SPOOKtacular Magical Cruise(now w/ pictures)

[Madisonznana]

What a great report. I am looking forward to more!

 

[vital]

I'll be on this cruise in 2007! I love reading your report. I have been to St Thomas and St Martin before so I know what you mean about the shops on St Martin.

Love the report!

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Since this was our first time on the Eastern cruise, we had never had the pleasure of attending the much anticipated magical customs gathering.
(can you do detect the small hint of sarcasim in my typing)

Since DH, DFIL, and DH's Friend were all sched for a morning snorkle excursion
we found out that ALL of us had to attend the 1st session. Everyone in the room must attend at the same time.
Now I was still half asleep, b/c I do not function with out first having my DIET COKE
I had not made my way up to deck 9 yet,..so, I really am not 100% sure what time it was,..I'm thinkin 6:30??? Maybe some of you who had to/ I mean GOT to attend this magical session will remeber better than I do.

Ok so we all make our way down to the Walt D. TH. and filed in, found our seats, and waited, for what seemed like 30 mins or so. I noticed that my parents came in while we were STILL waiting,..and they were coming for the next group session. Now I do not know if this is how it is supposed to be or not?
I thought that they would have the 1st group out and then they would start w/ the 2nd, but we all ended up in the WDT together in the end, I can see the reason behind the sched/stagering groups, it makes for a more orderly fashion, so maybe that was how it was supposed to go... either way, it was NOT HORRIBLE or anything, you just sit and wait.
Ok, here come the guys/gals in uniforms, w/in no time, we were up and getting our stuff checked. NO PROBS HERE, we're all done!

OFF TO BREAKFAST
Sorry I can't remember for the life of me where we ate,..or even if we ate together? keep in mind, I still haven't had a diet coke! so everything is pretty fuzzy. I'm guess'in L. ?
DH, DFIL & Dfriend Chris all leave for their snorkle, MIL goes to relax, my Dparents leave for some shopping, the girls go to catch some rays and I take the kids to club b/c Dfriend Lacey and myself have an appt in the VISTA SPA for our "Frangipani"

VISTA SPA & ANOTHER MAGICAL MOMENT!!

Lacey and I arrive early for our treatment & to fill out the forms. Just the atmosphere in there alone is enough to relax you.
Now my DSIL gets this treatment on every cruise, and assured me that I would enjoy it.
I could barely pronounce the name let alone know what it intailed. All we knew was that it was some sort of Hot Oil treatment for the scalp and hair , and a massage for the head..
"May we help you" ..."yes we are here for our auuh hot oil scalp treatment...auuh Fran....!" "oh, ok" she says.

So I asked for the name of it for the 3rd time,..(the 1st 2 times I asked while we were making the appointments)"uuhmm Could you please tell me...what is the name of this treatment?" ( in a lovely sweddish accent, the reply came) "certainly,...it a "FRANGIPANI". "oh yes, thankyou" I replied...still clueless.
ok,..thats Fran-gees-panty.. ..."auh NO!...FRANGIPANI" ohhh, ok Fran-gee-pan-nee. YES! what an idiot. I tried.

We have a seat and with in a few mins Claudia and forgive me (I had a couple of diet cokes at breakfast, can't blame it on that) but I still can't remember the guys name who gave Lacey her FRANGIPANTIES.

On a serious note, they both introduced themselves, asked us a few more questions, mainly about Lacey(2 months prego)turns out you can't have the special Frangipani oil if you are expecting But they assured us that it would still be worth it and they would use an oil that did not have aroma in it but that she would still be able to smell mine. As we stand to leave and follow them we are expecting to go into the Salon, (that is where the Frangi's are given),...Claudia turns to us and says we have a special treat for you today.

When ever the VILLA SPA's are open we like to use them, so we are going to give you guys your FRANGIPANIES in a VILLA SPA room! AHHHH! YYYYES! SWEET! Our 2nd MAGICAL MOMENT!
( a little history here) When we booked this cruise I wanted to book a Villa Spa rm, I think I may have already mentioned that in a earlier post, but CLAUDIA was our Tour Guide When we visited the spa on sat,...hmmm wonder if she remebered....? Doubt it, but it still makes me & Lacey feel very special.
Off we went into the VS rm and wow was it nice. Relaxing music, and aromas, water fountains, and a view of St. Thomas.

