Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life for "V"! December 9-16 Commandeering the Magic!New pg6!

[lillygator]

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life For “V”! December 9th~16th Commandeering the Magic!



Ahoy thar mateys!



This here be the first Pirate sea report I’ve done ~ I’m usually weighing anchor on those land lubber reports over on the “other” section of the board. Ye be readin’ about grand lubber times at the most magical place on earth as well as our quest to commandeer the Disney Magic. Savvy?





So kick back, grab ye rum and get to readin’ ~ or ye be walkin’ the plank!



Arrr! pirate:



First and foremost let me introduce the band of pirates, wenches, lasses and princesses……



pirate: Outlaw (added just to please Charming hope he’s not reading) Captain Skull Crusher Smith ~ 42 in pirate years, Captain of the household (little does he know), grand adventurer, wickedly handsome, must not be near as bad as his name implies, after all he traded in his trusty parrot for three princesses, likes chests – treasure chests! (aka: Charming, John, Johnny, Daddy, Da Da)


pirate: & princess: Buckle Swasher Busty Bertha ~ 32, Captain of all things, especially Disney, keeps close tabs on all said chests – treasure chests!, an overall buckle swashing good time lass. (aka: V, Mommy)


princess: Cannon-balls Augusta ~ 4, 16 in pirate years, 12 in princess years, mostly princess yet thar be signs of pirate wicked temperament. (aka Samantha)


princess: Blind Flora Drake ~ 22 months, 4 in pirate years (as she thinks she can do anything the big pirates can do) also blessed with the wicked pirate temperament. (aka Haley)


them thar be the main pirate, lass and princesses for our journey, but as any band of pirates, we be meetin’ up with a couple more wenches and pirates for our swashbuckling land lubber portion of our journey.


princess: Lass Sylvie Von Hildegard ~ 76, very "proper" and quick to give her opinion, sailed over from the mothership and still has her green card. Some pirate blood be runnin’ as she is the mother of Wench Wicked Wilma. (aka Grandma – mine, Great Grandma – the princesses)


pirate: Wench Wicked Wilma ~ 52, she wrote the Way to Wench handbook in a former life ~ I am not kidding. Mother of Skull Crusher Busty Bertha and Wench Jelly Legs. (aka Mom – as in mine, Grandma to the princesses)


pirate: Wench Jelly Legs ~ 21 (finally!), sister of Buckle Swasher Busty Bertha, is coming out with a new Way to Wench handbook and is sharpening said skills on CDD. (aka Amber)


pirate: Cannibal Dagger Dan ~ 25, not sure he can really be called a pirate, more a bull, as he has a ring in his nose and is led around by Wench Jelly Legs. (aka Shannon)


pirate: Peg Leg Bernard Mauvebeard ~ 52, very fit for a pirate, father of BSBB, works out way too much and generally more on the laid back pirate side. (aka Dad – as in mine)


pirate: Tiny Jezebel Cookingnaught ~ uknown age, knows how to pillage and plunder and party, wench to Peg Leg Bernard. (aka Pat)


If you haven’t read my WDW trip reports, nor seen me around posting, well ye be walkin’ the plank as well! (No really, if you need further background on these crazy pirates, I suggest looking there!)


Also ~ this trip report can not be completed without mentioning my fellow band of DIS pirates:

(*in no particular order)

Dan&emsmom, mmccarth2, momofpandn, ds2mom, mommyof4, bubeez, woj68, shelleyg, Dh Chrisva, Castlepixie, KCGoofy, elaineteresa, TanaL, goofyforlife, goofyforgoofy, GoofyFD, pjpoohbear, 87Heel, pyramid2000, Klineyqueen, virginiamama, DisNeed, MrsMork, DrHugs, bubbasmom99, Disneyjamie, ruley3, ChiFiveO, becka, MicePins, BuzzBoyMom, TheAdamsFamily, dsharpe, slindamood, DisneyVegas1, melissalv29, magicbride2b, lbgraves (our Leader!), MommyMinnie, momof1inmo, Tynkerbell, Jhalkias (the Big Banana or Mr. 60K), waltsgirl (a true saint), disneyfan21, Brack, princessy, Kimerinc, Bella2000, Mumoftwopirates, gggpack





Pre trip:


Been planning this trip ~ ok booked ~ since August of ’05 ~ long wait right? Well we did go on DCL this same time last year so not too bad. This here be a much different adventure….this journey calls for a two night stay at Disney, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and a seven night passage with two stops to Castaway Cay where not only arrr we planning to commandeer the Magic, but the Flying Dutchman as well.


Been fortunate enough to become a part of a DIS band of pirates (see above) known as the “DIS Geeks” – (I had no part in the name, not very piratey and I for one, am not a geek in any way shape or form) Little do they know upon boarding thar be no turning back, matey’s! Rough waters ahead!



We’ve been chatting for months (years in some cases!), planning, stressing, staying up until 3 am to book Palo reservations, (“pirates take what they can”) sharing banana and coconut fetishes, chatting, planning, planning and planning discussing pot pies with crusts or no crusts, bathroom bats, techie speak, quantum physics, if underwire bras set off airport security detectors, 7 day 7 dwarves adult pack undies, packing lists, how many bags to bring and more planning . Security has been forewarned that the terminal on December 9th 2006 will be overrun with above said band of pirates tailgating in the parking lot, racing to see who gets to the terminal first, waving pirate flags, touting Mickey head posters, dragging coolers, inflatable dolls, pirate costumes, toga accessories and anything else needed for grand adventures on the high seas. (and oh yes, this promises to be a GRAND adventure – or my name isn’t V, err, Buckle Swasher Busty Bertha!)



DIS Geek pirate motto: “TAKE WHAT YOU CAN!” (or is it bananas and coconuts?)



Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for V! (with some Bad Girl moments for good measure)



Ye be warned!!!

[lillygator]

Monday November 27th, 2006 ~ The 10 day panic has started to set in….what do I still have left to do before the cruise…



Tux ordered: check
DD’s pirate costume: check
Ship box to the port: no check
Put together “GEEK” goodies: no check
Finish packing: no check


Budgets, hmm, I see many a post on the main boards about what was spent on the cruise….how about what you spend just getting stuff together FOR the cruise?



Pirate costumes
Tux rental
Port Parking
DIS Goodies
Cruise Baskets
New swim suit
Cover up for new swimsuit
Spanx
New cocktail dresses
Magnet Paper
New ink cartridge after printing all the door magnets in vivid color
Duct Tape
Bananas and coconuts
Blow up pirate doll
Pirate flags
Dress shoes for the princesses as their feet cannot stay one size more than a ½ hour
Princess Costumes

Oh and little things like gas to the port and tolls on the way…….I started adding all this up and quickly stopped….



Tonight was the assembly of DIS goodie bags to be handed out at the port, nothing fancy just lime green leis for everyone in our group as well as a Mickey Head name magnets for everyone’s door. I thought an easy way to get the “family” together would be to put all the lei’s and magnets for each family in a bag and label it by the main DIS user id. Things were smooth sailing ~ until I ran out of lei’s!! Arrrr!! (and no becka, it wasn’t bad math….we had a few late comers remember?)



Thursday November 30th, 2006 ~ major pixie dust day ~7 DAYS UNTIL WE LEAVE….panic is really setting in. I wake up to call Wench Wilma and confirm that we can indeed bunk with her at CBR and that I will be canceling my reservation at the Poly. (long story short, no AP discounts nor Fl resident rates and I would rather save the rack rate $$ for the cruise) I get to work with a resort monkey on my back that I just can’t shake. Called Disney and spoke with CM Ruby, who remembered me by my email address – go figure, before I canceled she checked once more for an available room only to find that there was space for 4 for 2 nights at ALL STAR MUSIC!! Wow, that bucket of pixie dust just knocked me out of my chair! She was amazing, kept my entire reservation number the same and left the balance as a room credit. (FYI, the deposit I paid for the one night at the Poly covered two nights at ASM and gave me a $200 credit - ASM was a FL resident rate) One thing off my “to do” list today and feels much nicer knowing that we have a break from Wench Wilma and Lass Sylvie. Being boxed in a small room with family can never be a good thing.



~V TIP~ never give up! I have tried almost daily to change resorts with no luck until now!



Ordered more of the lime green lei’s and had to give my first born in shipping charges. They will arrive on December 5th, plenty of time for me to finish up and pack them in the car.



~V TIP~ always order more DIS goodies than you think you need. There are always some latecomers.



Thursday December 7th, 2006 ~ Pirate law #11 ~ No pirate shall ever wear a "fanny pack"



The day has finally arrived, no, no, no not THAT one, the day we head over to Disney World! …a strange travel day for me. But we grab our treasure map and head on over to the World …. Since we are only staying two nights I wanted to really relax before heading off to the cruise. Last year we attended MVMCP the night before we cruised and I vowed we would not do that again. It was just too much in too little time and we awoke tired and cranky.



