Our Magical "Celebration" Western Caribbean Cruise, March 7-14, 2009 ~ Completed 5/18

[mommyofthreeboys]

Love your report! Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[ibouncetoo]

Wendy so glad to see you are doing a report. I'd love to hear about your cabin as I have 7620 booked for the WBtransatlantic. Do you have any photos that show the verandah?

I stayed at POFQ pre cruise my first time and loved the convenience and the boatride to DTD for dinner and shopping.

Can't wait to read more of your adventures.

.

 

[amy2girls]

great start

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Hi neighbor! Welcome to my trip report. I hope you enjoy it.

Here's a picture I took last year looking into the stateroom from the bathroom area. You can barely make out the obstruction going across the top left of the verandah. It really isn't a big deal at all. It certainly doesn't obstruct any views while sitting on the verandah or the sofa inside. Just watch your head if you stand at the rail.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Excellent update!!! Just one question, how did you know about getting "tickets" to the tastings and other things? Do they give you a list of things you can partake in and tell you to go to guest services? Or is this just something you're supposed to know? I'm so worried that I'm going to miss out on something!! Thanks!

 

[WAHkoMom]

Great trip report! We're on the April 18th sailing, so this is great to read! I'll keep "tuning in" to get your updates.

The pictures are making it so real!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Excellent update!!! Just one question, how did you know about getting "tickets" to the tastings and other things? Do they give you a list of things you can partake in and tell you to go to guest services? Or is this just something you're supposed to know? I'm so worried that I'm going to miss out on something!! Thanks!

Thanks! Well, a lot of the information I got from the disboards. The tastings are listed in your navigator. There is a $15 charge for the tastings. They are offered on sea days. The Tea party is not listed in the navigator, but it too is offered on sea days at no charge. I learned about the Galley tour through the DIS, it is also at no charge. If you go to guest services, they can offer you a list of all of the extra events.

 

[ibouncetoo]

Excellent update!!! Just one question, how did you know about getting "tickets" to the tastings and other things? Do they give you a list of things you can partake in and tell you to go to guest services? Or is this just something you're supposed to know? I'm so worried that I'm going to miss out on something!! Thanks!

Thanks! Well, a lot of the information I got from the disboards. The tastings are listed in your navigator. There is a $15 charge for the tastings. They are offered on sea days. The Tea party is not listed in the navigator, but it too is offered on sea days at no charge. I learned about the Galley tour through the DIS, it is also at no charge. If you go to guest services, they can offer you a list of all of the extra events.

Nikki, as Wendy says, just pop over to guest services at some point on embarkation day and ask "What do I need to sign up for?" Tastings and Galley tours do fill up, and if you wait for them to show up later on in the daily Navigator you might not be able to get in. So if there is one of these you really want to do...check with Guest Services that first day.

.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

After we watched the Magic head out to sea, it was time to get ready for dinner. We had 6:00 PM rotation at Animator’s tonight. I was looking forward to dinner, not because of the show, but because we didn’t get to see Sorceror Mickey last year, so I was hoping we would see him this year. When we arrived at our table (number 70), I was happy to see the young lady who had informed us of Parrot Cay closing earlier in the afternoon. Joyce, from St. Vincent, was our server. Ivan, from Hungary, was our asst. server. Joyce was wonderful and we really enjoyed her. We just couldn't warm up to Ivan. While he was nice enough, he just wasn't consistent in his service and didn't do the extras that we had come to expect. At one time, my DD had asked for some ketchup in the shape of Mickey ears, Ivan gave her bunny ears and even asked how she liked his "Bugs Bunny." Uh, wrong cruise line fella!

Anyway, back to Saturday night, while we were eating we really started to feel the Magic moving. We were also not disappointed as Sorcerer Mickey made a visit after dinner.

We also enjoyed the show. Although I don't remember watching it as closely as last time, I did really enjoy listening to the music.

Dinner seemed slow to me . It was 7:45 when we finished. I had wanted to see Mickey Mania in Studio Sea, so I ran over real quick to catch the end. It looked like they had chosen 4 teams of 2 and had them wear different character hats, i.e. Donald , Goofy , etc. The game I watched was very similar to the Disney Scene It DVD game where they distort a picture of a character and you have to guess who it is before it comes into focus. Anyway, after this game, Mickey Mania was over.

