The 8/31 Magic Cruisers Are Back (LONG)

[winnyis]

and what a great cruise we had. Weather was perfect and we had calm seas. We headed down on the 30th and met up with Moochinkasserole (kitty, jack, paris & kass) ,SheilaWalas (sheila and bill), sumfun (tomi & family). Everyone was soooo nice and extremely friendly. Felt like I had known them for years. Shirley from Perfect Gift came over and brought us a key lime pie. I can confirm - her and norm are just as sweet as everyone says.

We were the first van to the Port and were the first in line to board (same as last year). They are now boarding the ship at noon. Me and my friend headed up to Palo while the guys took the kids to the mickey pool. Were the first ones there and got our 2 dinners and 2 brunches within minutes. This set the tone for the whole cruise. Everything went very very smoothly. We had secret porthole rooms 5520 and 5522 and they were GREAT!! Loved them so much we rebooked on board for 2004 and asked for those same rooms. Very convenient for the kids clubs. Our stateroom host was Dillan - did a very good job and filled our cooler with ice every day. (Just an FYI - the porter who took our luggage at the port - did take the cooler too - we told him it was beer and he said no problem - so no sense lugging it yourself)

We had the LAP rotation for dinner (early seating) We went at 6PM the first night and warned our servers that we would probably be coming that time every night - they said no problem. We actually only ate in the dining rooms 4 nights due to Palo and Cozmel night we ate a topsiders. Our servers were Raj and Timmy and they were great - Timmy did magic tricks every night for the kids. Our head server picked our table to dine with an officer and we had a very nice dinner with Mary Jo (Merchandise Manager) She bought wine for the table and even sent boxes of chocolates to our rooms afterwards with a thank you note. Very nice touch.

Our kids loved the kids club - they even let my 4 year old participate with his sister and best friend in the 5-7 group and we never had a problem. We took them everynight and the 4 adults got to enjoy alot of the nightime entertainment. My hubby got picked as a contestant on Who wants to be a mouseketeer - he didnt win the cruise - but had fun anyway.

We did 2 dinners and 2 brunches in Palo and had Maurizio. Marco and Nadege as our servers - all were great.

All in all it was a wonderful vacation - I wish we were going back next year but hubby wants to try Atlantis so we will skip a year and go back in 2004.

Well now back to reality.

Ginny

 

[Noris]

How did you get so fortunate to book 2 Palo dinners and brunches upfront? Or have I misunderstood you?

Given the new dining times, I'm also interested in the fact that you all ate at 6pm without any problems with the wait staff.

I wonder how many people will actually try this or how often come to dinner a bit late regardless of the new dining times simply because they're running late from excursions?!

 

[winnyis]

one brunch and one dinner for 4 under each stateroom number. The only stipulation was that one of the dinners had to be on either saturday or sunday night (I guess they are slower on those nights). We booked a brunch for Sunday afternoon brunch before key west and then dinner sunday night to watch the sunset. We had our second dinner on formal night and our second brunch on thursday.

As far as the dining time. 5:30 is too early for me - I would have preferred late dining but my kids fell asleep at the table every night last year when we had late dining. I knew that we would be fast eaters because I know from experience that when my 4 & 7 year old are done - we all are. We never left the dining room after 7:15 and that still gave them 1/2 hour to get ready for the late diners.

The first night we saw alot of people running late due to the sailaway party. IMHO - it is my vacation and I am not going to cut my day short to accomodate DCL. They told me 6PM up until 2-1/2 weeks before we cruised and I made plans and booked excursions accordingly.

Like I said Raj and Timmy didnt seem to care at all - and we never ran into the next seating.

Ginny

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Very prompt reporting! Well done!