Our Magical Cruise 2/14/09 to 2/21/09

[PURTYPAT1]

Our clan:
My self Patricia 50 5th Disney Cruise
DD Jenna 14 5th Disney Cruise
DB Billy 40 First timer
DN Jenna 6 First timer

This was our 5th Disney cruise. Our first 7 day. Dh couldn't take off from work, DB & DN deceided to join us. I have been busy planning this trip for over a year. I studied the boards daily & have read the Passporter book. Everything was planned to the tee. Thanksgiving my DF passed, 6 weeks later( on Christmas eve) DS was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her Mastectomy was scheduled a week before our trip. To make a long story short, I went for an early mamo, & I was diganosed with breast cancer 3 weeks before my trip. Those 3 weeks, I interview doctors & scheduled myself for a lumpemtomy the day after I came home. My doctors & my DH encouraged me to go on this trip.

Let me just say, I felt cancer free on this cruise, & hardly thought about my diganosed the whole time. This trip was Excellent from begin to end. My only complaint was the chair hoggers on sea day. It was as bad as I read.

Day 1
--------

Left for Newark airport 2 hours early, & needed just about that time to check in luggage & check thru security. Because it was President's week the airports were busy. I bought bagels the day before, & froze them. They were thawed by 10am and were great on the plane, since we were only served a muffin & beverage.

Boarded the plane at 10:00 AM arrived in Orlando 1:00 PM. On the Disney boards, I learned about the Hyatt coupon for $130.00 a night, DB & I went in half. We checked in our room at the Hyatt. Were able to obtain 2 Adult breakfast coupons with our AAA card code BREAKF, & then we used the Hyatt safe to store our money & passports for the night.

In our room we quickly changed our clothing & went to baggage claim and found the Thirfy bus & rode to the Thrifty car rental. It was less than a 5 minute drive. As planned we rented a car for $30.00 for the day. I bought my own Navigator Garmin, which we call "Sally" I pre-programmed her to Disney World & the rent a car address before I left home. This was the 1st time in years, that we didn't get lost. If you own a Navagator it's worth bringing it.

We headed off to exit 68 off on route 4 to ABC liquors to buy wine & Pina Colada for the Magic. Then off to the Olive Garden for a great lunch.

By 3:30 PM were in the Magic Kingdom parking lot, using our Diamond Parking pass. This pass is great for up front parking or great for Park hopping. We had a fun at the Magic Kingdom and stayed till closing 10pm The park was crowed but I've seen it much worse on President's week.

I programmed Sally to Thrifty, & we were there in a flash. We were the only family there needing a ride to the airport.The Thrifty bus was waiting. We loaded ourselves & our liqour and headed for a quick ride to the Hyatt.
Quickly found our room at the Hyatt, and we were all asleep in minutes dreaming of the Magic.

Day 2
-----
Woke up & repacked our day bags for the Magic. We showered & retrireved our money & passports from the Hyatt safe. 8 am signed up at the front desk to take the Disney Bus to the Port. We had an hour to kill, so we took our coupons & went for the Buffet breakfast at the Hyatt. Beautiful scenery at the Hyatt. We were able to eat while watching the planes to take off & land.

We went to the lobby, & met other families wating to board the bus. It was our first bus ride to the port, & it really was exciting. The Magic DVD shown on the bus, get's you very excited. I like that they showed the teen club, as well as the oceaner club, which we both utilized. It seemed to excite the kids as well.

Once at the port, we checked in got group # 1, & then checked Jenna at the kids club. Got the pager, before we entered.We were given our key to the world card, & they took our photo for our ID on the card.
We heard our number called and walked in with our name announced & a warm welcome from the Magic Staff. We went to Palo's & booked brunch & added my brother to my Polo dinner reservation. Work was out of the way, & time to play.

Took the elevator to the 9th floor to Topsiders for a very delicious lunch outside. After lunch we went to the pool for swim & sunning. Time goes by quickly, & it was 1:30 & time to see our room. We had catorgory 9 2514 & 2516 loved the rooms & the location. DH sent me roses & wine in my state room. What a great man & how romantic. I Fedex ground a box to my room, which was in my room before my luggage. Met our stateroom host Romualdo, he didn't speak much English, but he was nice & did a good job. Romualdo forgot to pull my DD's bed out one night, nobody's perfect, so I reminded him each night to pull it out. I bought a light up clock radio which I would recommend.

