9/23/07: Life Stinks! The 2nd Season! -The Final Episode. :(

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

We're all really proud of you for showing restraint. I'm sure though you tried to plant some surprises of your own for Joel and Family Can't wait to read more.

 

[Mozart]

It’s that time! Now welcoming boarding group 1, group 2, group 3, group 4, and finally…GROUP 5! That’s us and we begin the walk, take the picture, and walk across the famed gangplank.

Now, I’ve never met the guy before, but his stuff is the tale of legend. A true cruise line hero, waiting at the top of the ramp to greet us. It’s the immortal PIKEY in full living color! Yes, for those of you wondering where he is, Pikey is on the Wonder as of Sep 23rd. Darren was the cruise director. I say that because I know someone will ask.

One of the things I had most been looking forward to was that initial lunch when you get on board. I just remember from last time that there was something so relaxing about sitting in Parrot Cay on the first day. This time the relaxation seemed directly in tune with the Bahama Mama’s that were sitting on the table within 5 minutes of us boarding. Granted, there was one Mimosa mixed in as well. It was just incredibly relaxing to sit there and say “Hey, it’s started. We’re really here.” It was also nice to revisit some of their breaded pork. For some reason I really liked that stuff. I am now refraining from making a pun about pigging out.

Now, about 12:30, I had tried to sneak over to Palo’s to straighten out our dining reservations. I was unsuccessful at that time. Basically, Simone (the current maitre’d) slapped me on the hand for being bad and sent me away. Just after 1, we head back over, turn the corner into Wavebands….and there she is. Her eyes meet mine and a huge smile crosses her face, she cries out in joy…and runs to hug my wife. Yes, Coralia, good to see you too.

Now, let me begin this diatribe by saying that Coralia is my girl. She was our server at Palo’s back in February, and we absolutely loved her. We’ve exchanged e-mails and first-born children. But here’s where we get into the problem. We knew we might have a problem getting Coralia as our server on Tuesday night, but not why. When we ran into her on Sunday, she told us the why. She had been requested by a large wedding party for that night at 7. Our dinner was scheduled for 6:30. “A large wedding party? About 15-20 people?” I ask her. “Yes,” she says “are you familiar with them?” “Are they getting married on Castaway Cay that day?” “Yes.”

I’M GOING TO BE DENIED MY CORALIA BECAUSE OF JOEL’S WEDDING PARTY!?!?!??!?!

If Joel’s family had been standing there right that moment I would have spilled the whole story.

But, I cooled off while waiting in a long line to get our brunch reservations straightened out. My wife tried to convince me that our cruise would still be okay even if Coralia could not wait on us at Palo’s. She said “It would be disappointing, but not totally ruined.”

I was not convinced.

 

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

It's probably your fault that Joel requested your server. You must have raved on and on about her in your last trip report. Ok so now you know when their big dinner is- what have you got up your sleave for them????


You would not have spilled the beans you would however may have taken Joel aside and blackmailed him a little. Your server for my silence-HMMMMMM.

 

[mruhaak]

This is getting good... love the drama!

 

[Mozart]

You would not have spilled the beans you would however may have taken Joel aside and blackmailed him a little.

You know, I never did get that bottle of Dom that he promised me.

This is getting good... love the drama!

You'll have to wait awhile to find out THE REST OF THE STORY. (Insert evil laugh here.)

 

[mruhaak]

You know, I never did get that bottle of Dom that he promised me.



You'll have to wait awhile to find out THE REST OF THE STORY. (Insert evil laugh here.)

I can't wait. Bring it on!!!

 

[Tink rules]

At least you didn't scream it outloud!!!!!

Or did you????

 

[LovableGluttons]

This is getting SO good!

I should be working on my TR over in the nether regions of the DIS, but I've been over here reading yours instead.

I can't wait to hear about the double dip at CC. One of the cruises I have booked is a double dip too!

 

[zweihund]

Wow.....I thought having a surprise High Tea was cool - you win! I can't wait to hear more.

 

[Mozart]

Based on the fact that DCL had made changes to the cruise itinerary, we decided that we needed to change the way some things were set up at the spa. The ladies had pedicures booked on the day that we were supposed to be at sea. Since that was now a Castaway Cay day, they wanted to either change the time on those or cancel them entirely. The issue is that since we booked online, we cannot cancel once we get to the boat. I tried to explain that the only reason we were cancelling was because the cruises itinerary had been changed. That didn’t matter, they said. Now, let me just point out that I realize that the spa is not run by DCL, but shouldn’t the two of them have gotten together on this and said “Since changing the itinerary could alter some people’s cruise plans, maybe we need to take into account our cancellations policies need to be relaxed a little.” In the end, the manager was able to do something and give us a different time that was acceptable to the women in our party, but we came very close to paying for nothing.

Before I state what we did next, I need to back up a few minutes and explain how we looked. There are 4 people in our party. One of the members of our party does not drink. The rest of us had been talking about how we would be relaxing with Bahama Mama’s all the first day. On our way to the spa, we sat down for a moment at a table. While everyone was sitting down, I said that I wanted to walk to the front of the ship to take a picture. On my way back, I grabbed 3 Bahama Mama’s. Turns out that while I was gone, my wife had excused herself for a moment, and ran to the bar to grab…you guessed it…3 Bahama Mamas. Problem is that she didn’t tell the MIL where she was going. While both of us were gone, the waiter walking around with Bahama Mama’s walks by my in-laws who are sitting down and offers them something to drink. They grab….(sing with me now)….3 BAHAMA MAMA’S!

