It's a WONDER we have any money left after the Cruise! - All done!

[Pinkocto]

All this beautiful jewelry I love it! Congrats on winning. You can always give it as a gift if you don't think you'll wear it.

How sad it is the last evening. I'm glad you had another one booked to soften the leaving process.

 

[franandaj]

Alison!! Congratulations on Lucky 13th!

And anytime you want to ship that necklace over to me, do so. I'm more than happy to wear it!

Congrats on winning.... That is awesome.

Also congrats on booking the next cruise, that is going to be a great cruise.

The food again looks very good, plus it is lunch time here.

I hope it's a great cruise, I'm already looking into various angles.

All this beautiful jewelry I love it! Congrats on winning. You can always give it as a gift if you don't think you'll wear it.

How sad it is the last evening. I'm glad you had another one booked to soften the leaving process.

I'm already looking very forward to it!

 

[ACDSNY]

I'm finally caught up! Congrats on your winning the necklace, you came home with quite a few nice pieces from the cruise.

 

[franandaj]

We had to set our clocks back that night, which was kind of nice that we got an extra hour of sleep. The water was so choppy that I had a hard time sleeping. We are used to keeping the TV on while we sleep so it was nice to have some familiar features to sleep to. I remember in the middle of the night hearing the end of the Little Mermaid and then listening to the Lion King. It had been a long time since I had seen it or the musical so I forgot how sad the beginning was. I slept through a lot of the middle but was awake at the end. Something else came on that channel so I clicked around and found Fantasia on another channel. The end of the movie was playing as we crept into the Harbor at San Pedro. I didn’t remember that the Rite of Spring went directly into Schubert’s Ave Maria and that’s how they “made up” for Stravinsky. I love the early 20th century composers so I would have loved an entire film of Bartok, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and others as long as Schoenberg wasn’t included (no 12 tone for this gal), but my music geekdom shows through. But I digress….I’m just dragging this out so I don’t have to write about disembarkation!

We got up and dressed, packed up our final things into our carry on bags and headed out of the room. We were supposed to be clear by 8:30, but we were at least ½ an hour if not more before that. Our Concierge had tried to give us luggage tags that would have got us off the ship sooner, but in all honesty, I knew that we were fine with the tags that we had. Your final breakfast is in the location where you had dinner the previous night so we were back at Animator’s Palate.

Unfortunately our server Ridwan was scheduled to go home on vacation that day and couldn’t stick around since we were in the second seating for breakfast. The departure menu was pretty nice. I stayed away from the eggs thinking that they would be mass prepared, but evidently they were cooking things like poached eggs and eggs over easy practically to order. I’ll have to remember that next time.

I got waffles with bacon, sausage, orange juice and coffee.

She got pancakes with bacon, sausage, orange juice and Diet Coke.

Rather than linger, once we were full and heard our red Mickey tags called, we decided to head for the exit. The line to get off the ship was HUGE and stretched almost back to the Promenade Lounge, but this was nothing in comparison to the lines into the Customs office. Fran waited patiently for the line to move.

Sadly this was the only time I ever saw this.

As we waited in the line for Customs we rehearsed our story. I had carefully packed the jewelry boxes in the suitcases (empty) and then incorporated the individual necklaces into my carry ons so as not to look like they were newly purchased. US Citizens are only allowed to bring back $800 worth of merchandise duty free, and I always get panicky about this kind of stuff. Turns out the only thing that the customs agent was concerned if we bought was Cuban Cigars!

As soon as we came down the elevator to the baggage floor there was a porter waiting with a big cart. They must know that people who have to take the elevator need a lot of assistance! Fran led him to the room where our luggage was stored and I found all of our bags pretty quickly.

I had parked the car and she waited with the guy curbside while I went to fetch the car. The bags were in the car and we were back on the Vincent Thomas bridge before 10:30AM. I almost guessed that we would be home by 11AM but I was a little more cautious by stating 11:30. It was probably 11:15 when we came through the door to find all the towers of packages, our pissed off kitties and real life coming back to haunt us!

As I unpacked (all in the day we got back thanks to my cleaning lady and #1 assistant Darcy), I found our bag and bling from DVC. I remembered that I never showed any pictures. I didn’t get one of the hat, but I’ll leave you with this picture of my cutie Velcro showing off the DVC bag.

It was a fabulous time! Thanks for coming along with me on this journey! We loved every meal at Palo (and everywhere else for that matter, even in our room!). We did a lot of shopping, but let’s face it we do a lot of shopping wherever we go!

There will be another TR and I’ll be back to let you know where and when that comes to be. For now it’s time for me to wrap up my Destination D TR (link is in my signature if you like Disney animation Trivia and secrets) and get started on packing for my upcoming WDW trip!

Thanks again everyone!

 

[ACDSNY]

I'm beyond happy that the two of you enjoyed your cruise. I was so worried you might have to cancel and I would have been heart broken for the two of you. I hope you enjoy your next one too.

