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"If I were not upon the sea..." I'd want to be!
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Lucky number 7 Magical Cruise
We’re back from the 2/9/08 sailing of the Disney Magic, our favorite vacation destination and here is our trip report. I usually do this in narrative form, but I tend to be way too wordy, so I’m going to be grouping topics together - and will still probably be too wordy. And as usual, here is our disclaimer; we love DCL, we are big fans of Disney in general and so you won’t find a very objective review, our only criticism of the whole trip is that it had to end. So with that said, here goes. (aside – DW and I sort of wrote this together, so if it sounds like two different people are writing – it’s probably her part.)
THE CAST: Me DH (46), DW (44), DS (17), DS (11). As the title suggests this was our 7th cruise, actually 6th for the boys. All trips but one have been on the Magic. Also on this voyage were our dear friends from Canada, whom we met as table mates on our first 7 night cruise in 2002. We all sailed together again the following year but then haven’t seen each other over the intervening 5 years. We’ve kept in touch and when we let them know that we had booked for this particular week, they altered their previous vacation plans and booked the cruise in order to join us. They were four also; DW - Margaret, DH - George, DS - Michael, and their friend Ryan who was also a dear and great to get to know. Though we love the family time we find it really enhances our experiences to be able to share them with others as well. And especially someone new like Ryan. So it was just that much better being with them all. And did we mention how wonderful they are. Cruises can lead to many Magical life experiences! Don’t be afraid of tablemates. It can be the best part of your trip
This is all of us on pirate night (Adam playing 'Blind Beard" the Pirate
This trip was primarily a high school graduation gift to our DS and it turned out that we set sail on my 46th birthday. 6 years to the day from our first 7 day cruise which WAS for my 40th birthday. (That birthday was also the start of our pin collection (note – not trading, just hoarding) as they were still giving birthday pins back then – from there a small obsession was born
TRAVEL: This was one of our most challenge free trips yet. Flew from Philadelphia early Friday morning, on Southwest, love their new boarding program. We were on a flight with a LARGE group of local cheerleaders on their way to a competition in Orlando. Just a little bit of chaos in the terminal with them either spread on the floor sleeping (we were there around 5:30 am) or building pyramids to try and change the TV channel so they could see themselves on the early morning news! Seems our 17 year old didn’t mind too much….We had a very uneventful flight and quickly caught Magical Express from the airport to Saratoga Springs, our DVC home resort. Our room was already ready for us even though we were there by about 10:30. This was our first trip there and we found out that we love it! It will easily become our second ‘home away from home’. (Of course DCL is our first!) We can’t wait to have the vacation available to spend more time there. We had a nice lunch at the Artist’s Palette and walked around exploring. Then we rested a bit from the early morning before heading over via Ferry to Downtown Disney to meet our friends for dinner at Cap’n Jack’s. They had had a week before the cruise at various DVC resorts (and yes we were jealous). We went a little early and did some shopping, then met up with them. As we said, it was the first time we’d been face to face in 5 years, but it could have been 5 minutes. It was so easy to fall right back into step. We had a great dinner overlooking the water then all went back to our rooms to get ready to meet up at the port in the morning.
Tiffany Town Car picked us up Saturday morning at 9:15 and we were off to the port. We got dropped at the curb where porters took our luggage and we were quickly in the terminal. Checked in and got boarding group 3 (yea! Every extra moment on the ship is great!), met our traveling companions and settled in until they started boarding at 11:45. It was so good to be back on board.
STATEROOM: We were in stateroom 2000, cat 9. This was our first time on deck 2 and it is the very first passenger stateroom on the port side. We enjoy the deluxe ocean view rooms and this one was no exception. In fact, because of the curve of the bow area, there are actually a couple of extra feet at the end of the stateroom, which came in handy. And we ended up loving the location. We were right below most of the action. It was very convenient overall. There was a little noise when we were maneuvering from the bow thrusters, but it was infrequent and short-lived, so no biggie. Fact is we enjoyed the location and the little bit of extra room so much we requested it for next year’s cruise. A word about portholes vs. verandahs. We love having a verandah. Absolutely love it. But we have also loved the porthole rooms as we feel you have a better view all the time. With the verandah you have to go out on it to see well out to the ocean. So both are great for their own reasons. I guess I’m saying, if you can’t get a verandah don’t be totally bummed with a porthole. We think they’re great. And being so close to the water was really cool when there was a pod of dolphins swimming alongside the ship. DS11 and DW got to see them up close and personal and said it was just awesome.