This day was a tad overcast and chilly, ok, cold. I had wanted to be on the road by 7 or so and be at a park opening. Did. Not. Happen. We left at 9:10am and missed getting rained on by a fraction of a second, as our car doors shut, the sprinkling came. Oh no, I forgot to print off all my WDW dining reservation information…..I know they could print it there but I wanted my own….it had “notes”. The computer took forever to load back up and after a good 10 minutes we were now are on way. After $51.50 in gas and $7.85 in snacks, we were finally on the interstate at 9:40am, still sprinkling and a cold 65°. As always when you are in a hurry everyone seems to be cow pokin’ around you. It seems there was some hybrid mouse convention going on, and can I just say – get a move on, we have a vacation to get to! We arrive to All Star Music and pull up to the drop off point and I run in to check in…. appears the pokey people from the interstate may have beaten us here, the running is quickly halted. Finally my turn, arrrr room was not ready so the CM gave me a packet of info and a card to call to find out our room number.



Now it’s around lunch time (wasted day huh?) and not wanting to tire ourselves out before the party tonight we head over to the Boardwalk. We valeted and wandered around to look at the decorations before hitting the "boardwalk".

Decided on ESPN club for lunch – can you believe they had JUST opened and noooooooo video game booths were available!! The main room was closed off….the Busch drivers were in there. Ohhh! They also had a race car outside for photo ops. Sweet….unfortunately, we did not take advantage.


We perused the menus and found the “healthy” kids menu has been added to ESPN! (lots of debate about this one on the restaurants board) For $7.49, kids get one appetizer, one entrée and one dessert. The apps were side salad with onions and tomatoes OR celery sticks with no-fat ranch dressing, the entrée’s were two chicken strips, two mini burgers, mac and cheese OR all beef hotdog all coming with a ½ ear of corn (and yes I saved the menu)….now is it just me or do the appetizers not go along with the entrée’s in terms of healthiness? No matter….it’s vacation. French fries can be substituted on request, or so the menu says.



Drinks all around, John ordered a Bud (weiser), Samantha a “climb the walls immediately” Sprite, Haley a milk and me, well, a glass of Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio.
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Samantha ordered the side salad with bleu cheese and the chicken strips. Must have been decent, all was eaten, maybe not all by Samantha….
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John ordered the Extreme Reuben with fries. It was finger licking good.
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Me, the Boo-Ya Chili. The chili was TERRIBLE. It was like watered down soup with a bit of beef here and there.
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Haley had a smorgasbord tasting a tad of everything.
Check out how many highchairs they had to stack just so she could sample! Now I know where all the WDW highchairs arrrr!! (we've dined at WDW several times with no available high chair!!)
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I didn’t say anything but the waitress noticed the chili wasn’t eaten and asked me if I liked it and I told her not really ….she took it off the bill. After the DDE discount the total came to $30.66 before tip.

Had to get Rexie on the way out.
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It's at this point I realize I am at the time crunch to cancel the Wonderland Tea Party for tomorrow. I booked it for Samantha but realize it messes up the whole day since it's at 1. I look for my phone and realize it's not there!!! I run up to the concierge desk at the Boardwalk, they are able to look it up and cancel it for me. Thank goodness!!

Since that is taken care of we walk around the BW a bit more....
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I had to take this...Samantha said - "look Mom, a Christmas bench!" Now there is not a hint of tinsel, wrapping, ribbon or anything on this bench...more like a Grinch bench if you ask me, but in her mind it was a Christmas bench.

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While I was taking this picture, John was at the valet stand and the girls managed to unscrew two of the nice Boardwalk signature lightbulbs. Lovely. I could not get out of there fast enough. Bad Girls!

[lillygator]

By this time our room was ready so we headed on back to All Star Music. Our room was in that same dreaded Country Fair section we had prior this year. What on earth were they thinking with that color?



We got to our room and already had towel animals in our window and one on the bed. I guess the people prior to us are of the “don’t take the towel animal” variety.
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Got everyone settled and we all napped….to the tune of late for dinner nap. Our dinner reservation at the Plaza was for 4:30pm, we left ASM at 4:30pm….lucky we had our own car or would have taken much longer! By the time we parked, trammed, monorailed, presented tickets and dashed to the Plaza it was 5:15pm. We still had a good 20 minute wait before we were called.


While we were waiting GGrandma and Grandma showed up. I had on my Jessica Rabbit Santa hat complete with mistletoe. I thought my Grandma was going to go nuts for it. We went in to eat and she went on a shopping mission to find the hat.



We had not dined at the Plaza before and I must say I was less than impressed and do not consider it the “hidden jewel” as many on the DIS do. Our waitress took forever to even come to get our drink order which consisted of Coke, Diet Coke, Orange Juice and Milk. John wanted to wash his hands – Avast! The Plaza has no restrooms!!! Wow! Wipes will have to do.



For dinner John got the burger….

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Samantha the kids grilled cheese complete with grapes….(making a face!)
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Me, the cheese steak….

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And Haley, once again mooched off our plates.

The food was ok, nothing fantastic. Would have loved to try a shake but by the time dinner was over we were more than ready to high tail it out of there.


As we were finishing up, Wishes was starting. We went outside and had a pretty nice view of the fireworks. Then it was mad chaos. Since MK was not closing before the party this year – the CM’s were directing those without wristbands out of the park. We were only allowed to enter MK via Tommorrowland after leaving the restaurant. I was not thrilled with that option…..arrrr!!



~V TIP~ I said it last year and I didn’t follow my own tip! Table service on a party night is really a bad idea. The restaurants are busy and the kids are anxious to get out there and party! Next year we will be doing counter service on party night.





We were planning to meet up with DIS’erswaltsgirl and Jhalkias (Amy, John1 and DD Sophie) at 7:30 in front of the castle for the “Celebrate the Season” stage show. We had a bit of time before hand so we wandered from Tommorrowland to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan, It’s a Small World and the Pooh ride before heading to the castle forecourt.



I thought there was a “mini” meet, as in other families from our cruise meet thread, but it ended up being just the seven of us, which worked out great. We watched the stage show
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and then wandered around together….can’t remember everything we rode but Sophie and Samantha could not get enough of Thunder Mountain. We were not very good in our park meandering as we seemed to go from one end to the other quite frequently. Stopped in to get hot cocoa and cookies and this year they also had apple slices and juice….I don’t remember that from last year but it was a nice extra.


We went to toontown so the girls could ride Goofy’s Barnstormer…..it was at this point Haley needed her diaper changed. I scooped her up, grabbed the backpack and luckily Pete’s Garage housed a restroom. OMG, talk about an explosion! Of course I had no extra clothes for her….so I took off my pirate sweatshirt, wrapped her up, ran over and told Amy what happened and went into Cornelius Coot’s County Bounty to see what I could find. Luckily they had a nice soft fleece pink Minnie sleeper that zipped up both sides and for $25.56, was on my way. The wonderful CM cut the tags off and led me to a dressing room. Crisis averted….arrrr!



After barnstorming we made our way over to Frontierland….I think, after a week long party on the cruise, it’s a tad hard to remember. Amy, Haley and I were waiting for the Mountain railroaders as the special fireworks were going off….pretty neat when they completely surround you…I was chatting so, I must admit I wasn’t paying close attention to the “show”. My sister and her boyfriend were on Splash Mountain (are they NUTS? It was freezing!) and my mom called, got our location and finally found us. Apparantly great grandma had been to every merchandise shop in the Magic Kingdom and failed to find the Jessica hat. She settled on a weird Mickey snowman which looks like a melting bobble head when you walk with it. Now, it serves as a toilet roll cover in her extra bathroom??!!



My mom ended up taking Haley back to the room, which turned out great. We all wanted to see the 2nd showing of the parade and John1 had a secret spot that we were going to try and hit….unfortunately it was against the MK rules and a CM quickly came and told John1 and John2 that. So John2 and Amy settled in some cozy rocking chairs on someone’s front porch while John1, Sophie, Samantha and I all sat on the ground, right by the ropes….did I mention how cold it was? Well, it was cold….very cold. Somewhere in the midst of the girls trying to decide on which light up toy they needed my sister did a fly by but ran off to get the Snow Price in a picture….see where I rate? One mention of a prince and V’s out the window! I have to admit, I'd do the same...in fact, I would never have even stopped.



I liked the parade…there were several costumes (of the dancers) that I loved!! I decided that if ever I am in the MK Christmas parade I definitely want to be in front of the glass coach which is pulled by some form of miniature horses…(not sure if Shetland ponies or what?) They stopped right in front of us and I don’t think there was one of them that didn’t leave a load….now imagine, dancers come right after that!!! The horror!

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nice mode of transportation....can I get one to the port? Nah, that would take w-a-y too long!
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of course, it isn't a Christmas parade without the head cheese!
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Once the parade ended those CM's aren't kidding when they say they pick up the ropes rather quickly...I don't think I managed to get off the ground yet and the ropes were already being rolled up. Not sure what we all did after that but we ended up leaving after a while....us to the monorail and John1 and Co on the busses...(I think...they were headed that way...or maybe they went for a nice boatride around the Seven Seas Lagoon to prepare for the cruise!)

