WBRepo-Ship of Thieves-Remember the Magic Pt 19

[Tink rules]

3 am Deb... Ship time..

 

[EllaEnchanted]

Thanks for the positive thoughts & hugs....I do know how things changed for Ian & that's what I hope for too.

I'd be more than happy to stay w/ BCD but I just need to be away from this office.

You need a work at home position to open up for you. I know you have been trying to get that for a long time. I hope it happens for you sooner rather than later. It's important for your health.

 

[EllaEnchanted]

3 am Deb... Ship time..

Opps.....thanks Shell.....I'll learn to count sooner or later.

So it's 5 am recording at home and 3 am onboard. That's actually better. Then I can watch it onboard. YEAH!!!

 

[Tink rules]

& maybe take a nap before your excursion.... so where are you going? (excursion wise I mean?)

 

[EllaEnchanted]

Meet Lillian Reese who arrived yesterday. She is John's great grandaughter.

IMPORTANT: Mums the word on FB....Sandi and Tom are not to know I have access to Rachel's FB page or I will lose it. Long story. So no mentioning Lilly or Rachel on FB......but on here it's fine. Thanks.

 

[Tink rules]

she's beautiful Deb...


& come on... you two have ALWAYS been GREAT Grandparents!!!

 

[EllaEnchanted]

& maybe take a nap before your excursion.... so where are you going? (excursion wise I mean?)

To Sanoma wine country....me and John are hitting up the wineraries and doing tastings. Peg is on this excursion with us. Then after the excursion we're meeting Karen/been2marcelene and Ted for dinner. Jackie may come with us. Maybe Peg will too. Not sure where we're having dinner yet, but Karen suggested staying in Sanoma then she can drive us back to the boat. It should be a great day. We're doing an overnight in SF and the following day we're on an excursion to see the Walt museum and then we'll ditch them and meet up with Karen and Ted again. We'll do some sightseeing and have lunch and cocktails before returning to the ship. Jackie may join us too. I can't wait to see Karen. It's been so long.

 

[Tink rules]

It's beautiful up there... I've been to Napa... Sonoma is supposed to be even nicer... not as commercial

 

[EllaEnchanted]

she's beautiful Deb...


& come on... you two have ALWAYS been GREAT Grandparents!!!

Awwww.....thanks Shell. Her head is shaped more like her mom, but her coloring is more Tom. I think she's going to be a combo kid.

 

[EllaEnchanted]

It's beautiful up there... I've been to Napa... Sonoma is supposed to be even nicer... not as commercial

Oh good, I'm glad to hear that. Me and John have only been to LA once after the PC and we did all the touristy things. This time we're going to San Diego for a day and having an awesome brunch for another day. Not sure what we will do for two additional days, but we'll find something. John doesn't want to go back to DL. He says we have already done it and he likes WDW better.

While we're onboard we get to go to San Fran. So I'm happy that I'll get to do San Diego, LA and SF all in one trip.

 

[EllaEnchanted]

I just passed 12,000 posts.

Watch out Michelle and Holly....WOOHOO!!!!

 

[Tink rules]

Oh good, I'm glad to hear that. Me and John have only been to LA once after the PC and we did all the touristy things. This time we're going to San Diego for a day and having an awesome brunch for another day. Not sure what we will do for two additional days, but we'll find something. John doesn't want to go back to DL. He says we have already done it and he likes WDW better.

While we're onboard we get to go to San Fran. So I'm happy that I'll get to do San Diego, LA and SF all in one trip.

It really is different... The valleys seem to make it just beautiful. I always said that if I could live in CA... I'd live in wine country...

I just passed 12,000 posts.

Watch out Michelle and Holly....WOOHOO!!!!

(relax... I double post.. so I probably have more than even Marilyn...

 

[iankh]

I REALLY need to get another job......the negativity in this office is really getting to me & driving me

there are people hitting their desks all the time, *****ing with every single phone call they get, complaining about every single little thing. OMG!! I'm struggling enought as it is.....and this is so not helping.

Ian - have you found me a position yet?? (he told me he's been looking).

My jaw is literally hurting....I'm clenching my teeth (which the dentist will love) to hold my tongue. I don't want to say things I shouldn't & I certainly don't want to scream.

I actually do look for you, every few days.

 

[mishoe01]

I actually do look for you, every few days.

I know you do....and it is very much appreciated

 

[mishoe01]

Meet Lillian Reese who arrived yesterday. She is John's great grandaughter.

IMPORTANT: Mums the word on FB....Sandi and Tom are not to know I have access to Rachel's FB page or I will lose it. Long story. So no mentioning Lilly or Rachel on FB......but on here it's fine. Thanks.

very cute Deb!!

 

[iankh]

So, all in all we had a good cruise. I'm hedging a little because while the service on the Wonder was good there was something that was just well ... "off."

I can't quite explain it but it lacked the "magic" of other cruises in the past.

