**@@** October 6th, 2007 Magic**@@**

[aw24]

Did anyone happen to take pictues of the menus. I took pictures of all the food we ordered, but forgot to write everything down. Now I can't figure all of them out. If anyone has pictures they could post, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[nycemschic]

Thanks for the info, but was also wondering about the whole cruise in general.
If you have a moment.

Thanks-

This is my 3rd cruise- (did two Wonders before this). Please keep in mind that I was traveling with a 6 (but now 7) year old and I am more geared towards adventure stuff than shopping...

Key West: If you want to just do a little walking around, the trolley is great. If you want to really, really tour the island, get the electric car. I'm so sorry I didn't. DH, DD, and I all schleped to the "Southernmost Point in the United States" buoy. That was quite a LONG walk and we went through some not-so-great areas (and I work in Brooklyn, NYC- not too much fazes me). I wanted to see the Hemingway house but missed it... as well as the snorkel/catamaran. (The tour operators talked us out of it b/c of the weather- high swells, poor visibility)

Grand Cayman- SNORKELING! We did the shipwreck/reef snorkel. OMG. I'm relatively inexperienced, but there were sooo many schools of different fish. The nicest guys gave a good instructional speech complete with jokes, and helped sooo much.

Cozumel- Dolphins at Chanakaab (sp?). My daughter LOVED it. But there must have been other possiblities other than what DCL offered. In the area next to ours there were people actually swimming around with them.

Castaway Key- Parasailing. DH did it and loved it. I was too scared and chickened out.

Things some people may not think of:
1) Once you book an excursion, it's nonrefundable. But actually, the weather was HORRIBLE in Key West- we were supposed to go on a Catamaran Snorkeling tour, and the operators advised there were big swells, sea sickness was likely, and pretty much talked us out of going. DCL did give refunds for that. 2) BUY everything you can possibly think you'll need at your local Wal-Mart before you go down there. It's $8 for an underwater disposable camera at Wal-Mart, $19-22 at the ports. May sound silly, but I bought a 12 pack of water for $3, and packed it- saved like $25! 3) PACK a light rain jacket/windbreaker/poncho. Every 99 cent store up here has them versus a ton more at the ports/on the ship. Also pack a shrug- the AC can be set a little high at times. Save room for souveniers! 4) BE SURE to calculate the gratuities in your budget... oooops. (For 3 it was like $250ish)

ENJOY YOURSELF! Let them cut up your kids' dinners. Relax. They literally take care of everything... Don't overbook yourselves, but do enough so that you are satisified...

Let us know how it went...

 

[lenzs4]

Anyone booked for their next one? We're booked for the 9-28-08 Magic Double Dip - the first one after dry dock. I booked that one before this cruise.

I have been booked on this for months as well - booked it the day the rates were released and I booked another cruise to transfer to the following year - whenever those dates are released!!!

 

[stenogoddess]

We had a great time all around. The character lines moved really fast and we got some great pictures. My rec. on that is if you have someone specific you really, really want, be at the start of the line and early. Take everything else by chance.

I'll recommend shoretrips.com too. We booked our stuff through them and it was AWSOME! We did intro to SCUB in Grand Cayman. My husband and I were the only two in our group so we got great attention on how to scuba and then a guide took us around the little shipwreck they have there. Tons of pretty fish and coral. I think I saw a Dorie fish from Nemo. I saw some LSU (purple and yellow) fish. My husband saw more, but I didn't have my glasses on so..... Also booked the Royal Swim at Chank park through Shoretrips. DCL doesn't book that for some reason. It was great. I think my fav part. We got to swim with the dolphins and hug them and give them kisses and they pushed us around with their noses on our feet and pulled us around with their fins. I felt my dolphin's heart beat. It was SO COOL! The pictures are way pricey, but you're kissing a dolphin. When's that going to happen again any time soon.

My main advice is just relax, have a great time and go with the flow. Oh, and get there early for any shows you really want to see because that place fills up fast. If you get Oka for a server, he's great.

 

[Laurabearz]

My main advice is just relax, have a great time and go with the flow. Oh, and get there early for any shows you really want to see because that place fills up fast. If you get Oka for a server, he's great.

Oka was our server... Oka and Addy! We thought they were wonderful.