[discruiselovers97]

Looks great so far! Love all the pictures! Keep it coming!

[lillygator]

Back to the resort and Samantha is out....carrying her the million miles from the car to the room is not much fun....but we manage. DH wants to go get Haley....I send him as I already know my GGrandma will be telling us how "horrid it is to wake her", etc.....she came to our room and was still asleep. All was well. Then mom called and thought the remote was in the stroller....I checked and no luck and since I was a bit wired I went down to tell her. I came back with almost a whole pizza…the supreme from ASM was horrible! DH ate some because he was starved! But I would never order pizza from any of the values!



Then it was lights out. Everyone slept like a rock and had to be roused a bit in the morning.



Friday December 8th, 2006 ~ Pirate law #6 ~ When describing the size of a treasure, a pirate is required to exaggerate by at least 130%. Flowers are not treasure under any circumstances, unless said flowers are made out of gold.



One more sleep ‘til the cruise ~ one more sleep!! We decided to head down to the Music Intermission Food Court for some grub. And what does any good pirate have for breakfast? Why RUM of course! But not wanting to have any onlookers call child services on us we opted for some food. DH had biscuits and gravy along with a breakfast platter, I had a breakfast platter, Haley shared with me as I am not really a breakfast kind of gal….(bring on the rum) and Samantha had chocolate chip pancakes. 2 Cokes and 2 juice boxes and the DDE discount later our total was $24.59. I didn’t take pictures but check out my 2006 trip report adventures and you’ll see lots there.



The platters were ok, the biscuits were hard as a rock. We could have played a pickup game of softball or taken out a few people…..the rest was fine, greasy, but fine. The food court was a complete madhouse. Cheerleaders everywhere. If you didn’t have a headache prior to entering you had one upon leaving. We decided to head back to the room before leaving for Epcot.



We got to Epcot and rented a double stroller by 11:21am.
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Now, we only brought one umbrella stroller with us as we didn’t have room for the double stroller and I didn’t think we would really need it on the cruise. MISTAKE! My girls are used to riding tandem not right next to each other and it was mayhem from the beginning. Samantha was fine but Haley really wanted no part of it. No matter, strapped her in and began our commandeering of the world.


We came to the main shop at the beginning of the world showcase and my GGrandma had been voicing her opinion on how hard those strollers were and that the girls needed some sort of pillow. Now, they had two blankets and I thought they were fine. $44 and change later, they both had pink princess crown pillows which took up more room than they did.



If I thought last night was cold, today was even more so…and it was WINDY which made it worse. We stopped in Canada for pictures….

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Made it to France to see Pere Noel…
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The American Adventure where we stopped to color our masks and my mom bought two of the Precious Moments dolls and had them signed by the owner/artist…I can’t remember how many they had 300,500 or 1200 but the artist told her that some man had come by and wanted to by them all….ughhh, can you say Ebay? They would not sell them to him…Kudos to the Precious Moments team!

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And then stopped in Germany….it was wine time!!

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GGrandma
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Me and GGrandma
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We all tried a Riesling, ok, the adults….my mom couldn’t finish hers so I had to help her out…no problemo!





Then hit the drums….
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And then made it to China for an egg roll (or two) and some noodles. This is pretty much the only time I get to eat Chinese food as DH doesn’t like much aside from egg rolls.

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We played around a bit and then left for Maelstrom!


In line….
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Got two Fiesta Margarita’s before heading out for the day, it was just too too cold.



We headed back to the resort and had a reservation for Chef Mickey's at 5:10pm....this has been a December tradition for quite a while now....but this year it was broken...we never made it.:guilty:

Instead we decided to go off property....(oh no!!) and ended up at Chili's with my mom and GGrandma....nothing too special....Chili's is well, Chili's....after dinner we hit Walgreens for some last minute cruise supplies and then called it a night.

[Disney owl]

Great report thanks

[lbgraves]

OK V, you have been home for over 24 hours now. Where is the rest of this thing. I am a bit anxious to see how we are going to be portrayed in this thing. :lmao:

[tynkerbell]

I can't wait to read more!! :banana:

[LITTLEKID58]

Great report.............cannot wait for the rest...............

[Holly&Joesmommy]

great report! :thumbsup2
Give us some more soon popcorn::

[cristit14]

Come on V....... get to the cruise portion :sail: :goodvibes

[Bella2000]

V, put down that laundry! I am waiting for more...please!

[MrsMork]

Vanessa, I see what you mean, your Grandmother really is beautiful! Would love to meet her! :)

[DiaLady]

Great trip report. Disney is so amazing at Christmas! We were there last year. Can't wait to see more. We're headed out in a bit over 3 weeks . .yikes!

Merry Christmas

[lillygator]

Saturday December 9th, 2006 ~ Pirate law #12 ~ All foods prepared by a pirate must include rum, grog, or beer. Boone's and other "Wench Punch" is prohibited.

Arrrr!!!! Cruise day is finally here. Was a wee bit excited to get much sleep although me cabin mates did just fine. I had an early wake up call and was up and ready well before the other three even stirred. I basically dressed the girls while they were sleeping and did the best I could with their hair…but hey, pirates didn’t have brushes.

We got the car packed up, girls loaded and pirated some Mickey D’s before heading to Port Canaveral. The girls slept most of the way to the Port which was nice and I was just anxious to get there already.

Before I knew it….there she was……looking just as I remember with the beautiful horizon in the background….we are about to embark on our incredible week long journey…..!

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We arrived well before the port’s 10 am opening but my dad was already there and soon we had a DIS mini meet going on….becka, micepins, lbgraves, jhalkias, waltsgirl, klineyqueen and probably a couple more. We officially met people we had been conversing and reunited with others. The girls were still asleep but finally Samantha roused for a picture with some DIS kids. (she's the one with the bow.......)

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This was a bit different than last years setup as we were actually parked in the lot. Last year we were parked but in the exit of the lot ready to go across the street as soon as they opened. Finally the cannons sounded and we were allowed in!

Charming dropped me off ~ see I had a plan….one that has become all too “known” ~ see there are good and bad points to the internet ~ I was going to upgrade. I was literally about the second person in there….boarding pass #2 though. I went to the CC line although I know you are supposed to do something else but last year my wonderful CM in the CC line called down the desk, scored my category 3 and that was that. This year my CM was earning his ears….great….I even asked him to call and he said no, he would check me in and I could move down to the supervisor’s desk. Whatever. I was able to check everyone in my party in with just myself being there…that was nice.

There was someone already in that line – TWO people actually, damn…they might get the room I want. Come to find out later ruley3 was actually in front of me. So we waited…anxiously and finally I had my choice…of a category 4 (I only inquired about 6’s and above)….we were in a 9. The only 6’s left were white wall verandah’s that slept three and no 3’s. To me there is not enough difference in the 6’s and 4’s and since we weren’t allowed a 6 due to having 4 people. I passed. I gathered my bags a bit dejected but saved a wad load of cash – which will come in handy later in the trip.

DH and the girls finally arrive and it looks as though he didn’t check any of our luggage. Haley is strapped in the umbrella stroller but it is so loaded down with stuff it needed to be held a certain way so as not to flip over. I ***** the situation to find Charming brought the dirty clothes bag from our WDW trip! Oh well….

I failed to mention upon check in, I was handed a lovely informative sheet in regards to “sickness”….nice. Anyway….there would be no 11:30am boarding for this sailing. I had volunteered in my DIS group to bring lei’s and Mickey head magnets with names on them. As I stated earlier…I had grouped and bagged these according to family and labeled under the main username. Not a great choice.


~V TIP~ When volunteering one’s self for DIS goodies….make it something generic in format with no “specifics” attached.

So start my chaos for the day…here I have a GIANT Disney store bag filled to hand out. Some people I know, some I recognize, MOST, I have no clue who they are (in person). As I begin my quest to get rid of everything in this bag…I am greeted with stares of “who’s the lady giving out free stuff” while nudging each other as to who is going to come ask me for something….(I did have several kids that weren’t DIS kids who’s parents sent them over to ask me for some goodies) and wary DIS’ers who looked a bit shy about approaching me….so starts my headache for the day. The terminal was PACKED….JAM PACKED. It was announced there would be a late boarding for the day and I had two very misbehaved children I was ignoring, one large bag of goodies to dump, a dad who was asking 50 questions, a Charming who kept disappearing and a partridge in a pear tree.

NOT!

It didn’t help that I had forgotten to print our DIS group manifest that had room numbers, names, usernames on it… I really wanted to be able to give everyone their goodies. Unfortunately I came home with several…and to those who participated and did not receive their bag from me, I truly apologize. I had the best intentions and really wanted to share with everyone.

Again, I thought the terminal was just chaotic. I contemplated opening one of the bottles on wine in our carryon but did not have a glass and was not sure how I would have been received swigging from the bottle….but hey, I did that in front of DIS’ers on our magical Wishes cruise, “drink up me ‘earties Yo Ho!” and that is a pirate law isn't it?

