- Joined
- Jul 15, 2003
- Messages
- 2,479
2/14 MAGIC-Trip Report
Our Jetblue flight left a little late. I love Jetblue. They have comfortable, leather seats, in flight Direct TV, free headsets. The airport in Orlando is beautiful. We arrived after 8PM and taking everyones advice, we stayed at the MCO Hyatt. Our room was absolutely lovely with a nice large verandah to smoke on.
I do have a tip here. Leaving JFK in the evening was fine, but we didnt allow any time for dinner. By the time we ate in Orlando, it was close to 10PM. Our six year old had a meltdown (the first of several) and DH carried her to our room. Next time, we are loading up on pasta before we leave and bring tuna sandwiches for the flight.
At check-in, the front desk clerk gave an envelope with luggage tags and info. DCL picking up our luggage in the morning was fabulous!
Happy Limo was on time in the morning of 2/14 and surprised us with a stretch limo! So we were off to Port Canaveral! We made a grocery stop-it was a supermarket-dont know the name.
We arrived at the port at about 12:00 PM and proceeded to check-in. Oh boy. Here I really messed up. I filled out the embarkation forms incorrectly. It pays to read the directions. I thought I knew it all. So check-in took longer than it needed to.
While we checked in-DS and DD watched cartoons, looked at the model of the ship and had their picture taken with Max.
The cast member at check-in had a lot to deal with. He handled it all with ease, then escorted us to the concierge check in. Here is where things started to get really dicey. My DD had been getting more and more worked up. Imagine-she wakes up for school on 2/13. Spends a day in school where everyone in her first grade class is preparing for a week long vacation (including the teacher, God Bless teachers!) After school, begins the beg and plead session for her paraphernalia. I win some and make some major concessions-which I will later regret (See part I). Then off to the airport, fly to Orlando, baggage, Hyatt-THEN dinner. (See part I, again) By the time we got to the embarkation photo, she was impossible and almost completely out of control. Leave it to say-no embarkation photo. DH is tense, I am extremely disappointed, and everyone else is pretending they dont know us.
OK- A deep breath and they announce our names! The magic begins! DM is hot and tired-we go to our floor and park her and the carry on bags (see part I) in the seating area, near the elevators. We go our separate ways. DH takes DD for a walk. DS disappears with a warning to be back in out cabin by 3PM. The rest of us just sit and laugh. Sigh-my family is a bunch of loud New Yorkers. I love them all.
When DH and DD returned, I left him with my sister and mom and Tess (my daughter) and I went in search of the concierge meeting. I found it-forget the name of the lounge. Made ressies for Palo, the spa, Tea with Wendy, signed up the kids in their clubs and relaxed. There were cookies and soda (yes-more sugar) and I loved that I did not have to cope with the ressie rush. We then headed to our staterooms.
DH, DS, DD and my self were in 8034, a cat 3 and Dmom and Dsis were in 8038, a cat 4.
I had never cruised in a suite before and I was astonished at the amount of space! It was like a small apartment. Two full baths, living room, dining area, master bedroom with a WALK IN CLOSET!! (Can you tell-I love storage!) There are two televisions-a blessing.
Since Ive been back, Ive done some checking into other cruise lines suites. They cant compare to DCL. Check it out for yourselves. You wont believe your eyes.
You will read different stories about the concierge services on DCL. We were thrilled. But, to be fair, we are a blue collar family that gets a kick out of hotels with pools! So, we are easily impressed. There were arcade cards for the kids, notes to our daughter with cookies. Every day there was some kind of food gift. They organize all your ressies and shore excursions into an itinerary. I should have posted this in a conspicuous location. (More on this later) Someone called from the concierge everyday to check on us. Room service was fantastic. We could order from the restaurant menu and had a continental breakfast in our room on debarkation day.
As for the DIS meets scheduled for the hotel and sail-away, I became very shy all of a sudden. I really have no explanation for this, other than; I have never arranged to meet people that I met online, before. If I discover another reason for this, Ill let you know.
We all met up and went to Deck 4 (I think) for the muster. Bring your camera! Everyone looks so funny in those life vests. A few of us had some laughs at my DH expense (hes vertically challenged). Then it was off to the sail-away. It rained-so we headed to our stateroom to relax, order coffee from room service and get ready for dinner.
We had main seating for dinner and I appreciated it for one reason-my daughter. There were six of us and we our tablemates were great. Joann and her daughter Marissa, who was the same age as my DD, were so friendly and talkative. We got along wonderfully. May you all be so blessed, to have people such as they at your table. Our servers were Roberto and Irwin. I apologize, but I do not recall what country they are from. I will say that they were fun, accommodating and personable and helpful. Ive been on five cruises and they are the best dining room staff I have ever encountered. The head server was very nice. However, we did not need his services. (Yes, we tipped him the recommended amount). We had the APL rotation, which we loved. The show in Animators Palate was wonderful and we all were enthralled. After dinner, we didnt go to the Welcome Aboard Variety show. Our son headed for the Stack and we checked our daughter into the Oceaneers Club. My husband and I roamed the ship, then went back to the cabin to relax. We were beeped at about 11:00PM. DD was exhausted. Our beds had been turned down, and we went to sleep. DS came in about 2-2:30AM-the same all week long.