And shouldn't your main advice be... pack your swim suit in your carry on

 

[HayesFamily]

Got back late last night ... we still seem to be suffering from jet lag and sea legs. Just trying to unpack and reorganize all the keepsakes to start scrapbooking. Downloaded my cameras today --- I had 1700+ pictures from the cruise And that doesn't include the 4 rolls from the waterproof camera I used at Castaway Cay

We had a great time ... it was great to meet the few of you that we did! We were all very sad to get off the ship on Saturday
The kids go back to school tomorrow ... and DH is off to Dallas to start a new job. I guess it's back to the real world

Definately plan on cruising with Disney again .......

-Bridget

 

[HayesFamily]

Did anyone happen to take pictues of the menus. I took pictures of all the food we ordered, but forgot to write everything down. Now I can't figure all of them out. If anyone has pictures they could post, I would greatly appreciate it.

I don't have pictures of all the menus, but I was able to snag a dessert menu from the last night (Til' We Meet Again) and Master Chef. I believe I also have a picture of the cover from the Captain's Gala menu cover. Don't know if that helps you or not - but I would be happy to share the pictures.

-Bridget

 

[lowery1226]

I see my husband posted an update on our 21 month old son who broke his femur at the Dolphin Swin on Cozumel. I just wanted everyone to know that Disney was just wonderful...they sent a representative from the boat with me to the Cozumel "Hospital/Glorified Doc in the Box." I was in constant contact with Vicki, the Emergency Services Representative for DCL based out of Orlando. She filed my insurance claim (thank GOD for travel insurance!) and was in constant contact with my husband on the ship. She arranged everything and then my husband had a personal guest services agent (Connie) at his beck and call on the ship. I could not have asked for better service during an extremely stressful situation. Not to mention Disney zeroed out our stateroom account...wish we had ordered a few more bottles of wine! I would highly recommend trip insurance (insuremytrip.com) which paid for the air ambulance out of Cozumel...between $15,000 and $30,000. OUCH! They will also reimburse us for trip interruption per person. The Dolphin Discovery paid our medical bills too.
Thank YOU so much to the people that were beside us at the Dolphin Discovery for offering to carry all our loot back to the ship...everywhere you go you find that Southern Hospitality.

I would not recommend Cozumel Medical Center...SCARY SCARY SCARY! We spent about 36 hours there before the air transport team got there and we should all appreciate the medical services we have in the USA. They do not believe in pain control and only gave my son 1/2tsp of Tylenol every 8 hours for his pain.

So he is doing as well as to be expected and will be in a body cast from chest down for 5-8 weeks. I will be taking FMLA so maybe I will get some scrapbooking done.
I thank everyone for your prayers and maybe we will see some of yal on the 9/1/08 Bahama/ CCay Cruise. ( My husband rebooked on board because I missed CCay).

Janna Lowery

 

[My3sonscruisn]

This is my 3rd cruise- (did two Wonders before this). Please keep in mind that I was traveling with a 6 (but now 7) year old and I am more geared towards adventure stuff than shopping...

Key West: If you want to just do a little walking around, the trolley is great. If you want to really, really tour the island, get the electric car. I'm so sorry I didn't. DH, DD, and I all schleped to the "Southernmost Point in the United States" buoy. That was quite a LONG walk and we went through some not-so-great areas (and I work in Brooklyn, NYC- not too much fazes me). I wanted to see the Hemingway house but missed it... as well as the snorkel/catamaran. (The tour operators talked us out of it b/c of the weather- high swells, poor visibility)

Grand Cayman- SNORKELING! We did the shipwreck/reef snorkel. OMG. I'm relatively inexperienced, but there were sooo many schools of different fish. The nicest guys gave a good instructional speech complete with jokes, and helped sooo much.

Cozumel- Dolphins at Chanakaab (sp?). My daughter LOVED it. But there must have been other possiblities other than what DCL offered. In the area next to ours there were people actually swimming around with them.

Castaway Key- Parasailing. DH did it and loved it. I was too scared and chickened out.

