Memories from November 29th Eastern

[izzinmac]

I talked myself out of doing a trip report after our 11/29 seven day eastern. Didn’t think anyone really wanted to hear what I did for seven days. Plus our trip was more of a family reunion than a new adventure. We had been on six DCL cruises before, so we weren’t looking for any new adventures-just time with the family. Then I saw the thread asking “why aren’t there more Magic trip reports?” So here is one!

I don’t plan on giving a laundry list of what we did our what we recommend and don’t recommend.

Instead I wanted to just pass on some of the personal happenings that will always be part of wonderful memories of a special event in my life! Hope I don’t bore you or get too sentimental!

They are in no specific order for these memories-some lasted the whole trip. But I will meander through the cruise from start to finish.

The group.... My wife of 38 years, my seven kids with 5 spouses, one “to be" spouse, and one “partner”. Our kids ages range from 36 to 22. Most importantly, for us, all six of the grand kids were together for the first time. They were a 6 year old granddaughter, 5 year old grandson, 2 year old grandson, 15 month old grandson and my 8 month old and 7 month old granddaughters. 22 of us in all!!!!

Memories start early...all the planning and anticipation for the cruise, one daughter and myself obsessed with countdowns and Disboards...over a year of looking forward to November 29!!

The day!!!! I foolishly predicted 78 degrees and sunny on our group's thread. Turned out to be low sixties and windy!! Wind chill felt like 40. Too cold for us Floridians!!!

The drive to the port seeing who would spot the ship first!!! All of us old-timers “knew” it couldn't be seen until we got on SR528 from Merrit Island. My son from California on his first cruise spotted it 10 miles sooner. After we scoffed at his sighting we realized you could see it from there!!!!

Pulling up to the port in our caravan- way too early, but who cares. Still a magnificent sight and a magnificent ship, even though its no longer the biggest!

My son in law teaching his two year old nephew the difference between the Magic and the Carnival Legend. From that time on my grandson called the Magic “MickeyBoat” and all others we saw were the “BoozeABoat”. Said only as a two year old can say it!!

Watching the fascination and awe of the “first timers” upon entering the terminal - always majestic but extra special with Christmas decorations!

The fun of waiting in line with other cruisers for boarding time to start, sharing stories about what was going to happen and what we have experienced in the past!

The line starts moving!!! In minutes we walk through the ears to start the magic.

The first sight of the Atrium, with Christmas tree, CM’s clapping as your name is called out, and Captain Mickey on the floor above waving at all!!

The mad dash to put our game plan into action - two of us head for Palo reservations- everyone else off to Parrots Cay for the first of endless feasts!
All of us sitting together for the first time as a group of 22 for a time to share our joy! Plus the food was pretty good!

The dismeet that wasn’t - bad weather on deck - but still met a few of our group and continued to find them throughout the week. Fun meeting people we were “talking” to all those months.

The excitement as the ship slowly moves away from the dock - the sound of the distinctly Disney horn, the Mickey hands waving at us from the terminal!!!

First dinner in Parrots Cay...getting dressed...walking in for the first time...finding our tables (not hard - #s 1, 2, 3, & 4)...meeting our great servers - Sonny from the Philippines and Johnny from England!! What a great, fun team for seven wonderful days!!!

Seeing the excitement of those of our group that had never cruised before - 7 in all - and their awe of the ship and everything about it!

The first night - a quiet one, like most...but still a wonderful way to end a day looking out over the dark ocean from our veranda..leaving our sliding door open a little (breaking the rules a bit)...hearing the sounds of the ocean...falling to sleep with the gentle rocking of the ship!!!!

Brunch at Palo!!! One of the greatest dining experiences ever!! The tour of the food by our server....table after table of masterpieces! Will I ever be able to eat again????

Leisure days at sea...some with good weather-some not so good!! But relaxing nonetheless. Always able to take a nap if I want!!

The Rainforest- love the grand kids, but what a great retreat for my wife and me! I want one of those tile lounges!!!! Don’t know how many times I fell asleep in them - hope I didn’t snore too loud!!!

