Sue's Disney Western Caribbean Cruise, December 2004
Who: Sue (me - 46), DVC member, Sheila (46), Cruise Companion
Dates: December 3-11, 2004
Travel Method: Personal car, cruise ship
Resort: Old Key West (1 nt), Disney Magic (7 nts)
Experience: Frequent Cruisers
INTRODUCTION:
This will be my 15th cruise, and probably the 7th or so
on Disney. Sheila has done all but 2 of the Disney cruises
with me, and she & her son Colin joined my son Chris &
me on a HAL cruise last year. We're sailing on the Western
Caribbean itinerary, which is the exact cruise we did together
in November 2003 and which I repeated on HAL in May 2004.
We love cruising, and the #1 goal is always relaxing for a
week. We don't care if we see the shows or not, generally
prefer not to go ashore, and don't even mind skipping dinner
in the dining room. We don't tolerate cigarette smoke, so
the Beat Street clubs are off-limits to us at night. We also
both tend to rise early, and enjoy letting the sunlight wake
us rather than using any alarm. I plan to work on my tan this
week, maybe see a couple movies, hang out online with SB,
and perhaps train for our walking of the Disney half-marathon
next month.
We're booked in a category 9 cabin on deck 2 (#2578), which
is pretty much midship if I remember correctly. I like deck
2, as the window in the cabin is huge and I like being that
close to the water. On HAL I always get a nice verandah, but
the verandahs on the Disney ships aren't worth the extra cost
for me. We'll probably see Golden Mickey's because Sheila
has never seen it. Whether we attend any other shows is questionable
- generally we'd prefer relaxing with a glass of wine (in
a non-smoking lounge) vs being in a crowded theater seeing
a show we've already seen at least once. I requested a large
table, with no children, so hopefully we'll have interesting
dinner companions. One night we'll eat at Palo, and I'm looking
forward to the new Pirate night menu although I will not be
wearing a bandana! We've talked about trying brunch at Palo.
Everyone raves about it, but we've always thought there's
no way. However, we might try a 10:30 brunch time
since our dinner is 8:30. We've done the dinners so
many times, we could even skip dinner (it's no big deal) or
just eat an appetizer or two instead of a full meal.
We're going to a wine & cheese party hosted by someone
on the DIS board, in their 1-bedroom cabin. It'll be fun to
see what that looks like, and to spend time socializing with
fellow Disney enthusiasts. We've had a thread running on DIS
for several months. I brought a bottle of the Rosa Regale
I bought at the Food & Wine Festival, and think Sheila
will like it as well. Last cruise we bought chambourd and
mixed it in the bottle of champagne someone sent me the Rosa
Regale should taste even better & not have to be mixed.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing the holiday decorations
on the ship and on Castaway Cay, especially since this will
likely be my last Disney cruise. I used to be able to squeeze
several weeks of vacation away from work, but that's no longer
the case. I have to limit myself to 4 weeks, which means a
week for Hilton Head, a HAL cruise, and then there's just
2 weeks left for WDW. I'm not willing to give any of that
up for a Disney cruise, so these cruises had to go.
The current plans (subject to change) so far...
Fri 12/3: Drive to WDW after work, check in OKW
Sat 12/4: Board Disney Magic, book Palo
Sun 12/5: Key West
Mon 12/6: Sea Day, Wine/Cheese Party, Golden Mickeys
Tue 12/7: Grand Cayman
Wed 12/8: Cozumel
Thu 12/9: Sea Day
Fri 12/10: Castaway Cay
Sat 12/11: Leave Magic, return home
DAY 1 FRIDAY DEC 3, 2004:
Plan: Drive to WDW after work, check in OKW
Actual: I left work around 5:30, met Sheila in a McDonald’s
parking lot
around 6, then followed her to her parents’ house in Sebring,
FL. We left my car parked there, and she drove us the rest of
the way to Old Key West. Check in was a breeze at almost 9:30
at night! We were given a 3rd floor studio just across
the street in building 14. Since I knew I needed to access every
heavy piece of luggage I’d brought, I asked if there was a ground
floor studio available. The best they could do was a 2nd
floor unit in building 40, so we decided to stick with #1435.
Climbing to the 3rd floor really isn’t that much
worse than climbing to the 2nd floor. During the
drive my boyfriend SB & I had talked a few times, then he
called as we got to the OKW parking lot to say hi, and then
called while we were at the front desk to say he missed me basically
to make me laugh since we’d just talked 2 minutes before!
We brought our stuff up to the room and then drove over to the
Marketplace to find something to eat. There was no line at Earl
of Sandwich, so we shared a caprese sandwich and ate it there. Sheila
had never heard of it being a sandwich, but she liked it. Sharing
it was just enough food, too - neither of us wanted very much. We
drove back to OKW, getting there around 10:30 or so. I got online
and Sheila read the cruise Navigators and menus I’d printed from
www.castawayclub.com.
SB called a few more times, just quick calls but the last time he
& his buddy had it set up so Barry White’s song Can’t Get Enough
of Your Love was playing for me. They were NOT drunk or anything
- just being a little silly. The electrical outlets in this studio
really suck - when I plug the phone charger in it just falls out
to the floor, so I had to use the one in the kitchen. Every time
SB would call I’d go flying out of bed and running across the studio
to get the phone before it went to voice mail – while Sheila just
laughed at us .
Overall it was a long day, but it’s good to be here on the
eve of another cruise. It was really nice being a passenger
for the 2nd half of the trip, since I hate driving
after dark. The frequent calls from SB were really cute -
I’m going to miss talking to him on the phone once the ship
sails.
DAY 2 SATURDAY DEC 4, 2004:
Plan: Board Disney Magic, book Palo
Actual: I woke up around 7:30 and decided to get my shower
out of the way. I think Sheila was probably awake over on
her side of the room - she was watching tv when I came out
of the bathroom. For breakfast I made some cappuccino and
ate a piece of biscotti, while Sheila went to Goods to Go
and got a cup of coffee and a snowman-shaped rice krispie
treat. We hung out in the studio talking about our plans for
the week. I talked to SB for a while, and she talked to her
dad - finally about 10 we decided to leave OKW.
We stopped at Publix to get wine for the wine/cheese party
on Monday afternoon. They didn’t have any wines with a screwcap,
so Sheila also bought a corkscrew. I bought a champagne bottle
stopper, which we can use to keep the Rosa Regale from going
flat. We don’t drink enough to finish a bottle of anything
in one sitting. She bought a bottle of merlot and I got a
nice Riesling. Unfortunately, she only likes the reds and
I only like whites - so we generally can’t share a bottle
(Rosa Regale will probably be the exception). After leaving
Publix it was an easy drive to the port, with no traffic at
all. She dropped all of the bags off (including me) at the
terminal, and went to go park the car while I went inside.
The line was long at security, then long again waiting to
check in, then longer still waiting to board! By the time
we got inside they were already letting people on the ship,
and by the time we finished checking in the boarding line
was pretty short.
SB and Chris (my 18 yr old son) both called while I was
waiting for Sheila to return from the parking lot. One weird
thing - they used to send a Bahamas form with the cruise documents,
but this time they did not. At the terminal they gave the
forms to everyone, which means people had to slow down and
go fill the stupid thing out! That was a bit aggravating.
Soon we were checked in, and I saw we had the dining rotation
expected (LAPLAPL) since we were an adult only party.
Getting on the ship we bypassed the embarkation photo opportunity.
We wouldn’t buy it, so there’s no point having it taken. We
went directly to Rockin’ Bar D to book our Palo reservations,
which didn’t take very long at all. We got dinner for Sunday
night at 7, and brunch for Monday morning. PJ booked us at
11:30 but told us to just show up at 10:30 and he’d be able
to seat us right away. With that done, we headed up to Topsiders
on deck 9.
The lunch was the usual buffet, and we were both a little
hungry. I had some cucumber salad, a small chicken breast,
a roll, some French fries & a little of the orange mango
soup. It was all ok - not bad but not anything special either
Sheila I think had the salmon, fries, cucumber salad, and
some shrimp.
