Trip Report-Day 7- Castaway Cay

Trip Report-Day 7-Castaway Cay-12/5/08

The last day....=( but what better place to spend the last day of your vacation that Disney's Private Island Paradise, Castaway Cay.

After breakfast we headed off the Magic and went snorkeling for about 2 hours. Photos are posted in another post. After that we went to lunch at Cookies BBQ. What is it about tropical places that make food taste better. Cheeseburger, Ribs, Chicken, Garlic Flatbread, Apple cake and Chocolate Chip cookies......yummy.

After lunch we caught the tram to the the Adults only beach, Serenity Bay. Heaven on earth. We layed on the beach and read for a while before heading back to the Magic and up to the pool for one last soak in the Quiet Cove Pool.

Dinner was good as always that night even though everyone is depressed knowing that in the morning we will be back in Florida. After dinner we strolled the top deck numerous times hoping for the vacation not to be over, but we finally called it a night and retired to our stateroom for one last night of rest onboard the Disney Magic.

Welcome to paradise

Christmas cheer right at the dock as you leave the ship and head onto the island

My favorite picture from this trip

Snorkel Lagoon

Gil's, where you rent snorkel equipment.

The glorious Disney Magic

The tram is all decked out. We are on our way to Serenity Bay

The back end.......hehe

Serenity Bay, heaven, no one under 18 allowed

Peace and quiet, the only thing you hear is the waves rolling onto the shore.

Look at that water.

Mt. Rustmore

Santa Buoy, which a friend of ours wanted us to bring back to her. She got an 8x10 copy of this picture. =)

The Flying Dutchmen

Heading back to the ship

Welcome Home......for us it sure feels like home.

Sunset as we depart Castaway Cay and head back to Florida

Thanks to Josh for this picture.

Took this on Deck 10 strolling the ship at night before we went to bed. A magical way to end our vacation.

Trip Report-Day 6- Day at sea

Trip Report- Day 6- Day at Sea 12/4/08

Woke up this morning after our fantastic day at Cozumel and was depressed. Only today and Castaway Cay tomorrow and then it is back to reality again.

Spent most of the day just relaxing by the pool and having lunch at Topsiders. Dinner was of course the Captains Gala with a nice juicy 2lb lobster tail. Biggest Lobster I have had yet onboard. Wandered around the ship and got a few Christmas ship photos.

Went to bed late excited that tomorrow is Castaway Cay.

Sunset at sea

Trip Report-Day 5-Cozumel 12/3/08

Trip Report-Day 5-12/5/08

Cozumel, Mexico

Woke up for our big day in Mexico. We had arrived early so we were already docked when I got up. Went up for breakfast and got ready for our big day and our visit to the Tulum Ruins. Met in the Buena Vista Theatre and went with our group downstairs and to our ferry boat to the mainland. You know its bad when on the boat ride over they have people walking up and down with vomit bags. I like to say the trip was like Star Tours at WDW on crack. It was an experience thats for sure, it only was 30 minutes across to the mainland but I don't think I have ever been so happy to see land in all my life.

Walked through the shopping area of Playa Del Carmen and onto our bus for a 1 hour drive south to the ruins. We stopped at a shop on the way and had our lunch, provided by Subway...eat fresh.=)

Then on to the ruins, an amazing experience thats for sure. We had a 1 hour guided tour, our guide Felipe was superb, his ancestors were all Mayan so he was very passionate about the ruins and their link to Mexican History. We had about an hour to explore on our own. I was in awe of the amazing structures. Some dated back over 1,000 years. Following our bus trip back to the ferryboat and another 30 minutes of armchair gripping boat ride we were back in Cozumel. A little shopping later it was time to get back onboard the Disney Magic and dinner at Parrot Cay, which was good as always. Our usual nighttime routine of a martini in sessions and some piano music later it was time for the pool and then off to bed. Tomorrow is a sea day so that means one thing....sleeping in =)

The Ferryboat we took to and from Cozumel to Playa Del Carmen on the mainland of Mexico