~V TIP~ If your boarding pass is not 1, 2, or 3 WHY are you crowding the line? Back up, we are all going to get on the boat.

I made mental notes to myself during the week and it began here. Unless I really want to upgrade, we are going to arrive at the port around noon or 12:30 or 1….there is no need aside from the “wanting to be there” to be there. Since we had second boarding and there were massive people by the lines were supposed to be forming, we decided to shove ourselves to the front so A, we could hear (the terminal was so packed it was tremendously loud) and B, to board.

FINALLY – get me on the ship already……we boarded…..stopped for a photograph that turned out horrible not to mention with the wrong ports on the border, our names were announced and I let the magic sweep over me….well, for the moment.

[lillygator]

I am bummed - when you try to edit...the changes are not saved - what gives?

[tjeagle]

Lovin' your report so far!popcorn::

[tynkerbell]

I failed to mention upon check in, I was handed a lovely informative sheet in regards to “sickness”….nice.

I wasn't given anything like this... what did it say? :confused3

[pyramid2000]

It is actually nice getting there past 12:30. No hoard of people and you basically walk right on. I had decided not to try for an upgrade, but arrived early only to met everyone.:goodvibes

Great report V!

[lillygator]

I wasn't given anything like this... what did it say? :confused3

I think it was basically telling you preventative measures, etc. They had stacks of them at the check in counters I am not sure why you didn't get one.

[becka]

Great report V! I am right there with you on the chaos in the terminal. That was NOT a fun way to start off our vacation. Next time we will book exactly what we want - no downgrades or upgrades and then just show up after they have started boarding. We did that for our 4 night and it was a much better experience when you have little ones IMHO. Meeting DISers in the terminal was fun but the extra stress was just not worth it for us.

[lillygator]

Great report V! I am right there with you on the chaos in the terminal. That was NOT a fun way to start off our vacation. Next time we will book exactly what we want - no downgrades or upgrades and then just show up after they have started boarding. We did that for our 4 night and it was a much better experience when you have little ones IMHO. Meeting DISers in the terminal was fun but the extra stress was just not worth it for us.

yes, I was stressing and had a headache before we even got onboard....I know, I like the idea of getting there and getting on the ship but I think next year we will definitely come later. We have a 9 and I am fine with that...the $$ we would have used to upgrade can be used as a deposit instead!

[becka]

yes, I was stressing and had a headache before we even got onboard....I know, I like the idea of getting there and getting on the ship but I think next year we will definitely come later. We have a 9 and I am fine with that...the $$ we would have used to upgrade can be used as a deposit instead!

We can have a "second wave" DIS meet at the terminal. ;) The whole downgrading/upgrading thing really drove me crazy as well. Plus with how bad my seasickness was the next time we cruise we are booking a Cat 9, Deck 2 midship and sticking with it no matter what!

[tynkerbell]

I think it was basically telling you preventative measures, etc. They had stacks of them at the check in counters I am not sure why you didn't get one.

Oh, thought it may have mentioned some sort of outbreak. I assumed the late boarding was to give them more time to clean up the ship and the way they did all the dishing out at the buffet led me to believe they'd had a few sickies on the last cruising.

[Madisonznana]

I am looking forward to more and keeping your tips for our cruise day in May. Thanks and next part comes when??????:yay:

[mruhaak]

I'm enjoying your report. Love the lime green shirts on all the kids. Very cute.

We came after 12 for our Wonder sailing and practically just walked on the ship. It was so easy compared to my RCCL experience.

[klineyqueen]

V - Enjoying the report!!!

[lbgraves]

We can have a "second wave" DIS meet at the terminal. ;) The whole downgrading/upgrading thing really drove me crazy as well. Plus with how bad my seasickness was the next time we cruise we are booking a Cat 9, Deck 2 midship and sticking with it no matter what!

YOU were crazy with all of the upgrading stuff????? http://bestsmileys.com/crying/13.gif

http://bestsmileys.com/wink/3.gif

I guess that means there will be even less of a wait when we get to the terminal at 10 am next year. :)

[lillygator]

CAN I GET A WHOOP WHOOP? CAN I GET A CINDERELLABRATION? CAN I GET A BOOOOYAH? (if you don’t get it, don’t worry, it’s a Carlin thang)

Houston, we are on the ship…our birth certificates passed the authenticity test, our germs are clean enough to board!!

We were corralled into Parrot Cay, not that I mind at all….buffets are hard enough, especially juggling two youngins, but me likey the bring V the drink aspect….we made it in to find the beginning of the “V’s not at the cool table club”…our friends were spoken for already….so we sulkingly were guided to a table in the back – a BIG one – I think we had two or three extra chairs.

Buffets + kids = DISaster…ok, not really. We boarded with my dad and his girlfriend so we were all dining together. Buffets + Johnny = STRONG MAGNETIC FORCE, so he left us as soon as he knew what table we were at….finally I went to the buffet in search of a boatload of shrimp even if I do have to peel it….it’s a Bad Girl thing.

It may have been the other ships, it may have been the guys in the yellow suits my co-worker who sailed two weeks before me told me about….but there was some FUNK on the ship. And DCL was worried enough to not let you handle a thing but your own plate at the buffets….talk about a hole in the Goodyear Blimp.

Here I am, carting a plate and a kid and all I want is SHRIMP, horsey sauce and cocktail sauce. Now I don’t want to get sick but OMG….this really backed everything up, people were confused and not wanting to be greedy I got my three shrimp and sat down. Quite honestly I couldn’t tell you what was on the buffet. You were barely allowed to breathe over there.

We saw many lime greeners in the dining room, waved to those we knew or ones we had met….and we ate…the girls ate…I kept checking the watch and as soon as 1:30 hit I grabbed the girls, left my Charming to his beloved buffet and went in search of our non category 3 room…..

We found it….the girls were greeted with baskets from AAARRRR!!!! Pirates….(aka Shirley and her rocking baskets!!)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3103.jpg

Castaway Club gift....

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3104.jpg

and it was filled with goodies....I do like the CC backpack from the prior trip at tad bit more....and our box I shipped prior ....was already there.

the room.....

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3105.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3106-1.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3107.jpg


our luggage had already begun to arrive.....a much different story than last year....of course we upgraded at the port and had to actually go down to deck 6 to retreive our luggage...Charming finally showed up and I was beginning the unpacking process....let me say, even though our previous room was a "reg" not a midship 3....the space, well, it's non-comparable.

We needed to be back up for the drill. I was ready for the Goofy Bar and we got there just as the DIS group photo was ending....all for the best anyway.

Got ourselves a strong one...shot it down and went back for the life vests!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3110.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3111.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3113.jpg

Now, we've only cruised with "babies"....Samantha was 18 months on our first, and EVERY time they have been so completley understanding. Samantha's newest favorite movie is the Titanic...of course she thinks I play Rose, do you think I tell her differently? And please no parental comments here..

So she is worried and attent during the "drill"...Haley, on the other hand, doesn't have the correct "vest" according to our crew person and they allowed us to disrobe ourselves as well as her while we stood there.

In my chasing Haley from the rail and back we met our across the hall Ohio Buckeye cabin mates and spotted the DIS'ers mrsmork, drhug and dear Aaron.....aka, V and Johnny's friend's!!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3112.jpg

[discruiselovers97]

Still loving it!

[Disneygrl36]

Subbing so I can come along for the ride on this one.
Have a 7 night booked for October & just had a 4 night in December.

[BlakeNJ]

Great TR. It's the first cruise TR I have ever read. Hoping to go on a DCL cruise very soon!

[luciloo]

Great Report, can't wait for more :thumbsup2

[brack]

V - we need more! Good stuff so far.:thumbsup2

ps: tell your DDad and Pat we said hello.

[Bella2000]

Oh V! I know you are looking at heading to WDW and planning your next cruise and I'm sure you are not down from that championship high but COME ON WOMAN! I want to read some more.....please

[disneediva]

Great report, we were on the Nov26-dec2 Magic and the buffet was still a buffet then, we heard the next sailing things changed, But quite alot of our cruise mates were dreadfully ill that last night and all day saturday.,

[lillygator]

Day 1 continued...

We flew back to the room to drop off the boutique orange flotation devices and headed back to the Goofy pool area for the Sail Away Party!
The girls and I headed up to the front of the stage while Skull Crusher Smith crushed his way through the crowds in search of libations.

The girls started dancing while I sat on the edge of the stage.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3116.jpg
Samantha!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3117.jpg
Haley and Kaitlyn...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3119.jpg
Kim Possible...err, no it's Samantha!

Smith made it back with daiquiris, virgins for the girls….I would have so gone with ummm, Sprite or maybe something with less color!! But hey, he doesn’t do laundry, and “it’s vacation V”…..what a mess! Once Haley spotted that, forget the dancing..."mine, mine, MINE!!"
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3120.jpg

~V TIP~ daiquiris, ice cream or any other sort of cold wet messiness should be in the lightest color possible to avoid staining, laundry mishaps and general disasters left for moms to clean up.