The very last show on the Magic of “The Voice and Magic of Darren Romeo” Best entertainer I have ever seen!! I’ll never forget his “Rose” song and trick- a masterful combination of music, magic and drama!!

The Christmas Tree after the lighting on Sunday! Beautiful!

Hercules revisited!!! saw it on our first cruise-haven’t seen it since. Better than I remembered it and some great comedy!

Days that went by way too fast - even when we did nothing but relax!

Playing in the Mickey Ear with all six grand kids!! Watching them and their parents all together! Makes the tough years all worthwhile!

The Tropical Deck Party...same songs, same dancers, same “surprises”, but still great fun. The buffet on deck...too full to eat anything, but felt good knowing I could if I wanted to!!!

Wednesday night and all day Thursday!!! 24 hours to remember. 15-20 foot waves and “Strong Gale “ winds. Looking out the verandah and watching the bow of the ship pitch up and down at least two to three decks!! Watching the pools literally emptying themselves by sloshing water all over the place!!! Still managed to enjoy the seafood buffet!!! Quite a ride- but no seasickness here!!!
Waking up Friday expecting the worse, but seeing sunny skies, calm seas, and no wind. Castaway Cay in sight!! A perfect docking!!! A perfect day!!

Watching poor two year old Sammie throw a temper tantrum on the beach and having to be taken back to the ship!! Finding out later he had a fever of 104...not a pleasant ending to the cruise for the poor guy!!!

The bittersweet last dinner...it’s been great, but why does it have to end. Picture, hugs, farewells, and tokens of our appreciation to our serving team. Always hoping to do it again, but realizing they will have new guests tomorrow, and we may never see them again!! But never forgotten!!

The only thing that makes leaving bearable - knowing that we’ve signed up for another one next year. Time to get back to the Disboards and meet our next traveling partners. Reset that countdown counter!!!

 

[pjpoohbear]

Your gathering sounded wonderful!


I am so glad that you were able to spend such percious time with your extended family.

And your report read like poetry.

Thanks much

Penny

 

[alexandrew]

Thanks for your great "non" trip report-I enjoyed it very much!

 

[jwann]

I almost felt like I was there - the emotions and sights are what we remember. How blessed you are to have such a big family. How in the world did you get everyone to pay for a cruise. Our family's problem is that most of the never-cruised-before folks can't see spending that much money......I just shake my head.....they'll never know until they try it.

 

[gassmandy]

I'm Izzinmac's dd and I had the youngest grand-daughter (7 months). My dh and I had been on 2 previous Disney cruises before having our daughter. And while this cruise was TOTALLY different for us (no spa, no adult pool,no being out late, up at a normal time, all replaced with things like being the first crazy parent in line to get dd's picture w/ princess Aurora, having a blast in the ever so tiny Mickey's ear w/ dd, stateroom naps, in bed at 8pm, up once or twice in the night, up by 6:30). Nevertheless--this was the best one so far. And dad--love how you put it in words.
(p.s.--we all were able to pay for it because we had a year and a half to pay it off. Initially was a year--planned to go May 2003-but w/ my sister and I getting pregnant w/ one born Mar. 18th and one born April 16th--postponed till Nov!!)

 

[mrsfuzzmo]

Thanks! I was the one who posted about not being enough Magic reports! I speak for myself and I am sure many others out there who are still awaiting their Magic Moment when I say thanks....Thanks....thanks.

 

[4nana]

Enjoyed your reflections!
Glad you had a great time with all your family. Each will carry these memories in their hearts forever. We still talk about all the
good times we had on our family reunion Christmas cruise from a year ago.

~ Sandie

 

[jlawall]

Thx for the cruise reflections! My favorite was the rainforest spa memories!!!

 

[Credit Man]

Thanks for the great non-report.

 

[Dreamer04]

Thank you for posting. It was a pleasure to read.