We shared a small chocolate tart that was nothing special
either. It was getting very cloudy, the wind was picking up,
and I was starting to get really cold I dressed in what I
thought would be warm clothes this morning, but it wasn't’t
warm enough! We wandered around, grabbing a chocolate chip
cookie for each of us as we passed Scoops. We took a few photos
around the upper decks,then stopped at the spa/fitness center.
The fitness classes are complimentary, so we checked the
schedule and I went into the gym to sign us up for several
of them while Sheila stood in line to book the Spa Taster
(massage & facial). She did this last time and really
liked it. The sign up area was torture, thanks to the unruly
children screaming and jumping all over the sofas (so much
for keeping the under-18 year old people out). I complimented
the lady behind us on how well-behaved her young daughters
were, and she told me her girls were appalled by the other
brats who were there Finally Sheila got through the line,
and we were out of there. I had thought about getting a haircut
before the cruise, but with my traveling I had no time. I
checked the ship prices - the haircut I can get at home for$
$15 is only $52 here . After the initial shock, I decided
what the hell –it’s only money, and I don’t have time to take
care of it at home. So, I booked a haircut for tomorrow.
We walked around some more, checked our cabin and dropped
off our carry on bags The luggage hadn’t arrived, unfortunately.
We went up to the internet cafe so I could get that started,
but it wouldn’t work until 3pm (about 45 minutes later). We
wandered around some more - found a neat gingerbread house
built on deck 3. It was real - I could see where someone had
broken the ears off some of the Mickey-shaped cookies on the
roof. We checked out the Cove Café(coffee/wine place) and
found they’ve got some nice outdoor tables but they all have
ashtrays on them. A couple smokers were there, and it was
absolutely disgusting! We went inside and sat for a while,
where it didn’t stink.
Around 3 Sheila went outside to call her son Colin (he’s
away in the Air Force now),and I went back to the Internet
Cafe and signed up for the unlimited plan to keep in touch
with SB. I let him know I was back online, Sheila arrived,
and soon we returned to the cabin to check on the luggage.
I saw on aol it was 59degrees - no wonder I was so damn cold!
The luggage STILL hadn’t arrived - we’ve always been fully
unpacked & settled before the lifeboat drill, but that
was not going to happen this time.At 4 when we went up to
the drill it still hadn’t arrived! One nice thing an out the
cold weather is we won’t be hot & sweaty during the lifeboat
drill –gotta find the bright side, lol. The drill was miserable
- too many whining,crying young children who were really too
young to understand why they had to be there Michael called
during the drill, and I was relieved to hear that a work situation
we expected to be very difficult actually turned out pretty
well. I’d been worried about him, so it was good of him to
call. We finished up talking on the way back to and inside
the cabin - Sheila took my life jacket off for me, which was
nice. I sat at the porthole, enjoying our view - 2 large construction
dumpsters and pallets of trash from the previous cruise. We
laughed that we were in the dungeon on the last Disney cruise
and this time we have a dumpster view . Once we sailed though,
the lousy view was left behind!
My luggage arrived, and I was able to start unpacking. We
had maintenance come to reset the safe because there was a
problem with it. We went up on deck for the sail away, but
didn’t bother with the party. It was too crowded and too noisy.
We wandered around the forward area and I noticed a Christmas
tree up on the mast. At 5 SB called to say Bon Voyage, and
soon we were saliing away The countdown and blowing of the
ship’s horn didn’t happen until 10 minutes or so later (we
left at 5). Once we got out to the open water we headed back
downstairs, where we found Sheila’s luggage had been delivered.
We unpacked and figured out what to do tonight. I’ve been
on the road for quite a while, except for 3 nights at home
right before this trip. I was surprised to find I had 17 pairs
of underwear in my suitcase - more than enough for a 7-day
cruise, lol. I also discovered I still have no sense of direction
on ships. I know what forward & aft are, but I invariably
turn to head forward and hear Sheila say no Sue, this way,
lol! It doesn’t matter what cruiseline, what ship - I rarely
make the right turn.
I was not hungry at all, but we’re going to go to dinner
at Lumiere’s.It’ll be nice to meet our table mates, and I
don’t have to order much if I’m still not hungry. We changed
into casual evening clothes and went upstairs in time for
the 6:30 Welcome Aboard variety show in the big theater. The
show was OK - it featured the Disney cast & characters
doing a few production numbers,and in between they had the
magician Mike Super and the comedian Gary Delena. The acts
weren’t bad, but they certainly didn’t wow me either. The
comedian makes up song parodies, which were entertaining.
When the show ended we left the theater and stood at the
railing on deck 4 to wait for the tree lighting ceremony that
was scheduled at 7:45. They delayed it, citing the show getting
out late as the reason, which made no sense to us since we
came from the show after it ended and had been standing there
quite a while. Seemed like a Disney fib to me . Finally it
got started, and they insisted on the crowd singing 3-4 Christmas
carols. We were both wishing they’d just light the damn tree,
lol - sounds grinch-like but that’s what we wanted to see.
Neither of us are into the singing around the Christmas tree
scene - a little too sappy, I think. They had a large number
of guests turnout for the lighting, along with Mickey, Minnie,
Goofy & Pluto.
We stopped at Preludes to get a couple of wine glasses,
then returned to the cabin and poured a glass of each of our
wines. It felt too cold to be out walking the deck, so we
stayed indoors. Our dinner tonight is in Lumiere’s,which is
the French restaurant (the fanciest one). Dress is casual
ship-wide tonite, which is a change from how they used to
do things when the cruise line first started. Back then Lumiere’s
used to request better dress, while the other 2 requested
casual attire. Now the dress code for the evening applies
to all three. We headed upstairs to dinner around 8:25.
We’re at a table for 6, with first-time cruisers. There
is Dawn & Diane, a mother & adult daughter from Ohio,
and Bonnie & Dennis, a husband/wife from NewYork City.
Everyone was very nice, once the conversation started flowing.
We were the last to arrive, and the other people were seated
on either end of the table, across from their other half.
Sheila & I sat across from each other at the inside chairs
- but it worked out well because it was easy to talk with
people on either side.
We met our server and assistant server, and got the "excellent”
speech. He wasn't’t too pushy, though. The food and service
were excellent throughout the meal, and everyone enjoyed their
meals. I had the mixed garden salad (love the goat cheese
topped croutons) and the rigatoni pasta with 4-cheese cream
sauce I remembered having the pasta once before, and it was
very good. Sheila had the fried camembert cheese, mixed garden
salad and salmon for her entre. The others had either the
beef tenderloin or the duck, along with shrimp cocktail, escargot,
cream of cauliflower soup, chilled vichysoisse soup, the fried
cheese For dessert 3 of the people had the honey cinnamon
apple tart, which was a very large portion. I ordered the
sugarless chocolate mousse, but it had a funky taste. It must
have been HAL where I had a sugarless chocolate mousse that
was good! Sheila & Dennis skipped dessert, having just
coffee. Our server also brought a couple of portions of creme
brulee for us to share, and omigod was that good! I left my
mousse uneaten and ate over half of one of the creme brulees!
I don’t normally like it, but this was very good.
When we finished eating I excused myself and went to the
Internet Cafe to hang out online with SB for a while, then
returned to the stateroom. Sheila was already in her bed reading.
DVC had delivered a "Welcome Aboard” packet with a couple
of lanyards and some information I’ll look at later. The member
reception is tomorrow morning at 10, and we usually attend
to get whatever freebies they’re handing out. I’ll try for
a baseball cap for SB. I finished up the report for today,
then got ready for bed and looked over the DVC stuff and tomorrow’s
Personal Navigator (schedule of activities).
Today was a nice day, other than the weather being much
colder than we’d like It’s great being back on a cruise ship,
and there is a benefit to repeating the same cruise - the
ship is familiar right from the start and other than heading
in the wrong direction it’s a breeze finding everything.
DAY 3 SUNDAY DEC 5, 2004:
Plan: Key West, DVC Reception, Palo Dinner
Actual: I’d forgotten how wonderful it is sleeping on a
cruise ship!
Hearing the faint hum of the engine, hearing the waves hitting
the hull -it’s very soothing! The beds & pillows are comfortable,
too - and we had no human noise from anywhere (the hall, other
cabins). It was really nice.
I’d set my little travel alarm for 6:30 and got up shortly
after that. I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, and
found Sheila up watching TV when I came back out - one nice
thing about traveling with her is we both like to getup early.
