In an abundance of caution, let’s sail the Panama Canal! - Complete 9/6

Panama Canal: Part 3 (March 12)

We arrived back at the room to watch the end of our transit. The downhill locks were quicker than the uphill. I assume it is faster because of gravity (faster to drain a lock than to fill it,) but I don't know for sure. Before I knew it, we were through the locks and passing under the Centennial Bridge. How cool is it to think that you are traveling west with the sunset at your back?

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So, before things go off the rails, I want to take a moment to talk about how cool the transit was. I did some learning before we traveled, and then I really enjoyed the lectures on board. I loved seeing that amazing feat of engineering in action. DD and I also did some learning together before we traveled. She read the "What Is" book about the Canal and we went to the locks and dams on the Mississippi to actually see a similar system in action. I think it really helped her know what she was looking at once we were there.

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OK, here we go. Now is the moment I suspect many of you have been waiting for. We were leaving the Canal Zone and it was time to get ready for dinner. I hopped on my phone to post a couple more photos to social media and there it was. The announcement.

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Oof. I actually saw it first linked in a news story from Orlando, but this was posted soon after.

What did it all mean? How were we going to be impacted on the ship? Did we need to rearrange flights? I decided to tell my parents because I knew my dad was also still checking email etc. We decided that there was nothing we could do until we had more information, so we went to dinner as scheduled. We enjoyed the Panama Canal menu very much. The dining room was a bit subdued on this night but overall things were still pretty normal.

After dinner, my dad and DD went to see ET in the Walt Disney Theater. I don't think I mentioned it, but on the long cruises, they do a film series of movies not typically shown on Disney cruises. The theme for our voyage was the music of John Williams. They showed Indian Jones, ET, Jaws, etc. In addition to showing ET, EVERY musical performer (except for one,) agreed to make a Super Band and perform on the pool deck for a HUGE dance party. They had Bongi Maestro, Soul Duo, Dragos, Sean Flowers... I'm sure I am missing someone. Willem and Natalia were also up there leading dances. Ashley said this had never been done before, and I believe her. It was really cool.

While the movie was going on, my mom and I decided to head down to the atrium to see if they knew any more information about the shutdown. Guest services was incredibly nice, but they didn't have any more information about what was happening. I couldn't tell how many people in the atrium really had heard the news because the atmosphere was pretty jovial. A couple minutes after we got there, I noticed that there were lots of officers.

***Announcement Chime***

Captain Henry came online and greeted us in his very calm voice. He told us that "in an abundance of caution" DCL was choosing to cease operations for 30 days. Because we were already at sea, our trip would not be impacted and we would finish our itinerary as scheduled. He continued on to say that we had no indication that anyone on our ship was ill and that we needed to take extra care to wash our hands and practice good hygiene. If anyone was feeling ill, we were implored to go to the infirmary to get checked out.

Now, if you have been on a DCL cruise, you know that the atrium is a hub of activity. A critical mass of people obviously had already heard the news because once the announcement chimes sounded it got very quiet and lots of guests were shushing others. It was a bit eerie to realize that the place was full of people and you could hear a pin drop. After the announcement, the officers were swarmed. Of course everyone had so many questions! I got in touch with DH and shared the information that we had. We were still about to have several sea days in a row, so who knew when we'd be able to talk again. Plus iMessage wasn't working well. With no real information to go on, my mom and I headed to Cadillac Lounge to just kind of process. I find that spot on the ship so relaxing, so it was nice to just let the atmosphere take over.

When we headed to the rooms to turn in, we found our commemorative lithograph.

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I love it so much! I am sure I will frame it.

As DD got ready for bed, I headed out on the verandah. We had stopped to take on more fuel and it looked like we were in the middle of a big city! Those lights are mostly container ships who are waiting to cross. If you remember a few days ago when the Wonder was waiting to head back east, she and several other ships were all grouped together for a day or so. They were all in that waiting area until the PC authority gave them permission to cross.

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And so, we are officially off the rails. Of course, at this point, we just knew we were going to be the last DCL cruise that would be sailing. Little did we know, there were more twists and turns to come.

