From no trip to celebrating 20 years together… planning it all in less than 100 days! COMPLETED IN THIS FORUM 7/24 - Page 18 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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
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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.
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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I'm not a fan of this new chandelier! Seems so uninspired compared with the old Chihuly ones. BTW, the Chihuly chandeliers on the ships were made of acrylic as well. Much too dangerous and heavy to use real glass.
Your brunch at Palo looked absolutely sumptuous! I would have wanted to taste test everything but unfortunately would have gotten full really quickly! Your ship tour sounded so interesting. I love learning new bits of information when we visit places, so I would have definitely enjoyed it! Hope you digested your brunch before returning to Palo for another feast at dinner!
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Good tour so far! Interesting about the carpets, none of that ever occurred to me.
The mixology one sounded good too... too bad you couldn't do both!
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I was very surprised when I filled out the form, as you had the option for making additional tips to other Crew Members, and I never knew you could do this. Ok, so the vast majority of people on board get tips (i.e. spa staff, bar servers etc.), but we’ve had a great cleaner before, who looked after the adult pool, and we thought he was wonderful. I wish I’d known you could add tips, as I’d definitely have added something for him. Something useful to know for future cruises…
You sure can. I always give it in cash and put it right in the envelope, but you can add it at Guest Services as well and put it right on your account. I almost always give extra, but if someone is poor then I either give them less extra or nothing extra at all.
Interesting opinion about Brent. We had him on one cruise, and I was excited because it was like having a celebrity since he was all the Travel Channel shows about DCL. I'm normally annoyed by over-the-top people, but he didn't bother me. Better than a boring cruise director. But I'm sure he'll be well suited to director of entertainment at DCA.
I really liked him too. I don't care for Clayton and tons of people love him. We just had Mike, who is new and I really liked him a lot.
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Originally Posted by chezp
I completely agree. I was really shocked to find that out.
That's what I was expecting to, but not a word. Very sad and definitely an opportunity missed.
Well, of course with the changes now, from what I recall, the receptions will only be on cruises of more than seven nights, which I feel is a bad move. We're on two seven night cruises next year, so we won't get a reception on either, just the transatlantic one.
They are supposed to ask you why you are taking tips off as when it's done the person gets reprimanded. But some people take them off in order to just pay cash and that needs to be noted. Sounds like that Guest Services person wasn't doing their job either. UGH!
And they changed those Gold/Platinum things again. I guess enough people complained and they are supposed to be offering them on all sailings again.
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He then showed us the “secret tunnel” that runs between the Oceaneer Club and the Oceaneer Lab. Apparently the counsellors spent a lot of their time going between the two with the kids, and Michael described it as being “more like a bus service than anything else”, so this addition was obviously made in response to crew feedback, which was good. We saw some kids using it while we were there, and they seemed to be having a ball.
I don't think the tunnel is secret and I think it's been on the ship for a long time...but I haven't sailed the Wonder so I could be wrong. I know it's been on the Magic for many years and the kids go back and forth as well from each side as they want. You never really notice it though unless you look for it.
I am all caught up.
I am loving your report. How cool to see the Dream out there too. I always hope one day to see another Disney ship while sailing.
I really want to get on the Wonder and my plan was it would be my next ship, but then I got a great deal on the Fantasy for this summer and I have the Magic booked next year as of right now to go to Bermuda. Someday it will happen.
Good tour so far! Interesting about the carpets, none of that ever occurred to me.
The mixology one sounded good too... too bad you couldn't do both!
On our upcoming cruises, we should be able to do the mixology class and some of the other tasting sessions, as all the alcohol related classes are now pre-bookable when you book your shore excursions, so I'm definitely going to check out what the options are at that point and try and grab a booking or two!
You sure can. I always give it in cash and put it right in the envelope, but you can add it at Guest Services as well and put it right on your account. I almost always give extra, but if someone is poor then I either give them less extra or nothing extra at all.
I really wish Disney would promote this, especially the fact that you can tip others who wouldn't normally get tips. I can't believe it took this many cruises for us to find this out.
They are supposed to ask you why you are taking tips off as when it's done the person gets reprimanded. But some people take them off in order to just pay cash and that needs to be noted. Sounds like that Guest Services person wasn't doing their job either. UGH!
Oh my goodness, well in that case, not at all!
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And they changed those Gold/Platinum things again. I guess enough people complained and they are supposed to be offering them on all sailings again.
Oh wow, that's great news! I did think it was a bit of a miserly decision on Disney's part. I could understand them maybe cutting them out on three and four night sailings, it was the fact if you did a seven night sailing, you wouldn't get one that I objected to, as a lot of sailings are seven nights - two of the three cruises we're taking next year are.
I don't think the tunnel is secret and I think it's been on the ship for a long time...but I haven't sailed the Wonder so I could be wrong. I know it's been on the Magic for many years and the kids go back and forth as well from each side as they want. You never really notice it though unless you look for it.