Our stateroom host Maurice was warm, friendly, and efficient and made some great towel and blanket animals. Some of the best we’ve had. And he was great about informing us of things and keeping a check on anything we needed.
We were greeted with our repeat cruiser gift which we think is terrific. DW has commandeered the new bag for work (more fun than a briefcase) and the goodies inside were fun and helpful. As for the little plastic boat piece that there has been so much conjecture about, our son came up with a new theory. It looked like the smoke stack, so maybe every time you come back you get another piece of the boat until you can build one of your own! Right now it is on a shelf with our other DCL memorabilia.
DINING: We always request late seating and to be in Head Server John Cunningham’s station. He always takes very good care of us and his teams are always top notch. Plus I don’t think the kids would even go if we weren’t going to see him. We had the 8:00 pm APL rotation. This was our first time on the 8:00 pm rotation and really liked it. We got out a little earlier than when we had the 8:30 and were able to get to more evening events this time around. We don’t ever really care about the restaurant rotation, as long as we’re in John’s station, which we have been on all 6 seven night cruises. But this was fun, as Formal nights were in Lumiere’s and Pirate night in Parrot Cay. So the theme-ing worked really well this time.
Our serving team was Oana from Romania and Miklas from Hungary. They were both excellent, and Miklas had only been on the ship a month and a half. But he seemed like a veteran. By the second night he had a bowl of cherries waiting for our youngest, and a bowl of lemons for DW. They were friendly, efficient and very personable and were great with the kids. And as always were a big part of making the cruise so enjoyable.
We have always liked the food on the ship and this time was no exception. And as always there were some new items that we found to be excellent. Also Oana was great about making suggestions. Our DS17 doesn’t like lobster (WHAT???) so on semi-formal night he had the venison and loved it. John said he thought it was the best dish on that night’s menu. Sorry, I’m sticking with the good old crustacean!
We did have brunch, dinner and high tea at Palo, awesome as always. They are always tweaking and improving everything. Brunch was fabulous; I think I ate for a solid two hours. The new pizzas were very yummy (we got a half & half as we could never eat two whole pizzas and they were both great). We thoroughly enjoyed dinner, they have a new item, lobster ravioli in a cream sauce, we got a “side” order of this and it was beyond out of this world. Also a new chocolate dessert that was incredible. DW always gets panacotta instead of the chocolate soufflé and said that it was heavenly as always. High Tea is a nice quiet time for the DW and me with beautiful views of the ocean. They had some new finger sandwiches and a lemon tiramisu rather than the trifle. That was great! Our server for all three was Annie-Marie from South Africa, whom we’ve had our last three cruises. We have a lot of fun with her; she’s sweet and very, very good at what she does. And now we know each other’s life stories, we hate to miss the next chapter. So she said she’d be there this time next year, and we are looking forward to seeing her then again.
Of course there were many, many other good eats on the ship, of which we took full advantage. I love breakfast at Topsiders. It’s the only place I can get a pound of bacon all to myself (ha ha!). But DW got up several mornings before everyone else and enjoyed a quiet breakfast either alone, or with DS11 (also an earlier riser) at Lumiere’s. She said the new menu for breakfast was great. We also ordered with the hang tag for a couple of early morning calls which was great for getting out quickly.
ENTERTAINMENT: We are huge fans of the production shows and we found this cast to be about the best we’ve ever seen. The first night is the All Aboard Let the Magic Begin variety show. It was really well done and gets us in the mood to be less stressed adults and more relaxed dreamers. There were two entertainers. The first was Jeff Civilico, a comedian/juggler, who was unbelievable. He started his act balancing things on his face, starting with small items and moving up to a lounge chair (the kind they have on deck) and finally a 9 foot latter. We caught his adult and family cabaret and enjoyed both very much.
The other performer was Heath Hyche, who I found quite funny. He has an off kilter sense of humor that I really appreciated. (maybe my wife didn’t appreciate everything as he had a lot of “when I was a boy” anecdotal type stories which I found hilarious, but she didn’t quite relate to, especially the stories about boys vs. girls bikes). He was the main show on Sunday night and we caught his other performances as well.
