rae519
<font color=6666CC>DIS Veteran<br><font color=CC00
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2002
- Messages
- 5,972
After much anticipation and delaying, Tom was totally blow away on Friday when the stretch 9 limo pulled up in the driveway. Michael quickly hopped in and made himself quite at home!
Great ride to the Airport (2 hours) but had plenty of time to get through the huge line at the scanners. ATA proved to be an excellent airline, little monitors come down from the overhead and we had a great show called "Gags - Just for Fun" (think Allan Funk and Candid Camera). Passed the time away til we arrived in Orlando.
We had planned to have dinner with dining mates, Linda and Taylor but Michael wanted to swim at the hotel since Tom had promised him.
Luggage took over a half hour to make it from the plane to the carousel, but the shuttle to the Holiday Inn Select ($40 at Priceline.com) was the worst. After waiting 45 minutes, the first shuttle was swarmed with airline personnel and we had to take a second one. Seems the shuttle doesn't leave til a number of people call, obviously 3 wasn't the magic number.
Absolutely disliked the Holiday Inn Select, the double bed was king size and things didn't work very well (hot water, coffee pot). Okay, what can you expect for the price........we were on the 7th Floor which takes a "special key insertion" on the elevator, so....
The dining room was pretty empty at 8PM. Our server was the only one working, and he forgot our drinks, messed up our order and he had a big argument with the chef over the salad bar as Tom tried to get his selections! By 9:30 the pool was closed and we were disgusted. So we went to bed knowing we would be on the Magic for dinner the next night!
We used Happy Limo - very satisfied with them. They do put the tip on the initial charge, so you can either tip over the $16.00 or not. We had a 15 minute grocery stop at the Publix near the Port -thankfully, I bought ginger ale.
Since 9/11, the limo's can not drop off at the door, so you must leave your luggage and walk across the parking lots to get to embarkation. Not at all convenient, but at least we were there.
I left a note for my dear friends Shirley and Norm on the front seat of their delivery truck. I had hoped to get there early enough to see them, but such be the case. We arrived 10AM!
After visiting with my CM friends at Port - God love them all! We waited and had coffee in the lounge area. I had to call my dear friend Andy to "rub it in"!!!
So very glad to have gotten the REAS (Romantic Escape at Sea) Package, didn't have the Ressie Rush and it was relaxing to board and feel at home! The room had beautiful, fragrant pink tea roses from "Captain Mickey" - whoever did this to surprise me, well, it did and I thank you for it!) Along with that was the REAS basket, champagne, photo album and chocolates which I didn't open til Thursday night!
It felt good to be back in MY room! Went to see Gaspare at Dining Room Changes to make sure Alex was our server - gotta love those Head Servers for what they will do to make a guest happy. Gaspare, you are the greatest!!!!!
Had a great bowl of orange-mango soup, passed up the opportunity for a "Mango Tango" though. And did pretty good with the shrimp - I craved carbs and had two hard rolls with butter though!!!
Michael had pool time and enjoyed that - as much as he could with everyone standing up and no place to really move!
Had a great time at the DISMeet at Sailaway - so many wonderful people and so little time to visit! But we had a great time as we pulled away from the Port.
I doublechecked my Palo and Spa reservations then registered Michael into the clubs. Couldn't wait to start the night!!
It was great to see my CM friends on board and I spent the evening looking for them - so many have moved on or were on vacation, but I left messages for them and wished them well.
First and foremost on my mind was finding a Easter LE pin for my dear Sarah, who gifted Michael was a Halloween LE pin that we didn't get the opportunity to purchase during our Halloween cruise due to the incredible greed of the people buying multiple pins for profit. It took me til Thursday night to get one, but I did! Sarah, I'll be sending it out soon. And for my dear Hawaiian/Georgian friends, Paul and Kaye, I go the coffee mugs from Cove Cafe! Yes, I'll be sending them out soon.
Dinner was fine - can't remember what it was, but suffice it to say, it was good as always!
And that was day 1,
Rae
Great ride to the Airport (2 hours) but had plenty of time to get through the huge line at the scanners. ATA proved to be an excellent airline, little monitors come down from the overhead and we had a great show called "Gags - Just for Fun" (think Allan Funk and Candid Camera). Passed the time away til we arrived in Orlando.
We had planned to have dinner with dining mates, Linda and Taylor but Michael wanted to swim at the hotel since Tom had promised him.
Luggage took over a half hour to make it from the plane to the carousel, but the shuttle to the Holiday Inn Select ($40 at Priceline.com) was the worst. After waiting 45 minutes, the first shuttle was swarmed with airline personnel and we had to take a second one. Seems the shuttle doesn't leave til a number of people call, obviously 3 wasn't the magic number.
Absolutely disliked the Holiday Inn Select, the double bed was king size and things didn't work very well (hot water, coffee pot). Okay, what can you expect for the price........we were on the 7th Floor which takes a "special key insertion" on the elevator, so....
The dining room was pretty empty at 8PM. Our server was the only one working, and he forgot our drinks, messed up our order and he had a big argument with the chef over the salad bar as Tom tried to get his selections! By 9:30 the pool was closed and we were disgusted. So we went to bed knowing we would be on the Magic for dinner the next night!
We used Happy Limo - very satisfied with them. They do put the tip on the initial charge, so you can either tip over the $16.00 or not. We had a 15 minute grocery stop at the Publix near the Port -thankfully, I bought ginger ale.
Since 9/11, the limo's can not drop off at the door, so you must leave your luggage and walk across the parking lots to get to embarkation. Not at all convenient, but at least we were there.
I left a note for my dear friends Shirley and Norm on the front seat of their delivery truck. I had hoped to get there early enough to see them, but such be the case. We arrived 10AM!
After visiting with my CM friends at Port - God love them all! We waited and had coffee in the lounge area. I had to call my dear friend Andy to "rub it in"!!!
So very glad to have gotten the REAS (Romantic Escape at Sea) Package, didn't have the Ressie Rush and it was relaxing to board and feel at home! The room had beautiful, fragrant pink tea roses from "Captain Mickey" - whoever did this to surprise me, well, it did and I thank you for it!) Along with that was the REAS basket, champagne, photo album and chocolates which I didn't open til Thursday night!
It felt good to be back in MY room! Went to see Gaspare at Dining Room Changes to make sure Alex was our server - gotta love those Head Servers for what they will do to make a guest happy. Gaspare, you are the greatest!!!!!
Had a great bowl of orange-mango soup, passed up the opportunity for a "Mango Tango" though. And did pretty good with the shrimp - I craved carbs and had two hard rolls with butter though!!!
Michael had pool time and enjoyed that - as much as he could with everyone standing up and no place to really move!
Had a great time at the DISMeet at Sailaway - so many wonderful people and so little time to visit! But we had a great time as we pulled away from the Port.
I doublechecked my Palo and Spa reservations then registered Michael into the clubs. Couldn't wait to start the night!!
It was great to see my CM friends on board and I spent the evening looking for them - so many have moved on or were on vacation, but I left messages for them and wished them well.
First and foremost on my mind was finding a Easter LE pin for my dear Sarah, who gifted Michael was a Halloween LE pin that we didn't get the opportunity to purchase during our Halloween cruise due to the incredible greed of the people buying multiple pins for profit. It took me til Thursday night to get one, but I did! Sarah, I'll be sending it out soon. And for my dear Hawaiian/Georgian friends, Paul and Kaye, I go the coffee mugs from Cove Cafe! Yes, I'll be sending them out soon.
Dinner was fine - can't remember what it was, but suffice it to say, it was good as always!
And that was day 1,
Rae
