10 day Disney/DCL Trip Report Dec 16- Dec 26 2005

[ckb_nc]

Not sure where this thread belongs, but I will start my trip report thread here

Background

Who:

Me, DH, Multiple WDW trips and one DL trip
My DW, WDW veternan
My two DD with three WDW trips, 9 and 7
My newest DS, almost 2

and My parents with a good deal of Disney experience and veternan cruisers

We were suppose to go ona cruise with my parents for their 40th anniversary two years ago but my wife and I got pregnant and could not go. Instead we went to WDW on the 7 for 4 deal in the fall of 2003 with a concierge stay at WL prior to the birth of my son.

My Dad wants to take us on a cruise still and we agree on a Christmas 2005 cruise on DCL. We will sail on the 12/17 Magic Western Carribean. We also agree to stay in Orlando for two extra days to celebrate Christmas.

My original plan was to fly down on the 17th to MCO and head to Port Canaveral. I am persuaded to fly down on the 16th by my DW and Mom, so we tack on a one night stay at the Contemporary. We end up with MMVMCP tickets for the 16th.

I will use Budter both from MCO and to the port and from the port to MCO. My parents and my family plan a two night stay at the Liki Tiki in a 3 bedroom condo. It was tough to find a place to just let us stay the 24th and 25th BTW.

 

[ckb_nc]

I work for a large bank based in Charlotte, NC and as such have a great deal of time of at my disposal this year. I have worked pretty hard this year and not taken much time off. As such, Dec. 14th is my last day until Jan 3rd. We are leaving on the 16th so the 15th is my errand boy day for DS. We had already made a great deal of plans prior to this. We wake on the 15th to a ice storm. We live north of Charlotte, and just miss the worst of the storm. I take the dog and two cats to the kennel. No of them we happy and I will not be when I get the bill in ten days for $380.

BTW, my two DDs have to go to school on time. Charlotte school system does not have enough buses, so they say, to delay starting school. what a crock

My parents decide to leave early this day. They had planned to leave to on Friday but leave today as they are calling for black ice tomorrow. We drop off bags for them to carry down to the cruise for us. They make Savannah and were glad. We did have black ice the next morning and I doubt they could have left at 5am.

We are excited as we finally get to bed at midnight. But, I am not feeling right. It is a theme for the entire trip.

 

[ckb_nc]

We awake at 7:20am and are excited. The car is largely packed and we get dressed. I have been checking the weather all week and the forecast kept changing. In the end, Orlando is in the mid 60s which feels alot warmer as Charlotte has been in the 40s for two weeks and it is in the mid 20s as we leave.

We make out of the nieghborhood siliding on the ice but the interstate is ok. We make it to the airport ok and I drop off my wife and the three kids. I park the car and meet them in the USAirways counter. Using fequest flier miles and companion tickets, we have five roundtrips from Charlotte to Orlando for $580. Not bad. We get all of bags checked in, through security and manage to eat pizza for breakfast. Yes sir, we are on vacation.

Done to the gate with 5 minutes to spare and we load ourselves onto the plane. it is my sons first flight. He does ok but he does not feel well. He would not feel well for a couple of days. He manages to only annoy a few folks. Not bad for an almost two toddler under the weather

We land on time. We have to taxi all way across the airport. Off the plane, to the bathroom and the first monorail trip. We split up as I take my son and his seat and stroller. No one in line is at Budget and I am in the car in about twenty minutes, which is a new personal MCO record.

We have an Expedition. WO-HOO!! I pick up my wife and the tow DDs and we are off. We quickly decide time for lunch. We head towards Chic-Fil-A but first try to find a camera. My wife and I realize as soon as we land that we left the digital camera at home. We spent a buch a time looking for a one of those cheap digital disposal but settle for the regular disposal kind. My Mom has her digital camera and we rely upon that for the cruise. We also leave the video camera which we later regret.

We have luch and let the kids play at the Chic-Fil-A play land. Time for WDW. We get to Contemporary at about 1:30. We have a room ready on the 4th floor but not facing the castle. My son is tired and ready for a nap. My wife stays behind with him and the plan is to make meet at dinner at Tony's at 5:35. She and he nap while the two DDS and I are off. It feels warm enough and we wear shorts. We all change back into jeans at dinner.