After Haley saw the speakers and the fact she could actually crawl up on the stage that was all she wanted to do…not good.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3122.jpg
Me, with a bar, not the kind I'm used too, in my face trying to "hold 'em back" from bum rushing the stage.

I grabbed her and walked around a bit. Ran into Becka and her family as well as a few other DIS’ers. The sail away party is fun, loud, which was fine with us, and definitely a way to wind up the youngin’s. I can't wait for next cruise when Haley will be that much bigger and hopefully not so attracted to speakers.

After the sailaway party we headed back down to our room to change and freshen up for dinner. We had the LAP rotation, which was the 6pm seating. Honestly, I hope someone will be available to link and secure "times", I would hate to have had the "other" earlier dining times. 6 is perfect.

Lumiere's, named after the candelabra from Beauty and the Beast, was our first restaurant in our rotation. Our fearless Queen of Lime had been able to link all of us "together". We knew prior to boarding that we would be dining with Becka and her family. Since our kids were the same ages we all had grand visions of them keeping each other entertained enough that the adults could all dine, have fantastic conversation, relax ~ you know ~ forget we have kids!!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3124.jpg
pjpoohbear, AKA Auntie PJ or just PJ, made these for our DIS tables. Sorry Becka, I think I took this to our cabin and never remembered to bring it back....(insert sheepish grin smilie or slinking out of the room whistling smilie)

We made our way to a few tables near us.....

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3125.jpg
The Halkias Family and our dear PJ!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3126.jpg
cuties, Kaitlyn, Sophie and William....poor thing, stuck with two girls!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3128.jpg
klineyqueen, AKA Brandi and family!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3129.jpg
klineyqueen's DH and DS!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3130.jpg
klineyqueen's DD! That's one tuckered out bambino!! Take a gander at the fantastic "banana" bib....our dear friend's John and Amy made them for the messy ones....!! ;) Incidently John2 still wears this for dinner.

Now, the meal....between trying to write WDW trip reports (ok, report...one LONG one...) and cruise reports, I am always taking pictures. Sometimes my grizzly bear of a husband, hasn't eaten in hibernation you know, has half the plate devoured before the server finishes the delivery to the rest of the table. To be quite honest, I am a bit over the "click, take a pic" for the DIS food porn, gimmie my steak and a wine already! But, I try and snap a few anyway.

This night, well, I think the "day" was finally catching up with me. I did manage to get the kids appetizer....I thought this was the "honeydew melon boat" but looks like a plate of fruit.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3132.jpg

and I believe this is the shrimp medley appetizer.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3131.jpg

Not sure what we had but I am sure it included meat of some fashion. I have read people hating the DCL food but we like it. It's no California Grill (aside from Palo) but hey, it's a heck of a lot better than what V's serving up out of the Carlin kitchen.

For dessert the kids had Mickey Bars with sprinkles....another V should have thought a bit more on this issue...
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3135.jpg

Samantha was anxious to get to the "club", guess hanging with the 'rents is already becoming an "uncool" thing to do. Luckily, Haley loves us....

well, for the moment.

So we send Samantha off to her freedom and we head on up top as the space shuttle will be launching soon. What a thrill. I am a native Floridian, even lived in Melbourne (Cocoa area) for a while...(went to Harbor City Elementary in third grade!!) Have seen quite a few launches, even one I would have rather not have seen but I don't recall a night launch. Maybe when I when I was younger, but nothing I remember. DH, the Yankee that he is, has never seen one. Not even the "cloud trail" in the sky.

We made it upstairs and it was cool and windy out, heck I can say it, it was COLD!! Luckily the Captain had stayed around the area so we could see the launch.

The Dumbotron had the NASA feed - very cool!!
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3139.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3140.jpg

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http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3146.jpg
there she was, gorgeous....!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3151.jpg
soon turned from Gator orange to white...

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3153.jpg

It was very exciting, and we hung up top with some of our DIS friends as well as making new ones....afterward we decided we better rescue Samantha, I was sure she was just beside herself with worry about what her folks were doing...


Haley got to push the buttons without being trampled on by her big sister for once....
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3155.jpg

we "ran into" Christmas Minnie...no line, as I am not a huge fan of lines....and hey, you see one Minnie, you've seen 'em all right?

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3156.jpg


We got our girl and headed back to the cabin...everyone got ready for bed, I finished up the unpacking and began to dream of the oasis known as Castaway Cay.

[lbgraves]

Well, it's about time, Vanessa!!! :) Can't wait for more pics & adventures. Love reliving the cruise again.

[mruhaak]

You know I've seen a space shuttle launch from Cocoa Beach and it was really an neat thing! But seeing it from the ship had to be the ultimate!

[krismom]

Hey! Finding a hidden trippie of yours is such a treat- we are considering a disney cruise for next year... it seems like alot ,more work than a standard WDW trip though. You make it look easy though....

[discruiselovers97]

More More!!

[Babs417]

that was great thank you:thumbsup2 :goodvibes ;) :)

[Ocean Breeze]

yes, I was stressing and had a headache before we even got onboard....I know, I like the idea of getting there and getting on the ship but I think next year we will definitely come later. We have a 9 and I am fine with that...the $$ we would have used to upgrade can be used as a deposit instead!

I like that!!!! I was thinking about upgrading too. We did the routine where we have two cabins - one cat 5 with verandah and the other an inside cat 11 across the hall. I've been bumming because I won't be able to sleep in the verandah cabin, so I thought I'd try to upgrade at the port. Now maybe I'll just use that money to book the next cruise...I like the way you think!!:thumbsup2

[Ocean Breeze]

Thanks for posting the pictures of the shuttle...that was way cool!:thumbsup2

[DisneyPhD]

Ok Lilygator I am onboard so to speak. I learning new tips too (don't come early if you don't need to, prepare the kids for the lifejackets.)

I am looking forward to more. :thumbsup2

[cheriemek]

Great TR! We were on the ship the week before you...all week long we waited for the delayed space shuttle to take off. Glad you got to see it and thanks for the pics!

[Blaze12]

I LOVE your posts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next cruise, I am DEFINATELY going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And when did Haley get all that hair???????

[DrHug]

Hi V,

Great job. Thanks for bringing it all back.

Yes, I am very late in reading the TRs. But that's probably a good thing.

Go Gators!

D

[discruiselovers97]

Where is the rest???

[WDW Poly Princess]

By this time our room was ready so we headed on back to All Star Music. Our room was in that same dreaded Country Fair section we had prior this year. What on earth were they thinking with that color?


Couldn't agree more! The light brown part isn't so bad, but the other two... :scared1:

[oybolshoi]

I'm late posting but I told you I'd get here...

What is there to say? You are a riot and I've enjoyed every post so far! :thumbsup2

The NASA feed on the Dumbotron is really cool - my DH would have loved that.

[lillygator]

“V” first day thoughts…..as everyone in the cabin fell into easy slumber I tried to get everything put away and unpacked and generally straighten the room. I lie down reflecting on the crazy day…the day had been stressful, very stressful and it need not have been. I was so hung up on getting to the port ASAP, handing things out, meeting everyone, not having my list, the girls behaving, attending the DIS events, making sure Peg Leg was enjoying himself and just overall worry….next cruise, I will get to the port when I get there, boarding, grabbing a drink and finding a comfy deck chair. I will not worry about pleasing anyone other than myself and maybe my immediate family…(now, that sounds terribly selfish and mean doesn’t it?)


Sunday December 10th, 2006 ~ Pirate law #40 ~ A pirate must never visit a tanning salon. If he is not already tan enough from searching for treasure, he hasn't been searching hard enough.

Ahhh, (or should I say Arrrr!!) Castaway Cay…one of my most favorite places. Many people love it and some see nothing exciting about it whatsoever. We, as a family, love it. Really and truly and up to this point I have never been anywhere on the island other than the family beach and the kid’s club drop off area. We have also never ridden the tram, there is no need to – and that’s even with Skull Crusher’s bum knee, stairs are one thing – but walking is A-ok!

Really, there isn’t much to say, it’s an island, in the middle of the Bahamas that was once used by squatting drug smugglers with guns, big ones! But it’s stunning, the water is the perfect Caribbean blue and crystal clear. If only we could get rid of all the other pesky passengers and have it to ourselves! The sand is no where as nice as ours, nothing beats Siesta Key’s sand…

This sailing was a double dip, going to Castaway Cay twice, and one of the main reasons we booked this particular cruise. I was looking forward to the day as we had the Personal Watercraft Eco Tour planned.

Skull Crusher gently shook me around 6:40am…. “what? We’re debarking for Castaway Cay now, I better get up!” ~ nah, he just wanted to let me know he was headed to the gym to ride the bike. (not sure if I mentioned it, but he had knee surgery earlier in the year) and he was meeting Peg Leg ~ at least that is what the two had cooked up the night before. Peg Leg does Ironman’s and the like and sometimes can be pretty infectious with his talk of exercise. Clearly this is what happened to Crusher. I mean, my idea of exercise on vacation is walking from the ship to my beach chair and lifting the wine glass from the table to my lips. And up before 7am on vacation? The horror!

