My Trip Report - an alien’s perspective (29:7:06 to 5: 8:06 Western)photos included!

[nextcruz]

Hi Helen,
Great report. Just posting to subscribe! Just think, only 2 weeks ago today we were getting ready for Pirate Night! Man, am I missing that cheese cake you, Valerie and I all had that night!!

 

[MrsJobba1]

Tuesday 1st August – Grand Cayman – Dive dive dive

This morning I was not allowed the luxury of a lie in, as we had asked ‘Mickey’ to wake us up @ 7am. Dave, who is a scuba diver fanatic, had his excursion this morning (2 –Tank Scuba Dive Tour). He had to meet the party in Sessions at 8am. So from between 7 and 7:30 the room was littered with fins, mask, spare mask, snorkel, camera and sealer. Then came the trying to fit them in a bag.

Once he was gone and out of the way, I got myself dressed and headed up to deck 9. I had a light breakfast and then found a lounger next to the adult pool. (Whilst grabbing a drink @ the station I met Flo who asked whether I would like to join her on the island, thanks for the offer Flo) I guess a lot of people were either on excursions or heading on the island as the boat seemed really quiet.

I had booked Dave’s Diving excursion online 105 days out and at the same time I had booked a manicure and Pedicure for myself @ the spa. My appointment was for 10am so I headed there around 9:50 and got a locker and robe. I planned to use the rainforest room afterwards. Once I was changed the girl on the desk showed me through to the salon and the guy who had done my hair on Monday was doing my treatments. I must say I was quite shocked and to be totally honest I felt really uncomfortable.

I know I am daft at times and I get very self conscious, but I was really uncomfortable with a guy bending down in front of me fiddling with my feet, when IM only wearing a swimming costume and robe. It was because of that I don’t think I really enjoyed my manicure/ pedicure.

When that was finished I went into the rainforest room and lay on the lovely heated loungers (I want one of those in my house). I was the only one in the spa and it was so relaxing. I closed my eyes and listened to the trickle of the water fountain. (I must apologise at this point if you were walking past the rainforest room and heard a strange noise. As I realised I had fallen asleep. I just hope I wasn’t ‘catching flies i.e. lying with my mouth open). When I came too, I was relieved to find there was still no one in the room. I went to the locker room and it was 12:30, so I headed back to my room to meet up with Dave.

Dave arrived back around 12:45 and he was bursting with excitement. He said the dives had been fantastic. He also said that the whole excursion had been great and really laid back. Last year he had done the Stuarts Cove Dive excursion @ Nassau when we were on the 3 night cruise and had said that the whole thing felt really rushed. Dave was really impressed this time, although he would like to point out that he was shocked when a small fish came up to him and actually bit him on the arm, drawing blood. He must have been tasty as it did it again.

Some Dive photos

We had lunch @ Topsiders and then went down to get a tender to go a shore. I had been slightly worried about tendering because of my back and because I get motion sickness. However I need not have worried as I was fine.

I must say I felt quite at home on Grand Cayman because they were driving on the proper side of the road. I also noticed a few other similarities from back home. Well we wandered around the port and bought some of the Rum cakes. (I had to know what everyone was talking about).

Once we got back on ship, we headed for a lie down in our cabin. We couldn’t believe it when we looked at the clock and it said 7pm. I therefore missed twice Charmed. After dinner we did the usual trip to Sessions and Rocking bar D. Tonight there was a magician with a duck. He was really funny. After that it was 80’s night and we boogied on down!!!

Tonight’s towel animal was a stingray!

To be Continued ...

 

[mikelan6]

Great pics!

 

[goofylover]

Helen,
Great report! I wish I had done one. I just finished working out Carla because of that darn cheesecake!!!! Ugh! It was all worth it.
Thanks for the memories Helen.
Valerie

 

[thomprod]

Helen, thank you so much for your report. I really like your writing style. Many years ago, we hosted a couple from Ireland at our home in the US for a few days. Although they called themselves "aliens", we liked to think of them as our "Irish guests". Many Americans consider "aliens" to be someone from another planet, but as your writing proves, you are certainly not that type of alien . I'm so glad you enjoyed your Disney Cruise and thank you for visiting with us and sharing your thoughts. I eagerly await your next installment.

 

[MrsJobba1]

Hi all,

Thankyou so much for all the positive comments about my trip report. I am really enjoying writing it.

However Sadly I won't be able to do's todays installment as it actually my birthday and I am busy with friends. Sorry,you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the next part. Although on the last night of the cruise, Conrad and the other servers brought out a birthday cake for myself and this is a photo Carla took of him trying to put cream on my nose!!

Have fun!

 

[Ker-Bear]

Happy Birthday!!!!

 

[Monstro]

Happy Birthday - and thanks for the earlier info.

