More Updates 4/24!! 3 Generations on the Dream: A Girls Only TR (4/13-4/18, 2013)

[luvslikepi]

Yes, I am starting my Trip Report 4 days early because for me the trip officially starts with packing. And we are finished packing except for the things you have to pack the morning of...you know ladies...our makeup, etc. You can find my PTR here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=47741301#post47741301 I am busy importing photos this morning and will commence with real updates as soon as they are ready.

Cast of Characters:

Me, luvslikepi (Sarah): 33 year old, Military Spouse, Almost a PhD candidate. We're taking this trip to celebrate...I am officially done with PhD classes on April 14. I take my Qualifying Exams the first week of June and really needed something to boost my spirits. Hubs is currently deployed and for some insane reason is not a fan of Disney or cruising. Party pooper.

Gramma: Loves Disney too and I managed to cajole her into coming with us.

DISbaby: 8 1/2 months old...has already been to Disneyland and loves her Nemo bath toy, Lady stuffed animal and the finale song from Wreck it Ralph by Owl City.

___________________

My step-brother is staying at our house with our three crazy dogs while we're gone, thank God, because doggy day care is expensive!!

We're flying out on Saturday morning, with a short layover in Atlanta. We are staying at the Hyatt MCO the night before and will be taking DCL transport to the port. We have an arrival time of 12:30-1 but will probably take the bus at 10:30-11. I'm a early arrival type of person.

Please join in because I will be doing live updates up until we leave Port Canaveral.

Table of Contents

April 12, 2013
Morning

April 13, 2013
Travel Day - Part I
Travel Day - Part II

April 14, 2013
Navigator
Embarkation Day - Part I
Embarkation Day - Part II
Embarkation Day - Part III
Embarkation Day - Part IV
Sail Away & Dinner !!
Dinner Part II


April 15, 2013
Navigator
Staying and Playing on the Ship
Staying and Playing - Part II
Staying and Playing - Part III
Dinner

April 16, 2013
Navigator
Castaway Cay - Part I!!!
Castaway Cay - Part II
Castaway Cay - Part III
Trivia Fun, We're Rebooking??!??! YAY!
Pirate Night Dinner and Party plus...that was stupid of me!!


April 17, 2013
Navigator
Day at Sea - Part I: The Diaper Dash Debacle
Day at Sea - Part II
Day at Sea - Part III

April 18, 2013
Disembarkation....

To Be Continued.....

 

[luvslikepi]

DISbaby woke up early this morning. 5AM. Now normally I would not be ecstatic about this but it meant I could get to work early and thus leave early today.

I got to work about 6:30 this morning and promptly started working on some instructions and files for staff who are taking over for me while I'm gone.

7:00 AM, MST: Got an email from Delta...It's time to check in!! Yay!!! I checked us in for our flight, checked our baggage...first bag for each passenger free (Thank you Sky Miles card.) Paid $35 for my second. We really tried to get everything into two bags but with diapers that just wasn't going to happen.

7:15 AM, MST: Went to one of the testing centers and finished updating the needed programs for their check-out machine and scanner. All done...instructions and USB drive with files left for our Student Techs who are doing the other machine on Monday.

Now...back in my office.....and waiting for work to end. I was going to bring the Pirates trilogy with me today to run as background noise but forgot them.

9:30AM, MST: As I expected my day is dragging. We just decided to use Hyatt MCO's Luggage pick up option. It's $10 and they will go to the luggage carousel and bring our luggage to us. I just finished adding the service to our reservation. Simple is better with a baby in tow.


11:30AM - Lunch break means...pedi!

3:50PM - finally home and baby's diaper bag barely closed. Gramma might need to take a few diapers for me. Eek. Going to feed the dogs, the baby and settle in to watch Pirates tonight.

8:06pm - everything's packed and loaded into the car. Watching At Worlds End as I attempt to sleep tonight

 

[angel's momma]

Looking forward to reading your TR when we get back from wdw.

 

[luvslikepi]

At the airport no security wait. Lilly had some croissant and formula for breakfast. We are ready to go.


4:02pm EST waiting to get off the plane in Orlando!!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[luvslikepi]

On our way back to the airport. Full report to come.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[AustralianJetsetter]

Look forward to hearing about your girls cruise

 

[luvslikepi]

We were up and at 'em very early. Gramma was at our house at around 4AM for us to load up and drive to the airport. Our flight was at 7AM. It took about 45 minutes to get to the airport, with parking at Park N Jet. We had checked in the night before and paid for 1 bag (I'm a Skymiles Amex holder so 1 bag was free for both Gramma and I.) There was absolutely no wait at security and we were at our gate by 5:30. We parked Gramma and DISbaby at the gate while I went back to Starbucks for coffee and a croissant.