We have a couple of hours to kill. They want to shop and ride the mouse boats. We shop in the Contemporary and the Polynesian before riding the boats at the Polynesian. I must drive and each DD gets 20 minutes. It is kind of cold on the lake. I enjoy taking them around the lake. We are only charged for thity minutes.

It is now time to get into MK. We get to the park by 4:00 and get our wrist bands. Off to Frontierland and Splash Mountain. Splash is the DDs favorite. We walk over there and it is a walk on. So we do it twice. Then we do Thunder mountain which was a twenty minute wait. It is close to dinner time when we start heading back but we squeeze in POTC. The girls we excited for POTc but I think were disappointed later.

We head over to Tony's for dinner admist the leaving crowd. Quite a madhouse. We are late and my wife is a little upset. We finally get seated at 6 and have dinner which was a bit chaotic. DS does not want to sit down and we shuffle seats a bunch. The food comes and we remember that Tony's is more a sentimental favorite than a food favorite. My wife would get sick later the next day and sear off spaghettit. She actually got the intenstinal bug that my younger DD and I are having this day. My wife does not shake it the entire rest of the trip. Dinner was a little over the top and we need to slow down.

Following dinner, we head to the castle for the first show. Here is why one of the reasons I love WDW, the architecture. We are standing in front of the castle right on the edge of the big circle. I notice that every thing slopes down, kinda like stadium seating. We have great sight lines despite the crowds. Great show!!

We head to Fanstasyland via the route by the Teacups. Pooh is next and a walk on. My DS viriginal WDW ride. He really likes it and first being a little hesitant. Next up is Peter Pan. No DS is really getting into it. We had about a ten minute wait for Pan. Time to split up. My wife and DS stay in Fantasyland and the DDs and I head for Stitch. The girls really want to do Stitch, but I know it is really lame. We do Stitch with no wait and meet up with my wife and DS who did small world and the carousel. BTW, Pooh now has a twenty five minute wait.

We meet up and do Buzz. No one gets a good score. I think it needs a rehab now myself. DDs and I try to do Space Mountain. But it is closed (I noticed it was closed later in the week, any news?). We catch up to my wife and DS and all do People Movers. We see that the line for the Indy cars is not too long and head over there. Fine ride as usual. Did I mention it is cool? We are in jeans and wearing sweat shirts. Feels a little like Christmas.

Funniest thing of the night: I am driving the car with DS and our car dies as we are pulling in. Looks like it ran out of gas.

Time to split up. DS is tired and my younger DD needs some sleep. My wife and those two head back. The older DD and I soldier on. We have missed intentionally the fireworks (more later) and the first parade. My goal is to catch the second parade.

On the way, we do HM with little wait and then hunt a spot for the parade. We find a perfect spot, across from the sotting arcade and have front row seats. We also grab hot cholocate and cookies. We wait about twenty minutes for the parade. What a great parade and it lasted forever. I was and still am my wife missed the parade. She loves WDW parades and this one is great. It is getting late and there is only one thing to do: Splash mountain. We ride a total of three times, the last two without getting off. It is midnoght and we have closed the place. We make it back into the room by 12:30 and fall fast asleep. A very long day indeed with some great fun.

The entire day I never felt right and had I hard time getting 'up" for MK. I had been at WDW for a week in October and done MK three times. But, I later figure out that I am indeed sick.

 

[ckb_nc]

We wake very early thanks to my DS who wakes up at 6:30. Given our lack of bags (we packed one bag for the one night stay), we have very little to clean up. We have a 8:30 PS at Konas for breakfast. My wife wants to go to Ohana so I call Disney dining and find out it is not very full.

We grab an early monorail and head to Poly. We make over there by 8 and check in to O'Hana's. They say they can seat us immediately!!! Wow. We take a picture (but never get to see it later) and get seated. We have a wonderful time and it was a great call. The restaurant was not very busy at all which I have never ever seen. It was at best 60% full as we left at 9am. We make it over to Contemporary and pack up. It is quite cool and rainy as we leave.

We get on the road by 9:45 and make it over to Port Canaveral by 11:15 to meet my parents. They spent the night at the Radisson. We we get there, it is absolutely pouring. We pick up my parents, who have dropped their bags and head over to the DCL terminal. After haggling with the security guy, we manage to drop my parents and my family off with the bags.

