Cast Members:
Me, Anne - 40
DH, Brian - 40
DM, Rita - 62
DD, Alex - 17
DD, Jordan - 7
DD, Taylor - 5
Sunday Embarkation Day!
6:30 am Rise and shine! We have a PS at Chef Mickeys woo hoooo!!! All part of my plan to get my family to the ship by 11:00 am. I figured breakfast from 8:30 9:30; leave from the Contemporary to the Port, arriving between 10:30 and 11:00.
Breakfast was great, everyone was having a fabulous time. As we were leaving the restaurant, Alex looked up at the monorail and said .dont we have time for just one ride?? This question of course makes the entire family turn to me with great big puppy eyes. The mommy quilt really came into play since some of us (me, Brian and the little girls) were returning for a few days at WDW..but Alex had to return home right after the cruise. Guilt guilt guilt. I looked down at my watch. Hey, it wasnt even 9:30 yet. Ok, one time around. We hop on and I give my mom the 10 cent tour of the monorail resorts. She asked about gift shops since she had noticed that both the POR and Contemporary had them. My DH (a saint) told her that in fact the LARGEST Disney store in the world was on property at Downtown Disney. My mothers eyes lit up, I glance nervously at my watch. Brian, the saint, leaned over and whispered in my ear its her vacation too, you know FINE. I smiled a little..and said Mom would you like to see The World of Disney? She was so excited. Ok, I thought, a half hour detour on top of the monorail detour. We should still be at the port by 12 or 12:30. Sigh. Silly me. 30 to 45 minutes at the World of Disney. I dont think so. We didnt leave the store until Noon. I was not happy. Stressed really.
As I mentioned in my previous post I am THE planner for our vacations. I love doing it. I enjoy the hours upon hours I spend researching and developing itineraries. Even so, I try not to be too much of a freak when it comes to following them (hence the willingness to go off plan via the monorail and Downtown Disney) but I also know that if we go too far a field there will be consequences. At this point I know we will be pressed since there will now be a long line a check in. Will we be able to make spa ressies? Time will tell. FINALLY we are heading to the port. My husband and I both love to drive so it is often a battle to see who gets the job. Last year at WDW I booked the rental and didnt want the added expense of a second drive so I got to drive the whole time. This time DH really wanted to drive, so I became a Emerald Club member with National so having us both as drivers was free. I had written out instructions for each of our destinations. Unfortunatley, I didnt trust my own instructions and at the fork in the road we went left instead of right. As I was looking at the map trying to figure out our best way back my DH saw the sign for the Kennedy Space Center. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Hey, he says, can we drive by..just to see? Pleeeeaaaase. Sigh. Ok. I must admit it was an interesting drive.
Monorail, Downtown Disney, Space Center FINALLY I can see the ship. Woooo Hoooo! Drop off and bag check was a breeze. Hmm, this isnt so bad, what was I worried about? We breeze through security and glide up the escalators where at the top was a line. A long line. And this was the line to get into the line! THIS is why I didnt want to arrive in the afternoon. But hey, I am on vacation! So I wait in all the lovely lines. It was about 30 minutes I would say. So I gather the flock and we get in another line to actually board. We approach the photographer for our first picture and the teenager states: I am NOT getting my picture taken. I small but heated exchange occurs and I win (if there ever really is a win in a battle with a teenager). By now I am nearing the end of my rope. There is little magic as we walk through and hear our names announced.
