12pm every night and tried them out. YUMMY!

We really enjoyed our stay at WDW also. Being our first time, it was a blast! Very hot and humid, but the best!

Ok....I gained 8lbs this trip! Anyone else want to confess? My DH gained 12 and DS too!

It will be awhile before I post pictures because I took over 3000! Gonna take some sorting out to see what to keep and I know I have some with you all in them. I have a picture of Madison on the big screen on Pirate Night!

So now it's nice to be home to our 3 cats! We really missed them! (although the bunnies and birds and ducks at Wilderness Lodge really helped)

I'm glad everyone checked in with their experiences.

 

[Madisonznana]

I started playing with my pictures tonight!! I thought I would post our "before" pictures!!
First up is the Cinco Dis Mayo crew that came for pictures..

Then there are the kids we were able to corral up..

And last but not least, some of the men who thought we were in a cult, but were there when we needed a group shot taken!!!!!

 

[Verandah Man]

We also had Stephane as our Head Server and we LOVED him! Cecilia and Juan Pablo were our Server and Assistant Server, we LOVED them too!

If anyone can tell me how to post pictures, I can show ya'll some really funny pictures of the 3 of them!

I "think" you have to have at least 10 posts before you can post photos.

 

[mbw12]

Madianoznana-

great pics of the meet! Still am bummed that I left before the picture was taken!!!!

 

[The Kirks]

Karen-We use All Seasons Travel, they are really experienced when it comed to Disney. They are holding a list of the ones that want to book on the new ship so as soon as the res. comes available, you will get on. It is expected to sell out very quickly! If you want the number, let me know. You don't have to put down any money at this point.

Kim