Up Next: Day at Sea
 
It had to be so weird to be on the ship and yet know that the rest of the fleet were going to be shutting down. At this point you can't do anything but go with the flow. I think Cadillac Lounge was a great place to go and decompress!! :thumbsup2
 
It was a lot of info for you all to process for sure! On the upside, you had beautiful weather for transiting the canal!
Yes! I should have talked more about that. It was plenty warm, but not super hot and it didn’t rain once! Usually there’s rain in the afternoon.
 


Sea Day 4

We had a lazy morning today. Because I teach and take my daughter to school at the same time I go in, our mornings are usually very early and hectic. One of the things we really love about the cruises is being able to just relax and go slow. Part of our routine is to watch the morning show while we get going.

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Today DD snuggled with our blanket animal. Ashley and Mike were in the boutique for this show, and it was hilarious. Poor Mike ended up covered in glitter and he was still a bit sparkly even by the last night. He said he hoped his daughter never got to see a recording of that whole escapade. Ha! Before we got going, I checked the news and saw that Canada had closed their cruise ports.

Our first stop of the morning was to go see Olaf.

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I really like that they've started to offer scheduled meets with him.

Next up we caught up with some Marvel heroes. While I was in line, a family was talking about the fact that Disneyland was closing. They didn't realize that the hotels were closing too, so I told them that. I felt so bad for them.

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I liked that, on this cruise, the days almost had "themes" for the characters. All the Pixar characters were out on one day, all the Marvel characters were out on one day, etc. If we had had outfits for particular groups of characters, this would have been so helpful, and we definitely saw families who were dressed to fit the theme.

Around midday, my mom and I went to the olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting.
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That was very fun and we learned some cool things! FYI - make sure you ask for that aged balsamic in Palo.

In the afternoon, we did typical cruise stuff: Funnel Vision, swimming, and playing card games on the verandah.

For the evening, we checked out characters before dinner. More special combos!

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After seeing the characters, we went outside for a bit because the light was lovely. A shutters photographer also came outside and took some lovely photos as well.

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Dinner tonight was the Frozen menu. Blah. But, the service was so good, I couldn't imagine not going. I ended up with the linguine with scallops. It was fine. After we ate, I got DD changed into PJ's and dropped her off at the club for the "sleepover."

My parents and I went to the show, and I am so glad we did. Because we hadn't been able to bring on extra entertainers, Frozen had already been shown. So, the WDT cast and Sean Flowers worked together to create a full cabaret show. The performers did all sorts of numbers from both Disney musicals as well as other popular Broadway shows. The two actresses who played Anna and Elsa in Frozen did a duet from Wicked that was AMAZING! Afterwards, the performers were all outside the theater to chat and say hello. It was such a special and amazing experience. I mean, they could have just shown a movie and said they offered entertainment. Instead, they made a whole new show! (FYI - this isn't the talent show. That will happen later in the cruise.)

After the show in the WDT, we decided to head over to Azure for Match Your Mate. I knew it would be crowded, so we went right away knowing we would also watch Majority Rules. This was the first night I spent the whole evening in the Adult spaces and it was so fun! Deano was the club host, and I enjoyed his humor. Majority rules was really engaging. Then, it was time for Match Your Mate. Couple number 1 was the newest couple. They got married the day the boarded the ship! Next up was the couple who had been married the longest. People volunteered with 10 years, 15, 20... well, my parents have been married for 54 years! I called out the number, and they were couple number 3!

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They were definitely the crowd favorite. Deano kept asking me if I was comfortable with them being on the show. There was one moment of discomfort, but really, the whole show is very PG-13. Their stories were also super cute. Couple #1 and #2 talked about their first dates involving staying over at each other's houses etc. My parent? They went to hear Basil Rathbone read poetry. :love: Apparently my mom has a cousin Lowell who is annoying too. I've never met him or even heard his name mentioned, but they both named him as the most annoying family member on my mom's side. :rotfl2:Sadly, they came in second despite the audience pushing hard for Deano to give them credit on some of the questions. They had a great time though and enjoyed their celebrity status for the rest of the trip. I came to most of the adult shows for the rest of the trip too, and Deano definitely kept teasing me about seeing my parents do the show.