By the time he got back I was up and dressed while the girls were perfect angels curled up and sleeping soundly. I hate to wake them but knowing they could sleep until noon, I put their suits and cover ups on trying my best to ease the pain of being woken up. We decided to head to Topsider’s for breakfast. In all (two) of our previous cruises we have never dined there for breakfast, nor lunch for that matter (I don’t think!). One of the benefits of the category three last year was a lovely spread each morning and the space to sit and dine. No space for sitting at a table in our cabin.

As we left our cabin we were greeted by the first of our many DIS goodies!!
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3157-1.jpg
And if you don’t get the whole banana thing, don’t worry, it’s a 12/9 Geek thing!

The CM’s were serving you and it kept the line moving slowly and agitated my dear Crusher to no end. But I’m sure it helped the waistline a little bit. We chose to eat outside so we could gaze upon our oasis….wow, it was COLD and windy!! I did like the trays for children, they are the old school cafeteria style with a place for everything!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3158-1.jpg

There was a large selection of general breakfast items...which was great. It got cold rather quickly due to the elements outside and quite honestly trying to get two toddlers, yourself, multiple trays and drinks through a line to a table is quite a daunting task...not one I am fond of tackling.

I couldn’t help but wonder how the day would turn out to be – hopefully it would be warm. We had a nice view of the ship Crusher wanted so badly to commandeer himself…
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3159-1.jpg

We quickly finished up our breakfast and headed back down to the cabin to gather our beach gear…as we stepped off the elevator on deck two I heard a “Hi, V”…John and Andy (Jhalkias, goofyforgoofy) were already lined up to do the Castaway Cay mad dash for the perfect spot. I gave my husband the “look at the lengths these husbands go to for their wives, up early, waiting in line, letting their wives sleep in” look, but I don’t think he got it.

We got to our cabin and found this,
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3160.jpg

The announcement that we could leave soon came…we were ready and set foot off the gangway to hurry and get a picture with the snow people…who knows how long before they melt!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3161.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3163.jpg

Along with cheery CM’s giving out towels, egg nog and fresh from the oven cookies!
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/IMG_3164.jpg

We high stepped it to the family beach stopping to get the Flying Dutchman and the “fish”.
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Not sure why, but I was in a foul mood this morning. It was too early for rum…or was it? Samantha was wanting to go to Scuttle’s Cove for the club, we dropped her off….the CM thought was in the 5-8 age group and almost made me feel as though I was lying about her age…nope, she’s 4! Loaded her up with sunscreen and kept on trucking down the path bypassing the stores….we found a spot in line with our Geeks and set up camp. I blew up the $0.25 rings that I had shipped down and Haley got to playing…

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ETA: those buckets are the ones from The Perfect Gift that Shirley so lovingly puts together....they are huge!

[lillygator]

We had spoken with Peg Leg the night before and he would be meeting up with us on the beach to watch the baby while we went jet skiing.

Good times ahead!

As I continued to set up camp it was apparent that we had great stock in high SPF sunscreen but the oil was no where to be found. Crusher and I both love our Banana Boat oil, although I loathe banana’s. It’s a Carlin thing I guess…not necessarily for tanning purposes…not sure if you’ve noticed but I am a red head and don’t tan...but for the smell…it’s intoxicating and not a day at the beach without it. Plus, it’s not too shabby helping each other rub it on either….so he “ran” back to the ship to get it. While I waited Peg Leg and said Lass found our camp site.

DH got back just in time to get oiled up and head over to our tour site. We left our precious offspring in the hands of my father hoping all would be ok. The tour met at the beginning of the family beach essentially. As I sized up the others in our tour I soon realized how unprepared we were. These people had water shoes, specialty necklaces that held their Key to the World cards, water cameras, you name it…it was a diving magazine’s marketing dream. DH and I had ourselves in swimsuits…not even a towel! What can I say, we travel light!

Now the description for the tour read as follows:

Hold on tight for a fun-filled ride through the tropical paradise of Castaway Cay. Pilot your very own personal watercraft and follow your guide on an exciting one-hour excursion through turquoise-blue waters while learning all about the history, geology and marine life that surrounds you at every turn.

Port of Call: Castaway Cay
Activity Type: Nature
Activity Level: Moderate
Duration: 1 hour total, 45 minute ride
Price: Adult: $95 for a single rider
Child: $95 for a single rider Ages: 8 And Up

Additional Information: This tour is guided and includes a 10-15 minute briefing.
Maximum weight capacity per one-person personal watercraft is 375 pounds.
Guests are recommended to wear water shoes or sandals, as well as eyeglass straps.
To ride, you must be at least 8 years old. To drive, you must be at least 18 years old.
Guests ages 16 or 17 years old who wish to drive may do so with written authorization from a parent or guardian.
Guests board watercraft from the water.

The tour consisted of the two of us, another couple and a man along with the tour guides. As we all checked in there was a women briefing us and giving us instruction on how to properly use the watercrafts. I was distracted though, I was trying to listen but – not sure how it is for other women – have you seen the movie “What Women Want” with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt? That’s me, always talking, thinking in my head….always…and at this point I was thinking about this woman and envying her job. I would love to live in the Caribbean, sitting on a beach all day, giving instruction out to tourists then talk about them when they leave, not having to wear anything but a swimsuit to work….wonder if she can drink on the job, she doesn’t appear to have to operate any heavy machinery.

Wake up, it’s time to get in the water….in the Caribbean….in December. Yes, it is cold, no not just cold…but COLD. And the bottom of the ocean is not nice and sandy but rather rocky and those water shoes I was eyeing earlier would have come in handy. They so don’t go with a bikini though.

I boarded my water craft and immediately felt invincible. “Gentlemen, start your engines!” We headed out around the ship, single file. I was really bummed that I hadn’t thought ahead to bring a throw away water camera…..as we passed the ship I noticed all the cabins that had our Geek signature pirate flag on them. I could see my father’s as he was next door to the infamous Todd…did I mention that my father was UPGRADED? He booked within the 90 day period before the cruise took place. I called him when Florida resident rates came out and saved him $800. They had booked a category 9. I had been constantly checking the DCL site and one day noticed they had been upgraded to a 6…yes a SIX! No, I wasn’t jealous in the least.

Back to the tour…the water was a bit choppy…I soon become conscious to the fact that I was the dead weight in this tour…even the old lady was a better jet skier than I! The guides had to “come and round me up” several times….and my dear, love me to the end, husband was the lead of the pack not even worrying about where I was in shark infested waters. The basic jist of this tour was a jet ski ride around the ship and around the adult beach area of Castaway Cay.

Yes we stopped every now and then, probably more so, so I could catch up…and wow, when those moments happened I was allowed to SPEED!! AWESOME! We learned of mangroves, sea grapes, etc…pretty much everything native to the Bahamas is also native to Florida, who woulda thunk?

“V” tip ~ for the Eco Tour….if you are skiddish, do the double rider…and if you don’t like rocks, sea life or fish, don’t go. The tour is basically the ability to jet ski around Castaway Cay, nothing more. Unless of course you don’t know anything about plant life at the beach.

So we got back to shore….and luckily the lady I was envying earlier had towels for us fools who didn’t bring them! We headed back to the camp site to find this…

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What an angel…..!

And yes, dad did good! He said she passed out about 10 minutes after we left. The beach does that to you…well, to the four of us, lulls us right down.

One thing I could not believe was how empty the family beach was. I mean empty….

We decided to go get some lunch….from Cookie’s which I usually get for all of us and bring back to the beach…Crusher’s got it good. So we ate and drank….I admit, I am not a Konk Kooler fan….I mean, yes, I order it and drink it, but it isn’t the highlight of my trip or anything.

We hung out a bit…
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Soon we were paged that Samantha wanted her family…..go figure. We collected her and came back to find dark skies above….

[Madisonznana]

Loved the jet ski experience!! I would have been exactly the same, but you should see me on the freeway!!:lmao:
Karen

[Blaze12]

That must be awesome to see the flying dutchman!!! Peyton would go bonkers if he saw that!! He loves Davy Jones, aka. Crab Crab in our house.

[Tink rules]

Great Trip Report!!!

I had to go back and reread the cast of characters seeing as I am new to the TR's and hadn't read your others yet. I thought at first it was a guy writing it (sorry - I started off to fast, I guess), however it really made me laugh at the comment about the underwire bras and security!!!

Can't wait to hear more!!! popcorn:: popcorn:: popcorn::

[discruiselovers97]

Yeah!!! Was wondering when the rest would come! Very excited can't wait for the rest!

[mom_of_2_princesses]

O.K. V,

I am going to bump this up to give you some inspiration.:rotfl:

[Tinkerbell's Mom]

Great trip report, I'm loving it, but come on V, why the huge gaps, you can't leave us hanging like that :surfweb:

[UKANGEL]

wow! I'm really enjoying this...come on V!:cool1:

[discruiselovers97]

Please post the rest V! I it is soo good!