Fire drill went smoothly & quickly. Time for the sail away party. "Hey hey baby" (hu ha) I wanna know if you'll be my girl? Get's you in the mood!!! We had a great table overlooking the crowd singing & dancing. Love the party & songs. There was a delay in sailing (not sure why) so DD & I went to secret deck 7 to the open huge Veranda in the aft of the ship. Close to 6pm we sailed off. On the port side of the Magic, we saw Dolphins swimming in the water as the sun was setting, it bought tears in my eyes. 6 PM we went to dinner & had great servers Romeo & Savio who proved to be great EXCELLENT severs. Just the 4 of us, no table mates??? This was a first. After dinner we went to the Theator for the show. The girls went to the clubs. They both loved the clubs. The night ended too quickly

 

[Had2disneycruz]

Wow, you've had enough going on! I am so sorry about your DF and DS. I hope your DS is doing well. And I hope your prognosis continues to be good.

I am curious to hear how your DD 14 liked the cruise and the teen club. I have DD 15 and DD 13. We are doing the Eastern Carribean on the Magic in April. Looking forward the the rest of your report. Hope you are doing well.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

I hope your DS is doing well. And I hope your prognosis continues to be good.

I am curious to hear how your DD 14 liked the cruise and the teen club. I have DD 15 and DD 13. We are doing the Eastern Carribean on the Magic in April. Looking forward the the rest of your report. Hope you are doing well.

DS is doing quite well thank you for asking!!!

DD said she had the best time of her entire life at the teen Club. Please note, DD tends to be shy when it comes to making friends. I was quite surprised how quickly she made friends. Castaway Cay, I never saw her she was busy with the group playing games. The counselors had many activities planned, though alot of them were late at night. She went out to eat in PC dining room with her friends on our Palo night. I also saw the group at the Walt DisneyTheator one night. (I was spying LOL) She loved it and she is begging to go back next year.

 

[strega7]

We take our Garmin with us everywhere...I laughed when I saw you named yours Sally, my parents just bought one and it has been a huge name game. Our Garmin is Cassie (named after someone we know who nagged us a lot). My parents just named thiers Farrah (after a nurse at the hospital my sister was at when she was in a coma....the nurse was always so good at giving my parents directions because they were in a strange city).

Anyway, I am enjoying your report, hope all is well with you and DS.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

We take our Garmin with us everywhere...I laughed when I saw you named yours Sally, my parents just bought one and it has been a huge name game. Our Garmin is Cassie (named after someone we know who nagged us a lot). My parents just named thiers Farrah (after a nurse at the hospital my sister was at when she was in a coma....the nurse was always so good at giving my parents directions because they were in a strange city).

Anyway, I am enjoying your report, hope all is well with you and DS.

My husbands garmin is callled "Roada" LOL I am not sure, how I got around without my Sally.

All is well with my DS & I, I am pleased to report we are both,
"Cancer free"

Glad your enjoying the report more to come.

 

[Lovindisneycruise]

8 years ago we went on a cruise for our honeymoon with another company. We vowed we would NEVER cruise again!

This trip was a huge leap of faith. I am so glad we did it!

We loved floor one, which was very quiet. Alex was fantastic at cleaning our rooms, and turning down the beds, etc etc. In fact, the last night my husband put out my carry on with my medication(accidentally) and Alex went and got it for us!

Jakub and Esther, our dining room servers went above and beyond each day. One night, the kids were so tired, I asked to have desert wrapped for me, and instead, he carried down 6 deserts plated to our room!

Throughout the trip, we had many people make our trip special for us. A letter to Disney is already in the works. There are only a few suggestions we will make, which would have made our trip perfect!

All in all, on a scale of one to ten, Disney got a 9!!!

 

[Lovindisneycruise]

supposedly there wwas a blasting cap that had not exploded in a building nearby. It had to be removed before most of the ships left port.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

supposedly there wwas a blasting cap that had not exploded in a building nearby. It had to be removed before most of the ships left port.