Now my goal is lunch. Did I mention itwas about 63 degrees with 20 mph wind? Parrot Cay seems the logical choice. But the CMs say NO WAY. All full and besides they stop serving at Parrot Cay at 2:30 and it is 2:25. Up we go to Beach Blanket which is MOBBED with people. You see, no one wants to eat outside. But now we have trays (I should have listened to all the Disers who advised getting a table and then getting your food) and we are wandering around aimlessly. A very friendly CM points us to a table outside of the protective cover. As we enter the open air a gust comes up and we nearly loose our lunches. The CM keeps trying to assure us that it is warm enough and I (unfortunately using my angry voice) insisted that we needed to sit somewhere else. He then proceeded to find our party of 6 a table for 4. I am nearing tears (from exhaustion, over planning, lateness, hunger) but we squish in as the small children started in its too cold, shes touching me, I want my blankie At that moment a boss type CM appeared. She had heard that we were unhappy. Wow. That was pretty amazing. We had a nice chat and she suggested maybe we should take our food to our stateroom. I envisioned the crowds around all the elevators we encountered and tried to imagine our group, including two small children trying to schlep our trays down to 2. I politely declined. We finished up and headed down to our stateroom. By now the drill was going to happen in 20 minutes. We were not unpacked, we were a mess, I wanted the kids to experience the sail away party and we all wanted to see the show at 6:30. I know that there is no way any spa ressies are going to be made, the kids are not signed up for the club, I have not toured the ship and NOW the little ones are in a full out brawl on our bed. I snapped. I sat the girls down on the couch and got in there faces and demanded 2 minutes of silence so I could collect my thoughts. I went to the sink and my DH (did I say he was a saint? His next comment might bring that up for debate) honey he says, you just need some deep breaths, everything is fine. FINE??? Fine? Reaaalllly. I then began a full melt down. I eventually got over it. Side note: I dont think DH really understood why until the next day when he snuggled up to me and said when are we doing that mud spa thing? I said, oh, well all of our available times were gone by the time I could try to make ressies. He looked so sad .I told him he just needed to take some deep breaths.
I went up on deck with my youngest to watch the ship sail. One of the things I most wanted on this trip was to hear the horn of the Wonder. Well, lo and behold, a plane was late and we were waiting. This was actually a gift as it gave me time to calm down (take a few deep breaths!!) and realize I was on the cruise! It was kind of fun watching the late people be hustled in as everyone on deck light heartedly jeered at them. At last we were pulling out and yes, I got to hear the wonderful sound of the horn. Sadly, because of the cold, windy weather we had the sail away party in the atrium. The kids loved it. As soon as the ship started moving however my oldest started feeling ill. She laid down to try to overcome it. After the sail away party we hustled everyone into some nicer clothes and headed for the show. This is when we realize that 14-17 foot seas are NOT a good thing. We enjoyed the show (Jordan loves Meg) and we headed up to sign the kids up for the clubs. Again, my DH got to see why I was stressed about doing things out of order. The line for check in was looooong and chaotic. We had received our form at check in so it was all filed out. We got to the head of the line and a sweet CM says: oh, you need to take your form to a table down the hall. Another CM must have seen the beads of sweat forming on my brow and stepped in to say that she would take care of it then and there. Whew! The girls wanted to stay because Lilo and Stitch were coming. So we headed up to Parrot Cay (me, DH and DM) I felt silly having just three of us at a table for 6, but our wait staff: Arnold and Erika, made us feel right at home. There was a lot of banging and crashing as the ship rock and rolled with the waves. The girls buzzed us midway through dinner and we unfortunately needed to leave before dessert. It was like I was hungry though! Dinner was yummy.
I think the girls buzzed us so quickly because the club seemed like chaos. They are both very social and used to child care and school, but they did not like the club. After reading all the previous raves about the clubs I was pretty disappointed in the lack of organization and what appeared to be lack of supervision.
We got to our cabins (two cat 10s on level 2) to find that Alex was very seasick. Thankfully, Noel (our cabin steward) had taken good care of her as he had to clean up after her and he even drew her a bath. We ordered room service for the little ones and found the rough seas to be GREAT for sleeping.
Lessons learned:
Do arrive at the terminal early!
Do pay attention to directions to port!
Do inform your spouse as to the "method to your madness" for wanting to do things a certain way!
Do get a sea sickness patch for all adults that have never cruised!
