OK, we want trip reports and photos so we can all be jealous ;)

Must. Do. Laundry.

Very. Tired.

Very. Good. Time. Sad. It's. Over.

Write. More. Tomorrow.

Welcome back all, can't wait to hear all about it!

It was a blast! No 2 days were the same in terms of activities the crew had planned for us. No two dinner menus were the same. Some of the themed dinners included:

Let the Magic Begin (first night)
Golden Mickeys (the same night the show played in the Walt Disney Theatre)
Taste of the Caribbean
East Meets West (night we transitioned thru the Panama Canal)
Prince and Princess
Master Chef
Mexican Riviera (very odd and not really much "Mexican" food to speak of, more on that later)
Around the World
Pirate IN the Caribbean
Taste of California
Captain's Gala
Til We Meet Again (last night of cruise)

Plus the 3 "show" menus to correspond with the 3 different restaurants.

The crew was very attentive (as always) and those of us at our group table (AVP, Tony, Tony's G-ma Betsy & her cousin Mary Ann, Jennifer & Andrew, me & my DH Kenji and Linda from the DIS boards) had a lot of fun together, IMO. My DS (4 mos.) joined us most nights in his stroller, some nights went to Flounder's when it was a fancy night or when the restaurant (usually Parrot Cay) got too noisy and he got too fussy.

We got a different towel-gami each night and a farewell gift on the last night in our staterooms. It's a ceramic box with a removable top that had the logo on it for the Panama crossing and the dates of our cruise on the side, which was nice so it was a gift just for our cruise. Inside on the bottom is a map of the route we took from Port Canaveral to Los Angeles.

I played Bingo fairly regularly and the final jackpot was over $31,500 and was won by just ONE person! They had one session that was very popular and instead of giving away a large cash prize for the last game they gave away a 7-nigh cruise for 2 in a Cat 5 cabin. Needless to say, I didn't win anything.

More later, the baby's crying and is hungry.

It was hot and humid most of the trip and didn't cool down til we got to Cabo. But it was so windy and the water choppy when we got there that they cancelled the water-related shore excursions that day.

Castaway Cay was fun! As always. DH and I snorkeled a little bit and had lucnh at Cookie's then went back to the ship to get DS who had been in Flounder's. We didn't go back out to CC since DS is less that 6 months old and we're not supposed to put sunscreen on him til then. The sun and heat would've been too much for him.

I heard there were only 31 infants onboard and something like 350 children all in all, with 2700 overall passengers. (are those #'s right, AVP?)

They premiered Narnia: Prince Caspian at 12 midnite on the 16th on the ship when it opened onshore, so we got to see it, too. They played it lots so those of us without the stamina to see it at the first showing had a chance to see it later.

There was a retired Senior Pilot from the Panama Canal, Captain Ken Puckett, onboard who gave several talks about the history of the canal and the construction of it. They were really very informative and fortunately for me, they broadcast it on the TV so those of us who had either conflicting activities or other obligations onboard could have a chance to see his talks, too. It really enhanced the experience and was a feather in Disney's cap, IMO, to have him aboard and giving talks so we'd know all about it before we got there.

The day we went through the canal was an early day, indeed. We were supposed to approach the first set of locks (Gatan) locks at about 6:00 a.m. and start thru them at 6:30 a.m., so there were folks up on deck as early as 5:00 a.m. to get a good vantage point. Some folks even spent the night on chaise lounges, I heard. But we got held back and didn't approach the canal til about 7:30 a.m., I think, and started entering the first lock at around 8:00 a.m.

(Tony, how's my memory on the timing, so far?)

We went thru the left-hand side lock and in the right-hand side lock just ahead of us was a US submarine. We found out later that because the submarine was there our transition through the first locks was blacked out for security reasons. So if anyone tried to watch us and couldn't, that's what happened. I heard they broadcast video of the Magic going through the canal in 2005 instead.

Sorry this isn't really a "trip report" but more of random recollections for the moment, but I wanted to write something and give you all a taste of what it was all like for us.

More soon...

I heard there were only 31 infants onboard and something like 350 children all in all, with 2700 overall passengers. (are those #'s right, AVP?)Right around 2200 passengers - it varied throughout the cruise as people came/went. We heard all sorts of numbers for how many kids there were, but all of the numbers were under 500.