Wow

Did you rebook for next year?

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Day 2 Sunday Sea Day
-------------------------

We received tickets in our stateroom for The Character breakfast.Your specific day/time will correlate with your dining rotation and main/late seating which you automatically get in our room in an envelope with tickets. We had early dinner, so we had early seating.

Each guest has a spot at the character breakfast since it is based on your dinner rotation.You will sit at the same table number with the same servers as you have for your dinner.

Your server will remind the night before. The Characters come around
to each table again and the "handlers" will take pictures with your own camera.
The character breakfast was Sunday (the same day we had the Palo Brunch), and it was excellent. The usual breakfast foods Pancakes, waffles (Mickey), eggs cereal, and pastries.

The time was 8:15 which was a little early, especially for little ones that were up late the night before but for that early time. It was fun and lively. We met almost all of the characters, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale. The only problem with this is that breakfast runs about 45 minutes and it takes a while
for the characters to get to your table. We missed Pluto as he never made it to the table and we had already waited for Minnie.

Afterwards Both girls went to the kids club.

DB & I went to Palo's for a Magnificent Brunch 10:00 AM
At Palo's we met up with Dale & Ken from the Disney Boards, & they joined us for brunch. Our server was Fernado. He was great. Let me just
say, that I have never eaten anything as spectacular as this brunch. Shrimp, Giant crab legs, Caviar, salads, antipasto,cheeses platters, pasta, pizza, brunch meals, and then the desserts. The food seemed to be endless. We all seemed to eat endless. I thought this was the "best meal" of the whole cruise. We spend a few hours here, & really had a great time.

We ended with the invitation of Dale & Ken to join us again Thrusday night at Palo's for dinner.

After brunch, we went to Topsiders for our Disney meet. How much fun was it to meet all of these wonderful people, that I have talked to all of these months. It was fun running into them all week.

I decided afterwards to try to work off the brunch at the pool. I actually went to quite cove pool, and swam 30 minutes of laps. The pool is small, but if there's a will, there's a way. I swam for 30 minutes (looking foolish)

After my workout, my next challenge was to find one lounge chair. Why do people keep towels on there chairs, & not use them for hours? I finally found a chair, & parked myself next to another woman, who for the next few hours, became my friend. I enjoyed this woman and her stories, & made my afternoon delightful.

I read on the boards, that you can go to the Spa to shower. I decided to explore, & did just that. One of the girls in the spa gladly let me to the shower, & gave me a robe plus a thick plush terry towel. The showers were equipeted with shampoo conditioner & body wash. Afterwards, the spa was giving out free samples of teeth whitener. I love the spa.

Time to find the family, and we all met for delicious dinner with our fabulous servers. We pre-ordered 4 souffles for the next night.

After dinner DD went to the teen club, and DB DN & I went to the theator.

Late that night, I went for a power walk work out.

Perfect sea day

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Your sea day sounds perfect - I am hoping to do the Palo brunch on our next cruise - it certainly sounds an amazing experience! Looking forward to the next installment!

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Your sea day sounds perfect - I am hoping to do the Palo brunch on our next cruise - it certainly sounds an amazing experience! Looking forward to the next installment!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Purtypat, I've been there, done that. I was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 months before our cruise last year. I went through my lumpectomy and 2 rounds of chemo before our cruise. My doctor also encouraged us to go ahead and scheduled my chemo treatments around it. It was wonderful for my mental health. I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise and didn't let your diagnosis get you down.

Good luck with your treatments and prognosis.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Your sea day sounds perfect - I am hoping to do the Palo brunch on our next cruise - it certainly sounds an amazing experience! Looking forward to the next installment!

It really was perfect. I have been to Palo's for dinner & afternoon tea. In my opinion, the Brunch is the best. They offer so much more, plus to see the beauty of the sea, in the day light words can't describe.

Thanks for praise, haven't had many responses, I didn't think anyone was enjoying my report.

Purtypat, I've been there, done that. I was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 months before our cruise last year. I went through my lumpectomy and 2 rounds of chemo before our cruise. My doctor also encouraged us to go ahead and scheduled my chemo treatments around it. It was wonderful for my mental health. I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise and didn't let your diagnosis get you down.