I got the impression that they added this in the dry dock, but I could be wrong and then again, so could the crew member...
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I am all caught up.
I am loving your report. How cool to see the Dream out there too. I always hope one day to see another Disney ship while sailing.
That's the second time it's happened to us. We saw the Dream, I think, on the day of my 40th birthday, when we were on the Fantasy.
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I really want to get on the Wonder and my plan was it would be my next ship, but then I got a great deal on the Fantasy for this summer and I have the Magic booked next year as of right now to go to Bermuda. Someday it will happen.
Alaska? Just saying... that is one amazing cruise!
Wednesday 8 March – part four: we’ve never been down this corridor this cruise
We carried on further along deck five on our Art of the Theme Show Tour, and saw photos of the Magic’s construction…
As Mark said to me, we’ve never been down this corridor this cruise, and in fact I’m not sure we’ve even been down that corridor in all the times we’ve been on the Wonder. It is true – you do learn something every day.
Also along here is the broadcasting studio, from where they do the sound for the various parties, like the sailaway and the pirates. I can’t imagine doing something like that, and not being up there, and being able to see for myself what’s happening, but I guess they must have cameras to keep an eye on everything.
We made our way down to deck four, and stepped out on to the promenade deck. Because of the winds this trip, we’d barely been out here, and normally we do spend a lot of time out there. Today however the weather had changed. It was a lot warmer, with less wind, and I’d say now humid outside. However, when you looked at the ocean, it did look perfect. Ah, this is what we cruise for…
Our final stop was the iconic photo of Walt outside the Walt Disney Theatre, and everyone knew that the one change to this picture was removing the cigarette. I guess that’s a common thing for people to know now.
I enjoyed the tour, but as I say, I didn’t get as much out of it as I was hoping. We made our way back to the room, and I insisted on packing a bit, which didn’t go down too well with someone but there was no way I was going to pack three cases when we got back to the room. We did one completely, and a second one mostly, and left it there, as a lot of stuff would be able to be packed once we returned from dinner.
I braved having a shower, as it is a bit of a challenge on the older ships, as you have less room in the bathroom. I really miss the big round tubs of the newer, bigger ships, and that’s why I’ve been showering at the spa, as you just have so much more space in there. I dread to think what happened to anyone who tried to shower on our first night at sea!
Out of interest, we looked up which ship we’ll be on for our Southern Caribbean cruise in January 2018, and it is the Wonder, which I’m really pleased about! We’re a category down – a 5B, rather than a 5A, but I think it just means a difference of deck, rather than anything else, which I’m sure we can live with.
We headed out just before 5:45pm, as I wanted to change a $10 note into smaller notes at guest services, and I figured that was about the only place we could do it. I was braced for a long line, but there was no-one there. Usually it’s chaos at guest services on the final day, but not this cruise…
We then took the elevator up to deck 10, and got some photos outside, both of the view…
… and of me:
It was probably the most beautiful evening of the cruise. It was definitely more humid, but there was barely a breeze. We figured that rain was on its way, and sure enough it arrived not long after we got to Palo.
We were just about to head back to Palo, when we realised Barb and Daryl were there.
We made our way in, and were seated in exactly the same table as we’d been at during brunch. It was so funny as we arrived, as all the serving staff were welcoming us back, joking about how long it had been since they’d seen us!
We had Nicola again, as is the custom at Palo to always stick with the same server, which I like. She was very attentive, especially to Barb’s gluten allergy, and I thought immediately how much more on the ball she was than our regular servers appeared to be. I felt confident for her that she’d get exactly what she needed, and as she said, she hasn’t felt that way during some of our meals at the regular dining rooms, which is a real shame.
She bought out the bread, and then gluten free bread for Barb.
They now have the appetiser trolley here, just like all the other Palo restaurants. I really like this, and again Nicola was very accommodating, when she had to do different dishes for all of us – there was everything except the cheese for Daryl and Mark, and Barb and I shared a vegetarian plate, made up of cheese, peppers, and mushrooms.
Disneyland Paris approx 2004, Caribbean Beach April 2013, Polynesian May 2014, Old Key West October 2015, Wilderness Lodge Oct 2017, Disneyland Paris October 2018 and looking forward to AKL Sept/Oct 2019 trip!
Always good to get the packing done early. Less to think about later.
The skies were looking lovely that evening! And you are so cute! Sounds like a good start to Palo dinner.
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I would have wanted to taste test everything but unfortunately would have gotten full really quickly!
Your ship tour sounded so interesting. I love learning new bits of information when we visit places, so I would have definitely enjoyed it! Hope you digested your brunch before returning to Palo for another feast at dinner!
I was really shocked to find that out. 
It is true – you do learn something every day. 
We did one completely, and a second one mostly, and left it there, as a lot of stuff would be able to be packed once we returned from dinner. 
Usually it’s chaos at guest services on the final day, but not this cruise… 
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