Setting Sail on a Mousefest Cruise!

[TLinden16]

Day 1—Sunday, December 7, 2008

Setting course for adventure, my mind on the Mousefest Cruise

I woke up early the morning of my cruise after a restless night at Old Key West. I usually don’t sleep well the first night in a new place. I guess I just need some time to adjust to a new bed. Or maybe it was just the excitement of the Mousefest cruise. Or maybe it was the high altitude of the Old Key West beds. Or maybe it was the blinding light coming in from the peephole that was shooting like a laser on my bed. It could have been all of the above.

I finally gave in to my inability to sleep, and got up early to take a shower and get ready for the cruise. When we were ready, Goofy4Tink and I brought our bags over to bell services to hold until our ride came to go over to port. It was just about 7:00, and much to our surprise, the restaurants at Old Key West didn’t open until 7:30. Maybe more folks eat in their rooms at Old Key West, but I thought this was way too late for the restaurants to open. If you want to go to early entry, you can’t even get a meal at the resort before heading to the parks. If I ever stay there again, I’ll definitely make sure I have some food in the room.

We ran back to our room to get the rest of our things, and headed over to Olivia’s at 7:30. I ordered a breakfast platter that had eggs, bacon, Olivia’s potatoes, and a biscuit. The food was very good, especially the potatoes, which were nice and cheesy. I was amused watching the hostess and manager at Olivia’s singing along and dancing to the Chipmunk Christmas song, joking with them that I didn’t realize that Olivia’s had a show while you dined.

After breakfast, we met up with our friend DinkyBean from Tagrel and her friend Mackey for the ride to port. Our SUV was there right or time, and our driver Ed was helpful and personable, and expertly got all of our bags in the back of his car.

After a quick stop for water at 7 11, we were at port in record time. We were first in line to drop our bags off with the porter, and we positioned ourselves at the gate. When the porter Rob came out, I told him that we loved him. When I tried to read his name tag, he took off his hat and said, “Joe the plumber.” I said, “You are much better looking than Joe the plumber.” He said, “You’re a flirt, and I love it.” I continued to flirt with Rob, and the security guard, the Silver Fox, hoping it would get our bags checked sooner, but alas it didn’t work.

Let me in!

When they opened the gates to start taking luggage, Rob took our luggage first, and Goofy4Tink and I were the first ones into the security line (except for a few concierge guests). We scored a group 2 boarding card, and were checked in within minutes.

We walked around the terminal a bit, snapping pictures, and mingling with all of the other Mousefest cruisers. Someone had given Deb Wills from All Ears a tiara, so Goofy4Tink and I dubbed her Princess Mousefest.

We also saw the cutest little 10 month old girl wearing a sailor suit in the terminal. I didn’t realize it at the time, but she was sweet little Emily, the daughter of the DIS’s WeLuvDCL. I saw Emily many times during the cruise, and also at the Mega Mouse Meet, and she always seemed to be smiling. She was just the sweetest little angel with a sunny personality, and it always brought a smile to my face when I saw her.

After posing for our embarkation picture, and snapping some more pictures of our friends around the terminal, we were finally able to board the ship. The gangway was still broken from the winds that knocked it down, so we had to go down a level and walk in on one of the lower levels. It was a bit of a hike, but I was happy, so I skipped and high fived all the cast members along the way.

A cast member took Goofy4Tink, our new friend Duck Addict form the Passporter boards, and myself up to deck 3 in an elevator, and lead us to the main lobby, where another cast member announced that everyone should welcome Karen, Diane, and Donald to the Disney Wonder. The cast members in the lobby cheered for us as we made our way across the lobby, and made our way to Parrot Cay for lunch.

Goofy4Tink, Duck Addict, and I were seated at a table for four near a table for 8 that Deb Wills was sitting at, waiting for others to join her, including DinkyBean and Mackey, StephaMickey, and Tinker1bell. TiggerTails wound up joining our table when she boarded the ship a bit later.

Minnie stopped by to see Goofy4Tink and I at lunch

The food at Parrot Cay was very good. I really enjoyed my salad, and the pork and chicken dishes that they had. The potato soup was good, but a bit bland. I wasn’t overly impressed by the desserts at the buffet, though.

On the ride to port, DinkyBean, who is from Japan, mentioned that she loves the grapes in the U.S. She said that the grapes they get in Japan are different of our grapes. I saw DinkyBean walking by with a bowl of grapes, so of course I had to get a picture of her with her grapes. She held them over her mouth, and looked like a Greek goddess with her grapes.

At one point, one of the servers, Niko, was changing a table cloth at the table next to ours. He kind of tossed the table cloth, and got it to fall perfectly on the table. We all applauded Niko for his great work putting the table cloth on the table, and I told him that I loved him. He came over to chat with us, and put his hand up to give me a high five, but when I went to slap his hand, he moved it on me. Goofy4Tink thought it was the best thing ever, but I thought Niko was being mean after I had just told him that I loved him. I told him that I didn’t love him anymore as he walked away.

After lunch, Goofy4Tink and I walked around on deck 10 for a while. Despite the chilly temperatures in the 60’s, there were still some kids in the pool. We wound up grabbing some lounge chairs and sitting in the sun by the adult pool.

At 1:30, we headed down to see if we could get into our room. We were in stateroom 5020, a secret porthole room. The stateroom was a decent size, although I couldn’t imagine having more than two people in it. The view from the porthole was fine with a minimal obstruction.