After that, my parents went to bed, and I decided to do laundry while I waited for the camp out to end at 2:00. It was super easy to get washers at that time of night! I picked up DD right at 2:00, and then we crashed. She had a great time at the event, but she was definitely tired.

The mood on board was good today. People were still having fun,the seas were finally calm, and I don't think we had any emergency announcements. There were rumblings though and people wondering if we were really going to continue with our itinerary as planned. So, all in all it was fun, but there was a very slight undercurrent of unease that had started to seep in.

Next up: Sea Day 5
 
I'm really enjoying your recap of the cruise; interesting to view our cruise through someone else's eyes. And of course, the cruise was a wonderful human behavior study... where/when else do you get an isolated group of people of 2 thousand when a pandemic is happening in the 'real' world. I'm grateful to have been a part of it.
 


DD and I also did some learning together before we traveled. She read the "What Is" book about the Canal and we went to the locks and dams on the Mississippi to actually see a similar system in action. I think it really helped her know what she was looking at once we were there.
That was awesome that you guys were able to learn more about it before heading there! And so smart going to see a smaller version in action.
EVERY musical performer (except for one,) agreed to make a Super Band and perform on the pool deck for a HUGE dance party. They had Bongi Maestro, Soul Duo, Dragos, Sean Flowers... I'm sure I am missing someone. Willem and Natalia were also up there leading dances. Ashley said this had never been done before, and I believe her. It was really cool.
Wow, that would be something to see!
My parents and I went to the show, and I am so glad we did. Because we hadn't been able to bring on extra entertainers, Frozen had already been shown. So, the WDT cast and Sean Flowers worked together to create a full cabaret show. The performers did all sorts of numbers from both Disney musicals as well as other popular Broadway shows. The two actresses who played Anna and Elsa in Frozen did a duet from Wicked that was AMAZING! Afterwards, the performers were all outside the theater to chat and say hello. It was such a special and amazing experience. I mean, they could have just shown a movie and said they offered entertainment. Instead, they made a whole new show! (FYI - this isn't the talent show. That will happen later in the cruise.)
So neat! And I'm happy they got to put that together, especially considering they wouldn't be an entertainment group anymore (I assume most/all have gone home and even when cruises start up it wouldn't be the same people)!
 
Sea Day 5

We woke up to another beautiful day. The seas were pretty calm and, while it wasn't hot, the temperatures were comfortable.

Our first order of business today was Character Breakfast.

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Napkin hats all around!

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This was a classic character breakfast which I like much better. In fact, DD has said not to bother getting tickets to the Disney Jr breakfast any more. I guess she's really growing up.

After breakfast, we took some time to deliver FE gifts and did some pool time. For some unknown reason, DD wanted to eat lunch in the clubs, so we took her there. I still don't understand it, but she was very excited by that option. I had lunch out on the back deck in Cabanas then took time to read and update my travel journal. Look at the pretty rainbow my cup made during lunch though.

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During the afternoon, Captain Henry came on to update us on our progress and to again ask everyone to be extra careful with hand washing and to visit the medical center if they felt ill.

Tonight was Pirate Night! We decided to visit Jack Sparrow as early as possible to avoid the line. Always a fun interaction.

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Of course, I have the unpopular opinion that the Pirate Night menu is just fine. I enjoy the samosas and Treasures of the Sea pasta. I did decide to skip dessert tonight though. Knowing that Mindas pulled the Nothing trick last time, I tried to think of something else to say to indicate that I didn't want dessert. I then said "I know your tricks." Nope, I did not know all of his tricks.

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This made me laugh SO much! That is one Mickey sprinkle on a dot of chocolate sauce. So hilarious! Really, I cannot express how excellent our serving team was on this trip.

