Joysnote
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2005
Disney Magic September 25-30, 2023 Halloween on the High Seas Double dip cruise
Cast: Joy, DH Lynn and Joy’s sister Julie and her dh Ken
Travel method personal car
Details:
September 22-24, 2023. We left home in Dallas, TX Friday September 22 to start the drive to Miami and over-nighted in Monroe, LA. We got up early and made it to our son Noah and his wife Sara’s home in Gainesville by about 5 pm on Saturday night. We had a fun dinner with them and played cards. Sunday, we had breakfast with them and left about noon to drive to Orlando to see our other son Dylan and his wife Stephanie and had a nice dinner with them and hit rode to Miami and made it our hotel by about 8:30 pm
September 25, 2023 Monday: We woke up and got ready to board our ship. We stayed in the Hampton Inn Wynwood district because it was one of the hotels that does have a parking garage since we had our personal car. It was $25 per night to park. I would highly recommend hotel, it was very clean, great service. We had a quick breakfast and then packed up and left hotel at 11 am. It was about 6-minute drive to port. We parked in terminal C garage for $22 per night. We had boarding time 11:30 and boarding group 6. We got through check in and security quickly but they let us know that boarding was delayed because the ship was delayed, they started concierge about 12:15 boarding, then our group was called about 12:40 and we were quickly onboard.
We went to Rapunzel’s for lunch and my sister Julie and her husband Ken texted they were boarding too. They had flown in from Phoenix, AZ the night before and stayed at another hotel. They met us at lunch and we all had a great lunch. We were done by 2 pm and headed to our rooms on deck 5. We had navigator’s verandahs this time. It was my first time doing the 7A. I was not sure if we would be happy, but they were better than expected. We had stateroom 5632 and they were next door in 5634. It was nice having the shady verandah with the heat and humidity made it bearable plus there was rain about each day and it stayed completely dry. Our luggage was waiting for us so we could unpack and freshened up. We loved all the Halloween décor.
Julie and I had pedicures in the Senses Spa for 3 pm so we headed up there. We both enjoyed our treatments and the muster drill had started. I guess this is the one time you are allowed to miss it. Our husbands both went but we did not have too and we stayed and finished our treatments. It was very relaxing; we were the only two in there the whole time. I highly recommend getting this appointment time and then our toes looked great whole cruise in our sandals.
We headed back to room and got ready for dinner. Our first night was in Lumiere’s and met our dining team. We had a great meal and then we went to the Tangled show, it was very good as usual but near the end had to technical difficulty so we cut it short and left, not sure if they ever got it started, but they turned on the lights and most passengers left too. We turned in for night after that.
September 26, 2023, Tuesday: Today is first Castaway Cay day and Halloween night. We woke up and had breakfast in Cabana’s buffet. We had put on our swim suits and left the ship about 9 am to head to the adult beach Serenity Bay, we got there about 9:30 am and set up our stuff on the chairs and just relaxed. We went out in the water several times; it was so lovely. We stayed until about 11:35 and went to lunch there and had a nice meal. We started packing up and left by about 12:30. We stopped at the family beach to do some shopping and then headed back to ship to shower and change because we wanted to watch Indiana Jones, Dial of Destinay in the Beuna Vista thereafter at 2:15. We had waited to see this until our cruise. We both thought the movie was very good.
After the movie, we went back to the stateroom, love how convenient our room location is to everything, we don’t really need to use elevators being on deck 5 we are so centrally located. We got dressed in our Halloween costumes prior to dinner. I had Lucia from Encanto, my husband is Bruno, my sister was Snow White and her husband the Prince. Our dinner tonight is in Animator’s Palette and we enjoyed this and Mickey came to viist. After dinner, we did a whole bunch of photos in the main atrium Then we did the trick or treating through Cabanas. We did not make it to the Masquerade party, it started at 10:30 which seemed too late for us. We all went back to our rooms but it was fun seeing everyone in their costumes.
September 27, 2023 Wednesday. Today is Nassau and Pirate Night. We went down to breakfast at about 9 am in Lumiere’s. I wore my peach dress because were having our Royal Gathering photos at 9:45 am so this breakfast time worked perfect for this. We saw Tiana, Cindrealla, Belle and Ariel. Then Lynn headed out to Nassau, in search of a Star bucks to get new Nassau coffee mug, we collect these. I went back to room and just sat out on the veranda for awhile and did social media and emails then went down and did some crafts in Soul. Once he returned, we got ready to go to our couple’s massage in Sense spa at 2:15 pm. It was wonderfully relaxing. From there we had small lunch at Daisey delights and then had our Martini class in Keys. It was fun learning and tasting these. We went back up to room and got our Pirate costumes on. Our pirate dinner is in Animato’ s palette which is my favorite for Pirate night, with all of the pirate scenes. After dinner we did some more pirate photos and then went up to the deck party and watched the fireworks, then called it a night.
