Cricket538
Will design for Shoes
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2004
- Messages
- 118
Hello
We are just back from the January 29 Western sailing of the Magic and it was truly a WONDERFUL, make that Magical, experience! I just wanted to share some thoughts and tips that I had from our sailing. Please feel free to ask questions or offer up your two cents.
This may get a bit long, but here goes:
DIS BOARD All I can say is if youve been lurking on these boards for awhile, stop lurking, sign-up for a screen name, find your sailings group board and participate!! I think the DIS board made the all the difference between a great vacation and an awesome one! I participated in our group Early Roll Call January 29 for about 6 months. After awhile I began exchanging e-mail addresses and photos with other members. My 5yo daughter couldnt wait to meet her pen-pals and it definitely added to her excitement. Because of the board we met some terrific people (Jim & Lisa Kris & Paul Clarry & Craig, who also happened to be our dinner mates!) and my daughter had a ball with her new friends.
RON JONs We had a nice experience at the one-year-old Ron Jon resort. The pool is absolutely amazing with water slides, hot tubs, and a huge lazy river with sprinklers and buckets that dump water. Unfortunately, it was freezing cold and rainy on our visit and we didnt get to swim (much to the dismay of my DD!), but they did have a Chuck E Cheese-type indoor playground that kept her very happy and gave us time to unwind. RJs is a condo so there is no room service or maid service, but that wasnt a big deal to us for just a one night stay. RJs also has a shuttle to the beach, is a very short $10 cab ride to the cruise terminal, and they WILL allow you to park your car at RJs for free for the duration of the cruise saving you the $70 cruise terminal parking fee.
CHECK IN In my humble opinion, you should get to the cruise terminal as early as possible arrive in Port Canaveral the day before if you can. This was how check-in played out for my family: We arrived at the cruise terminal at 10 am when the gates first opened (although the porters at the curb told us the gates wouldnt open until 11:00 hmmm!). We found a porter and tipped him to watch our luggage and load it onboard. We left the luggage by the curbs outside the gate and proceeded inside. After a short line to scan our carry-ons, we got in line to receive our KTTW card. We were about 5th in line and this process, including the wait, took about 20 minutes. After we got our cards, one of us went to the queue to get on board, while the other went to the coffee shop to sign up for the Oceaneer kids club. Within another 20 minutes my DD had her badge and beeper and we were ready to roll. We had about another 45 minute wait in the loading queue at which time we met other cruisers, had some coffee and started relaxing. Character appearances kept it fun. Once the line opened up we walked down the gangway, had our picture taken (no line) and proceeded to the ships atrium to be announced. By 12:10 am we were stuffing our face with shrimp cocktail and chilled mango soup (tasted like melted orange sherbet - yum!) at Parrot Cay. Our baggage arrived in our room around 2:00, but we were still able to drop off our carry-ons in the room right after lunch and change into swimsuits and head to the pool. TOO FUN!
BYOB Although the tickets state no coolers and there are no alcohol signs at the terminal, I took the advice from the boards to save some money and brought our own alcohol. We used a soft-sided rolling cooler and brought a 12-pack of beer, three bottles of wine and a bottle of scotch. (Dont use ice in the cooler!) At the terminal the attendant put the cooler through the scanner and said Holy Mackeral! but that was the extent of it! On board, our cabin steward put our cooler on the verandah and kept it packed with fresh ice. At Key West, we hit a convenience store and picked up even more beer/wine and carried it right onboard with no problem whatsoever. I will not comment on whether it all got drank ha ha!
FEATHER PILLOWS Be sure to ask your cabin steward on Day One for some feather pillows. They were wonderful!
VERANDAH Okay, like the rest of this post this is just my humble opinion, but I cannot recommend enough to splurge on a verandah. It was AWESOME! I really, really didnt think wed use it that much, but we definitely did! When my DD was wiped out and needed a nap every afternoon, it was so relaxing to sit out there and relax myself. We sat out there every night and watched the waves and stars. And if, God forbid, you or your child gets sick and quarantined to the room it would make it a lot easier. This advice comes from a gal who didnt think itd be worth the money Now that Ive had one I cannot imagine NOT having a verandah. If youre on the fence, Id say go for it! Aint that right Verandah Man?!?!!!