I know that most people who have done several DCL cruises has a favorite ship. Beyond that, I think everyone has a favorite class of ship. Despite the fact that the Dream class ships have more technology and the AquaDuck, I still say that the Classics are my favorite and the dining room experiences are a big part of that reason. I think the Animator's show is better, I love Tiana's and Rapunzel's, and Pirate Night is so much more fun! The parade and the limbo are always a blast. Afterwards, we hung out and chatted with Mindas and Vivi for a bit. Mindas said something, and DD, reminded him that there was the Pirate Buffet tonight. He joked that she should get a job for DCL. So she said to sign her right up!

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After dinner, we saw a few more characters and checked out the beautiful sunset.

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DD then headed to the clubs for Pirate Prep and we went to Azure for Bongi Maestro's show. We first heard Bongi on our 5 night cruise out of Miami in 2019. The head bartender said he was amazing, so we went to check him out. I am so glad we did because he really is great. Anyway, on this trip, due to the lack of entertainers, he put together and did a series of long shows (normally he plays shorter sets in the lounges,) where he did tributes to different artists. Tonight was Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. It was an excellent show.

While we watched, my mom and I ordered our new favorite cocktail: the Gin Garden. So smooth! Plus it was nice to have something delicious that wasn't as sugary, not that I don't love a good frozen drink. :)

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After the show, it was time to pick up DD and head to the pool deck for the Pirate show! We only had the one big show on this cruise, and that was fine with me. Oh, another reason I prefer the classic ships? The pirate show with the zip line!

So, for this show there was a kids area, and we let DD stay there. She was in the VERY front row and so excited. We were standing off to the side, but I kept checking back on her throughout. All of a sudden, she wasn't there! I could not see her anywhere. I went to the back of the area to see if it was just my angle, but still nothing. There was an Edge counselor at the back, and I flagged her down to say that I couldn't find my daughter. I explained what had happened. I knew that lost kids, once connected to a crew member, were taken to the Clubs, so I figured asking a CM from that department was a good place to start. She called down to the clubs and they said that DD hadn't been checked in. She started to make another call when I looked up and saw this.

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There she is! On stage dancing away. :smooth: I guess they had come to the kids area to ask if anyone wanted to go on stage. Of course DD said yes, but we didn't see them move and they gathered the girls on the other side of the stage. We obviously never told DD we were worried because she did nothing wrong. But, if other parents read this, just be aware that, if your kids are towards the front of the kids area for Pirate Night, they might get that opportunity.

After a great show, DD begged to go to her first pirate buffet. (We listen to Disney cruising podcasts on our way to and from school, so she had heard about it on those.) My parents went to bed and we took her. She. Was. Thrilled!

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On that plate you will see ham, tacos, melon, salsa, a cookie, and crepes with ALL the sauces plus whipped cream. Our assistant server Vivi was serving the crepes and really hooked her up. I had one of the wraps and it was great. Why can't they serve Mexican food more regularly in Cabanas? They do a good job with it!

After she finished eating (yes she ate ALL of that,) we started heading back to our room. On the way, we ran into Martin the Hotel Director. I had met him earlier on the trip in the Atrium, and we had a nice chat. It was one of the evenings when the seas were rough and we joked about how hard it was to walk. At the time, I didn't realize who he was and I was surprised later because he definitely stayed and chatted for quite a while. Anyway, he remembered me and said hello. He was standing with one of the main chefs and he introduced us. As we said hello, DD said she wanted a drink and Martin himself went to get it for her. The chef then asked DD what her favorite foods on the cruise were. "Chicken tenders? Pizza?" "Curry and sushi!" Needless to say he was taken aback. :rotfl2:That's my kid. He told Martin what she had said and then they tipped us off to the best days for Cabanas during the remainder of our trip. We saw Mindas and Kendell too on our way out.

After that, it was time for bed. Because children are hardy, she went to sleep with a full belly and had no issues whatsoever. I stayed up a bit to read and let my late night snack digest. All in all, it was a lovely day.

Up next: Sea Day 6
 
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I’m enjoying your report! The Panama Canal cruise is definitely on my bucket list.