My oldest DD is in the cabin with my parents so we need to meet up.

I am off to Budget, dropping off the car and getting a lift back. Budget was a major winner with minor exception. More later...

I get back to the terminal and well, all hell breaks loose. I had heard that DCL made embarkation easy but man this stunk. My parents and I waited 45 minutes plus in line. It took forever and we had all of our paper work in place. We finally get our keys to the world. We make on more stop and get our pager.

BTW, I feel absolutely horrible and just want to crawl into bed. The gloomy weather certainly does not help. My DS is not much better and really getting tired

We board by 2 and head to our cabin. We find the cabin and then grab lunch at Topsiders. Lunch was very good BTW. We head back to the cabin.

My wife and I are simply overwhelmed. The cabin feels small, we have way too much luggage and are tired. We hang out for the fire drill and then try to make sense of the cabin. We unpack and it time for a nap.

I need a nap and so does my son. I stay in the cabin and miss the going away party. I take a solid 3 hour nap and awake feeling a little better.

We have the 8:30 seating which is quite comical. My parents chose it. They eat dinner late all the time. My family thinks 7 is way late. It takes all week for us to get use to this. The first night we all show up for dinner. Except for one more night, the two DDs do not make dinner again and my DS is an infrequent guest.

We start at Lumiere's. We have Gede as our server and Payana as our assistant server. They were awesome. Especially with my DS. Can not say enough.

Our dinners average 90 to 100 minutes each night. That was also weird but we got use to it. I had the beef most of the week which was good but never great except the la.

We head home and get to bed by 11, unsure what to think. My wife is beginning to catch the bug and not feeling so hot. P

I get very sea sick and having been wearing the patch. The patch owrks and I never felt bad all week...

Tomorrow: Key West and Palo's

 

[ckb_nc]

My Ds wakes at 6:30. He is sleeping in a bed for the first time on the ship. He does really well but will rise each day early and need a nap each day. His schedule really hampers my wife and I as one of us must keep up with him.

We had planned to put him in babysitting each night but later in the week we use babysitting to free us up and bring him to dinner.

My wife gets up with him and I sleep in. I later meet up at Topsiders for breakfast.

We get to Key West at noon, Today was suppose to be a day for my wife and two DDs to go sailing but this was cancelled. As we pull into port, I approach my wife and we decide I will take the DDs snorkeling.

I love to snorker, so much so I bring my own equipment. My wife and I have been to Key West and have been snorkeling. It is not great but fun and a way to instroduce my DDs to snorkeling.

We walk off the ship and walk into Fury cataraman by the dock. I know there are better deals in the marina but I need something quick. We do not book through Disney and end up with the folks from the Carnivale ship.

snorkeling was ok. My youngest DD struggled some but we enjoyed it. The weather was nice. It was a good, warm day. The water was cool and we saw some fish, enough to enjoy the trip.

We get back by 3 and head on ship. The ship does not leave until 1am but we stay on ship the rest of the day.

Tonight is Palos. The DDS opt for their kids clubs tonight while DS is in babysitting.

My wife decides to go to the spa today when I get back and really enjoys it. I have the week long RainForest path which was a great deal. Between the suana and the showers in the men's lockers, what a relaxing place.

Palos was a disappointment. The food is good but our waiter was a real snob. Plus my wife does not feel too hot. We enjoy ourselves but it not for us. Plus we are casual folks and have now been dressed up two nights in a row.

We miss animator's palate as well.

We get DS and the DDs and head to bed.

Tomorrow is a day at sea...

 

[THE HAT]

sorry you had some stomach problems while on vacation, but sounds like you all made the best of it that you could....such a great attitude!!! can't wait to read more!!!
totally understand not enjoying the dressing up for dinner part(2x in a row) we are casual folks also, lol.

 

[ckb_nc]

Today was a day at sea.

My son got up again at 6:30 with my wife in tow. She is tired of doing this and needs some help. She does take a big nap today.

My kids play at the pool some including DS. I spend time at the pool and in the gym.

The weather was great. We all see the Golden Mickeys which is a can't miss. Great show

Dinner at Parrot Cay. Dinner was just the adults as all of the kids are off in the kids programs. Good meal.