Looking from the Mainland back towards Cozumel

The beach at Playa Del Carmen

Scenery outside the bus window on our drive to the ruins

More Scenery along the way

Welcome to Tulum

Sunset in Cozumel

Sunset

The Disney Magic docked in Cozumel

Cozumel

Trip Report-Day 4-Grand Cayman.....NOT

Trip Report-Day 4 12/2/08-Grand Cayman....NOT

Awoke this morning to the Captains voice telling us something we had heard from a friend of ours that works on the ship the night before. Due to high winds the Grand Cayman port authority had closed the harbor and no ships would be allowed to dock due to the high winds. So we sailed by the isalnd and continued on to Mexico for a day at sea. We really weren't heartbroken as we never get of the ship in Grand Cayman anymore anyways due to having to tender. Spent the day reading and enjoying the beauty of the Disney Magic. The show in the theatre that night was a showing of Bolt which I greatly enjoyed and then it was time for dinner and of course it was Pirates in the Caribbean night. After a steady downpour they finally shot the fireworks off and we viewed them from our usual uncrowded spot, The hot tub at the Quiet Cove Pool. Following that it was time to go shopping and I bought all my gifts for everyone and picked up the purchase with purchase rolling duffel bag since I was going to need more luggage to carry off all the things I bought..=) Went to bed looking forward to Cozumel and our tour of the Tulum Ruins. We were also told that the ship was going to stay in Cozumel until 1am so we would have lots of time to shop after our excursion as well.

The Atrium decked out in Christmas Magic
This was as close as we got to Grand Cayman.

Wave to Grand Cayman

So near, yet so far.

See you next time Grand Cayman =)

1 more addition from the drydock

I have one more new addition to the Disney Magic that I forgot to post in a previous blog entry. I had this picture posted but for some reason when you clicked it, it didn't enlarge to a full screen picture. So I have reposted it. This is the new toddler splash area on the Magic, the Wonder got one of these last year in its drydock.

As with all my pictures on the blog feel free to click them to make them larger and use them for Computer Wallpaper. Decorate your desktop with the Magic and Wonder of the Disney Cruise Line.

Trip Report-Day 3- Sea Day

Trip Report-Day 3-12/1/08

Day at Sea

Awoke this morning to my favorite kind of day, a day at sea. To me nothing is more relaxing than having the whole day to lounge around without worrying about shore excurions and getting up early to get off the ship and do the ports. Instead we got to sleep in and lounge around all day. Had our usual breakfast at Topsiders which we always then take the breakfast tray over to the family pool and watch Playhouse Disney on the ArielView TV, what can I say Josh and I are a couple of Disney nerds..hehe.

Lunch was an Italian Buffet at Topsiders and Parrot Cay. We always went to Topsiders. Spent the majority of the day by the pool reading, I brought along 4 books and managed to put them all away. My reading list was Wicked, Twilight, Shopaholic and Sister and Undomestic Goddess. Quite a variety of reading material...=)

Saw the Golden Mickey's in the Walt Disney Theatre. Something we never miss are the 3 main stage shows even though we have seen them all almost 10 times it is one of the highlights of the cruise for us.

Dinner that night was in Parrot Cay for formal night. Got to have the new Golden Mickey Menu for the first time, had the Ginger and Lime Swordfish which was really good.

After dinner it was a reading night in Cove Cafe and then bed to get ready for Grand Cayman, which we would find out wasn't going to happen...more on that in the next report.

Enjoy some pictures taken during our day at sea, below.

Gangway Damage

During our cruise last week I had heard that the strong storm that hit us in Key West causing us to leave early had caused some damage at the Disney Terminal back in Port Canaveral so when we returned we saw for ourself just how bad it was.

The storm had ripped the metal gangway completely off of the rest of the walkway onto the ship.

So when we departed Saturday morning instead of going through the atrium and into the terminal and downstairs to get our luggage we departed via Deck 1 Aft and Forward and just walked from the pier directly into the luggage area.

Was told it would take 6-8 weeks to repair the damage so anyone going on a cruise for a while will be entering the ship by Deck 1 and not through the Atrium as usual. Don't know how Disney will do the welcome aboard for each family like normal but I'm sure they will find someway to make things Magical still.