Magical Moments With Other Passengers

[o&smom]

On our cruise in October, we were in line waiting to see Woody. Jesse came walking down the hall and my three year old grandson starting squealing “Jesse is coming! Jesse is coming! I just love Jesse so much! “. He was grinning from ear to ear and genuinely just so over the top excited. When he went up to see Jesse he was just beaming.

That night, there was an envelope waiting for us with an invitation to a secret event on the last night of the ship. It was a meet and greet with all of the characters that come out in the atrium for the goodbye show which was held just a few minutes prior to that show. We asked how we got that and they said it was because someone in our party had provided extra magic to the Cast Members and then were finally told it was because of my grandson’s reaction to Jesse which the Cast Members loved.

We were thrilled that they, too, loved magical moments and we won’t ever forget it.

DD who was 3 at the time, had a special interaction with Cinderella and we got one of the special invites, too. Magical!

 

[o&smom]

On our cruise this past summer DD made a close friend in the kids clubs. They would walk around holding hands and even would do character meet and greets together with both of them in the photos. Just sweet!

 

[MillauFr]

Our family of 3 was on the San Diego to Vancouver cruise a couple of years ago. When the server brought us to our dinner table on the first night it was a table for 8 people. A few minutes later a family of 5 showed up. They were from a smaller town in Alabama and we were from Seattle. I was thinking hmmm.... this is not going to go well. Cultural opposites.

Nonsense. They were the nicest people. We got along great. Their son played basketball with our son who has Downs Syndrome. He was so nice to him. Every time we have booked another cruise we always let them know in case they can come along with us.

 

[CamColt]

Great thread!

Once while at CC, my family of 4 had claimed 4 chairs, however my older teenagers had taken off and really, we weren't 100% sure they would be back. DH then left to use the restrooms while I was laying there alone. I overheard a family upset they couldn't find any chairs and were contemplating going back on the ship. They finally plopped themselves down on towels. I felt bad having 4 chairs there so once DH returned and I confirmed what chair he wanted, we offered them 2 of ours. They were very nice and thanked us. The nice part comes now. Once they were settled down and I assume ordered drinks, the woman came over to us and gave us 2 bottles of water. I was really touched by their kindness! We didn't do anything overly nice, we were just trying to be considerate, but she went out of her way to thank us. She actually said she wanted to get us real drinks but her husband said we might not be drinkers so not to do that, LOL! It was a little thing but obviously it stood out to me.

 

[Aurora55]

On our last cruise we got pixie dusted by another family. They gave us a magnet for our door because they loved the decorations that we already had on the door. It was really great and unexpected.

 

[grantclaire]

Hi, we have been lucky with our Disney cruises met some nice people! On our first cruise without kids we were a bit worried about tablemates but DCL matched us up with two other couples who were very nice to talk with. On our cruise last March I had a nice talk we some basketball fans who stated there was no way the Raptors would ever win a NBA championship! Would like to meet up again sometime!

 

[diznymom]

Our first cruise I had no idea about the lanyards. While we were waiting in the terminal, a fellow cruiser gave us some lanyards. She stated that they had lots of lanyards and did not need more. I thought that was just so special.

 

[Adventurelawyer]

After the coronavirus thread doom and gloom, I’m really in love with this thread. Thank you.

 

[MomOTwins]

Oh my gosh, I have so many (guests and cast members alike).

On our last cruise, I had helped out a family in our FB group with some planning assistance before the cruise, and on the first night they pixie dusted us with a set of Disney beach towels. I love them so much and still use them all the time as bath towels for the kiddos.

Another time our kids were out on the deck waiting for the pirate night festivities and a guest came up and offered them some glow stick bracelets. They had a super magical time playing with their glow sticks and the other kids on the deck!

The CMs are all fabulous, but I have to say the princess tea crew and princesses meant the world to my four-year-old on our last cruise. My little guy LOVES Disney princesses and in his mind he is one; he spends most days of the week singing disney princess ballads NONSTOP, rewatching disney princess movies, and having me read to him disney princess books, and playing with his princess dolls and dresses. I have to admit I was a little nervous when I walked up to guest services on day one to ask if he could possibly get get the princess gifts at our royal tea instead of the knight ones that they might reject me (or think I was one of those parents that forces stuff on their kid), but not only were they SO nice and gave him all his princess "treasures" (he loves his necklace and music box especially), but they also bent over backwards to make him feel welcome. He chose his favorite princess dress to wear (Anna from frozen), and they greeted him as "Princess [his name]" and he was soooooo happy, and the princesses danced and twirled with him and made it so special for him. Then later in the cruise they all remembered him at the princess meet and greets, and one day when he tripped and fell in the hall, Cinderella walked by and stopped for about 10 minutes to comfort and talk to "her friend, Princess [name]" and he was beside himself with joy. The only downside is that he constantly begs to back to princess tea, and I'm not sure I can afford to do that twice! Lol.

