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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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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.
I don't know why I thought doing a TR around the holidays would be a good idea!
Saturday - Cozumel Day
Saturday morning we slept in a little... since we didn't have to meet for our excursion until noon, we were in no hurry whatsoever! The phone rang at 9:15am, and again, it was room service, calling to tell us that breakfast was on its way! Have I mentioned my love of room service?
It was the same breakfast every day, but it sure was delicious!
After breakfast, I skyped with Meri for a bit, while simultaneously uploading photos onto FB, in order to maximize my (overpriced) internet time. Meri had a "date" with her little boyfriend down the street today, so I heard all about those plans. His family took her to go see a movie and get dinner at Mellow Mushroom. They're brave. After I said goodbye to Meri, we grabbed our bags and headed out.
Getting off of the ship was easy peasy at this time, and by 10:45am we were browsing the port shops. We did pause to observe the other ships in port (Carnival Triumph and RCC Jewel of the Seas). Ours was the biggest.
Ours is on the left, the Jewel is on the right
I was really excited because I found kinder eggs, which some of you may recall were a HUGE hit with Meri in Germany... so I bought three boxes of those (one for when I got back, two for Christmas).
After some shopping, we killed some time in Senor Frogs.
All 3 ships in port
I was boring and got a sprite - just didn't want alcohol before a 40 minute boat ride... I do love the look on Toni's face here, lol.
The sprite was pretty gross... I guess they have different syrup or something, but YUCK. Also, they told us the ice is purchased pre-bagged and is not from local water. Who knows if it's true, but I didn't get sick, so that's something. Oh well, it was $12 for both drinks (we got to keep the cups).
We took a potty break, and then headed over to our meeting spot for our excursion. We met our tour guide, Alejandro (who said we can call him Alex). We signed in, and then were quizzed by Alejandro as to why we chose this excursion. It seems that most of the people that do the Isla Pasion excursion are from Carnival, and they have very few RCC people. He wondered if it was promoted, and how we heard about it and whatnot. I can't speak for what Carnival offers, but RCC has SO many excursions on offer, that I can see why it wouldn't have dozens and dozens of people choosing this one.
Anyway, at noon we all walked down the pier to our boat. It wasn't quite the catamaran I was expecting... but whatever. We had to sit on the lower level for the first 10 minutes so that Alejandro could go over a few things with us, and then we were released to hop up top if we wanted... and of course we SURE DID!
How about that water??
In the sun!
Goodbye ships!
Our first sight of Isla Pasion!
Alejandro
Beautiful!
We filed off the boat and Alejandro gave us a brief tour of the area (the island is VERY tiny) and then off we went! Toni went to the bathroom while I staked out some seats!
I got situated in the chairs by the water, and then Toni was back and found me. The view was lovely, but I admit the seaweed was a little less than lovely, lol. Oh well!
The water trampolines...
The beach
We decided to go hit the water... and BRRRRRRRRRRRRR! It was way colder than I would have hoped! I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since it's December... but I was! It was COLD! Yuck! We swam to the water trampoline and I tried to climb the ladder to get up there. Oh, my, gosh! It was REALLY difficult to get on there. The ladder only has a couple of steps on it, and the stupid thing slides underneath the trampoline when you try to get on it, so you're climbing up at an angle. It took me about 10 tries to get up there, and was VERY stressful on my poor muscles!! Ouch! It was also VERY embarrassing, because I had quite the audience. *sigh*
However... I say Toni had the really embarrassing part, because two guys actually pulled her up... and it took some doing. It was really something to see, and we were both hysterically laughing, even as I know she was mortified. It was just really... an experience. Needless to say, once we were up, we stayed up. It was awkward up there, because you can't really jump without the others on there going flying off... and you can't really sit because when others get up, it bounces so much that you nearly fall up, or just fall over. It's annoying all around.
Finally we just jumped off the stupid thing and swam back to shore, lol. We were just over it. We laid out for about an hour (with me turning over every 4 songs) and then decided it was time to get a bite to eat. We left our things there (taking just a small bag with our money and things, leaving our towels) and headed to the buffet area.
There were a few different options to choose from... rice, chicken, mahi mahi, alfredo pasta and pasta with red sauce, bread, chicken nuggets and fries. Very interesting array.
One of the bars
Toni got a blue margarita
I got a sprite... and was reminded that my memory is short, because after I took a sip I remembered that Mexican sprite is different from American sprite. And not in a good way. LOL! Oh well.
After lunch, we went back to our chairs and laid out again for another 30 minutes or so. Then Toni decided to treat us to a short massage on the beach! They have two different kinds of massages available... a chair massage for $1 per minute or a table massage which is $35 for 30 minutes. Toni had brought enough to do 2 10 minute chair massages, so we signed up for that... however they told us to just go ahead and lay down on the tables! BONUS!!