Things some people may not think of:
1) Once you book an excursion, it's nonrefundable. But actually, the weather was HORRIBLE in Key West- we were supposed to go on a Catamaran Snorkeling tour, and the operators advised there were big swells, sea sickness was likely, and pretty much talked us out of going. DCL did give refunds for that. 2) BUY everything you can possibly think you'll need at your local Wal-Mart before you go down there. It's $8 for an underwater disposable camera at Wal-Mart, $19-22 at the ports. May sound silly, but I bought a 12 pack of water for $3, and packed it- saved like $25! 3) PACK a light rain jacket/windbreaker/poncho. Every 99 cent store up here has them versus a ton more at the ports/on the ship. Also pack a shrug- the AC can be set a little high at times. Save room for souveniers! 4) BE SURE to calculate the gratuities in your budget... oooops. (For 3 it was like $250ish)

ENJOY YOURSELF! Let them cut up your kids' dinners. Relax. They literally take care of everything... Don't overbook yourselves, but do enough so that you are satisified...

Let us know how it went...

Thanks for the info. Going with DW and 3 sons: 9, 7, 4 1/2. Plus In laws and 12 YO cousin. We are leaving Friday. will pack some water, and make sure we have everything. WWill let you know about our experience upon our return.

Regards-

 

[My3sonscruisn]

Regrets: Didn't get to do everything. Won't do electric car again. Ddidn't see any museums or beaches in Key West.Never took kids swimming on the ship. When they wanted to it was too crowded...when it wasnt crowded- they didn't want to go.
Things to avoid: Picture lines...yuck. everyone stands in line at the same time to get formal or character pics. We only got one professional pic.
Things to NOT do: Stay out of the room! My kids didn't want to leave the stateroom. They were not into the clubs- hated that part..but I wanted them to get more involved.
Best part of the trip: Floating in the ocean at Castaway Cay. Absolute quiet, beautiful skies...man, I wish I was back there!
**Room tour**(saw all the categories-we arranged this thru other disboarders) and second only to Castaway Cay....meeting all the friends I had made here on the Disboards. We had loads of fun and they made the trip so much more friendly. Get to know your disboarders...WOW! like cruising with a bunch of friends!
Castaway Cay: Think twice about excursions...we did three total between the 5 of us and just wished we had done the beach and nothing else. Would have been better to relax on the last day rather than rushing to get to the excursion on time.
Cozumel: Be prepared for the hawkers! People stand at each store entrance and try to get you to come into their stores..very annoying and can kinda make you nervous. And go left off the pier..all the shops are that way. Nothing to the right. We also did the Sea Trek at Jeanies Rest...Grand, grand thing to do...I would recommend it alot. (Jeanies is right from the pier about 2-3 blocks down)
Grand Caymans: We didn't have any tours planned but a bus driver stopped at the pier and offered a tour of the islands for $20 a piece. Hold out and you may get a discount on that price. But it was a good tour in an air-conditioned bus. It was a quick running tour through all the high points and still left time for a beach visit or excursion. We did stingrays thru Capt Marvin. (Wonderful people. I messed up our appt and they did everything in their power to get us out to the stingray city so we could do or excursion. The manager spent like 20 minutes trying to find someone to take us out. Actually called an off-duty captain in to take us exclusively to the tour boat. He took us out (DD got to drive the boat!) and then left us with our original group.)
Key West: We rented an electric car- but because we didn't know where we were going we wasted alot of time just driving around. Might be better to do the train or trolley. We just couldn't because of the DGM (86) in a wheelchair and wasn't sure how she would do with the train or trolley. Got the key lime on a stick from Blond Giraffe--its OK..nothing I would travel to Key West just to get. Ate at a conch bar..open air at the pier->that was neat.

Sorry so long..but it is really hard to figure out specific points...let's just say if I had the chance to go again...just stop me!

Thanks for all the info- I am sure it will be very useful. I have been on the 10/20 Board for about 3 weeks and we are looking forward to meeting all our fellow DISers. It occured to me this morning that you all just returned, so why not see what you thought. Thanks again. We can't wait!

 

[threeCsmom]

Thank YOU so much to the people that were beside us at the Dolphin Discovery for offering to carry all our loot back to the ship...everywhere you go you find that Southern Hospitality.

Janna Lowery

Janna - hey - I am the red head that was beside you at the DD. I have been thinking about you guys and our whole family has been lifting you up in prayer!