Jeff

 

[MrsJobba1]

Wednesday 2nd August – Cozumel and Pirates

I have just realised that I missed something out from yesterdays report. Before dinner as we had slept late and missed the show we headed to Rocking Bar D and looked in. Bingo was starting @ 7:30 so we decided to have a go. Now Bingo is some what a tradition in the UK and is taken very seriously in the working men’s clubs. Dave’s Dad is an expert and can easily mark 6 cards. So Dave and I decided to get 6 cards between us. At $35 Dave needed a drink to recover from the shock. (Back home it’s about £5 roughly $8)

Now normally I can handle myself @ bingo. But when I got the sheets and found you had to push the numbers through (not mark them with a pen) I had problems. Either my fine motor skills are not great or I have really big fingers, as I had problems pushing the numbers. I also found it very stressful trying to do the 6 cards. (Dave still hadn’t recovered from the shock of the price ). Nevertheless Kaz (a fellow Brit / alien) was brilliant on the Mike and we had a good laugh. We came close a few times but the luck of the balls was not with us. Whilst we were playing Natalie came round and gave out some vouchers for a free bracelet from one of the jewellery shops in Cozumel. Kaz assured us that there was no catch and it was worth getting. Dave pocketed the voucher, glad of something free.

Right back to today and Cozumel!

Now I read the boards religiously and had decided that Paradise Beach was going to be our destination when on Cozumel. However best laid plans never work with us. When I got up in the morning I found I was in a lot of pain with my back. It was so stiff and my muscles throbbed. I think all the walking I had been doing was starting to take its toll. I was understandably upset. I went for breakfast and Dave and I discussed what we were going to do. As the whirlpool had done wonders the other day, we decided to try and spend an hour by the adult pool. That way I could relax in the hot waters. This is what we did and I must say it worked as my back eased up. (Dave also pointed out that even though it was hot it was very cloudy and he thought it would rain).

After and hour or so by the pool we decided to get ready to go ashore. Again tendering was not bad. There were 5 other cruise boats around us; however the Magic was the closet to the shore. (It also looked the nicest). The tenders were even bigger than the ones at Grand Cayman and I felt very safe on them.

Now Dave is a wanderer at heart and will quite happily walk around in no particular direction or with any purpose. I on the other had, like to know where we are heading and have an agenda. I therefore made sure this time that I brought the shopping guide we were given and also the voucher from last night bingo.

Well we set off and enjoyed looking around the shops. At home I have started Spanish lessons (In preparation for our Med cruise and trip to Barcelona next year) and I was in my element practising my greetings to the various shop owners. I also love to barter and haggle. Dave on the other had hates it. So all negotiations were left to me. (Dave kept whispering to me, they have had a hurricane don’t barter).

Shopping was fun; my advice to anyone is to take US dollars (cash). I dare not reveal what exactly we purchased, in case the British Customs people are reading this! However I did do some wheeling and dealing and got some great bargains – Pm me if you want further details lol.

In between our shopping we decided to get some refreshments and had been told that Senior Frogs was a good place for a drink. We headed there. It was loud, lively, colourful and mad! Dave ordered a yard cocktail and I got a pina colda.

When it arrived mine was the size of a goldfish bowl. We also got some nibbles, Dave got buffalo chicken wings and I got guacamole (sp?) and nachos.

They were yummy.

Every so often the servers would all jump on a table and do a dance; it was a real party place!

When I had finished my drink I couldn’t feel my back LOL.

Oh we also found the store and got the free bracelet from the bingo coupon. I was actually surprised at the quality. They did try the, we can upgrade it for some more money, but I had had my pina colda and had the courage to say, no thanks I’ll just take it. !

Dave and I really enjoyed shopping in Cozumel, but when our money ran out we headed back to the ship. Once back on board we felt we needed something to soak up our cocktails there fore we went straight up to deck 9. I had a burger (my first in the USA) and Dave grabbed a chicken sandwich – both were good. We then went back to our room and crashed out again.

That was a big mistake as when I woke up I was still full from the burger. Still it was pirate’s night and I had been looking forward to this. Now if you’ve read most of the trip report hopefully you would have realised that Dave is very quiet and somewhat shy. Whereas I tend to be more forthcoming. Needless to say Dave did not dress up as a pirate. I was however a subtle pirate. I had on my culottes, black top, skull necklace, gold hoop earring, pirate wrist bands and ring. Since we had pirate night in Lumieres we were known as The Posh Pirates!

For my meal I chose ‘The Buccaneer’s Sun Ripened Pineapple’ which was yummy.

Followed by the Treasure –of-the-sea Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops. This was ok but I was disappointed as I love scallops and on my dish I only had 3 tiny little scallops.

