Well, as most of you know, we were supposed to be on the 11/30 Magic cruise, after booking almost one year ahead. We ended up deciding to take the 4-day Wonder on the 1st, and visiting Disney the other days (which wasn't in our original plans).
We arrived at the port before noon and right away I noticed a woman with a "long" 17 month old boy on her backpack. She was travelling with another woman and her 3 year old daughter. I knew right away that it was Tammy! I went up to her right away and introduced myself to her. I couldn't believe that I had met one of my DIS friends so quickly! We chatted a bit and knew that we would see each other later.
Check in went smoothly, but we ended up with a Cat. 9 (we originally booked a Cat.5). We were on deck 1, not deck 7! But, the good new is we loved it! We were in cabin 1078, the last cabin before the crew cabins. But, we were mid-ship. It was a fantastic cabin with no noise and very little traffic. The cabin was fine for our family of 4.
We dropped out bags in our room and then went for the buffet in PC. At 1:00 p.m. we spoke with our waiter about making Palo ressies. He had a panic that I wasn't already in line. I ran the entire way and ended up first in line! Nobody arrived for 5 minutes and by 1:15 that were only approx. 10 people. They opened the doors at 1:20. Of course, I got the ressies I wanted: Wednesday night at 7:00. Then, I ran to the spa. Again, I was first in line (at 1:25). I got the Surial Bath for the Freeport day at 2:00 p.m. Man-o-man we loved it! (family board, so no further comment is allowed!)
The sailaway party was fun and my DD 5.5 enjoyed dancing with the characters. This was a big thrill for us, as she is usually quite shy. The weather was beautiful, just a little chilly with the wind.
We had a great dinner at AP that night (late rotation, so we never ate with the kids - yeah! - haha) Our servers were good (Attila and Tobias) but it kinda bugged us that they constantly tried to up-sell us with wine and dessert wines.
The next day we were in Nassau. The weather was fantastic the entire time we were in the Bahamas. Apparently this is a big deal, as they mentioned that they haven't seen such clear, sunny weather in a while. We took a taxi to Paradise Island and had him drop us at the beach. We had a nice "beach morning" and then went back to the ship. We ate lunch every day in Tritons. The lunch was fantastic (as was most of the meals). My DH went out shopping later (while the kids napped) and was disappointed with the shopping (he was expecting St. Thomas). That night, we had dinner at Parrot's Key. My son was so tired, that we napped straight through from 6:30 p.m., so DH picked up DD and they went to dinner and brought back dinner for me. I was so upset about the lack of Coconut Shrimp (well that is an over-statement, as nothing bothered me - I was on vacation!). I have been dreaming about them since I first read about them on Barb's site. Oh well, the Pecan Pie "thing" was great!
The next day we were in Freeport . Yawn! We left the kids in the club, as we heard that there isn't much to do in Freeport. We took a taxi to Lacaya and spent approx. 1 hour there and took the taxi back. Oh well We ate at Tritons that night . Yummy! I may sound like we weren't having a good time but WE LOVED IT! The ports were not very good at all, but we didn't care. We were on vacation, and on a Disney ship.. that is all that mattered!
The next day was heaven! Castaway Cay!!!! What a beautiful place. Now I understand what Barb is talking about. This is the most gorgeous place. The kids had fun building sand castles and running to the ocean to get more water for their "cement". We went back to the ship for lunch and enjoyed watching the kids go down the Mickey slide. At 5:00 p.m. we went and had our family formal photo done. It turned out only okay oh well. At least I got my DS (almost 4) to wear a tie, and he looked very handsome!
Tonight was our Palo night! Wow!!!! It was everything (and more) than I expected! The service was fantastic and the Portabello Mushroom app. was fantastic! Then I had the tenderloin with Gorgonzola sauce with a side of seafood risotto. For dessert, hubby had the chocolate souffle, but I am not a big chocolate fan, so had a custard pudding with fresh fruit that was unbelievable! We enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and started the dinner with some champagne. It was a magical night!
