Jan 27, 2008 - 4 night Wonder...shall I start?

[momtobradley]

I will try to remember to bring and wear my DIS pin when I get on the ship.

Please feel free to stop me if you see me around.:goodvibes

It is always nice to get to the ship as early as possible.

But if you get there later the first crush of people have already boarded and there may not be much of a line up of people at the terminal trying to get on.

Are you driving yourself to the terminal or taking Disney transportation?

We are taking Ace Luxury Transportation with a stop at ABC Liquor for some wine and beer for the hubby :woohoo:
What is the latest that you can board the ship? I think they take off at 5pm, correct?
I will look for you... But if I don't find you, our cabin number is 8566. We will have a mickey fish extender outside our door and I'm going to make a big mickey head to go on our door. Now with packing I just need to find the time to do all of this, lol :)

[Cruisin]

I'm not sure how late you can board but if I'm recalling right it is no boarding allowed after 3 or 3:30pm.

Everyone must be on board for the 4pm life boat drill.

I will keep a look out for you too.

Happy packing:thumbsup2

[momtobradley]

I'm not sure how late you can board but if I'm recalling right it is no boarding allowed after 3 or 3:30pm.

Everyone must be on board for the 4pm life boat drill.

I will keep a look out for you too.

Happy packing:thumbsup2

Thanks Cruisin!
We should be there earlier, I'm not all that worried.
I'm packing right now and trying to not take so much! It's really hard!!!:scared1:
Now let's see how much I forget :guilty:
Oh well, nothing much you can do about it once your in the air or on the boat, lol :)
I was looking at your avatar, are you a knitter? I'm huge into scrapbooking. Actually the night after we get back I have a scrapbook club I go to once a month. Just curious :)

[Cruisin]

I was looking at your avatar, are you a knitter? I'm huge into scrapbooking. Actually the night after we get back I have a scrapbook club I go to once a month. Just curious :)

:laughing: No I'm not a knitter or sewer or crocheter at all.

Over on the Community Board of the DISboards there is a thread called Who Feels Like a Threadkiller. I post on that thread all the time.

It is what some people call a "clique" thread but we welcome any and all posters who wish to join in, at any time.

Someone once suggested that we could use this "scout badge" as our official logo.

So some of us do:thumbsup2

I had taken it off for a long time and just decided to put it back on again.

Overpacking is a hard habit to break.

I've gotten better at not doing it over the years but I still bring too much.

[o0lissa0o]

so I'm a little late in finding this thread! Cruising canuks posted a response on another forum I've been using...so here I am!

I'm so excited! I should be packing instead of sitting on the computer-but I had to check the site out.

Anyway, I'll be the other single mom on the ship, My DS (Keegan, 5) and I (Melissa) will be heading to WDW on Thurs, staying at the BWV and on deck 6 mid (I forget our stateroom number at the moment) for the cruise. Got all of our docs last Thursday, andnow I'm just trying ot get everything in line. Panic time!
We're regulars of Disney, and I've been on 2 cruises on other cruiselines, but this is our first ever DCL. I have a feeling once we go once, we won't be going on another cruise line again, at least until he's much older!

Hope to run into some of you on the ship! I'm sure that the clan of 5 and 6 year old boys that are going will meet each other in the kids clubs. If you see a redhead yelling the name Keegan, thats me!

Ok, off to pack a little more and get some sleep. (I think I'm more excited than my son is this time around!)

[momtobradley]

so I'm a little late in finding this thread! Cruising canuks posted a response on another forum I've been using...so here I am!

I'm so excited! I should be packing instead of sitting on the computer-but I had to check the site out.

Anyway, I'll be the other single mom on the ship, My DS (Keegan, 5) and I (Melissa) will be heading to WDW on Thurs, staying at the BWV and on deck 6 mid (I forget our stateroom number at the moment) for the cruise. Got all of our docs last Thursday, andnow I'm just trying ot get everything in line. Panic time!
We're regulars of Disney, and I've been on 2 cruises on other cruiselines, but this is our first ever DCL. I have a feeling once we go once, we won't be going on another cruise line again, at least until he's much older!

Hope to run into some of you on the ship! I'm sure that the clan of 5 and 6 year old boys that are going will meet each other in the kids clubs. If you see a redhead yelling the name Keegan, thats me!

Ok, off to pack a little more and get some sleep. (I think I'm more excited than my son is this time around!)


Welcome Melissa! Better late than never! Will be looking for you :) It will be myself Jennifer, DH Art, DS Bradley will be celebrating his 5th birthda on the cruise and DD Samantha 19 months.

[Cruisin]

Welcome Melissa.

I hope you and your son both enjoy your cruise.

[Cruisin]

The whole time I was cleaning the snow off of my car this morning I was thinking.......

next week at this time I should be sitting at Serenity Bay on Castaway Cay....

or....

having lunch at Cookies :goodvibes

[momtobradley]

The whole time I was cleaning the snow off of my car this morning I was thinking.......

next week at this time I should be sitting at Serenity Bay on Castaway Cay....

or....

having lunch at Cookies :goodvibes

I haven't even attempted to go outside today!! Didn't yesterday either :laughing: Tomorrow I am going to pick up our dry-cleaning for the cruise, candy for the kids for on board and I'm going to get a pedicure and manicure :banana: I guess it's worth going out in the freezing :scared1: cold for that :woohoo:

[Cruising canuck]

Still no documents here in Sask. Our TA gave us intructions in case we don't get them (eg. where to get our luggage tags, etc.). We leave Thursday!