Afterwards, we did some quick shopping and went to the All Aboard, Let the Journey Begin show. We were told that we would not be changing our clocks with the Daylight Savings time at midnight. In fact, we would only change our clock once the entire cruise, after Cozumel. I think we changed our clocks 3 times last year. Anyway, this made for some confusion in Cozumel. More on that later. We were introduced to our comedy acts, Ricky Kalmon, a hypnotist and Rich Purpura, magician/comedian. The show was as good as ever and I recognized some of the performers from last year. After the show, we stopped by to get DD’s picture taken with Pluto and then headed to our stateroom.

Here is the towel animal for the day!

I thought the towel animal was a little weak, to tell the truth, and so far I wasn’t impressed with our room steward.

Thoughts: It was a very exciting day as you plan and plan to go on a cruise and then the day actually arrives. We were all very excited to board the ship. As this was our second cruise, I certainly felt like I knew what to expect and maybe that took some of the magic away. I just felt frantic and rushed all day. Maybe it was arriving late and rushing through lunch, maybe it was the stateroom not being prepared just right, maybe it was running around getting tickets, maybe it was losing my jacket. Anyway, I was hoping that I would be able to relax for the rest of the week. Let the fun continue!

Next: Key West

 

[mousetravel]

Subbing! Great report!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Another great update! Love the pics, especially! Can't wait to read more!

 

[dvc4life]

Just reading your report! Great one so far.

I love all the photos! Can't wait to read more!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Subbing! Great report!

Thank you! I've been enjoying your report as well. What a wonderful time with your daughter.

Another great update! Love the pics, especially! Can't wait to read more!

Just reading your report! Great one so far.

I love all the photos! Can't wait to read more!

Thanks! I volunteer to help out in my DD's old Kindergarten teacher's classroom this morning, but I hope to have another update this afternoon.

 

[gomagic]

Sorry to hear about your luck with Ivan. We just had him as an asst. server last week and we really enjoyed him.

 

[kileybeth]

Your pictures are great. Thanks for letting us peek in on your trip.

I sometimes wonder if all the info we (or at least I) collect up on the disboards takes some of the magic away for me? I know it is ubber helpful and my family certainly loves all the little suprises that I already know are coming (or sometimes not) and therein lies the rub.

Looking forward to more pics and post, we do not sail unitl September '09 so gotta live vicariously through everyone going before!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Dateline: Sunday, March 8, 2009

Since we ate at Animator’s Palate the night before, we were scheduled for Mickey’s Island Jam Breakfast at 8:00 AM this morning. The format has changed from last year, in that the characters now come to each table for autographs and pictures instead of just dancing throughout the restaurant. I found the new format to be a bit more relaxing in that we weren’t jumping up and trying to get pictures of the characters as they danced by. The characters came out in their sailor outfits. Some had handlers, some did not, and came to our table one by one.

Pluto is such a ham!

Minnie Mouse

If I remember correctly, I had the French toast, which was good! The danishes, however, were to die for! Joyce made Minnie Ears out of napkins for the kids.

After breakfast we wondered around Deck 4 and up to the front to see all the mooring ropes. Again, something I didn’t do last year that I wanted to do this year. Several joggers passed us during our walk.

Those anchor chains are huge!

We then went to change and I went shopping while DD and DH went swimming. Our DD had a great time sliding down the Mickey slide and playing in the Goofy pool. By the way, I know the Mickey pool was redone during dry dock and it looked great!

Wheeeee!

While shopping, I asked about a free pin promotion they were doing. I had a coupon for a free pin on Thursday. Hey, can't beat free pins! While I was asking, the cast member was telling me that I should have coupons for 3 pins, one for Saturday, Monday and Thursday! I only had one. I was confused to say the least. I headed back to my stateroom and ran into our room steward, Denitsa from Bulgaria. I told her about the documents missing from our stateroom and the pin coupons. She explained to me that she was sick the day before and someone had filled in for her. Well, that certainly explained a lot, I was sorry to hear that she’d been sick, but happy to hear that our service would be improving. She was able to get me all of the correct pin coupons so I joined DD and DH up on deck and got some fruit from Goofy’s Galley and danishes from the Cove Café to munch on. After swimming, it was time to go change out of DD’s suit, get some lunch and head into Key West for a couple of hours. When we got back to our stateroom, our FE bag was overflowing with gifts from our DIS group.