AVP

just curious what that means? did they leave the cruise?

just curious what that means? did they leave the cruise?The passenger count fluxuates from port to port as people come and go. Performers and guests brought on for the cruises are not considered "crew," and so are included in the passenger count. For example, we picked up some performers in Aruba, and left them in Puerta Vallarta. I heard that some passengers left the ship in Acapulco - maybe they had a medical situation, or something came up and they needed to get home, or maybe they were bored.

AVP

Sounds like a lot of memories and photos to document...

Adrienne

Sounds like a lot of memories and photos to document...

Adrienne

Sounds like a plug... :p

Sounds like a plug... :pI wasn't even going to bite.

AVP

I heard there were only 31 infants onboard and something like 350 children all in all, with 2700 overall passengers. (are those #'s right, AVP?)

Is that a large number or small number of infants for the ship? I talked with one Mom on the Wonder 4-night cruise that left the 11th - and she had a heck of a time getting her youngest time in Flounders Reef, but it sure sounds like it wasn't a problem for you, Karin.

I wasn't even going to bite.

AVP

I couldn't help myself...

Is that a large number or small number of infants for the ship? I talked with one Mom on the Wonder 4-night cruise that left the 11th - and she had a heck of a time getting her youngest time in Flounders Reef, but it sure sounds like it wasn't a problem for you, Karin.

I believe it was a very small number, Drince88, since we were able to get him in at the drop of a hat without even calling, sometimes. Since this is the first time we taken a baby onboard, I don't know what the #'s are usually like, but I get the impression it's much more.

Anyone know the answer?

About numbers fluxuating I saw part of a family joining the other half at one of the ports. Not sure how or why they came onboard over half way through the cruise but they had luggage and did not look like employees since there was a tween with them. Not sure if that is common, but it seemed a bit odd to me.

The cruise was amazing. We got lots of pictures, mostly of the baby so not sure if anyone would really want to see them. We really enjoyed the shows, and the trivia games, I played my worst game of scrabble ever, at one point I only had three diffrent letters but quite a few of each. It was a bit hot, like being at home, but much more humid. It was great meeting Mouseplanet people. One of my favorite memorys was the night I ate five desserts, that was great. Thank you AVP for encuraging me to eat the fifth and most delicious dessert. Saddly that is probably my most vivid memory from the whole cruise eating a strawberry tart. After that it would be the baby crying at captain jack sparrow, not his biggest fan, and getting really excited seeing Minnie walk down the hall about three minuets later. I have to re-read the diary to remember everything there was to do. And we cought up on quite a bit of sleep. Karin is much better a describing the experiance of the cruise, so I think I will leave it to her.

the only time i have travelled with an infant was the 15 day eastbound in 2005--we were with our friends and their 3 mos old. although there were supposedly alot more children on that cruise, they never had any trouble getting babysitting times....and they were thrilled at the attention their daughter got, especially since they were concerned since the baby has downs.

Sounds like a plug... :p

You people go on a 14-day Disney Cruise without me and not one little 'We miss you, Adrienne!" e-mail. I thought I did a lovely job of not pouting in your little thread.

I wasn't even going to bite.

No, that's Tony's job. :~D

Adrienne
Who went to Orange and came home with a pair of Vera Bradley Flip Flops AND put a purse and cosmetic bag on hold while you were all gone so don't look at me like that.

(see Karin's posts, except for the munchkin portions)

We had a fantastic time. I took notes every day, for the first time ever, and will have a trip report up sometime soon. Lots and lots of pictures including some really nice professional shots from the ship.

You people go on a 14-day Disney Cruise without me and not one little 'We miss you, Adrienne!" e-mail. I thought I did a lovely job of not pouting in your little thread.