At 6:30 we pre-boarded and I am so happy I spent the extra dollars on the priority seats up front. We had much more room for this first leg of travel then we did our other flights. And I would do it again if traveling with a baby.

We landed in Atlanta a few minutes early and traveled via tram to Concourse B, changed DISbaby, got some lunch and again waited.

We pre-boarded again only to be told we would have to go back out because not all the flight attendants were on board. Now if you've ever had to hold a 20 lb baby (or heavier) for 30+ minutes, you'll know why this was frustrating. Finally, we re-boarded and were on our way to MCO!!

DISbaby slept most of the way:

Once in MCO we, once more, had a diaper change and made our way to the tram to head to the Main Terminal and the Hyatt.

We arrived at the Hyatt about 4PM and checked right in.

We informed the desk that we would be on DCL the next morning and that we had arranged for luggage pick up with the Hyatt....rather then trekking to the carousel's and lugging it all back with baby in tow. I would definitely recommend this service if traveling with small children. The Hyatt will take your luggage tags and go pick up your bags for a $10fee. Well worth the cost in our case.

Now, we had an airport view and I was quite excited when I watched an Aer Lingus plane land but we were not that impressed with the cleanliness of the room. My mom, for a time out of high school, worked as a housekeeper for a hotel and has high standards. The room surfaces were dusty and there was a red stain on the carpet. I'm hoping it was just kool-aid....

DISbaby was happy with all the space to crawl around though:

Up next: We were starved so we headed to dinner at McCoy's in the hotel.

 

[luvslikepi]

By the time we got our luggage I was starving!! Traveling with a baby is tough work....especially when the Huggies don't hold things in that they are supposed to hold in...if you get my drift.

We left our room (6029) and headed to McCoy's for dinner...we were tired, hungry and didn't feel like searching for a place to eat. Convenience is a good thing some times.

Trying to decide what to eat

I ordered a Red Sangria..which was quite strong and tasty.

And the Spicy Seafood Pizza:

I ate all of it....

Gramma ordered the Margarita Pizza:

She took half back to the room.

DISbaby ate some bread and made a mess in the process:

After dinner we went to browse in the Disney Earport store:

Then went back to the room to repack and rest for the next day.

DISbaby Jail!! MCO Hyatt crib.

Sorry this one is sideways. I'm on a Mac and couldn't figure out how to rotate it...

Balcony View 1

Balcony View 2

We went to bed fairly early. And unfortuntely the MCO recieved another strike at around 10:30PM when an emergency alarm went off and scared the bejesus out of all of us. Thankfully, it was a false alarm but talk about heart attack!!! We all managed to get back to sleep quickly but of course I woke up every hour from excitement.

To be continued.

 

[luvslikepi]

DISbaby woke up around 5:30AM but promptly fell back to sleep for a morning nap around 6:30AM.

We prepped our luggage for Hyatt/DCL transfer:

And went for breakfast in the food court and coffee:

DISbaby looked particularly punk with Gramma's hairstylin'

We went back to the room and dressed DISbaby and waited for the DCL Transport area to open.

We had originally planned to wait at the hotel until around 10AM but we were too excited.

We waited about 5 minutes in line to check in for the transfer and were on one of the first buses to head out!

DISbaby slept most of the way.

Up next: The first glimpse of the Dream, check-in and...hurry up and wait.

 

[luvslikepi]

About 45 minutes later and after dominating in the Disney Trivia on the TV we saw this!!!

I got a little picture crazy there.

We unloaded and went through a side door of security. Our bags passed and the stroller went through a side area for a quick look over. I am so happy that I bought the umbrella stroller for this trip. I can't imagine how difficult it would have been using the full size, especially in the room.

We checked in with a particularly non-Disney cast member...I don't even think he said hello...whatever, I was happy I'm getting on the Dream!! We had a later port arrival time and as a result drew a 20 for the boarding group. So we just chilled out, watched Dumbo, read through the Navigator, met some of the DISgroup and let Lilly get some crawling in for the morning.

We also met Mickey. DISbaby had met the princesses in December but none of the non-human characters. Needless to say she wasn't too sure about Mickey but we got a few good pics without a meltdown.

Then we waited....