Very relaxing day at sea and was fun. DS is getting bored in the cabin.

 

[ckb_nc]

Today is an early morning. I get with DS at 6:00 but breakfast begins at 6:30. We are in arriving in Grand Caymans..

Due to Hurricane Ivan, we will need to be tendered into town versus docking. We are going on a snorker and stingray city trip with Capt. Marvins. Since this not offered with DCL, we must get in line to get off the ship and are behind the ship based excursions. My Mom originally wanted to go but decided to stay behind with my Dad to take care of DS.

We arrive at the theatre by 8:10 and are off to a tender by 8:20. We make the first tender and are away. Here is a major plug to Disney. They use local tenders, not their own lifeboats. These tenders are large and make it much easier than the other ships. More later

We get into Georgetown by 9 and arrive at Capt. Marvins early. We check-in, and they do not charge for my Mon who technically should pay. Yeah!!

We get on a bus and go on a mini tour of the island as we make our way to the boat. The van is has AC and feels great.

We get to the dock early and wait for the other boat and make our way out to sea. We have about 35 people on board.

Our first stop is a snnorkel stop for 30 minutes. Oh my gosh, this was awesome. The water was wamr, clear and amaxing fish. There were two stingrays playinf around. The best snorkeling I have every done. My wife and the two DDs have a blast.

We get back in the boat and make a 5 minute run to another snorkel spot. Here, the captian of the boat gets in the water with us and uses some bait to coax out a 4 foot eel out of his cave. Wow. There is a camera man capturing all of this on video which we later buy for $65.

More snorkeling, more fish more incredible fun.

Time for sting ray city. This place is a madhouse. captian Marvin parks on the south end. The north end has a ship with at least 100 people on it. Looks like alot of fun LOL. Seriously, we had a smaller ship and more fun.

The captain and the mate get out and show us how to feed the stingrays. My older DD gets scared and heads back to the boat. My younger DD stays strong and actually kisses a sting ray and holds one.

Stingray city is interesting as one time thing bit I would come back to the Grand Caymans for snorkeling in a heart beat.

We make it back to the dock and grab a ride back to the town. Capt. Marvins is a great outfit and great....

I head back to the ship while the my wife and the DDs stay in town. I meet my mom on the tender back. I was amze to see all the people waiting to tender back on the other ships. We had no wait.

I grab lunch. DS has taken a nap and we hang out for a while. His is tiried of th ecabin and we walk around. He does like the pool since all he can go in is the wading pool. Need to find more stuff.

I go and see a movie. I love that disney has a nice theatre and I catch more than one move this week. Narnia was playing this week.

All the kids were in clubs as we went to Lumiere's. Dinner was good. Our service all week was incredible. Our servers make sure our kids, especially DS, are will cared for...

The weather is turning for the worse. Clouds were building in the Caymans and we are heading towards the weather.

Tomorrow: Costa Maya

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoying reading your reports ~ Keep em coming.

 

[ckb_nc]

Today is the second day at sea and very rough. The Magic has a channel that describes the seas and it makes to rough by mid day. 8 to 12 foot seas were the norm.

Today was also remarkable in that they air lifted someone off the ship. We were in the Fla. Straits when a coast gaurd helicopter comes by the ship. They announced earlier this was occuring and closed the front part of the top deck. I saw fire crews and others preparing as well. It was very windy and rough. They dropped two crew members off to help out and then retrieved the passenger. I have heard that is was a toddler with seizures. Early in the week, we heard a Bright Star come across the intercom which we think was a medical emergency.

To describe how rough it is, the pool a mid ship looks like a wave pool with a standing 2 foot wave. Think about your tub at home blown up to pool size. I watch the kids go from wasit high to over head every minute. Plus it was cold. 68 with a nasty wind chill.

We all catch up on our sleep this day as well.

I do the rain forest again after working out. Very relaxing and warm. My wife and the two DDs do the show plus we all see Narnia. Despite the rocking, it was a good day. My wife was feeling a little weak and I think the motion go to her. My patches really work well.

Dinner tonight is Parrot Cay. I had the pork which was the winner. Gede and Payana were great as usual

I notice something. We are always one the last people done with dinner each night. That is quite interesting and foreshadows getting off the boat.

