Western/Magic June 3-10, 2006 (Finished with some Final Thoughts)

[sherrie]

thank you for posting such a great report, i can't wait to go on my first cruise. the sub thing sounds like it is right up my alley

 

[DWeaver]

Castaway Cay Day:

We all got up early this morning and went up to Topsiders for breakfast. We found a great table outside on the aft deck. We slowly realized that the ship was turning around and backing in to the dock at Castaway Cay. We finished eating and went down to deck 7 aft to watch as the ship docked. That was a great place to be. There was no one there! It felt like we had this huge verandah all to ourselves. After they gave the all clear, we proceeded off the ship and onto the island. We walked the short distance (10 minutes) to the family beach and found a great spot with an umbrella and a hammock right next to our chairs. After getting our floats we headed to do some snorkeling. That’s when DS started to balk. He didn’t like the sand in his flippers, he didn’t like the salt water in his mouth, and he especially didn’t like that the shallow water was cloudy (the sand was kicked up only in the shallows, it cleared as it got deeper). He also freaked when DH said he saw a small ray go by. He wouldn’t listen to reason. After about 20 minutes, I finally convinced him to go back and play in the water with DH. I then went and snorkeled for awhile. I never did find the Mickey statue, maybe next time. We had lunch at Cookies BBQ. Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Chicken, salads, etc… For dessert we had the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream which was served in small cones and a huge chocolate chip cookie. During lunch DS and I heard some music close by and ran to see a mini show with some of the characters. We jumped into a conga line with Minnie Mouse and had fun dancing around for a bit before we headed back to finish our lunch. We went back to the ship at around 1:30 p.m. so we could see the 2 p.m. showing of “CARS”. We picked up our movie snacks that we had brought from home (the dollar store is great for movie candy) and went up to deck 9 for soda. We then headed to the WD Theatre for a very fun movie. It wasn’t crowded since most of the cruisers were still on the island. After the movie we went back to the room to get cleaned up and to finish packing. I had started the night before by packing all the dirty clothes first. DS went to the kids club until dinnertime. We had dinner in Parrot Cay this evening. DS had the macaroni and cheese, DH had the seafood pasta and I had the chicken wrapped in pastry. All were good. The Farewell show in the Theatre was fun. We were all getting a little sad that it was almost over. We had had such a great vacation so far. None of us wanted it to end. We went to the ‘Til We Meet Again character meet and greet in the atrium that night and got some great pictures of DS with a bunch of the characters. After that we went back to the room for our last night on board the Disney Magic. Our final towel creation was a turtle.

 

[DWeaver]

Back at Port Canaveral:

We woke up early this morning so we could have breakfast in Parrot Cay with our servers one more time. Boy it was nice to be waited on for a week! After we ate and said our last goodbye to Philip and Kira we went up to deck 5 and found some comfy chairs to sit in while we waited for the debarkation crowds to thin. For some reason everyone was in a hurry to get off and they were lined up down to Parrot Cay. DH took a short nap and DS and I wandered around taking some pictures for the scrapbook. When we finally decided to get off the ship it didn’t take but a few minutes to get down to the baggage area. We found our luggage and a porter at about the same time. We followed him through the security/customs line and were out to our car in minutes. We had had a great time, but now I wanted to get home and see our DD and the rest of the family. Next time DD and my parents are going to go with us!

Final Thoughts:

We had a great cruise. There were a few minor miss-haps, but nothing that put a damper on the vacation. Twice the toilet wouldn’t flush. Both times it was fixed in a very short period (maybe 10 or 15 minutes) and a CM came to the room to double check that it was o.k. One morning on our way to breakfast DS slipped on a wet spot near the Mickey Pool and fell onto his hip (he was walking, not running). It hurt and he was upset but a CM was immediately by his side and wouldn’t leave until he was smiling again. Some of the other problems were people related, none of which DCL has any control over. We just let it roll off – we were on vacation and weren’t going to let anyone spoil it. DCL did a great job over all and we will cruise them again. We used a lot of the tips from the DIS on this cruise: the over the door shoe holder, the rolling cooler filled with drinks, deck 7 aft, the “hidden” stairs to deck 8 in Topsiders, getting to the terminal early, room service, taking dollar bills for tips, the cheese plate, decorating our stateroom door with magnets, the red and blue anchor design in the carpet, pre-addressed mailing labels, the Passporter guide, ziplocks, etc, etc, etc…. There are just too many to list.

If anyone has any questions, I will gladly do my best to answer!

Happy Cruising!

 

[Babs417]

Another great report thanks for your time

 

[LindaBabe]

Thank you for the report! Sounds like you had a great cruise!

 

[discruiselovers97]

I have a question... how old was your son? I have a 9 year old and he was wondering if you knew anything about the camp-out. If you could answer me that would be GREAT!

 

[DWeaver]

discruiselovers97: I have a question... how old was your son? I have a 9 year old and he was wondering if you knew anything about the camp-out. If you could answer me that would be GREAT!

My DS was 7 at the time of our cruise. He didn't participate in the Camp Out. However according to the DSeaU: "Camp Out - You will enjoy camp fire night out under the stars that is filled with games, adventures, and lots of crazy surprises." It was listed under the 8/9's and the 10/12's. Also according to the Personal Navigator it was listed as taking place in the Oceaneer Club from 9:45 pm to 11:00 pm on Tuesday for the Western Cruise. Hope this info. helps.

 

[lillygator]

great report - we had Zita as well - isn't she great? Did she mention if she was leaving soon?

 

[curlybop]

Great report! Thanks for taking the time to share.

 

[DWeaver]

great report - we had Zita as well - isn't she great? Did she mention if she was leaving soon?

She (Zita) did say she was going to be leaving to go to school in Australia, I believe. She was looking forward to it and we wished her luck with her future career. She was a great server in Palo.

 

[Mickeyteacher]

Dana,
Thanks for the great report- I loved reliving our cruise. I have some great pictures of your son at the POC party. If you would like to PM me I can send you copies. Ryan talkes about how much fun that night was!

Take care,
Shawna

 

[currycook]

nice job.

 

[Maria395712]

great report and thanks for the tips
maria

 

[grumpydude]

The variety show in the WD Theatre was fun. DS loved Freddy Fusion’s act. After that we attended Mickey Mania in Studio Sea. We like Disney trivia and DS loves to try to get the answers. This was the first time we got to see Pikey. He looked too funny in that large top hat with the Mickey ears. We ended up seeing him and Jeromy a lot during the cruise.

I am new to this. What is a Pikey? I have seen the word refered to several times while reading different reports.

Thanks

 

[grumpydude]

I am guessing Pikey is a person.

 

[DWeaver]

Pikey is the name of one of the Disney Cast Members. He helped a lot with the game shows, etc... Very nice guy and very funny.

 

[grumpydude]

Thanks for the info about Pikey...I kind of figured it was a Disney Cast Member. 17 Days and counting....cannot wait.

GD