Your DD has a great palate for cruise buffets! And your dessert was hilarious—it did seem difficult to top “nothing”!
 
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This made me laugh SO much! That is one Mickey sprinkle on a dot of chocolate sauce. So hilarious! Really, I cannot express how excellent our serving team was on this trip.
Hahaha! That is pretty awesome!
 
Sea Day 6

I haven't talked much yet in this report about how awesome the FB group was for this cruise. The moderators were incredible and they planned so many amazing events for us. This morning, a group of us had brunch reserved in the private room at Palo. :jumping1: I had seen the room before, but I hadn't ever been inside it. This was so much fun! Not only was the setting beautiful, but the company was delightful. The food was delightful, as always. Because of the increased health protocols, the buffet was being served by crew members. The people working today were our serving team! That was great and they, of course, gave us nice recommendations.

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Someone at our table asked about getting gelato. Mmmmm. I've never had the gelato at Palo, and I will definitely try to get it again. Delicious for sure.

During brunch, Captain Henry made another announcement. As soon as we heard the chimes, we all got really quiet, so we couldn't hear what was being said. Our server, Hristo, assured us that if it was an emergency announcement, the speakers in Palo would be on too. We did start talking about what we thought might happen moving forward. Two of our table mates were from Germany, and they were starting to worry about getting home. Several other people said that their excursions in Puerto Vallarta had been cancelled by the vendors. Obviously, we weren't completely isolated from the real world even in the private room at Palo.

Also during brunch, we saw a small child running past the windows apparently unsupervised. The child then ran back. I think we were all getting a bit concerned. An older child appeared soon thereafter and it appeared that he was supposed to be minding the younger one with little success. I felt for the poor guy, but it also didn't seem like a great plan from the outset.

This was the longest brunch we've ever done, so, after we finished, we hustled down to get DD from the clubs. She LOVES the clubs, but we said we'd be back in 2 hours, and she was there three and a half. Ooops. She had a good time though and said it was fine. Next time we do a group brunch though, we will certainly set up her expectations.

We decided to get pizza by the pool and have some swimming time. After we had been up there for a while, the app sent me a reminder. Oh no! I had forgotten our Frozen Gathering. I asked DD if she wanted to run to make it and she said yes! So, she towled off, threw on shorts, and we booked it to AP. This is another benefit of the Classic ships: you can make it from the pool deck to the restaurants in 5 minutes flat.

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So there we have it, swimsuits in the snow.

We decided to head back to the room to shower and get ready for dinner because DD had characters she wanted to see.

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Mickey in his New Orleans outfit.

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Stitch! He's always the favorite.

Still being a bit full from brunch, we didn't eat a huge dinner. The show in the theater tonight was Gavin Lee. We weren't super interested in that, and we decided to go watch Mighty Ducks on Funnel Vision! Once we got up there, we saw that the pool was still open. DD wanted to swim again, so we let her run back to the room to change. We had been asking her to practice navigating the ship throughout the trip, and this was the first trip we let her take on her own. She was so proud. She knows that when she is 8, I have the option to allow her to sign out of the clubs, and she wanted to start showing me that she'd be able to have some more freedom when we cruise again.

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Have I mentioned the pina colada ice cream on this trip? Mmmmm. It was so good. We had it 2-3 days, and I loved it every time.

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After Mighty Ducks, this weird rat documentary showed up: Your Friend the Rat. It talked about the plague and various other things. So strange. DD didn't notice at all because she was swimming, but I was baffled.

At 10:00, the pool closed, so we headed back to the room for the night. This was a very relaxing and enjoyable sea day. It felt like that "real" DCL experience.

Next Up: Sea Day 7
 
The rat documentary is on the Ratatouille DVD. Very odd to actually show it as entertainment...maybe they meant to show Ratatouille and cued up the wrong thing...

I've been enjoying your trip report! The Panama Canal cruise is on my list...once DD16 is in college.
 