The mail these days seems to get slower and slower, while we keep paying more and more for it, she sent them priority mail on the 8th! I think they were only a priority for her and not for the post office! :confused3

She should have sent them by Pony Express, they probably would have gotten here ages ago!!!

2 more sleeps!!! :cool1:

[Cruisin]

Still no documents here in Sask. Our TA gave us intructions in case we don't get them (eg. where to get our luggage tags, etc.). We leave Thursday!

The mail these days seems to get slower and slower, while we keep paying more and more for it, she sent them priority mail on the 8th! I think they were only a priority for her and not for the post office! :confused3

She should have sent them by Pony Express, they probably would have gotten here ages ago!!!

2 more sleeps!!! :cool1:

They were sent on the 8th:eek:

They definitely should have gotten to you by now.

[victoriap]

so I'm a little late in finding this thread! Cruising canuks posted a response on another forum I've been using...so here I am!

I'm so excited! I should be packing instead of sitting on the computer-but I had to check the site out.

Anyway, I'll be the other single mom on the ship, My DS (Keegan, 5) and I (Melissa) will be heading to WDW on Thurs, staying at the BWV and on deck 6 mid (I forget our stateroom number at the moment) for the cruise. Got all of our docs last Thursday, andnow I'm just trying ot get everything in line. Panic time!
We're regulars of Disney, and I've been on 2 cruises on other cruiselines, but this is our first ever DCL. I have a feeling once we go once, we won't be going on another cruise line again, at least until he's much older!

Hope to run into some of you on the ship! I'm sure that the clan of 5 and 6 year old boys that are going will meet each other in the kids clubs. If you see a redhead yelling the name Keegan, thats me!

Ok, off to pack a little more and get some sleep. (I think I'm more excited than my son is this time around!)

Hi Melissa-

I too am a single mom traveling with my DS (Bradley 6). We are also on deck 6 mid-ship. We are in stateroom 6583. Hopefully, we will see you on board. I can't wait to get out of Minnesota and in to some warm weather!

Victoria

[o0lissa0o]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the warm welcome!

Victoria-we're practically neighbors on the ship! We'll be in room 6601, just a few doors down from you guys! Stop by and say hello! Maybe we can grab a drink together while the boys are in the Oceaneers club sometime. I'm just glad to know I won't be the only single mom on the ship!

Only 2 more days until we get out of the snow!!!!!!!!! :woohoo:

[momtobradley]

I'm thinking I should have our documents by tomorrow!!! The TA sent them FED EX 2 Day, so considering MLK day, tomorrow should be our GOLDEN DAY!!!:banana:

Off Topic.... But what a wast Heath Ledger only 28 years old, what in the HECK could he have been thinking. His poor 2 year old daughter :sad1:

[victoriap]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the warm welcome!

Victoria-we're practically neighbors on the ship! We'll be in room 6601, just a few doors down from you guys! Stop by and say hello! Maybe we can grab a drink together while the boys are in the Oceaneers club sometime. I'm just glad to know I won't be the only single mom on the ship!

Only 2 more days until we get out of the snow!!!!!!!!! :woohoo:

YEAH! It is nice to know there is another single mom on the criuse. I have never traveled alone with my son and I have to admit I am a bit nervous. We will definetly stop by and I will take you up on that cocktail. It will be nice to have adult conversation since my son has already planned out his activities and I seem to be included around meal times! HA

Did you guys plan any excursions?

[momtobradley]

DHL EXPRESS just delivered them, WOO HOO!!

Now what forms do I have to fill out on the inside of the booklet??
And I see the form to fill out for airline boarding passes that Disney will do for you. But it looks as if you have to have your flights booked through Disney, am I correct?

Thanks everyone, see you in a few days!! :cool1:

[Cruisin]

If you filled out your online check in forms the only form you need to fill out is the Bahamas Immigration forms.


It does look like you still have to have your airline booked thru Disney to qualify for the luggage and boarding pass thing.:confused3

[Cruisin]

oops, double post

[AFitz]

Hi Everyone-
I'm definitely looking forward to joining all of you on the cruise on Sunday!!!
My family and I are first time 'cruisers.'

Hey, Victoria, maybe we'll see you at MSP. :yay:

[momtobradley]

If you filled out your online check in forms the only form you need to fill out is the Bahamas Immigration forms.


It does look like you still have to have your airline booked thru Disney to qualify for the luggage and boarding pass thing.:confused3

Darn, oh well, not a biggy. I can check in at the Kiosk at the airport. Not sure how much it would cost to use computer time on the ship??:confused3 I already have my seats and stuff picked :)

Man I just got back from getting a pedicure and manicure so it doesn't look like I raise kids all day and do house work, lol :lmao: And picked up the dry-cleaning and went to the grocery store and picked up snacks for the airplane. I need a rest now, maybe a nice glass of wine and some cheese and crackers :flower3:

See U on Board!!! WOO HOOO:cheer2:

[Cruisin]

Hi Everyone-
I'm definitely looking forward to joining all of you on the cruise on Sunday!!!
My family and I are first time 'cruisers.'