The production shows were awesome as always. I know everyone has their favorites or least favorites, but we love them all. We are big Disney music fans, so we always enjoy the Golden Mickeys, for the music and the shear audacity of the costume and set changes in this show. When you think about how quickly the cast has to move from one costume to the other, (and it’s not a huge cast, so they do a lot of parts), or how much scenery there is in a not huge space, it’s very impressive. Also each show had new little touches to keep them fresh. We are always amazed at how much we still love everything, but it’s because they are always putting their attention into the details, which we are all about.
This was only the second time we’ve seen Twice Charmed, and we totally enjoyed it. We bought the sound track last cruise, but never got around to listening to it. We did so before sailing this time and it helped us look forward to seeing it. Can’t help but be impressed with the going from black and white to color (ala Animators) in the finale. And once again, we found this cast to be exceptionally talented and passionate. And you can’t go wrong with “believe in yourself” as a theme.
Disney Dreams is still our favorite, it makes us cry every time, and the new little touches really cranked it up a notch. As does the Remember the Magic a Final Farewell. My DW said “We’re already weepy because we have to leave. But do they have to make it so hard?” Michael Harrison, the ventriloquist and singer/comedian John Charles were our second half of the week performers. We’ve seen Michael Harrison a number of times and he still cracks us up, he’s very talented. We never get tired of the tennis ball. John Charles was a first for us, and he was a hoot, very talented and funny. And he could cover any song or artist anyone called out. When he did Hanna Montana we all cracked up BIG!
All of the other entertainment was great, the Pirate’s Dinner and Deck party were a blast and who can beat fireworks at sea. They were even better this time. We enjoyed a number of the deck parties, game shows and a special Valentine’s Cabaret done by many of the main stage performers. They put together a musical review of love songs and performed in the Promenade lounge, they were all really impressive.
PORTS OF CALL: First stop, Key West. The weather was great. In fact it was great all week. We like Key West and appreciate the convenient location at which the Disney Magic docks. There are a number of reasons why Disney can cost a little more than other cruise lines. One of which that is little noticed is their premium docking spaces. The only other ship in port with us that day was a Costa liner. They were docked at the old naval yard, which appears to be just yards away from the end of our dock, but is not attached. Their passengers have to take a trolley out of the naval yard to down town. We step off the ship and are downtown. We have been there when another ship was docked in front of us, but nobody was there this time. We strolled a bit, then visited the Pirate Soul museum. Our boys very much liked that. We shopped a little then back to enjoy the less crowded ship. Ping pong was a big activity for us and our younger son this trip. And it was easier to get a table when everyone was off doing things in the ports.
Grand Cayman came next. Despite several previous western trips, this was the first time we actually stepped foot on Grand Cayman. We always intentionally pick one port at which we don’t leave the ship; we really enjoy the Magic when many of the passengers are ashore. On our first western trip in 2003, Grand Cayman was that port. The following year, GC was substituted with Costa Maya, due to hurricane Ivan damage at GC. The following January seas were too rough to tender so we didn’t stay. But at last the curse was broken. We were going to get to go.
We had the island tour booked for 11:30, so a nice leisurely morning was enjoyed before heading to the Buena Vista Theatre for tender assignment. We enjoyed the tour, we like these overviews when we first visit an island. Then when we go back we can choose something we want to do that’s more in depth. We stopped at Hell, pretty cool, the Tortuga Rum Cake Factory, which was okay, but we actually enjoyed climbing around the rocky formations at the waters edge behind the factory even more. Scientists believe that GC was forced to the surface by a seismic occurrence, and was originally the sea bed. This rocky area sure made that easy to see. It was like walking on the sea bottom, just a fossilized version. Final stop was the turtle farm, very interesting and cool. Our youngest got to hold a yearling sea turtle and learned to be able to calm it by stroking under its neck. It was great experience for the both of them. (Our sons that is - not necessarily our son and the turtle. He voiced no opinion). It was neat to see these enormous creatures up close and learn so much more about them. After the tour we headed back to the ship. By this day the boys were very much into their routines. DS17 at the stack as much as possible and DS11 wandering the ship at will, playing pick up basketball games and being in Ocean Quest.
Turtle up close and personal.
Cozumel was the following day. This was the port that we chose to mostly skip. We had done shore excursions here a couple times in the past so my DW and oldest DS only went ashore for a little while to shop a bit. My wife really likes baking with the Mexican vanilla she has bought here before, so off she went to re-stock her supply. DS17 had gotten acquainted with several of the counselors and wanted to get them something for Valentine’s Day as well. He got some very nice little natural stone bracelets for each of them and was very proud of DW for bargaining with the shop keeper. Not something she is well known for!