I left the verandah door open to listen to the sea, as I fell asleep. Wow! I could get used to this!
Our Jetblue flight left a little late. I love Jetblue. They have comfortable, leather seats, in flight Direct TV, free headsets. The airport in Orlando is beautiful. We arrived after 8PM and taking everyones advice, we stayed at the MCO Hyatt. Our room was absolutely lovely with a nice large verandah to smoke on.
I do have a tip here. Leaving JFK in the evening was fine, but we didnt allow any time for dinner. By the time we ate in Orlando, it was close to 10PM. Our six year old had a meltdown (the first of several) and DH carried her to our room. Next time, we are loading up on pasta before we leave and bring tuna sandwiches for the flight.
At check-in, the front desk clerk gave an envelope with luggage tags and info. DCL picking up our luggage in the morning was fabulous!
Happy Limo was on time in the morning of 2/14 and surprised us with a stretch limo! So we were off to Port Canaveral! We made a grocery stop-it was a supermarket-dont know the name.
We arrived at the port at about 12:00 PM and proceeded to check-in. Oh boy. Here I really messed up. I filled out the embarkation forms incorrectly. It pays to read the directions. I thought I knew it all. So check-in took longer than it needed to.
While we checked in-DS and DD watched cartoons, looked at the model of the ship and had their picture taken with Max.
The cast member at check-in had a lot to deal with. He handled it all with ease, then escorted us to the concierge check in. Here is where things started to get really dicey. My DD had been getting more and more worked up. Imagine-she wakes up for school on 2/13. Spends a day in school where everyone in her first grade class is preparing for a week long vacation (including the teacher, God Bless teachers!) After school, begins the beg and plead session for her paraphernalia. I win some and make some major concessions-which I will later regret (See part I). Then off to the airport, fly to Orlando, baggage, Hyatt-THEN dinner. (See part I, again) By the time we got to the embarkation photo, she was impossible and almost completely out of control. Leave it to say-no embarkation photo. DH is tense, I am extremely disappointed, and everyone else is pretending they dont know us.
OK- A deep breath and they announce our names! The magic begins! DM is hot and tired-we go to our floor and park her and the carry on bags (see part I) in the seating area, near the elevators. We go our separate ways. DH takes DD for a walk. DS disappears with a warning to be back in out cabin by 3PM. The rest of us just sit and laugh. Sigh-my family is a bunch of loud New Yorkers. I love them all.
When DH and DD returned, I left him with my sister and mom and Tess (my daughter) and I went in search of the concierge meeting. I found it-forget the name of the lounge. Made ressies for Palo, the spa, Tea with Wendy, signed up the kids in their clubs and relaxed. There were cookies and soda (yes-more sugar) and I loved that I did not have to cope with the ressie rush. We then headed to our staterooms.
DH, DS, DD and my self were in 8034, a cat 3 and Dmom and Dsis were in 8038, a cat 4.
I had never cruised in a suite before and I was astonished at the amount of space! It was like a small apartment. Two full baths, living room, dining area, master bedroom with a WALK IN CLOSET!! (Can you tell-I love storage!) There are two televisions-a blessing.
Since Ive been back, Ive done some checking into other cruise lines suites. They cant compare to DCL. Check it out for yourselves. You wont believe your eyes.
You will read different stories about the concierge services on DCL. We were thrilled. But, to be fair, we are a blue collar family that gets a kick out of hotels with pools! So, we are easily impressed. There were arcade cards for the kids, notes to our daughter with cookies. Every day there was some kind of food gift. They organize all your ressies and shore excursions into an itinerary. I should have posted this in a conspicuous location. (More on this later) Someone called from the concierge everyday to check on us. Room service was fantastic. We could order from the restaurant menu and had a continental breakfast in our room on debarkation day.
As for the DIS meets scheduled for the hotel and sail-away, I became very shy all of a sudden. I really have no explanation for this, other than; I have never arranged to meet people that I met online, before. If I discover another reason for this, Ill let you know.
We all met up and went to Deck 4 (I think) for the muster. Bring your camera! Everyone looks so funny in those life vests. A few of us had some laughs at my DH expense (hes vertically challenged). Then it was off to the sail-away. It rained-so we headed to our stateroom to relax, order coffee from room service and get ready for dinner.
We had main seating for dinner and I appreciated it for one reason-my daughter. There were six of us and we our tablemates were great. Joann and her daughter Marissa, who was the same age as my DD, were so friendly and talkative. We got along wonderfully. May you all be so blessed, to have people such as they at your table. Our servers were Roberto and Irwin. I apologize, but I do not recall what country they are from. I will say that they were fun, accommodating and personable and helpful. Ive been on five cruises and they are the best dining room staff I have ever encountered. The head server was very nice. However, we did not need his services. (Yes, we tipped him the recommended amount). We had the APL rotation, which we loved. The show in Animators Palate was wonderful and we all were enthralled. After dinner, we didnt go to the Welcome Aboard Variety show. Our son headed for the Stack and we checked our daughter into the Oceaneers Club. My husband and I roamed the ship, then went back to the cabin to relax. We were beeped at about 11:00PM. DD was exhausted. Our beds had been turned down, and we went to sleep. DS came in about 2-2:30AM-the same all week long.
I left the verandah door open to listen to the sea, as I fell asleep. Wow! I could get used to this!
