Roll call for the 10/23/2004 Western Magic. Who's with us?

[pdarrah]

Hi Everyone,

I have a few questions and I thought I would try here first since so many of you have cruised DCL before...

Does anyone know the days for the Character Breakfasts? Passporter says Sunday, Monday & Thursday, but the Navigators at DCLTribute say Monday, Wednesday & Thursday. I also have had trouble figuring out which days Palo has Brunch and Tea. The navigators may not be the best to go on since they seem to be Easter week which may have been different.

I am trying to put together a chart like the one I have seen on the board for the Eastern (I believe it was originally by mmouse37), but never having done a DCL cruise I have to go by the info I can gleen from Passporter and on-line.

Do you think there are less people than normal booked for our Oct23 date? The other weeks in October seem to be much more active - have we hit a "light" week? (I wouldn't mind - my biggest fear of such a large ship is the crowds!)

Thanks for any help. If I get this chart completed, I'll post it for everyone to use.

Pamela

 

[kamgen]

We have been on the ship at capacity and it was fine. We don't seem to notice a big difference in the crowds and they rarely affect our cruise vacation. I think Oct is a light time of year and we love cruising at that time.

As for the meals, I find the best source to be Barb & Tony's site (castawayclub)
They have RECENT navigators that list the times and days. I would check there.

Is it time to cruise yet??

 

[DMoss3377]

Hey gang...

We're still settling in...still unpacking, but we're about 3/4 of the way through. It's definitly going to take some time to get used to living in a new place. Haven't started looking for a job yet...hopefully will have little trouble when I start.

Really looking forward to the cruise...my DH and I keep talking about it all the time. Especially since we're going to get to see our friends...and meet all you new people.

Tarzanman&Kamgen: We're keeping you guys in our prayers. Steve and I can definitly relate. If there's anything we can do, you've got our number.

Beano/Tarzanman/Kamgen: Steve and I would love to do MNSSHP with you. Keep us informed...we're a little out of touch with the move.

Well...gotta get back to the boxes. See you all soon!

 

[pdarrah]

Well, I finally figured out what is going on with the Navigators I was looking at. On the first day, there is a section that is called "Highlights of your Western Caribbean Cruise" and it seems to have had a consistent typo for quite a while!

It shows the Character Breakfast as Mon, Wed & Thu. If you look through all the individual day Navigators, there is dining info on page 4. Here you find the correct information that the Character Breakfasts are on Sun, Mon & Thu. I have found this same first day typo in 3 different Western Navigators on-line!

I also found that the Palo Brunch was served on Sun, Mon & Thu and that Palo Tea was on only Mon & Thu.

I have created a new version of the chart (I mentioned the original above - it was by mmouse37) which shows all the dining info. If anyone else wants to look at it, it is at http://www.bwdarrah.com/DiningChart_Western.jpg JPG Version (117kb)

If anyone spots any errors, please let me know and I'll fix it....

(Have you noticed that I am definitely type-A when it comes to planning a trip????)

Pamela

 

[kamgen]

Pamela - Great idea! Join the club...I am so Type A!! LOL!!!

 

[skylynx]

Hello, fellow cruisers

We're finishing off the packing for our trip to Las Vegas tomorrow and our wedding Monday morning at 11 Vegas time! Then on Wednesday the 30th we're off to the Magic Kingdom for a four night honeymoon. We'll be staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge the first three nights (annual passholder discount) and the last night at Dixie Landings (Port Orleands Riverside) which has a historical significance for us. Since we met at the Disney Institute in May of 2000 and spent our first evening knowing each other watching the Tapestry of Nations parade and Illuminations we couldn't not include a visit to the Magic in our wedding celebration! When we return, we can start obsessing about the upcoming cruise again!

Wish us luck...

 

[pdarrah]

Hi Skylynx and Impala

We haven't met yet, but I hope you have a wonderful wedding! At least you can be certain that it will be warmer there than it is here.... this has to be the coldest June we've ever had here. (We'll probably pay for it will 100+ days in August

Best wishes,

Pamela

 

[skylynx]

Thanks so much, Pam! We won't be freezing in Las Vegas. It is expected to be over 100 degrees on our wedding day. Normally I don't like the heat, but in order for my family of school teachers to attend, I had to schedule the wedding in the summer months! I look forward to meeting you on the cruise when we'll be able to celebrate both my soon-to-be husband's birthday, but our four month wedding anniversary. That's got to be worth a pin!