Hey, Victoria, maybe we'll see you at MSP. :yay:

Welcome aboard.:thumbsup2

[Cruisin]

Darn, oh well, not a biggy. I can check in at the Kiosk at the airport. Not sure how much it would cost to use computer time on the ship??:confused3 I already have my seats and stuff picked :)

Man I just got back from getting a pedicure and manicure so it doesn't look like I raise kids all day and do house work, lol :lmao: And picked up the dry-cleaning and went to the grocery store and picked up snacks for the airplane. I need a rest now, maybe a nice glass of wine and some cheese and crackers :flower3:

See U on Board!!! WOO HOOO:cheer2:

Not much longer now. :dance3:

[Cruising canuck]

Last pre-cruise post we leave bright and early in the morning, still no docs, guess we will have to make do.

See you all on Sunday morning!

Have safe travels!

Gord, Lorraine, Carly, Vanessa, Matthew

[o0lissa0o]

We'll be leaving for the airport at 6:30 in the morning. I can't wait!

Yeah Victoria, my son has it all planned out too...our nice mom son trip and I get kicked to the curb too! The only excursion I have planned is the Stingray Adventure in Nassau. On Castaway Cay Keegan just want to play in the sand and enjoy all the fun stuff there. How about you guys?

Don't know if I'll be back on before we get on the boat, if not, shopefully we'll see you all there!!

-T minus 7 hours!!! :dance3:

Melissa

[Cruisin]

Safe travels everyone.

We don't leave until Friday morning.

Up at 5:30 am to make the trip to Detroit to catch our flight:woohoo:

[momtobradley]

See Everyone on Board! Have Safe and Wonderful Flight!!
Just can't believe we're leaving!!

[victoriap]

Hi Everyone-
I'm definitely looking forward to joining all of you on the cruise on Sunday!!!
My family and I are first time 'cruisers.'

Hey, Victoria, maybe we'll see you at MSP. :yay:


YEAH! When are you flying out? My DS and I leave from HH Terminal/Sun Country on Friday at 4:20pm. I hope we see you! Who are you traveling with?

[AFitz]

YEAH! When are you flying out? My DS and I leave from HH Terminal/Sun Country on Friday at 4:20pm. I hope we see you! Who are you traveling with?

Hi! We are also flying Sun Country, but we're not leaving until Sunday morning. In hindsight I should have made the reservations for Saturday, but it's too expensive to change the tickets now. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather Sunday morning!

I am traveling with my husband and five-year-old twins.

[momtobradley]

Hi! We are also flying Sun Country, but we're not leaving until Sunday morning. In hindsight I should have made the reservations for Saturday, but it's too expensive to change the tickets now. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather Sunday morning!

I am traveling with my husband and five-year-old twins.

We are also flying out on Sunday morning from Michigan. It will be my hubby, myself, my son who will be 5 in a little over a week and my 19month old daughter :)

I couldn't sleep last night I'm so wound up about this trip!!!

See everyone on board :) I'll be the blonde with a cocktail and one of those little umbrellas in it :cool1:

[victoriap]

Hi! We are also flying Sun Country, but we're not leaving until Sunday morning. In hindsight I should have made the reservations for Saturday, but it's too expensive to change the tickets now. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather Sunday morning!

I am traveling with my husband and five-year-old twins.

Most definetly. The weekend is actually looking good. It is going to be in the 30's. It's a heat wave by MN standards.

Have a safe flight and see you Sunday

[Cruisin]

:woohoo: :wave:

We are off early tomorrow morning.

It's so frickin cold here that I really can't wait.

Enjoy your cruise everyone.

:dance3:

[Cruisin]

Welcome home everyone.

I hope you all enjoyed your cruise.

We have arrived home to a lovely snow storm :headache:

[momtobradley]

Welcome home everyone.

I hope you all enjoyed your cruise.

We have arrived home to a lovely snow storm :headache:

We've arrived home to the same darn storm :eek: I am staying inside today with the kids and getting things back to normal in the house and that includes a ton of laundry :scared1:

Cruisin, didn't see you on the cruise. I guess if I had a picture I could have looked for you or at least recognized you, but heck that doesn't help us now:rolleyes: I'd be curious to see a picture of you though to see if I recognize you from the cruise. I did meet another lady from the boards, on the next to last night and that was really great :)

I'll be posting my cruise review/report in the coming week. But now I have to get back to life and get ready to go scrapbooking tonight:woohoo:

[Cruisin]

I forgot and left my DIS button in my checked luggage so I did not have it for early in the cruise.

I will post a picture later.

I haven't even had the time to look at them yet.

