July 17, 2004 Magic (Western)

[keenercam]

Hey, Michelle-
The Bahamas immigration form is the only immigration form you will need -- it is for 7/23/04 when we are at Castaway Cay, which is in the Bahamas. There should be one form for each person in your party, in the DCL documents package. If you are using DCL transfers, they will remind you on the bus to have those filled out before you get to the terminal.
Hope that helps!
See you soon.

 

[colonels cruisers]

Noone could ever call you disney obsessed.. just a wealth of information!

We will be the family chasing a crazy 3 yr old.. while trying to locate the other 8 family members who are really confused.

See you in a few days!

 

[MaryPSU]

Cathie and Sue - I saw that you replied to the poster on the Cruise Line Forum who said they just returned from Cozumel and that Chankanaab National Park was dirty. I too became concerned because one of the girls in our group REALLY wanted to do the dolphin excursion in Cozumel, so the rest of us broke down and booked it. I know we'll only spend a few minutes with the dolphins, but we then planned to spend the rest of the time at Chankanaab snorkeling, swimming, etc.

In the past, I had only heard good things about this place. Then recently I read the post (and the same person's trip report) saying that it was dirty, smelly, waste dumped, etc. Before panicking, Cam talked me into calling Disney.

A manager at Disney responded that they monitor the DISboards, and that they have seen that particular poster's dialogue regarding Chankanaab. They have checked out the situation, and have reported that the post is not true. (The manager also said we wouldn't be held to the 48-hour cancellation rule if we choose to cancel our excursion ... but for now we plan to keep it.)

Just thought you might want to know ... I promise that MY posts are legitimate ... but not all are!!

Hope you are all having a great day.

Mary

 

[cathie]

Thank you Mary for the info. We hadn't planned any Cozumel excursions but it's good to know that things are safe if we should. We may visit the Hard Rock Cafe in Cozumel & some of the shops. I've heard that the beaches are nice & I am definitely a beach bum! It's just kind of a let down when you hear negative posts about places that you're excited to visit. Thank you again for some positive input. We leave Thursday AM Yeah!!! Hope to see everyone on board!! Cathie & The Gang

 

[keenercam]

Guess what I just did? I totally re-thought what I am wearing for formal and semi-formal nights and Palo's. Decided I didn't want to have to bring different shoes for each of three different gowns/dresses. Decided instead to choose the outfits to all go with one pair of comfortable heels.

How is everyone else's packing going?

Gonna work on our door sign

Have a great night everyone!

 

[NeedsNEscape]

Wow! I made it! I am officially off of work as of this evening. Now I just have to get those little things finished, so that we can head down the road. The little things like actually putting he clothes into the suitcases.

Cam, I just came back from picking my folks up at BWI. They were on an Oceania cruise of northern Europe. Anyway, BWI was a zoo. Lots of people traveling. Get there early! There are lots of new parking choices at BWI, but that also means that there is also a lot of competition for the buses to the terminal.

Mary, thanks for the tip about slippers. My pseudo-DD8 will want to remember those. The kids are getting very excited. I can't wait to get into some water, but I am afraid of burning to early on this trip. I will have to be very careful.

I'll have to look over all of the tips to make sure everything is taken care. Thanks for the help, folks.

Now Back to packing,
Jeanne

 

[mousemom218]

Good morning everyone!

I re-thought my evening wear last night also! I am happy to report I can wear some stuff that didn't fit me a couple of months ago, so I was very pleased!
I've already been to Wal Mart today for a travel iron--linen pants; I had no choice!
Have a safe trip everyone! We don't leave til Saturday morning but we are itching to go!

See you soon!

 

[MaryPSU]

Good morning everyone!! Boy am I jealous of all of you who are finished working before the cruise. Today is my last day in the office ... just need to get through three more meetings and I'm HOME FREE!