Ten minutes later, I was completely relaxed, and I went about 20 feet away and collapsed into a hammock...
I listened to my iPod and just swayed and dozed a little, and just relaxed.
Finally after about an hour in the hammock, it was time to gather our things and head back to the boat. There's a kids play area on the island, not too far from the hammocks (but not too close, either, lol) and that was neat to see. I didn't see a single kid on the island today, but it's nice to know they're welcome and that there's a place for them.
We could have also rented paddle boats or kayaks for free...
Climbing to the top!
Just kidding... the trees were so short that I was actually standing on the ground in that shot!
Our boat (which is NOT exactly the kind of catamaran I was expecting)
We again sat on the top deck and relaxed for the boat ride back. I had my iPod on and I just looked out over the water and continued to relax...
We got back to the dock, tipped our tour guide / crew a few bucks (not required, but they were very nice and helpful), and headed back to the ship. We gawked at the line to get back on the Carnival ship. It was HUGE! LOL! We dreaded what our line would look like, but phew, it was short!
It only took a few minutes to reboard, and the process was very simple. We had to have our bags put through a security thing, but that was easy and fast. It only took a few minutes to get up to our cabin, where we sat on the balcony (which faced the ocean, not Cozumel), and that's when we heard it... that Carnival ship was LOUD! At first we thought it was neighbors having a party... but then we realized... there was incredibly loud (and I really do mean loud) music coming from the deck of the Carnival ship. We could hear it loud and clear, every word, from our balcony! I can only imagine how loud it was ON the Carnival ship. I know they're party ships but yikes, that right there turned me way way way off of that cruise line! Toni and I laughed about what old ladies we were, complaining about the noise.
Toni showered, while I read. Then she napped, and I read, lol. Then I finally got up to shower, and ended up showering for almost an hour! I just was so relaxed and warm, I didn't want to move! Don't lecture me about the environment, now... I know, I know! But it was SO NICE!
Finally it was time to get ready for dinner. I was really sleepy and lazy feeling, but I got up and got ready!
At 8:20 we headed to dinner...
I got the caprese salad but apparently I forgot to photograph it! Oops! It was very good!
Garlic soup, which was interesting... and not bad...
I also got the shrimp cocktail, which again, I didn't photograph, because it looked exactly the same as the past two nights!
Lasagna
The lasagna was a bit dry for my taste, but it wasn't bad. I was just so full that I didn't finish much of it... but Hilda was very worried and asked me about three times if I was satisfied with the meal. I had to keep telling her that it was fine, and no, I didn't need anything else... I was just full and had ordered more than I should have! Of course, that statement rang true every night, lol... but tonight my stomach had just had enough!
Of course... there might be a smidge of room for dessert...
Tonight all of the servers did a little parade and then sang for us. Hilda was hilarious and encouraged us to cheer for her, etc. So we all waved our napkins and cheered and gave her a standing ovation at the end, lol! She was so cute because you could tell how excited she was!
It turns out after all of that napkin waving I worked up a tiny appetite for some sticky bread pudding...
In case any of us forgot what day it was.
There was a "white party" on deck, with black lights and music and fun stuff, they said, so off we went to our cabin to get in comfy clothes before heading up for a bit. I was SO tired, but somehow got talked into heading up there...
I thought it was funny that some people wore their bathrobes
We found a spot on one of the tiers, and got comfy in deck chairs. I ended up sitting beside Matt and talking to him for 2 hours straight. He's introverted like me, and doesn't really like to get into the middle of a huge party, or get on the dance floor. So he and I talked and talked (and caused a great deal of speculation amongst the coworkers, lol). Everyone else in the group danced and talked and socialized, and a great time was had by all!
Finally at 1am we all called it a night. But, of course... not before hanging our breakfast order on the door... for our final room service breakfast of the cruise!!
What a gorgeous island! And the color of that water is just amazing. Too bad it wasn't a bit warmer for swimming. It does sound like a wonderful day in port, although the water trampoline was a fiasco. They need to re-design that thing!
Again, you and Toni looked so nice for dinner. From your descriptions, the crew and servers on your ship could give the fabulous DCL CMs some real competition.
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Sounds like a nice relaxing day on the island. I could sit in one of the hammocks right now! That water looks amazing, but I'll pass if it's cold. The water trampoline sounds like a lot more trouble then what it was worth!
We did an excursion to someplace in Nassau - Blue Lagoon? - and they had a full water "playground" with slides, trampolines, etc. My kids made scampering up on all of it look so EASY, so I gave it a try. Not so easy! So I feel your pain, and agree, it can be mortifying. My DS was the one pulling me up - and pulling my arms out of their sockets, I think! Otherwise, sounded like a great day! I could go for a hammock with that view right about now! But Toni had a better drink choice, imho!
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.
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