Don't get me wrong, it was a top notch cruise. I don't know how to explain it but instead of a Disney Cruise it seemed more like a cruise with Disney theming and characters. There is a difference.

I don't know if it's the Wonder or the fact that the Dream caused experienced trained staff to get spread out amongst the three ships and there were new staff. I didn't ask.

I also thought that the food, while good, was not quite as good as it was in the past. As I said, it all just seemed a bit ... off.

I think the passenger crowd was also very different. First of all, there were way more kids than I can remember on a Disney cruise. I'm not sure if they had run a kids sail free promotion for our sailing or not, but there were more kids than I've seen before. The passengers were a lot of first time Disney cruisers.

We were on Deck 6 and let me put it this way, having walked the entire corridor from Forward to Aft there were exactly 2 doors with magnets.

There was a whole different "vibe" on the ship, plus I think that some of the handling was frankly piss-poor. One of our excursions had been cancelled and no one seemed to know why, not even the port adventures desk knew why and had to research it. I would have thought there would have been a note in the ticket envelope to advise us it was cancelled and why and at least some sort of apology.

Our Palo reservation was completely screwed up mainly because they had cancelled Mazatlan as a stop back in January and reshuffled the ports. Our original day for Palo Brunch became a port date. Even back in February I had a fight with DCL over it and they never proactively took care of it. I had to hound them. Luckily I had the email from them printed out because guess what ---- On the ship they had us scheduled for brunch on the port day ---- even though they weren't serving brunch on that day.

The cruise started out "off" and continued to have an "off" vibe.

I really don't expect that there will not be changes or hiccups, but my problem was the way they handled it. I think they should have at least been proactive and not had to have the passenger inform guest services that the itinerary had changed and there is no brunch on a port day.

They looked at me like I had 3 heads, which in turn caused me to be bit irritable.

I also had to explain to our server that vegetarian did not mean taking the appetizer and removing the fish on top of it. This was very tiring. He was not a bad server at all, but I would expect that a server who has been on the Wonder for some years would have been educated in what vegetarian means. Again, there was a lack of pro-activeness.

There was lots of bowing and scraping but there's a difference between that and getting a sense of real service. I felt on this trip that staff were just going through the motions.

On our Tortola cruise (on the Magic) I would say our server Luis did not bow and scrape but we had a sense of that he was really genuine and really saw to our needs.

This is all coming off seeming terribly negative and it isn't meant to be. We had a good time, but I'll reiterate it seemed more like a nice top notch cruise with Disney theming rather than a Disney cruise.

I made a couple of bookings on board. We will not be going to Hawaii for a couple of reasons, the first and most important is that Sukie's book is scheduled to be released in the spring of 2012 and he can't afford to be away from home at that time (have I told you that the University of Wisconsin Press has agreed to publish his book? A VERY prestigious press and quite, quite remarkable for an unsolicited and unrepresented first work. The process took nearly a year from submission to a publication committee review. We're pretty excited about it.).

Also, the insides were all gone and now that some are available, they are beyond what I am willing to fork over for any one cruise.

Instead I have a 7-night Western Caribbean out of Galveston booked. Airfare from Chicago to Houston is normally very, very cheap. It's a Saturday departure which is good for me, and a room night should be cheap. Also my sister lives in Houston so it may mean I might be able to see her before the cruise.

I also have another 7-night on the Fantasy booked but I have to think on this one and what I want to do. I'm just not sure. But as I told Sukie, it's easier to book and get the discount and then rearrange later, rather than not having the discount at all.

 

[katypop]

Meet Lillian Reese who arrived yesterday. She is John's great grandaughter.

IMPORTANT: Mums the word on FB....Sandi and Tom are not to know I have access to Rachel's FB page or I will lose it. Long story. So no mentioning Lilly or Rachel on FB......but on here it's fine. Thanks.

She's beautiful Deb Congratulations!

 

[mishoe01]

Ian - so sorry that the cruise was off....Luis of course, has spoiled many of us, but reading your comments about the appetizer being vegan by taking off the fish is So NOT right!

Please give Sukie a BIG congratulatory hug for me! I am so proud!!

Glad to have you back

 

[Tink rules]

You didn't have us either... (and we missed you when you were gone...)

Did you dine alone?

when you go out of Galveston, you can stop at my sister's house... She's in Clear Lake (1/2 between the airport and the port...) Southwest goes into Hobby airport.. quite nice - not a big airport at all. It's pretty much a straight shot out Rt 45 to Galveston. Given enough warning... She'd probably pick you up and take you out to the port...(she's heard a lot about you guys from me and mom... )

 

[katypop]

Thanks to all for being excited for me

Jackie The first day of bookings for Hawaii was an emotional day for me to say the least...

You'll have to listen to Monica's sage advice....all will be known in time

Monica, sorry work is such a Hoping something better comes your way soon

Deb, sorry you didn't make it to your appointment! Hopefully you'll get some packing done though