So now here we are, it’s about 3 o’clock, and we’ve got 9 Bahama Mama’s in front of 4 people at a table. So where did we go? The spa. After straightening out our reservations issues from above, 4 people begin taking a spa tour with 9 Bahama Mama’s in their hands. If you haven’t been on a tour, they constantly talk about all the toxins people put into their bodies, with alcohol being the worst of these toxins. And here we are with 9 drinks in the hands of 4 people. So, in order to make us look like we’re not total losers, we all bought rainforest passes for the cruise. By the time the tour was over, it’s 4:00, bells are going off and people are running by us with life preservers on.

Maybe the ship was sinking, but we just knew that we still had a bunch of Bahama Mama’s in our hands. Can’t waste alcohol, man. We’ll die, but we’ll die happy. Just like those lovebugs.

 

[Tink rules]

Hey Erica...

Mozart went over your 1 days worth of extra bonus from your refund in what??? 1 hour???

 

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

"So now here we are, it’s about 3 o’clock, and we’ve got 9 Bahama Mama’s in front of 4 people at a table. "


9 drinks 4 people- I don't see the problem sounds like good math skills to me

 

[ILUVEVERYTHINGDISNEY]

This is getting good!!!!

 

[Belle1997]

Just wanted to say I was on this cruise.And we too stayed at POP the day before. Can totally relate to the hetic food court at POP. Let's just say never again. Why were so many wanting to eat at 11:30 at night hehe.

You may have seen me I was on the blue Scooter with Belle Sticker's on it It is always nice to be able to relive parts of a cruise and have others write it for me Keep up the great report.

 

[disneediva]

 

[Mozart]

Hey Erica...

Mozart went over your 1 days worth of extra bonus from your refund in what??? 1 hour???

I have a gut feeling she won't last 3 days on the little tiny refund either.

9 drinks 4 people- I don't see the problem sounds like good math skills to me

Problem is in trying to walk through the spa carrying 3 drinks in your hands like I was doing.

Just wanted to say I was on this cruise.And we too stayed at POP the day before. Can totally relate to the hetic food court at POP. Let's just say never again. Why were so many wanting to eat at 11:30 at night hehe.

You may have seen me I was on the blue Scooter with Belle Sticker's on it It is always nice to be able to relive parts of a cruise and have others write it for me Keep up the great report.

I don't remember seeing you specifically, but I do remember that there were a number of people onboard with carts.

 

[Mozart]

You know those people. The ones that everyone looks at in annoyance at the muster drill. After everyone else has been standing around for 10 minutes, this one stupid half drunk couple shows up to check in, laughing the whole time because they’re so late. The ones that gets on everybody’s nerves until the muster drill is over.

That was us.

Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t that bad. But we did get the giggles a little over the fact that we were always talking about how irresponsible people were to do this kind of stuff, and here we are doing it. And it was half the fault of the people who were in the spa and didn’t seem to think we really needed to be there. But, it was also partially our fault for being…those people.

Moving right along.

The muster drill is over, the sailaway party has sailed and now we’re along to my next question of the cruise….someone explain the Mickey Hands at the restaurant. Either the restaurant there (I think it’s called Grillz) keeps them on hand and gives them out to patrons, or the same people show up 3 days a week to wave goodbye specifically to the Disney ships. If it’s the latter, I’d like their life please.

After the sailaway party, we made use of a Dis’ers special. We walked back to the super-secret (and at this time super-soaked) deck 7 verandah to watch the coastline disappear behind us. It’s a really cool thing to watch, but let’s talk about something else even cooler. I just mentioned it so I could post a picture.

Have you ever watched a lightning storm from a cruise ship about 10-15 miles from the storm? Un-freakin-real. It was mesmerizing to watch. You can see the full outline of the cloud, and watch the bolt not only streak down to the ocean, but see the lightning bolt all in the cloud. It was a beautiful thing to watch which made us really appreciate the power and beauty of nature.

While all this is going on, my FIL and I are heavily involved in a race. There’s a Carnival ship off in the distance and we notice that we seem to get closer and closer to it. We feel like we’re in the Daytona 500 and we just have to pass it. After about an hour or two, we catch up to it, and pull ahead. THE CROWD GOES WILD! We’re so much better than them, ya know.

By this time, I was feeling pretty relaxed on the verandah. Dinner was coming up. What I didn’t know, was that my dinner would feature a wall.

 

[Tink rules]

Those people at Grillz....

That's Erica...

gotta be...

How else can she come up with so many recipes for new drinks...

 

[smh071]

I was at the pramanod lounge at 3:00 and I was wearing a lime green shirt and I only met one of my fellow DIS'ers. Where were ya'll? I was hoping to meet some of the people that I have been speaking with.

 

[Mozart]

I was at the pramanod lounge at 3:00 and I was wearing a lime green shirt and I only met one of my fellow DIS'ers. Where were ya'll? I was hoping to meet some of the people that I have been speaking with.

I stopped by there a few minutes after 3 but didn't see anyone. The only people in there at that time were 2 guys sitting up by the bar, but the way they were dressed I figured they worked there. I didn't see anyone wearing a lime green shirt.