RoyalVizier
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2006
RV's "Cruise Planning Follies" Pre-Trip Report! The lists are made. There are piles of clothes stacked in the corner of our bedroom. The birth certificates and luggage tags are in an envelope on the desk. A years worth of planning and excitement and researching and discussing and questioning and agonizing is coming to a head over the course of the next nine days. BUT…
It hasn’t been without trauma.
Over the last two weeks, it seems that we have been met at every turn with something that frustrated and made us want to crawl in a hole, pull the dirt over our heads and stay there until they called our boarding number. Most of the trauma has been cruise related… some not. See, here’s the thing… This is going to be our third Disney cruise. We started with a 4-night Wonder, graduated to a 7-night Western last May, and are now doing the 7-night Eastern. All previous cruises have been with my wife and I and our teenage daughter. Well this time, we are bringing my wife’s parents. We’ve never had to account for anyone else on vacation before. We’ve never had to worry about other people’s happiness and enjoyment of the vacation before. My Mother-in-Law (MIL) and Father-in-Law (FIL) have never been on a vacation in their entire lives. Ever. Ever ever. They are in their late fifties and have never gone anywhere for pleasure to relax or do anything away from their normal, everyday lives. So the idea to take them with us on our next cruise was born almost the day we disembarked from the Magic last May, and the idea blossomed bigger and bigger ever since. So here we are, nine days away from a very first vacation for them, and we have done everything in our power to make it a memorable one. There in lies some of our recent frustrations:
We requested connecting rooms. We didn’t get them, but the rooms are at least side by side. Okay, we can live with that. It might be better that way anyway.
We requested the early dinner seating. We didn’t get that either. We’re down for the second seating. This was a really important one for us. My wife’s parents live by a drastically different schedule than we do (and quite possibly drastically different from the rest of civilization as well). They tend to get up somewhere around 4am-ish in the morning, have dinner around 3pm-ish in the afternoon, and be in bed by 8pm-ish. So taking this into consideration, having the early seating was very important to them and to us. We didn’t want them face down in their Celebration Cake at 9pm at night, although there are reasons to dive into your dessert face first, sleeping isn’t one of them. So as of right now we’re down for the second seating. I know that we can see about getting this switched once on board, so I’ll head to Rockin’ Bar D to see what’s what.
Also, two weeks ago my FIL decided that he’d like to go bottom fishing.
My wife and I had been wondering what we could do to make this special for him. He isn’t the most excitable man in the world. He is retired and isn’t really involved with anything in the community and doesn’t really have any hobbies or interests. Weeks and weeks and weeks ago we brought up the idea of fishing, but at that time he wasn’t interested. Well all of the sudden two weeks ago he pipes up wanting to go. Well the Bottom Fishing Excursion on Castaway Cay sounded like the best one, so I checked online and of course it’s sold out. I realize there’s another fishing excursion on St. Maarten, but I don’t know… we haven’t really heard anything about it and we just had our hearts set on the one at Castaway Cay. So, again… after we board, I’ll keep checking just in case someone cancels. The cherry on this diabolical and nasty sundae is my work schedule. I am in a state of such agonizing hecticness in my job right now that I can hardly see straight.
My schedule changes almost daily, and I’m getting to the point where I need to put post-it notes on my bathroom mirror to remind me where I’m due and when. So take these things and what do you get? An extremely frustrated wife. 
Which is never a good thing. Again, everything is pretty much hinging on her parents this trip. This may very well be their only vacation in their lives, a once in a lifetime trip, and my wife wants it to be the most awesome and unforgettable experience ever for all of us. So we’re only thinking about them. Truthfully… if it were just us traveling, we wouldn’t care about having the late dinner (that’s the one we prefer ourselves) and we would never have dreamed of going on a fishing excursion either. And it’d be just us so we wouldn’t need connecting rooms. I’m sure these things seem minor to most people, but these little requests were pretty important to us. Overall, I’m fine with it, but my wife is a bit taken aback by it all, so we’ll see what happens on the ship. I’m not too overly worried. I’m looking at the big picture. Being on that ship for 7 nights, all the island time, and eating, and pool/relaxation time, and eating, and snorkeling, and Castaway Cay… and eating. It’s going to be fabulous!
Overall, there is still an enormous amount of excitement swirling around this vacation. We’re not totally wallowing in a mud pit of self destruction. Heck… we’re still going on a Disney Cruise in 9 days!!
Next Up: The Babies Know We’re Leaving and O’hana Means ‘Family’
and everyone is happy
! Good Luck!
I'm ready! 
that all will go MAGICALLY for you!!!!! Have a stupendous trip!!!! Can't wait to read all about it.
They know when something is up, and something is definitely up. Whenever the suitcases come out, my babies eyes fill with a sorrow so soul scathingly pitiful that I can't hardly stand it. Our church friends have agreed to come and take care of the puppies while we're gone so I know that they are going to be very well taken care of. Our friends LOVE to hand out bones! 