[melissaknits]

Turns out Melissa gets seasick. We did have fun in spite of that, but it made everything from 5pm onward difficult for me. Had Palo brunch and LOVED it! Had Palo dinner and loved it until...well...use your imagination. I saw a guy making a glass-tipping motion and jerking his thumb at me one evening. I wanted to go yell "I AM NOT DRUNK BUT I SURE CAN THROW UP! WANNA SEE??" I kept tripping over my own feet. Embarassing!! This has never happened to be before on any boat ever. I love being on the water. Whale watch? ferry? kayak? local river cruise? Count me in. All I can think of is that I had/have fluid in an ear that we did not know about until we got down there - I even got tippy on Pirates at the MK!!

DH is currently oposed to any further cruises. I am not so unwiling. The spa? Awesome. CC?? Awesome. So I barfed for days on end, didn't sleep, and wanted to jump ship by the time we hit Nassau. Don't they make a patch for that?

Was kinda funny, every evening I mentally begged the captain to just stay put. Stay at anchor. Stay tied up. Let me sleep! Make me not ill! Lying down makes it worse (oh the things I learned!)

I am so in love with CC that I swear I could move onto the island. Spend the rest of my life in 3 days of solitude with 4 days of guest invasion. Ahhhh!!

[Cruisin]

Melissa, you got seasick on that cruise:confused3

It was one of the smoothest cruises I've ever been on and it hardly moved anywhere at all:scared1:

Maybe there was something else wrong with you to make you so sick.

[AFitz]

We had the most amazing experience on the cruise. It was the trip of a lifetime! We were first-time cruisers and now we're "hooked."

I can't wait to do it again!

[o0lissa0o]

I thought it was amazingly smooth too...My DS and I felt nothing, though 2 of the people we ate dinner with started getting sea sick within about an hour of pulling out of the port. The rest of our table had some crazy virus going around, and one of them was sick each day. Needless to say, I was scared to eat dinner! It was all good though, we both got colds when we got home...but nothing on the cruise!

As for the trip-we had an amazing time! My son loved the kids activities, I loved the shows, and we're both ready to MOVE to Castaway Cay! Were we not the luckiest bunch of people ever? A surprise day there? I'm spoiled now though, I think we'll have to do a double dip cruise next time!

It's been cold and rainy since we got home...I'm still wishing we were there!

Glad to hear (almost) everyone had a great time! And sorry to hear you were sick Melissa!

[momtobradley]

We had a good time. This being my 3rd cruise I had something to compare to but DH and DS and DD did not....

Food was good but not as good as I thought it was made out to be.... But then again it "is" mass produced on a ship. I guess I've eaten at different places that are way better. I guess I was just expecting MORE (not in quanity, lol, but quality).

Didn't see any of the shows, kids to small, they are asleep and we had late dinner. I guess one of the things we don't like about cruising is the time scheduale. You always seem to be running everywhere to get to somewhere, so we just chose not to. We may have missed a lot, but if I ran to make it to every show and event and character pic opportunity and so on, we would need a vacation from this vacation.

We got seated with a mother and daugher who were traveling alone. They were ok, but it would have been nice for my kids to have been seated with a family of the like. That I was HUGELY dissapointed in. I will be telling Disney about that on my survey they sent me. We all had nothing in common, her daughter was 9 or 10 and my son is 4 and my daughter is 19 months. Plus they were ALWAYS LATE! One night the mother said to me, I hope you didn't wait to order, I was like, NO, I have to small children :sad2:

Other than that, Nassau did not impress me at all. I absolutley LOVED Castaway Cay!!!!!! We were so lucky to be there for 2 days!!! I would like to just cruise there, drop anchor for a WEEK and be done with it :rotfl:

I know your thinking from what I've said that we had a bad time. We didn't it was a great family vacation, I just thought the food was over rated and our table mates were not the friendliest people which really disappointed us since we met many other families with kids our kids age that we wished we could have sat with.

So enough said. I'm goign to wait a week before doing my official review. I have so much to get caught up on at home plus I'm doing a 12 hour scrapbook crop this Saturday : )

[melissaknits]

This was it!! I'd feel us moving and within a short time felt nausous. I could sort of fake it for the first couple of hours, but as the evening went in it just it worse and worse.

It wasn't viral, because I was fine during the day, and there was never a progression of symptoms, just the same thing every evening. My guess is that there's fluid in my ears. It would explain why my body was reacting aggressively to motion my husband said he could not even feel.

edited to add - he did feel it the first night. He said if that kept up we'd have issues. Once we got past the 8-15 foot seas bit, he was fine and felt nothing.

[Cruisin]

edited to add - he did feel it the first night. He said if that kept up we'd have issues. Once we got past the 8-15 foot seas bit, he was fine and felt nothing.

Generally the first and last nights are always a bit more bumpy than the rest.

Once you get across the Gulf Stream it tends to smooth out a bit.

Are you okay now that you are back home again?

AFitz, I'm so glad that your family enjoyed their first cruise. I enjoyed mine, even though it was my 14th cruise:thumbsup2

We were glad to find out when we got to the terminal that all of us had been seated at the same table for dinner. We had a group of 9. Before we left, half of us were scheduled for early dining and half for late. We were on waiting lists to be put together. It was done for us before we even arrived. We figured we'd have to go to Wavebands and ask to have it changed when we first got there.