Maybe not, but who was the first person we called as soon as we debarked?

karin did a good job posting about stuff on the ship.

it was very cool. i'm still kinda tired from it all tho. the cruise itself wasnt too tiring but DH and i spent 3 days in LA afterwards at disney and such so we're kinda pooped from that still.

it was hard landing in LA and realizing hey, we need to pay for stuff again. esp. food. and what? dessert doesnt come with it? lol

so many activities to do on sea days. mexico was the standard warm weather. i dont think it was THAT hot as most pointed out - it was around 90-95 in the beginning ports of aruba and thru the panama canal but i didnt find them as humid. alcupulco was the hottest and most humid tho - which i admit was nasty -- it was close to 103 and very humid. but thankfully dh and i were on a city bus tour and then saw the cliff divers which was hot because the shady tables to sit at were taken by the time we got inside the hotel balcony/viewing areas. so we ended up standing on the staircase which was in some shade instead to take photos and video. panama canal was humid but we found a sweet spot that had a breeze near the railing and no one else around us. :) so we actually stayed pretty cool during the crossing.

between photos and video on my regular digital camera, i ended up going thru two 2gb memory cards and dh got thru one 2gb card. by the end of dland tho i did end up going to a 3rd card. lol

we met don "ducky" williams - the sole artist for disney marketing dept (not merchandising thats different) -- hes an awesome down to earth man who disney kinda takes advantage of. but hes so cool. he paints special lithos for the crossings and special cruises the disney cruiseline takes along with of course all the merchandising for disney worldwide basically. hes a one man act for disney. anywho, we got a litho for the crossing and got to see other pieces of artwork he's done for disney and their cruises, etc. and the art auctioneers auctioned off some the older pieces.

the sea days were either as lazy or busy as you wanted it to be since disney definitely schedules things for the days at sea so you are never bored. i opted to skip a lot of the morning activites (like the cooking segments) cuz we liked sleeping in til about 9am which with breakfast times ending by 10am most days, we'd miss breakfast. so i skipped am activities on purpose so we'd have time for other things in the day.

joey fatone and alfonso ribiero and their families joined us for a singing act and stayed on board til we reached la. was cool. and we ended up on the tender boat with alfonso and who we assume is his gf, when tendering into cabo. that was cool. they were both very cool. dh saw joey a couple other times on the ship but both of us left them alone to be with their families. they did have a scheduled autograph signing too. which was very rushed thru but cool anyway. so we have photos and autographs from them at least.

the panama canal was awesome! to see us how we get raised and lowered by the water in the channel, to see the low-tech ways of communicating (a neon arrow points to which side of the canal a ship should be entering god-forbid all other communications die) and they still use a rowboat to grab the reigns of the ship to start pulling us thru the locks. they said they have tried other more modern means, like speedboats or motorboats, but the rowboats really worked best. :) very cool. and to watch ken puckett onboard was definitely a good idea. like karin, i watched it on the stateroom tv cuz it conflicted with other activities. but i'm glad i could see what would be happening so i wasnt clueless.

going thru the canal they also had someone on board who walked us all thru what was happening in the canal and how we were moving thru it, telling us the lingo, etc. that was very cool too.

theres probably more i wanted to add but cant recall now and so if i remember i'll post more lol =) so much fun. we wanted to stow away for the next week lol.

oh and the litho was given to every stateroom. it had ariel and triton and a couple other little mermaid characters, with triton opening the panama canal lock/gate and the ship coming thru it. its really pretty!! :)

My trip report with all the pictures I have is up in the WDW Trip Reports forum.

Here is an important piece of information for anyone who was on this cruise or will be on the Eastbound return trip and regularly donates blood: Puerto Vallarta is just on the southern border of a malaria zone. If you take a shore excursion that goes north of the city, you may be restricted from donating for one year. However, excursions that travel south are fine -- thus the Zip Line Adventure we did on the Westbound trip was not a problem. I verified this information this morning when I donated blood at Stanford Blood Center.

One more thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQGDTyGf8UA

This isn't mine. You can see Jennifer and AVP at the bottom of the frame starting at about 3:33. I don't know where I was while this was happening!

One more thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQGDTyGf8UA

This isn't mine. You can see Jennifer and AVP at the bottom of the frame starting at about 3:33. I don't know where I was while this was happening!

You were right in front of them, I think. I thought that was your hair I saw just before they panned back a little more and I saw Jennifer's and Adrienne's.

You were right in front of them, I think. I thought that was your hair I saw just before they panned back a little more and I saw Jennifer's and Adrienne's.
You mean the guy standing in front of AVP? That wasn't me -- I was wearing a pirate hat, dark blue coat and black pants.

There was a kid between who I thought was you and the other two - but no pirate hat and looked like some sort of print shirt - so I guess that wasn't you.