(Used to be) Live from the Magic - Christmas Cruise 2008 - now with pictures pg4

[minnie1]

Hi Cindy,
I enjoyed reading your trip report and meeting you on the ship. I would like to try a trip report but trying to remember everything we did over the 7 days would be crazy for me. I guess I should write it down as we go. Maybe I'll go back to the 3 hours of video we took and see if I can construct one from that.

Anyway, it sounds like you and your family had a wonderful time. We really had a great time on our first disney cruise. Thanks for answering all my questions over the last few months.

Angie

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hi Cindy,
I enjoyed reading your trip report and meeting you on the ship. I would like to try a trip report but trying to remember everything we did over the 7 days would be crazy for me. I guess I should write it down as we go. Maybe I'll go back to the 3 hours of video we took and see if I can construct one from that.

Anyway, it sounds like you and your family had a wonderful time. We really had a great time on our first disney cruise. Thanks for answering all my questions over the last few months.

Angie

Angie - it was great to meet you, too! I can't wait to see the group picture, but I know Lissa is at WDW for a few days before heading home, so we'll have to wait!

If I hadn't typed up my trip report as we went, I would never be able to put it back together. As it is, if I got more than half-a-day off, I had trouble remembering. It was so amazing - I was busy a lot but only because I wanted to be!

 

[MaryAz]

Thanks for a great trip report. Glad you had such a fun time!

 

[Bytor01]

Great Report! We will be sailing in three weeks from today so its nice to see how everything is going. Just a question: Did the fix the gangway yet? I heard that due to it collapsing a month ago they changed the way people boarded. They were actually boarding people through the lower decks and then taking them up through the elevators to the atrium. Just wondering if everything is fixed and they are boarding the usual way.

Tim

 

[CarolAnnC]

Thanks for the trip report Cindy! It sounds like you all had a fabulous cruise. It must have been so nice on the ship with the holiday decorations..welcome home!

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Thank you so much for writing your TR! I'm glad you posted pictures too! I hope you had a magical cruise!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Great Report! We will be sailing in three weeks from today so its nice to see how everything is going. Just a question: Did the fix the gangway yet? I heard that due to it collapsing a month ago they changed the way people boarded. They were actually boarding people through the lower decks and then taking them up through the elevators to the atrium. Just wondering if everything is fixed and they are boarding the usual way.

Tim

Tim - they had half the gangway open - just one side was open for going in, but we did, indeed, enter through Deck 3 into the Atrium. It makes for a bit slower boarding but not a lot - and it means that each family is really and truly entering one-by-one.

 

[Bytor01]

Good to know...Jan 17th can't come fast enough...

 

[alikat99]

Hey Cindy - What a MAGICal trip report!!! I'm SO glad that we met you guys, and it truly was a MAGICal Christmas cruise!!! We haven't booked it yet (we're sailing again in April on a 3-night), but we're even considering the 11-night Christmas cruise for 2010.

 

[anetnmike]

Hi! I loved your TR. It was great to follow you along! We leave for our land/sea in 38 days. Thanks for getting us ready for the magic!

 

[dvc4life]

Cindy - thanks for sharing your trip with us. I really enjoyed reading it. The only thing is though, it makes me wish I was back there and not here at home all the more! Great Job!!!!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Angel towel left on Christmas Eve:

Gingerbread House we made on Christmas Day:

We had to throw it away, though, because we could not take it off the ship when we got home. I wouldn't have wanted to, anyway, but it was fun to make. We've never done one before as a family, so it was fun to spend that time together. DH stayed out on the verandah reading while the boys and I made the gingerbread house.

 

[nzdisneymom]

The three ships of Castaway Cay.

The Flying Dutchman:

The Magic:

and the Wonder:

I didn't get a shot of them together, but I know some others did and will likely be posting them elsewhere.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Now that you all have read through the narrative, I thought I'd post some odds and ends that I thought might be of interest.

