WBRepo-Ship of Thieves-Remember the Magic Pt 19

[katypop]

Off to watch Survivor now. Originally I was supposed to work tonight but ended up going in early for a conference call, so got off early

 

[Tink rules]

MAJOR CONGRATS TO SUKIE!!!

We're so PROUD to have a published Author among us!!! (we all get 10% off autographed copies, right?)

 

[Tink rules]

Hi Kathe!!!

 

[LisaG520]

YEAHHHHHHHH Kathe for booking Hawaii too!!!!!!!

Ian, why are you and Sukie not booked for Hawaii. It's going to be a lot of fun. Everybody will be onboard. It's a 15 night with seven sea days. We'll miss you both if you're not with us.

As of right now we've decided not to book Hawaii either. For the price we want to spend more time in Hawaii.

We are planning to rebook while on the B2B, not sure what exactly maybe the Fantasy next year that is stopping at PR.

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!!!

If the vows are at 11am England time - that's 6am east coast and 3am onboard.

 

[LisaG520]

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.

I totally get it. Our 3 night cruise in December was like this. And what was strange was it was part of B2B and the first part was fine (Dis Podcast cruise). The 3 night had way more children, first time cruisers and more new staff.

And we're going with the same theory of booking onboard in two weeeks even though we're not sure what itineraries but we figure we'll just move them later. We are thinking of the Fantasy that is stopping in Puerto Rico next year.

 

[IAmAHiddenMickey]

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

I think the passenger crowd was also very different. 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.

I haven't been on what I would consider a "normal" cruise, I've only hit the specialty cruises where a ton of Disers are on the ship. I think that might make a huge difference.

I'm sure you're right though, with all the focus on the new ships I'm sure they pulled the strongest people over to help train the new hires.

That's great about Sukie's book, promotional copies all around!

 

[mishoe01]

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

KATHE - check your email!!

 

[Tink rules]

did ya get that Kathe?

 

[iankh]

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... )

We did get a table on our own which was great since basically we're both miserable and antisocial.

My sister lives in Dairy Ashford but doesn't drive. Ironically I know Houston really well. My parents followed my sister and retired there.

Yes, Southwest from Midway to Houston is very cheap. When I was trying to figure out what to book I was attracted to the pricing for the cruise, plus Houston is so easy from Chicago.

We were also interested in the ports as they are places we've never been to.

I wonder how well Galveston is going to do as a port for Disney. They must be there for a reason. I suppose there demand out of that market.

I'm just waiting for them to sail out of Chicago. They can pick up Holly, John, and Kathe along the way out to the St Lawrence Sea Way,

 

[iankh]

That's great about Sukie's book, promotional copies all around!

Thanks! I'll make sure we have plenty of copies so he can do personally signed ones available ... for sale.

 

[Tink rules]

Then you can go through the locks at Massena... (a VERY boring side trip from the lake one year.. has gone down in family lore especially after my mom made us all go to the Robert Moses Power Plant.. )

Well... Galveston is mixed... I'm sure they are going out of there to tap into a new market (a well established cruise port too)

There is more on the way to the port than at the port.

There is Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake, Kemah (but that is a mini version of a boardwalk with restaurants and a ferris wheel) There is Moody Gardens IN Galveston. I've been there a few times. (Aquarium, indoor gardens, etc)

A lot of Galveston got wiped out with Hurricane Ike. I know they've been rebuilding and all.

You WILL see A LOT of oil refineries on your way to the port. I'm always amazed by the beach houses built right across from there.

 

[Tink rules]

Thanks! I'll make sure we have plenty of copies so he can do personally signed ones available ... for sale.

Gotta pay for those cruises somehow!!!

Will he be on Amazon?

 

[iankh]

Then you can go through the locks at Massena... (a VERY boring side trip from the lake one year.. has gone down in family lore especially after my mom made us all go to the Robert Moses Power Plant.. )

Well... Galveston is mixed... I'm sure they are going out of there to tap into a new market (a well established cruise port too)

There is more on the way to the port than at the port.

There is Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake, Kemah (but that is a mini version of a boardwalk with restaurants and a ferris wheel) There is Moody Gardens IN Galveston. I've been there a few times. (Aquarium, indoor gardens, etc)

A lot of Galveston got wiped out with Hurricane Ike. I know they've been rebuilding and all.

You WILL see A LOT of oil refineries on your way to the port. I'm always amazed by the beach houses built right across from there.

I am very familiar with the route to Galveston. I spent 42 weeks there on a project back in 1985, flying down on Sundays and flying back on Fridays.

From what I've been reading it has become really built up as a cruise port. RCL and Carnival sail out of there. Knowing Disney they must see that there's gold in them thar hills and there must be the market for it.

We could very well end up changing our plans but at least for now we've got our 10% discounts certainly the prices were right. A lot of 2012 will be driven by Sukie's schedule for the book promotion.

 

[iankh]

Gotta pay for those cruises somehow!!!

Will he be on Amazon?

I'm not sure how the press distributes.

 

[HollyTyler]

Hi All......

I can't believe that I'm going to LA and Alaska in less than two weeks and all I can do is think about Hawaii.

I have not even packed yet. Then I have to get my hair done and then a mani/pedi. I have no time. I have no car to go during the week because I'm not driving the truck. Then I have another wound doctor appointment tomorrow and it's going to hurt a lot. So that will knock me out for another day or two.

Does anyone know the mailing address to the port in San Pedro? I have to mail the tiaras and boas there because I'm not taking them on the plane.

We got assigned a venue to have the Champagne Girls on the Alaska cruise. YEAH!!!! Now we're official. We're having it in the Cadillac Lounge. I've never been in there, but I'm sure it's fine.

I have never been so unprepared to go on any trip and we'll be gone for 3 weeks. EEK! I better get busy.

Cool! I love the Cadillac Lounge! Well, I've never been in there to use it, just walked through while exploring with Tyler years ago during the day, just a peek. Can't believe I get to go in!

 

[HollyTyler]

With a little help from my friends I've been awakened to my senses











I'm going to Hawaii

Glad to help nudge you in the right direction!

 

[HollyTyler]

yeahhhhhhhh kathe for booking hawaii too!!!!!!!

Ian, why are you and sukie not booked for hawaii. It's going to be a lot of fun. Everybody will be onboard. It's a 15 night with seven sea days. We'll miss you both if you're not with us.

ditto!!!!!!

 

[HollyTyler]

Removed, because I'm thinking I wasn't supposed to say anything yet.

 

[HollyTyler]

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.

Monica, that's horrible! So sorry. I think you need a vacation. Hey, how about a cruise?

 

[HollyTyler]

MAJOR CONGRATS TO SUKIE!!!

We're so PROUD to have a published Author among us!!! (we all get 10% off autographed copies, right?)

Ditto! Very exciting!