I am so glad to hear that Disney was so good to ya'll! And, I have to admit, I am impressed that DD paid your medical bills! I can not believe you were stuck in Cozumel for 36 hours - UGH! What a horrific situation. I posted that you are truly my hero because you stayed so calm during the whole event. I would have been a basket case.

Please keep us posted on his recovery - and your scrapbooks!

If you guys ever get down to Chattanooga - let me know!

Melissa Headrick

 

[bellastella227]

We are home and I am in one piece!!!

We had a good time but it was definitely more work than I expected. I did not get to do even half the things I wanted to. I knew I would have to be flexible with a 21-month old but it was WAY harder than I thought it would be.

To start out our vacation, my suitcase was taken by another passenger. Our first day was spent scrambing and trying to replace everything I would need should I not get my bag back. Thank God we were there two days before the cruise! Of course...we got the call that my bag was returned at 9p.m. so we scrambled to get everything returned as we were going to WDW the next day. My bag finally arrived at the condo at 2 a.m. Needless to say, our first day was not the relaxing day we had planned!!!

I had fun in Disney even though we were soaked most of the day. We started out at MGM and went on the two rides on my list....RNR and TOT. I loved them both and I was so happy to experience them! WHEEEE! Then we walked over to EPCOT to get some treats at the F&WF and ride a couple more rides. I had never seen the BV resort before and it was so cute and looked like fun! I had Mission:Space and Test Track on my list. I got on MS right away. TT kept closing due to the rain. We spent most of our day here and took it easy. We went to the Disney Visa character meet and got our free 5x7 and finally made it on TT right before we left for MK.

My ILs brought DD to MK to meet us for MNSSHP. The evening was a disappointment due to the weather. They cancelled the first parade and were not sure about the fireworks and second parade when we were ready to leave. They were amazing and gave us one-day MK passes with no expiration to use in the future, which was really nice...especially since they cannot control the weather. We basically ran from ride to ride with DD and I got her on everything I wanted her to experience. I was just so bummed because I was really looking forward to the party. DD was adorable and dressed as Tinkerbell!

The next day was Saturday and we were off! We returned the car and our shuttle bus met us there. Of course, they did not have enough room for all our luggage (and we warned them we had a lot!!!) and also they did not have the correct number of carseats. I wasn't happy but there was not much we could do at that point. A second van came with a trailer attached for luggage and that could accomodate us (six adults and three children). We stopped at the airport to pick up SIL and her family (and more luggage!). Then we were on our way to the port...

OK this is turning into a mini-trip report, which is not what I intended. I haven't even made it to the ship yet! Maybe I will have to create a post under the TR instead. I'll come back when I have anothre minute. Right now I have to finish up my day at work.

 

[artmanr]

I started to make a summary and it's waaay too long to post, so I'm going to start at thread under TR for this cruise. Anyone wanting to post there is welcome.

Here is the beginning....

My trip report….

First, this was our big vacation, planned for 18 months or so. We were really excited. The cruise did not disappoint. We experienced many new things in a very short period of time. There are things we would do again and others we would not. Disney Cruise Line does an excellent job for its passengers and it’s clear why so many people are huge fans of the experience.

Pre-Cruise:

We arrived in Orland on Wednesday morning from Chicago. We had rented a car from Thrifty (an offsite rental agency about 1 mile from the airport) for use during our short Orlando leg and for our trip to Port Canaveral on embarkation day. We didn’t get the car we had reserved, but were “upgraded” to a Mercury Grand Marquis. Now if you have a Grand Marquis, I am happy for you, but this is not a great car IMHO.......

For more go to the TR section. I'll try to post a link here.

AR

 

[artmanr]

Here is the link to the post for trip reports. Please post your trip reports for all to share in that link!