 

[Linda67]

Yay for winning the necklace - I think it's really pretty

I can't believe that your TR is coming to an end, it's been great to read along

 

[rndmr2]

Great TR, so sorry to see it come to an end. That's great that you won the Amber necklace prize, it is really pretty! One thing I love about close to home ports- you are home so quickly and that last travel day is so much less of a headache. I used to live in Philadelphia and did 2 Bermuda cruises that left from there (in 1996 and 1998) and it was so neat to just get in the car and drive home. Looking forward to your next TR!

 

[QuiltTeddy]

Great TR. Thanks for sharing everything. Congrats on the win!

 

[dgbg100106]

Alison, thanks for a great TR and so happy you get to go all over again.

I look forward to your updates on the Destination D so see you over there...

Thanks again for all the fun.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I really enjoyed your trip report. Thanks for sharing. Congratulations on winning the Amber necklace. I really love it. It looks both delicate and unusual.

Corinna

 

[Leshaface]

How did you feel after the tequila tasting? I remember feeling pretty good afterwards

All the jewelry you bought is gorgeous! Even the necklace you won is so pretty!

Your right! Your server does look super happy to be bringing in the scooter!

Aw, I can't believe your TR is already done. But I'm so glad you enjoyed the cruise!

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

. I didn’t get one of the hat, but I’ll leave you with this picture of my cutie Velcro showing off the DVC bag.

That is a cutie! Were your furbabies still talking to you when you guys returned? I find it really stressful to leave our 2 when we travel! I mean, they're cats, how can they understand that we will come home? That's the only reason I find to be happy that we don't have a ticker right now!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks for sharing. I've really enjoyed living vicariously on this Cruise. It's the closest way of me actually getting on a cruise....without a heap of dramamine!

The food and the ship looked amazing. Glad you had a Wonder holiday.

Here's to the next!

 

[Pinkocto]

Thanks for sharing your adventure, that was wonderful!

 

[java]

Loved reading your trip report. You kept me company during my nights up with bronchitis. Looking forward to the next one!

 

[quickcat]

Just finished reading- great report, thanks for sharing- love your sense of humor, thats always a great thing to have in life!

 

[Linda67]

I've loved reading your TR, thanks so much for taking the time to share your trip with us all

 

[franandaj]

I'm beyond happy that the two of you enjoyed your cruise. I was so worried you might have to cancel and I would have been heart broken for the two of you. I hope you enjoy your next one too.

Thanks! I would have been heartbroken if we didn't make it either. So glad we did and that we have another one planned.

Yay for winning the necklace - I think it's really pretty

I can't believe that your TR is coming to an end, it's been great to read along

I know I can't believe that it's all over now. But I have a trip to WDW in less than three weeks, so I can't wait for that!

Great TR, so sorry to see it come to an end. That's great that you won the Amber necklace prize, it is really pretty! One thing I love about close to home ports- you are home so quickly and that last travel day is so much less of a headache. I used to live in Philadelphia and did 2 Bermuda cruises that left from there (in 1996 and 1998) and it was so neat to just get in the car and drive home. Looking forward to your next TR!

Glad you enjoyed it! I wish more Disney cruises would go out of LA.

Great TR. Thanks for sharing everything. Congrats on the win!

Thanks! It was fun reliving the whole thing!

Alison, thanks for a great TR and so happy you get to go all over again.

I look forward to your updates on the Destination D so see you over there...

Thanks again for all the fun.

Thanks! I even have a Destination D update all ready to go.

 

[franandaj]

I really enjoyed your trip report. Thanks for sharing. Congratulations on winning the Amber necklace. I really love it. It looks both delicate and unusual.

Corinna

Thanks! It's starting to grow on me the more I see it.

How did you feel after the tequila tasting? I remember feeling pretty good afterwards

All the jewelry you bought is gorgeous! Even the necklace you won is so pretty!

Your right! Your server does look super happy to be bringing in the scooter!

Aw, I can't believe your TR is already done. But I'm so glad you enjoyed the cruise!

I always feel good after some Tequila! Thanks, I'm glad you like the jewelry.

The server was falling all over himself to bring her scooter back to the table.

That is a cutie! Were your furbabies still talking to you when you guys returned? I find it really stressful to leave our 2 when we travel! I mean, they're cats, how can they understand that we will come home? That's the only reason I find to be happy that we don't have a ticker right now!

Our cats always get mad at us for leaving. Some of them won't come near us for a day or more. Others of them come around quickly because they really miss us.

Thanks for sharing. I've really enjoyed living vicariously on this Cruise. It's the closest way of me actually getting on a cruise....without a heap of dramamine!

The food and the ship looked amazing. Glad you had a Wonder holiday.

Here's to the next!

Sorry you can't get on a ship without "issues", I really love cruising and this last trip reminded me of how nice and pampering it is!

Thanks for sharing your adventure, that was wonderful!

I'm glad you enjoyed following along.

Loved reading your trip report. You kept me company during my nights up with bronchitis. Looking forward to the next one!

I got an awful cough when I got home. I'm glad that I could keep you entertained while you were not feeling well.

 

[franandaj]

Just finished reading- great report, thanks for sharing- love your sense of humor, thats always a great thing to have in life!

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy my strange sense of humor, not everyone gets it!

I've loved reading your TR, thanks so much for taking the time to share your trip with us all

I'm glad you had a good time following along!