A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 25 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Great time spent at the pool. I remember years ago when Royal/Celebrity debuted those Solariums and I thought it was just brilliant. So glad to see they still offer them on their ships - and you guys made some good use of it so far!
Those desserts looked delicious, and perfect. Almost too neat to eat. Almost.
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
I love the public areas of the ship. I must admit that grass on a ship is unique.
As another Dr, Who fan I know what you mean. I work with 2 other Dr. Who fans and my nephew has a TARDIS decal on his car.
Liz
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
The safety drill was definitely a big joke as you said with no clear bath of organization by the crew! Certainly not like Disney!
Your meal at Murano looked so good and loved how your lobster course was cooked table side. I've had that done at V&A's QVR before and is such an experience! Too bad breakfast wasn't up to par the next day!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
A nice tour of the ship you and Mark took and you captured it well! Too funny with Mark and the chair and certainly in his element! He definitely wasn't graceful and more like a flop and then got sucked in! Your lunch looked quite nice and quite a spread they have there. Tough part is choosing what you want as so many choices!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
I love the look of the public areas on the ship - that library is gorgeous!!! And I love the Solarium.
The Solarium was our favourite. We didn't go to the library. They had no books in there until the last week of the cruise, we think because of the deep clean they did.
Great time spent at the pool. I remember years ago when Royal/Celebrity debuted those Solariums and I thought it was just brilliant. So glad to see they still offer them on their ships - and you guys made some good use of it so far!
Oh wow, I didn't realise they were a new thing, but it makes sense, now you say it...
Quote:
Those desserts looked delicious, and perfect. Almost too neat to eat. Almost.
I love the public areas of the ship. I must admit that grass on a ship is unique.
As another Dr, Who fan I know what you mean. I work with 2 other Dr. Who fans and my nephew has a TARDIS decal on his car.
Liz
It is so cool to have fellow Doctor Who fans. I remember in the wilderness years of the 1990s when it was off air and no-one in their right minds would admit to being a Doctor Who fan. Now it is so much different!
Oh how I wish one of the Disney ships had a solarium like that for the colder itineraries! A cruise just isn't a cruise for me if I can't go swimming
We have been saying for years they need to add one to the Wonder if it's going to continue to do the Alaskan itinerary. One day hopefully...
Quote:
Wow, the ship looks absolutely deserted on your photos. Was it really?
It wasn't overly busy. How shall I put it... the demographic was a lot older than us and they didn't seem to do much. Later in the cruise, the library and the card room would be packed. Other places... not so much.
Quote:
Hmmm, the dessert selection at lunch looks incredible. Wish I could jump through my screen right now to try a bunch of items
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Your meal at Murano looked so good and loved how your lobster course was cooked table side. I've had that done at V&A's QVR before and is such an experience! Too bad breakfast wasn't up to par the next day!
Oh wow, I can imagine that really would've been something to see at V&A's!
A nice tour of the ship you and Mark took and you captured it well! Too funny with Mark and the chair and certainly in his element! He definitely wasn't graceful and more like a flop and then got sucked in!
That's one way of putting it!
Quote:
Your lunch looked quite nice and quite a spread they have there. Tough part is choosing what you want as so many choices!
Monday 6 June – part five: not a comforting thought…
Ok, so here I have a confession to make – there is a chunk of trip report missing here, which is a huge shame. I have no idea what happened to it, but there is no way for me to recreate it now. I do know that we sat in the outside bar area for a while and just watched the world go by, then went to both have our massages done (they were nothing to write home about sadly ) and then I went into the Persian Garden, but much more than that, unfortunately I just don’t know.
You didn’t miss much, as there were very few photos from that section, which is why I can’t begin to piece it altogether. Hopefully it will sort of make sense from here on in…
When I got back to the room, I found it was just past 5:30pm, so I had been in the Persian Garden for just over an hour – not bad.
The view out to sea was just gorgeous…
This is one of the reasons I love cruising, because you get to look at this beautiful blue expanse of water, and it personally makes me feel so small, and so chilled and relaxed, because you know you really are getting away from it all – albeit with about 3,000 others of course.
Here’s where we were…
By the way, when we got back from dinner probably about two and a bit hours later, we’d just made it to level with Amsterdam.
Dinner was booked for 7:00pm, so we headed out to go and enjoy a drink beforehand, although I steered us to the wrong end of deck five but at least it meant we got to see more of it, and I was able to get some photos of it, so not all was lost.
Talking of getting lost, I am still getting to grips with where everything is, but having spent a lot of today exploring more of the ship, it is starting to come together a bit more in my head now, which is good. I’ll get there, and I’m just glad I do have 14 nights to get used to the layout of this ship, rather than say three or four, as I don’t think I’d get the grip of the geography of it in that short space of time.
We headed for the Ensemble Lounge, and this time, I took some photos of the amazing entrance to it. It is so cool, and it’s one of those things I think you could stare at for hours, and see lots of different things.
We went inside, and while Mark waited to get our drinks, I got some photos of the lounge…
Like everything else on the ship, it’s designed to be very sophisticated, and tonight was an evening chic night. Now if you remember, the description of this is:
- Evening Chic – While also having the option to wear your formal best, Evening Chic nights are relaxed, yet sophisticated, attire.
I decided to opt for a dress, which you’ll see later. It’s the same one I wore to Dave and Rob’s wedding in Harvard last September. Mark decided to go more casual, having not finished his massage that long ago. As he said, he didn’t want to be constrained in a suit while he still felt a bit oily, so instead he went for a polo shirt and trousers. It was interesting to see what people wore. We saw some people in beach gear or jeans, more I’d say than you would on Disney, and some people went the whole hog, and had tuxedos on, while others wore suits or a jacket and a polo shirt. For the women, many were in dresses, but some were what I’d describe as posh dresses, maybe cocktail dresses, while others were more like sun dresses. There was a real combination. It was also fascinating how much it varied between couples, and I guess that was the case with Mark and I. I saw one couple where he was in a tuxedo, looking exceptionally smart, and she was in a much more casual sundress.
Anyway, I digress. We sat there for a few minutes, enjoying our drink, and the string duo that were playing, although I couldn’t help but think of Titanic and the quartet on there, and how they were amongst the last ones playing when the ship went down. Not a comforting thought… It was when Mark said he was thinking exactly the same that I decided it was time for us to head for dinner, as it was a bit surreal to be sitting there on a cruise ship having those thoughts.
As we headed out, I got some photos of the other entrance into the Ensemble Lounge…
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Certainly not like Disney! 
I've had that done at V&A's QVR before and is such an experience! 
Too funny with Mark and the chair and certainly in his element! 
He definitely wasn't graceful and more like a flop and then got sucked in! 
but at least it meant we got to see more of it, and I was able to get some photos of it, so not all was lost. 
Linear Mode