 

[pdarrah]

Neat - my husband's birthday is also on the cruise (28th). We are doing the cruise this year to celebrate our 15th anniversary. (It was actually last week, but we are just postponing the celebration.)

Have a wonderful, magical time!

Pamela

(I wish I could have worn a mickey ear veil. We went to WDW on our honeymoon only because I pushed, begged, pleaded, demanded, etc!! He thought it was only for kids and was really surprised at how much fun it was.)

 

[abitjaded]

Oh Pamela, what do you mean about obsessive planning. I had actually posted to the general cruise board looking for mmouse's Western chart, but she had a computer crash and lost it. Other fine folks gave me other versions of the chart, but here you had it! Yeah!!!!!

Congratulations to Skylynx and Impala. How did you meet? Were you in a class at the Institute? We stayed in a bungalow there years ago. It was such a peaceful place, I miss it.

New house, Dmoss, did you find the toilet paper and the light bulbs yet?

Carla

 

[DudetteTwo]

Home from mother/daughter bonding in the Poconos of Pennsylvania. We did everything - flea market, outlet shopping, movies, bingo, pool & ate too much!

DENISE & JOHN Have a fantastic wedding. My daughter is engaged & thinking of getting married in Las Vegas since she lives in California (& so does his family) & we live in New Jersey. You will have to give us some hints about weddings in Las Vegas!

Is everybody getting really excited:jumping4: :jumping4: :jumping4: I do not have any more vacations before the cruise so now it is all I can think about!

Hope you all have a terrific weekend. Toodles JEANNE

 

[BeanoC]

Hi everyone... "Happy July"!

Now we can say the cruise is 'a little over 3 months' away.

Tarzanman, congrats on your move to Florida. I know things are gonna go great for you there. You just need to go back to Michigan and get your wife!

Everyone have a safe and happy 4th weekend!!



'Beano'

 

[faithmagicmickey]

Hi all

A belated happy fathers day to all you dad's.

Beano, HAPPY JULY TO YOU AS WELL.

I know, I know, I said good bye to this thread PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE forgive me for my last posting. I was in a very bad way back then. I would have posted sooner but 1st my computer broke down so I had to get it fixed then I thought it had been so long since my last post (I just felt weird) Ya know?

Again, Please forgive me If I offended anyone I humbly apologize to you.

This winter and spring have been so bad for my family and I. I know that is no excuse for what I said in my last post. But what can I say. Just so you understand me somewhat here are some examples:
My DD was very, very ill most of the winter. She is OK now. Her diabetes get the best of her.
Not long ago my DD also found out she is going blind from diabetes. Not sure when she will be completely blind, but we have a few trips planned in the next year to help ease her pain.
The month of June is always bad for me because my son David's birthday is on June 9th. David would have been 28 years old this year. He was killed in 1992, hit by a car. It is very hard. Anyway, I'm sorry I do not want to make you feel uncomfortable with me because of this. Life does go on. I appreciate life every day because I do know how short life can be.
OK now that that has been said.

Things are looking up now. Only a little more than 3 months to go before the cruise. I've already booked my reservations at Palo for Brunch, High Tea and Dinner. I called yesterday. We've been talking about shore excursions that we may do. And all that Jaz. CAN'T WAIT!!!

Well, I better go now. If you all want to kick me off this thread I will understand. Just let me know.
Again, PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!
Faith

 

[BeanoC]

Hi Faith, welcome back!

Sorry to learn that you've faced such tragedies in your life.
I know how devastating it can be. But we're glad you're back with us!!

Yep - just a little more than 3 months to go. I am going to get my Palo ressies in place soon as well, and also spa treatments, etc. etc. Fun fun fun!


'Beano'

 

[pdarrah]

Hi Everyone!

Well, believe it or not, I have another planning chart I have put together. (I haven't been this crazy planning a trip in YEARS!) I was having trouble 'visuallizing' the various times for everything and then I found a similar chart in another thread. I am afraid I don't remember who made it so I guess I am stealing the idea and not giving them credit - sorry...

I figured I would post these in case anyone else would like to use them.

There are 3 charts - one for each dining rotation. Since we have late seating, that is how they are setup. I have also included the original Excel spreadsheet in case anyone wants to have that and make their own modifications.

I have included sunrise/sunset & moonrise/moonset times - the only ones I am a little unsure about are Grand Cayman and Cozumel - they could be off by an hour if I have the time zones mixed up.

