Dreams do come true – our Med cruise! **Updated 6/30** THREAD 1 *COMPLETE* - Page 14 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Amazed at how much you accomplished and enjoyed today...I am exhausted taking it all in!
Sounds like you met some good friends and had good conversation.
Love the pics of the party!
danielle
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~Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars~
OMG...first of all, we got the EXACT same picture (except it was Steve and I, not you and Mark ) of the nighttime Magic with our boarding photo! And, Rachel was our cruise director too! And you were right across the hall from our stateroom! And.....our first night was in Parrot Cay. Oh, I miss cruising already!
Thanks for sharing all your wonderful photos and memories!
I preferred it actually. There was something very magical about leaving so late at night and, having only done one other cruise, it didn't seem that odd to us really.
The food looks scrummy, but did you say that drill attendance wasn't mandatory? Wow, that would be a treat to skip that.
Sorry Rachel - just realised I missed your question. That's my understanding, although I think it was either a one off for that cruise or just for the Med cruises. I don't know why it wasn't mandatory, I heard a lot of different reasons - 1) that a lot of people had been on the Transatlantic cruise and stayed on board for the first Med cruise, so they'd already done a drill before, 2) that we were sailing out of Barcelona so late and they wanted to give people the chance to spend the day in the city if they wanted. I'm not sure of the real reason, but I don't think it's something they're going to do regularly, as usually you do the drill and sail about an hour or so later and of course, it was very different on this cruise.
Sunday 28 May – part one: I think they need to turn it down!
Unusually for a Disney vacation, we woke up at a reasonable hour, 7.35. Amazing what happens when you don’t have jetlag to contend with!
We both slept pretty well and I certainly didn’t hear any noise from anywhere, although obviously it does take a while to get used to the sound of the engines.
We headed down to Lumiere’s for breakfast, as I had fond memories of eating there on our three night cruise and I certainly got my money’s worth with cereal, melon and lox and bagel, the real reason I had gone there. The service wasn’t exactly quick, but as we had nothing to rush for, it wasn’t a problem. Not the place to head for though when you’ve got an early shore excursion.
We ended up sitting with Dr. Michael Eisman, who will be giving a number of lectures on the cruise about the architecture and history of the places we would be visiting and he was a fascinating person to talk to.
There seemed to be very few people out, so I guess a lot of people stayed up very late last night. We went over to guest services and were able to get on the galley tour on 2.45 on 5 June, which would be our last full day on board. It seemed a way off! From the way, the Cast Member said it, it sounded like that was now all that was available, so I’m glad we went to check that when we did, as we could’ve easily missed out.
The beautiful view out to sea Inside Lumiere’s
We walked back to our room via the outside deck on deck 4 and it was a lot warmer out there than I was expecting, very pleasant considering they were saying that the winds were in the range of force four.
I decided to spend an hour or so at the Tropical Rainforest and start making the best of my membership there for the rest of the cruise. This really is one of my favourite places on the Disney cruise. I just find it so relaxing and I love that it’s all designed to make it feel like you’re moving in water. That’s very peaceful and settling.
For those who haven’t tried it before, the Tropical Rainforest consists of hot stone chairs, a gentle sauna, fog showers, mild steam room and aromatic steam room. Of everything, those hot stone chairs are a real favourite of mine. I could just sit there for hours letting my cares drift away.
I tried everything and the only thing I didn’t really get on with was the aromatic steam room, way too hot for me. The fog shower was also great and very refreshing – much better than the showers in your stateroom.
When I first arrived, I was the only one in there, but as the hour wore on, more and more people arrived and by the time I left, I freed up one of the hot stone chairs, as all four had been taken for the last quarter of an hour or so. I was also surprised to see so many men in there. I think I only saw one guy use it all the times I went in there on our three night cruise.
Eventually I felt I had to drag myself away and just as well, as I’d been well over an hour in there. I went back to the room to get Mark and just as we were coming out of the room, well who do you think we bumped into, but Deb, Linda, Sandy and Sharon. They were all heading off for lunch and asked if we wanted to join them, so we all headed for Parrot Cay.
My goodness, this place is noisy. We thought it was bad last night and, although the noise from the tables was a lot better, they were playing background music way too loud. I’m sorry, but I really want to be able to enjoy conversation with the people on my table, not be drowned out by the music.
They were serving a Spanish buffet and it was good, although there weren’t many Spanish aspects to it. I had the potato and vegetable torte and shrimp sandwich and a couple of Spanish type desserts, but I didn’t get their names, although they were both very good.
Parrot Cay Spanish buffet lunch:
Food 8 8½
Service 5 5
Atmosphere 7½ 9
Average score: 7.16
Next: “do you want to see the Roy O. Disney suite?”
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Eventually I felt I had to drag myself away and just as well, as I’d been well over an hour in there. I went back to the room to get Mark and just as we were coming out of the room, well who do you think we bumped into, but Deb, Linda, Sandy and Sharon. They were all heading off for lunch and asked if we wanted to join them, so we all headed for Parrot Cay.
Next: “do you want to see the Roy O. Disney suite?”[/B][/FONT]
Deb always wants a picture so it is a rare surprise if you actually get home and find her in one of them. Deb will take her picture and everyone hands over their camera and she takes more never getting the the photo herself.
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) of the nighttime Magic with our boarding photo! And, Rachel was our cruise director too! And you were right across the hall from our stateroom! And.....our first night was in Parrot Cay. Oh, I miss cruising already! 
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That's my understanding, although I think it was either a one off for that cruise or just for the Med cruises. I don't know why it wasn't mandatory, I heard a lot of different reasons - 1) that a lot of people had been on the Transatlantic cruise and stayed on board for the first Med cruise, so they'd already done a drill before, 2) that we were sailing out of Barcelona so late and they wanted to give people the chance to spend the day in the city if they wanted. I'm not sure of the real reason, but I don't think it's something they're going to do regularly, as usually you do the drill and sail about an hour or so later and of course, it was very different on this cruise.
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