She probably gets up earlier than I do, in fact. The ship’s
channel said it was 75 degrees outside, which was good news.
It also reported a strong breeze, which is not so good - definitely
bad for the hair! We got dressed, put on our sneakers, grabbed
some water and headed up to deck 4 to try to do 15 laps (5
miles). I wore my pedometer to track our walking. The
pedometer ended up not working properly - it was measuring
distance way too fast. 3 laps is a mile, but it registered
a mile after 1.5 laps. We used it only for measuring time,
and I was disappointed at how slow we were! We ended up doing
only 3 miles. Sheila had trouble with her toes going numb,
and I decided to stop when she did rather than continue. We’ll
walk more later,after it cools down (how funny yesterday we
were freezing and today want it to cool down, lol). Sheila
went to Cove Cafe to buy a Cafe mocha (not very good)and I
went to the stateroom to get my cappuccino (just added water
at the beverage station).
We met on deck 9 & had breakfast at Topsiders, eating outside
on the sunny deck. It was gorgeous out there, and not busy at
all! I was amazed by the number of people eating indoors - they
can do that at home, so why waste the chance to eat outside
on deck?? We each got one of the small Mickey waffles and some
melon. I also had a hash brown and a piece of plum tomato with
melted cheeses and oregano on top. Sheila had some scrambled
eggs. Everything tasted good, and it was really nice sitting
outside.
After breakfast I went to Cove Cafe and got online for a
little while, and Sheila wandered around up on deck 10. We
met at the DVC Member Celebration,which began at 10am in Diversions.
It was well attended, but not mobbed like last time. They
talked about what’s new in DVC, and asked for people who have
used their points at the non-Disney places. Most of the people
there had used their points for the cruise prior to this cruise.
Personally I think the # of points it takes to cruise now
is ridiculous, and has been for a couple of years They drew
tickets and if the person answered a question they got to
pick a prize. Most people got picked, including both of us.
We each got one of the blue dvc bags they gave as a gift one
night on the last member cruise. The event ended about 10:45
and we went back to the stateroom to get changed into swimsuits.
One thing I noticed today is things were much louder than
necessary. The music at the Goofy pool could probably be heard
in Cuba! Even the "quiet” adult pool had a guitar player singing
and his volume was pumped up so high we chose to take lounge
chairs next to the basketball court to get away from the noise
He wasn’t bad - it was just too loud! The ship was cleared
for people to get off earlier than planned, which was nice.
The big crowds disappeared at that point and we were left
with a nice peaceful ship & a beautiful warm sunny day
HAL’s Veendam pulled in after us, and docked in front of us
at MallorySquare. We were at the other dock, near the shops
- and a Carnival ship came in and docked behind us. I imagine
the port was busy with 3 ships in today!
Around 12:30 I went to Pluto’s and brought back an order
of chicken tenders for us to share. Actually we each ate 1
and we threw the 3rd one away – we didn't’t want
to eat much before our Palo dinner, but we did find room to
each have a chocolate chip cookie! Certain priorities remain
even when on vacation or when a dinner is scheduled! I talked
to my Dad up in Boston for a while, and read a couple of magazines,
then just closed my eyes and rested a while.
Sheila left just before 2 for her massage/facial at the
spa. I stayed until just before 3, then packed up our stuff
and made a brief stop at the internetCafe to get online before
returning to the stateroom. I changed back into non-swimsuit
clothes and went up to the hair salon just in time for my
4pm haircut appointment. The stylist was a nice girl from
South Africa. She didn't’talk much, but spent a lot of time
working on little sections of hair & making sure everything
was perfect. Afterwards she sprayed some stuff on my hair
to separate the curls, but it dried all stiff and I didn’t
like it (I didn’t say anything, since I’d given her the OK
to do it in the first place). I was surprised that the charge
for the haircut was only $30 instead of the $52 I saw on the
price list yesterday. That’s really not bad considering we’re
on a cruise ship.
I stopped at Cove Cafe and found SB online. We instant messaged
for a while,and then my son Chris called so I talked to him
a bit, too. He thought I should be off the ship, enjoying
Key West - but I enjoy the ship more than KeyWest! Eventually
I went back to the stateroom, arriving just before 5. Sheila
was out running around the ship somewhere, so I went ahead
and took my shower,rinsing the spray stuff out of my hair!
After drying my hair I had just enough time to get up on
deck for the KeyWest sunset, so I went up and took a few pictures
for my friend Missy. SantaGoofy and Chip & Dale were posing
for photos in the atrium, and Pocahontas was up on the 4th
floor near the elevators. I skipped all that, and returned
to the stateroom, running into Sheila out in the hall on her
way back. She’d spent the rest of the afternoon reading on
deck 9 & now was back to get ready for dinner. While she
showered I had a glass of wine and downloaded her photos onto
my laptop. Yesterday her memory card filled up (there were
lots of photos from before the cruise), and she said she’d
just buy another card. However, after nearly having a stroke
when she saw the price of the cards on the ship (I stifled
a chuckle at this point) she decided to maybe look for one
on shore at Key West. I suggested instead to have me download
all of her photos onto the laptop, then when I get home I
can burn them all onto a cd for her since she’s never been
able to get them downloaded onto her computer. She liked that
idea, so that’s what we did. I can even upload hers to Ofoto
when I get to my hotel Sunday since I’ll have high speed wireless
Internet then rather than dial-up like at home.
Sheila poured herself a glass of wine once she finished
getting ready, and we hung out in the stateroom until shortly
before 7. At Palo we were seated right away by PJ. We had
him as our head waiter last year, and he is one of the nicest
people on the ship! Our server was Andrew from the Philippines,
and he did a fantastic job for us. We started with the stuff
the bring everyone -breads, spreads, antipasto, parmesan cheese
& proscuitto. We ate what we liked, and left the rest
- the garlic mayo spread was great on the bread,especially
with pieces of parmesan cheese or a garlic clove on top -
mmmm! I planned to order a glass of the moscato wine, but
it was not on the menu or the winelist. I asked Andrew about
it and he said they still have it - it’s their most popular
wine. I guess they’re keeping it a secret by not having it
on the menu??? He brought me a glass, and it was great. Sheila
brought a glass of red wine with her, and didn’t need to order
another one.
For appetizers Sheila had the fried calamari, which she
said was very good. I had the tomato & mozzarella salad,
which had a really interesting presentation. They used plum
tomatoes but took all the soft & seedy part out, leaving
just the shell. They placed 5 small balls of the fresh mozzarella
into a pile in the center of the plate, then placed 4 tomato
pieces on top to completely enclose the cheese. They had some
leaves sticking out of the top, and some pesto and balsamic
vinegar along the side. It looked nice, and was absolutely
light & delicious. I also ordered today’s special appetizer,
figuring we’d share it. It was slices of melon and strawberries
in balsamic vinegar, with a bunch of prosciutto shaped into
a big rosebud. It looked pretty, but I don’t like prosciutto
and the fruit was a little weird with balsamic vinegar . The
melon was incredibly ripe - it almost melted in my mouth.
The melon at breakfast was nothing like this, unfortunately!
For entrees Sheila had the penne pasta with crabmeat &
topped with several large shrimp. I got the filet mignon,
which is presented with a gorgonzola sauce topped by mashed
potatoes with some sort of leaf and a portabello mushroom
on top, and the filet on top of that, topped off with skinny
asparagus spears and a cherry tomato. It looked very nice,
but the filet was huge. I ate around the edge and ate some
of the potatoes but left the rest. Andrew had told us he'd’d
ordered a chocolate soufflé for each of us, but also had us
order something else from the dessert menu. We were feeling
OK after the appetizer,but dessert did us in! Besides the
2 souffles we ordered the pistachio torte (me) and the panna
cotta (Sheila). Everyone at surrounding tables was looking
at us when we had 4 desserts on the table! We noticed people
who had sat behind us (a couple) had 2 souffles EACH, plus
the tiramasu. We were amazed anyone could eat 2 souffles,
although I’m not sure why anyone would want to! We both liked
the other desserts better than the souffle - and neither of
us ate more than half of the souffle. I never would have thought
I’d be saying this, but it was just too rich & chocolaty.
