How 7 Days with DCL Trumps 5 Trips to WDW~ Fantasy Eastern Caribbean, Oct 4-11

[oopsiDAISY]

Hello Everyone!! This is my first Cruise report, so go easy on me, okay? My name is Connie, a Dis'er since 2010. Our family has been die-hard parks fans since our first trip in 2006. This is the story of how this trip has made us forsake that first love for the cruisin' lifestyle.

We traveled with friends from home who are cruise veterans, Castaway Club Gold members. They will make more than one appearance in this report.

If you are the least bit interested in our Disney history, be sure to click on the links in my signature to get all of the WDW PTR's and TR's.

Will we ever go back to the Parks? When will we get to cruise again? What made us "cheat" on the parks this time? We hope you will stick around to find out the answer to all these questions and more!

Our cruise itinerary:

Disney Fantasy, Eastern Caribbean- October 4-11, 2014

October 4- Sail Away from Port Canaveral
October 5- Sea Day, Formal Night
October 6- Sea Day
October 7- St. Martin, Pirate Night
October 8- St. Thomas, Halloween on the High Seas
October 9- Sea Day
October 10- Castaway Cay
Ocotber 11- Disembarkation Day (But we refused to leave the magic that early in the morning, so we squeezed in a trip to DTD )

 

[oopsiDAISY]

Your Index to the oopsiFUN!!!


Cruise Itinerary
Introductions
Let's GOOOOO! (Day .5)
We are Almost There....Really We Are! (Day1, Part 1)
You Want to Leave Already? (Day 1, Part 2)
We Know Sharks Bite, but How Do You Bite Shark Bites??? (Day1, Part 3)
IRL Fun: Random Fall Fun
I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In... (Day 2, Part 1)
Sailing, Take Me Away... (Day 2, part 2)
I Thought Only Service Animals Were Allowed On Board... (Day 2, Part 3)
We Finally Made it HOME!!!! (Day 2, Part 4)
The Luggage Saga Continues... (Day 2, Part 5)

 

[oopsiDAISY]

I have done several of these reports, so please excuse me...but I am going to "borrow" my intros from the trip PTR to start this off. I am excited to get going on the actual report, so let's save some time here, okay?

Please say hello to the OopsiFamily:



First there is me, oopsiDAISY. I am Connie, and I am a fourtysomething year old Disney fan. I work as an administrative assistant for a small, private university right here in our hometown. I enjoy reading, planning and hosting themed parties and movie nights, all things DISNEY, and just hanging out with my wonderful family.

Next is the oopsiHUBBY, Brian. Brian is an almostfourty year old Star Wars fan. He works as an aircraft maintenance planner. He enjoys Star Wars, playing his X-box, and relaxing at home. He is also a full time student. Brian is working hard to complete his Business degree through the online program offered by the university that employs me. He is just one and a half semesters away from completion, and had to spend part of his time on the cruise doing schoolwork.

Next in the oopsi-line-up is:



Jillian is fifteen years old, and a daddy’s girl all the way. Like her daddy, she is a sci-fi fan. She has a wicked sense of humor as well. If you have been following our family for long on here you have watched her transition from a little girl, through the awkward tween years, to young woman through these last few years of trip reports. She has become an amazing and confident young lady that we are so proud of.

Next we have:



Charity is our twelve year old girly-girl. She loves to play around with fashion, and LOVES jewelry, accessories of all kinds, and SHOES, lots of SHOES. She is as her name, very loving. She is a social butterfly who befriends all she meets (ie: LOTS of new friends on this cruise). She is the source of lots of laughter and silliness in our family.

And the caboose to the oopsiFAMILY is:



Gabriel is our eight year old BOY, ALL BOY! He is a creative genius. His one liners keep us in stitches. He must have a costume for every occasion, every movie, and every TV show he watches. He could entertain himself for HOURS, but we are so glad he entertains us as well!

 

[Chicago Mo]

I AM HERe!!!!

 

[KatMark]

I'm here, Connie. Great intros! I can't wait to read all about this awesome trip.

 

[cheekypoppins]

obviously I'll be following this and obviously I missed ur guts and I sooooooo can't wait to see and hear EVERYTHING!!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm sooooo in on this report! (not like I wasn't on the other but you know what I mean) Great introduction pictures!

 

[epfootballcutie04]

I'm here, too!!!

 

[jedijill]

I'm in! Can't wait to hear all about your trip. Love your intros!

Jill in CO

 

[oopsiDAISY]

As soon as we booked our cruise, I found a Facebook group for our sailing. This turned out to be one of the BEST parts of the whole thing. It made the waiting so much fun, and it was so great to bump in to folks you already "knew" throughout the cruise. Several of us from the middle Tenessee area even had a couple of meets BEFORE the cruise. One of the greatest friends I made on the FB group sent me a gift a month or two before the cruise:



This was the first time I would actually be using a journal for the trip...so this report should be a whole lot more detailed than others may have been. Once again, thanks Robin (krdotson)!!!

