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Well, let me preface this to say I am a 48 yr old disney fan.. that LOVES the mouse. I have gone to disney every year but two since 1978.. I missed 87 and
2000 and each visit I probably have been to the parks about 100+ times altogether.
This was my third cruise with my 92 year old father in law. Our first two were with royal carribean.
Well, we left Syracuse and traveled thru Pittsburgh arrived at Orlando airport just after 11, and the disney cruise line representatives were
waiting nearby.
We were taken by bus, to the pier at port Canaveral. They showed us where the space shuttles were launched nearby. The ship was really big and they showed
you a movie on the way over, about the ship and the amenities aboard. Well we got there about 1 pm at the pier and then had to stand in line to
submit our documents and get our "key to the world card" I had my father in law in a wheel chair and was trying to push him and pull
along my suitcase and my purse behind me. Finally one of the disney employees offered to help. When we got onboard, he offered to take us to our
cabin. We were in cabin 2650, which is the next to the last cabin in the back. We had only paid for an inside cabin cat. 12, and offered to take run
of the house.. meaning whatever they had left over, and we had lucked out. They ended up giving us a category 9, deluxe oceanview room. It had a big
window probably 36 inches round, no verandah, but I was happy with it. The only problem I had with it, was all the walking constantly to the other end
of the ship and we could hear alot of noise, which I believe was engine noise. The room had a split bath, toilet and sink on one side, and tub/shower/ sink
in the other. a double wide closet, a safe inside which was run by your card, dresser space, a refrigerator, (mini) twin beds, 2 nightstands, a vanity, and
a full size sofa, which also would have made into a bed. I was surprised to find AAA that we had booked our cruise from, had given us both a disney
picture frame, and a castaway cay crate, which included snacks and bahama mamas, a little radio.
Well I wanted to change our seating assignments for dinner, and they had to be changed at studio sea by 330 pm and it was already 230, so we went up and
requested early seating. He told us that we had one person ahead of us, and if we got it, he would leave a message on our phone.. (they did) . I explained
my father in law went to bed at 7 or 730 and if they made us eat at 830 he would just go to bed without eating. Then I told him I wanted to go to the
shore excursion desk to hand in our paper for the submarine excursion. THEN we could go eat. Well, I was going down the stairs, with him behind me, and I
told him I was going to hand in the paper.. I did and when I came back, I found him sprawled on the lobby floor with about 6 disney employees around
him. He had missed a stair and fallen. We hadnt even been aboard 20 minutes. They brought a nurse up from downstairs, and took his blood pressure, and he
seemed to be okay. So I took him upstairs to deck 9 for the welcome aboard buffet. I told him not to eat too much cuz it was already 330 and we were
eating again at 6.
At 4, we went to the fire drill, and then I took him back to the cabin. I went up on deck for the sail away celebration. They had covered up the goofy
pool with a dance floor and had a band, and then just before 5, the characters came out, and were all dancing. At 5 pm, they played "when you
wish upon a star" with the smokestack and they had confetti. Five minutes later, the characters left, but the band stayed so I went back to get ready
for dinner. Our luggage was already delivered to the cabin by that time. After dinner I went to bingo, and then at 930, I went to the mickey mania
game show. They had podiums set up and had 4 teams competing about disney trivia.
DAY TWO Sunday.. a day at sea. I checked out for the internet and found an internet cafe by the promenade lounge on deck 3. they had 8 computer
terminals with signs by them, that it was either .75 a minute or you could have the whole week unlimited for 89.99. I know how much I like aol, so after
I found out we could have all aol, and not just the mail I decided to take the weekly rate. ( I was glad I did, cuz I found out at the end of the
cruise, if I had done the minute rate, I would have owed over $1500!! I made sure to get my moneys worth!! lol) Of course I wouldnt have gone in chat if I
had been on per minute.
This day I went to bingo in the morning and won $112 which was nice. I also went in the afternoon.
In the afternoon, they had a hercules musical, I didnt really enjoy it and left after about 20 minutes. Then at night we had a cabaret show with a
comedian and ventroliquist. It was really funny. It was also formal night at Lumieres where we ate.
That evening I went to a show called bim bam boom. They had us divided up into teams. and would say a question and every body would write a quick
answer Like name how many kids would you have ideally? and then they seen which answer was the most popular, and the teams that said that answer got
the points. My team ended up winning (me and another girl) and we got a disney cruise line coffee mug.
Day three Monday.. another day at sea. Today was our character breakfast at Parrot cay, and we ate with our dinner companions. They had mickey minnie,
chip and dale and pluto, going around table to table.. They had so many tables Mickey barely got to us for a picture. went to bingo again and won
$105. In the afternoon, they had an island magic show starring the characters. It was cute. It was about the characters preparing for our stop
in castaway cay
One thing I was kind of disappointed in was I didnt think they had enough opportunities to interact with the characters. This evening they brought them
out from 10-1030 pm for photographs in the atrium (mickey, minnie, goofy, and pluto). and it was the ONLY time they had it the whole cruise. Another thing
that disappointed me, was they would have several activities all starting at 730 pm and they werent repeated. We ate at 6 and would have to rush thru
dessert to go to them. but if you ate at 830, I dont know if you could have gone to many of them, especially on formal nights when you had to get ready.
They had pin trading in the lobby every night 730 to 830 too if you are into that. The evening show was called c'est magique. It was pretty good.
Day four. tuesday we went to st maarten today. I decided not to go ashore. The reactions were different at my dinner table I heard alot of people say
it was dirty and they didnt think they had any bargains, but then somebody else said they had a $5 ferry that would take you to a gorgeous beach with
water as warm as bath water.. so who knows. They didnt really have much going on aboard the ship, so I decided to go up
to the hot tub and pool. they had the mickey (kiddie pool) drained. I dont know why, and the adult pool was so hot, it burned your skin. I ended up in
goofys family pool, which was lukewarm and not even really refreshing, so I didnt stay there long either.