We had some other highlights too. On Castaway Cay, we were offered a ride on a golf cart out to the observation tower by Mark from Australia. It turned out that he is one of the crew members who live on the island:goodvibes What a nice guy, drove us all the way to the observation tower, said he would wait for us to be done and if we had any questions to yell them down to him:)

then he drove 3 of us to the adult beach and my husband all the way back to the ship:eek: We certainly did not expect to be given that special treatment.

Mark was very friendly, willing to answer any questions we had and seemed to have all the time in the world to spend with us. He said that his job was relief manager for the island:confused3

Also I had another neat experience. Did anybody go to Till We Meet Again? The character meeting at 10 on the final night? I've seen it quite a few times so I went up to the cast member on Dec 5 and asked him if I could help with the "pixie dust" :woohoo: He let me have a few handfuls, so that I could be part of the "magic" :lovestruc

[melissaknits]

I am fine now. Thursday was tough, as we got off the ship early and immediately started driving north. I felt sloshy for a day, and then was fine.

My two SIL's were on a cruise the week before ours (we think they were on the Celebrity ship next to us in port - they debarked Sunday morning), and they're regular cruisers (every January!). Both said they had a long night the last night due to rough seas. One of them says Western cruises are generally smoother.

We also had a tapping, clicking noise in our cabin that was really difficult to sleep through. It only started when we were at sea. Why we did not complain to someone about this is beyond me.

The sick part is I would, having been home and settled for a few, probably do it again. While the noise and nausea were awful, the Exotic Rasul (recommend this for couples, seriously! get naked, exfoliate and play in mud. way too fun - when we were done we just dropped into deck chairs and laid there, relaxed to a point I did not think possible!), Palo, Castaway Cay...they are all calling me back.

[jennifaerie]

On Castaway Cay, we were offered a ride on a golf cart out to the observation tower by Mark from Australia. It turned out that he is one of the crew members who live on the island:goodvibes What a nice guy, drove us all the way to the observation tower, said he would wait for us to be done and if we had any questions to yell them down to him:)


Cruisin, I do believe I was sitting near you at Serenity Bay. I heard your story verbatim while I was there. We were sitting on the hammock when you returned from your adventure.

What are the odds? :)

[Cruisin]

Cruisin, I do believe I was sitting near you at Serenity Bay. I heard your story verbatim while I was there. We were sitting on the hammock when you returned from your adventure.

What are the odds? :)

Really :goodvibes

Too bad I hadn't known it was you I would have said hello :wave:

Maybe I need to lower my voice a bit when I talk:eek:

I did notice though that the sounds really carried long distances on the beach there. :listen:

[jennifaerie]

Really :goodvibes

Too bad I hadn't known it was you I would have said hello :wave:

Maybe I need to lower my voice a bit when I talk:eek:


Ha ha! No, you were maybe ten feet away from the hammock, so I don't think you were loud! :)

[Cruisin]

Ha ha! No, you were maybe ten feet away from the hammock, so I don't think you were loud! :)

Were you in the hammocks that were just past the chairs we were sitting in??

I remember a seeing a couple laying each in a hammock there.

Later after you left I went and sat in one of those hammocks for a few minutes.

[jennifaerie]

Were you in the hammocks that were just past the chairs we were sitting in??

I remember a seeing a couple laying each in a hammock there.

Later after you left I went and sat in one of those hammocks for a few minutes.

I believe I was! My fiance was wandering somewhere at the time. When he came back, we left shortly after to go pick up our bike rentals. I told him your story while we were biking to the overlook. He had been curious as to how many people lived on the island, and thanks to you, I was able to tell him all about it!

[Cruisin]

and thanks to you, I was able to tell him all about it!

Nice to know that I was useful for something :rotfl:

[jennifaerie]

Nice to know that I was useful for something :rotfl:

Aww! You're not supposed to be useful on vacation!

[melissaknits]

Can't have been that bad, or I've forgotten it all, 'cause we're about to book November 2009, 7 night Western on the Magic. I think I've got The Bug, DCL style.

[jennifaerie]

Can't have been that bad, or I've forgotten it all, 'cause we're about to book November 2009, 7 night Western on the Magic. I think I've got The Bug, DCL style.

The November 14th double Castaway Cay Western?

Us too!!

After our first night, we weren't sure we'd ever cruise again.

[dorothyl]

Hi everyone

My DH and 9 yr od son and I were also on this cruise. I followed this thread right up to our sail date but for some reason could never log on. My administrator said there was something wrong with my "cookies". I get back and can log on properly. Go figure.

I already posted my review on trip report. It was my son's first cruise, our third. First with Disney. We all loved it. My son got sick a little the first night. After that he was fine. This was the first time my DH didn't get sick. This was also the shortest cruise we have done.

The Oceaneers Lab was "awesome", so my son is still telling us. As for all of you who would move on to CC ........well be prepared to share. I have decided to retire there and work for Disney. There were tons of Canadians on board so I know they hire them.

In a brief summary, I loved everything but the late seating time. We only ate in our dining room once( Parroy Cay) and that was the night my son got sick through dinner. I was able to eat my ribs though and they were great. We ate at Palo Tuesday night. Juan was our waiter and both he and the food were outstanding. The other two nights we ate elswhere. I really liked all the food but the buffet the afternoon we boarded.