 

[vegs1]

DD who was 3 at the time, had a special interaction with Cinderella and we got one of the special invites, too. Magical!

So Magical! Gotta love DCL for their special ways!

 

[Erica1016]

I, too, love this thread. I feel like we've had great experiences meeting other guests!

I think a favorite is a couple we met on our Fantasy cruise in December 2018. At breakfast one morning on a sea day, we (party of two) could not find a table at Cabanas. We really wanted to sit outside, but the only table we could find was a 6-top. We felt bad "hogging" the space, so we sat toward the inside to leave space for others. We saw another couple wandering around doing the same thing, so we offered that no one was using the rest of our table and they took us up on it. We said hello, but didn't really chat. I figured they were just enjoying themselves and didn't feel like small talk, we just enjoyed our breakfast and talked between the two of us, it was still very comfortable. We did have a buffer of the two middle seats. After about 20 minutes, when we were all done eating, we somehow struck up a conversation over our coffee. We ended up sitting and chatting with them for probably over an hour! It was great. We then ran into them here and there, interacted during a few adult game shows, waved from elevators and different levels, but never really sat and talked that much after the first time. After we'd left the ship and were on our way out of the terminal, we heard our names and they were walking up behind us. They'd done an ornament exchange and had one homemade ornament leftover and wanted to give it to us. We were so thrilled! I feel badly that I didn't write down their names and I can't remember them, but gave us super good feels when we put the ornament on our tree from our Friends in Canada this year!

We had a similar situation on that same trip while at Cookies II near Serenity Bay. We kept our eye out for any couples that would want to share our larger picnic table and met two very nice couples. I think something to remember is that you can do something like this and share a meal and some conversation without feeling obligated to hang out other times or stop and talk every time you see each other. We enjoy meeting new people and learning about their stories. At least we all know we have one thing in common because we've all chosen to be on a Disney Cruise.

 

[geegee14]

Our second cruise on the Dream we stayed on the boat in Nassau and our 3 little ones were playing with each other in the atrium, dancing and laughing. There was pretty much no one there the whole time so the kids enjoyed having a big open space. After, we went out to the deck to walk around. The sweetest man came outside behind us and said how much he enjoyed watching our kids in the atrium as his grandkids were now older and it brought back nice memories for him. It was a sweet moment.

 

[detroitdad]

We made life long friends with a family (originally from California) we met on our first cruise in Feb 2006. Our daughters, who were both 13 at the time, became friends in the kids club and we ended up spending the day with them on our stop in Key West. We didn't have any excursions planned and we just happened to be getting off the ship at the same time. We really enjoyed our time with them while on the cruise. That summer we decided to take a trip out to California and road tour from San Francisco down to LA. I contacted the Dad to see if we could arrange a meet up to surprise the girls. Long story short, he invited our entirely family of 6 to stay with them for a few days and visit Disneyland with them. Over the years, they have been to our home a couple times and we have visited them in Orlando (they moved to Florida a few years ago) and we have always just picked up right from where we left off. It's one of the most easy, casual friendships we have. Our daughter is now 26 and getting married soon. Our dear cruise friends are coming to the wedding to celebrate with us!!

 

[koala1966]

We sailed the Med out of Barcelona with my Dad. The day of our Rome excursion went from bad to worse, we were stuck in the massive line to check in to our group, barely made the bus (literally had to run), and we were quite flustered by the time we got started. When we booked the excursion we reviewed all the physical requirements with my Dad, but he hurt his back about 6 weeks before the cruise and honestly we underestimated how much quicker the pace is in Europe vs the Caribbean. We did the tour of the Vatican, which is fast walking and a lot of stairs, as well as uneven roads and grass surfaces. My husband and I tried to stay on either side of him to assist when necessary, since he was more unsteady than usual coming off his recovery from the injury. The family in back of us, two parents and their teenage daughter, noticed and struck up a conversation with him, while helping us guide him up and down stairs and inclines and rough surfaces, so that my husband and I didn't have a nervous break down worrying over his safety and making sure he stayed upright. Another solo traveler joined in to both help and converse with him, and we made it through the gardens, the museums, the chapel, and the cathedral as a group without incident. We would never have expected others to interrupt their own tour to lend a helping hand, and we felt bad that we obviously looked like we needed help, but these angels were so kind to us, including the young girl, we will never forget it. My dad certainly had a ball and really enjoyed their company. I hope we weren't too big a burden on them, I know they made our day exponentially easier, and they were all incredibly cheerful about it.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Alaska cruise-Train from Seattle to Vancouver the day before. My husband and daughter start chatting with people waiting in line for coffee in the dinning car. They were Ravens fans, we were Patriots fans. Good nature banter and trash talk. Fast forward to the next day, we get on the ship-they are our next door cabin mates. Magnet wars ensued as we had a Patriots magnet and they had Ravens stuff. Magnets got moved and moved back, trash talk notes got attached. Everything was in such good spirit and fun. It was a great time!