And finally they called our number and we saw this:

Someone is excited!!

We did the obligatory pre-board photo...which I will have to post later because Gramma has the CD we purchased.

Now, I could have sworn I took video as we entered the ship but alas there was nothing on my camera...

We went up to Deck 11 where Gramma stopped to buy some bottled water for the stateroom. She got six bottles which were delivered later that afternoon.

I took some pictures as we walked to Cabanas for lunch.

To be continued.

 

[luvslikepi]

Looking forward to reading your TR when we get back from wdw.

And I can't wait to hear about your adventures!!

Look forward to hearing about your girls cruise

Welcome!! I'm planning on trying to get as much down as quickly as possible. I hope you enjoy it.

 

[luvslikepi]

By this time we were already starving...and I was on a mission for seafood.

Our view from our table in Cabanas:

Gramma went for her plate while I sat with DISbaby. She came back with this:

Then I made my way to meet my mission:

There you are, you sweet pile of seafood deliciousness!!

Let me just note that cracking crab claws is not very easy when holding a baby. We couldn't locate a high chair for this meal, it was pretty crowded, so I balanced her and crab claws.

That artichoke salad was amazing!! Very good.

At that point I ran to go change our dining time. We had been assigned late but knew DISbaby wouldn't make it. I went to Royal Palace and waited about 2 minutes. We were easily switched to early seating and given a ticket with a note to see Subesh at 5:45.

Yay!! I then ran back up to deck 11 from deck 3 and rewarded myself with a brownie.

That I devoured before I remembered to take a picture. It was a really good brownie.

It was time for rooms!!!

Tired DISbaby ready for her room:

This was when my first "really, dude?!" moment occurred. It was 1:30 and the "rope" still wasn't dropped where we were and people were amazingly impatient. This young man, probably in his twenties, was a total jerk about it complaining and swearing. Eventually someone else just dropped the rope as people were passing it making their way to their rooms. All I could think...was..."really?" Is it that life or death that you have to make an idiot of yourself? SMH.

We got to our room which was very nice. 8654. I would certainly stay here again. Very nice to get to Cabanas, yes a bit of a walk to the mid or forward areas but a great location.

DISbaby checking out our view:

At that point DISbaby needed a nap. So she drifted off for about 45 minutes. At which point we headed to Vista Cafe for our DISmeet.

 

[luvslikepi]

The obligatory chandelier picture:

We went to the Vista Cafe for our 2:30 DISmeet:

Gramma was cold so she ordered some coffee and cookies on a stick...YUM!

What are we waiting here for? I wanna play!

Made for Disney!

Magnets I made for the DISmeet Group:

Now, I was too busy talking to people to take pictures at the meet. But we gathered and chatted for a bit and people eventually went their own way around 3:30 so we could prepare for muster.

We walked through the District to the aft elevators to get back to our room.

I quickly decorated our door as we waited for instructions on the drill:

Then we waited:

Eventually that wonderfully loud alarm came which DISbaby actually did very well with..she's not a fan of loud noises. And we made our way to Assembly station N. Outside....thankfully our entire group gathered quickly. We received our instructions and went back to having fun.

We went back to our room to prepare for sail away. And I took more pics.

Lilly in her Ear Smuffs for Sail Away...she didn't wear those for long:

'

Up Next: We Sail Away!

 

[luvslikepi]

Now for some reason, probably because I was too busy enjoying myself, I don't have many pictures of our sail away...

We went up to Deck 12 for a view of Fish Lips and for a chance to get on the webcam.

We got a drink of the day...though I think we got the non-alcoholic one, which was still tasty. It was pretty warm and windy and people were pushy which made me nervous since I was holding DISbaby for most of the sail away. Someone actually bumped right into me and knocked me into the railing. Another "really" moment.

The Webcam video - you can see me waving a bright green scarf around the 5:40 mark: http://www.inletphotos.com/Sail-AwayVideos/Disney-Cruises-Sail-away/Disney-Dream-Sail-away-Videos/21144395_GgxhLn#!i=2458987023&k=Z52JPcw

Captain Gus was horn happy. I think he played every tune as we sailed out of port. Made me smile.

We returned to our staterooms and changed for dinner. I converted my shorts to their capri state, changed my shirt and we headed to Royal Palace to find Subesh. He quickly entered some things into his computer and gave us this:

We were officially changed to early seating, table 68. And what a great table at that. For RP were were in the center section and had an absolutely fantastic dining team, I Gusti (Gusti) and Jason. This was taken our last night but it's the only pic I have of them together.