I surprised Goofy4Tink with a Bon Voyage Celebration package from Jerry, the figment of imagination that shows up at Boston area DIS meets. I was a bit disappointed to see that the decorations were for a congratulations instead of the Bon Voyage decorations I had ordered.

At 3:00, we headed up to the soda station for a quick DIS meet. It was nice to mix and mingle with all of the DISers on the ship—and there were a lot of us. I’d start a list, but there were far too many of us there to remember everyone, and I don’t want to leave anyone out. We grabbed slices of Hawaiian pizza while we were up on deck, and I thought it was surprisingly good.

After the meet, Goofy4Tink and I went back to our room to work on our bags for the fish extender exchange we were doing. At 4:00 p.m. we grabbed our life jackets and headed out to deck 4 for the muster drill.

After doing a bit more work on our fish extender gifts, we headed up to deck 10 to go to the sail away party meet. It was fun singing and dancing along with all of the excited Mousefest folks getting ready to set sail on a four night cruise! TiggerTails had little bottles of bubbles for everyone.

Goofy4Tink and I stayed on deck 10 until Goofy4Tink’s daughter saw the ship go by a webcam. Goofy4Tink was more upset about not cruising with her family than she thought she would be, as she was crying as she talked with her daughter on the phone as we waved to her on the web cam (not that she could really see us or anything).

We ran back to our stateroom really quick to get ready to head to “The Golden Mickeys.” TiggerTails had some seats near her in her row up front, so we wound up sitting with her. The show was really cute. It was fun to see scenes from some of my favorite Disney movies. I couldn’t help but sing along to some of the songs.

After the show, we browsed around the shops for a bit before heading for dinner at Animators Palette. We lucked out and got an excellent table. We were seated with TiggerTails, Deb Wills and Linda Lou from All Ears, Beci from Mouse Fan Travel, Rita who worked for Disney, Matt and Marisa Hochberg from Studios Central, Bob who knew the owner of Jellyrolls, and Tony and Ray, who were at Palo the first night. Everyone at our table was very nice, and we had a lot of fun and laughs each and every night we dined together.

We had horrible servers on the cruise. On my last cruise, our servers knew everyone by name by the second day, and they had our soft drinks ready for us as soon as we got to the table. On this cruise, I felt the severs made very little effort, and while they were pleasant enough (especially on tip night), they just were not very attentive. We know who was at our table at the earlier seating, and the servers were just as bad for them—we heard of one story of a boy who ordered chocolate milk every night, and they had to ask for it repeatedly before they brought it to him, sometimes after he was finished with his entrée.

Hernan was our head server, and Roland was our assistant server. We were always the last table served, and Hernan always seemed to miss something that we ordered and had to run back to the kitchen to get it. He just seemed very confused or overwhelmed each night. I was also shocked to see that he had a huge stain on his vest the first night. I’ve never seen a cast member with such a dirty costume.

Roland seemed to be pushing the wine every night, and gave me a hard time for ordering a diet Coke. I like lime in my diet Coke, and the first two nights, I requested diet Coke with lime, and he would repeat the word “lime” but bring me a lemon. By the third night, I gave up on getting lime with my diet Coke because I knew I wasn’t going to get it. And getting a refill on a soda was nearly as impossible (and a few nights we had a trainee server as well, so we had three people serving us). Even if you asked for a refill, you were lucky to get it. One night, I timed it to see how long my glass would sit empty until I got a refill, and it was over 20 minutes.

The food at Animator’s Palette was excellent. I started off with a Ceasar salad, which had a very flavorful dressing. For my entrees I ordered the lemon pepper chicken, which was actually very tomatoey, and served with some delicious mashed potatoes. I also ordered the Alfredo penne with turkey and prosciutto, which was one of my favorite dishes of the cruise. It had a nice flavor to it, and lots of turkey and prosciutto. For dessert, I ordered the pound cake with vanilla sauce, which was very bland and dry.

After dinner, I met TiggerTails and Rita at WaveBands for the Match Your Mate Game Show. This show was absolutely hysterical. They pick three couples to participate in a Newlywed Game type game show. The couples that were chosen were absolutely hysterical, and most of the answers are not appropriate for me to put in my trip report. I’ll just say that I haven’t laughed so much in a long time.

After the show, they were having a disco party. I’m not a fan of disco music, so I said good night to TiggerTails and Rita and headed up to deck four to get some fresh air before heading back up to the stateroom to get some sleep.

 

[TLinden16]

Day 2—Monday December 8, 2008

Off to Atlantis—the home of the $7.50 baked potato

I had another restless night. I just never sleep well the first night in a new bed. I finally got up around 5:30, threw on some clothes, and headed up to the drink station on deck nine to grab a soda. Surprisingly, there were quite a few people wandering around on deck grabbing drinks this early in the morning. It was a bit chilly, so after grabbing my soda, I went back inside and wandered around a bit.

I headed back to the room to shower and get ready for a day at Atlantis. I also organized our gifts for the fish extender exchange, and when Goofy4Tink was ready, we walked around the ship delivering our gifts. The fish extender exchange took a lot more time than I expected. While it was fun to come back to our room and find gifts every day, it was a lot of time to put our gifts together and deliver them.

After delivering our gifts, we headed up to the Beach Blanket Buffet for breakfast. I got some yummy Mickey Waffles, and cinnamon rolls. The scrambled eggs were a bit runny, and the bacon was flavorless. It was decent for a buffet, but not the best food I’ve ever had.

After breakfast, we walked around on deck, and watched the ship pull into Nassau. I got my first look at Atlantis, which was just massive! From the ship, it really looked like it was a neat building, and I couldn’t wait to head over there to check it out.