AR

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=21345879#post21345879

 

[BoosGram]

I see my husband posted an update on our 21 month old son who broke his femur at the Dolphin Swin on Cozumel. I just wanted everyone to know that Disney was just wonderful...they sent a representative from the boat with me to the Cozumel "Hospital/Glorified Doc in the Box." I was in constant contact with Vicki, the Emergency Services Representative for DCL based out of Orlando. She filed my insurance claim (thank GOD for travel insurance!) and was in constant contact with my husband on the ship. She arranged everything and then my husband had a personal guest services agent (Connie) at his beck and call on the ship. I could not have asked for better service during an extremely stressful situation. Not to mention Disney zeroed out our stateroom account...wish we had ordered a few more bottles of wine! I would highly recommend trip insurance (insuremytrip.com) which paid for the air ambulance out of Cozumel...between $15,000 and $30,000. OUCH! They will also reimburse us for trip interruption per person. The Dolphin Discovery paid our medical bills too.
Thank YOU so much to the people that were beside us at the Dolphin Discovery for offering to carry all our loot back to the ship...everywhere you go you find that Southern Hospitality.

I would not recommend Cozumel Medical Center...SCARY SCARY SCARY! We spent about 36 hours there before the air transport team got there and we should all appreciate the medical services we have in the USA. They do not believe in pain control and only gave my son 1/2tsp of Tylenol every 8 hours for his pain.

So he is doing as well as to be expected and will be in a body cast from chest down for 5-8 weeks. I will be taking FMLA so maybe I will get some scrapbooking done.
I thank everyone for your prayers and maybe we will see some of yal on the 9/1/08 Bahama/ CCay Cruise. ( My husband rebooked on board because I missed CCay).

Janna Lowery

Oh my gosh, what an ordeal! I can't imagine what you had to go through. That poor little guy (and poor mama). I hope he heals as quickly as possible. At least he is young and hopefully won't remember the whole experience. Thank heavens you had the travel insurance, and it was nice to hear that Disney did you right. Hugs and prayers for you all.

What a sweet thing for DH to do . (We booked that one, too--two days at CC = heaven.)

BTW, love your name (yes, one of our DDs is a Janna, too ).

 

[glassslipper2004]

What a scary, scary experience. I hope your son is doing better now - at least not in pain.

Can you tell us how he got hurt? (or maybe it is further back in the thread and I should look for it). I have considered the Dolphin swim so would like to know...

Hang in there. Whew. I'm still shaking from reading your post. Take care.

 

[CM_Mom]

Not nearly as entertaining as Art's but it's over on our trip report thread.

In a nutshell, when had a great time with the only downer that Janet got sick and missed most of the trip. However, she is really glad we got her mom to go and MIL is really glad she went. We got some fantastic family pictures that I'll try to post later.

Now the biggest challenge is collection all the pictures that different family members took, getting them on a CD and off to DD so she can put the ones she wants in her video picture frame on her desk.

 

[Ham Ham]

Hi Everybody

Just wanted to say a great is was meeting the Disboard gang. It was our first cruise and will not be our last. I'm wondering if our next cruise will have as many folks from Tennessee, especially the friendly folks from Chattanooga, 3 C's mom and family were especially great to talk with.

Big thanks to Ms. Bearz and all the great mother hen work she did for us, I just might check out VMK. Next time I hope we have more energy to do more evening activities. We are now also DVC members.

Here's a photo's of the latest addition to the family.
Charlie is an 9 week old Morkie. Dad was Maltese and mom was a Yorkshire Terrier we picked him up from the breeder on the way back to Toronto from the Detroit airport.

 

[BoosGram]

Oh, yeah, we joined the DVC on board, too! Will make our first stay at AKV the night before the 9/1/08 DCL DD trip. (BTW, DVC's member services' assistant, Katherine, is fantastic; she helped us newborn DVC members sooooo much with our planning! . I hope she reads this board; if anyone out there knows her, please pass this on. Thanks!)

 

[BoosGram]

Hi Everybody

Just wanted to say a great is was meeting the Disbaord gang. It was our first cruise and will not be our last. I'm wondering if our next cruise will have as many folks from Tennessee, especially the friendly folks from Chattanooga, 3 C's mom and family were especially great to talk with.

Big thanks to Ms. Bearz and all the great mother hen work she did for us, I just might check out VMK. Next time I hope we have more energy to do more evening activities. We are now also DVC members.

Here's a photo's of the latest addition to the family.
Charlie is an 9 week old Morkie. Dad was Maltese and mom was a Yorkshire Terrier we picked him up from the breeder on the way back to Toronto from the Detroit airport.

Congrats on the absolutely adorable new baby! Now I want one, too.