Just another observation about DCL and docking; we were docked at the newer docks right at the center of town, only one other ship was docked next to us. There were two or three ships anchored out, tendering passengers and a couple of ships docked way far away at the older docks. This is part of the Disney difference.
Finally Castaway Cay! The weather that day was nothing short of spectacular! This was one of our best days there yet. The boys and I had the Personal Watercraft Eco tour at 10:30 and had a blast. Our oldest went off to join the teens and our youngest and I played in the water at the family beach. My DW had a leisurely walk (for a change) to the family beach as we had to run off for our tour, and found a chair under an umbrella and was enjoying some R&R. On the way she got some great pictures of the island that she claims she never had time to do before. She even got to see a hummingbird which I also caught later on film (sort of – they are FAST!). Lunch at Cookies – always very delicious, then a bike ride with DS11. The new bike trail and observation tower were really cool. Then he and I had a banana boat ride. That was a lot of fun. As we were finishing up and approaching the beach, I just had to push him off. The gentleman sitting next to me just couldn’t resist the urge and pushed me off too, much to my surprise! We got a huge kick out of this and really had a great time. The water was pretty nice, slightly cool, but heck, it was February and we’re from New Jersey. The water was probably warmer than it ever gets at home, even in August.
View from my umbrella shaded lounger!
DH & DS 11 having vacation MAGIC
HIGHLIGHTS: Being back on “our” ship was just so awesome. She looks beautiful and it is like coming home to us. The absolute best part of this trip was being able to sail and spend time with our friends from north of the border. It just made this trip extra special and enjoyable. We have been truly blessed to have gotten to know this family and to be able to have such a good time together.
Adam, Josh and Michael doing their best MIB (Men in Black) impression.
Spending a good deal of time together as a family away from the craziness of everyday life is also one of the most special parts of these trips. And we find that cruising really helps promote this much more so than a trip where we’re trying to cram too much into the allotted time.
DH & DS 17 on formal night
DS 17 & DS 11 looking like they actually like each other! The MAGIC of Disney!
John Cunningham – yes he’s a highlight for us. But my DW told me this story that is an example of why he’s special to us. She said that she had ordered a cake for my birthday celebration for embarkation day. But when dinner had ended on Saturday night, no cake had arrived. She felt bad about my actual birthday getting missed so the next day she went to see John during early dinner and said she was in big trouble because yesterday was my birthday and she didn’t check on the cake…etc. He stopped her and said “I know, I know. I have a big cake all set for tonight. If I ordered it yesterday it would have had to be a small cake and I wanted it to be special”. It seems on embarkation day you can’t order a special cake from the bakery and he didn’t want us to just have that little celebration cake. That turned out to be great for me because he brought a great big chocolate mousse cake out that night decorated for me which was fantastic! And that wasn’t the last special thing he did that week. He is always awesome.
John being cared for by John C.
The 'special' cake
John and all our boys; Ryan, Michael, John, Adam & Josh
Our Cruise Director this time was Christian Abbot and he was incredible. He is the most involved, visible and engaging cruise director we’ve yet cruised with. We enjoyed getting to chat with him a bit at the Castaway Club Party and seeing him around the ship. He really cranked the fun up a notch or two. (If you get the chance play 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon with him. He’s mind boggling!)
There are a bunch of people who work on the ship that have become our friends over our previous trips. Catching up with them also makes our trips back to the ship even more, sorry, but Magical. At DVC resorts they say “welcome home” and its great, but here for us, with so many friends already onboard, when they say welcome back, we REALLY do feel like we’ve come home.
Obviously we had a great, great time, and we’re already booked for the same week next year, yeah DVC points!!! DCL has put together, what is for us, the perfect vacation package and we have yet to be disappointed. The only down side of the whole week is leaving the ship on Saturday morning, they almost have to pry our hands off the door way as we cling to the ship and beg not to leave. We were very sorry to say good bye to our Canadian buddies so we decided it would be “Til we meet again” from now on – though that didn’t really help the tears any. We hope to be sailing with them again next year as well. And right now that looks like it’s going to happen.
So, Til we meet again on next year’s report, Happy Sailing to All!