Atlantis from the ship

As soon as we were able too, Goofy4Tink and I left the ship to take a cab over to Atlantis. On our lengthy walk to the cab stop, we ran into Marilyn Monroe, who was outside waiting for people to ask her to braid their hair. We passed on the hair braiding. We rode over to Atlantis with a party of three from the ship who were heading over to Atlantis to swim with the dolphins.

When we arrived at Atlantis, Goofy4Tink and I wandered around the lobby a bit. It was really beautiful. The details in the lobby were just gorgeous. We also checked out the Dig, where we saw all kinds of fish, sea turtles, sting rays, and other marine life. There was also a diver in the tank wiping down the glass with the tiniest sponge.

At one point, we stopped to have our picture taken in King Neptune’s chair. We had the photographer cracking up because we were acting silly for the pictures. At one point we threw our hands up in the air and acted like we were on a roller coaster. It was loads of fun.

We also spent some time in the casino. Goofy4Tink had beginners luck and won some money in the casino. She started out saying she won about $40, but with each person she told, the amount increased, and it was soon $50, and then $60. On the last day of the cruise, I think I heard her tell someone she won a million dollars. I also had lots of luck in the casino, but unfortunately, my luck was all bad.

We also wandered around outside in the marketplace. It was a very quaint shopping area, and fun to walk around there. I had heard many people mention that the restaurants were expensive at Atlantis, but I was surprised by just how expensive it was. I glanced at the menu at the steakhouse, and I was surprised to see a $7.50 baked potato on the menu! I wouldn’t pay that kind of money for a baked potato.

Everything at Atlantis was expensive. I thought Disney’s photo pass pictures were expensive until I saw that they charged $20 for them at Atlantis. I stayed clear of eating or drinking anything at Atlantis because of the prices. The prices at Johnny Rockets were a bit more reasonable than anything else we saw at Atlantis.

When Goofy4Tink and I had our fill of Atlantis, we took a cab back to the ship. We browsed around the shops at port a bit, and stopped to take some pictures of the ship. I asked someone to take a picture of Goofy4Tink and I in front of the ship, and found out later in the trip that it was DISer Pluto1979.

Goofy4Tink and I in front of the Wonder

On my next cruise, I will be staying on the ship in Nassau. Although it was worth checking out Atlantis, I had no desire to explore downtown Nassau. My overall impression of downtown Nassau as we drove through it was that it was dirty, unimpressive, and overpopulated.

When we got back on the ship, Goofy4Tink and I went up to the Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. The line for the adult side of the buffet was a bit long, and there was no one in the kids’ side, so we walked down there to get some food. I got some yummy jello, and I really liked the turkey and ketchup macaroni and cheese. We hit the adult side of the buffet after, and the beef ribs were excellent.

After lunch, I went to the Walt Disney Theatre to see “Bolt” in 3D. I sat in the first row behind the split in the theatre. A few minutes before the show started, a family plopped down in the row behind me. For some reason, the grandma thought the best seating arrangement for the family would be for her to sit in the seat behind me to the right, her 3 or 4 year old grandson sit in the seat directly behind me, and grandpa sat behind me to the left. Grandpa tried to switch with the little boy, but grandma told him that the boy was fine. The boy spent most of the movie walking back and forth between grandma and grandpa and hitting me in the back of the head.

“Bolt” was cute with some funny moments. I always love the way Disney throws little innuendos in their films that go over the kids heads but make the adults laugh. I enjoyed the movie, but don’t have a desire to see it again—and I probably wouldn’t have seen it if I wasn’t on the ship.

After the movie, I wandered around the ship a bit, and headed to the DVC Member Celebration. Each family got a bag with four DVC hats, some lanyards, and information on DVC. Deb Wills stole the show at the DVC event, impressing the DVC cast members and everyone in attendance by talking about the marketing tour of Bay Lake Towers that she had done earlier in the month.

At one point in the DVC meeting, they started talking about the new Disney ships that are being built. Theresa, the DVC guide, asked if anyone knew what they were going to name them. Of course, they haven’t officially named them yet, but I shouted out my names for them, “The Vault and the Money Maker.” Everyone started laughing.

After the DVC meeting, I headed over to Wavebands to see a question and answer session Jim Shore was doing. For those of you who don’t know who Jim Shore is, you have probably seen his work. He does these amazing sculptures with vibrant colors and carved patterns. I have a beautiful one of Santa Mickey in a sleigh with Pluto, and a bag of toys. They sell his pieces all over Disney World, and in gift shops across the country. It was interesting to hear Jim Shore talk about his pieces, and the process he goes through to create them.

I then headed over to see “Toy Story: The Musical” with Goofy4Tink. We ran into Ray Sharpton there, so we sat with him. In my opinion, this show ranks right up there with Stitch’s Great Escape as one of the worst things Disney has ever created. This show was an hour of my life that I will never get back. They lyrics of the show seemed very forced—they made them rhyme even if though they usually didn’t flow right. The worst song of all was the song sung by Sid that included the lyrics:

I’m the DaVinci of Destruction
I’m the Van Gogh of violence
I’m the Rembrandt of wreakage

The show was just terrible, and not something I would ever have the desire to see again.

On my way out of the theatre, I ran into our cruise director Clayton, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go on the I’m on vacation dance with him.