September 28, 2023 Thursday. This is our double dip, second day at Castaway Cay. We had breakfast at Cabana’s this morning. Then headed back to Serenity Bay arriving about same time this time about 9:30 am on the beach. We set up and spent lots of time in and out of the water. We stayed through lunch again and then headed back to ship after. We had mixology class in Keys at 3 pm today. Our dinner tonight is in Rapunzel’s and had nice visit with the characters each coming to our table. After dinner we went to watch Haunted Mansion, we had waited to see this movie to for when we were onboard and enjoyed it but both thought Indiana Jones was better.
We turned in to rom after the movie.
September 29, 2023 Friday. Today is our day at sea. We took it easy and had a slow morning. We went to Lumiere’s for breakfast. We did trivia and crafts in Soul. We had a nice lunch in Rapunzel’s. We went out on deck 10 and sat in some lounge chairs for a while in afternoon, watching the sea.
We had beer tasting at 2 pm in O’Gill’s. Then did more trivia in the afternoon and some shopping in shops and went to shutters. We bought e 4 photo package with the Disney Cruise folder display for 2 of the photos which we almost always get on all our cruises.
Dinner tonight is Palo at 6 pm so we went back to our staterooms to get dressed up for this. We are platinum so our dinner is free, just must tip. We all had buffalo burrata, arugula salad, tenderloin and I had Limoncello, with Ken and Julie and Lynn got the chocolate Souffle so we could each taste both. We all enjoyed our dinner very much.
Sadly it is time to go back to the stateroom and pack up and set our luggage out. Then we headed to Buena Vista theater to watch Elemental. It was cute, we have seen Disney Creams multiple times and had not seen this movie yet either so it was nice. We turned in after that.
September 30-October 1 and Final Thoughts: All good things must come to an end. We woke up early at 6 am and had our final breakfast in Lumiere’s. We waited in Soul for our turn to get off ship at about 9 am. We had a quick and easy disembark and were on the road by about 9:45 am. We took the turnpike up to Ocala, then drove all the way to Pensacola to overnight. We stopped at Crack Barrel for lunch. Sunday, we left the hotel by 6:45 am and were on road. We got home to Dallas just before 5 pm. It was worth it to drive because we got to spend time with both of our sons on the way down.
This was our first Halloween on the high seas, and it was very fun! I highly recommend it. We did not do any port adventures, but enjoyed our drink classes, and spa appointments.
Cast: Joy, DH Lynn and Joy’s sister Julie and her dh Ken
Travel method personal car
Details:
September 22-24, 2023. We left home in Dallas, TX Friday September 22 to start the drive to Miami and over-nighted in Monroe, LA. We got up early and made it to our son Noah and his wife Sara’s home in Gainesville by about 5 pm on Saturday night. We had a fun dinner with them and played cards. Sunday, we had breakfast with them and left about noon to drive to Orlando to see our other son Dylan and his wife Stephanie and had a nice dinner with them and hit rode to Miami and made it our hotel by about 8:30 pm
September 25, 2023 Monday: We woke up and got ready to board our ship. We stayed in the Hampton Inn Wynwood district because it was one of the hotels that does have a parking garage since we had our personal car. It was $25 per night to park. I would highly recommend hotel, it was very clean, great service. We had a quick breakfast and then packed up and left hotel at 11 am. It was about 6-minute drive to port. We parked in terminal C garage for $22 per night. We had boarding time 11:30 and boarding group 6. We got through check in and security quickly but they let us know that boarding was delayed because the ship was delayed, they started concierge about 12:15 boarding, then our group was called about 12:40 and we were quickly onboard.
We went to Rapunzel’s for lunch and my sister Julie and her husband Ken texted they were boarding too. They had flown in from Phoenix, AZ the night before and stayed at another hotel. They met us at lunch and we all had a great lunch. We were done by 2 pm and headed to our rooms on deck 5. We had navigator’s verandahs this time. It was my first time doing the 7A. I was not sure if we would be happy, but they were better than expected. We had stateroom 5632 and they were next door in 5634. It was nice having the shady verandah with the heat and humidity made it bearable plus there was rain about each day and it stayed completely dry. Our luggage was waiting for us so we could unpack and freshened up. We loved all the Halloween décor.
Julie and I had pedicures in the Senses Spa for 3 pm so we headed up there. We both enjoyed our treatments and the muster drill had started. I guess this is the one time you are allowed to miss it. Our husbands both went but we did not have too and we stayed and finished our treatments. It was very relaxing; we were the only two in there the whole time. I highly recommend getting this appointment time and then our toes looked great whole cruise in our sandals.