 

[ckb_nc]

Today we arrive at Castaway Cay. The weather is nice, upper 70s for sure. Really nice. We all get off at this stop. DS gets off the ship for the first time. We all go the beach. This the DCL private island and really nice. It is decorated for Christmas.

The DDs and I go snorkeling. The water temp is a little cool. To really see cool fish, we needed to swim out about 500 yards. The DDs went once and then played inside. MY wife, parents and DS stayed on the beach. I took DS to lunch which was free and not too bad. BBQ ribs---

After lunch, I went on a solo snorkel. I really wanted to go snorkeling on Costa Maya but it was too nasty. Going by myself was a nice makeup. I saw stingray and other great fish. Great end to the tri,

I also explored the rest of the island. Saw the stringray thing. Was so glad we did the Cayman deal.

Castaway Cay is really awesome. plus it was decorated for Christ

As it approaches 3, we all head back to the ship. Tonight is the last night and we need to pack. DS takes a power nap as we pack. We get everything packed and off to the last dinner.

The DDs skip dinner again and their clubs. They do the kids clubs some. My younfer DD, 7, really liked hers while the older DD, 9, was not as excited. Not sure why. Might have been the size or becuase the missed a bunch early on.

They stay in the room and watch TV. They want to see Narnia at 10:45. Hey it is vacation lus tomorrow is the 24th. If we can tire them down, then they will go to bed early tomorror all the better.

It is also time for tips. We tip Gede and Payana extra.. Here is why. One day I took DS to a late breakfast done in Parrot Cay. Payana made a trip somewhere to get DS some fruit punch as Parrot Cay does not carry fruit punch. Great service...

Dinner at Lumiere's one last time. Great meal and a great night. Final two hour meal. At dinner, we some of the lights from the Bahamas pass by the ship. Nice setting. DS makes dinner and actually is ok by now. But his schedule is so out of whack by now. He is really tired.

The older DS passes out and can not make the movie. The younger DS and I last until midnight. Time for bed on the last night. Long day tomorrow.

 

[ckb_nc]

Hard to believe it is over.

Time to diembark. DCL has you eat breakfast the last day as you dine. We do not eat until 8:15. Someone had to eat at 6:30. Ouch...

The ship clears customs at 7:45. We see the line as we eat. We are literally one of the last off the ship.

We get through customs in 15 minutes. Again, lots of porters to help. Big scare as we can not find my oldest DD's birth certificate but customs waves it through. My arents had it as they needed to get on with her.

Logistics has been a real challenge this trip and my problem to solve. Today we need to get over to Budget and then to Orlando.

Getting to Budget was a challenge. They have three vans but alot of people. In front of us is a group of 14 Canadiens plus all of their luggage. So it takes a while to get there. My parents catch a shuttle to Radisson. We should have gone with them. We finally get to Budget only to wait some more behind the Canadiens. They took a while. Looked like a man and his three sons and all of the family. Looks like they had fun.

I finally get to the front and ask to upgrade. I really want the Expedition in the lot but get a minivan for $20 a day. I need to upgrade at that desk and the woman does not how to do it. Between satisfying the Candaiens and their needs, the manager gets me upgraded or so I think. I sign the paperwork without looking at the details. That was a mistake for later....

My parents wait on us to load up and we head towards Orlando. My parents and my family split up.

We are sending two nights at the Liki Tiki. I found a place that would take two nights only and was a three bedroom condo. My parents have a three bedroom condo and we know we can fit.

I am worried about the place. The Liki Tiki has mixed reviews online. We get there first by 12:30 and my parents show up about 5 minutes later. It takes a while to find us a condo that is ready as we are very early. We find a first floor condo. We have a two bed room and one bed room that are enjoined. It means we have two kitchens, three baths and five TVs and lots of space. And two washer and dryers that run non stop. My wife does all the l

The place was nice. It was not extravagant but clean and what we needed. I went to grab some lunch. Following lunch, my Mom and I went to store while the DDs went swimming. Not too warm outside but the kids have fun. They really like the place and want to come back. Having five may mean we come back.

DS has crashed. My wife also grabs a nap and my Dad and I watch football.

We have a 4:30 PS at Bomas. We all get in the mini van and head to AKL. We are late as usual. As we walk there are characters in the lobby. Is this new? Never seen this. We grab some photos and then head to Bomas. We get seated by 5.