Our dinner took just about 2 hours from start to finish, and
it was a wonderful meal.
We headed out on deck to try to walk off some of our dinner.
We started on deck 10 but it was a bit cool in the wind, so
we went to deck 9 but ran into obstacles where they were pressure
cleaning the deck. We ended up on deck 4,and probably walked
1-2 miles all together. We pretended the funky suits stored
at the bow of the ship were attacking me, and got caught by
a couple of ladies who were out walking and stopped to look
& laugh at us . Sheila headed back to the stateroom to
watch a Tom Hanks movie she wanted to see, while I did another
lap around the deck and then spent quite a while instant messaging
with SB in the Internet Cafe. The ship sailed at 10:15, but
I was online and missed it. In the dark there’s not much to
see anyway - Tuesday will be better since we sail at 5.
I got back to the cabin sometime before 11, and saw we had another
blanket animal We haven’t had any towel animals yet. Last night
we never did figure out what our blanket creature was - it looked
like a blob. Tonight it was a swan - a big brown swan, lol!
I was about to take a picture of it when Sheila destroyed it
to spread it on her bed. She tried putting it back for me, but
it looked really pathetic, so she pretended to stab it to kill
it, and I took a picture of that instead, lol.
I finished up the report & then got ready for bed. I
always read the Navigator for the next day before going to
sleep, and I did a little reading since I wasn't’t that tired
yet. Today was a terrific day. I love having the ship to myself
when everyone else has gone ashore! It’s so peaceful &
relaxing laying on a chaise lounge without 100 other people
crowded nearby. Dinner was top-notch, as always. Even my haircut
was a pleasant surprise, and it’s one last thing I have to
deal with when I get home next week!
DAY 4 MONDAY DEC 6, 2004:
Plan: Sea Day, Palo Brunch, Wine/Cheese Party, Golden Mickeys
Actual: Today is our busiest planned day, and since it’s
a sea day and the pools will be mobbed it made sense to me
to plan it that way. We have 2 fitness classes, a fitness
seminar, brunch, a party, captain’s reception, a show,and
probably dinner (if we’re not still stuffed from brunch).
I got up around 7, dressed and went up on deck 4 to walk
for a while. Sheila was awake by the time I left, and we agreed
to meet here in the cabin for our exercise class. I noticed
my knee was a little more swollen than usual, and remembered
(duh) the doctor telling me to avoid stairs while recuperating.
The past 2 days we’ve been using the stairs almost exclusively,
climbing 7 flights at a time like we normally do. I’ll have
to lay off that and start using the elevators when going that
far.
Because I wasn’t sure about the knee I only walked a mile
- plus it was pretty warm on the sunny side of the ship !
I went back to the stateroom and got stuff to make a ½ cup
of cappuccino. I added the water up at the beverage station
on deck 9 (using the elevator this time), then rode back down
to deck3 & went to the Internet Cafe for about 15 minutes.
Back in the stateroom I told Sheila about a trivia project
a friend is working on, and we watched cnn to see what was
going on in the world. Around 8:05 we headed up to the fitness
center for the 8:15 Body Energizer/Fit Ball class.
The class was full, with too many people actually. Some of the
guests had to be down a little hallway just to find room. The
class used resistance bands and the fitness balls - it was a
tough class, but it felt good to be doing something. A couple
of exercises were impossible because of my knee, but in one
case I was able to use the ball to adapt it, and in the other
the instructor just had me do something totally different. Darn,
I thought I was going to get to just lay there & do nothing
. After the class we walked around on deck 4 for another mile,
then headed inside. Sheila went to the stateroom and took a
quick shower, while I headed to the Internet Cafe and spent
time instant messaging with SB.
I got back to the stateroom in time to dress for brunch
(resort casual – no shorts or jeans), and we made it up to
Palo right at 10:30. We asked PJ to put us in Andrew’s section
again, and Andrew was glad to see us. It was nice that he
already many of our likes and dislikes, so he just took care
of us without a lot of question. They hand you a glass a champagne
as you enter,which you can leave at your table. Andrew took
us up to the buffet portion of the brunch and explained what
everything was. They had big shrimp, giant crab legs,and FL
stone crab claws. There were a lot of funky things I’d never
try, a whole breakfast fruit & breads/pastry table, cheeses,
and a whole dessert buffet. In addition, they make pizzas
to order and have 3 breakfast and 3 lunch entrees, along with
a couple of soups. The breakfasts were eggs benedict, omeletor
pancakes. The lunch choices were tilapia, pasta or beef tenderloin.Everything
looked amazing, and the service was impeccable.
We went through the buffet, but neither of us got very much
because we knew we’d be too stuffed to try much else. It’s
amazing to watch the other people though - they had plates
full of food, and ate like they would never see another meal
again! We tried part of a sticky bun, which was probably the
best sticky bun I’ve ever eaten. I had a little cheese, and
tried a stone crab claw but wasn’t impressed. Sheila had some
shrimp and some cheese, and I’m not sure what else. I tried
the chilled gazpacho, but barely ate half of it. It was very
good, but so spicy my throat was burning and Sheila said my
face was turning pink, lol! We shared a margherita pizza,
and that was also very good. Sheila skipped the entree, but
I ordered the eggs benedict just to try it. I don’t normally
like it, but I figured here at Palo it would probably be excellent
and I was right. Everything about it was just perfect - I
didn’t finish even one half of it, but I ate more than I planned
because it was so good. Andrew brought us a selection of desserts,
including a strawberry tart, ricotta cheesecake and tiramasu.
We tried them all and decided the cheesecake was the best
by far. Sheila went up to the dessert buffet to see what else
she might want, but came back with just another of the small
cheesecakes. I helped here at it, but knew I was not going
up to look at the desserts because I was too full as it was!
We were at brunch for about 1.5 hours, and it was a wonderful
experience. If I was going to cruise Disney again, I’d definitely
do this! We left Palo and went down to the shops, where I
picked up a couple of things a friend had asked for. After
dropping my purchases off in the stateroom and changing back
into my shorts/tank we headed up to do some walking around
deck 10.
My jaw dropped when we stepped outside down near the Mickey
Pool - it was an absolute mob scene in that whole area on
decks 9 & 10. Think Magic Kingdom on the most miserable
busy day of the year, and that’s what it reminded me of. There
is no way in hell I would be able to stand being in that area,
so I’m glad I never brought Chris on a cruise until he was
old enough to be off on his own! We fought our way past the
seventeen million deck chairs, strollers and running children
and found it almost as busy at the Goofy Pool. The adult pool
wasn’t too bad, but it was still very busy - more crowded
than I like. The decision to do non-pool stuff today was definitely
the right one. We did a few laps, then went down to deck 9.
Sheila stopped by the spa and I went over to Cove Cafe and
instant messaged with SB for a little while until she returned
We walked on deck 4, but I was getting tired and just wanted
to go inside!She stayed on a deck chair and I went to the
stateroom and updated the report I could have used a nice
long nap, but that wasn’t going to happen!
Our cabin steward hadn’t serviced our room yet, and was beside
himself apologizing for that. We didn’t care, but I did let
him know we leave early in the morning, so we agreed he’d do
us around 8 each day. That should work well for everyone Today
he’ll come back at 1:30 when we leave, and I imagine we might
be his last stateroom to do.
Around 1:30 we popped open the Rosa Regale even though we
were still full from brunch. We poured a couple of glasses
and took them with us up to the wine/cheese party where we
planned to eat NOTHING. The party was hosted by someone on
the DIS board who had booked a 1-bedroom suite (#8522).
We enjoyed meeting the other DIS people and we stayed about
45 minutes.
Everyone was leaving at that point, off to do other stuff. We
decided to skip the 3pm exercise class and see the 2:15 matinee
of Golden Mickeys. We got there just as it was about to start,
and enjoyed the show. Sheila had never seen it before, which
is why we went. We walked a lap on deck 4 after the show, the
I went to the internet Cafe and she went to the stateroom. We
met back up in the stateroom around 3:45 and went up to the
spa for the 4pm seminar on strong backs and flat abs. The seminar
was interesting, and we learned a few pilates exercises. One
couple who was there we’ve run into everywhere it seems!