We headed back to room and got ready for dinner. Our first night was in Lumiere’s and met our dining team. We had a great meal and then we went to the Tangled show, it was very good as usual but near the end had to technical difficulty so we cut it short and left, not sure if they ever got it started, but they turned on the lights and most passengers left too. We turned in for night after that.
September 26, 2023, Tuesday: Today is first Castaway Cay day and Halloween night. We woke up and had breakfast in Cabana’s buffet. We had put on our swim suits and left the ship about 9 am to head to the adult beach Serenity Bay, we got there about 9:30 am and set up our stuff on the chairs and just relaxed. We went out in the water several times; it was so lovely. We stayed until about 11:35 and went to lunch there and had a nice meal. We started packing up and left by about 12:30. We stopped at the family beach to do some shopping and then headed back to ship to shower and change because we wanted to watch Indiana Jones, Dial of Destinay in the Beuna Vista thereafter at 2:15. We had waited to see this until our cruise. We both thought the movie was very good.
After the movie, we went back to the stateroom, love how convenient our room location is to everything, we don’t really need to use elevators being on deck 5 we are so centrally located. We got dressed in our Halloween costumes prior to dinner. I had Lucia from Encanto, my husband is Bruno, my sister was Snow White and her husband the Prince. Our dinner tonight is in Animator’s Palette and we enjoyed this and Mickey came to viist. After dinner, we did a whole bunch of photos in the main atrium Then we did the trick or treating through Cabanas. We did not make it to the Masquerade party, it started at 10:30 which seemed too late for us. We all went back to our rooms but it was fun seeing everyone in their costumes.
September 27, 2023 Wednesday. Today is Nassau and Pirate Night. We went down to breakfast at about 9 am in Lumiere’s. I wore my peach dress because were having our Royal Gathering photos at 9:45 am so this breakfast time worked perfect for this. We saw Tiana, Cindrealla, Belle and Ariel. Then Lynn headed out to Nassau, in search of a Star bucks to get new Nassau coffee mug, we collect these. I went back to room and just sat out on the veranda for awhile and did social media and emails then went down and did some crafts in Soul. Once he returned, we got ready to go to our couple’s massage in Sense spa at 2:15 pm. It was wonderfully relaxing. From there we had small lunch at Daisey delights and then had our Martini class in Keys. It was fun learning and tasting these. We went back up to room and got our Pirate costumes on. Our pirate dinner is in Animato’ s palette which is my favorite for Pirate night, with all of the pirate scenes. After dinner we did some more pirate photos and then went up to the deck party and watched the fireworks, then called it a night.
September 28, 2023 Thursday. This is our double dip, second day at Castaway Cay. We had breakfast at Cabana’s this morning. Then headed back to Serenity Bay arriving about same time this time about 9:30 am on the beach. We set up and spent lots of time in and out of the water. We stayed through lunch again and then headed back to ship after. We had mixology class in Keys at 3 pm today. Our dinner tonight is in Rapunzel’s and had nice visit with the characters each coming to our table. After dinner we went to watch Haunted Mansion, we had waited to see this movie to for when we were onboard and enjoyed it but both thought Indiana Jones was better.
We turned in to rom after the movie.
September 29, 2023 Friday. Today is our day at sea. We took it easy and had a slow morning. We went to Lumiere’s for breakfast. We did trivia and crafts in Soul. We had a nice lunch in Rapunzel’s. We went out on deck 10 and sat in some lounge chairs for a while in afternoon, watching the sea.
We had beer tasting at 2 pm in O’Gill’s. Then did more trivia in the afternoon and some shopping in shops and went to shutters. We bought e 4 photo package with the Disney Cruise folder display for 2 of the photos which we almost always get on all our cruises.
Dinner tonight is Palo at 6 pm so we went back to our staterooms to get dressed up for this. We are platinum so our dinner is free, just must tip. We all had buffalo burrata, arugula salad, tenderloin and I had Limoncello, with Ken and Julie and Lynn got the chocolate Souffle so we could each taste both. We all enjoyed our dinner very much.
Sadly it is time to go back to the stateroom and pack up and set our luggage out. Then we headed to Buena Vista theater to watch Elemental. It was cute, we have seen Disney Creams multiple times and had not seen this movie yet either so it was nice. We turned in after that.
September 30-October 1 and Final Thoughts: All good things must come to an end. We woke up early at 6 am and had our final breakfast in Lumiere’s. We waited in Soul for our turn to get off ship at about 9 am. We had a quick and easy disembark and were on the road by about 9:45 am. We took the turnpike up to Ocala, then drove all the way to Pensacola to overnight. We stopped at Crack Barrel for lunch. Sunday, we left the hotel by 6:45 am and were on road. We got home to Dallas just before 5 pm. It was worth it to drive because we got to spend time with both of our sons on the way down.
This was our first Halloween on the high seas, and it was very fun! I highly recommend it. We did not do any port adventures, but enjoyed our drink classes, and spa appointments.