Got in my pre-cruise dentist appointment this morning (which had nothing to do with the cruise, just how it fell in my regular six-month checkup schedule). Now I look like this:

For all of you who are re-thinking your formal outfits - HOW MANY formal outfits do you have?? I can't rethink mine because I'm taking the only acceptable dressy clothes in my closet!! (Actually bought two new dresses...).

I picked up tons of dry cleaner bags and am hoping that things get to the ship relatively wrinkle free. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Against my husband's wishes, I am packing some capris that fit me now ... and some a size larger because I know I'm going to pigggggggg out!! (Don't tell him I'm taking two sizes of stuff; maybe he won't notice. )

ONE LAST TIP: relax and have fun!!! We're already over the hard part - so once your bags are packed, your travel arrangements are finalized, your documents are filled out, etc., etc. ... it's now time for us to sit back and relax ... and if anything goes wrong or becomes a little stressful we just need to laugh it off.

(Who knows ... maybe I'll even be snorkeling in filth at Chankanaab ... yuck! ... but if something with that excursion isn't perfect we'll make the best of things anyway.)

MAGIC ... here we come!!

 

[mousemom218]

Hey Mary,

More than I would like to admit! When you have a big closet, stuff just doesn't get thrown away. I found stuff from the 80s! Needless to say, my Goodwill pile has grown this week. I am bringing 3 "dressy" outfits: for the formal, semiformal and Palo nights! Bringing larger sizes is a good idea, as last year by the end of the cruise everything felt tight.

Be happy today is your last day--I'm here through Friday! Let's hang in there!

 

[MaryPSU]

Be sure to pack all the '80s stuff for the '80s Party Night!!

 

[keenercam]

Hi, everyone!
Well, I now feel like I am finally in vacation mode. Dr. appt and bloodwork done and now home to pack. Of course I had to check in here!

Mary, like Carole, I am bringing 3 dressy outfits -- formal, semi-formal and Palo's.

okay, off to pack! YIPEE!!

Jeanne, thanks for the tip re: BWI -- we are leaving here by 7:30 at the latest fora 11:25 flight -- hopefully enough time even with traffic -- the kids can get something for breakfast at the airport.

YEAH!!! Howard is home from work with Andy. Now the fun starts -- what did he call it? "fluffing and stuffing" or something like that!? Right now we are When Jenn gets done work today, she will be and she and I will go get our nails done so we will feel like The only complication is that our friends have not gotten the kids' passports yet and had to surrender their birth certificates when they applied for passports. Hoping that will be resolved today. UGH. Please send prayers and pixie dust!

 

[NeedsNEscape]

We just finished a marathon house cleaning and packing event. We will leave for Florida here in a few minutes. I may catch you from an Internet cafe hereafter! However, most likely we'll be looking for green ribbons on Saturday.

Cam, BWI is changing over restaurants, too. While waiting for my folks, I couldn't find a single Starbucks! Argh! They have a few places that look like they might have breakfast, but it was lean. Hopefully they won't have closed too much down Pier D.

I'll be looking for you on I-95, Cathie!

Bon Voyage!
Jeanne

 

[cathie]

Safe journeys & pixie dust to everybody!.......80's night , deck parties, beautiful turquoise ocean ( with stingrays), lots of food & fun, etc, etc.......can't wait. See you all soon. We'll be looking for those green ribbons! Cathie & The Gang

 

[Susan Prescott]

Hi Everyone, I feel like I can finally start to relax. We're leaving tomorrow morning around 9:30 am. It's been a hectic week. DH has to take Coumadin since his atrial fibrillation a couple of weeks ago and it has been a nightmare trying to regulate it. He's had blood tests every day this week. After playing around with the dosage, I think his cardiologist is finally somewhat satisfied. The only bad thing is he can't have any alcohol or eat a lot of greens while taking Coumadin, especially since his levels aren't fully regulated. He's not too disappointed about the greens. DD is on her 3rd course of antibiotics for her pneumonia. The funny thing is she is not coughing, has no fever and feels great. Her pediatrician told me she is not contagious. He said the sea air will be the best thing for her. I just can't wait to be on the ship. Have a safe trip to the port. Cathie and I have already informed everyone that they are going to wear their green ribbons. See you on Saturday.