Every night before dinner we went into the Cadillac Lounge and enjoyed some adult time. It was a really nice place to unwind before dinner. We didn't get to any of the adult entertainment at night, due to the kids (would have loved to see the dualing pianos!) We only saw Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer, but the lady won a free 7-night cruise for 2! So that was exciting. We watched the first 10 minutes of Disney Dreams, but it wasn't our kind of thing. Maybe we could watch more shows next time (with our 50% off vouchers - yeah!)
Kids club: Our kids liked it, and loved it at times. They (especially DD) prefer to be with us, so they always give us a bit of a hassle when we drop them off. But, the last night, DS didn't want to leave when we went to pick him up that was nice to see! The activities seemed so much better for the 5-7 than the 3-4. My son isn't quite 4, but would have been better off in the 5-7 group. It may be because he has gone to Montessori school since he was 2.5 and is used to being in a group of kids all the way up to 6 years old. We will be rebooking when he is 5, so that he doesn't have to do the "baby" activities that he had to do this time. But, all the counsellors seemed great and gave the kids the appropriate attention all the time.
Oh ya also met Tom (tchrist) on Castaway Cay. He wasn't having as good a time as us, but we has already cruised the Magic a couple of times, and knows what he is missing.
Also, on the last night, I met Lori (can't remember her DIS name). We were leaving the club with my son (he finally agreed to leave at 10:00 p.m.) and I heard someone say to their son "come on Vincent". I turned to her and said "are you Lori?" She knew right away who I was. Sorry Lori that I didn't call you at the Dolphin. We were never in our room. We went to Disney (and outlet shopping - hehe) all day long and then straight to dinner. We usually got back to our room after 9:00 and the kids went right to bed. So sorry!
Anyway long report, and I will switch it over to the report site, but wanted all my new friends to read it.
We had an awesome time on the cruise and at Disney. We were very impressed with how Disney treated us (even paying for my husband's chips at the resort!) We are looking forward to rebooking for winter 2004!
We arrived at the port before noon and right away I noticed a woman with a "long" 17 month old boy on her backpack. She was travelling with another woman and her 3 year old daughter. I knew right away that it was Tammy! I went up to her right away and introduced myself to her. I couldn't believe that I had met one of my DIS friends so quickly! We chatted a bit and knew that we would see each other later.
Check in went smoothly, but we ended up with a Cat. 9 (we originally booked a Cat.5). We were on deck 1, not deck 7! But, the good new is we loved it! We were in cabin 1078, the last cabin before the crew cabins. But, we were mid-ship. It was a fantastic cabin with no noise and very little traffic. The cabin was fine for our family of 4.
We dropped out bags in our room and then went for the buffet in PC. At 1:00 p.m. we spoke with our waiter about making Palo ressies. He had a panic that I wasn't already in line. I ran the entire way and ended up first in line! Nobody arrived for 5 minutes and by 1:15 that were only approx. 10 people. They opened the doors at 1:20. Of course, I got the ressies I wanted: Wednesday night at 7:00. Then, I ran to the spa. Again, I was first in line (at 1:25). I got the Surial Bath for the Freeport day at 2:00 p.m. Man-o-man we loved it! (family board, so no further comment is allowed!)
The sailaway party was fun and my DD 5.5 enjoyed dancing with the characters. This was a big thrill for us, as she is usually quite shy. The weather was beautiful, just a little chilly with the wind.
We had a great dinner at AP that night (late rotation, so we never ate with the kids - yeah! - haha) Our servers were good (Attila and Tobias) but it kinda bugged us that they constantly tried to up-sell us with wine and dessert wines.