I then stopped by the Promenade Lounge, where Dave, Jennifer, and Alexander from the Passporter were hosting a meet and greet. It was fun to chat with some of the other Mousefest cruise attendees for a bit.
I then headed over to Parrot Cay for dinner. Most of the folks in line were waiting to get their antibacterial hand wipes from the cast member on the right, so I headed to the left and saw that it was Evil Niko handing out the hand wipes. I told him that no one wanted to get hand wipes from him because everyone knows that he is evil. I told the other cast member, Dragan, that he was much nicer than Niko and I would only get hand wipes from him next time.

I started off my meal at Parrot Cay with the Smokey Chicken, Vegetables, and Cheddar Cheese Fritters. It was served with pomegranate barbecue sauce. They were pretty disgusting. The reminded me of the frozen Howard Johnson’s Chicken Croquets that my mother used to buy when I was a kid. I also got a Ceasar salad, which was excellent.

For my entrees, I ordered the Island Roasted Rib-Eye of Beef and the Gnocchi Au Gratin. The rib-eye was excellent, very tender and flavorful. It was served with a fantastic twice baked potato. The gnocchi was very interesting, but a bit on the dry side.

For dessert, I ordered the Crème Brulee Cheesecake and the Chocolate S’mores Vanilla Cake, which I shared with Rita. The cheesecake was excellent. It was rich, and had a nice flavor. I could only eat about half of it. The Chocolate S’mores Vanilla Cake was outstanding. It was very light and tasty, one of my favorite desserts of the trip.

Throughout the meal, Niko and I kept on giving each other eyes so that we would know we were watching each other. I started him down every time he looked in my direction.

At some point in the dinner, Dragan came over and tried to talk me into taking Niko home with me, saying he would pay for the plane fare to send him home with me. I told him that I wouldn’t do it because that would mean I would be stuck with Niko. I finally told Dragan that we could send Niko to Newark and abandon him there. Dragan seemed to like that idea, and put his hand up for a high five, and when I went to slap his hand, he moved it just like Niko. That evil Niko plotted against me. He got his good friend Dragan who hailed from his home country of Croatia to play a trick on me. I originally thought I liked Dragan, but now that I knew he was in cahoots with Niko, I knew that I couldn’t like him either.

After dinner, I headed over to WaveBands with TiggerTails and Rita, where we caught the tail end of the Quest, where groups have to bring things up to the host. Among the crazy things people had to do was having a man going up dressed in women’s shoes, bringing up a key, a man in lipstick, and a woman in a man’s shirt. It was a lot of fun to watch everyone rush up to try to win the quest.

After the Quest, a juggler named Jeff Cirrielli put on a show. He picked out a guy in the audience to be the cheerleader for the night. He made the man put on a blue wig, and every time the man saw Jeff do something he liked, he had to stand up and scream, “You’re the man, Jeff.” Jeff was a very entertaining juggler, and he got some folks up onstage to help him out.

After the juggling show, the cruise staff hosted the Livin’ Large Dance Party. At one point, they were looking for volunteers to go onstage and strut with a poodle in a purse ala Paris Hilton. I wound up going onstage, and strutting across the stage, violently swinging the purse around and around my arm. Tisa, the hostess, said she was going to call the Animal Cruelty authorities on me, but thankfully the dog was OK, so she let me slide by.

TiggerTails, Rita, and I went out on deck four to relax and get some fresh air. The ship was still in Nassau, as it was staying there until 2:00 a.m. While we were sitting on the deck chairs chatting, a couple was looking at something on shore, and they mentioned that they saw a huge rat scurrying on land, and hiding under the gangway. Thankfully, someone sitting out front scared the rat away before he could get on the ship to see his cousin Mickey.

I was very amused watching some of the cast members leaving the ship for a few hours of fun before the ship would set sail again. The girls were all dressed to kill, and one of them had the ugliest dress that I’ve ever seen on. It looked like something that Carol Brady would have worn in the 70’s.

Around midnight, I said good night to Tiggertails and Rita and made my way back to stateroom to get some sleep. I got my first good night’s sleep of the trip. I didn’t even wake up when the ship left Nassau at 2:00 a.m. I guess I was tired.

 

[WDWLVR]

Sounds like a fun cruise Karen - can't wait to read the rest of your report!

 

[TLinden16]

Day 3—Tuesday December 9, 2008

We’re going to Castaway Cay—or not

Tuesday morning, we made our second round of fish extender deliveries. It was a bit easier this time around as we knew where we were going. It still took longer than I expected, but it wasn’t as bad as our first delivery.

We then headed over to Triton’s for breakfast. When we walked in, our assistant server Roland walked over to me and said, “Niko is here waiting for you.” We were lead to a table in the middle of the room. Niko was serving tables on one side of the room, and Dragan was serving on the other side of the room. Both of them made a point of coming over to give me grief during the meal. I told Niko that he ruined my meal by showing up at my table.
Dragan came over right after our server brought my waffles to our table. A server named Slaven was waiting to pour syrup on my waffles, and Dragan pointed out that he was also from Croatia. I asked Slaven if Niko sent him over to give me a hard time too, and poor Slaven just looked totally confused. All’s Slaven really wanted to do was give me some syrup, and run far far away.

I ordered the Belgian waffles with bacon and hash browns for my breakfast. The waffles were served with syrup and fresh whipped cream. The waffles were fantastic. They had a nice flavor to them, and the whip cream was excellent as well. Once again, the bacon was flavorless, but the hash brown was good—it reminded me of the grammar school cafeteria.