Dinner is great as always. My parents find food they like but we are all tired of buffets and big meals. We get done by 6 as it begins to get crowded. We look around some more and then I get the car.

My wife and I really want to go to Church tonight. I came in on 417 to point out a church and we agree to try it out. It has a service at 7 so we make it over there. We find it by sheer luck as it is further than we think. It is Peace United Methodist church. It is not our home church but it was ok. My parents, especially my mom, loved it so all is well. So it was good call.

Time to head home. It takes a while . We put all three kids to bed. I am really tired and fighting a cold. I have been dragging all day and just want to get to bed. We set up Christmas and Santa in my parents wing. My parents have brought down the kids toys and we setup everything. It is small as the cruise and a new wood playground at home are the bigger part of Christmas.

We close the door so that my DS will not see everything. This was important. I make it to bed by midnight dead tired.

 

[ckb_nc]

Christmas morning arrives. DS awakes early with the two DDs sleeping another hour. That's right. My whole family is exhausted. DS is way off his schedule and my youngest DD is really tired.

We open the door to the other side. My kids are excited but not too much. After we open everything, we have a big brunch.

We have plans for a 3pm lunch at 1900 Park Faire with characters but all agree that we do not want this. We are tired of big meals. We also have had two character meals by now.

My Dad stays back and naps as DS takes a long nap. We head to Downtown Disney. MY DDs have money and my wife wants to shop. My mom joins us.

Downtown Disney was mobbed. I know it is Christmas and Sunday but wow. We go to World of Disney. It is a mobhouse.

We find alot of stuff. It takes forever to check out.

We also hit the pin store. I buy my wife some pins to celebrate the trip. I had also done this on the trip as well.

We head back to the Liki Tiki. My wife and I gave the rest of the family a Wishes cruise for Christmas. We call the last voyage of the 2005 cruise.

We go to dinner at ???? TK Tripps ???? on the way to WDW. Wish I could remember because dinner, although a little slow, was really good. The food and service were good.

Off to WL. We arrive at 8 and need to be on the dock by 8:15. I try to order coffee crum bulee from Artist Point. Then things get tricky.

I leave Dad to wait for the dessert and take everyone else to the dock and check in. Pay for it and then go get Dad back in the restaurant. Just as I get Dad, the dessert shows up. Do we hightail it to the dock. Just as we get to the dock, one of the servers from Artist Point comes running down. I have the wrong food. He hands me my dessert and takes off back to the restuarant. Ok, I am tired..

We jump on the pontoon and get a tour. We get to ask questions before we make our way over to MK. BTW, there are lot of boats out tonight.

We brought blankets as it is quite chilly. WDW provided them as well. We needed them as there is a wind and the water is rocking. By hey we are use to it. I have been running into walls the last 24 hours so I need some rocking.

Wishes was awesome. What a fun trip and a way to end this trip. It was not cheap but very fun. Plus we got to keep the snack food

Back to WL and we say good bye to WDW, No firm plans to return either...

We head back to Liki Tiki as we will head home tomorrow...

 

[ckb_nc]

Time to head home. Hard to believe it.

My parents leave by 9 to drive home. We see them 10 hours later at home as they drive straght through. My Dad really wanted to spend the night in his bed.

Check out is ten and we leave by then. I stop by the front desk. I had pre-paid for one night and my Dad paid for the second. We have a a 84 cents balance as my parents had made one call. Ok, they waive the fee. Off to the airport.

We make it to the airport by 11 and arrive at Budget. Now the fun begins. My bill comes to just over $2000. Read that correct. Apparently when I upgraded the car at Port Canaveral the lady at Budget made a small mistake. I signed it so I am looking a little anxious. The lady checking us in at MCO is absolutely useless. I mean useless. Throw her under the bus.

While my wife tries to figure out how to get the bags to the terminal, I hightail to the Budget office in the terminal. More frustration. I need to call the office at the Port. Great.

I get on my cell phone and finally get them. The manager there sees the contract, apologizes and quickly changes it. She also sens me the receipt. Good servce finally and crisis adverted.