Up Next: Nassau
Me, Anne - 40
DH, Brian - 40
DM, Rita - 62
DD, Alex - 17
DD, Jordan - 7
DD, Taylor - 5
Sunday Embarkation Day!
6:30 am Rise and shine! We have a PS at Chef Mickeys woo hoooo!!! All part of my plan to get my family to the ship by 11:00 am. I figured breakfast from 8:30 9:30; leave from the Contemporary to the Port, arriving between 10:30 and 11:00.
Breakfast was great, everyone was having a fabulous time. As we were leaving the restaurant, Alex looked up at the monorail and said .dont we have time for just one ride?? This question of course makes the entire family turn to me with great big puppy eyes. The mommy quilt really came into play since some of us (me, Brian and the little girls) were returning for a few days at WDW..but Alex had to return home right after the cruise. Guilt guilt guilt. I looked down at my watch. Hey, it wasnt even 9:30 yet. Ok, one time around. We hop on and I give my mom the 10 cent tour of the monorail resorts. She asked about gift shops since she had noticed that both the POR and Contemporary had them. My DH (a saint) told her that in fact the LARGEST Disney store in the world was on property at Downtown Disney. My mothers eyes lit up, I glance nervously at my watch. Brian, the saint, leaned over and whispered in my ear its her vacation too, you know FINE. I smiled a little..and said Mom would you like to see The World of Disney? She was so excited. Ok, I thought, a half hour detour on top of the monorail detour. We should still be at the port by 12 or 12:30. Sigh. Silly me. 30 to 45 minutes at the World of Disney. I dont think so. We didnt leave the store until Noon. I was not happy. Stressed really.
As I mentioned in my previous post I am THE planner for our vacations. I love doing it. I enjoy the hours upon hours I spend researching and developing itineraries. Even so, I try not to be too much of a freak when it comes to following them (hence the willingness to go off plan via the monorail and Downtown Disney) but I also know that if we go too far a field there will be consequences. At this point I know we will be pressed since there will now be a long line a check in. Will we be able to make spa ressies? Time will tell. FINALLY we are heading to the port. My husband and I both love to drive so it is often a battle to see who gets the job. Last year at WDW I booked the rental and didnt want the added expense of a second drive so I got to drive the whole time. This time DH really wanted to drive, so I became a Emerald Club member with National so having us both as drivers was free. I had written out instructions for each of our destinations. Unfortunatley, I didnt trust my own instructions and at the fork in the road we went left instead of right. As I was looking at the map trying to figure out our best way back my DH saw the sign for the Kennedy Space Center. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Hey, he says, can we drive by..just to see? Pleeeeaaaase. Sigh. Ok. I must admit it was an interesting drive.
Monorail, Downtown Disney, Space Center FINALLY I can see the ship. Woooo Hoooo! Drop off and bag check was a breeze. Hmm, this isnt so bad, what was I worried about? We breeze through security and glide up the escalators where at the top was a line. A long line. And this was the line to get into the line! THIS is why I didnt want to arrive in the afternoon. But hey, I am on vacation! So I wait in all the lovely lines. It was about 30 minutes I would say. So I gather the flock and we get in another line to actually board. We approach the photographer for our first picture and the teenager states: I am NOT getting my picture taken. I small but heated exchange occurs and I win (if there ever really is a win in a battle with a teenager). By now I am nearing the end of my rope. There is little magic as we walk through and hear our names announced.