Our little band of travelers had decided to leave on Thursday, October 2 to travel through the night, arriving in Port Canaveral on the Friday before the cruise. Brian and I chose to go ahead and work a half day before hitting th road. When I left for work that morning, our bags were packed and ready to hit the road. We just needed to throw in a few last minute items before loading them in the car. We ended up with nine checked bags:



I had hoped that this would be a light day for work...but alas, spring schedule drafts were due, so I had to spend my last few hours before vacation working on a giant spreadsheet.



As you can see, I kept a little vacation reminder on my desk to spur me on!

Finally, it was TIME!!! I called Brian, and he was on the road back to the house too. We had both clocked out, and it was offically VACATION!!!! I picked the kids up from school, and we went home and had a sandwich before heading over to our friends' house to load up. We had rented an 18 passenger van, so that we could roadtrip together. It was sure to be an adventure.

After an hour or so, we had packed the luggage in the van (under seats, under feet, in the back, in the front...well you get the picture) and we were all seated and ready to go.

I need to pre-empt the next picture with a little side story. I had mentioned on my PTR that our friends had brought a very special guest to our last movie night. Well, I will tell the story here of who the guest was. Stephen, Rochelle, and Andrew had been trying to adopt a little girl for as long as we have known them (over ten years). Through the foster care system, a month before the cruise their dream of adding a little girl to the family FINALLY came true!!! They had to jump through many hoops, but little "E" was able to go on the cruise with us, and we could not have been happier for all of them.

So, here is our crazy band of travelers, all ready to go on our merry way:







We were a little excited...can you tell?

After a few hours of travel, we were all hungry...but decided to make it to Chattanooga, because we all KNEW there was a Popeye's Chicken in Chattanooga, and that sounded good to us. We made it to Chattanooga, and we were all STARVED, as it was 8:30 PM by that time. No Popeye's in sight. What happened to Popeye's? We had all remembered there being one there...but it had just vanished. We found the next best thing, Bojangles.





Check out the look on Charity's face in this next photo...we see it pretty often, gotta love those tween years.



And since we all know, it is not a good Dis-report without food porn:



Judging by this next picture, Brian was either tired or high...




After a yummy dinner, we hit the road again for a LONG overnight drive to Port Canaveral. It turned out to be a bit LONGer than we thought.

 

[oopsiDAISY]

I AM HERe!!!!

First to the party!!!

I'm here, Connie. Great intros! I can't wait to read all about this awesome trip.

Thanks for joining in Kathy! It was such a fantastic trip, can't wait to tell you all about it.

obviously I'll be following this and obviously I missed ur guts and I sooooooo can't wait to see and hear EVERYTHING!!!

I missed my Cheeky chats, too!!! It was hard to unplug for an entire week...but then it turned out to be SOOOO RELAXING!

I'm sooooo in on this report! (not like I wasn't on the other but you know what I mean) Great introduction pictures!

I know you all took a short cruise, but really...taking that seven day SPOILED us good. So much pampering!!! I felt so entitled to be waited on after that cruise, LOL!!! Like a

I'm here, too!!!

So glad you are here, Chrissa!! Your last TR was part of what convinced me that we would LOVE this cruise.

I'm in! Can't wait to hear all about your trip. Love your intros!

Jill in CO

Haven't seen you around in a while, welcome!!!

 

[quackattack]

This should be fun. Looking forward to re-living the adventure.
Quackattack

 

[jedijill]

Roadtrip!

No Popeyes?!?!?!? That's terrible! I don't know that I've ever eaten at Bojangles. You guys are brave to drive all night!

Congrats to your friends on their adoption.

Jill in CO

 

[petals]

I'm so joining in Can't wait to read about your cruise. Congrats to your friend on the adoption.

 

[CaseFace5]

Did I make the first page?!? Yay! Off to catch up!


ETA: Love it so far! That van looks like a rocking good time! Can't wait to read more and creep on your pictures to see if I spot my neighbors! Hehe

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

Hi, it's Nancy from the FB cruise group. Wow, your van ride with everyone together must have been a blast!

 

[chelleharper]

Following you!

 

[chelleharper]

Following you!

 

[Chicago Mo]

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

I JUST WON!!!!!!!!!!!

another OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG CONGRATS on the adoption!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO glad everything panned out!

I just know this is going to be epic...

 

[KatMark]

Oh how I wish I was a passenger in that van...I bet it was so much fun. Congrats to your friends on the new little girl...and so happy she was able to go on the cruise.