After breakfast, we went up on deck to watch the ship dock at Castaway Cay. Captain John came over the PA system and announced that they weren’t able to dock at Castaway Cay due to the current and the wind. He told said they would give it another try in an hour. We hung out by the adult pool with IluvMickey from Tagrel and her Kevin, and her mom Linda. We even took a dip in the pool and soaked in the hot tub for a bit.

At about 9:30, Captain John announced that we would not make it into Castaway Cay today. It was a bit disappointing because we were close enough to see the workers waiting for us on shore, and the Flying Dutchman. But in the long run, it was probably a better thing because it was really windy and cool, and the weather looked better for the next day.
So, this would now be our at sea day, and off to sea we went. The crew had new Navigator’s out to us within an hour. Our Palo brunch was also switched to today as well. I headed back to the stateroom to get ready for brunch, and then went to do some shopping. I bought myself some scrapbooking stuff, a Christmas ornament, and other odds and ends.

At noon, Goofy4Tink and I headed up to Palo. It seemed like just about everyone we knew who was on the ship was at Palo when we got there. Half of our tablemates were there, as were DinkyBean and Masayo.
We started off with the buffet. I got some fruit, crackers and cheese, and a delicious warm sticky bun. We ordered a pepperoni pizza to share, which was excellent.

For my entrees, I ordered the chicken parmesan, which was served over a cheesy risotto, and the veal saltimbuca. The chicken was excellent. It was pounded very thin, and had a light sauce and cheese on top of it. The risotto was excellent, probably my favorite thing I had at Palo. The veal had a nice flavor to it, but it was very tough.

For dessert, I had a crème puff, and éclair, and some chocolate mousse. The crème puff was tasty, but I didn’t really like the éclair. The chocolate mousse was very rich—it was like eating a rich fudge sauce. I could only eat a couple of spoonfuls.

After dinner, we stopped in the rest room. DinkyBean and Deb Wills were in there. Goofy4Tink was trying to figure out how she could tell if someone was in the stall or not. I showed her how there is a marker on the handle that turns red when the stall is occupied. Goofy4Tink was saying she couldn’t see it, and she didn’t know it. I sat there turning the lock, saying, “Occupied, not occupied. Occupied, not occupied.” Deb Wills and DinkyBean got a kick out of it, and Deb told us we were a hoot.

Goofy4Tink was feeling a bit under the weather, so she went back to the room to rest, and I went out to deck four to do some laps and work off some of the food I ate at Palo. I wound up doing six laps around the ship (about four miles).

One of the things that was most fun about doing laps around the deck were all of the nice people who chatted with me along the way. They saw me so many times, and were impressed that I was taking the time out of my day for a brisk walk around deck. Amongst the interesting people I saw were:

*An older couple who stopped me to ask me how many times I was going to walk around the ship. The woman was actually counting my laps for me. They told me they were celebrating their 40th anniversary.

*A mom and dad with their adult married children who were playing shuffleboard. They were really having a blast playing shuffleboard, and the mom said they should have been walking laps like me.

*Then there was cute little Agatha who was about two years old. Every time I walked by her, she was smiling and waving at me.

*And little Dagny, who put her hands out like she was waiting for me to cross the finish line, and then started running because she wanted to race me.

*There were also two guys smoking cigars, and playing shuffleboard. One of them told me he was impressed by my discipline to do my laps while on vacation, and I told him that he didn’t see what I just ate at Palo.

After my walk, I went up to deck nine to get my picture taken with Goofy. Goofy actually played ping pong with a little boy while he was waiting for Stitch to take some pictures. Goofy wasn’t a very good ping pong player, though. While I was waiting in line, I saw sweet little Emily and her dad get a picture with him. Emily really seemed to love the characters. Mackey was also up there waiting to get a picture with Goofy.

After getting my picture taken, with Goofy, I wandered around the ship for a bit, and wound up going to the art auction. I placed my bid number up for a mystery offer, and wound up purchasing a giclee of Moments Away by Rodel Gonzalez. It’s a beautiful piece. It’s a painting of the castle with Cinderella’s couch in front of it. Rodel was actually on the ship, and I got his autograph, and a picture with him.

Here I am with Rodel Gonzalez and the artwork I purchased

I then headed over to the Treasure Ketch to go to the Jim Shore signing. I bought a Mickey and Minnie sculpture for myself and a snowman sculpture for a my sister for Christmas. Jim Shore personalized them to each of us, and I got a picture taken with him.

I then joined a bunch of folks in the Promenade Lounge to chat before dinner. I met so many nice people on this cruise, including a couple who live near me. Goofy4Tink was still feeling under the weather, so she decided to skip dinner this evening.

I headed over to Parrot Cay with the others for our Pirate Night Dinner. I started off with the Pasta Envelopes (aka fried ravioli), which were very tasty, but a bit cold. I also got a Caesar salad, which was as good as the ones I had earlier in the trip. For my entrée, I ordered the beef tenderloin, which was excellent—very tender. For dessert, I got the Lost Banana Treasure, which was good even though the bananas were a bit over ripe.

Niko and I continued our staring contest throughout dinner. He came over to try to give me high fives several times, but I refused to give him one. I told Niko that I went to Palo for brunch that afternoon, and the best part of it was he wasn’t there. Dragan came over to try to make up with me for being mean, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. I did get a picture with Niko and Dragan, though.

Here I am with Dragan and Niko--the evil Croatian servers

After dinner, I headed up on deck for the Pirates in the Caribbean party. The party was a lot of fun, despite the fact that it was extremely windy on deck. It was a lot of fun watching the characters dance, and Pirate Mickey sure can fly through the air. The fireworks weren’t the most impressive display that I’ve ever seen, but it is really cool seeing them being shot from the ship.