We wandered around on deck 9 for a while, but it was very
windy. Scoops didn’t have any chocolate chip cookies - I’ll
have to complain to DCL (kidding).
I went inside to shower & dress for the evening, and
Sheila hung out on deck for a while. After I was dressed I
went up to the internet Cafe to send a quick email to a friend,
and ended up instant messaging with SB for most of the time
I ran back down to the stateroom shortly before 6 and Sheila
was there. She changed into her evening clothes and we headed
upstairs to see the 6pm showing of National Treasure. We were
going to see it Thursday night, but by doing it tonight that
leaves us Thursday free in case we find something else to
do Originally we were going to see Golden Mickeys tonight,
but got that done this afternoon. Whew - it’s tough work being
on a cruise, lol!
The movie was excellent - I loved it! The theater was almost
full, which surprised me on Golden Mickeys night. When it
finished we had just 15 minutes until dinner, which tonight
was in Parrot Cay. It was a challenge finding our table since
it was our first visit. I wondered why nobody was helping
guests to their tables but then realized we should have been
at the character breakfast here this morning (no thanks ).
All of our table mates were present, and we had another great
dinner. Our serving team really do a good job, and they serve
us promptly. I had the tropical fruit appetizer, while Sheila
had the crab appetizer and a garden salad. The others mostly
had the crab, except for Bonnie having the chicken wings (very
tiny wings) and some who had a soup. For my entree I chose
the baby back ribs this time, and they were delicious!It’s
too bad it took me 7 or 8 cruises to find the best thing on
this menu,lol. Sheila had the ribeye steak, which she said
was good. For dessert she had the lemon meringue pie, which
was an adorable individual little pie. I got the creme brulee
cheesecake to go. I stopped at the internet Cafe after dinner
to meet up with SB online, and chatted with him for a while.
We’ve always sended out day being together online, even when
I’ve been at Comedy Warehouse and getting in late. It’s a
nice routine, and one I would miss if I hadn’t done the internet
package.
I went down to the stateroom, where Sheila was in her bed
reading tomorrow’s navigator. We’re not late night people
at all, lol! Tonight we had a towel animal - it looked like
a dog - no more blanket blobs . I finished up the report &
got ready for bed, snacking on some of the cheesecake since
I wasn’t sure it would keep overnight (the plate is too big
for the fridge, so we put it over the ice bucket).
We survived our busy day! It was a good day, and everything
went really well. The Palo brunch is a definite don’t-miss
for anyone cruising, and if you haven’t seen National Treasure
yet you need to!
DAY 5 TUESDAY DEC 7, 2004:
Plan: Grand Cayman
Actual: After another night of sleeping well on the ship,
I woke up just before 7am and saw we were already at Grand
Cayman. The big Carnival ship(Miracle) was just outside our
window. I quickly got dressed & headed up ondeck. On the
other side I found Celebrity’s Century, and coming in was
HAL’sZaandam. I started walking on deck 4, and Sheila joined
me once she was up &dressed. I did 3 miles, and she did
2, then we decided to go have breakfast upon deck. We both
got some fruit, then Sheila added scrambled eggs and I had
them make me a small tomato/cheese omelet. We’d stopped at
the beverage station and made our own Cafe mochas with a mix
of decaf coffee and hot chocolate. She said it tasted as good
as the one she bought at Cove Cafe the other day (which wasn’t
very good). I thought it was ok, but will stick with my regular
cappuccino from now on.
After breakfast we changed into our swimsuits and headed
up to deck 10. It wasn’t crowded at all, and we spent most
of the day there either dozing or reading. Around noon I went
to Scoops and Topsiders and brought us back a plate of fruit
and a couple of the chocolate chip cookies. Around 2:30 I’d
had enough sun, so I stopped at the Internet Cafe and then
went to the stateroom to take my shower. Sheila was partly
in the shade, and she’d just started my friend Leanne’s novel
- Highland Wishes. I knew she’d have trouble putting it down!
I finished up the cheesecake from last night, updated the
report, then headed back up to the Internet Cafe for a little
while. An issue had come up at work, and I wanted some assurance
they were taking care of it.
SB was online, so after checking on the work thing we spent
almost an hour chatting I’d meant to get back to the stateroom
before we sailed away, but never did. Sheila came up to confirm
that I was going to miss the sail away -she figured I was
busy talking to him & had lost track of time. She headed
out to watch the ship sail away, and I finished up with SB
- giving myself almost 10 minutes to return to the stateroom,
dress for the evening, and meet Shiela upstairs for the Castaway
Club reception. It doesn’t sound like much time,but I did
it, lol!
We were in line shortly before they started letting people
in, and were ushered into Rockin’ Bar D. The spread looked
the same, but I noticed the chicken tenders were missing.
The hot items were spring rolls, chicken wontons,coconut fried
shrimp & fried jalapeno poppers. There were the usual
cold canapos,but I never know what is on them and so I never
take any. They said there were 700 repeat cruisers on board,
which is the highest % of any cruise line. However, I know
that’s not true unless they’re ignoring HAL for some reason.
We got a rum punch (the complimentary drink) to go, and
went to the movie theater at 6 to see Mr. 3000. This is a
baseball movie, about a real player. The lead guy was a total
jerk, but developed into a decent person by the end of the
movie. It was a good movie - not as good as National Treasure,
but certainly worth seeing.
After the movie we found the atrium to be a mob scene because
some of the characters were out. There were so many people
in the area the noise was deafening, and the kids were especially
obnoxious (parents, if the kid is screaming in line perhaps
you should skip the character greet). We ran into the counselors
& kids from the club, who were literally crawling on the
floor in a very congested area by the elevators. I was appalled,
and shocked when I saw the crawling was something the counselors
were telling the kids to do - it was very inappropriate in
that setting (& dangerous)! We decided to remove ourselvers
from the mobs, stopped by the Promenade Lounge for wine glasses
then returned to the stateroom.
I wrote out a note for a friend who works for DVC - one
of the cast members on board will email her at work to get
the message to her for me. Sheila poured herself a glass of
wine, but I wasn’t in the mood for any tonight(after 1.5rum
punches I had no room for more alcohol). I headed up to the
internetCafe and Sheila watched some TV for a little while
before meeting me up there.
Tonight’s dinner is the Small World menu, with choices from
various countries. Bonnie & Dennis are eating at Palo
tonight, but the rest of us will be in Lumiere’s again. I
ordered the chilled cucumber & mint soup, which was good.
I also had the greek salad, which was pretty bad. The feta
cheese was way too salty, and the onions were too strong -
I couldn’t eat it. Sheila had the l;obster bisque, which she
said was good this time (it was too salty last cruise). For
entrees Sheila got the salmon and the rest of us ordered the
chciken Fettuccine alfredo. Everything at this course was
excellent. For dessert the other 3 got the apple pie, and
I ate part of the ice cream sundae with butter pecan ice cream.
Our server also brought a portion of the bread pudding -Diane
& I each tried it, but neither of us liked it.
After dinner Sheila went for a walk, and I got online. Back
in the stateroom we had a towel rabbit from our steward, and
a card reminding us to turn the clocks back an hour. Sheila
watched a movie & I did some reading after finishing up
the report for today.
Today was a nice relaxing day - exactly what I expect cruising
to be like!Some people might think it’s strange to skip the
ports, but we like the ship much better than the ports.
DAY 6 WEDNESDAY DEC 8, 2004:
Plan: Cozumel
Actual: Since the clocks were supposed to be turned back
an hour last night when I woke up at 7:30 it was really 6:30
ship’s time. Sheila was awake, so we got dressed & then
I set her up on the laptop to review her photos and delete
the ones she didn’t want to keep. Around 7 we headed up on
deck and walked 2 miles together, then she sat in the shade
while I did one more mile. It was hot on the sunny side of
the ship, so I walked inside in the air consitioning on that
side .