We’re back from the 2/9/08 sailing of the Disney Magic, our favorite vacation destination and here is our trip report. I usually do this in narrative form, but I tend to be way too wordy, so I’m going to be grouping topics together - and will still probably be too wordy. And as usual, here is our disclaimer; we love DCL, we are big fans of Disney in general and so you won’t find a very objective review, our only criticism of the whole trip is that it had to end. So with that said, here goes. (aside – DW and I sort of wrote this together, so if it sounds like two different people are writing – it’s probably her part.)
THE CAST: Me DH (46), DW (44), DS (17), DS (11). As the title suggests this was our 7th cruise, actually 6th for the boys. All trips but one have been on the Magic. Also on this voyage were our dear friends from Canada, whom we met as table mates on our first 7 night cruise in 2002. We all sailed together again the following year but then haven’t seen each other over the intervening 5 years. We’ve kept in touch and when we let them know that we had booked for this particular week, they altered their previous vacation plans and booked the cruise in order to join us. They were four also; DW - Margaret, DH - George, DS - Michael, and their friend Ryan who was also a dear and great to get to know. Though we love the family time we find it really enhances our experiences to be able to share them with others as well. And especially someone new like Ryan. So it was just that much better being with them all. And did we mention how wonderful they are. Cruises can lead to many Magical life experiences! Don’t be afraid of tablemates. It can be the best part of your trip
This is all of us on pirate night (Adam playing 'Blind Beard" the Pirate
This trip was primarily a high school graduation gift to our DS and it turned out that we set sail on my 46th birthday. 6 years to the day from our first 7 day cruise which WAS for my 40th birthday. (That birthday was also the start of our pin collection (note – not trading, just hoarding) as they were still giving birthday pins back then – from there a small obsession was born
TRAVEL: This was one of our most challenge free trips yet. Flew from Philadelphia early Friday morning, on Southwest, love their new boarding program. We were on a flight with a LARGE group of local cheerleaders on their way to a competition in Orlando. Just a little bit of chaos in the terminal with them either spread on the floor sleeping (we were there around 5:30 am) or building pyramids to try and change the TV channel so they could see themselves on the early morning news! Seems our 17 year old didn’t mind too much….We had a very uneventful flight and quickly caught Magical Express from the airport to Saratoga Springs, our DVC home resort. Our room was already ready for us even though we were there by about 10:30. This was our first trip there and we found out that we love it! It will easily become our second ‘home away from home’. (Of course DCL is our first!) We can’t wait to have the vacation available to spend more time there. We had a nice lunch at the Artist’s Palette and walked around exploring. Then we rested a bit from the early morning before heading over via Ferry to Downtown Disney to meet our friends for dinner at Cap’n Jack’s. They had had a week before the cruise at various DVC resorts (and yes we were jealous). We went a little early and did some shopping, then met up with them. As we said, it was the first time we’d been face to face in 5 years, but it could have been 5 minutes. It was so easy to fall right back into step. We had a great dinner overlooking the water then all went back to our rooms to get ready to meet up at the port in the morning.
Tiffany Town Car picked us up Saturday morning at 9:15 and we were off to the port. We got dropped at the curb where porters took our luggage and we were quickly in the terminal. Checked in and got boarding group 3 (yea! Every extra moment on the ship is great!), met our traveling companions and settled in until they started boarding at 11:45. It was so good to be back on board.
STATEROOM: We were in stateroom 2000, cat 9. This was our first time on deck 2 and it is the very first passenger stateroom on the port side. We enjoy the deluxe ocean view rooms and this one was no exception. In fact, because of the curve of the bow area, there are actually a couple of extra feet at the end of the stateroom, which came in handy. And we ended up loving the location. We were right below most of the action. It was very convenient overall. There was a little noise when we were maneuvering from the bow thrusters, but it was infrequent and short-lived, so no biggie. Fact is we enjoyed the location and the little bit of extra room so much we requested it for next year’s cruise. A word about portholes vs. verandahs. We love having a verandah. Absolutely love it. But we have also loved the porthole rooms as we feel you have a better view all the time. With the verandah you have to go out on it to see well out to the ocean. So both are great for their own reasons. I guess I’m saying, if you can’t get a verandah don’t be totally bummed with a porthole. We think they’re great. And being so close to the water was really cool when there was a pod of dolphins swimming alongside the ship. DS11 and DW got to see them up close and personal and said it was just awesome.
