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I tend to get rather lengthy on these reports, so bear with me. I have already finished my report for the DCL board and I'm taking that report and re-wording it for those on this board who are not familiar with DCL. I will break it down into several posts, as I won't have time to sit and type the whole report at one time. And then if anyone has any questions, I will try to answer them. Here goes.....
Travelers are me, Phyllis; DH Jim and PTADQ-DD, Natalie, age 12. This is our 6th DCL cruise, 7th overall.
After we stood in the driveway crying and waving to the pet sitter, who was taking our two
four legged babies home with her, we jumped in the car and headed for ORL to our house,
where we always spend the night before our cruise. We arrived around 2300 and had a
nice, peaceful sleep. We were up bright and early the next morning and after a Starbucks stopwe were on our way to the Port. One of our favorite things to do on the way down 528 is count the DCL buses returning sad passengers to the hotels and airport in ORL. We usually stop counting at about 15!!!! We drove into PC to visit with our good friends Shirley and Norm at The Perfect Gift. We had a great visit and her shop was bustling over with Christmas goodies. We picked out some things for her to hold for us until we returned the following Saturday.
Let me back up a little, as you top the bridge, and get your first sight of The Magic(or Wonder), it literally takes your breath away. Even after 6 times, Natalie and I
both squealed with delight when we saw her sitting there with her beautiful Mickey colors
of red, black, white and yellow!!! Security is as tight as ever, since 9/11. As we turned into the DCL area, we were stopped by a guard and asked if we were going on todays cruise, then we proceeded to another guard, who checked our DL's and directed us
to one of about 4 or 5 other guards, who had manifests. They checked our DL's, our
cruise docs and checked our names off a list. We pulled up to the terminal and we
all got out and unloaded. Jim helped us and then was going to go park. I asked him
for some one dollar bills for the porter, and he reached into his pocket and handed me
his wallet. He got back in the car and got into the line to park in the first parking lot
where we like to park. It then dawned on me that he had given me his wallet and he had
no money to pay for parking, which is 70.00 for the week, in advance!! So, I grabbed
some ones, looked up and he was sitting in the line, I gave Natalie the wallet and she
sprinted down the line to give it to him. First crisis averted!!!
After he parked and joined us, we walked into the terminial. Our docs were already filled out, so there was no problem there. We went through the metal detectors and there is
where our next crisis arose!!! They kept going off when Natalie went through!! They had
her go back through a couple of times and I was beginning to see the panic in her eyes!!
They finally decided it was her mouthful of braces. I don't know if it was or not, but we finally got through, without too much embarrassment for her. Second crisis averted!!
We rode up the escalators to begin the check in procedure. The terminal, which is beautiful to begin with, was all decorated for Christmas. Mickey hands holding
large ornaments and garland everywhere. We went to the returning cruisers line, called Castaway Club, and within 10 minutes, were in the line waiting to board. Soon the countdown started and we were boarding. The doors to The Magic are of course, what
else, Mickey ears. Afater passing through the doors, our carryons were screened again and our Key To The World cards are swiped into the computers. We walked down the passageway and we have our embarkation picture made(it was AWFUL) And as we boarded the ship, a Cast Member(CM) asks our name and where we are from. We told him and we are announced, as other CM's clap and we look up and there is Mickey waving to us from the 5th level balcony. FINALLY, on The Magic, once again!!!!
Jim and Natalie went on to the restaurant where lunch was being served, called Parrot Cay. I went directly to the lounge where reservations were being taken for the adult
restaurant, Palo. If you want to dine in this restaurant, then you have to go book the ressies immediately after you board. There was a huge board set up, with all the dates and times available for dinner. I picked the night I wanted and booked it with no problems. DCL also serves a wonderful brunch in this restaurant on sea days and I asked about booking that. The CM told me that brunch was being booked "right over there". I truned to my right and there was my dear, sweet, wonderful friend, the manager of Palo, PJ, taking the reservations. I told him to sign me up for whatever he had available. He suggested Sunday morning, late, and we could watch the docking procedure in Key West.
High Tea is also served, but somehow in all the rush, I forgot about it!!! I also ran into
a CM who had been our dining room manager on every cruise I think. I asked him if
we had good servers and he checked and said that we did. On The Magic, there are three main dining rooms, Parrot Cay, Lumiere's and Animator's Palate. You go to each one twice and one three times The server and assistant server rotate through the restaurants with
you and they become a part of your "family".
I then joined Jim and Natalie in PC. The buffet was wonderful as usual, with salads, cold meats and cheeses, hot food, chicken, rice, mac & cheese, potatoes, and a carving station. Also there was a huge display of shrimp. And a huge dessert table with everything you could think of. The cabins were not going to be ready until 1330 and it was only like 1230, so we sat and relaxed and chatted with the CM's who were serving the drinks and come to find out one of them, San from the Phillipines, was to be our head server all week.
At 1330 we collected our carry ons and took the elevator up to Deck 7. After a little wait,
they took down the ropes and we went to our beautiful cabin with what is called a Navigators Verandah. These are cabins that have a verandah that are not competely open. There is usually a large porthole. Ours, however was completely open, I had picked this cabin on purpose for that reason, as if has to do with the positioning of these cabins. These cabins do not have bunk beds, as do most of the cabins, as the BB's pull down out of the ceiling. Natalie was a little disappointed, but when she saw we had the verandah, she was happy!!!
More later...and I'm not even through the first day. lol The rest won't be so long!!!!!
Phyllis
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