Along the way we noticed a few things worth mentioning -
one good, the others not First, we kept seeing instances where
guests had been somewhere and walked away leaving their trash
on the floor even though a trash can was not more than 2 feet
away. I picked up stuff and threw it in the trash, not understanding
why people have to be such pigs! Second, why do people feel
it’s appropriate to come out of their cabin and be in a public
area while still wearing their pajamas??? There was no mistaking
that it was pajamas we saw, and it wasn’t only on the children
(although that’s just as inappropriate). It seemed really
low-class, and not what you expect on a cruise ship. Third,
walking on desk 4 is tough because it’s not wide enough to
accommodate the joggers &walkers. You’re constantly having
to get out of the way, which is a real pain. I’ve complained
about the crappy deck on the Disney ships before, so enough
said for today. Fourth - this is the nice thing we saw. There’s
an older man on board who every morning is out on a deck chair
with his 2 kids, reading to them We’ve seen him every day.
The kids are elementary school age, and sit there quietly,
listening to whatever novel the guy is reading from. You don’t
see that much, but it was nice to see.
We returned to the stateroom to drop off stuff and get my
cappuccino, then went up to Topsiders on deck 9 for breakfast.
It was much busier than yesterday, since the ship was still
sailing. We both started with fruit again,then Sheila added
eggs & a Mickey waffle while I went to the omelet station
and got another small tomato & cheese omelet. She found
us a table out on deck, which was a stroke of luck since it
was so crowded. As we were eating we got close to Cozumel,
so we went to the edge of the deck and watched the ship pull
into the dock.
There was a Celebrity ship anchored offshore, JCL’s Norwegian
Magesty at a dock ahead of us, and Celebrity’s Galaxy sharing
the dock we were assigned to.
We were docking in San Miguel, and I could see several other
ships at the other dock 3 miles down the road. As we pulled
in the captain sounded our horn,and the people on the Galaxy’s
deck cheered and clapped, lol! The dock is narrow, so we were
really close to each other. The Galaxy looks like a niceship,although
I don’t like they way their promenade deck is on 2 different
desks and requires you to climb stairs to get from one end
to the other - that’s tough on anyone in a wheelchair or anyone
wanting to jog. The JCL ship -well,let’s just say I’m not
a fan of JCL and consider their ships (even the new ones)
to be bottom of the line cruising - kind of the Walmart of
the cruiseships.
Once we were secured at the dock we returned to the stateroom
to change into our swimsuits and headed up to deck 10 by the
adult pool. It was another gorgeous sunny & breezy day,
and it was delightful being out there for about 4 hours. We
napped, read, chatted a bit, and today Sheila went on the
lunch run. She brought back fruit and chocolate chip cookies.
She claimed 3 of them stuck together so she just took them
all, forcing us each to eat 1.5 cookies - somehow it wasn’t
a hardship for either of us . I went back to the stateroon
just before 2 and got my shower out of the way, Sheila returned
after I was done - we had plans to go ashore to do some shopping
and figured we wanted to be off the ship by 3. I headed up
to the Internet Cafe to instant message with SB while she
got her shower & got ready. All too soon Sheila arrived
- dang, I wouldn’t have minded if she took hours to get ready,
lol.
We headed off the ship, and were surprised to see quite
a few police officers carrying M16 rifles. That seemed a bit
much, but we just took it as a cue to not do anything stupid
. Cozumel hasn’t changed - it’s still congested, thanks to
all of the cruise ships. The sidewalks in front of the shops
are pathetic - huge holes covered with pieces of plywood or
tile. Heaven help anyone in a wheelchair! The constant solicitation
by the shopkeepers trying to get us into their store got tiresome,
but we knew what we were looking for and ignored them all.
Sheila bought a pretty slide for her mom for Christmas, and
a necklace to wear with her dress tomorrow. I just got some
vanilla for a friend I’ve been here enough times there isn’t
anything else I want or need
We returned to the ship around 4:30 or so, and decided to finish
our wine while watching the sunset. We took the wine up to deck
10 but the sunset was not the greatest - too many low clouds.
It was fun watching several of the cruise ships sail away, however.
By 7 or 8 we were the only one left at this dock area. We walked
around on deck 10, doing a mile up there, then went down to
the stateroom. I poured the rest of my wine, and went up to
the Internet Café for about an hour. When I returned Sheila
was out, so I headed up to do some walking on deck 4 since there
was plenty of time before I needed to dress for the evening.
Deck 4 was partially closed off, so I went up to deck 10 and
walked 2 miles up there. When I returned to the stateroom Sheila
was there - she’d been wandering around decks 9 & 10 but
we never ran across each other. We hung out in the stateroom
until it was time to go up to Animator’s Palate for our 8:30
dinner (which feels like 9:30 to us).
Tonight is the special Pirates of the Caribbean menu, which
I’m looking forward to. They also give everyone a bandana,
but I refuse to wear stuff like that I don’t do the little
Dutch girl hat on HAL cruises, so I’m certainly not wrapping
a bandana around my head here, lol! Tonight Dawn wasn’t feling
well, so it was just 5 of us at dinner. Diane & Sheila
had the crab cake appetizer, Dennis had the crab/shrimp/salmon
appetizer, and Bonnie & I ordered the pineapple. This
was a fresh pineapple spear accompanied by a coconut-covered
banana & orange glaze. It was fabulous!! I also ordered
the chilled honeydew & mango soup, but didn’t like it
because the mango flavor was too predominant. The others had
a salad or spicy vegetable gumbo soup.
The entrees were really terrific. Three of them had the
shrimp and scallops over pasta, Bonnie had the roasted pork
loin, and I decided to try seafood even though I generally
hate seafood. My friend Michael is a big seafood lover, and
before the cruise we’d talked about red snapper - he showed
me sites on the Internet, and thought I would like the flavor
of the fish. Tonight it was coconut crusted oven-baked snapper
(Dennis said it was red snapper), served over fried rice.
I cautiously took a small bite, and loved it - I ate almost
the whole portion! The coconut really added to it, giving
it a nice sweet flavor.
During dinner I had one of those moments where you just
want to crawl under the table & disappear. We were discussing
the Pirates of the Caribbean movie,and I commented that I
might be the only woman who found Johnny Depp to NOT be appealuing
at all. Sheila piped up to explain to everyone that it’s just
because I don’t like men with beards & long hair. Dennis
was seated to my right,with his full beard and long hair pulled
back in a pony tail! I wanted to smack her, lol - and I didn’t
know what to say to Dennis that wouldn’t make it worse than
it already sounded. Sheila did that for me - she told Dennis
that didn’t mean I wouldn’t speak to him, just that I wouldn’t
want to snuggle with him HELLO????? His wife was happy to
hear that, but I certainly had no desire to snuggle with anyone
other than SB . Luckily Dennis didn’t hold this little conversation
against us, and afterwards it did seem a little humorous.
The servers all did the limbo parade, getting most of the
guests up in the process. We ordered dessert - Dennis tried
the sugarfree rice pudding, which was so awful he didn’t eat
it. The rest of us had the white chocolate cheesecake on a
macadamia barnacle bottom - that was very good, and pretty
light for cheesecake We were finished with dinner just in
time for the deck party and pirate’s buffet. Sheila headed
up on deck, but I went to the Internet Café where SB was waiting
online. The fireworks were due to begin at 10:45, and I almost
missed them. I left the Internet Cafe at 10:40, took the elevator
up to deck 10, climbed back down to deck 9 (the fireworks
are shot from deck 10 near Palo), then climbed up the stairs
to deck 10 midship. Just as I got to the top of the stairs
the fireworks started, scaring the crap out of me! I have
to admit - I was impressed with the fireworks. I wasn’t expecting
much, but they were a nice big display and overall more than
I thought they’d do. I’m not impressed with the deck party
- I hate those things because they’re too crowded & noisy.
I guess I’m not a party animal! Deck 9 by the Goofy pool and
deck 10 in that area was wall-to-wall people. The characters
were on stage, except for Mickey, who was up on deck 10. I
didn’t see or hear the show they did, since I’d rather be
talking to SB than watching the characters (not that he’s
not a character every now & then). We decided to get out
of the crowd and headed back down to the stateroom.
I updated the report and Sheila watched some TV The clocks
get moved forward an hour tonight, so tomorrow we’ll actually
be at the time we started out at Our steward left us a towel
frog who was wearing my sunglasses. He’s never taken away
the other animals, so we’ve got quite a zoo developing in
our stateroom We’re starting to run out of room for them,
too!
Today was another great day. I just love cruising, and especially
being on the ship on port days. The weather has been perfect,
we got our shopping done,dinner was one of the best menus
yet, and the fireworks exceeded my expectations.