That evening I went to disney trivia. That was fun, and mostly about their animated movies. I went to bingo that night and won $105. They had a tropical theme that night at dinner and gave every body a silk flower lei which was nice. there was also a show on the deck in the evening,
but I didnt go.
Day 5 - wednesday.. went to st thomas. After breakfast, we had 1030 time to go on a shore excursion on the atlantis submarine.
They explained we would ride a shuttle bus to the pier, then board a boat for a 20 min ride to buck island, where we would pick up the submarine. It costs
$75 and $50 for kids, but I felt it would probably be the only time I would ride a submarine in my life. Well they picked us up right at the pier, then
took us to the ship, took our picture and then when we got on the boat, told us the submarine did NOT have any bathrooms so if you had to go, you better
go now, cuz they are underwater for an hour. They offer this 3 times a day, 930, 1030 (ours) and 1230 I believe. the sub only holds 42 people and they sell out really quickly so if you want to do
this, I suggest getting in your shore excursion request early. To get in the submarine, you have to climb down a straight ladder, which wasnt too bad, cuz
the steps were pretty wide, I was worried about my 92 yr old father in law but he did fine. The seats were comfy and had nice big portholes. they told
us the sub cost over $4 million so probably why it costs so much to ride it. They took us 100 ft down. We seen alot of fish and coral and it was pretty
interesting, altho the kids were disappointed we didnt see sharks. One thing I did not like, was when we got back to the pier from the boat, it was very
disorganized, they had told us that they were going to give us a dive certificate, but turned out we had to go to their gift shop to get it.
(conveniently). They had an open shuttlebus there, a van, and another vehicle and everytime I asked where they were going, nobody wanted to answer me.
Finally I found one that took us to the gift shop. Well we got our certificate, paid $10 for the snapshot of us with 2 postcards and a pen, then
tried to get on the free shuttle that supposedly came every 5 minutes. Well, it came back to the other corner, and every time we went to get on it, it
would speed away. Finally I decided to try to get a taxi, Itried 3 times with excuses of I am not going that way, I am off duty, and I am going to pick up
somebody else.. so we ended up having to walk the three blocks back to the ship. He was pretty tuckered out.
The evenings show was "who wants to be a mouseketeer based on the millionaire game.. the first prizes were for shipboard credit.. starting at $25, 50, 75
100, and on the 10th level went from $750 to winning a cruise for 2. A girl won on the early show, but nobody won over over 400 on the second show. The
questions were all about disney movies,and theme parks. That evening I went to a show with a juggler who was pretty awesome too.
When I got back, I went to bingo and won again $139 this time.. and I got to be quite well known on the ship after that. Lots of people saying, you are
the one who won so many times at bingo, arent you?
day5 THURSDAY-another day at sea. I went back to bingo and didnt win. In the afternoon I went to the matinee of "Disney dreams" a play about a little girl
who flies thru her memories with Peter pan. It was really nice and had characters from little mermaid, beauty and the beast, cinderella, etc. It
ended up with a finale of mickey which I enjoyed. There was a meeting with mickey and minnie mouse that night for pictures, but it was formal night and
by the time I seen the show and went to bingo, I barely had time to get ready for formal night. I went to get in line, just in time to hear it was the
final picture and they would be back at 745. So I went to dinner, that night was animators palate.. where the pictures on the walls change colors. That
was very pretty. So after I went out and got in the line for the pictures, cuz I was not leaving without my picture with mickey.
Instead of having mickey and minnie together, like they did the first session, they split them up, so I just got my picture with mickey. Turned out
great too.. with him in his tux and me in my formal.
Friday.. day six. Today was our day at castaway cay.. and I was all excited. Woke up this morning with a dandy case of gout in my foot!! I couldn't even
wear my beach shoes I bought special.. I ended up luckily wearing my sandals I brought. Well they took him and I over there by golf cart.. the other
people took trams. We got over there, and had a picture taken with minnie and again with pluto. It was hard walking on the sand with his two canes, so
picked the first shade we found. It turned out to be right next to this lady in a wheel chair who was very crabby about us taking "her space" I listened
to her complain for about 2 hours. I only went in the water about 5 minutes during that time, It had to be 100 degrees and very humid. Finally I couldnt
take listening to her anymore, and told her it was a public beach, and we had as much right to be there as she did. Finally we went up to the bbq at 1130.
They had bbq ribs, hamburgs, hot dogs corn on the cob, and salads, I decided to go back to the ship and was back onboard before 430. Castaway cay would
have been beautiful if it wasnt for me being miserable with the gout, the heat and that lady. Oh well!
That afternoon, I went to bingo, and they had a big crowd, cuz the jackpot was $4200 and somebody won it.
That evening they had a farewell show, with the comedian and the juggler again.. ended up with the disney characters and just made you want to
cry.that it was almost over. They had a character farewell wave in the lobby at 930, but I decided not to go, or I probably would have cried.
Saturday morning, they got us up early for a 645 breakfast and told us everybody would be off the ship by 9. They had color tagged our baggage and
it was outside in groups. they had some of the airline terminals right there at the pier, We had us air so checked our baggage there, got on the bus and
went back to the airport.
I have mixed emotions about this cruise. I really enjoyed seeing the characters, and I liked the disney entertainment. I just didnt think the
food and service was as good as Royal carribean. Their pictures were beautiful but very expensive.. $19.95 for an 8 by 10 and 9.95 for a 5 by 7.
Their souvenirs were quite expensive onboard also. I seen some of their t-shirts were $42!!
Overall I had a good time tho.
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