I get a cart and my wife finds two so we load up and head to US Airways. Takes a whle and by 11:3 we are in the terminal. We walk over to the food court and have lunch at Chic-Fil-A. Kinda of fitting. First meal and last meal in Orlando the same...

Takes a while like 35 minutes through security. I was getting a little worried but we make it ok. Bathroom stop and we make the flight. I have DS this this time. His is better on the way home than the way done.

Arrive in Charlotte on time. I go get the car while my wife gets the kids and bags. We meet off and are off to the kennel for the dog and cats. We make t home by 5. Long day.

We grab dinner out and my parents show up with the rest of the luggage.

We send all the kids off to bed and I spend three hours looking at my work email.

 

[ckb_nc]

Here are highlights and low lights

Highlights:

• MMVCP
  Grand Caymans
  Cataway Cay
  The movies on the boat
  Our servers
  Cleaniness of the ship
  Liki tiki being ok
  Logistics working out
  Ohana's
  Character breakfast on board
  snorkeling
  Budget's price

Lowlights

• 
  Contemporary tower - didn't do for me
  Palo
  Exotic Raul - just wasn't for us
  Budget screwing up - lead to an anxious few minutes
  Security at MCO - UGH
  Being sick a bunch - I honestly felt well about half the trip and really well for two days - My son and wife mirrored that
  Costa Maya - I hated it but others liked it
  The weather one day at sea

We really had fun. Not sure if we a cruise family, especially with a young family. Cruising with a toddler was tough and we needed more options and better planning. We were flexible and made some better decisions.

The kids want to go back of course. Thanks for reading............

 

[dlf246]

Great, helpful report!

I cannot seem to find Day 6 at Costa Maya in your report.

Secondly, you hint at your sickness here and there, but not real clear. Do you think it was a virus, or sea sickness, or food related?

 

[ckb_nc]

As for sickness, we had a stomach virus before we left. My 7 year old DD had it first, I had second and my wife had it last. We think my DS had it as well. It was nothing too bad but a pain. Nothing we could shake it seems. My wife was especially sick. I was sick for the first couple of days and my wife had it for a week. Might of had some motion sickness as well.

Then we passed around a cold. The humidity caught with our sinuses.

Need to post day 6, seems lost

 

[ckb_nc]

As we left the Caymans, the sky was turning dark. I knew we were heading for a change in weather as I sa a Vapor trail from a plane as we were heading back to the dock in the Caymans.

We gain an hour as we head to Costa Maya. This means DS is up at 5:15am. I get up with him and try to figure what to do. Not much going on at 5:15. We head to deck 4 and walk around. It is warm but cloudy and the seas are a little rough. I try to turn on the TVs in the Promenade loung but no luck. Nothing is open. By 6:15, we head to Deck 1 to play with the basketballs as the sun rises.

By seven, I get coffee and breakfast is open. We eat together and then we head back to the room by 8. I hand of my son to my wife and head back to bed.

I am awaken by 11 and we are in Costa Maya. It is not pretty and we not sure what to do. The plan is to go the beach but is not going to happen. We later all head into the town.

My wife and the DDs like shoppinf and haggling. I walk around for a while. I try to schedule a massage but no dice. I see alot of drunk teenagers and get turned off. I eventually head back with DS while the rest stay behind. He heads down for his nap by 2 and I sit on the veranda to people watch. I am really bummed becuase I see the beach off in the distance and really wanted to snorkel. No dice.

My family comes back. Tonight is both my parents 42nd anniversary and pirate night. But before that my wife and I head to the Spa for Exotic Raoul. Short and sweet - my wife is feeling sick and not really in the mode. We do get some time alone and make the best of it.

Dinner is fun and the first time since we at the first night we all eat together. Pirates night was at Lumiere's and we had fun. This is really fun and a great night.

We get done and my mom and the DDS and I head to the party. My youngest takes off and I find her in the front. My older DD and hang out but enjoy the party. The do the fireworks but not everything as the wind is really coming up. Did I mention it is getting cold...

I take the DDs back for bed and my mom and I stay for the movie. At 11:30 we head back, as it is cold and we are tired. Neat idea and I wish it was warmer.

Costa Maya was the worse port but we expected that. I did get some Vanilla and the wife got some jewelry.

 

[Queen_freckles]

Sorry you all were feeling ill! Enjoyed reading your report!

Marlene