DAY 7 THURSDAY DEC 9, 2004:
Plan: Sea Day
Actual: I woke up before 7, and decided to get up and start
the day. After I got dressed Sheila was awake, so I headed
up to walk on deck 4 and agreed to meet her there when she
got upstairs. It was very windy today, and the ship was moving
pretty fast. I did 3 miles, and I think Sheila did 2. We went
insdie to the Internet Cafe to send some stuff to Mary, and
found SB online. Sheila sat back where she couldn’t see our
instant message, which was very considerate of her. We got
the Mary stuff taken care of, and I stayed to talk to SB for
a while longer. This unlimited Internet package has been so
great -worth every penny!
I met Sheila up on deck 9 for breakfast, which we ate outside
in the sun. We had the usual breakfast foods - why mess with
success, lol! After eating we stopped at the shops so I could
buy a 2004 DCL photo album, then returned to the stateroom
to change into our swimsuits. Since the ship was going to
be so mobbed today we decided to lay out on the "secret” deck
7 aft. There’s also shade there, which is important for Sheila.
We were up there from about 9:30 until afternoon. I had
my sunny spot,Sheila stayed in the shade, and different people
came & went throughout our stay. I finally left shortly
after 2, having had enough sun at that point. Sheila was engrossed
in Leanne’s novel, and just moved her chair to follow the
shade.
I took a brief break to jump online, catching SB just before
he headed out for a while. On the way back I stopped on deck
9 to get a banana for my lunch and a chocolate chip cookie
for each of us. Deck 9 was sheer bedlam – I don’t know how
people stand it, even though they have small children. Once
I left for good I returned to the stateroom and updated the
report, then worked on the photos taken so far (downloading,
naming, deleted the unwanted ones, etc).My hotel Sunday night
has high -speed Internet, so I wanted them all ready to be
uploaded while I was there.
After finishing with the photos I went up to the Internet
Cafe and spent another 45 minutes chatting with SB. By the
time I finished I was starving, so I went in search of food
that wasn’t fruit or chocolate chip cookies. Up on deck 9
I settled on a single chicken finger, which hit the spot.
I took it back to the stateroom and found Sheila there. We
had about 15 minutes before our 4:30 Fitball class up in the
spa.
There were only 5 people taking the class - 2 men, another
woman and us. I’m convinced the instructor is possessed by
some evil force. That girl has more energy than a kindergarten
class, and had everyone sweating up a storm. It was a great
class, but it’s also a tough workout. When it ended we walked
a mile on deck 10. It was so windy we only lasted a mile before
heading back down to the stateroom shortly before 6. Once
the sun sets it gets cool really quickly, particularly with
the wind.
I updated the report and Sheila filled out the tip stuff
& took care of that at the front desk. I took my shower
first, ran up to the Internet Cafe while Sheila showered.
SB & chatted for about half an hour, then I returned to
the stateroom and poured Sheila & I some of the rosa regale.
It should be gone tonight - provided we each drink 1.5 glasses,
which is easy to do. Around 7:30 we went upstairs to sit in
the Promenade Lounge and do some people-watching. The lounge
was hopping, with lots of people on the dance floor.
At 8:30 we went to Parrot Cay for our dinner. Everyone was
at the table tonight. Tonight is the Captain’s gala dinner,
with semi-formal dress. We saw several people dressed appropriately
(looking very nice) but also way too many yahoos who either
don’t know or don’t care how to dress. I’ll admit – this is
a pet peeve of mine, and I go more casual than normal because
I know Disney does’t enforce their dress code. Enough complaining,
though .
This dinner menu is not one of my favorites - in fact, the warm
chocolate lava cake is the only thing that really appeals to
me out of the entire meal. For an appetizer I ordered the tropical
fruit salad, but only ate the 3 pieces of pineapple because
I didn’t like the other fruits. Others had the fruit also, or
soup, and Dennis had the clams. I skipped the soup/salad course
– others had the cream of mushroom soup, the chilled tomato
consommé or the garden salad For an entrée Sheila & Dennis
had the lobster tail, which was quite large I tried a taste,
but I still don’t like lobster at all. SB absolutely loves lobster,
and it had been a long time since I’d tried it - I was thinking
maybe I’d developed a taste for it after all, but that didn’t
happen! When Dennis finished his our server came over and asked
him if he wanted another lobster tail - which he gladly accepted.
Dawn had the grain fed chicken breast,Bonnie & Diane had
the pasta, and I ordered the halibut. Again, I’m not a seafood
eater - but nothing else on the menu really appealed to me.
The fish was ok, but not something I’d seek out in the future.
Dessert was the highlight - Bonnie ordered the cherries
jubilee, Dennis ordered just coffee, but the rest of us had
the warm chocolate lava cake,which now is served with a scoop
of vanilla ice cream on the side. Our server brought over
a covered plate to Dennis, and asked him to remove the lid.
On the plate, written in chocolate, was just coffee, lol!
After dinner I went back to the Internet Cafe, for my end-of-the-day
talk with SB, and then met up with Sheila out in the atrium.
There was a holiday program with a choir and Mrs Claus just
ending. We went out to deck 4 and walked a couple of laps
before returning to the stateroom to update the report (me)
and get out of the uncomfortable shoes (Sheila).
Tonight is the dessert extravaganza in Lumiere’s at 11:15,
and for whatever reason we decided to attend. I don’t think
either of us wants to eat a single thing, but if anything
looks too good to pass up we will take it back to eat tomorrow.
We headed upstairs around 11:05 and joined the back of the
line that had already formed. They started letting people
in early, which was a good thing. I thought the dessert extravaganza
was a big disappointment – it consisted of several tables
with a few cakes on each one. Who wants big slices of cakes??
The desserts should be smaller sized so you can try a number
of things. Nothing really looked great to us, either. I took
some photos and Sheila carried a plate. We ended up with a
petit-four thing and what might be a truffle. The plates were
warm, so the chocolate started to melt right away. In the
stateroom I transferred the chocolate into a Ziploc bag and
when I tasted the chocolate that had gotten on my fingers
I didn’t like it at all. Oh well, I told Sheila this was probably
a good thing since if it tastes lousy I won;t’t eat it tomorrow!
Today was another relaxing day, filled with a couple of
my favorite things -lounging around on a deck chair and talking
to SB. Tomorrow is our last fullday, and we’ll both be sorry
to see the cruise come to an end.
DAY 8 FRIDAY DEC 10, 2004:
Plan: Castaway Cay
Actual: This morning I woke up around 7:10 - definitely
too late to make the 7:15 Fitball class! That was ok though,
as I was more in the mood to just walk. I got up and got dressed,
then found Sheila awake when I came out of the bathroom. We
agreed to meet up on deck 4, and I headed out. SB had said
he’d look for me early, but I thought 7:20 was too early.
However, I took a chance & he came on just after I did.
We talked for a while, during which time Sheila dressed &
started walking on deck 4. When she didn’t see me she figured
I was talking to him, lol. I caught up with her eventually
and we walked 2miles this morning.
After our walk we stopped at the stateroom to get my cappuccino
then headed up to Topsiders on deck 9. We had the usual breakfast
stuff, plus at Sheila’s suggesting we picked up cereal, milk
& yogurt for breakfast tomorrow. That way we don’t have
to sit in Lumiere’s and can avoid the screaming kids,strollers
and suitcases that will be crowded into Topsiders. It’s always
such a mess on the last day - Disney really should take a
lesson from HAL on how to handle this better.
We ate out on the deck and soon the ship turned to back
into Castaway Cay. After eating we changed into our swimsuits
and walked off the ship with just a few minutes wait. The
"winter wonderland” I thought existed on Castaway Cay was
a huge disappointment. It’s basically a tree and a plastic
snowman couple on the dock - with the fake snow blowing. Once
you get onto the island itself, there’s no holiday stuff.
They did decorate the trams with garland and antlers, which
was cute. However, I guess I was expecting more.
We decided to set up camp at the far end of the family beach.
The downside is screaming, crying kids but the plus side is
convenience and what we feel is actually a prettier beach
than the adult beach. We were the first to arrive out that
far, so we got a hammock, umbrella and chairs in the front
row. It was beautiful for almost an hour, then it got very
cloudy & windy. I was actually cold in the hammock! We
decided to give it a half-hour, but it turned nice again and
we ended up staying until 2pm (4 hours).