The next day we were in Nassau. The weather was fantastic the entire time we were in the Bahamas. Apparently this is a big deal, as they mentioned that they haven't seen such clear, sunny weather in a while. We took a taxi to Paradise Island and had him drop us at the beach. We had a nice "beach morning" and then went back to the ship. We ate lunch every day in Tritons. The lunch was fantastic (as was most of the meals). My DH went out shopping later (while the kids napped) and was disappointed with the shopping (he was expecting St. Thomas). That night, we had dinner at Parrot's Key. My son was so tired, that we napped straight through from 6:30 p.m., so DH picked up DD and they went to dinner and brought back dinner for me. I was so upset about the lack of Coconut Shrimp (well that is an over-statement, as nothing bothered me - I was on vacation!). I have been dreaming about them since I first read about them on Barb's site. Oh well, the Pecan Pie "thing" was great!
The next day we were in Freeport . Yawn! We left the kids in the club, as we heard that there isn't much to do in Freeport. We took a taxi to Lacaya and spent approx. 1 hour there and took the taxi back. Oh well We ate at Tritons that night . Yummy! I may sound like we weren't having a good time but WE LOVED IT! The ports were not very good at all, but we didn't care. We were on vacation, and on a Disney ship.. that is all that mattered!
The next day was heaven! Castaway Cay!!!! What a beautiful place. Now I understand what Barb is talking about. This is the most gorgeous place. The kids had fun building sand castles and running to the ocean to get more water for their "cement". We went back to the ship for lunch and enjoyed watching the kids go down the Mickey slide. At 5:00 p.m. we went and had our family formal photo done. It turned out only okay oh well. At least I got my DS (almost 4) to wear a tie, and he looked very handsome!
Tonight was our Palo night! Wow!!!! It was everything (and more) than I expected! The service was fantastic and the Portabello Mushroom app. was fantastic! Then I had the tenderloin with Gorgonzola sauce with a side of seafood risotto. For dessert, hubby had the chocolate souffle, but I am not a big chocolate fan, so had a custard pudding with fresh fruit that was unbelievable! We enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and started the dinner with some champagne. It was a magical night!
Every night before dinner we went into the Cadillac Lounge and enjoyed some adult time. It was a really nice place to unwind before dinner. We didn't get to any of the adult entertainment at night, due to the kids (would have loved to see the dualing pianos!) We only saw Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer, but the lady won a free 7-night cruise for 2! So that was exciting. We watched the first 10 minutes of Disney Dreams, but it wasn't our kind of thing. Maybe we could watch more shows next time (with our 50% off vouchers - yeah!)
Kids club: Our kids liked it, and loved it at times. They (especially DD) prefer to be with us, so they always give us a bit of a hassle when we drop them off. But, the last night, DS didn't want to leave when we went to pick him up that was nice to see! The activities seemed so much better for the 5-7 than the 3-4. My son isn't quite 4, but would have been better off in the 5-7 group. It may be because he has gone to Montessori school since he was 2.5 and is used to being in a group of kids all the way up to 6 years old. We will be rebooking when he is 5, so that he doesn't have to do the "baby" activities that he had to do this time. But, all the counsellors seemed great and gave the kids the appropriate attention all the time.
Oh ya also met Tom (tchrist) on Castaway Cay. He wasn't having as good a time as us, but we has already cruised the Magic a couple of times, and knows what he is missing.
Also, on the last night, I met Lori (can't remember her DIS name). We were leaving the club with my son (he finally agreed to leave at 10:00 p.m.) and I heard someone say to their son "come on Vincent". I turned to her and said "are you Lori?" She knew right away who I was. Sorry Lori that I didn't call you at the Dolphin. We were never in our room. We went to Disney (and outlet shopping - hehe) all day long and then straight to dinner. We usually got back to our room after 9:00 and the kids went right to bed. So sorry!
Anyway long report, and I will switch it over to the report site, but wanted all my new friends to read it.
We had an awesome time on the cruise and at Disney. We were very impressed with how Disney treated us (even paying for my husband's chips at the resort!) We are looking forward to rebooking for winter 2004!
