A Quick Caribbean Cruise? Count me in! PTR and Live TR all in one!! updated 12/12/2013 - Page 4 - 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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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.
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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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No pix in this installment, but I'll probably post some later or tomorrow... though perhaps not until the return trip? I just don't want to blow my internet time.
We headed up to the top deck to watch our departure… we were supposed to pull away at 7pm (which is really late in my experience, but it was interesting to leave while it was dark). Since we weren’t going anywhere for a while, we decided to head down one level to the pool bar, where we found Gregg and Lize and a bunch of Toni’s other coworkers. Toni and I got some pina coladas, which were REALLY good, and then we chatted a bit. Once the boat started moving, I popped up to the top deck and Skyped with Meri for about 5 minutes, to let her see the upper decks of the ship, and to see Miami. She got a huge kick out of it, and it was fun to see her reaction. I definitely was missing her.
After I hung up with Meri, Toni and Gregg grabbed me and I followed them up to the VIP lounge where the “big” boss was. He had rented it out for cocktail hour, so we enjoyed snacks and drinks up there for a bit. Honestly, it wasn’t that awesome, because the windows were slanted and tinted, so we couldn’t see much of any view. But the lounge itself was nice looking.
We stayed up there for about 20 minutes, and then it was time to freshen up for dinner.
Our room is on the 10th floor, midship, and our dining room is all the way aft, on the 6th floor. So we headed down to the 6th floor, midship, and started walking aft. Well… you’d THINK that would be a good plan, but no. Turns out we were stuck at another dining room and we couldn’t go all the way through. We had to go up one level to seven, then we had to sort of wind around before back down to six, to our dining room. It was VERY confusing, but we eventually got there.
Dinner… hm. It wasn’t as good as last year’s experience, for sure. And it DEFINITELY was not Disney quality, lol. The server barely introduced himself beyond saying his name, there was no chatting or friendliness, and he wasn’t particularly speedy.
I ordered the shrimp cocktail for an appetizer, and the Angus steak with a potato for my entrée. The shrimp cocktail was good. No complaints. Of course it’s hard to mess that up, lol! The steak… it was very fatty, which bothered me some. And the potato was dry – no one offered any butter or sour cream. So dinner was just ok for me. Not awful, but not really stand-out.
After dinner, we chose our desserts. I picked Crème Brulee, which should surprise no one, and I asked for coffee. Well... the crème brulee wasn’t even really crème brulee. There was no hard sugar topping, which was highly disappointing – what on earth is crème brulee without it??? And the coffee was lukewarm and was as thick as oil! Someone at our table ordered decaf, and it was instant. They were poured a cup of hot water and handed a packet of instant decaf! Oy!
So, alas, we all agreed that dinner wasn’t quite the smash hit we had hoped. But we did eat, and we laughed a LOT.
Dinner ended around 10:45pm, and I headed back to the room to finish Fast Five in bed, while Toni went with a few others to the show. I ended up going to sleep around 12:30am.
Sunday
On Sunday I woke up at around 8:30am, and then laid back down and snoozed for about another 45 minutes. Finally I decided it was time to get up and get going. Toni was already up and reading on the balcony. We ordered room service for breakfast, and it was there within 15 minutes. They only have a continental breakfast, and really it’s just a few rolls / croissants and some orange juice. We also ordered coffee, of course. It was so nice to sit outside on the balcony, having breakfast and looking at Atlantis. It was a fabulous view and perfect weather.
After a while, we decided to get dressed and head out to Paradise Island. We disembarked on deck 4 and headed out, purchasing round trip tickets for the water taxi ($8 each). We arrived at the water taxi just before it was ready to depart, and we headed across the water to Paradise Island. It was just a 10 minute trip over! We got off of the boat and walked through some little tents where people were selling their wares. We said no thanks, and headed right through, taking off for the little shopping village. We meandered around, stopping at a Starbucks for a quick caffeine fix, and then we walked over to Atlantis, just to peek in the main building. It wasn’t anything that exciting, and we didn’t stay. Instead we meandered back through the shopping village and had lunch at my favorite – Johnny Rockets!