DUTY FREE LIQUOR Just a heads up that you cannot purchase duty free liquor (and probably cigarettes) on Grand Cayman, so dont even waste your time trying like we did! Disney will not accept deliveries and since the stores on GC require these items to be delivered, youre basically out of luck. Wait for Cozumel where you can pick up as much duty-free alcohol as you want at the mall by the pier and carry it onboard with no problems. And by the way, the prices were amazing, including Cozumels own real vanilla! Also worth noting, the limit for bottles of liquor is 1 per person on the Western sailing. At customs, you are supposed to pay 15% tax on the overage which amounts to a mere $1.50 on a $10 bottle of liquor still much cheaper than buying it in the US. We went over the purchase limit and also had beer and unopened bottles of wine leftover that we brought onboard. We were worried that wed also be taxed on the stuff we brought onboard and the champagne that was delivered with our REAS package. DH went to customs and explained the situation and they didnt charge us for any of it, not even for exceeding the customs limit. (I suppose he has an honest face!) I suppose if youre just honest about it and dont try to sneak it off theyll do you right.
ROOM 6600 - DECK 6 - STARBOARD SIDE We loved our room! Located in the middle of deck 6, it was a convenient 3 floors below Topsiders and the pool, 1 floor above the kids club, and 3-4 floors from the restaurants, theaters and shops. I will most definitely book that floor again. For those debating starboard versus port side, heres the rundown for starboard on the Western. On a starboard verandah you are facing Key West, Mallory Square is to the bow and the sun sets on port side; you have a good view of Grand Cayman and the tenders; you have an ocean view at Cozumel (although the port side was facing another ship and didnt have a great view); and you overlook Castaway Cay.
HAIRBRAIDING - Sign-up for hairbraiding by the pools was the first night at 5:30 by the Walt Disney Theater. We beat feet to the sign up and were the first ones scheduled for the following morning - 9:00 am right after the character breakfast. While at hairbraiding, I overheard the braiders telling people that they were booked completely for At Sea days - so if you want it done early on the cruise I'd say go to the first day sign up. I liked having my daughter's hair done right away as it made her hair more manageable and out of her face for the week. She loves the braids and will probably keep them in for several weeks. The cost was only $8 at $1 a braid. Corn rows are $2 an inch. She had 8 braids, 4 on each side, coming down the top of her head. Next time I think I'd go for having her whole hair done - perhaps cornrowed at the top and braids on the back and sides. That procedure takes an hour though, while her 8 braids took just 10 minutes tops. If you don't get it done on board, I saw places to have it done on the islands - although I'd question the cleanliness! Lots of people were having it done on Castaway Cay. I'm glad we had it done the first day, though.
PALO We did both the brunch and dinner at Palo. Aside from the most delicious Chocolate Souffle, if given a choice Id definitely pick the brunch over the dinner. Since it was daylight the view was better and the food was amazing, including peeled shrimp and pre-cracked (buzz-sawed!) crab legs. The pizza was absolutely delicious, too! We had Sascha as our waiter for dinner and Eleonore as our waitress for brunch. Both were amazing, but Eleonore was a standout. Be sure to ask for her!! Eleonore deserves kudos for her outstanding service and fun personality.
GRAND CAYMAN You can see how the vegetation was destroyed by the hurricane and I heard that the beaches were bad so we didnt venture outside of George Town. In fact, we left our daughter (age 5) at the Oceaneer Club while we went on the island. (This was something we NEVER thought wed do but the kids clubs were so safe and she had a much better time there than shopping with us.) On the island we did our best to stimulate the economy through the purchase of t-shirts! Spent about 2 hours ashore and headed back. Not much else to tell, although another couple did the stingray city excursion and said it was a blast.