Now my goal is lunch. Did I mention itwas about 63 degrees with 20 mph wind? Parrot Cay seems the logical choice. But the CMs say NO WAY. All full and besides they stop serving at Parrot Cay at 2:30 and it is 2:25. Up we go to Beach Blanket which is MOBBED with people. You see, no one wants to eat outside. But now we have trays (I should have listened to all the Disers who advised getting a table and then getting your food) and we are wandering around aimlessly. A very friendly CM points us to a table outside of the protective cover. As we enter the open air a gust comes up and we nearly loose our lunches. The CM keeps trying to assure us that it is warm enough and I (unfortunately using my angry voice) insisted that we needed to sit somewhere else. He then proceeded to find our party of 6 a table for 4. I am nearing tears (from exhaustion, over planning, lateness, hunger) but we squish in as the small children started in its too cold, shes touching me, I want my blankie At that moment a boss type CM appeared. She had heard that we were unhappy. Wow. That was pretty amazing. We had a nice chat and she suggested maybe we should take our food to our stateroom. I envisioned the crowds around all the elevators we encountered and tried to imagine our group, including two small children trying to schlep our trays down to 2. I politely declined. We finished up and headed down to our stateroom. By now the drill was going to happen in 20 minutes. We were not unpacked, we were a mess, I wanted the kids to experience the sail away party and we all wanted to see the show at 6:30. I know that there is no way any spa ressies are going to be made, the kids are not signed up for the club, I have not toured the ship and NOW the little ones are in a full out brawl on our bed. I snapped. I sat the girls down on the couch and got in there faces and demanded 2 minutes of silence so I could collect my thoughts. I went to the sink and my DH (did I say he was a saint? His next comment might bring that up for debate) honey he says, you just need some deep breaths, everything is fine. FINE??? Fine? Reaaalllly. I then began a full melt down. I eventually got over it. Side note: I dont think DH really understood why until the next day when he snuggled up to me and said when are we doing that mud spa thing? I said, oh, well all of our available times were gone by the time I could try to make ressies. He looked so sad .I told him he just needed to take some deep breaths.
I went up on deck with my youngest to watch the ship sail. One of the things I most wanted on this trip was to hear the horn of the Wonder. Well, lo and behold, a plane was late and we were waiting. This was actually a gift as it gave me time to calm down (take a few deep breaths!!) and realize I was on the cruise! It was kind of fun watching the late people be hustled in as everyone on deck light heartedly jeered at them. At last we were pulling out and yes, I got to hear the wonderful sound of the horn. Sadly, because of the cold, windy weather we had the sail away party in the atrium. The kids loved it. As soon as the ship started moving however my oldest started feeling ill. She laid down to try to overcome it. After the sail away party we hustled everyone into some nicer clothes and headed for the show. This is when we realize that 14-17 foot seas are NOT a good thing. We enjoyed the show (Jordan loves Meg) and we headed up to sign the kids up for the clubs. Again, my DH got to see why I was stressed about doing things out of order. The line for check in was looooong and chaotic. We had received our form at check in so it was all filed out. We got to the head of the line and a sweet CM says: oh, you need to take your form to a table down the hall. Another CM must have seen the beads of sweat forming on my brow and stepped in to say that she would take care of it then and there. Whew! The girls wanted to stay because Lilo and Stitch were coming. So we headed up to Parrot Cay (me, DH and DM) I felt silly having just three of us at a table for 6, but our wait staff: Arnold and Erika, made us feel right at home. There was a lot of banging and crashing as the ship rock and rolled with the waves. The girls buzzed us midway through dinner and we unfortunately needed to leave before dessert. It was like I was hungry though! Dinner was yummy.
I think the girls buzzed us so quickly because the club seemed like chaos. They are both very social and used to child care and school, but they did not like the club. After reading all the previous raves about the clubs I was pretty disappointed in the lack of organization and what appeared to be lack of supervision.
We got to our cabins (two cat 10s on level 2) to find that Alex was very seasick. Thankfully, Noel (our cabin steward) had taken good care of her as he had to clean up after her and he even drew her a bath. We ordered room service for the little ones and found the rough seas to be GREAT for sleeping.
Lessons learned:
Do arrive at the terminal early!
Do pay attention to directions to port!
Do inform your spouse as to the "method to your madness" for wanting to do things a certain way!
Do get a sea sickness patch for all adults that have never cruised!
Up Next: Nassau