Our stateroom host Maurice was warm, friendly, and efficient and made some great towel and blanket animals. Some of the best we’ve had. And he was great about informing us of things and keeping a check on anything we needed.
We were greeted with our repeat cruiser gift which we think is terrific. DW has commandeered the new bag for work (more fun than a briefcase) and the goodies inside were fun and helpful. As for the little plastic boat piece that there has been so much conjecture about, our son came up with a new theory. It looked like the smoke stack, so maybe every time you come back you get another piece of the boat until you can build one of your own! Right now it is on a shelf with our other DCL memorabilia.
DINING: We always request late seating and to be in Head Server John Cunningham’s station. He always takes very good care of us and his teams are always top notch. Plus I don’t think the kids would even go if we weren’t going to see him. We had the 8:00 pm APL rotation. This was our first time on the 8:00 pm rotation and really liked it. We got out a little earlier than when we had the 8:30 and were able to get to more evening events this time around. We don’t ever really care about the restaurant rotation, as long as we’re in John’s station, which we have been on all 6 seven night cruises. But this was fun, as Formal nights were in Lumiere’s and Pirate night in Parrot Cay. So the theme-ing worked really well this time.
Our serving team was Oana from Romania and Miklas from Hungary. They were both excellent, and Miklas had only been on the ship a month and a half. But he seemed like a veteran. By the second night he had a bowl of cherries waiting for our youngest, and a bowl of lemons for DW. They were friendly, efficient and very personable and were great with the kids. And as always were a big part of making the cruise so enjoyable.
We have always liked the food on the ship and this time was no exception. And as always there were some new items that we found to be excellent. Also Oana was great about making suggestions. Our DS17 doesn’t like lobster (WHAT???) so on semi-formal night he had the venison and loved it. John said he thought it was the best dish on that night’s menu. Sorry, I’m sticking with the good old crustacean!
We did have brunch, dinner and high tea at Palo, awesome as always. They are always tweaking and improving everything. Brunch was fabulous; I think I ate for a solid two hours. The new pizzas were very yummy (we got a half & half as we could never eat two whole pizzas and they were both great). We thoroughly enjoyed dinner, they have a new item, lobster ravioli in a cream sauce, we got a “side” order of this and it was beyond out of this world. Also a new chocolate dessert that was incredible. DW always gets panacotta instead of the chocolate soufflé and said that it was heavenly as always. High Tea is a nice quiet time for the DW and me with beautiful views of the ocean. They had some new finger sandwiches and a lemon tiramisu rather than the trifle. That was great! Our server for all three was Annie-Marie from South Africa, whom we’ve had our last three cruises. We have a lot of fun with her; she’s sweet and very, very good at what she does. And now we know each other’s life stories, we hate to miss the next chapter. So she said she’d be there this time next year, and we are looking forward to seeing her then again.
Of course there were many, many other good eats on the ship, of which we took full advantage. I love breakfast at Topsiders. It’s the only place I can get a pound of bacon all to myself (ha ha!). But DW got up several mornings before everyone else and enjoyed a quiet breakfast either alone, or with DS11 (also an earlier riser) at Lumiere’s. She said the new menu for breakfast was great. We also ordered with the hang tag for a couple of early morning calls which was great for getting out quickly.
ENTERTAINMENT: We are huge fans of the production shows and we found this cast to be about the best we’ve ever seen. The first night is the All Aboard Let the Magic Begin variety show. It was really well done and gets us in the mood to be less stressed adults and more relaxed dreamers. There were two entertainers. The first was Jeff Civilico, a comedian/juggler, who was unbelievable. He started his act balancing things on his face, starting with small items and moving up to a lounge chair (the kind they have on deck) and finally a 9 foot latter. We caught his adult and family cabaret and enjoyed both very much.
The other performer was Heath Hyche, who I found quite funny. He has an off kilter sense of humor that I really appreciated. (maybe my wife didn’t appreciate everything as he had a lot of “when I was a boy” anecdotal type stories which I found hilarious, but she didn’t quite relate to, especially the stories about boys vs. girls bikes). He was the main show on Sunday night and we caught his other performances as well.
