A Christmas Ship Comes Sailing In (A Cam and Luke TR) Completed 2/18 - Page 24 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
I so enjoyed this update Cam! Chef Luis sounded wonderful and very informative. I usually order fish whenever we go out to dinner, so I know I would have loved this meal It certainly looks like Luke enjoyed the slides and pool too Glad you had so much fun on this excursion!
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.
What fun you two had. I too would have been apprehensive about the fish - I don't care for any kind of fish. I would probably have taken one bite then just ate the rice and veggies. I will try to remember this for our next visit to Cozumel - I know DH would enjoy it. Wasn't it great to being playing in the ocean at that time of the year?
Now that looks like something I would really enjoy! Right up my alley. I just looked at my timeline to my upcoming trip and it says 16 days away! I am so not ready for this, I haven't done a thing to prepare. All I have been doing is shoveling snow
What a fabulous excursion! And bonus to have some fun after cooking.
This port adventure really had two fun activities packed into one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
I so enjoyed this update Cam! Chef Luis sounded wonderful and very informative. I usually order fish whenever we go out to dinner, so I know I would have loved this meal It certainly looks like Luke enjoyed the slides and pool too Glad you had so much fun on this excursion!
The grouper was so delicious as it was cooked, which really did surprise me. Luke did have fun on the slides, but the he is still part boy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcneal
What fun you two had. I too would have been apprehensive about the fish - I don't care for any kind of fish. I would probably have taken one bite then just ate the rice and veggies. I will try to remember this for our next visit to Cozumel - I know DH would enjoy it. Wasn't it great to being playing in the ocean at that time of the year?
At one point when we were both siting in the lounge chairs, Luke said, "This is so cool. We're sitting on beach by the ocean in mid December." Very enjoyable!
This sounds like a wonderful excursion...something to keep in mind in the future.
This is definitely on port adventure I'd recommend trying.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DLinNH
Now that looks like something I would really enjoy! Right up my alley. I just looked at my timeline to my upcoming trip and it says 16 days away! I am so not ready for this, I haven't done a thing to prepare. All I have been doing is shoveling snow
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.
While scrapbooking today, I realized that pictures of the pool on our first At Sea Day (December 9) were missing. I had actually wondered when I wrote the update for here as I thought I took several of Luke on the AquaDunk, but I couldn't find pictures and it wasn't even in my notes. After searching late this afternoon, I discovered the photos were on my iPhone.
I've now edited those pictures and uploaded them to Photobucket. So here they are.
Luke was glad he did the AquaDunk once, but he didn't go back for round 2. He liked it, but it was one big blur. He didn't even know when he went out over the ocean. By the way, the portion of the slide that went out over the ocean was above the right side of our verandah.
PS I've try to edit those stray man feet out, but I can't get the floor boards to line back up. So I've given up.
I love slides so I'm sure I would have loved this too! The scariest for me was the Temple slide into the walled up shark tank at the Atlantis Hotel in the Bahamas! I did it once and that was enough!!! Glad Luke tried it It looks like you both enjoy this ship a lot!
I'm glad Luke got to do the AquaDunk, although he's braver than us - we didn't like the idea of it.
I didn't much like the idea either, so I enjoyed his adventure from the comfy confines of my lounge chair.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lindawdw
I love slides so I'm sure I would have loved this too! The scariest for me was the Temple slide into the walled up shark tank at the Atlantis Hotel in the Bahamas! I did it once and that was enough!!! Glad Luke tried it It looks like you both enjoy this ship a lot!
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to end up near sharks walled up or not. We did really enjoy the Magic!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Glad Luke tried the Aqua Duck!
The slide was one of Luke's must dos for the cruise. But in the end one time was enough.
On the walk back down the pier to the Magic, I felt the need to get more pictures of the ship. It really is a beautiful ship. :wink:
Reentry was an easy process. We were scanned through security on the ship and headed to our stateroom. We had some time before dinner to relax and get ready. I was able to get a few twilight photos of Cozumel from our verandah.
