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

[franandaj]

Hi! My name is Alison and welcome to my PTR. This is me and partner Fran at the DestinationD event at the Disneyland Resort in August this year.



For those of you who know me you will completely understand the title of this PTR, for those that might need some explaining, Ill try to give you the short version. We have been Disneyholics since before we met. In fact some say it was a match made in Disneyland! Weve traveled to WDW together seven times and we couldnt even count the number of trips to Disneyland, suffice to say its A LOT! We had three trips planned to WDW in the past year, all have had to be canceled due to something called a venous ulcer which is a nasty thing that grows inside the leg and we didnt even know it was there when we had booked this trip.

Suffice to say, last years F&W trip at WDW was canceled just days before we were leaving, but at the time we didnt know about the venous ulcer, just that there was a bad rash/outbreak on her leg. This time I was assured that Fran would be healthy enough to travel in May and again, we canceled the day before leaving. Today we decided that our October F&W trip to WDW will be rescheduled as a non F&W trip in January. Now convincing her to take this cruise was no small feat. Our last cruise was on the Wonder in 2001 when she was a fairly new ship. This is us on our last cruise.



She had a hard time navigating Castaway Cay, plus it was our first WDW trip where she broke down and rented a scooter. After that cruise, she decided that she didnt want to go on any more cruises until she got better. You see she suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis and has a very difficult time getting around. Well over 10 years later and only a small amount of better, I finally convinced her that we could watch our lives go by waiting to get better or just start cruising now and watch it get better. Seeing that Disney was going to discontinue their Mexican Riviera cruises and I didnt want to miss out on a cruise from my home port, so I was able to seal the deal.

So rewind back to March, we had been hmmming and hawing over whether or not to take the cruise and what level of stateroom to get. I really wanted to stay on the Concierge level because I have become spoiled like that and justified it with the fact that its been so long since we took a cruise, that we needed it. Plus being handicapped, she would enjoy the extra services and not have to run around and wait in lines for everything I wanted to do. I was able to compile this list from the DIS of perks you get staying on CL.

" 120 Days prior to sailing, access to the Concierge Team, to assist with planning all dining, shore excursions and any questions regarding the sailing.
" On the day of sailing, upon arrival for check-in, Concierge Guests have their own, separate check-in station and seating are, and are given Priority Boarding, with no waiting (unless you arrive prior to the commencement of boarding at 1pm).
" Private reception with food upon boarding
" On board 24 hour access to the Concierge Team for any concerns, questions, problems.
" Concierge Guests receive 100 minutes of free internet time
" Special Concierge Reception with the Senior Officers with drinks & hor dourves
" Daily treats delivered to the room
" In-Room dining from the PALO menu delivered to the room, and the Palo $20 surcharge is waived
" Larger staterooms than all others
" robes and slippers (not to keep)
" DVD player list of DVD's to watch
" popcorn with DVD's
" lithograph
" Hot breakfast via room service all days except continental breakfast in room on last morning
priority tendering
" soda/water and they stock the fridge daily with requested beverages.
" excursion booking and reservations for tastings. All tickets delivered to stateroom
" tour of the bridge

The sodas were nice, the priority boarding and the receptions were also nice. You know what was the clincher&.

" Concierge Guests receive 100 minutes of free internet time

Do I know my wife?????

We are booked on the November 25 sailing, just a couple days after Thanksgiving. I had considered doing Thanksgiving on the cruise because every year we alternate Christmas and Thanksgiving sharing my parents with my sisters family. They leave near Seattle and it is much too cold for someone with RA to visit at that time of year. They also have a few kids and no money so they cant travel for holidays, so were kind of stuck. This is our year for Christmas with the folks, so well travel around Thanksgiving. Last year we spent Christmas in Las Vegas and liked the idea of getting out of town around the holiday that we would be spending alone, so well continue that tradition, but the cruise on the week of Thanksgiving was so much more expensive, I crossed that off the list.

Since we passed the 120 day mark already, Ive made my Palo reservations. We are doing Brunch there at 11:30AM on the first morning at sea (thanks Alicia for that idea!). Ive also booked 6PM for dinner on Thursday which I hope will be Pirate night. According to other MR TRs that Ive read the Pirate dinner is heavy on coconut and other ingredients that I dont like to eat so Im hoping by booking Palo that night we can avoid menu items I dont like, plus Fran and I can both be pretty big party poopers. Shr has a lot of pain and usually hurts a lot. I never expect her to go out to parties or areas where there are crowds so Im thinking we will avoid Pirates night. We will go out on our balcony and see if we can see any fireworks.

