Our First Ever Real Vacation, Mexican Riviera Cruise June 1-8, 2008 About This Page:

[h2ofreeze]

Hi Sue,
We were on that same cruise! I remember at the Away party someone on the starboard side with bubbles and thinking, 'that was a GREAT idea!'
After we boarded (in group 6), we changed clothes and swam in the Goofy pool for the better part of the afternoon. Not many people in the pool at all! The air was cool, but the water was nice!
Looking forward to your continuing saga!

[sueh818]

Originally Posted by DyanKJ130

I kind of like the effect that the night vision has in the photo with Minnie & the girls - if you hadn't said anything I just would have thought you were getting artsy with the photos!!

I like that angle! Maybe I'll turn them into Black and White or Sepia and no one will ever know!

[sueh818]

Day 1, Part 4 - Day One Wrap-Up


Here are some additional things from day one that I forgot to put into the previous posts.


We had rooms 2107 & 2109, connecting Category 10 deluxe staterooms on Deck 2, aft/midship position. They turned out to be great rooms. They were really close to the aft elevators, and just a quick staircase up to Parrot Key, Lumiere's and the Atrium. They were under the promenade lounge which is not especially a late night hot spot, so they were fairly quiet too, except for the regular ship noises and the crying baby next door.



When we were unpacking the first afternoon I put up my first wave of door magnets. Some little decorative ones on the doors around the room and a bunch on the outside.



They sure made our door easy to find! Our door was one of only three or four doors decorated along our entire corridor. I don't know if that was different on other decks because I didn't explore the stateroom corridors on any other decks.

After reading some passporter threads about stolen magnets, I added our last name on each of the magnets. I don't know if that made a difference or not, but none were stolen.

I also employed the Passporter tip of bringing little suction cups hangers. These worked out very well for hanging our Passholder pouches.



Otherwise I know my kids would have lost them under beds, clothes, papers, etc. With these hooks, we didn't have to spend any time looking for them.

We had an excellent stateroom host, Benny from India. I don't think remembered to get a picture of him. Taking a suggestion from the Passporter Cruise Tips e-book, I put up bungee cords to keep the doors open. I wouldn't have needed them however because when we got back to the room that night, Benny had unhooked the bungees and put in door stops on both doors. In my estimation, the door stops worked better than the bungees and I suggest that those who get connecting staterooms either bring door stops instead of bungees or request them from your steward.

I hadn't told the kids about towel animals and they were thrilled to see them on the first night. Daphne had brought her stuffed bunny rabbit and Benny made a towel animal bunny that looked just like it and put them side by side. It was very cute! But I forgot to take a picture of it. I told you I'm bad about that sort of thing.
The towel animal in my room that night was an elephant. Again, no picture.

[NanaTink]

Great start! Sounds like a wonderful vacation is underway! Can't wait to read more about it!
I've never experienced any stolen magnets from any of our cruises, hopefully that will continue this next cruise!
Thanks for sharing!

[sueh818]

Originally Posted by h2ofreeze

Hi Sue,
We were on that same cruise! I remember at the Away party someone on the starboard side with bubbles and thinking, 'that was a GREAT idea!'
After we boarded (in group 6), we changed clothes and swam in the Goofy pool for the better part of the afternoon. Not many people in the pool at all! The air was cool, but the water was nice!
Looking forward to your continuing saga!

Too bad you weren't on the port side near us! Afterward I still had about 10 bottles left in my backpack!

I'm glad you guys had fun in the pool and it wasn't too crowded. We took the kids the next day and they had a lot of fun.

If you aren't writing your own report, feel free to chime in throughout this one. (You too Tracey!) I'm interested to hear about different angles of the same thing.

[HeatherD]

I spy HP and the Deathly Hallows on your table! Were you able to get through it on the trip and was it your first time through? (I've read it around 10 times since it came out - not including books on tape version).

Enjoying your report! It's the first I'll have read of a Mexican cruise....

[sueh818]

I wondered if anyone would notice!

This is my third time through. I wanted to bring a book on the cruise that I knew I would love, but also be able to put down to do other things.

I only read about 1/4 of it on the trip.

[disneycrazey]

We were on the May 25th cruise and we had Ciao Romano as our head server! He was great and even when our youngest daughter put a whole thing of butter in her mouth, he caught it in a napkin right when she started spitting it out! Can you say cookie points?!? He was our best head server yet because he came to our table EVERY night unlike others, we will remember him, but can't really remember anybody else.

[chezp]

Your room looks lovely - and I love the door decorations and the idea of the suction caps.

[Kenny]

Another wonderful update complete with good info to file away for later use on our own cruise! Thanks!

[jrbelle]

I'm glad to know you were able to keep your magnets. We were in 2541 (with all the pirate and Disney magnets) and daily would find them on either the 2539 door (I was told several times by other passengers that one of the children coming/going from that stateroom was seen messing with our magnets) or down the hall. I would dutifully retrieve them and move on, until Pirates Night (Thursday) when several were outright stolen sometime after the deck party. I gave up and took down the rest, which elicited comments from other cruisers as to how much they loved our door and missed the items. But I wanted to save what was left for scrapbooks.

I will be posting an extensive trip report along with the Navigators from our cruise as soon as I get them scanned and the pictures pulled from my SD cards.

[sueh818]

Originally Posted by disneycrazey

We were on the May 25th cruise and we had Ciao Romano as our head server! He was our best head server yet because he came to our table EVERY night unlike others, we will remember him, but can't really remember anybody else.

I agree that he was a great head server. He came to our table every night as well and made himself visible, available, and approachable.

Originally Posted by jrbelle

I'm glad to know you were able to keep your magnets. We were in 2541 (with all the pirate and Disney magnets) and daily would find them on either the 2539 door (I was told several times by other passengers that one of the children coming/going from that stateroom was seen messing with our magnets) or down the hall. I would dutifully retrieve them and move on, until Pirates Night (Thursday) when several were outright stolen sometime after the deck party. I gave up and took down the rest, which elicited comments from other cruisers as to how much they loved our door and missed the items. But I wanted to save what was left for scrapbooks.

I will be posting an extensive trip report along with the Navigators from our cruise as soon as I get them scanned and the pictures pulled from my SD cards.

That's terrible! And just one corridor away! I took a picture everyday right after I put them up just in case any were stolen and figured that if they were I would make new ones when I got home. As extra insurance I also put a tiny sticker on the back that said please return to room 2107. BTW - I can't wait to read your trip report!

[ariel14]

Great update! I am so excited to read this TR!!!!

[mcc0313]

What great staterooms...can't wait to hear more about your trip.

[YoHoTales40]

Hi Sue and all you great Passporters out there!! We were on the same cruise and had the pleasure of meeting Sue and her family while onboard! I'm going to attempt to get a trip report out there, but should time get away from me, I will take you up on your offer to chime in on your report!! Thanks!!!

I'm really enjoying your report! Wow, the limosine ride must have been such a cool way to start an amazing trip! Love those pics!

And speaking of pics, I, too, kept forgetting to take photos and wish I had been more on the ball. I did manage to get oodles of photos of DD with all the characters, but that was a total set up for a photo op. And as Sue and I have realized, we never even got a photo of the two of us or of our families together...such a bummer!

Can we do the cruise over?