We had lunch at Cookie’s BBQ - we each had a little potato
salad and half of a cheeseburger. I looked at the ribs, but
I always take some and they’re never that great. This time
I was smart and skipped them. We walked back to the ship at
2 so we could take photos along the way, including some by
the "winter wonderland” scene . Once we were back on the ship
I went to the internetCafe briefly and Sheila worked on redoing
her fingernails. I downloaded the photos from both of our
cameras, and copied a few of mine into her directory so she’d
have them too.
When that was done we went up on deck to walk around. Deck
4 was partially closed off because they were washing the lifeboats,
so we headed up to deck 10 aND did several laps up there.
The final stragglers were returning to the ship, with everyone
due on board by 4:30. I stopped in Cove Cafe and talked to
SB, while Sheila wandered around some more. Just before 5
I remembered the sail away, but got there after the ropes
had been pulled in and the ship had pushed away from the dock.
I usually enjoy watching that, but given a choice between
SB and sailing away, I don’t mind that I missed the sailing
away. It’s a little sad that this is probably my last visit
to Castaway Cay, which is a very nice island. However, that’s
by my choice - there are just too many oither things I want
to do more, and Disney prices for DVC members have truly gotten
ridiculous.
I returned to the stateroom once I saw there wouldn’t be a nice
sunset tonight, and found Sheila getting ready to take her shower.
I started my packing while she was in the shower, then she started
hers while I took my shower. The Captain came on & warned
everyone the high temperature tomorrow is expected to be around
60 - but I’d already checked online and knew a cold front was
passing through tonight. They’re expecting windier conditions
than any of the previous nights, due to the cold front.
After we’d packed as much as we could we went upstairs and
took some photos by the Christmas tree, then came back to
the stateroom and downloaded them. When that was done we headed
upstairs in search of alcohol. I wanted a glass of the moscato,
but that isn’t sold everywhere. We stopped by the piano barlounge
on Beat Street (Sessions?) but neither of us liked the stale
cigarette stink in there so we didn’t stay. I knew Palo had
the moscato, so we headed up there. PJ was outside the restaurant
and assured us we were welcome at the bar.
I got my wine, Sheila ordered a kahlua & cream, and
we both enjoyed chatting with the bartender for the next hour.
We left around 8 and stopped at Cove Cafe, where I got online
briefly to chat with SB. Just before 8:30 we entered Lumiere’s
for our final dinner of the cruise.
Dinner was excellent, and tonight they did the parade of
nations and the baked Alaska presentation. Our serving team
both have a great sense of humor,and it’ll be a shame to leave
them. Our dinner companions were all very nice -but also very
interesting in a number of quirky ways I’ve chosen to leave
out of the report (I did verify they don’t read Disney stuff
online).
Tonight’s menu had the appetizer chicken tenderloins coated
in cracker, with honey mustard sauce. That’s my single favorite
appetizer, so I ordered that. Dawn & Bonnie did also,
and Bonnie liked them so much she asked to skip her salad
in favor for another chicken appetizer. Sheila and Dennis
had the crawfish & lobster bisque, and Diane had a salad.
Dennis also had some seafood thing with shrimp, salmon and
I’m not sure what else. For my entre I ordered the roasted
red snapper (to give it a try) and it was perhaps the best
non-Paloentrée I had all week! I was so surprised that I really
liked it a lot, and I ate the entire portion of fish (granted,
it’s not that big, but still). It was served on a spicy orange
sauce, which had a nice kick to it. Sheila & Diane had
the seafood linguine, Dennis had the boneless lamb and Dawn
& Bonnie had the beef tenderloin.
I skipped dessert tonight - I’ve had most of them before
and for me at least none are worth the calories. Dawn &
Bonnie had the Chocolate Decadence,which is a small ice cream
sundae with a chocolate mousse pastry & chocolate cookie.
It sounds a WHOLE lot better than it ever was when I ordered
it. Diane had the banana napoleon and Sheila had the deep
dish apple cranberry pie (very good). Dennis skipped dessert
also.
I said my goodbyes to the group and headed back up to Cove
Cafe to meet SB online at 10. My friend Maria instant messaged
me just before SB got on,wanting to know what the hotel tax
rate is on Hilton Head Island. I laughed - do I look like
a freakin’ South Carolina tax expert?? I had to sweetly remind
her I don’t pay hotel tax, being part of the DVC elite . Sheila
arrived while I was instant messaging with SB, and sat on
one of the couches to read more Leanne’s smutty book. Seriously,
it’s an excellent book - Sheila just keeps blushing at all
of the sex & smut because she knows the author. She didn’t
think Leanne thought like that, but you can’t get that book
out of Sheila’s hands without risking losing a limb!
When I finished with SB I went over and joined Sheila. We
sat there chatting for a while, and I ordered a Cafe Toledo
- chocolate flavored coffee with baileys, kahlua and whipped
cream. It was very good! We got back to the stateroom before
11 and finished with the luggage we wanted them to handle
for us . I finished up today’s report and Sheila continued
her smut-fest reading Highland Wishes (a book I highly recommend
to anyone).
Today was a beautiful day on the island, except for the
brief period when it was pretty chilly. It’s been a wonderful
cruise, but I’m ready to get back to the real world again.
DAY 9 SATURDAY DEC 11, 2004:
Plan: Leave Magic, return home
Actual: All good things must come to an end, including cruises.
When I woke up at 5 we were already docked in Port Canaveral.
I turned on my phone but didn’t get up until 6. After getting
dressed I went upstairs to make cappuccino and get online
at the Internet Cafe (basically killing time – I knew SB wouldn’t
be up that early ). Sheila stopped by after she got dressed,
then we ate breakfast in the stateroom (cereal & bananas
from yesterday). Around 7:45 she saw people leaving the ship,
so we grabbed our luggage and headed out.
Getting off the ship was a breeze, but getting out of the
terminal was a pain due to the long lines of people. The people
working did the best they can - there is just an awful lot
of people in the same place at the same time. We were on the
road by 8:15, which wasn’t bad at all.
We stopped in Sebring, where I had left my car at Sheila’s
parents’ house,then I continued home to Ft Myers on my own.
The trip home from the ship took just about 4.5 hours, which
feels like a very long time after being on a cruise for a
week!
SUMMARY:
This is the first time I’ve finished a Disney cruise without
having another one booked or at least planned. However, I keep
looking at the points chart and cannot bring myself to book
it even though I technically have enough points to do so. If
I’m going to use my cash, I’ll book HAL - so I’m afraid my DCL
days are over. I will miss the ship, as it’s almost like a 3rd
home (after dvd resorts) to me, and I’ll especially miss Palo.
We both had a wonderful week. Sheila is the perfect travel companion
– we get along well and both feel free to do things together
or separately. Our next trips together will be 1 night in January
for the Disney Marathon, and then we’ll spend a week in Hilton
Head in April (provided there is still availability when I call
this week).
MAGICAL MOMENTS:
- The holiday decor on the ship was really pretty, and the Christmas
music in the background was a nice touch. Finally being able
to see this made my final Disney cruise a little extra special.
- The Internet package made it so easy to stay in touch with
SB during the trip. We’re living in different states right now,
and are used to talking several times a day. The thought of
going 6-7 days without that conytact was not a good thing, so
I was very glad to have the Internet available. Perhaps someday
Disney will let guests access the package from their own laptops-
that would make it perfect!
- Palo dinner & brunch were both excellent! The restaurant
is beautiful yet comfortable. The service is top-notch. The
food is excellent and is served with an excellent presentation.
There’s simply nothing I don’t love about Palo - except perhaps
that I can’t eat there every night !
- Staying onboard while in port was an excellent decision for
us.
We both cruise with the single goal of relaxing, and there’s
nothing more relaxing than lounging around on an almost deserted
cruise ship all day!We’ve cruised enough that the ports are
"been there, done that” to both of us, but we really enjoy seeing
everyone else disembarking!
- The new fireworks display was a very nice surprise. I had
no idea they were starting this, and was quite impressed by
what a nice job they did. It’s a don’t-miss for any future Magic
cruisers!
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