Then I was really full, but Carla ordered us the Shiver me timbers white chocolate cheesecake. However Conrad came out and said that because we were late the kitchen had run out of cheesecake so he had brought us this white chocolate dome. I thought Carla was going to cry! Anyway I tried the dome and thought it tasted good but like cheesecake. Conrad was laughing and said that it was the cheesecake! Duh I was slow that night.

After dinner we all popped our glow sticks (that Valerie had brought- thanks) and headed to the pirate party. Valerie and gang headed to deck 9 whilst I went with Carla to deck 10. We had a lot of fun and the pirate party had changed since the last time we saw it. (I actually preferred the old versions where Captain Hook threatens to take over the ship with the heavy metal music). However it was still really good. After the party Dave and I headed to the theatre to watch POC2 as we had still not seen it. We lasted until 12:15 but then decided we were way too tired and the fact we were going to lose an hour as the time clocks changed and we had our character breakfast in the morning meant we had to go to bed.

The towel animal was a monkey tonight but I took it down before I got into bed as I didn’t want to get a fright in the middle of the night!

To be continued...

 

[WDWLVR]

Happy belated birthday! Really enjoying your report and pictures. Thanks for sharing!

 

[lindaso]

I hope you had a good birthday. I am enjoying your trip report and pictures. Please continue!!

 

[tamim]

You are a talented "alien" Great report. You have lots of detail which is great for me. We are on the Magic in September 2007 and the wait is going to be a long one but we will be very well informed!

 

[eeyorefan80]

Great report. Looking foward to more

 

[MrsJobba1]

Thursday 3rd August – Our Second day @ Sea – a day of food!

Well we were glad we had set our phone for a wake up call as I think we would have slept in. This morning was our character breakfast in Parrot Cay. Now usually I don’t normally like having my photo taken, but I was actually looking forward to this. (Partly because we were sitting down with a table in front of us). It was also a great opportunity for Dave and me to have our photos taken with some of the characters. (Having not wanted to be the only adult in the line, surrounded by children, when characters where in the atrium).

Well we got up and dressed and headed down to Parrot Cay. We had been in parrot cay that often it felt like our home and we knew exactly where the table was! Conrad was smiling like always when he saw us.

Now I had read on the boards that the characters come round quite quickly and so I wanted to be prepared. Therefore I swapped cameras with Valerie, which meant she would be able to take the photos of me and Dave and I would be able to take her family.

Looking round the restaurant we all were surprised at how many tables were empty. I wonder how many people were caught out by putting the clocks back! Well I don’t know if it was because of the empty tables or the fact that we were ready with the cameras, but it seemed we had quite a lot of time with the characters and we got some really good photos! (The best of the cruise). I have to tell you though that I was seriously under pressure when Goofy came round. Valerie is a huge goofy fan and I was determined to get a good picture for her. (My hands were shaking though) – Valerie I hope your pictures were ok – let me know.

Here are some of our pictures:-

Whilst we were waiting for each character to come round, we were laughing, chatting and eating. In fact we did not realise how much we had eaten until we got up to leave.

We were so full as we waddled up to our room that we decided the only thing to do was to chill (again). I got changed and grabbed my bag (containing the essential, sun cream, book and ipod) and headed up to deck 10 to grab a lounger. (By the time we left the breakfast and got ready deck 9s loungers were taken). We still managed to get two beds together.

We stopped there for a couple of hours-chilling. It was a little breezy but that was refreshing as it was quite hot. Despite having applied mountains of sun cream when we returned to our cabin around 2ish I was in keeping with the theme of the day – lobster coloured.

Next came the galley tour. I had been really looking forward to this and I was not disappointed. I found it really fascinating and truly humbling. The staff works so hard for us. I think it is amazing what they do and the fact there on a ship. Did you know that for lobster night they have 3200 lobsters?

When we finished the tour we headed to the Walt Disney Theatre as it was the final Jackpot Bingo. Now after the trauma of me trying to mark 6 cards. Dave and I settled for the strip of 3 ($25). The theatre was really quite full and we sat near top TIf, (We knew in the past she had won, and thought some of her luck might rub on us). Sadly it didn’t, although we were down to 1 number a couple of times. Incidentally Tif did call bingo, although it was shared with about 12 other people so I don’t think it was enough to retire on. The jackpot was $4500 and was won by 2 people – lucky devils!

As we were on the REAS package we had the option of booking our Palo meal 105 days out. We did, and choose Thursday at 7pm. The main reason was the simple fact we wanted to have our lobster in Palo. So after bingo we had a quick lie down then got ready for our meal.

We had not eaten since our breakfast and were quite hungry. We arrived around 6:45 and were shown straight to our table. Again we had Corina as our server who was wonderful. A single red rose was placed on our table and the meal began.

I had calamari for starters and it was fantastic –Dave who normally doesn’t like it tried it and thought it was very good. Again due to the REAS we were asked to choose a bottle from the premium wine list – we chose the fairytale champagne.