The shows were very good and I thought the seas were the smoothest we have sailed on. But then again our first cruise landed us in the middle of Hurricane Jean and nothing will top that for us. Fortunately I have never even gotten a little seasick.

Back to CC. It was heavenly, wasn't it. As I sit here in the frigid artic air mass in Niagara Falls Canada I am very envious of the group boarding as I type. Someone will be on my hammock in a couple days and it won't be me.

My son loved Atlantis. We booked a room at CS and had a great day and couldn't have asked for better weather. At Oceaneers lab the manager was from the town I grew up in(St. Catharines) next door to Niagara and said I was the first Canadian who she had met who said they were from there. We had fun talking about different hometown stories. It really is a small world.

All in all I will book again. I willl make sure it is one with a 2 day stop at CC. I can't wait.

[jennifaerie]

Hi everyone

I already posted my review on trip report. It was my son's first cruise, our third. First with Disney. We all loved it. My son got sick a little the first night. After that he was fine. This was the first time my DH didn't get sick. This was also the shortest cruise we have done.

In a brief summary, I loved everything but the late seating time. We only ate in our dining room once( Parroy Cay) and that was the night my son got sick through dinner. I was able to eat my ribs though and they were great. We ate at Palo Tuesday night. Juan was our waiter and both he and the food were outstanding. The other two nights we ate elswhere. I really liked all the food but the buffet the afternoon we boarded.


Just out of curiosity, what was your table number that first night?

[dorothyl]

Table 44. As I make dinner right now I am wishing I was there.

[jennifaerie]

Table 44. As I make dinner right now I am wishing I was there.

I knew it was you! :) It's Jennifer, the birthday girl! :)

I know it's a smaller ship, but what are the odds that I'd find two people I actually encountered on the cruise, one of which I ate dinner with?!

You know, since we got back, I've been asking Rob over and over, How in the world did she get that low a rate at Atlantis? I had looked and looked and couldn't find anything. And I kept kicking myself, because I never got a chance to ask you. Now I know... Gotta do the Comfort Suites. Thanks for posting that! We want to go to Aquaventure now that we did the "dolphin thing".

We missed you all those nights. We never did end up doing the buffet dinners because we had so much fun with Allie and Cole. We ended up hanging out with them a bit outside of dinner too... got to see what a verandah room was like and ended up booking for the same cruise next year.

I had a really rough first day... I had never been on a cruise before and was terrified. I cried for two hours... up until the drill started. I wanted so badly to go home. This coming from a thirty year old. I hated the prospect of being trapped on a ship and not being able to go home at any time. Once we left port, and I realized I couldn't just walk off the ship anymore (knowing we were sitting at port drove me nuts), I started to feel better. But our first dinner with people we didn't know... we were really apprehensive, and I'm sure it showed.

When I had called DCL to find out some things about the cruise, they said we'd be partnered with like-size parties... so we thought we'd be with other couples. When we sat down and saw families, we didn't know what to do. You all had seemed so chummy; we weren't sure at first if you had all come together. And of course, I was still very tentative. I wasn't crazy about the sensation of the boat either.

But by the end of dinner, you all had made it better for us. Your son was a sweetheart. It was so thoughtful of him to wish me a happy birthday days later (how he remembered, I'll never know).

Thank you for all the tips; you made things a lot easier for us. Now that we are more "experienced", we are definitely going to get our turkey dinner. :D

You also entertained us quite a bit on the beach! You got that guy next to you talking and he even took your picture! He didn't seem like the type, so you must bring everyone out of his own shell!

Now that I'm thirty-one (and oh so wiser!), I've come to the conclusion that while being on a boat isn't my favorite thing in the world, we'd rather do that and get to experience everything else the cruise has to offer than stay home. You helped with that, so thank you again! And it's nice to talk with you again!

[melissaknits]

I am a control freak and DH lives for consistency and routine and the first couple of hours totally made my head turn inside out, and I wanted to cry too. I had a mojito and went up on deck and waved my arms and sang and MADE MYSELF HAVE FUN. Then the barfing part started and I was so close to bawling it wasn't even funny. I RAN off that ship in Canaveral, insisting we'd been there, done it, bought the t-shirt and I was not ever doing it again. Then I came home and I started missing it...and now we're planning for 09. We're skipping the WDW part for this trip, and will just cruise. And I shall be all sorts of healthy, and visit my dr to make sure my ears are clear, and take all sorts of drugs, and life will be good. I want more DCL. For this, I would buy DVC.

And yes, November 14, 7 night 2 CC visit Western!!