Later with our pirate garb on, we traveled to Deck 3 for dinner at Lumiere’s. But the doors were not open yet. In fact, pirate Chip and Dale were greeting right in front of the stairs. So we joined a very short line for a Pirates in the Caribbean backdrop photo. I’m really glad we chose to do this now as the lines later were insanely long.
By the time we had finished our photo shoot, Lumiere’s was open. We walked up the stairs and down to Table #3. For the first time this cruise, we were not the first to arrive at our table.
Tonight’s menu was one we had been looking forward to with hopes it would be spicy. For appetizers, I went with the Pirates Golden “Pot Stickers” with Tamarind-Ginger Soy Sauce. I pot stickers, and these were excellent. Luke chose The Buccaneer’s Sun Ripened Pineapple with Coconut-covered Banana. Soup/Salad was the next course. We selected the same dish for this course – Jerk Chicken Salad (which was honestly big enough to be an entrée). The salad was served with a citrus dressing and plantain chips. Now to the main course. I had had fish for lunch and now seemed to be in a seafood mood, so I picked the Treasure of the Sea Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops with pasta and a creamy tomato sauce. This was good, but I didn’t really like the way the scallops had been cooked. Luke selected the Castaway Chicken Breast, which is best described as HUGE, more like a whole chicken rather than just the breast. It was cooked with the bone in, which Luke said made it a little difficult to eat. Luke’s chicken was served with rice and beans plus fried okra. None of the dishes was hot, though the jerk chicken in the salad was nicely spicy. Finally, it was time for dessert. I always go for whatever is chocolate. Tonight it was Rum Soaked Chocolate Cake. Luke always went with whatever was ice cream. We are creatures of habit. He had the Crunch Time Sundae (Rum Raisin ice cream with pineapple and whipped cream).
At one point during dinner, the lights dimmed and the serving staff got us all up to march around the restaurant to limbo at the end. FUN! Though dinner was finished, we all sat chatting a while. Finally, we excused ourselves as we both need a restroom break before heading into the show. Tonight’s show was the newest Disney movie release, Big Hero 6 3D. We found Connie and Paul and sat with them. Tonight the theater was packed for the show. Big Hero 6 was an awesome movie, earning a round of applause from the audience at the end.
We walked with Connie and Paul up to Deck 9 for the Pirates in the Caribbean party. They continued on to Deck 10, but we remained near the pool and stage. The show is cute with lots of contagious dancing, especially among the kids, but quite a few adults were participating. We hung back a little from the dancing action. The pirate portion of the show seemed a little chaotic and disorganized when compared to the first portion of the show. The fireworks were truly special with Mickey taking a zipline down to rescue the ship from the pirates. The fireworks had been our main goal, so when they were over, we headed to the drink station. I got a hot chocolate as the night had turned chilly. Delicious and warm! [Sorry no photos ]
It was now nearly 11:30, so we retired to our stateroom.
Thank goodness, tomorrow was an At Sea day because today had been a very busy one. Relaxation was in our immediate future. We tried watching Wall-E, but neither of us made it to the end nor do I remember when we fell asleep.
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.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
It certainly looks like Luke enjoyed the slides and pool too
Mary - not enough trips!
DLinNH
I thought they looked very nice and tasted even better. 
PassPorter Guide Author
We did really enjoy the Magic! 
pot stickers, and these were excellent. Luke chose The Buccaneer’s Sun Ripened Pineapple with Coconut-covered Banana. Soup/Salad was the next course. We selected the same dish for this course – Jerk Chicken Salad (which was honestly big enough to be an entrée). The salad was served with a citrus dressing and plantain chips. Now to the main course. I had had fish for lunch and now seemed to be in a seafood mood, so I picked the Treasure of the Sea Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops with pasta and a creamy tomato sauce. This was good, but I didn’t really like the way the scallops had been cooked. Luke selected the Castaway Chicken Breast, which is best described as HUGE, more like a whole chicken rather than just the breast. It was cooked with the bone in, which Luke said made it a little difficult to eat. Luke’s chicken was served with rice and beans plus fried okra. None of the dishes was hot, though the jerk chicken in the salad was nicely spicy. Finally, it was time for dessert. I always go for whatever is chocolate. Tonight it was Rum Soaked Chocolate Cake. 
]
Linear Mode