 

[DisneyGirlTinkerbell]

Hi, Amanda...it's Crystal (aka DisneyGirlTinkerbell). Your Dad's post brought a tear to my eye. I have similar reflections on our magical cruise. That was by far my best Disney cruise! It was great fun meeting you, Shawn, adorable little Addie, Bobby, even though I never caught up with your Dad. I see you guys are booked for the same week next year. We are considering the 10-day 12/18-12/28. At any rate, we probably will not sail together again, but I just wanted to say, it was a pleasure meeting you and your family. I will never forget you.

I encourage all cruisers to set up a meet with fellow DIS boarders. You will make fast friends onboard.

Here are a few of my random memories from the 11/29 cruise:

A chilly, DISmeet at the sail-away party on Deck 10. Met Favorite Auntie and Crazy Momma. Hi there!

Cheering the Rams to victory over the Vikings with Shawn, Amanda, Addison, and Bobby. GO RAMS...NFC WEST Champs!!! I had to smile watching the game Sunday, knowing Shawn was cheering them on too!

"Ladies First" team coming in second place in the Beer Quiz in Diversions. Pierre-Diversions Mgr.--Keep my chair warm and keep that screen tuned to the Rams game...in the words of a now famous Governor, "I'll be back!"

Many nights in Sessions, listening to Daryl sing and play the piano so wonderfully. Mickey, my favorite bar server, tell Alex to make me another Cosmo..keep it chilled until my return.

Wonderful dinner conversations with our tablemates, Doug, Lori, Kristina, and little Matt. Doug, we should have skipped that midnight dessert buffet! Yikes...the pounds!!

THe best snorkeling ever at Trunk Bay, on St. John. There is no water more blue or crystal-clear than this little slice of heaven. That 5-star tour is the BEST!

Here's to the most relaxing day in my life...reading a novel in a hammock on Cataway Cay. When I finally pryed myself from the hammock, the snorkeling on Castaway was pretty good too. I could stay there forever...or until Cookie's BBQ runs out.

Thanks to everone who made this cruise so magical for me and my family. You are a tough act follow..I hope my future cruise mates are half as much fun as you all were. Thanks for the memories.

P.S. --I will post pictures from our cruise on the yahoogroups site this weeekend.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Hey guys.........I too was going to post a trip report but thought "who cares about MY trip". Perfect trip report izzinmac!!!