We got to lay on the 2 SUPER PLUSH memory foam beds, and
have our Hot oil treatments, plus a massage that went from our forehead, to top of our head, and all the way down to our shoulders. Back up and then our temples, ears, neck and the front of shoulders. ALL while enjoying the VS rm. They were so gentle yet strong. Why can't DH figure out how to give a Frangipani,....?

After our MAGICAL spa treatment, ( which I might add will never be the same, if we have to have it in the SALON) we went back to our rooms to wash the oil out of our hair and then up to our favorite spot on deck 10 to enjoy the beautiful day! AND,...What a beautiful day it was!

Lacey and I enjoyed watching the Crew practice safety drills, but TIP,...
It appears that while there is a safety drill even the Soda Fountain(aka Diet Coke Machine) is closed. THey make an announcement that while the drill is happening, the cruise staff will close some areas,...they also mean the DIET COKE machine, be prepared!

After an hour or so I grabbed the kids from club to enjoy the EMPTY pools

and then on to lunch and I do remember where that was, it was in L. The food was FAB that day! We had made plans for everyone to meet at L when the guys got back form the snorkle, have lunch, and then go out to St. Thomas for the Sky Ride to Paradise Point.

St. Thomas & SKY RIDE to PP
we walked just a little ways to the Sky Ride, walked up the stairs and got right on.

My mom was very worried about the ride, epsecially after we read that if the power goes out just remain calm, it will only take about 15 mins. to get it back on. WHAT?!!!

Mom very scared!

We all managed to arrive at the top safely. These pictures do not do it justice, but maybe you can get an idea of how beautiful it was up there.

At the top of the point there is some shopping and a few small bars/ places to eat,... we enjoyed the shopping. As you exit the tram you are on a deck that will take you to the shopping area or up a ways to a look out, it was very nice.

When we left there was a long line to catch one of the 3 trams back down, so I would give another TIP here:
Do NOT wait until it is close to time to be back onboard to catch your tram back down. There were other people from other cruiselines worried about making it back on time.
When we arrived at the top, there was no line for the return,...we were up there about an hour or so, and that line filled up very fast.

Back down to look around at some of the shops by the port, back on board to get ready for dinner, and pictures and off we went, leaving St. Thomas.

I had the BEST day, but I would like to explore ST.T a little more the next time.

NEXT: I'll share Dinner at PC and....Do We HAVE HAVE to have Mickey in the picture?

 

[discruiselovers97]

I am absolutely loving your report!

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

thanks, .. I absolutely loved being there.

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Your TR report is great.. love reading it.

Liz

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

thankyou Liz, It's fun to write.

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Back to the ship from St.Thomas,...

I went down to do a little laundry while the family layed around and watched a Disney movie on the TV. I ended up doing laundry about 3 times total, 3rd time was just for Castaway clothes. I never had 1 problem getting a machine in the Laundry RM
please allow me to digress for a moment~
( I was so proud of myself, thinking that I did not over pack. 4 bags total for 4people. OK,.."I" did not overpack,..HOWEVER, I packed enough clothes for everyone else to clothe a small country! What was thinking?? I knew better,..but still thought the the kids would need all of that stuff. augh
I'm back on topic now, just needed to vent that.

Picture Time

Well being that this is the 5th night and I have yet to get my family picture for one reason or another, I begin to beg DH to please where something that will match the rest of us,..."I really want to get one of the Lifestyles pictures done in our mickey t-shirts". Well a Mickey T-shirt was a little too much to ask, but he did compromise and try to match in color,..hey at this point I'll take what ever I can get.

Off we go to be 1st in line for the Lifestyles and according to the navigator they will start @ 5:30...yes this is dinner time, but if we are 1st in line then we can still make it to PC w/in a reasonable amount of time.
Little did I know,...it would not take anytime at all.

We arrive we are like the 3rd family in line,... we are right behind another DIS family "pansmermaidzlagoon" we got to do the DISToT w/ them they were in our group. So we talked for just a few mins and the next thing I knew,...WE WERE IN LINE FOR A CHARACTER PICTURE! augh!
This had already happened once this week,..not again! I double check the navigator, and sure enough,...I AM IN THE CORRECT PLACE,....MICKEY HAS GOT TO GO!

I leave the family in line and run to the front desk and ask the CM what is going on? She calls the picture people, and we all work it out that the "NAVIGATOR" is wrong AGAIN! augh! This evening Sorcerer Mickey will be appearing in the Lifestyles area. I have to have theses pictures done! The CM reminds me politely that MICKEY is the BOSS he's not movin.
I force a smile and go back to the line.