[dorothyl]

jennifer

It really is a small world isn't it. I am an elected politician so talking to people is what I do. As you can tell I am hardly shy. Neither is my son. On my first cruise I didn't get sick but my husband did. I was terrified beyond belief. Then we ended up in the middle of a hurricane with 27 foot waves and my husband got so sick he was eating the dramamine like candy and went fast asleep. I on the other hand was wide awake and terrified and sat on the windowsill of across from the guest services desk because both the girls there were from Canada just outside Toronto not far from us. They talked to me all night to calm me down. I am shocked we did another cruise but we did and our next one was a ten day that was so calm and relaxing.
we would have liked to eat at the dining room everynight but Tanner never liked anything on the menu. I am a pretty simple eater also and didn't really care where we ate. He absolutely loved the kids club. He spent more time there than anywhere which gave us some time to ourselves. That was nice.
I wondered why you asked what table we were at. I thought that there was no way whoever asked would know who we were because we had only met you and your husband and Jordan and his kids at a dinner.
Tanner threw up all those marashino cherries in those Shirley Temples. I think tht is what made him sick.
We have 4 children actually, the others are 23,21 and 17 and they chose not to come with us.I am trying to talk them into coming on the next one. My husband and I will cruise again before we cruise with the kids again but Iwe will definately do Disney again.

[jennifaerie]

I am a control freak and DH lives for consistency and routine and the first couple of hours totally made my head turn inside out, and I wanted to cry too. I had a mojito and went up on deck and waved my arms and sang and MADE MYSELF HAVE FUN. Then the barfing part started and I was so close to bawling it wasn't even funny. I RAN off that ship in Canaveral, insisting we'd been there, done it, bought the t-shirt and I was not ever doing it again. Then I came home and I started missing it...and now we're planning for 09. We're skipping the WDW part for this trip, and will just cruise. And I shall be all sorts of healthy, and visit my dr to make sure my ears are clear, and take all sorts of drugs, and life will be good. I want more DCL. For this, I would buy DVC.

And yes, November 14, 7 night 2 CC visit Western!!

Oh, if only we both knew we were on that ship! We could have taken care of each other. I read your stories, and I thought, I really didn't have it all that bad. I didn't get sick at all, which struck me as odd, but I was in a constant state of fear that first day (and part of the second day, as I found that Nassau was like everyone said it was and feared for my life during one of our cab rides).

Now, we will take care of each other on November 14th. I really wanted to see Grand Cayman, and when I saw it had two stops at Castaway Cay, I couldn't resist. And neither of us will freak out (okay, maybe a little).

[jennifaerie]

I was terrified beyond belief. Then we ended up in the middle of a hurricane with 27 foot waves and my husband got so sick he was eating the dramamine like candy and went fast asleep. I on the other hand was wide awake and terrified and sat on the windowsill of across from the guest services desk because both the girls there were from Canada just outside Toronto not far from us. They talked to me all night to calm me down. I am shocked we did another cruise but we did and our next one was a ten day that was so calm and relaxing.
we would have liked to eat at the dining room everynight but Tanner never liked anything on the menu. I am a pretty simple eater also and didn't really care where we ate. He absolutely loved the kids club. He spent more time there than anywhere which gave us some time to ourselves. That was nice.
I wondered why you asked what table we were at. I thought that there was no way whoever asked would know who we were because we had only met you and your husband and Jordan and his kids at a dinner.
Tanner threw up all those marashino cherries in those Shirley Temples. I think tht is what made him sick.


Wow! No wonder this was "smooth sailing" to you. You had already been through the worst before!

Poor guy! We had piles of cherries every night. It was funny how you could see once our table got our Shirley Temples, the rest of the dining room would pan out red. Allie really did start a trend.

I was pretty sure it was you, but I wanted to make sure before I made a fool out of myself. :)

I'm a horribly picky eater, and I'd look at the kids' menu every night and think, Boy, I wish I was eating what they were. But I forced myself to try something new (I learned trying new food at WDW was not the end of the world, so why not on a Disney cruise?), and I was pleasantly surprised at my birthday dinner at Triton's. I had the Coquilles St. Jacques (I think that's how you spell it), and it was very, very good. See, if you mention mashed potatoes, I'm happy. It wasn't on the menu, but when Rocque described it, I got it. It had shallots and mushrooms, which I don't like, but I just ate around them, and it ended up being my favorite meal on the ship. So I'm glad I ventured forth, and I hope they have it again next year (I never thought I'd ever say "next year").

Is it just me, or did Jordan really, really resemble Jon Stewart? :)

[melissaknits]

I am totally prepared to not freak out this time. There will be no freaking. All will be well. I want to see Cozomel and Grand Cayman. My SIL says I will love it.

How many days is it till 2009?!?!

Dorothyl - 27 feet??? AKKKK! Just before we left DH downloaded a You Tube video of some ship in a hurricane. It was un..un..real. I could have cheerfully strangled him. Some things I do NOT want to see.

[jennifaerie]

I am totally prepared to not freak out this time. There will be no freaking. All will be well. I want to see Cozomel and Grand Cayman. My SIL says I will love it.

How many days is it till 2009?!?!

Dorothyl - 27 feet??? AKKKK! Just before we left DH downloaded a You Tube video of some ship in a hurricane. It was un..un..real. I could have cheerfully strangled him. Some things I do NOT want to see.

I will have another Bahamas cruise under my belt by the time November 2009 comes, so I will hopefully feel like a pro. Though I will admit the prospect of seven nights does make me a wee bit nervous.

I have a honeymoon at Disney in September to look forward to (why do we not own DVC?), so I have some things to look forward to in the interim!

[melissaknits]

Busy/lucky girl!!