After lunch we headed back to the water taxi, and we were accosted by two women who forced multiple beaded necklaces onto us, then asked for money. I actually liked the one necklace so I gave the girl $6, which was all the cash I had on me, and then gave the other necklace back. Toni was not so lucky. She had handed the girl a $20, wanting change, and the girl handed her my $6 and said, “There you go, now you bought all four!” and they walked off! Toni just shook her head and I admit I laughed and laughed. We got totally taken for a ride (especially Toni) and the girls frankly earned their $20. They were pushy without being scary, and they got what they wanted before Toni even knew what had hit her. I shouldn’t laugh, I know, it’s obnoxious behavior, but seriously, these two were pros in every sense of the word.
We took the water taxi back, and then got back on board the boat, having bought nothing in Nassau (except for the necklaces, lol). Once on board, we went straight up to the top deck and found two spots by the pool, in the sun. We sat in the little kiddie wading area for a bit to cool off (no kiddies were present) and then just rested in the sun for a while. It was so relaxing. I had my music on and I just zoned out for about an hour or so.
Finally at 2:45pm I headed back down to the room to change and unwind before my spa appointments. I sprawled out on the bed and watched Fast & Furious 6, and finally it was time for me to head upstairs to get my hair done. I arrived a few minutes early at the spa, and checked in, but they weren’t ready for me yet. Turns out there was a bride in there getting her hair done, and they were running behind. Finally at 4:20pm Tatiana brought me in to get my highlights. All told it took an hour and a half, and I just made it to my 6:00pm pedicure appointment at 6:02pm! I will tell you that I love my hair! She scared me at first because she told me that “your hair won’t be too white”! I nearly freaked out! WHITE?! I stayed calm because I kind of figured that it was already done, so I mean… you know? But I was dreading the “big reveal”. Turns out I was worried for nothing. It looks fabulous! No white to be seen!
So, on to the pedicure! Toni and I sat in a private pedicure room for two. Unfortunately since it was dark, we couldn’t see the ocean, but I didn’t mind. The two girls that did our toes were hilarious. I really enjoyed listening to the banter, and at times I just zoned out and enjoyed it. If I’m being honest, the pedicures I get back home, for $30 less, are much better by far. More massaging, more attention to the feet, more buffing and whatnot. But this was fine, and my toes looked really cute at the end. I had initially picked a coral color, but it turned out to be this ugly orange, and both my girl and I agreed that no, that wasn’t going to work. So I went with my initial choice, which was a red.
After that, we headed back to the room to dress for dinner, as it was already 7:20pm. This is “casual night”, with a suggestion for wearing white. Fortunately I had brought my white pants with me on the trip, so I put those on!
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OMG I had an entire update with photos typed up and it disappeared when I hit post! *tear* Jeannie, you and I are cursed, lol!
LOL! Hopefully you won't have any more of those problems! Since I don't have Word on my laptop, I can't write it out in advance. I was going to type it out on email and send it to myself a paragraph at a time, but that was too cumbersome! You'll see on my TR that now I'm doing shorter posts...several at a time, just in case I lose one!
Sounds like you're having a great time! Bummer about dinner, but Disney really spoils us by setting expectations high!
ROFL!!! I just lost two sentences I had just typed!
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I'm back and all caught up. A huge relief that the travel day went so well and your night in Miami sounded like so much fun. The ship is beautiful, but how disappointing that dinner was! I wonder if they're trying to push people to try the extra-fee dining instead of the regular dining rooms. We do get spoiled by the Disney crew members-- there's nothing like them and they are what make those cruises so special. A question for you about the water taxis-- did you need to use them at every port? Did you happen to notice if they're accessible? I always assume that if you need to tender into port, that would mean I couldn't go, but that may not be true. Looking forward to when you can post some more pics. I want to see the hair also!
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Hey all I'm back!! I've been typing up the TR but I ran out of internet time! LOL! I'll post updates tomorrow evening - WITH hair photos (and lots of others) and I'll answer your questions, Laurie!!
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