The rat documentary is on the Ratatouille DVD. Very odd to actually show it as entertainment...maybe they meant to show Ratatouille and cued up the wrong thing...
There were only about 15 minutes left from when Mighty Ducks ended and when the pools closed, so I think they just needed filler. I just had never seen it and was not expecting it. Lol.
 
Sea Day 7

This day was a planned Day at Sea. We had nothing on our schedule, but, we were very excited because Tiana and Louis were doing a meet and greet! We've never gotten to meet Louis outside the restaurant, so this was really exciting for DD. The did it at the sign going in to Tiana's Place restaurant. How cool!

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Unfortunately, Louis cannot sign, but we still loved the picture.

Cinderella, Suzy, and Perla were also meeting this morning, so we lucked in to a very short line to see Tinkerbell.

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After this, I needed a coffee, and I treated myself to a Mickey latte.

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This big event this morning was the Boat Building Bash! For this event, the crew provided some supplies, and some people brought supplies with them. People built boats to try to sail across the pool. It was so fun! Lots of really creative designs. I don't remember all the winners, but I know one of the winning designs looked JUST like the guitar from Coco, one was a really great replica of a DCL ship though I believe they named it the Imagination, and the kids form the teen club had two great entries, one of which won an award!

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Everyone on the Steering Committee including Captain Henry was out to judge!

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DD had a blast watching all the boats.

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After the race, my mom took DD to the club because she wanted to eat lunch there. I still cannot explain this. My dad and I decided to go to the DVC preview. Since we sail in two staterooms, we figured the hour was worth it in terms of stateroom credit. We got our waters and grabbed a seat.

***Announcement Chime***
Captain Henry came on, and he apologized for coming into staterooms. Uh oh. In an abundance of caution, due to the quickly changing rules and regulations, and due to the fact that ports have been closing with very short notice, our itinerary was being changed. Instead of stopping at Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas, we were now going to head straight to San Diego. We would be arriving a day early, March 19, though we did not have to get off the ship if we didn't want to. All of us would be getting a 10% refund of our current cruise fare and not have to pay the final day's gratuities. In addition, we would be getting 40% off the price of a future cruise from DCL's already released dates. More information would be given to us via a handout in our rooms later in the day.

Needless to say, the ship was VERY quiet. Everyone was kind of stunned. The DVC folks gave their presentation as scheduled. Alas, we did not win the big stateroom credit. After the presentation, we texted my mom and we decided to go get lunch in the MDR. On our way, I swung by the cruise booking desk to grab a future sailing brochure. The line was already incredibly long.

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Goofy was out in his New Orleans outfit and, you can see, the line for Guest Services is not insignificant. (I just realized that this is a photo of the photographer with Goofy! That kind of gives you a sense of the feeling on board. Everyone was kind of in a flurry trying to figure out what their next steps would be.)

Lunch in the MDR was great and we agreed that we should look at the booking options. We still had some questions about the offer, so we emailed our TA to see if she could find answers. At the same time, we knew she would be slammed with all of her clients dealing with trip cancellations, so we weren't sure how quickly she'd reply.

After lunch, we picked up DD and kind of hung out and did ship stuff. That afternoon, our official note arrived.

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Tonight was our second formal night. DD was being silly with her tulle skirt.

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The show tonight was the crew talent show. It was so fun and we really enjoyed all the performances. Obviously this wasn't Broadway caliber or anything, but we enjoyed it. DD particularly liked seeing her counselors on stage.

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After the show, DD went to the clubs again for a while, and my parents and I had another fun evening in the Adult Clubs. There was another game show and Bongi Maestro did a tribute set. Then it was off to bed.

Next Up: Puerto Vallarta Sea Day 8
 
Lunch in the MDR was great and we agreed that we should look at the booking options. We still had some questions about the offer, so we emailed our TA to see if she could find answers. At the same time, we knew she would be slammed with all of her clients dealing with trip cancellations, so we weren't sure how quickly she'd reply.

After lunch, we picked up DD and kind of hung out and did ship stuff. That afternoon, our official note arrived.
Next Up: Puerto Vallarta Sea Day 8
What a great offer! Funny that you were communicating with your TA about rebooking right before that letter was sent out. I didn't know that DCL ever offered 40% off!
 