CHANKANAAB AT COZUMEL It was a highlight of our trip, and the perfect place to take children. We did not book an excursion through Disney, but rather took a taxi to the park ourselves. It was a $10 cab ride and then $18 per person ($6 for kids) to enter the park. Keep in mind that the park only takes cash (US is fine). We scored a place on the beach underneath a palm tree. Theyve got plastic lounge chairs scattered everywhere and a few umbrellas. The swim area was a crystal clear lagoon with natural rock protection from the big fish. There are tons of critters roaming about including macaws and pelicans. If you walk through the gardens to the lagoon youll see huge iguanas everywhere. It kind of creeped me out a bit to see them up close and slithering down the trees! Was fun, though. We didnt do any of the extras such as the dolphin swim or the sea lion show. The beach was right next to the dolphin swim so we could walk on the pier and watch. Our friends took in the sea lion show and said it was not worth the money. There are also a few native shops to score some Mexican dolls and blankets. There are restaurants and clean bathrooms and showers. We had a great time and would definitely do it again.
OBSERVATIONS AND PLEASANT SURPRISES
The kids Celebrate the Journey farewell show was awesome and your kids get a Mickey graduation cap and a t-shirt.
Loved the All Hands on Deck cheese platter from room service. I think I ordered 4 throughout the week! Perfect with a glass of wine on the verandah!
Shutters was a nightly mob scene. Avoid going at the peak hours of just before or after dinner. And be sure to gather up your photos and stack them throughout the week.
Never, ever, ever go anywhere without bringing along your camera and/or video camera!
Tea with Wendy was very cute. If you have boys bring them along and they might get picked to play John and Michael.
If you go to the Golden Mickeys (which you should!) arrive a bit early and hang around the photo of Walt Disney before the show starts. Theyll have an Oprah-type host who selects kids to interview for the show. My daughter and her friends got picked and had a ball! While they are being interviewed, the video is shown live inside the theater. I wish we would have sent in someone to videotape it while it was being shown on screen.
Definitely tell the Oceaneer Club where you will be if your plans include Palo or the couples massage. Then the CMs will only page you if theres an emergency. Was a BIG mood buster to have my pager go off and have to get up in the MIDDLE of my massage, get dressed and race to the club to find out that my DD just wanted to go swimming! Clue the Club CMs in and theyll help you out!
Key Wests drink of the day - Melon Coladas YUM!
British Pub night (11 pm on the last night) was a blast!!!!
Fresh cut mangos from the fruit stand in front of Cookies BBQ on Castaway Cay. YUM!!
Loved Cove Café!
The dress was a bit more casual than I expected, even at dinner.
We were never asked to show our birth certificates!
Neither coming nor going!
They really cared about keeping everyone healthy. You were handed antibacterial hand wipes upon entering all dining rooms and the kids got a squirt of soap each time they entered the kids clubs. Kudos Disney!
I dreamed of myself on Castaway Cay drinking a Konk Kooler in a real coconut underneath a palm tree. This dream set me back $20 for one drink! IMHO skip the $15 novelty coconut and get the Konk Kooler in a cup!
APLAPLA dining rotation seems to fit the nightly themes the best. We were in Lumieres for formal and semi-formal, and Parrot Cay for Pirates night.
We were into day 4 before we discovered how much nicer and calmer it was to go to breakfast and lunch at Lumieres rather than Topsiders. This is not to say that Topsiders wasnt terrific, but we thought it was nice to be waited on rather to do a buffet.
If you happen to miss a photo op with a character, theres a final autograph and photo session on the last night in the atrium at 10:15. This includes all characters and those from the shows as well. I observed many characters standing around just waiting on folks to have pics/autographs meaning there were no lines!!!
AND FINALLY
I think the best piece of advice I can offer is to participate in the boards and gather as much information as you can, and then let the vacation unfold as it is supposed to. You just cant go crazy over-planning these things, as circumstances will change once youre on board and the over-planning may lead to disappointment. For example, I had planned out everything even down to having copies of the menus what to eat at night! Well, we had so much fun on some days that we didnt even GO to dinner for 3 nights! And we got involved in spontaneous activities so we missed the Welcome Aboard and Farewell variety shows something wed planned on attending. All worked out for the best for us. It was a WONDERFUL vacation!!