The FE loot!

Needless to say, our DD was thrilled to receive all of these goodies, and no, she did not share! While DD changed into dry clothes, I went up on deck to get some pictures of us arriving in Key West.

Some lucky dude had a sweet ride!

I just love the color of the water!

As you can see, it was an absolutely beautiful day in Key West. I believe the temperatures were in the high 70's. Before we debarked, look who we found wandering up on deck 10.

The head cheese!

Since we didn’t switch our clocks last night, ship time was an hour behind Key West time. Fortunately, we didn’t have any excursions where time was an issue.

A view of the Magic.

While in port, DH went to the Mel Fischer shipwreck museum.

Gold ingot brought up from a shipwreck that you can reach in and lift up.

Necklace made out of gold to show wealth.

DD and I went to the shell store, CVS and wandered around a bit. Afterwards, we met back up with DH and went to The Blonde Giraffe for the infamous frozen key lime pie on a stick. I have to say, as much as I was looking forward to trying this, I could only eat a couple of bites. It was too rich for me.

Last year we took the Old Town Trolley and toured the island and got our picture at the Southernmost Point. After our treat, we decided to head over to the harbor (the other side of the island) to walk around. Forgot to mention that we ran in to SplashMountainManiac and his parents a lot this week, and today was no exception as we walked to the harbor. They were enjoying a cool drink in one of the many establishments in Key West when we heard a "hello!" Mike, it was always great to visit with you!

It really wasn't much more than more bars and boat slips. It was starting to get really warm, so we headed back to the ship.

Mallory Square

We put our DD in the Lab to make pasta houses for the 4th Little Pig while DH and I went to Diversions for a cool drink and to watch the Suns get beat up by the Spurs. In fact, the only other people in Diversions were 2 ladies from San Antonio. It was then time to collect our DD and get ready for dinner.

We had dinner in Parrot Cay. I love the banana bread! Here is my cocktail for the day, a Flamingo. It was delicious!

After dinner, we were also able to get formal photos with sailor Mickey & Minnie and Donald and Daisy. Then we went to the Ricky Kalmon show at 8:30 PM. He is a hypnotist. It was very funny, our DD was rolling in the aisle when Ricky had one of the volunteers act like Hannah Montana and another screech in a high pitched voice every time he heard the world “Disney” “Where is Perry the Platypus?” from Phineas and Ferb. The volunteers were great and really put on a good show. Ricky Kalmon was very good. After the show I headed to Studio Sea for Who Wants To Be A Mousketeer? It is the same premise as Who Wants to be a Millionaire except you only get 5 questions, and everybody’s a big winner. Clayton, the assistant cruise director, was the host. While I didn’t get picked to sit in the hot seat, it was fun playing along. Afterwards, it was time for bed.

I added more magnets to my door, including my DIS Addict,

DCL Addict,

Sea Day,

and 09 Cruising signs.

Thanks Kellybell!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture, which would be doubly disappointing as I had several magnets stolen over night, including the ones that I just added. Every night thereafter, I would remove all the magnets from the door and put them out again the next day.

Here was our towel animal for the night.

Next: Vroom, vroom!

 

[pperfectmom]

Thanks for the great report. I'm really enjoying it.

 

[Had2disneycruz]

Love the TR and the pics!!! I can't believe anyone would steal your magnets. Great idea...taking the magnets off the door for the night. We will be cruising in 9 days and our room is off the beaten path, but I still think I will remove the magnets before going to bed. (At least the really special ones!)

Looking forward to the next installment!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Thanks for the great report. I'm really enjoying it.

Welcome aboard!

Love the TR and the pics!!! I can't believe anyone would steal your magnets. Great idea...taking the magnets off the door for the night. We will be cruising in 9 days and our room is off the beaten path, but I still think I will remove the magnets before going to bed. (At least the really special ones!)

Looking forward to the next installment!! Thanks for sharing!!

The thieves left any magnet that was personalized with a name or stateroom number alone. But, I felt better taking them off at night. We had some teenagers near us and I think they might have found mischevious things to do like that late at night.

 

[SplashMountainManiac]

Great TR! I love being able to see the same cruise from a different perspective. That was such an incredibly beautiful day in Key West. I am moving slow because of various tests, but hopefully I'll be able to get some writing done this weekend. Looking forward to reading more.