Im told that our CL folks will book any tastings that we want once we get on the ship. I want to do the wine, martini, tequila, and Im not sure what else, but if they have any culinary demos Id like to do that too. Ive signed us up for the Fish Extender Exchange and our little group is building day by day. I have no idea what to get for kids under 10 so the next few months will be quite a challenge for me to figure it out! Oh yeah, and today I mailed off the passport renewals so hopefully we will have them in plenty of time for the cruise!

I hope youll join me on this little adventure!

[ACDSNY]

Sending all the positive thoughts your way so you'll be on this cruise.

[Pinkocto]

I'm here! First page for the first time ever!

[bangzoom6877]

Here I am, on the first page! I love the portrait of you and Fran from your cruise in 2001!! You both look fantastic!

Here's hoping that this cruise is very relaxing for the 3 of you, that you enjoy yourselves very much, that you have beautiful weather and that it is just magical.

Looking forward to reading more!

[PrincessInOz]

I made it over too. I'll definitely have to bring my Dramamine in here.

[usnuzuloose]

I am in!

[dolphingirl47]

Checking in. I can whole-heartedly recommend the Mojito tasting.

Corinna

[dgbg100106]

I am here... Did I make the first page?

I did not know you cancelled this years F&W also, when did you do that?

[jetskigrl]

I'm here

I can't wait to here how this trip goes for you!! We absolutely loved our MR cruise. My favorite part was sitting out on deck watching PoTC on the FunnelVision (after pirate night). It was the night in between the two Cabo visits, so we were just floating around just off shore. The water was calm and the temperature was perfect.

[mglvrgs75]

Hi Alison. My wife and I will be on this cruise as well. My wife also has RA and suffered with a venous ulcer on her leg. She went into the hospital last year to get it treated and suffered a stroke. It turned our world upside down as it affected all movement on the right side of the body and her speech. Spent 2 months in the hospital including our wedding anniversary.

She's on her way towards recovery and improving everyday. Our 5 year wedding anniversary will be on the 24th right before we sail on this trip. We are also big Disney fans as we've been to WDW, Tokyo DisneySea, and we are annual Disneyland resort passholders. We even have a customized brick at DL.

I want to give my wife a memorable anniversary so I am extremely looking forward to this trip. We will aslo be participating in the FE exchange. I had booked a simple room but upgraded to a verandah room. Since it doesn't appear that there will be any more round trip cruises out of L.A. next year, I wanted to give us an excellent view.

[nunzia]

Yea! New pre trip report! I hope all goes well and you get to take this trip..fingers crossed.

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by ACDSNY

Sending all the positive thoughts your way so you'll be on this cruise.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Pinkocto

I'm here! First page for the first time ever!

Good job!

Originally Posted by bangzoom6877

Here I am, on the first page! I love the portrait of you and Fran from your cruise in 2001!! You both look fantastic!

Here's hoping that this cruise is very relaxing for the 3 of you, that you enjoy yourselves very much, that you have beautiful weather and that it is just magical.

Looking forward to reading more!

3 of us? I don't think we can take any of the cats.

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

I made it over too. I'll definitely have to bring my Dramamine in here.

I'll try not to rock the boat too much!

Originally Posted by usnuzuloose

I am in!

Originally Posted by dolphingirl47

Checking in. I can whole-heartedly recommend the Mojito tasting.

Corinna

Yours was one of the TRs that made me want to take this cruise. I wish I could find some gowns to rival the gorgeous ones that you have! I've never had a Mojito before, so perhaps I should try it!

Originally Posted by dgbg100106

I am here... Did I make the first page?

I did not know you cancelled this years F&W also, when did you do that?

I did that the same day I started this TR. I hadn't actually canceled the F&W trip until a day or two later, but we discussed the feasibility of going and enjoying it and decided that it would be better to enjoy next year's F&W. At least we can still go and this time we'll stay at AKV.

Originally Posted by jetskigrl

I'm here

I can't wait to here how this trip goes for you!! We absolutely loved our MR cruise. My favorite part was sitting out on deck watching PoTC on the FunnelVision (after pirate night). It was the night in between the two Cabo visits, so we were just floating around just off shore. The water was calm and the temperature was perfect.