We are just back from the January 29 Western sailing of the Magic and it was truly a WONDERFUL, make that Magical, experience! I just wanted to share some thoughts and tips that I had from our sailing. Please feel free to ask questions or offer up your two cents.
This may get a bit long, but here goes:
DIS BOARD All I can say is if youve been lurking on these boards for awhile, stop lurking, sign-up for a screen name, find your sailings group board and participate!! I think the DIS board made the all the difference between a great vacation and an awesome one! I participated in our group Early Roll Call January 29 for about 6 months. After awhile I began exchanging e-mail addresses and photos with other members. My 5yo daughter couldnt wait to meet her pen-pals and it definitely added to her excitement. Because of the board we met some terrific people (Jim & Lisa Kris & Paul Clarry & Craig, who also happened to be our dinner mates!) and my daughter had a ball with her new friends.
RON JONs We had a nice experience at the one-year-old Ron Jon resort. The pool is absolutely amazing with water slides, hot tubs, and a huge lazy river with sprinklers and buckets that dump water. Unfortunately, it was freezing cold and rainy on our visit and we didnt get to swim (much to the dismay of my DD!), but they did have a Chuck E Cheese-type indoor playground that kept her very happy and gave us time to unwind. RJs is a condo so there is no room service or maid service, but that wasnt a big deal to us for just a one night stay. RJs also has a shuttle to the beach, is a very short $10 cab ride to the cruise terminal, and they WILL allow you to park your car at RJs for free for the duration of the cruise saving you the $70 cruise terminal parking fee.
CHECK IN In my humble opinion, you should get to the cruise terminal as early as possible arrive in Port Canaveral the day before if you can. This was how check-in played out for my family: We arrived at the cruise terminal at 10 am when the gates first opened (although the porters at the curb told us the gates wouldnt open until 11:00 hmmm!). We found a porter and tipped him to watch our luggage and load it onboard. We left the luggage by the curbs outside the gate and proceeded inside. After a short line to scan our carry-ons, we got in line to receive our KTTW card. We were about 5th in line and this process, including the wait, took about 20 minutes. After we got our cards, one of us went to the queue to get on board, while the other went to the coffee shop to sign up for the Oceaneer kids club. Within another 20 minutes my DD had her badge and beeper and we were ready to roll. We had about another 45 minute wait in the loading queue at which time we met other cruisers, had some coffee and started relaxing. Character appearances kept it fun. Once the line opened up we walked down the gangway, had our picture taken (no line) and proceeded to the ships atrium to be announced. By 12:10 am we were stuffing our face with shrimp cocktail and chilled mango soup (tasted like melted orange sherbet - yum!) at Parrot Cay. Our baggage arrived in our room around 2:00, but we were still able to drop off our carry-ons in the room right after lunch and change into swimsuits and head to the pool. TOO FUN!
BYOB Although the tickets state no coolers and there are no alcohol signs at the terminal, I took the advice from the boards to save some money and brought our own alcohol. We used a soft-sided rolling cooler and brought a 12-pack of beer, three bottles of wine and a bottle of scotch. (Dont use ice in the cooler!) At the terminal the attendant put the cooler through the scanner and said Holy Mackeral! but that was the extent of it! On board, our cabin steward put our cooler on the verandah and kept it packed with fresh ice. At Key West, we hit a convenience store and picked up even more beer/wine and carried it right onboard with no problem whatsoever. I will not comment on whether it all got drank ha ha!
FEATHER PILLOWS Be sure to ask your cabin steward on Day One for some feather pillows. They were wonderful!
VERANDAH Okay, like the rest of this post this is just my humble opinion, but I cannot recommend enough to splurge on a verandah. It was AWESOME! I really, really didnt think wed use it that much, but we definitely did! When my DD was wiped out and needed a nap every afternoon, it was so relaxing to sit out there and relax myself. We sat out there every night and watched the waves and stars. And if, God forbid, you or your child gets sick and quarantined to the room it would make it a lot easier. This advice comes from a gal who didnt think itd be worth the money Now that Ive had one I cannot imagine NOT having a verandah. If youre on the fence, Id say go for it! Aint that right Verandah Man?!?!!!