[lillygator]

Still…Sunday December 10th, 2006 ~ Pirate law #9 ~A pirate should always remove his hat in the presence of a bartender.

Dark skies cause erratic behavior in many humans, as in, make them scatter like bugs on extermination day. These were not yet “everyone out of the water” skies ….simply a summer storm, in the dead of winter. Being a native Floridian, skies like this usually last between 20 and 40 minutes and then Mr. Sun comes shining through.

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POOF! Just like that, the beaches cleared, scads of floats were left for just anyone to snag, and it was a HAMMOCK HOGS heaven! We had a nice chat with a couple who were ecstatic to have a hammock, regardless that we had to be back on the ship in a matter of moments. 5 minutes in one of those….with no one around, well…could be heaven??!!

We decided we better head back – after all – tonight was our Palo dinner and we (meaning I) needed to get beautified!

We gathered our belongings happily heading out on foot back to the ship….knowing we would be back within the week was such a comforting thought. We still have yet to ride the tram in all of our visits to Castaway Cay. Maybe one of these days. I do know it will be odd seeing the tram naked – as in – not dressed as Rudolph.

The ship as we headed back…
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The Flying Dutchman…
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Both gangways were open as we returned but alas, no cookies and eggnog were there to greet us….just antiseptic lotion and hand washing materials. Our bags were scanned for any illegal goodies, our cards swiped and surprisingly we made it back on the ship!

As we got back to the room to start sprucing up for dinner, both girls promptly fell asleep. We had switched our Palo plans which in turn led to last minute Flounder’s changes. We had a message from Flounder’s that yes, in fact, they did have room for Haley this evening. Pixie dusted yet again.

That pixie dust would not last long, in all my precise packing I had forgotten an essential element. The Palo TIE!

I was in a panic…immediately. I knew I couldn’t have forgotten a tie….or could I? We can’t go to Palo without a tie could we? Someone on the DIS would surely report us back as the flip flop, jean wearing, bare shouldered, gum smacking rednecks ruining their dining experience and I could not have that.

Without delay I called Amy and John (Jhalkias, waltsgirl) surely they would be able to rescue me from the depths of despair, as well as from embarrassing ourselves beyond belief. (why yes, that is an Anne quote ~ she is my kindred spirit!)

They did have a tie, but would it go with a pink shirt? Yes, Crusher is man enough to wear pink in public. After all, he did wear pink socks to the hospital on the day both his daughters were born, in Samantha’s case they lasted two days! In the meantime he had crafted his own tie out of a pirate bandanna we had brought along.

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He felt it was perfectly acceptable and could serve a dual purpose in napkin usage.

Help had finally arrived in the form of OSU? Desperate times call for desperate measures….and red can be pulled off with pink, I think. (no really, we were greeted with an Ohio State tie and an alternate….thank goodness John and Amy pack well!)

We finished up, gathered the girls, dropped them off and headed to Palo. Palo, is well, fantastic. I may be a small town Polk county girl – but I love the food, the servers, the atmosphere – the no kids thing is nothing to sneeze at either. And Crusher – what can I say, he ADORES Palo….which was quite a shock to me.

We were Palo royalty this particular evening, we had the private dining room….(Crusher is still questioning how in the world we were invited!) Our dinner mates were Lisa and Mike (lbgraves), Kim and Steve (kimerinc), PJ (pjpoohbear) and Amy and John (waltsgirl and Jhalkias). The infamous Marco was our server, I had heard lots about him, but this was our first dining experience with him. He truly is fantastic! Instead of ordering appetizers he simply brought us one of everything.

This is what was left of the calamari…
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We shared family style and got a bit of everything.

This was either mine or DH’s, at this rate I cannot recall….
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Alas, this was the end of Palo fine dining photos for the evening (I shall be more diligent next time). Truth be told, I was a tad embarrased to be "click, take a pic" about my food.

Dessert was up next ~ chocolate soufflé everyone RAVES about…was something I don’t like as I don’t like chocolate. I know – a chic who doesn’t like chocolate, but what’s even wilder there was another one at our table!!! Kim (kimerinc) a fellow kindred spirit was after the tiramisu. Which, I really didn’t care for either. Gimme a cheesecake already!

The meal, the company, the atmosphere, the food, the service ~ GOOD TIMES!

Now, I don’t have a functioning scanner (rather, it is user related) so I took a picture of a picture!

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OMG - Dh and I are looking at this tonight, he looks really LIT! He did have a beer
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[mom_of_2_princesses]

V,

I am so happy you continued and I can't wait to meet you. I see all the men lost the ties in the picture.:rotfl:

[plutospup]

Thanks for the next installment. Worth the wait! Nothing like a good "Palo story" to put a smile on my face! ...and with pictures, too!

[fourmcds]

YEAH V. You didn't forget about all of us waiting for the next installment of your fabulous TR! Thought it was great that John first brought over the Ohio State tie....that red and pink must have looked great.

[lbgraves]

Thanks for posting that picture, Vanessa. :) It is great to look back at our fantastic cruise. I can't believe that it was over 4 months ago. :(

[nenner1]

Fantastic Report!
Thanks for sharing with us!!:goodvibes

[lillygator]

Thanks for posting that picture, Vanessa. :) It is great to look back at our fantastic cruise. I can't believe that it was over 4 months ago. :(
I know!!! I am bummed no December cruise this year!!
I'm sure we'll meet up again at some point though.

[lillygator]

As we wind Sunday down, Crusher and I found ourselves with a bit of free time before we had to pick up Haley from Flounder’s. We skipped our way into the middle of an act at Rockin’ Bar D. One of our favorite bartenders was there…..Bonita! We met Bonita the previous cruise and she is a delight, makes a pretty darn good drink too!

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We didn’t stay for long – enough to say hello and throw one back and then went to pick up the girls. As we headed down to our room I began to think of how much I would just love to live on Castaway Cay....first thing I would get rid of is that dock and pesky Disney ship though. ;) It really is my idea of heaven.

As we drug outselves into our room, we were greeted with a towel animal and a “treasure map” as Samantha called it. Goodness knows I could use some treasure - these vacations are not cheap!

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Quickly got jammies on the girls, flipped on the tv for them but they were out rather quickly. Crusher also was asleep as soon as he hit the pillow and me, well I was left to straighten up the cabin, read through the navigators and reflect on the day. Truly there wasn't much left to straighten – I adore coming back to the cabin and the beds are turned down, fresh ice in the ice bucket, the porthole is covered, lights dim – all I need is some champagne, chocolate covered strawberries oh and a baby sitter! I laid down to dream of those chocolate covered strawberries…they would be mine in the morning – you see, we had Palo brunch scheduled!


Monday December 11th, 2006 ~ Day at Sea ~ Formal Night ~ Pirate Law #63 A pirate may tell any tale of swashbuckling without being called on the details, as long as at least 51% of the story is true.

The day dawned at sea not much different than the previous, Crusher went to the gym to ride the bike and the girls and I slept in enough that we missed the character breakfast. Now I have nothing against character meals, we have done tons of them at the World – which is probably why I feel there really is no need to frantically get up early and get dressed to make the one on the ship – especially since the Fab Five really don’t do it for me. And napkin twirling at 8am - maybe only if you are still up partying from the night before...!

We took the girls up to Topsider’s for breakfast…
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Choosing to dine inside this time!

After breakfast we were able to drop off Haley to Flounder’s a bit early and Samantha to her club to participate in Mousekeeter Training. I had left a message for my dad that our Palo Brunch was at 10:30 and what the proper attire was but we hadn’t heard from him. I assumed he was still running, biking or swimming somewhere and would meet us at Palo.

We arrived to Palo early of course….
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And were joined by many DIS’ers…our group had secured the private room as well as many of the tables outside of the private room. Crusher and I dined with Andy and Kristina (goofyforlife and goofyforgoofy) My dad was no where to be seen….I was a bit perturbed…I had Lisa – lbgraves – go out of her way to add him to our group reservation. Oh well! I couldn't dwell on this long....my name was being chanted again and again by sweet little cheesecakes...as we were led to our table we had the choice of champagne or the mimosa I believe it is ---- now that’s the way to start your day!

This brunch was much different than last year (not food wise), the CM’s were set up to serve you around the buffet stations. I know it was to prevent sickness, etc, but it really was rather bothersome. I also failed to take pictures of the buffet, as there were just so many people up there at one time, it seemed pretty crowded. It is a gorgeous spread and the view from Palo is pretty spectacular as well.

As a non breakfast person I love that you are able to get other items including dessert. Shrimp seemed to find its way to my plate again and again. The shrimp in Palo are larger than the shrimp in the dining rooms and I am definitely a shrimp lover – I think after several trips for shrimp alone the server gave me a huge helping! Crusher had several of the made to order items from the grill – along with several trips to the buffet.