We decided to get the 3 night classic wine package and started with this:

We decided to let DISbaby try some Mac n Cheese....I think it was too much for her little belly because she wasn't happy later that night. So after that we stuck with bread, cereal and veggies. But that Mac n Cheese was yummy!

To be continued.

 

[luvslikepi]

Gramma ordered the Spinach and Cheese Souffle and I ordered the Duck for appetizers:

Gramma ordered the Avocado Citrus Salad, I ordered the Cauliflower Soup:

I ordered the Wild Boar and Gramma ordered the beef:

For dessert I ordered the Peanut Butter Mousse and Gramma had Creme Brulee:

I thought the dessert was the best part of the meal this night. The food was good but not my favorite of the cruise.

After dinner we went back to the room to settle DISbaby for the night. Gramma let me have some time off to go see The Golden Mickey's in which, I...of course...couldn't help but cry. I'm such a sap.

To be continued....in port but staying onboard.

 

[labfan]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report. That's awesome that you were able to do a 3 generation cruise together. And your baby is adorable - such gorgeous eyes.

 

[luvslikepi]

Gramma and I had already been to Nassau before so we opted to stay onboard and enjoy the ship:

We opted to have breakfast at Cabanas and Lilly made a mess with Rice Krispy's

https://plus.google.com/photos/105110717867055728375/albums/5866672425470986017/5868645063073238850

But she's cute so the CM's forgave her.

My breakfast:

Lilly's breakfast:

Tugged:

At 8AM we headed to It's a Small World Nursery for the open house. We didn't use it this time but I'm sure we might in the future:

DISbaby had a lot of fun in here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/105110717867055728375/albums/5866672425470986017/5868645395691506098

After playing, since we were on Deck 5 Midship, we had to start the Midship Detective Game. We decided to save the puppies, got the materials and headed back to the room for DISbaby's morning snooze. We made a quick stop at Guest Services to rent a Bottle Sterilizer ($50 deposit credited back when returned).

To be continued.

 

[luvslikepi]

Views from our Verandah:

DISbaby napped for about 30-40 minutes. She's not a good napper most days. So after getting her taken care of we decided to head to the Oceaneer's Club open house so she could play in Andy's Room. Those handwashers are pretty awesome too:

I also showed DISbaby where Tinkerbell lived:

After we continued on our quest to save the Puppies!!

We actually finished pretty quickly by doing all the art on one level of the ship then moving up or down according to where the other art was.

Lilly really loved the enchanted artwork on the ship.

https://plus.google.com/photos/105110717867055728375/albums/5866672425470986017/5868645439238236882

It was time for lunch so we headed back to Cabanas. MMM.....cheese!

Gramma was too fast:

After Lilly was ready for another nap. So we headed back, settled her down and I decided to go off ship for a few minutes:

I had considered going to find some rum but after a brief walk around the port decided to get back on board. It was busy and hot and I just wanted to be on that beautiful ship.

I got back on and went to Deck 11/12 to take some pictures and get some ice cream:

DISbaby was still asleep by the time I got back to the room so I watched Pirates on demand in the room while Gramma enjoyed the verandah.

The Allure was docked too and she is one BIG ship:

To be continued.

 

[luvslikepi]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report. That's awesome that you were able to do a 3 generation cruise together. And your baby is adorable - such gorgeous eyes.

We definitely had a good time and thank you! She's a sweet heart...usually a really happy, good baby.

 

[luvslikepi]

I forgot to mention that someone left bubbles for DISbaby. We also got a nice gift from Angel's Momma and their crew (So thank you!!!)

After DISbaby woke up we enjoyed the verandah for awhile, blew some bubbles and decided to go up for a drink.

We split a Bahama Mama so we could each have a cup to take home.

Then I decided to give Nemo's Reef a go so I went upstairs and changed the two of us into our swimsuits.

The water was warm but DISbaby was having none of it:

So I handed DISbaby off to grandma and rode the Aquaduck. I was nervous but it was a blast. The water was warm on it too. I don't know what we did after that since the next picture I have is us dressed up meeting Belle:

We took a few pictures with her and waited forever to try and get pictures in front of the Dream backdrop but the photographer thought he was a professional and was taking a million pics of a family in front of us so we opted to head to dinner instead. Tonight we were in Animator's and it was fabulous!!!

My favorite pic of DISbaby from this night:

We had a great seat in a corner area with a great view of the screen where Crush comes:

More to come...dinner!