All the dates and times are my "best guess" from reading too many online Navigator's. If there are any mistakes, let me know and I'll change them.

APLAPLAPL Rotation: DCL_Itinerary_APL.jpg
PLAPLAP Rotation: DCL_Itinerary_PLA.jpg
LAPLAPL Rotation: DCL_Itinerary_LAP.jpg

Excel Spreadsheet of all 3: dcl_itinerary.xls <-- This will work best if you right-click and "Save" it to your own hard drive.

Now, if I can only convince DH that we should book REAS so we can make our ressies in advance!

Happy planning!

Pamela

 

[abitjaded]

Oh, wonderful Pamela. Can someone refresh my memory as to what rotation is most common for two adults and two kids 8 and 11?

Hi, Faith. I have not blown off the thread, 'cause I barely got here.

Had a lot of fun this week, shopping! I'm all set, if the gown I ordered from fashionbug would just arrive, and if it fits! Nordstrom's Rack had a good sale as did Kohl's and Target! Stuff for me and DH, but boy is the kid's stuff ugly this year. Both my boys are growing like weeds, and some things from the last cruise still fit, but their shorts and tees are looking pretty shabby. All the boys stuff seems to come in navy and tan, yeech.

Has anyone else started to "cruise" the sales, yet? I normally do not shop much, my uniform is what ever is on sale at Target and survives my families' washing technique. It was good therapy, we had a few bumps in our family road this past week, too. Ladies, take your calcium, osteoporosis and cracked disks at the age of 87 are awful.

Hey, Faith, hang in there. What days do you do Palo? We usually try to brunch early on, then do Palo dinner before the deck party night so we do not miss a show. Never got a tea reservation. Managed it once, but we were in two places at one time and double booked my mom for tea and hair-do. Lucky you that you get to book now, 'course you are really paying for the perk!

We are off to WDW next week, anyone need anything?

Carla

 

[faithmagicmickey]

Pamela, OMG I love it that is soooooo cool. Thank you for doing it.

Thank you Beano, It's nice to be back!


Faith

 

[faithmagicmickey]

Originally posted by abitjaded

Hey, Faith, hang in there. What days do you do Palo? We usually try to brunch early on, then do Palo dinner before the deck party night so we do not miss a show. Never got a tea reservation. Managed it once, but we were in two places at one time and double booked my mom for tea and hair-do. Lucky you that you get to book now, 'course you are really paying for the perk!

Thank you Carla, I will hang in there. We are doing Palo brunch on Mon the 25th at 10:30am We are doing Palo high tea on Thurs the 28th at 3:30pm We were going to do Palo dinner on Sun 24th but Debbie from DCL ressie told me the because we are in cat 1 we can have it in our suite.

Yes the perk is nice I think we will just have pizza and souffle from Palo. The last cruise
we did Palo on Mexcali night and we were so sorry we missed it. So this time I do not want to miss any dinners.this time we will just double dip. Oh what the heck were on vacation!
OMG I JUST CAN'T WAIT


Faith

 

[abitjaded]

Faith, I know everyone adores the Palo souffle, but I cannot wait to have that wonderful pistachio cake again. I loved the cassata they used to have and was totally bummed when it went bye-bye. But I would dine at Palo just to get that pistachio cake!!

Is the Mexicalli night really all that good? Coming from Colorado and spending a lot of time in New Mexico, we get plenty of good Mex food. We had the most phenominal (sp?, where's that dang dictionary) servers on our last cruise, Anton and Adina. (Adina since promoted to Palo, hope she is still there, ask for her, she is amazing.) We went to Tropical night because they insisted. The kids got fed and we had just an appetizer, then went off to Palo. but Adina and Anton wanted the kids there to parade with them, fun. DH wants to skip WWTBAM, but I want them to at least try to get them on. My husband has read just about every Disney book, and with the kids' knowledge of the movies, I know we could win (Ha-ha). If we win, can we get the Walt Suite????

Ohhhh, my sons could come up and play the Mickey Mouse March on the baby grand for you while you do your Palo dining. They know the Siamese Cat Song and It's A Small World, too.

Carla

 

[DudetteTwo]

With Faith talking about all those reservations, the cruise is starting to become a REALITY! It seemed so far away & now there are dates, times, etc. for everything! Getting very excited

Had just an awful day at work today & have to go back for two more but I hope you all have a terrific Fourth of July weekend. Have some fun for me! Toodles JEANNE