Time to Board!

Saturday, August 15 2009.

We slept in a bit and were packed up and ready by 10am. Well, I was packed and ready, Victoria had crawled back under the covers at 8:30am and snoozed for an hour. We agreed to meet at 10:30am, but we were all early and ready by 10:10am. Stan rode with Lynn and the luggage, and Darlene rode with me and the girls. The ride is an hour from Disney World. It was an easy ride, pretty straight. We dropped off everyone, handed our bags to the porter, gassed up the vehicles and returned the cars to Budget. We jumped on the shuttle car over to the port with our carry ons. It’s all very easy.

When we got back to the port, Darlene showed us the announcement. Our entire itinerary was changed. We were not going to Tortola or St. Thomas. Instead, we switched to a Western Carribean itinerary. I was pretty disappointed and I was trying to get used to the idea. I did not want to go to Mexico. The swine flu is in Mexico! Our new plan was Castaway Cay, sea day, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, sea day and Castaway Cay. There was some speculation we might stop in Key West, but not likely.I was very disappointed. Some cast members tried to explain to me about the weather situation. I didn't care about the weather, I understand the weather but it was a total surprise to learn we were going to Mexico.

We boarded just after 12 noon and were all announced as the Brothers Family. Lynn and Mary boarded and we heard, "Welcome to the Brothers Family." When we were asked if we too, were the Brothers Family, it just seemed easier to say YES and move along. What the heck, no one was really paying attention anyway. "Welcome to MORE of the Brothers Family!" Behind us, Darlene, Stan and Sandy boarded and we heard, "Welcome to yet MORE of the Brothers Family!" We went to Parrot Cay and was told the restaurant was full, and to please head up to deck 9. We politely explained we would wait for a table. We were seated within minutes and had a good lunch. Sandy and Jess joined us at the table! Now the entire clan was on board and ready!

Parrot Cay was actually the best food we’d had in days. We ate a lot of counter service in Disney World, which was ok but it was nice to be served. After lunch we went to Rockin’ Bar D and fixed our Palo reservations. There was a huge line for excursions. We decided not to plan any. I wasn’t really excited about the ports, which was fine because we enjoy time on the ship. I asked the woman at the dining table, which corner we'd been assigned. She looked us up and assured us we were not in a corner. Basically, she lied. She also insisted I had not requested Ramen for a server. I patiently explained to her that perhaps she did not have a notation that I requested Ramen for a server, but I assured her I had indeed requested, in writing, Ramen for our server. She said Ramen was serving a party of 20 and apologized. No Ramen for you!

Usually we board pretty early and we were not used to being able to get to our rooms so soon after boarding. We headed up to deck 7 to our inside cabin. No upgrades for us, even after six cruises on the Disney Magic. I was looking forward to having a new location because each time we've sailed, it's been on deck 2. Like our category 12 cabin, the layout of the inside room was the couch first, then the bed, facing the door. I like this arrangement because you don't have to shift sideways past the bed to the couch. This layout makes sense to me.

The flat screen television was on a swivel arm, making it possible to view television from any part of the room. A very needed improvement! Victoria put on the Disney Channel and we waited for our luggage to arrived.

I took my bonine at lunch and it made me very tired. I was falling asleep on the couch. The luggage arrived and Victoria unpacked the cases. We shoved the cases under the bed, to maximize space. The power went out just before the life boat drill. Having an inside cabin without power means a very dark room. After the drill, we went back to our room and snoozed. We went up to deck 9 for the sailaway party but it was hot. Still trying to get used to the idea of a change in itinerary, we went back to the room to freshen up for dinner. Dinner was at 5:45pm.

Our first night was in Animator's Palate and we had the light show on the first evening. We were shown to our table, in the corner. They really packed in the people around our table. We had one large table, rather than a table for adults and one for the kids. It was very crowded. Our servers were Daniel from Hungary and Carlos from Peru. Putra from India was our head server, and we did not see him much.

We assured Daniel we understood the standards of excellence. We spotted Ramen in our dining room. He did have a large group. We waved to him each evening and sang his praises to any one who would listen. I can't remember what we had for dinner, but I'm pretty sure I had tuna the first five days on the ship either in appetizer or main course. Some of the tuna dishes were great, and others not so great. The new menus don't seem too different to me, but I did notice lots of dishes had brown gravy on them. One night, the adults chose five different entres and each one arrived with a brown gravy on them. I didn't think it was good menu planning.

I was falling asleep after dinner and we retired by 8pm. The next day was Castaway Cay.