The production shows were awesome as always. I know everyone has their favorites or least favorites, but we love them all. We are big Disney music fans, so we always enjoy the Golden Mickeys, for the music and the shear audacity of the costume and set changes in this show. When you think about how quickly the cast has to move from one costume to the other, (and it’s not a huge cast, so they do a lot of parts), or how much scenery there is in a not huge space, it’s very impressive. Also each show had new little touches to keep them fresh. We are always amazed at how much we still love everything, but it’s because they are always putting their attention into the details, which we are all about.
This was only the second time we’ve seen Twice Charmed, and we totally enjoyed it. We bought the sound track last cruise, but never got around to listening to it. We did so before sailing this time and it helped us look forward to seeing it. Can’t help but be impressed with the going from black and white to color (ala Animators) in the finale. And once again, we found this cast to be exceptionally talented and passionate. And you can’t go wrong with “believe in yourself” as a theme.
Disney Dreams is still our favorite, it makes us cry every time, and the new little touches really cranked it up a notch. As does the Remember the Magic a Final Farewell. My DW said “We’re already weepy because we have to leave. But do they have to make it so hard?” Michael Harrison, the ventriloquist and singer/comedian John Charles were our second half of the week performers. We’ve seen Michael Harrison a number of times and he still cracks us up, he’s very talented. We never get tired of the tennis ball. John Charles was a first for us, and he was a hoot, very talented and funny. And he could cover any song or artist anyone called out. When he did Hanna Montana we all cracked up BIG!
All of the other entertainment was great, the Pirate’s Dinner and Deck party were a blast and who can beat fireworks at sea. They were even better this time. We enjoyed a number of the deck parties, game shows and a special Valentine’s Cabaret done by many of the main stage performers. They put together a musical review of love songs and performed in the Promenade lounge, they were all really impressive.
PORTS OF CALL: First stop, Key West. The weather was great. In fact it was great all week. We like Key West and appreciate the convenient location at which the Disney Magic docks. There are a number of reasons why Disney can cost a little more than other cruise lines. One of which that is little noticed is their premium docking spaces. The only other ship in port with us that day was a Costa liner. They were docked at the old naval yard, which appears to be just yards away from the end of our dock, but is not attached. Their passengers have to take a trolley out of the naval yard to down town. We step off the ship and are downtown. We have been there when another ship was docked in front of us, but nobody was there this time. We strolled a bit, then visited the Pirate Soul museum. Our boys very much liked that. We shopped a little then back to enjoy the less crowded ship. Ping pong was a big activity for us and our younger son this trip. And it was easier to get a table when everyone was off doing things in the ports.
Grand Cayman came next. Despite several previous western trips, this was the first time we actually stepped foot on Grand Cayman. We always intentionally pick one port at which we don’t leave the ship; we really enjoy the Magic when many of the passengers are ashore. On our first western trip in 2003, Grand Cayman was that port. The following year, GC was substituted with Costa Maya, due to hurricane Ivan damage at GC. The following January seas were too rough to tender so we didn’t stay. But at last the curse was broken. We were going to get to go.
We had the island tour booked for 11:30, so a nice leisurely morning was enjoyed before heading to the Buena Vista Theatre for tender assignment. We enjoyed the tour, we like these overviews when we first visit an island. Then when we go back we can choose something we want to do that’s more in depth. We stopped at Hell, pretty cool, the Tortuga Rum Cake Factory, which was okay, but we actually enjoyed climbing around the rocky formations at the waters edge behind the factory even more. Scientists believe that GC was forced to the surface by a seismic occurrence, and was originally the sea bed. This rocky area sure made that easy to see. It was like walking on the sea bottom, just a fossilized version. Final stop was the turtle farm, very interesting and cool. Our youngest got to hold a yearling sea turtle and learned to be able to calm it by stroking under its neck. It was great experience for the both of them. (Our sons that is - not necessarily our son and the turtle. He voiced no opinion). It was neat to see these enormous creatures up close and learn so much more about them. After the tour we headed back to the ship. By this day the boys were very much into their routines. DS17 at the stack as much as possible and DS11 wandering the ship at will, playing pick up basketball games and being in Ocean Quest.
Turtle up close and personal.
Cozumel was the following day. This was the port that we chose to mostly skip. We had done shore excursions here a couple times in the past so my DW and oldest DS only went ashore for a little while to shop a bit. My wife really likes baking with the Mexican vanilla she has bought here before, so off she went to re-stock her supply. DS17 had gotten acquainted with several of the counselors and wanted to get them something for Valentine’s Day as well. He got some very nice little natural stone bracelets for each of them and was very proud of DW for bargaining with the shop keeper. Not something she is well known for!