All of us would be getting a 10% refund of our current cruise fare and not have to pay the final day's gratuities. In addition, we would be getting 40% off the price of a future cruise from DCL's already released dates. More information would be given to us via a handout in our rooms later in the day.
That was a pretty good deal! I would have jumped all over it!
Tonight was our second formal night. DD was being silly with her tulle skirt.

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She looks like she is preparing for a (fun) funeral!
 
Puerto Vallarta Sea Day 8

Well, today was kind of sad. We were supposed to be in Puerto Vallarta and we had planned to do the Las Caletas excursion (PV 15.) All the reviews looked so amazing, and we were all disappointed to miss it. I hope we can find a way to get to Puerto Vallarta again some day.

We made sure we had ourselves on the list for future cruise booking.

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Yikes! Obviously lots of people wanted to get their trips booked before they got off the ship.

Let me be honest here, I don't really know everything that we did during the day today. DD went to the clubs for a while. I worked out. We went to the pool. We actually did not go see ANY characters!

***Announcement Chime***
At this point, Captain Henry was opening his announcements with "this announcement is not bad news." Today he was letting us know the debarkation procedures for San Diego.

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We needed to drop the smaller form off by the next morning to let the crew know what our plans were. After seeing how late the debarkation time was, we knew we were going to stay onboard because we wouldn't be able to get a flight back to St Louis on Thursday. (My parents probably could have gotten one to Albuquerque, but we didn't want to leave on two different days.)

After a relaxing day, the evening was busier. It was St Patrick's Day and there were tons of activities planned. Of course I had made myself and my parents shirts for the occasion, but I didn't take a picture. Lol.

DD was in the kids club before dinner for face painting. We ended up being late for dinner because the line was long and the event ran late. However, they did a nice job and she loved her rainbow.

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Tonight we were in Animator's Palette for the drawing night. That is always so much fun. DD was getting a bit run down after so many days of vacation in a row.

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After dinner, we headed up to Deck 9 for the family dance party. It was a great event! So much fun. 80's music, Bongi Maestro, Soul Duo, the DJ... lots of entertainment PLUS characters!

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Tonight was the point that the temperature started to change. Every PC trip report I had read before traveling said that there was a day when the weather turned. Well, that was no joke. It got cold! You'll notice that all of the kids are wearing sweatshirts and you can see the singer in the background wearing a full coat! Everyone had lots of fun.

After dancing, we headed for the Walt Disney Theater for a special Variety Show. Jon Armstrong and Willem & Natalia put together an interactive show. They did their own acts, but they also called people up on stage.

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DD went up to show off her dance moves. Towards the end of the show, they asked for adults who didn't like to dance to come up on stage. Well, my lovely family volunteered me. Eeek! They paired me up with Natalia and a guy paired up with Willem. We did pretty simple dances (I did the Vogue and the Twist,) and then, I dunno, I was suddenly the winner! My prize?

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That's right, I now have my own Golden Mickey.

Jon Armstrong did the finale of the show, and I really recommend you watch it. Here is the link.

On our way out of the theater, I stopped and talked to Ashley and Willem. They are both such nice people. Ashley was so funny, she said, "Willem and Jon came up with this idea and I was said, 'great!' Then Willem said he wanted a contest at the end and I said, 'great!' Then Willem said he wanted a Golden Mickey and I said, 'ummmmm.' Then he said he wanted it again, and I said, 'great!' Because what Willem wants, Willem gets." :rotfl2:

DD and my parents were tired, but I wanted to go check out the St Patrick's Day party in Azure. It was lots of fun and Deano, who is Irish, wasn't messing around.

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We sang Irish songs, there were some games, and, overall, it was a fun night especially considering we were the only place with St Patrick's parties this year. I headed off to bed after another nice day. I would say that things were definitely starting to feel more tense, but people were also aware that there was nothing they could do from the ship.

Next Up: Cabo San Lucas Sea Day 9
 
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