Go Pirate Mickey!

After the pirate party, I went to WaveBands for karaoke with IloveMickey and her DH Kevin, IloveMickeysmom, TiggerTails, Rita, DinkyBean, and Mackey. IloveMickey started the night singing solo, and later TiggerTails, Rita, and I sang back up for her on “California Dreaming.” IloveMickey and Kevin also sang “Endless Love.” They were giving out free shots to anyone who sang, and I drank one. It was super sweet.

At one point a woman named Monique got onstage to sing a Donna Sommers song, and a drunk woman got up and danced beside her. When the drunk woman started singing, Monique told her that it was a solo act. The drunk woman sat down, and her drunk husband/boyfriend took her place dancing with Monique, except he was doing the dirty dancing with her. Monique had about four shots when she went up to do her song, and IloveMickey actually donated her shot to Monique when she went up to sing “Endless Love.”

Another funny moment came some women put up a song for their husbands to sing. As the husbands walked by, I said, “Please let it be ‘It’s Raining Men.’” One of the guys said, “Knowing our wives, it probably is.” But it actually ended up being “I Am Woman.” The guys were tone death, and did a horrible job, but that made it the best song of the night. At one point, I shouted, “You go girls” to them. Gotta encourage the singers, you know.

After saying good night to everyone, I went for my nightly fresh air on deck 4 before heading up to the room and going to sleep.

 

[mkmommy]

IMHO you should not read trip reports from cruises you were on, as you learn about all the things that you never got around to doing.


Karen thanks for taking the time to write a report and share your pictures,

Lisa

 

[TLinden16]

Day 4—Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The skies are clear. The winds are calm. Surely Captain John can make it into Castaway Cay

Just looking our out secret porthole, I could tell it was a better day to make it into Castaway Cay. Land was within our sight, and shortly we would be lounge on the beach, and enjoying a day at Castaway Cay.

Goofy4Tink and I went up on deck nine to watch the ship dock in Castaway Cay. We had rented bikes for the day, but Goofy4Tink wasn’t really feeling up to it. I was teasing her about feigning illness and missing the pirate dinner and party to get out of riding a bike with me. MKMommy walked by while we were on deck, and she mentioned she was thinking about renting a bike. I invited her to take Goofy4Tink’s place, and she agreed, so we set a meeting time.

Our first stop of the day was the All Ears Rock/Roll/ Stroll the Plank against Breast Cancer meet with the folks from All Ears and Mouse Fan Travel. Unfortunately, Deb Wills missed the event because she was sleeping in, but Miss Diva was there to lead us on our leisurely walk around deck ten.

Here I am with Miss Diva

Goofy4Tink and I then went to have a quick bite to eat at Topsiders before changing into our bathing suits and heading out to Castaway Cay. As we walked to the beach, we saw Captain Jack Sparrow, so we stopped to have our picture taken with him. When I thank him by saying “Thanks, Jack,” he got mad at me and said, “That’s Captain Jack.”

Goofy4Tink and I then went and found some beach chairs by an umbrella at the far end of the family beach. I stepped into the water, and it was very very cold. I don’t know how people were going all the way into the water. Just looking at them made me cold.

At one point, we saw a large group of people who were all dressed up walk by, and we realized there was a wedding on Castaway Cay that day. Shortly thereafter, we saw the bride ride by on a golf cart. It was truly a glorious day to get married—even though they were getting married a day late.

I then headed over to the bike rental area to meet MKMommy for our bike ride. It was nice to spend some time with MKMommy. She is very sweet, and it was nice to get to know her. I told her she was much better company on the bike ride than Goofy4Tink would have been. I know Goofy4Tink, and I know she would have complained—and I told her that to her face. But I like Goofy4TInk anyways.

The bike ride itself was very pleasant. We went out early, so there weren’t that many people riding yet, and it wasn’t too hot. We rode all the way to the look out point, and saw some folks kayaking in the distance. We also went on the bike trail, and stopped to walk up the tower. It was really a fantastic ride, and one of my favorite parts of the cruise.

After the bike ride, I ran into TiggerTails, and we took the tram over to Serenity Bay. I was telling TiggerTails about how much fun I had on the bike ride with MKMommy, and how nice she was, and when we got to Serenity Bay, I realized MKMommy was sitting a couple rows behind us on the tram. I joked that it was a good thing I wasn’t saying anything bad about MKMommy—I really only had nice things to say about her.

TiggerTails, MKMommy, and I picked out some chairs under an umbrella, and relaxed for a bit before heading into the water. We heard that there was a huge star fish in the water, so we wanted to go check it out. The water on Serenity Bay was a lot warmer than the water at the family beach, which is a good thing because we had to walk in pretty deep to go in far enough to see the starfish.

The starfish was pretty cool to see. It must have been at least a foot in diameter, and it was very active. It really got quite the crowd of people checking it out.

After our dip, we went back to the beach for a bit, and then TiggerTails and I headed over to Cookies to get some lunch. The food was surprisingly good. I really liked the ribs and the chicken. The cheeseburger I got was surprisingly good, as was the cous cous salad. For dessert, I got a cookies and cream ice cream.

After lunch, we took the tram back to the main beach, and I spent quite a bit of time washing the sand off my feet. I think I had half the sand on the beach on my feet at that point.