 

[keenercam]

Good morning, all! We will be leaving for the airport in about 45 minutes. Just wanted to check in here and wish you all happy travels. We will be looking for your green ribbons in about 52 hours or so!! Between now and then we are really looking forward to the Poly experience, O'Hanas, MK, and E-Ride Night! So, if you see some zombies with green ribbons, don't be scared, we'll be too tired to hug you to death.

This has been so much fun, guys! Will look forward (though not so eagerly right now) to continuing this thread post-cruise!

 

[MaryPSU]

Happy travels, Cam! Tori and I are up early checking the boards and just saw your message. If you're still logged on, here are some good vibes being sent your way:




See everyone Saturday!!

Mary and Tori

 

[NeedsNEscape]

Hi Folks!

We're on the beach at St. Augustine! How wonderful. Drive so far hasn't been too bad. Look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Jeanne

 

[KeenHo]

I wanted to post a thank you to all of you DIS'ers that we got to meet on the cruise. We had a great time and really wish we could have stayed on board yesterday and did it all over again. It was a sad sight to see the Magic disappear over the horizon heading back up A1A towards Orlando.

We arrived home today around 1:30 pm after staying overnight near the Orlando airport at the Best Western. We spent Saturday (post cruise) visiting Shirley and Norm at the Perfect Gift in the Coco Beach area and then stopping at Ron Jon's. We then went to the hotel and crashed for a while then went to dinner. We were up early for our flight this morning to BWI, then drove from there to Delaware.

It was really nice to meet so many of you and talk, get to know you and your family and friends. I hope your children had as much fun as ours. They made some friendships (as did we) that will hopefully last a long time.

We thought about booking our next cruise on board but never committed to it. Has anyone thought of another so soon? Did anyone book on board and take advantage of the 10% discount and $200 per stateroom credit?

It was a fabulous vacation and we are so glad we had perfect weather for the whole week. We will look forward to keeping in touch and keeping the MAGIC of this cruise alive for some time to come. I am sure we'll have some photos to share with everyone in the coming days.

Howard

 

[MaryPSU]

Hi everyone!

We too enjoyed meeting many of you - and your friends and family members!! It sure is hard getting back to "real life" ... hmmm, last week at this time I think I was swimming with stingrays. Now I'm dealing with some unpleasant work issues - ugh!

We booked our next cruise while onboard - actually we and the gang we traveled with booked SIX rooms since they let each adult book one room to take advantage of the $200 credit and 10% discount. We arbitrarily picked a date in November 2005 but will most likely push that date to summer 2006 once those dates open up. We're also hoping that some new ports will become part of the itineraries since we've already done the Eastern and Western.

We stopped at Disney's new Saratoga Springs DVC resort on our way back to the airport. Like the other DVC resorts, it is very nice. Since only one phase is open, it was rather deserted and our kids enjoyed a very empty pool. We ate there, relaxed in the lobby, and chatted with a cruise line representative who verified that a third ship is in the works.

Please continue to keep in touch and let us know what your future cruising plans are! Our children really miss the ship and have asked when we're cruising again - two years out seems SO far away!

(Oh ... and I gained TEN pounds!!! ... have lost about five just getting back into normal eating habits but will have to work on the other five.)

Mary

 

[KeenHo]

Hi Mary,

Cam has a great picture of you both with the sunset in the background she is going to send your way.

We thought about re-booking but held off while on board. I am sure we'll cruise again in the not too distant future, probably 2006 also. We have plenty of plans to use our DVC points in the next few years though and will not have much free time to cruise between now and then.

Give everyone our best in your family. It was a pleasure to get to know everyone as much as we did.

Howard