( I'm sure you are prob wondering what the BIG deal is,...wouldn't I want the famous mouse in my family pic to add to the memory of our trip,...NO, not in this picture.
The reason being that this is going to be our christmas picture, and I was having trouble invisioning the Sorcerer hat on the same card as baby in a manager...? petty I know, just not what I wanted.)
By now we are next,...so I ask "can we have our picture w/o mickey?" "uh, no, you can come back @ 10:00." well no, that wont work for us , not after dinner and a . So we went on and got our family picture taken w/ the BIG Cheese, they turned out very nice....I just bought new christmas cards.

Parrot Cay

On we went to dinner, since this was really a character shot, it only took a min so we were not even late for dinner. We arrived to find another lovely dinner. I can't remember what we ate, but I do remember that we enjoyed our servers. Again they were great, they entertained us very well:

DH in with a Minnie Mouse bow

Our server Mahendra doing some magic for us.

After dinner we did our normal routine...club, a Fantastic show, a trip around decks 9 &10, pick up the kids, and off to bed.

Next: Our Last day @ Sea,..Brunch,...and did you see the kitchen???

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Let me just start by saying,...again,.. " I LOVE AT SEA DAYS!"

We had reservations for brunch at Palo so we slept in, got the kids some room service and then off to club they went. ( I would like to add here that we did actually have alot of family time, even though our children were in club alot)

My sister and Ashley found themselves some chairs and started soaking up the beautiful sunshine while the rest of us went to Palo. This was the 1st brunch for 6 of the 8 of us, so we were very anxious. I had read so much about DO NOT MISS BRUNCH,..so I made sure we went this time.
BOY, am I glad we did!

We arrived, got our hand treatment and off we went into our private room.
on our way to the room, this is what we see....

OH boy, I can't wait to get to dessert!

Gemma came in and offered us our complimentary drink, and then off we went on the small tour of all the food stations.

We loaded up our plates, and had a great time!
Side note ~
There is a cheese they serve called Boursien...we all thought it was FAB! So I asked Gemma more about it, she went and got the original box that it comes in and told me what to ask for. I came home and looked at all of the stores in my area,...NO BOURSIN My MIL did the same...no BOURSIN.
TODAY,... I thougth I would take one more look due to the Holidays,....and
I FOUND IT!!
IT's not cheap I tell you, but who cares, I feel like I'm back on board the Magic, eating my cheese and crackers at Palo.

After we stuffed our selves we all rolled out onto the deck for some lounge time. ( well actually I think the guys went to the gym,...but the ladied lounged in the sun we're on vacation)

DH got the kids from club, they ate at the pool area and played, until 3:00,..then back to the club b/c we had a Kitchen Galley tour.

GALLEY TOUR
We had a tour last year, but there were a few more in our party, so we were able to take our own tour if we would wait and go last. So that was what we did. It was great. Tons of info,..and very enjoyable.
Well this year we forgot about that small detail, when we got in there,...it was the biggest waste of time. I was so sorry for our friends, and everyone around us, b/c you could not hear a word the tour guide was saying. People were not talking,...it was just that there were waaaay to many people in the group and there was no way to hear unless you were right up front. BUMMER

TIP: I would suggest that if you take a galley tour, please ask for the LAST tour. Maybe your odds of a smaller group will be better.

after the tour it was time to get ready for dinner,...TONIGHT was going to be our special night!
Tonight we celebrate our 12th anniversary, and friends
Chris & Lacey's 3rd. and in my favorite place...Lumiers.

Next: our anniversary SURPRISE!

 

[MrsJobba1]

I cant wait to find out about your surprise

 

[luv2boys]

Waitng to hear about the suprise!!!

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

Well our 5th night was SEMI-formal,...and to DH that means casual.
We still had not seen our picture w/ Mickey w/ the lifestyle background, so I asked Dh would you wear this shirt & tie...? The reply came back w/ a FIRM.... aah NO. so I tell myself "Now I must keep calm...don't sweat it, we can work this out." DON"T start a fight,...just adapt,...." "ok,..." I say " but we have to match b/c we still aren't sure if we have "the picture". DH replies w/ "this is what I'm wearing." augh.