The new tv's are good - they pull out pretty far and you can angle them to see them from a good bit of the stateroom. Also you can plug something in behind the tv when it is pulled out -- I charged our camera battery there. We also checked for input spots - you can definitely plug in a portable DVD player or other such accessory. The slots are on the back of the tv.

The safe was new - 4-digit locking to it that you reset each time you lock the safe. Much easier to use as a family than the old card-swipe method. The size inside seemed to be about the same.

Creme brulee cheesecake is still my favorite DCL dessert, but the warm apple cranberry pie dessert that is on the Til We Meet Again menu is a very close second.

If you have bifocals, row H is the best place to watch a movie in the Buena Vista Theater.

The dryers on Deck 6 are more efficient than the ones on Deck 7. The machines are newer so that might be why.

Deck 10 starboard is the best place to view the fireworks on Pirate night.

To get only one cup at a time from Deck 9, follow the directions... turn and pull rather than just pulling which usually results in multiple cups coming out.

Sunscreen really does protect you from getting a sunburn.

 

[BearFan]

Cindy,
What an awesome job on your TR! Paul and I were happy that we got to meet and get to know you and Gary. I hope we get a chance to cruise together in the future because that would be an absolute blast!!!
I'll PM you a picture of the two ships together after we get home on Jan 1.
Lisa Marie

 

[ktmetke]

Thanks for sharing!!!

What kind of gifts did you give/receive for the Fish Extenders?

 

[Desi]

Thanks for your great TR. We have 10 months to go

 

[nikkistevej]

Nice trip reports and pics!! Looks like you had a great time!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Thanks for sharing!!!

What kind of gifts did you give/receive for the Fish Extenders?

Being the holidays, we got a lot of candy, including some homemade! Other things were eye patches, wristbands, luggage tags, pens and pencils (which we loved because the kids will use them for school!), note pads, bookmarks (which was great because DH forgot to bring one and was using a tissue for his bookmark), magnets, holiday ornaments, and quite a few other things.

I found some lime-green key chains that were made from the kind of stuff that those wristbands are made of, only they are shaped like Mickey heads. We put at least one in each baggie along with skittles, taffy, smarties, and a few other things like stickers or playdoh depending on the makeup of the cabin. It was interesting to get them because the stores at WDW only had one or two lime green ones out at a time. We were finally about to get a CM at the Emporium who went in the back and brought out several bags of the key chains so we could pick out the 30+ we needed. I loved that they were lime green because it's the universal DIS color.

 

[dbxazd]

Cindy -
Thanks for posting your trip report. I had all intentions of doing so, but only made it up to the 3 days we did in WDW before the cruise.

It was great meeting you in line on embarkation day - I was at the adult John Charles night in Rocking Bar D too - it was funny.

Some other tips & answers for all reading:

David from Canada was there - in fact he did most of the EMCeeing. For those of us 18 and over - you MUST go to the Pub Night in Diversions on the last night......the cruise staff does a skit that was F'n HILARIOUS It was so funny - and I did take photos, but not sure they are appropriate for a "family" website. DJ Mike was there too - and Oscar (both of whom I remember from our December 2007 cruise). Christiaan was funny in person - he was at Pub Night and was really personable - but I missed Brent (he was the Cruise Director for us in Dec. 07).

We had cabin 7035 and sometimes the WiFi was S-L-O-W....and sometimes it was fast. I just chalked it up to too many people trying to link on at once.

The inside cabins are nice, but small (we had a verandah last year). And it got humid in there......the TVs are nice and a good upgrade from the previous ones. I like the new 4 digit safe too.

Our dining rotation was LAPAPLA. We had the 5:30pm seating. Our servers were Panya (Thailand) and Marius (South Africa). Our head server was Cedomir (Croatia). They were all very good, but Marius was excellent (and Cedomir made it a point to high-5 DS and DD several times throughout each night - and talk to them by name).



Robin