We married in Orlando in 1997, took our kids along for the trip, sort of snuck the wedding in. We went back the next year by ourselves for a "real" honeymoon, and this trip was a 10th anniversary but late trip. Our actual anniv is December, but I launched my first book on our anniversary weekend and kinda needed to be here. At least my publicist said I did... ; )

[jennifaerie]

Our actual anniv is December, but I launched my first book on our anniversary weekend and kinda needed to be here. At least my publicist said I did... ; )

Well, if the book helps pay for Disney trips, I suppose you should listen to the publicist!

[dorothyl]

Hurricane Jean was a doozy. We were on the 11th deck of the Norwegian Dawn. When it was all over I went out to our balcony and on the balcony beside us a woman was scraping the sea salt off the balcony railing into a sytrophome(sp?)cup, and when she saw me watching her she said" I am showing this to my freinds and family or they will never believe me". My DH said " we will never cruise again". Since I really try not to fly this is how I see different places. I am looking to book our 4th.

[melissaknits]

I hate flying. I've had to start doing more of it lately and I do not enjoy it at all. I viewed cruising as the same sort of thing - see the world without being airborne, although we'll fly to Florida and take the cruise from there, at least it's only a 3 hour flight followed by 7 days of not being ten miles in the air.

jennifaerie - in my dreams. it's selling very well, but the lion's share goes to the publisher. For me the book is a means to an end, but I don't expect economic reward for about five or six years. At which time i shall take many more vacations...I hope!!!

[jennifaerie]

I'm not a big fan of flying. I thought the sensation of cruising was very similar to flying, which wasn't good. I'd rather be on a plane for six hours and feel it just then, than to feel it for days on end.

But at the same time, when you're on a boat, you can move around.

It's very difficult to find cheaper flights to anywhere in the Caribbean out of Boston (forget Manchester), so this is, by far, the cheapest. I can get non-stop flights out of Manchester to Orlando without emptying the bank account too much.

I hate getting off the plane, getting on another plane, worrying whether or not the luggage is coming with me...

And I have to agree with something I read in an article yesterday-- you unpack once, you have the same bed the whole time. I like routine, so taking a cruise is definitely the best way.

Did anyone play Bingo at all while on the cruise?

[melissaknits]

I wanted to do bingo a tiny bit, but know my husband would never ever sit for that long so didn't even mention it to him.

I wonder if that was my problem, the sensations being similar. I was in LA last month and MN this Friday, then LA again in the spring and who knows what between times, things change daily. I do not like having to change planes. Friday is a flight from CT to O'Hare, then another flight to Minnesota. I always loved that Delta flew direct to Orlando out of Bradley. Less than 3 hours and we're there. Then we had a bad flight, I swore I'd never fly again so we've driven since. DH pointed out that if I could fly for my publisher, I could fly for him. (prob a good point) so we'll fly in 09.

I also think I like that I can get more bang for my buck cruising - airfare is, like you said, not cheap. My daughter and father wanted to come to MN with me. $800 r/t per person at Expedia for the same flights my publicist has me on.

[Cruisin]

I love to fly and I love to cruise:thumbsup2

Flying usually means that I am off on a vacation, which is always great.

Sounds like you all have many more vacation plans in the works.

Have a great time planning.

[melissaknits]

I love take off and landing. I don't like actual flying. But I don't get sick at all, so have NO clue where the whole seasick thing came from. And usually I adore ships/boats/water craft of all kinds. This is why i am determined to go in Nov 09 and HAVE FUN and BE NOT SICK!!

[jennifaerie]

Maybe it was just the water when we went. I kept checking the television to see the status of the waves, and it always said "smooth" except for when we were docking in Nassau. So I don't know. It's hard for me to say since it was my first time. But when I came home and told other people who had been on cruises before, they all told me I never should have felt anything while moving around in the boat.

[melissaknits]

That's what I've been told also, that I should not have felt the weird movement I felt. I really think I've got fluid in my ears or something. I'll find out Friday when I fly. The hard way (ick)

[jennifaerie]

I wish you lots of good luck. No one ever wants to find out that way.

[Cruisin]

Hi all.

I'm working on a small trip report with pictures.

I'm posting it on a different cruise thread:)

It is one from a cruise that I went on in Jan of 2007.

Yes I still talk to those people!!

Here is a link to the start of it if you are interested in having a look.

Feel free to come on over and check it out.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=23168450&posted=1#post23168450

You will have to scroll up a bit to find the first post with pictures.

[melissaknits]

Well, I had some pain in my ears that I've never had before on take-off, so I think we can safely assume there's something going on there. Going to go see dr and get patches for next time, or something to dry up whatever is in there. It's good to know, in a way, that it wasn't just the cruise, since we're booked for the other one!

[jennifaerie]

That's bad (and good)!

At least you have plenty of time to figure out what the issue is.

[jennifaerie]

I forgot to post a link to my pictures from the cruise.

http://www.lunatunahead.com/Disney

[Cruisin]

I really enjoyed looking at your pictures.

Brought back lots of lovely memories.

Thanks for sharing them with us.

[jennifaerie]

Thanks for looking! At this point, *I* should be looking at them nonstop to remind myself that there are things to look fondly on and look forward to! It seems so long ago!