This was one of the desserts….
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My dad comes strolling in at NOON! Our reservation was at 10:30 am (or was it 10?)!! He was under the impression this was a buffet in the sense Topsider’s is a buffet….you show up whenever! Color me embarrassed..but that’s nothing yet. He was able to sit at our table and dine with us….Kristina, Andy and I were all pretty much through though so I sat for a bit and then left Crusher to dine some more.

I left and wandered a bit ~ wasn’t sure what to do with myself all alone. Haley was in Flounder’s until 2 so I went to Shutters and picked up some of our photos, went to Guest Services and put some Disney Dollars on our room charges and headed over to get Haley.

Samantha was still having fun in the club so I went back to try and find my dear husband, he had gone to the room to change….come to find out he had CLOSED Palo…yes, he was there from brunch opening to closing and their table was the last one in there! I could not believe it! As we walked around trying to burn off some of that 4 hour gobble fest we ran into Captain Hook!

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In our wandering we made it to the Mickey Pool and stopped by Pluto’s Dog House for chicken tenders and fries….no NOT for Crusher, but for Haley.

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A lovely server was tempting us with the drink of the day – The Yellow Bird – 2 for 1! Crusher had just enough champagne in him to agree….just as the drinks were set on the table the pager started paging – “hey, come get your kid, she’s had enough of this Mouseketeer training”. Crusher went and scooped her up and brought her back up on deck. My DOD was not going over well with me…it had some kind of banana extract in it…YUCK!

After filling the girls with the wonderfully nutritious tenders and fries we made our way back down to deck two for naps – tonight was Formal Night!

“V” tip ~ this is more of a note to self ~ feed husband before dining at Palo brunch…..

[discruiselovers97]

Yeah!!! I came back from WDW and there was a new installment! Still loving it V! Can't wait for more!

[lbgraves]

:lmao: So THAT is why your dad was late for Palo brunch! :lmao:

[lillygator]

formal night….ARRRRR, scurrrrvvvyyy Pirates don’t dress up!!! or do they?


truth be told…I do like to be a Princess now and then….and I adore dressing up…LOVE IT!! Neither of our jobs are such that have any formal occasions nor do we have any sort of friends who have any type of formal functions…so evening gown wearin’ is slim to none ‘round these parts.

Arriving back at the room, all Pirates and Princesses fell into a deep slumber…myself included. I awoke around 4pm to take a relaxing and quiet bath – yeah right! Bath that is, that thing is the tiniest tub I have ever laid eyes on….shower it is and I was able to do makeup and hair while everyone slept.

I finally got everyone up and ready and we were on our way ---- looking smashing of course!

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Opted for pictures before dinner…..one line was l-o-n-g and the Captain’s line was short! So we did both….waltzed to our table to find our tablemates not there….I believe they were dining in Palo this evening….(if I am recalling correctly – becka feel free to chime in here)

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Crusher and I both had the beef dish and the girls something child friendly….
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I think Samantha was at the table for all of five seconds before whining to go to the club - I am beginning to wonder – does she even like us? And what are they brain washing these kids with anyway? (this is why she is not in many of the dinner photos)

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After dinner we met up with Pegleg and Jezebel for a group shot….
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Then back to the room to change for the evenings festivites…
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Haley was scheduled to go to Flounder’s at 8, so we dropped her off an headed to the Diversions……it was Monday Night Football….Bears and the Rams….had to see my Rexie babe!! (the Gator boy and on my Fantasy team) we managed to leave and hit the 10:15 ventriloquist.


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It was really funny!! I am glad we went….afterward….pick up the girls and head to dreamland….tomorrow is Costa Maya!!

[Blaze12]

Oh my GOD, Hailey looks JUST like SAMANTHA did at that age!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ADORABLE!!!! And look at that Hot Sexy Hoochie Mama!!! :lmao:

[Tink rules]

Why of course... they dusted her with...

pixiedust: pixiedust: pixiedust:

[lillygator]

Oh my GOD, Hailey looks JUST like SAMANTHA did at that age!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ADORABLE!!!! And look at that Hot Sexy Hoochie Mama!!! :lmao:

OMG ---- you and I HAVE to meet one day!!


For everyone else...we "met" on a baby message board many moons ago -----her dear Peyton and my Samantha are a few weeks apart, and she finally moved to Florida....although not close to me!!! AND we missed each other at DTD/MK this past Saturday!:scared1:

[discruiselovers97]

WooHoo V! You posted more! Ok so my next cruise is in 8 weeks exactly tomorrow. Think you can finish it by then? Take it as a "Pirate" Challenge!

[Blaze12]

OMG ---- you and I HAVE to meet one day!!


For everyone else...we "met" on a baby message board many moons ago -----her dear Peyton and my Samantha are a few weeks apart, and she finally moved to Florida....although not close to me!!! AND we missed each other at DTD/MK this past Saturday!:scared1:


Now, how the heck did we do that??? I was positive you were going the week before and we were going to just miss each other. And I know I didnt see you at DTD/MK, because I would have instantly recognized you!!! :laughing: I probably would have noticed the girls first.

We are probably going to have to meet up at Siesta Keys and West Palm Beach. :banana: Then again, going on vacation somewhere other then disney!! :scared1: It just doesnt sound right, does it!! :rotfl2:

[lillygator]

Tuesday December 12th, 2006 ~ Pirate law #62 ~ Spilling rum is not acceptable, except in the act of "pouring some out for dead mateys". Costa May day! (I think I lost/skipped a day – the rum will do that to you!)



(courtesy of Wikipedia) Costa Maya is small tourist resort in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, located between Cancun and Belize. The area is generally undeveloped but has been growing quickly and rapidly after construction of a large pier to accommodate cruise ships.



Costa Maya's port has a new and modern shopping mall. The mall has a central plaza with a pool and "swim-up" style bars. There are several jewelry stores and many small shops selling ubiquitous souvenir items.



Costa Maya is the closest port of access to many of the lesser known Mayan ruins in the Yucatan including Chacchoben and Kohunlich. These sites are substantially less excavated than the better known pyramids near Cancun.



The fishing village of Mahahual is a short distance south of Costa Maya. The village has soft sand beaches, grass thatched palapas, and a coral reef a short distance off-shore, as well as several bars, restaurants, and shops. A resort development called New Mahahual is being created directly inland from the port.



Costa Maya is currently on the malaria watch list, which means that after visiting, persons cannot donate blood for up to one year. (wow, kinda scary!)



Now Crusher and I have so been looking forward to Costa Maya, our (as in “our” DIS) cruise director took it upon herself to arrange a DIS group tour to the Chacchoben ruins with the infamous David!! We docked and were cleared around 8:30….we had ordered room service breakfast and then dropped the girls off at the Club and Flounder’s. I am not all that comfortable leaving them on the ship while I trapse all over some island…but I knew they would be a huge pest to our surrounding bus mates and tour mates. (4 and almost 2 year olds on a 45 min bus ride? No thanks!)



As we set foot off the ship we were greeted with this…



http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/DCL%202006/IMG_3247.jpg



And of course Crusher can’t pass up a photo opportunity with a beautiful woman…

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/DCL%202006/IMG_3248.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/DCL%202006/IMG_3249.jpg



As we walked to our bus site we passed the swim up bar and various vendor booths…



We made it to our spot and boarded the busses….David was very very nice, informative and such fun. I tried to take pictures along the way….we were able to pay for the tour prior to the cruise via Paypal which I thought was a nice feature..one less thing to worry about!



http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/DCL%202006/IMG_3250.jpg



http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/DCL%202006/IMG_3251.jpgpineapples for DH!



http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/DCL%202006/IMG_3252.jpg



http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/DCL%202006/IMG_3253.jpg



http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/DCL%202006/IMG_3254.jpg



http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/lillygator/DCL%202006/IMG_3255.jpg



When we arrived to the site David led us around and gave us the history…..which really fascinates me ---- after dance my major was anthropology – I would have loved to go on a dig somewhere….!

[discruiselovers97]

Ahh thank you for the previous "piraty" report! Still loving it.

[sarasotamom]

Lilygator,

I am enjoying your cruise report. My family and I did the double dip in July 2006. It was our best cruise ever. We were on the waiting list for a Cat. 1 and we were able to upgrade 6 weeks prior to the cruise to the Roy Disney Suite for only an additional $600. It worked out great because our daughter took her fiance on the cruise. My husband and I loved Costa Maya. We took dune buggies on an excursion and we enjoyed seeing the beauty of the land. The kids hated it though. They couldn't wait to get to Cozmel...They are the partying type...

Yes, I am from Sarasota, Florida..In matter of fact I was born and raised here. I graduated from Riverview High School. Our two daughters graduated from Sarasota High and both went to USF in Tampa. Our son just graduated from Riverview High and will be attending Florida State this fall..I know you are a gator .... but there is room for a few Seminole moms on this board...

Keep up the trip report..Your daughters are adorable.

[JadeDarkstar]

wow that is so cool i love what imr eading your kids look like there haveing fun.

So are there relly cruises ppl plain on here and meet each other befor borrding and have cute littel gifts for the others..that is so cool