Just another observation about DCL and docking; we were docked at the newer docks right at the center of town, only one other ship was docked next to us. There were two or three ships anchored out, tendering passengers and a couple of ships docked way far away at the older docks. This is part of the Disney difference.
Finally Castaway Cay! The weather that day was nothing short of spectacular! This was one of our best days there yet. The boys and I had the Personal Watercraft Eco tour at 10:30 and had a blast. Our oldest went off to join the teens and our youngest and I played in the water at the family beach. My DW had a leisurely walk (for a change) to the family beach as we had to run off for our tour, and found a chair under an umbrella and was enjoying some R&R. On the way she got some great pictures of the island that she claims she never had time to do before. She even got to see a hummingbird which I also caught later on film (sort of – they are FAST!). Lunch at Cookies – always very delicious, then a bike ride with DS11. The new bike trail and observation tower were really cool. Then he and I had a banana boat ride. That was a lot of fun. As we were finishing up and approaching the beach, I just had to push him off. The gentleman sitting next to me just couldn’t resist the urge and pushed me off too, much to my surprise! We got a huge kick out of this and really had a great time. The water was pretty nice, slightly cool, but heck, it was February and we’re from New Jersey. The water was probably warmer than it ever gets at home, even in August.
View from my umbrella shaded lounger!
DH & DS 11 having vacation MAGIC
HIGHLIGHTS: Being back on “our” ship was just so awesome. She looks beautiful and it is like coming home to us. The absolute best part of this trip was being able to sail and spend time with our friends from north of the border. It just made this trip extra special and enjoyable. We have been truly blessed to have gotten to know this family and to be able to have such a good time together.
Adam, Josh and Michael doing their best MIB (Men in Black) impression.
Spending a good deal of time together as a family away from the craziness of everyday life is also one of the most special parts of these trips. And we find that cruising really helps promote this much more so than a trip where we’re trying to cram too much into the allotted time.
DH & DS 17 on formal night
DS 17 & DS 11 looking like they actually like each other! The MAGIC of Disney!
John Cunningham – yes he’s a highlight for us. But my DW told me this story that is an example of why he’s special to us. She said that she had ordered a cake for my birthday celebration for embarkation day. But when dinner had ended on Saturday night, no cake had arrived. She felt bad about my actual birthday getting missed so the next day she went to see John during early dinner and said she was in big trouble because yesterday was my birthday and she didn’t check on the cake…etc. He stopped her and said “I know, I know. I have a big cake all set for tonight. If I ordered it yesterday it would have had to be a small cake and I wanted it to be special”. It seems on embarkation day you can’t order a special cake from the bakery and he didn’t want us to just have that little celebration cake. That turned out to be great for me because he brought a great big chocolate mousse cake out that night decorated for me which was fantastic! And that wasn’t the last special thing he did that week. He is always awesome.
John being cared for by John C.
The 'special' cake
John and all our boys; Ryan, Michael, John, Adam & Josh
Our Cruise Director this time was Christian Abbot and he was incredible. He is the most involved, visible and engaging cruise director we’ve yet cruised with. We enjoyed getting to chat with him a bit at the Castaway Club Party and seeing him around the ship. He really cranked the fun up a notch or two. (If you get the chance play 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon with him. He’s mind boggling!)
There are a bunch of people who work on the ship that have become our friends over our previous trips. Catching up with them also makes our trips back to the ship even more, sorry, but Magical. At DVC resorts they say “welcome home” and its great, but here for us, with so many friends already onboard, when they say welcome back, we REALLY do feel like we’ve come home.
Obviously we had a great, great time, and we’re already booked for the same week next year, yeah DVC points!!! DCL has put together, what is for us, the perfect vacation package and we have yet to be disappointed. The only down side of the whole week is leaving the ship on Saturday morning, they almost have to pry our hands off the door way as we cling to the ship and beg not to leave. We were very sorry to say good bye to our Canadian buddies so we decided it would be “Til we meet again” from now on – though that didn’t really help the tears any. We hope to be sailing with them again next year as well. And right now that looks like it’s going to happen.
So, Til we meet again on next year’s report, Happy Sailing to All!
) . anyway, did it cost extra to order the special cake and how far in advance do you need to order it? I know she would not like the little jelloish cake i've seen in some photos but mousse cake she would love.