Good luck with your treatments and prognosis.

I remember reading your report last year, I really enjoyed it. I've learned to appreciate life, & the little things.
Thank you for the good cheers, I am starting Mammosite radiation next week.

 

[Had2disneycruz]

It really was perfect. I have been to Palo's for dinner & afternoon tea. In my opinion, the Brunch is the best. They offer so much more, plus to see the beauty of the sea, in the day light words can't describe.

Thanks for praise, haven't had many responses, I didn't think anyone was enjoying my report.






I remember reading your report last year, I really enjoyed it. I've learned to appreciate life, & the little things.
Thank you for the good cheers, I am starting Mammosite radiation next week.

I am definitely enjoying your reports! I haven't found too many Eastern reports and with six weeks to go until our trip, I am anxiously awaiting each installment! Carry on!

Hope you are doing well.

 

[Bracy]

Thanks for the lovely trip report. You've included just the right amount of information. We'll be on our first Disney cruise in exactly 2 months. These reports making the waiting more bearable.

I see on your last report that you pre-ordered 4 souffles in the DR for the following night. Was that something special or something included on the menu? I don't think i've seen any mention of that before. Thanks again.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

I am definitely enjoying your reports! I haven't found too many Eastern reports and with six weeks to go until our trip, I am anxiously awaiting each installment! Carry on!

Hope you are doing well.

From what I hear the Eastern is more of a relaxing cruise. Your six weeks will fly by. Packing tip: fold everything & put each item in a baggie. No wrinkles. It really works.

I am glad your enjoying my report, thank you

Thanks for the lovely trip report. You've included just the right amount of information. We'll be on our first Disney cruise in exactly 2 months. These reports making the waiting more bearable.

I see on your last report that you pre-ordered 4 souffles in the DR for the following night. Was that something special or something included on the menu? I don't think i've seen any mention of that before. Thanks again.

Thank you Bracy, I am glad your enjoying it. I'm trying to remember all of my tips to share.

On Saturday night, we ordered the 4 souffles for Sunday. Each night we ordered again for the next night. Our servers were wonderful didn't seem to mind & had them ready for dessert. We asked for a scoop of ice cream on the plate. Yum Yum One night guests from the other table (Hi Katy & sister) came & joined us. They ate 2 of the souffles. LOL We really had a blast.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Update:
Please note I forgot to add my comment about Formal night on Sunday's thread. Our first formal night, we had was on the Med cruise, we missed it. I had no idea what to expect on this cruise for Formal night. We dressed up. I wore a fancy gown, DD wore a fancy cocktail dress, DB wore a suit, & DN wore a fancy dress. DB & DD said to me "You look nice" we took photos & went to dinner as usual. I was a bit let down, as it just seemed to be another night at dinner, nothing special except our clothing. This was just my opinion, next year, I will not go as crazy preparing for the formal dinner. Again, just my opinion.

Tip: each dining room is quite cold, bring a sweater, light jacket, or ask sever for a table cloth wrap. We were always cold & noticed the other tables were too.

Tip: We left daily notes on our door through out the day about where abouts. This helped keep tabs on DD, & DD keeping tabs on me.


Day Monday 3 Sea Day 2/16/09
--------------------

Woke up early & went to guest services. What wonderful people working there. Kevin from USA was quite a help all week as well as Lakisha from Trinidad.


Went for an early power walk and saw many others running & walking. Afterwards, I went for a quick change & was in the Quiet Cove pool swimming laps. It was quite early. While doing laps, I was able to see all the chair claimers, "alias chair hoggers” I called them. I actually witnessed one woman who came out and couldn't find any empty chairs. She removed 3 towels off chairs that were already claimed & proceeded to put her beach bag, books, & a purse on these 3 chairs. I watched this woman do this every morning. What surprised me was that most of the day her 3 chairs were empty. Of course I ran into her many times on the boat. I wondered if she did this in the Disney Theatre as well.

DB DN & I went for breakfast at Topsiders. Beautiful, a bit windy lovely breakfast outside.