For our main courses I had the lobster (of course) with a small side of the penne arribatta with shrimp. Dave had the fillet with a port wine reduction (Corina knew he did not like cheese) and also the lobster.
The food was sensational.

Then came what I’d waited the whole cruise for THE CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE mmmmm we both got one and Corina also asked if we wanted to try any other deserts. We got a cappuccino cheesecake to try.

At the end of the meal they brought out a plate –saying happy anniversary. (Well it wasn’t our anniversary) I guess they got muddled as I had told them it was my birthday when booking and the fact we had the REAS-) We smiled and said thank you. We had had the bottle of champagne at this point remember! We were also given the frozen lemon vodka drink – wow was that good!

After we had finished eating it was around 9:30 so we headed down to see our dinner mates –We had a cocktail with them, whilst they were finishing their meal and we chatted (or rather I giggled). We also got the head server guy – (Who I can’t remember his name-sorry) to take a photo of us all with Conrad & Sudhir.

We wanted to see Gary Delena’s cabaret but when we got to Rockin bar it was full! They were however showing it via a link on a screen in diversions so we sat there and had yet another drink! It was very funny – even for us aliens!

When we got back to our room Nick had done a lobster for us! I also had no trouble sleeping!

To be continued ...

 

[FiestySprite'sDad]

I'm really enjoying the report ...
My Family and I are going on the Magic Sep. 9th. 2006, so I have been "Lurking Around" {quite a bit actually} , and you have encouraged me to join and write. My wife and I are Hairstylists here in Florida, and we have quite a few "Alien's" as clients. Just reading your report makes me feel as if we know you, your accent comes through loud and clear.{The English really do have a handle on speaking... English} We're looking forward to the rest of your report, great pix..Thanks !!!

 

[Monstro]

Hi,

I dont really think there is really much difference between American & 'Alien' checkin.
Make sure you have your documents filled in before you get to the port.
Have your passports ready to hand in and make sure you have the green card from the visa waiver in them.

One piece of advice I would give however is for leaving the ship.

Im sure you know aliens have a long way to get back to Mars -and so that they can get thier spaceships ready they have to go to retrieve thier passports @6am on the last morning.

Well seriously- It is worthgetting up that bit early and going down around 5:45am 5:50ish. That is what we do, we set alarm clocks for 5:30 and go down to cue without showering etc. You get done really fast. This year by 6:10 were back in bed and slept until 7:30. (We had late seating so breakfast was 8am) Prevous years when we gone down just after 6am we've had to wait 45 mins.

Hope that helps

Thanks for the advice. My daughter was just talking to him. They sent me an email and asked what the green card from the visa waiver was? I assumed he knew because he has travelled quit a bit in Europe, but this is his first trip accross the pond. could I trouble you for one more bit of information - please? Hopefully we're not in deadline trouble.... we cruise on 9/2.

Thanks you so much.

Jeff

 

[MrsJobba1]

Thanks for the advice. My daughter was just talking to him. They sent me an email and asked what the green card from the visa waiver was? I assumed he knew because he has travelled quit a bit in Europe, but this is his first trip accross the pond. could I trouble you for one more bit of information - please? Hopefully we're not in deadline trouble.... we cruise on 9/2.

Thanks you so much.

Jeff

No Problem

America has an arrangement with certain countries ie UK. Their citizens can travel to USA without the need to apply for a visa beforehand. This is the visa waiver programme. When you board the airplane to go to the USA providing you have no convictions, you are given a green visa waiver form to fill in. When you land and go through immigration they keep the top half and staple the bottom of the green card into your passport.

When you go on the cruise, DCL Keeps the passports and the green visa waiver cards and gives you a reciept for them. It is this reciept you need to take on the last morning.

Hope this helps

 

[marcij]

Helen -- a fabulous report! You and Dave are such a cute couple. You are bringing so many memories back. Thanks for taking the time to write about the trip!

Marci

 

[Monstro]

No Problem

America has an arrangement with certain countries ie UK. Their citizens can travel to USA without the need to apply for a visa beforehand. This is the visa waiver programme. When you board the airplane to go to the USA providing you have no convictions, you are given a green visa waiver form to fill in. When you land and go through immigration they keep the top half and staple the bottom of the green card into your passport.

When you go on the cruise, DCL Keeps the passports and the green visa waiver cards and gives you a reciept for them. It is this reciept you need to take on the last morning.

Hope this helps

Ahhh.. so is this a way for me to know if my daughter is head over heels with a convict???? LOL.....

So, if Disney keeps the passport what ID do you use to get on and off the ship at ports of call?


The pictures are great by the way.

Thanks for your help
Jeff

 

[sherry]

I am really enjoying your report. Thanks for sharing.