OK, ...so now I have to go thru all of the clothes and make 3 other people match him. SO I do a super fast run thru of the clothes and find us all items that at least blend. (remember at the beginning of my trip I mentioned to you that I don't do so well when my plans get messed up...I can say with all assurance that in this case,...I handled it like a CHAMP! ) We got ready for our semi foraml picture I adapted and not 1 fight,...(don't expect that everytime ) and off we went to give it another shot. (by the way it also turned out well. )

DINNER at Lumieres

Now I would like to remind you that this is our 1st evening dinner here b/c we had our Palo resies on the 1st rotaion to L. Although we did most breakfast's and lunch here b/c it is my favorite I still had not had my TRUE experience in L. yet. I was so ready for it!

We came in and it was the night for:

We so enjoyed ourselves,...everything we ate was great, and as of course our service was FAB.
It came time for dessert, and I knew that we would get a pretty cake becasue it was our 12th Anniversary,and Chris & Laceys 3rd,...Disney does a very nice cake.

....but THERE WAS MORE. ( Don't scroll down to the next picture, you'll spoil the surprise)


Now Don't get TOO excited,.. I didn't get a diamond in my claims or anything like that,...but We did get a nice treat that I really wanted.


See our DH's told us that they had been trying to plan a little surprise for us all week. (the first 2 attempts failed,...not due to any fault of their own,..DCL kept forgetting to do it,..but NOT tonight they had talked to the RIGHT guy.)

This is where our wonderful head server comes in...you may not see them much, but they can get just about anything done for you. I know I know... get to it already right? ok, ok,...here goes.


The whole section of servers come out and sing to us Happy anniversary to you,...BUT in the tune of Happy Birthday w/ a VERY thick accent...sounded something like this.
" Happy Ahh (pause)- Versery tuuu yuu,..
Happy Ahh - Versery tu tu,
Happy Ahhh-Versery to YUUUUUUUUU,
Happy Ahh-versery tu yu!"

Very sweet,...we loved it. They sat down the cake, and then,................


ahhhhh,....MY FAVORITE !!!!! PALO's CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE for everyone! ( I told you I LOVE that suff!)

I couldn't have been any happier. OK, a new diamond in the claims may have topped the CHOC Souffle ...but it would have been close.

DH had told our head server that 2 times Palo had botched the plan, so he took care of it,...and he personally went to Palo and got us C. S. for the whole table. It was great. (plus we had a WHOLE cake to eat....we were stuffed, but I was not about to let any of that souffle go to waste.

DFIL with our servers; A job well done!

Then we were off to take DS joe to club, DD Holly wanted to see the show, Disney Dreams.
This is prob my favorite of all the shows.... "FAITH TRUST and PIXIE DUST"
I just love the storyline.
Oh,.. what can I say, ANOTHER MAGICAL day!
We stroll around the deck again and pick up DS,...grab a snack, and it was sweet dreams for the Smith family

NEXT: Castaway Cay,... and,...what is that stuff floating in the water?

 

[Madisonznana]

What a wonderful surprise!!! There is one Head Waiter that deserved his $1 a day!!!
Great report.

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

ABSOLUTELY! He was attentive too!

 

[JDBlair]

JDBLAIR ~ Inoticed that your family will be taking you 1st Dcruise in 10 more months! WooHoo! Are you going east or west?

Hi! We're going Eastern. But I have no hopes about one direction or the other because I understand weather will ultimately determine!

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

yes,...you are correct,...I hope you have SUPER WONDERFUL WEATHER! This was my 1st time to go east and I LOVED it! I have taken the west 5 times(not all DCL) and I love them both. ANY DISNEY CRUISE will do!

 

[JDBlair]

I am enjoying your TR's! I was able to catch up today!! Whoo hoo!!!

 

[JDBlair]

yes,...you are correct,...I hope you have SUPER WONDERFUL WEATHER! This was my 1st time to go east and I LOVED it! I have taken the west 5 times(not all DCL) and I love them both. ANY DISNEY CRUISE will do!

I really don't care if they sail out to the middle of nowhere and drop anchor there. The draw for me is not the islands but the cruise itself and being with my husband and kids. Oh! And good weather! Thank you for the good wishes!!

 

[Holly&Joesmommy]

The whole family is SUPER excited to get to castaway,..beside the obvious reasons,..last year on our western cruise Captain Tom was not able to dock He tried 3 or 4 times, but we ended up sitting in the middle of the Ocean for the day. SO,.. we were very anxious to get to CC.

We all wanted to watch the ship dock, so we grabbed a quick bite at topsiders, and then headed outside to watch us back in to the dock/port. We noticed that the sun was hidding, it was very overcast, but I thought it may burn off, and we could still get some good sushine.

It was awesome to see the ship sitting there from "P of the C". Everyone was taking pictures and ohhh's and aaahhh's were coming from all directions.