I hope that it goes well, we can relax quite a bit since that's what cruises are all about. I have the Navigators from last year's cruise from the second week of December, so I'm hoping that they stick with a smiliar schedule for this year. I'm waiting for some TRs when the MR cruises start up again this year.

Originally Posted by mglvrgs75

Hi Alison. My wife and I will be on this cruise as well. My wife also has RA and suffered with a venous ulcer on her leg. She went into the hospital last year to get it treated and suffered a stroke. It turned our world upside down as it affected all movement on the right side of the body and her speech. Spent 2 months in the hospital including our wedding anniversary.

She's on her way towards recovery and improving everyday. Our 5 year wedding anniversary will be on the 24th right before we sail on this trip. We are also big Disney fans as we've been to WDW, Tokyo DisneySea, and we are annual Disneyland resort passholders. We even have a customized brick at DL.

I want to give my wife a memorable anniversary so I am extremely looking forward to this trip. We will aslo be participating in the FE exchange. I had booked a simple room but upgraded to a verandah room. Since it doesn't appear that there will be any more round trip cruises out of L.A. next year, I wanted to give us an excellent view.

I'm so glad to hear that she is recovering and improving. That's a great way to celebrate your anniversary, I hope that you enjoy the trip as well. It sounds like we face a few similar issues, good luck with the stroke recovery. I've never been to Tokyo, but it is on our bucket list.

Originally Posted by nunzia

Yea! New pre trip report! I hope all goes well and you get to take this trip..fingers crossed.

Thanks! I see you are going on your first cruise soon! How fun! Which ship and where? Are you going to the Expo next summer? Not to be off topic, but we got in a Sorcerers for this one!

[nunzia]

Originally Posted by franandaj

Thank you!



Good job!



3 of us? I don't think we can take any of the cats.



I'll try not to rock the boat too much!







Yours was one of the TRs that made me want to take this cruise. I wish I could find some gowns to rival the gorgeous ones that you have! I've never had a Mojito before, so perhaps I should try it!



I did that the same day I started this TR. I hadn't actually canceled the F&W trip until a day or two later, but we discussed the feasibility of going and enjoying it and decided that it would be better to enjoy next year's F&W. At least we can still go and this time we'll stay at AKV.



I hope that it goes well, we can relax quite a bit since that's what cruises are all about. I have the Navigators from last year's cruise from the second week of December, so I'm hoping that they stick with a smiliar schedule for this year. I'm waiting for some TRs when the MR cruises start up again this year.



I'm so glad to hear that she is recovering and improving. That's a great way to celebrate your anniversary, I hope that you enjoy the trip as well. It sounds like we face a few similar issues, good luck with the stroke recovery. I've never been to Tokyo, but it is on our bucket list.



Thanks! I see you are going on your first cruise soon! How fun! Which ship and where? Are you going to the Expo next summer? Not to be off topic, but we got in a Sorcerers for this one!

We will be on the Wonder, the first Pixar cruise, and it was just announced John Lasseter will be on it.. OH YEA! We will also do the Lasseter Winery tour, the WD Museum, Alctraz and Sea World. Very excited Yes, going to the Expo and managed to sneak in and get Sorcerer tickets again. Congratulations on getting them! You were Premier last year, right? I am looking at my Destination D Orange group photo and there you are

[Hawleys]

Subbing.

I absolutely adore the picture of you and Fran from your last cruise.

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by nunzia

We will be on the Wonder, the first Pixar cruise, and it was just announced John Lasseter will be on it.. OH YEA! We will also do the Lasseter Winery tour, the WD Museum, Alctraz and Sea World. Very excited Yes, going to the Expo and managed to sneak in and get Sorcerer tickets again. Congratulations on getting them! You were Premier last year, right? I am looking at my Destination D Orange group photo and there you are

That's the repositioning to LA cruise right? I think that's the one that jetskigrl is taking too. Jphn Lasseter seems like a really nice guys from what I've seen of him. Those tours should be fun!


So which one are you in the Orange group picture? I didn't even realize that you were going (although I should have known you would be there). It was a great weekend. I'm just barely into the afternoon session of Saturday on my TR.

Originally Posted by Hawleys

Subbing.

I absolutely adore the picture of you and Fran from your last cruise.

Thanks! I love the glasses she's wearing, so dated!