And I love this post as well ❤

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

I too love this thread...back in May 2005 we sailed on the Disney Magic's first transit through the Panama Canal taking the ship to California to celebrate Disneyland's 50th Anniversary. It was our second DCL cruise. We joined the cruise group here on the Disboards and had over 250 people in our group...when we boarded the ship it was like a family wedding when we actually "met" the people I had been communicating online with for almost 6 months. We had a blast on the cruise and are still in touch with about 100 of the people we met on that sailing. We have cruised together many, many times as well as visiting WDW and DL together. We have been invited to weddings, graduations, celebrated the births of children and grandchildren and sadly also a few funerals. We have made lifelong friends, who we consider part of our family. I am thankful for DCL for bringing us together.

 

[JARNJ3]

My sister & I took our first Disney Cruise last year in the Med. Disney paired us with other women travelling together -- their company made dinners so enjoyable and a special part of our experience.

Hope lightning strikes twice on our next cruise - just a quick one, this May.

 

[ChipNDale86]

As a childless couple, my husband and I usually get sat with other childless couples for dinner. We've pretty much always had pretty good experiences with this but on our cruise in Nov. 2018 we really hit it out with one of the other couples at our table. We stayed in touched afterwards and became such good friends that we just cruised with them again in Oct. 2019 and are currently planning a cruise for Nov 2020.

Neither one of us are super outgoing and in fact on our first cruise without family we had requested on our table at dinner but didn't get it. But we had such a good time with our table that cruise we've decided to never request our own table again. Never would have made these friends otherwise!

 

[jenmiller114]

A couple years ago, we went on a cruise with some friends. Their son was celebrating his birthday and he bought the last birthday pin in the gift shop. Some time during the cruise, the pin fell off and he was devastated. There were no more to be purchased and the odds of finding it were slim because we had no idea where he lost it. We asked lost & found and they had no record of it. On the last day of the cruise, we were in the gift shop looking at the pin book. We were talking about the missing pin and a lady overheard us. She said her son found the pin and it was in their room! They were hoping to find the owner but really didn't know how that would be possible. Talk about being at the right place at the right time and the stars aligning. It just seemed like the perfect ending to an already magical vacation. Only on Disney!

Jennifer

 

[GPaLarry]

I remembered two events from our Alaska cruise a couple of years ago out of Vancouver. The dock at Juneau is a ways out from land and our verandah looked back at the city. We were sitting out there, enjoying a mini happy hour, when a hummingbird (I think) popped up from below. He/she flew above the railing, stopped, looked us over, and flew toward shore. It happened so fast I couldn't get my camera and I wondered what in the world that bird could find around the Wonder...maybe the drink of the day??? Could it have been Tinkerbell?
Earlier, in Skagway, we took the gold panning excursion to Liarsville with our daughter and her family with three granddaughters. While that group panned, my wife and I went into the gift shop. It was empty so I struck up a conversation with the cashier. I mentioned what our gkids were doing and she said, "look in the stream." She would not give any more details, just, "look in the stream." We hurried back and looked in the stream, which was just a short walk across a footbridge from the panning area. Sure enough, they had "salted" the stream with little gold nuggets (painted rocks) every so often. Leah, our youngest granddaughter at 8 was struggling to come up with a flake or two of gold in the sluice so I guided her over the bridge and told her to, of course, look in the stream. Her eyes lit up and she reached in for her first piece of gold. Before long, not only was her little bag full, but word got around and everyone raided the stream. The kids didn't care that much about few flakes of real gold so much as having a small haul of real fake gold stones. Thanks to the cashier a real gold rush was experienced...what a hoot!