DB & DN were off to the Mickey pool and to see a movie.

I went back to the cabin to wake DD & then find a chair by Quite Cove & soak up the sun, and enjoy the drink of the day "High Tide." The only downside was the staff’s constant hawking us about drinks, they were persistent. I fell asleep & they actually woke me up asking me if I wanted to refill my drink.

We attended the Castaway Club Challenge meet. Before entering we were given Mickey rice crispy ears dipped in chocolate, soda, water & chocolate chip cookies. Met Captain Thorn, Brent & others. We watched a Disney Magic film, had a drawing. Gosh in 5 cruises, we've never won anything. Glad it ended quickly.

Off to the $10,000 Mega Jackpot Bingo in the afternoon. I have read about Pikey on the boards & finally met him. He is quite funny especially his B O jokes. We spent lots and didn't win a penny.

Before we knew it, it was time for early dinner. We celebrated DD birthday and the staff sang Happy Birthday they gave us a cake. But, after our soufflés that were brought down from Palo's, who could eat birthday cake? We wrapped the cake & took it to the counselors in the kids club. Their eyes lit up when they saw the cake. We told them this is not for the kids, it is for all of the staff. They were really happy. If you have cake, too full to eat it, drop it off at the kids club. DD ran off to the teen club, they had a lot of "activities" planned till wee hours of the AM.

Attended Twice Charmed and loved it. I live minutes from NYC My DH works in the city. We love Broadway shows and have seen some great ones,the Disney Magic shows in my opinion are "Broadway Quality"

Who Wants to be a Musketeer

We went to guest services with an unusual request. We needed our raft blown up for tomorrow’s excursion.We were sent off to a few places with our raft, but were finally guided to the right place & had our raft blown up. DN was thrilled. This was a smart ideal, bringing our own.

DD was having a blast making friends in the teen club aloft. I saw her with her aloft friends attending Twice Charmed in the Disney Theater. The teen group looked like they were having a blast all sitting together watching the show. I can't explain the feeling when I saw my DD, having a good time with her new friends. She was making memories of a lifetime. I wish my DH was with me.

I went back to our cabin; pre-packed my beach bag for the following day’s excursion along with our raft.


My final thoughts, today I was wined dined & pampered.

 

[Daleh]

Hi Pat and Billy
We really enjoyed our brunch and dinner with you two. Ken and I both agree that the brunch was the best, but dinner was wonderful also. I an editing my pics now and hope to post some next week. I was amazed by the service everywhere. Even when I said I was chilly and Alexandro made me a shaw from a black table cloth that was so cool. I tried so many new foods and really enjoyed them. The lobster was very good and so was the asparagus( both of which I have never enjoyed). Ken tells everyone about the pizzas at Palo's. Hope you are feeling ok.
Dale

 

[taysmom]

So jealous Pat! I wish I could have been there. Can't wait for the rest.

 

[Lovindisneycruise]

I really wanted to try the spa, and for some reason, never made it there!

I am sure you didnt look foolish doing laps. Many times I saw people doing them in the Cove pool! I was too lazy, and never did any, lolol.

You asked if we booked for next year. We did, for the Western the week after. But I am going to cancel. Hubby just recieved news that he can either give up his bonuses this year or have his name thrown into a pool for layoffs. He gave up the bonuses. SIGH.

But we decided we want to go back on the Eastern anyways! So we will wait till we can book 2010. They told us they dont start booking it till about a year out???

I like your reports. Keep em coming.

I wish we had done Palo for brunch. We did it the last night, and to be very honest, we did not find the food any better than the dining rooms. The chocolate souffle was yummy. Next time we will try the brunch and see if it is alot better

What dining room did you have for formal night? We thought it was neat to dress up, but I am glad we got advice before we left about it. We expected to just dress up and have fun.

I actually think I know the woman you are speaking of at the pool! I dontknow her personally, but I watched her do this with bags several times. In fact, a man came along and moved one of her bags one day, and she came over later and yelled at him! He told her" no saving, period. You werent here for an hour". I couldnt believe he did it! But there were definetly alot of chair savers. The staff said that if you notice it, you can have them move the towel and if anyone says anything to you, refer them to the staff.