TiggerTails and I stopped in the gift shop, and then took the tram back to the ship. We stopped to take pictures of the Christmas tree, and snowmen in front of the ship. WeLuvDCL was there with Emily and the rest of the family taking pictures. Emily is just such a sweet little girl, and I’m sure they got some great pictures for the family Christmas card. I had my picture taken with WeLuvDCL and Emily so that I would always remember how much I enjoyed seeing them on the cruise.

TiggerTails and I then went up to the pool for a dip. The water was great, and the pool was pretty empty. We also went into the hot tub for a while, but it got too hot for me, so I went back to the pool.

After my dip, I went back to the stateroom to finish packing, and get ready for my last night on the ship. I headed down to the Farewell Party that Mouse Fan Travel was throwing. They had some yummy appetizers and drinks for everyone, and Stitch showed up to crash the party. At one point, Beci was speaking about the cruise, and Captain John took over the PA system, and Beci stood there pretending to talk like she was Captain John.

At the party, I gave Alexander, the son of Dave and Jennifer from Passporter, a small gift of some of the stuff we were giving out as part of the fish extender exchange. Alexander is such a sweet kid. He was so appreciative and excited about everything in the little gift bag I gave him. When he saw the beaded necklace I left him, he told his dad that it was real diamonds, and it was beautiful. He is a great kid, and it’s been fun seeing how much he’s grown each year at Mousefest.

After the Farewell Party, Goofy4Tink and I headed over to the Castaway Club event. They had soft drinks, cookies, and rice krispy treats for everyone. They also gave out some cool clocks, but we didn’t win them. While we were there, I met DISer Inkognito, who was on her 65th Disney cruise. We also met Captain John. Goofy4Tink told him that she saw the pictures of him barefoot and in shorts from the day that the gangway fell, and he seemed a bit embarrassed that the pictures were out there. I told him that bookings were way up since people saw his knees though.

Goofy4Tink and I stopped in front of the Walt Disney Theater and had our picture taken with Mickey and Minnie, who were dressed up in their holiday best. Mackey was there to meet Mickey and Minnie as well. While we were waiting for Mickey and Minnie, I was enjoying playing with the kids waiting in line. There was one little girl who was whining while she was waiting, and I must have spent ten minutes making my Mickey lens cloth disappear and reappear for her, which made her giggle.

A Disney trip just isn't a Disney trip until you see Mickey and Minnie

I then headed over to the Disney Dreams show. This is probably my favorite show on the ship. I just like the story line, and it’s a great way to end a great cruise. We all can use a little more faith, trust, and pixie dust in our lives. I know that I for one won’t grow up, and will always do whatever I can to have more fun than anyone else.

I then went over to Jackpot bingo. I couldn’t bring myself to spend the $69 to use one of the electronic bingo machines, so I bought one of the push and punch cards. TiggerTails met me there, and she got one of the electronic ones. I didn’t win, but it was fun to play.

TiggerTails and I then headed over to Tritons for dinner. This was probably my worst meal of the trip, and it was also the meal that we got the worst service at. Hernan and Roland were being very nice to us (because it was the night they got their tips), but their overall service was the worst of the cruise. We waited a long time for them to take our orders, and then we waited a long time to get our food. And when they did bring our food, they forgot some of it, and had to run back and get it. I had gone down to prepay my tips earlier in the cruise, but I wished that I had tipped them in cash so that I could give them less of a tip, because they didn’t do anything to earn a full tip on the cruise.

I learned that at Tritons you have to dry your own dishes before you can eat. My bread plate was filled with water, and I poured it out on the table and had to dry my plate before I could put bread on the plate.

The bread at our table was as hard as a rock. I don’t know if it was just stale or if they left it in the crisper too long, but it wasn’t very edible. Marisa and Beci were banging the bread on the table because it was so hard. They cleared the bread and bread plates from our table before we even got our entrees, and Deb Wills asked Roland where our bread was. Roland said that he took it away because it was cold. He brought us new bread plates and bread, and the other end of the table realized what our end of the table had realized earlier—the bread was as hard as a rock. Deb joked that she was going to save the bread in case she need to hammer something later.

I think Roland was a bit jealous of my interaction with Niko because he was trying to play with me all night long. He was trying to give me high fives, and was trying to force me to take some escargot. I didn’t want the escargot, but he kept on trying to give it to me. I finally told him it wasn’t going to happen, and he moved around the table trying to get everyone else to take the escargot. Finally, Matt took the escargot.

One thing of note about our horrible servers. When they had the parade of servers during the meal, most of the tables were applauding when their severs went by and waving their napkins in the air. With the exception of TiggerTails who was waving her napkin, our table pretty much just continued eating (of course, we had just gotten our meals as the server parade was about to start). I watched as the other servers in our area got high fives when they returned to their sections, but our servers got no warm welcome back after the parade from our table or the other tables that they served. It may seem rude, but I personally could not bring myself to applaud servers who I couldn't even describe as adequate during our cruise.

I wasn’t overly impressed by the food at Tritons. I started off with a garden salad, which was good. I then got the beef tenderloin, which was served with French fried rutabaga and baby food mashed peas. I wish I had ordered a baked potato to go with it like some of the others at our table, as the rutabaga looked pretty scary.

Deb was asking me why I decided to come on the Mouse Fest cruise this year. I told her that I thought the cruise would be an opportunity to meet different people, and spend more time with them. I told them that I booked the cruise while I was on my last cruise, and I asked Goofy4Tink to join me so I wouldn’t have to pay the single supplement, joking that she was only there to save me money. Everyone laughed at that one, but in all seriousness, Goofy4Tink was a great stateroom mate, and I really did enjoy being on the cruise with her.