Yes, our cruise did also start long before we even boarded the ship. We were on of the cancelled 11/30/02 Magic cruisers. We DID go to WDW and took a replacemnt cruise last year but it just wasn't the same. Soooooooooo, we arrived at WDW Thanksgiving morning and checked into POR at 11:30 a.m. Everything went perfect. Our rooms were ready (checkin time isn't supposed to be 'till 3:00p.m.), KTTW cards were handed to us and our luggage was in route to our room. It was a perfect 83 degree day as izzinmac predicted. We "did" MGM and epcot and by the time we were done it was 8:00p.m. We went back to POR and ordered Pizza and chicken parmegiana sandwiches (perfect Thanksgiving dinner) and watched DD's swim in the pool. Next day myself and DD's hung by the pool and DW went "shopping" in Down town Disney. We took the boat to meet her at 2:30 and had lunch at Rainforest cafe. Another absolutely perfect day 80's and sunny.
That night we had reservations for the "hooptie doo review" sp? at 8:30p.m. After several bus transfers we finally made it. IT WAS A BLAST!!!!! I highly reccomend it if you are into an audience participation type show!! When we extied the weather had changed.....cool and windy........ When we returned to our room "the voicemail" was there. "Have your luggage ready between 8:00a.m and 10:00 to be taken to the ship. @8:00 they knocked on the door. After showres and a small breakfast.....it was time to head to port.........we couldn't wait. But boy wasit chilly!!!! I wasn't worried though IZZINMAC PROMICED SUNNY AND 83!!! LOL It was chilly but we didn't care. We headed right to the buffett. Izzinmac left me some Jumbo shrimp , I had my ESPN mug and I cared about nothing else we were finally on the Magic.....finally. After antisipation cancellation and reanticipation next we were on dec 10 for the sailaway party(that was the place for our "dismeet"). Me with my ESPN mug freshly filled DW with her bahama mama and DD's with their virgin daqueries........Wow was it cold!!! Needless to say there wasn't much socializing going on. DW went to the spa, DDs went to see a show and I grabbed my coat and headed for dec 4 with my mug!!
Well dinner was perfect!!!!(Late seating) DD Alli got here steak cut up by our server and the asst. server learned he need to bring me 4 miller lites in the champaign bucket for dinner. The next day was Sunday.........a bit overcast and cool but much warmer than Florida. I headed for Diversions to watch football. Pierre, the Mgr. was excellent. The food was great and servers were great. I was upset about ESPN going away but they did a really nice job making diversions a mix between sports bar and a cheers type bar.
Day two at sea was excellent. The sun was shining and we were able to get some sun on the deck. It was the first time we actually had two days at sea. There was sooo much to do I can't mention it all. Buffets were excellent plutos had great snacks the ship was actually spotless!!! That was the first day I met a Diser......izzinmac and family. I was headed towards Diversions when I heard "Lampskies?" It was Bob and family getting in line for their "early" seating. You see so many people you think are disers but you don't want to say "hey I'm a disdork, I chat online about the ship, are you _____?"
Next morning, St Maarteen 88 and sunny and The Golden Eagle Catamaran. AWSOME!!!! If you like to sail, snorkle, swim, beach, drink or just plain have a good time.....DO IT!!!! After we went back to the ship (we did the 7:45 excursion, it was about 4 1/2 hours) ate and headed for the shops. A short water taxi across the bay and we were right there. Did you know there is no drinking age there??? And every time we baught something I got a Heiniken?? They even offered it to DD's 13 and 11.(Of course I had to hold them. LOL)
Next day St. Thomas, 91 and sunny. We didn't book an excursion. We wanted to take the cable car to the top of the mountain....we did.....absolutely breathtaking!! We did the shops and they were no different than St. Maarteen. We should have done an excursion!! Wed. night as izzinmac said it got windy and the seas got rough 15-20 footers. The cabin creeked and everytime I opened the verandah the ac fan made noise!!! Too much air in the cabin. Thursday was rough and DW didn't leave the room until 6:00 p.m. DD's were fine as was I. There was even talk on not docking at CC....but when I woke up Friday morning at 6:30 it was sunny and CALM!!!!!!!!! WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO DOC AT CC!!!!! As usual, what a perfect day there!!!!

 

[pats89]

Izzinmac - Thanks for posting your memories of your cruise. My large family is leaving next week (12/27/03) and it will be the first cruise for most of us. My father recently retired and it was his idea to take all six kids w/ spouses and grandkids on a Disney cruise. I'm hoping our week together on the Magic is as special as yours!

 

[gassmandy]

Hi Crystal---Shawn and I BOTH enjoyed meeting you, too!! What can I say but......Division champs baby!!! Now we need to gain home-field advantage. Just need those Eagles to falter a bit!! Shawn and I did sign up for the same cruise next year, but we are thinking we may let the other 6 that signed up too, go w/out us (since Addison would be the only child--that way they can all do adult activities and not feel sorry for us!!) and we are thinking about pushing it back to same week in 2005. That way Addison will be almost 2 1/2. Or we could do spring 2005 when she's 2 and then spring 2003 when she's 3 (yay--Oceaneers club!!). The 10 day Christmas one would be awesome!! Anyway--will you be able to go to any of the home play-off games if we have any?? Shawn is going to the Orange Bowl (Miami and FSU--Miami is his college team) with friends from work on Jan. 1st. Needless to say he's very excited!! But we know one day we WILL be heading to St. Louis for a game. Hopefully while Bruce, Holt, Faulk are still there. Shawn's all time favorite is Isaac Bruce and he gets so corny about him!!! Anyway--definitely keep in touch!!