As soon as we could we ran back to our rooms to check on my mom,...she had gotten sick the night before during the show, not sure why??? We were in hopes that she was gonna be able to get off at CC and enjoy the day.
She said she would be out later, just needed to take it easy...in other words, "I can't keep up w/ THE PLAN" so we agreed, and all grabbed our castaway club bags(GREAT TREAT,..thanks DCL) and headed for the exit. We walked right off,..grabbed our towels, and off we went.

WELCOME TO CASTAWAYCAY
OF COURSE,.. I had a plan.

Part 1 of the plan:
1). snap a few pictures
2). get the kids to club first( so we could snorkle before the sand gets stirred up and so they could explore)
3). take the tram to SERENITY BAY ...ahhhhhhhhhh! ( Ben & I have never made it to SB b/c we always kept the kids w/ us,
4). Grab some chairs
5). pick up the rental equipment
6). ENJOY!!

Serinity Bay
Still no sun,... it's warm, and the water is not TOO cold,...but no need for sunscreen. ( I know having fair skin & red hair, you should always use the spf, but I'm telling you, there was NO sun,..I did not apply SPF and I did NOT burn )
There weren't very many people over here at all, at least not first thing in the morning. It was very peaceful.

we all floated out to sea, to see if we could find any sea creatures,...after about 30 mins,.. I was finished.
I think when I heard several people including a couple in my family scream " AHHHH, A STINGRAY!" (so much for the serenity...) you could hear them a mile away.

2 women on 1 see thru tube,(not a pretty sight) and there was a sting ray coming near them in a wave, ... so they scream ,and started peddling their feet like the flintstones! 1 girl made the choice to bail off the tube, leaving the other to flail about until she tipped over backwards. It was histerical to watch But to realize that there could be one by me,...well not so funny.
I had to make a choice. Something about living things swimming by my feet creaps me out. So I made my way back to the beach,....and what is that brown stuff on the bottom of the ocean floor ? yuck I needed water shoes!

I pulled my chair down to the water, and just watched everyone else truely enjoy themselves.
They saw a few things, but not as much as they would have liked to see.
Oh well, it was still wonderful.
After a few hours we were hungry and wanted to try the AIR BBQ on Serenity bay before we picked up the kids, so we all showered off, and cleaned up a bit and went to get some lunch.

TIP: KEEP YOUR TOWELS! We made a mistake of drying off w/ our towels and then returning them at Serenity bay,....aaaahhh, there are no more towels anywhere. So, when we went to the family beach, we had no towels.

LUNCH ~ AIR BBQ
this was a small buffet area with picnic tables, surrounded by tress, and shrubs, it was lovely. It looked like most of the same foods served at cookies. We all loaded up, and picked a table, and ate while we watched the sand crabs walk around. IT was VERY GOOD, we enjoyed it!
took the tram back to pick up the kids, and then off to finish the rest of the TO DO LIST .

7). pick up the kids
8). get them some lunch ( this had already been taken care of,..they ate w/ the club & lab)
9).get Hollys hair braided
10) play at the family beach

DH took Joe to the beach, and I took Holly to get her hair done. We walked right up, no wait at all, and the lady was very nice. I think it took us about
20-30 mins to get it all done and off we went to meet everyone else at the beach.

My mom and dad had finally made it to CC, they were headed out to serenity bay,..my sister and her friend were headed out on a banana boat ride.

FAMILY BEACH

WOW is it ever packed out over there!

Let me back up and tell you about my son's first experience in the Ocean.
He would never get in the ocean prior to this day,..so he did not know what to expect. (DH didn't think to fill him in on one important detail,...DONT DRINK THE OCEAN WATER SON!)
Joe runs down, gets in the water, and the first thing he does is take a mouthful of water and SWALLOW
The next thing you know Joe has puked in the ocean, and all of his NON -digested lunch was floating around him and his dad! YUCK!
Joe tells me,..mommy I got sick don't drink the water!

After we were all played out, we made our way back to the ship,...we took a few more pictures,

and then on to the room for a nap for the kids, and for me.


Again no prob getting a washer or dryer. We waved and said our goodbyes from our window as we pulled out of port.
very nice day,...even without alot of sun.

Next : last chance for a picture, and our last dinner on the Magic
and WOE,...did you see those waves????

 

[discruiselovers97]

Something about living things swimming by my feet creaps me out.

Can you blame anyone?? The fact that SB isn't inclosed just freaks me out!