At one point, I asked Niko to come over so that I could give him a tip. I gave him a tip envelope that I wrote Mean Server Niko on, and handed it to him. I had placed an $5 bill in the envelope with a note saying, “I’m giving you five even though you wouldn’t give me five.” It was a lot of fun messing around with Niko all week, and he definitely earned that $5. I also gave Dragan a $5 tip.

The best part of Tritons was the dessert. From the start, I was saying I was going to order two crème brulees. I also decided to try the crepe suzettes because I had never had them before, and they sounded interesting . Roland was teasing me about ordering two crème brulees, and he said I wouldn’t be able to eat them both. I told him that I would. I then joked that I wanted five crème brulees and two crepe suzettes, and I wanted Niko to bring them out balancing them on his head. Roland gave me five spoons to eat all of my desserts.

By the time our desserts were brought out, there was barely anyone left in the restaurant, and one by one, the folks at my table started to leave until I was all alone eating my crème brulee and crepes suzette. I did wind up eating both crème brulees, but I only had about a third of the crepe suzettes. It was a bit too sweet for me, but I was glad I tried it. But I’d rather eat the crème brulee any day.

When I finished dinner, I went to the character farewell. I got my picture taken with Goofy and Pluto, and watched the characters wave good bye to everyone. The characters also sang and sign languaged “Let There Be Peace On Earth.”

After the show, I made my way back to the state room to get a few last minute things stuffed into my bag, and put it outside to be stored until they took it off the ship the next morning.

When my bags were gone, I headed over to the Cruise Crew Happy Hour with Goofy4Tink, TiggerTails, ILoveMickey and her DH Kevin, and DinkyBean. The crew gave us a quick recap of our cruise, starting with the muster drill, and highlighting all of the parties that were held each night.

The crew then performed a little skit that is performed on most cruise ships called “If I Were Not Upon the Sea.” In this skit, different each crew member comes out and talks about what they would do if they were not working on a cruise ship, and they have a line that they perform with hand gestures that is performed each time another crew member joins the group. Beyond that, a description just doesn’t do it justice. It’s really something that you have to see for yourself, and worth catching if you are on a Disney ship. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard.

If I were not upon the sea...

After the skit, they started the a dance party by playing “Sweet Caroline,” and everyone in our group got up on the dance floor and sang along. For some reason, pubmaster Jay, who was dressed as a ballerina reached for me during the hands, touching hands part of the song and just wrapped his arms around me for the rest of the song.

After saying goodbye to some of the cruise staff, Goofy4Tink, TiggerTails, DinkyBean and I went out on deck to get some fresh air. We lounged out of the deck chairs, and Goofy4Tink, TiggerTails, and DinkyBean even dozed off. It was nice to just enjoy the last evening of the cruise with some of the great group of people that I spent so much time with on the cruise.

Goofy4Tink and I said goodnight to TiggerTails and DinkyBean and headed up to our stateroom to get some sleep. We knew we were off to Disney World for Mousefest, and sleep would be hard to come by.

 

[WDWLVR]

Great report Karen. Sorry to hear you didn't have he best serving team as they can really make a cruise better.

I agree "if I were not upon the sea" is a must see!

 

[TLinden16]

Day 6—Thursday, December 11, 2008

Land ho! We’re off to Mousefest!

Goofy4Tink and I woke up early to get ready to head off the ship. Our breakfast at Tritons wasn’t until 8:15, but we were ready long before then. We walked around on the upper decks for a while, and even saw a dolphin swimming next to the ship. We ran into Ray Sharpton on deck three and chatted with him for a while.

At one point, I went over to the windows outside of Tritons to mess with Niko. He was setting his tables for breakfast, so I knocked on the window and acted like he was doing a horrible job.

Around 8:00, we got in line for breakfast, and ran into Matt and Marisa. When we were finally seated, everyone at our table joined us for breakfast except for TiggerTails. We had such a great table, it was nice to have one final meal together, even though we knew we would see each other again on land later in the day.

Hernan and Roland continued their trend of horrible service on the ship. We had a diet Coke issue. For some reason, Roland brought me two diet Cokes, but failed to bring diet Cokes for the two other people who ordered it. Goofy4Tink told me a story about how Deb Wills ordered ice water and decaf coffee, and Roland asked her what kind of juice she would like. Deb repeated that she wanted ice water and decaf coffee, and again, Roland asked her what kind of juice she would like. She again told him she wanted ice water and decaf coffee.

Niko came over to say goodbye to us, and in the end, I finally gave him a high five. He’s a lot of fun, and a really nice guy.

I have to say that I enjoyed myself on the cruise more than I could ever imagine. I really enjoyed the company of my table mates, and also getting to know some of the folks on the cruise who I had never met or only met once or twice in the past. It was really a wonderful way to get to know in a more relaxed setting away from the craziness of the land portion of Mousefest.

After breakfast, Goofy4TInk and I met Masayo and DinkyBean for the ride back to port. The gangway was now working again, so we were able to exit from deck three. There were lots of inspectors around, making sure that it was safe.

We grabbed our bag and made our way through customs within minutes. We called our driver, and he was there to pick us up within a few minutes. We were on our way to Disney World!

 

[TLinden16]

If you would like to follow the Disney World portion of my trip report, you can find it here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2036451

 

[Luv2Travel]

Thank you for the GREAT trip report! Gotta love that Miss Diva!
do you still have your navigators that you might could post (pretty please)? It'd be great to see updated 4 day navigators that weren't on a DD.

 

[TLinden16]

I forgot to save the navigators