DUTY FREE LIQUOR Just a heads up that you cannot purchase duty free liquor (and probably cigarettes) on Grand Cayman, so dont even waste your time trying like we did! Disney will not accept deliveries and since the stores on GC require these items to be delivered, youre basically out of luck. Wait for Cozumel where you can pick up as much duty-free alcohol as you want at the mall by the pier and carry it onboard with no problems. And by the way, the prices were amazing, including Cozumels own real vanilla! Also worth noting, the limit for bottles of liquor is 1 per person on the Western sailing. At customs, you are supposed to pay 15% tax on the overage which amounts to a mere $1.50 on a $10 bottle of liquor still much cheaper than buying it in the US. We went over the purchase limit and also had beer and unopened bottles of wine leftover that we brought onboard. We were worried that wed also be taxed on the stuff we brought onboard and the champagne that was delivered with our REAS package. DH went to customs and explained the situation and they didnt charge us for any of it, not even for exceeding the customs limit. (I suppose he has an honest face!) I suppose if youre just honest about it and dont try to sneak it off theyll do you right.
ROOM 6600 - DECK 6 - STARBOARD SIDE We loved our room! Located in the middle of deck 6, it was a convenient 3 floors below Topsiders and the pool, 1 floor above the kids club, and 3-4 floors from the restaurants, theaters and shops. I will most definitely book that floor again. For those debating starboard versus port side, heres the rundown for starboard on the Western. On a starboard verandah you are facing Key West, Mallory Square is to the bow and the sun sets on port side; you have a good view of Grand Cayman and the tenders; you have an ocean view at Cozumel (although the port side was facing another ship and didnt have a great view); and you overlook Castaway Cay.
HAIRBRAIDING - Sign-up for hairbraiding by the pools was the first night at 5:30 by the Walt Disney Theater. We beat feet to the sign up and were the first ones scheduled for the following morning - 9:00 am right after the character breakfast. While at hairbraiding, I overheard the braiders telling people that they were booked completely for At Sea days - so if you want it done early on the cruise I'd say go to the first day sign up. I liked having my daughter's hair done right away as it made her hair more manageable and out of her face for the week. She loves the braids and will probably keep them in for several weeks. The cost was only $8 at $1 a braid. Corn rows are $2 an inch. She had 8 braids, 4 on each side, coming down the top of her head. Next time I think I'd go for having her whole hair done - perhaps cornrowed at the top and braids on the back and sides. That procedure takes an hour though, while her 8 braids took just 10 minutes tops. If you don't get it done on board, I saw places to have it done on the islands - although I'd question the cleanliness! Lots of people were having it done on Castaway Cay. I'm glad we had it done the first day, though.
PALO We did both the brunch and dinner at Palo. Aside from the most delicious Chocolate Souffle, if given a choice Id definitely pick the brunch over the dinner. Since it was daylight the view was better and the food was amazing, including peeled shrimp and pre-cracked (buzz-sawed!) crab legs. The pizza was absolutely delicious, too! We had Sascha as our waiter for dinner and Eleonore as our waitress for brunch. Both were amazing, but Eleonore was a standout. Be sure to ask for her!! Eleonore deserves kudos for her outstanding service and fun personality.
GRAND CAYMAN You can see how the vegetation was destroyed by the hurricane and I heard that the beaches were bad so we didnt venture outside of George Town. In fact, we left our daughter (age 5) at the Oceaneer Club while we went on the island. (This was something we NEVER thought wed do but the kids clubs were so safe and she had a much better time there than shopping with us.) On the island we did our best to stimulate the economy through the purchase of t-shirts! Spent about 2 hours ashore and headed back. Not much else to tell, although another couple did the stingray city excursion and said it was a blast.
CHANKANAAB AT COZUMEL It was a highlight of our trip, and the perfect place to take children. We did not book an excursion through Disney, but rather took a taxi to the park ourselves. It was a $10 cab ride and then $18 per person ($6 for kids) to enter the park. Keep in mind that the park only takes cash (US is fine). We scored a place on the beach underneath a palm tree. Theyve got plastic lounge chairs scattered everywhere and a few umbrellas. The swim area was a crystal clear lagoon with natural rock protection from the big fish. There are tons of critters roaming about including macaws and pelicans. If you walk through the gardens to the lagoon youll see huge iguanas everywhere. It kind of creeped me out a bit to see them up close and slithering down the trees! Was fun, though. We didnt do any of the extras such as the dolphin swim or the sea lion show. The beach was right next to the dolphin swim so we could walk on the pier and watch. Our friends took in the sea lion show and said it was not worth the money. There are also a few native shops to score some Mexican dolls and blankets. There are restaurants and clean bathrooms and showers. We had a great time and would definitely do it again.
OBSERVATIONS AND PLEASANT SURPRISES
The kids Celebrate the Journey farewell show was awesome and your kids get a Mickey graduation cap and a t-shirt.
Loved the All Hands on Deck cheese platter from room service. I think I ordered 4 throughout the week! Perfect with a glass of wine on the verandah!
Shutters was a nightly mob scene. Avoid going at the peak hours of just before or after dinner. And be sure to gather up your photos and stack them throughout the week.
Never, ever, ever go anywhere without bringing along your camera and/or video camera!
Tea with Wendy was very cute. If you have boys bring them along and they might get picked to play John and Michael.
If you go to the Golden Mickeys (which you should!) arrive a bit early and hang around the photo of Walt Disney before the show starts. Theyll have an Oprah-type host who selects kids to interview for the show. My daughter and her friends got picked and had a ball! While they are being interviewed, the video is shown live inside the theater. I wish we would have sent in someone to videotape it while it was being shown on screen.
Definitely tell the Oceaneer Club where you will be if your plans include Palo or the couples massage. Then the CMs will only page you if theres an emergency. Was a BIG mood buster to have my pager go off and have to get up in the MIDDLE of my massage, get dressed and race to the club to find out that my DD just wanted to go swimming! Clue the Club CMs in and theyll help you out!
Key Wests drink of the day - Melon Coladas YUM!
British Pub night (11 pm on the last night) was a blast!!!!
Fresh cut mangos from the fruit stand in front of Cookies BBQ on Castaway Cay. YUM!!
Loved Cove Café!
The dress was a bit more casual than I expected, even at dinner.
We were never asked to show our birth certificates!
Neither coming nor going!
They really cared about keeping everyone healthy. You were handed antibacterial hand wipes upon entering all dining rooms and the kids got a squirt of soap each time they entered the kids clubs. Kudos Disney!
I dreamed of myself on Castaway Cay drinking a Konk Kooler in a real coconut underneath a palm tree. This dream set me back $20 for one drink! IMHO skip the $15 novelty coconut and get the Konk Kooler in a cup!
APLAPLA dining rotation seems to fit the nightly themes the best. We were in Lumieres for formal and semi-formal, and Parrot Cay for Pirates night.
We were into day 4 before we discovered how much nicer and calmer it was to go to breakfast and lunch at Lumieres rather than Topsiders. This is not to say that Topsiders wasnt terrific, but we thought it was nice to be waited on rather to do a buffet.
If you happen to miss a photo op with a character, theres a final autograph and photo session on the last night in the atrium at 10:15. This includes all characters and those from the shows as well. I observed many characters standing around just waiting on folks to have pics/autographs meaning there were no lines!!!
AND FINALLY
I think the best piece of advice I can offer is to participate in the boards and gather as much information as you can, and then let the vacation unfold as it is supposed to. You just cant go crazy over-planning these things, as circumstances will change once youre on board and the over-planning may lead to disappointment. For example, I had planned out everything even down to having copies of the menus what to eat at night! Well, we had so much fun on some days that we didnt even GO to dinner for 3 nights! And we got involved in spontaneous activities so we missed the Welcome Aboard and Farewell variety shows something wed planned on attending. All worked out for the best for us. It was a WONDERFUL vacation!!
Gald you had sucha great time!!!! Can't wait to use our verandah!!!!! 
). 
