JRandAJsMom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2008
Well-- here goes! I've never done this before, but I better do it now while everything is still in my head!
With the weather hovering somewhere around 2 degrees at home, it was easier to leave for the airport at 5 in the morning with 2 little ones than you might imagine. With no traffic and surprisingly no snow falling (for the first time in over a week) everything went without a hitch and we took off on time and even landed about a half hour early. I had never rented a car before, so I didn't know what I was in for, but Budget was wonderful and even upgraded our car to an SUV upon seeing our enourmous pile of luggage. After a quick pick up, it was beautiful drive to sunny (but still chilly) Cocoa Beach for our stay for the night before the cruise.
PRE-CRUISE: Before I say anything about our pre-cruise hotel, I want to preface it with the fact that things got MUCH better from there! I hate to start off negative, but there's no way not to... We stayed at the Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach Resort. The resort itself from the outside is nice. The kids pool looks like a lot of fun, but it was too cold to go in. Perhaps I've been spoiled by Disney, but I was extremely disappointed in things from there. There were sizeable gaps in our door, everything was rusted (the doors, the fridge, the microwave, the fencing-- and we're not just talking a little), the bathroom grout was molded, there were bugs (maybe they snuck in through the crack in the door?) and the wireless internet they provided barely hooked up and froze from there. Now-- here's to their credit... We had pre-paid our stay because we got an internet rate. We were scheduled to return there post-cruise. However, DH went in with pictures on our camera of the above mentioned issues and said he was not asking for anything for this visit, but we did not want to return after the cruise after our experience and they had already charged my credit card. Well, not only did they refund our second stay and allow us to cancel our reservation for the following weekend, but they refunded 25% of the initial stay without it being requested. So, although the stay was less than desireable, their customer service in the end was acceptable...
DAY 1- Saturday: Now-- on to the MAGIC!!! We returned the rental car (again, great service-- shuttle guy saw me on crutches and helped DH completely with the luggage-- even offered to keep our carseats at the rental place so we wouldn't have to worry about them in our stateroom) and we were on a shuttle in a matter of minutes. We were with a family who had not told their boys where they were going. It was their two DS's (4) and my two DS's (4 and 6). Whether they knew where they were going or not, the reaction to seeing the boat was priceless (we're going on THAT?!?!? OH YEAH!!!!). We were the third family to get checked in and in the first boarding group announced (group 2-- right after the "chosen" family). After hanging out in the terminal for a couple of hours (which seemed like nothing due to ID pictures (people said the line for this got very long, but we didn't have to wait at all), checking into kids clubs, and pictures with characters), we were making our way across the gangway. To walk into that atrium and hear our name announced... It was the start of a magical week!
We had planned to stake out our spot at the Mickey Pool and one of us would go grab lunch to bring back and then I would go back and decorate the stateroom while DH and DS's played. Well, since it was so chilly, we decided to head over to Parrot Cay. So glad we did! The buffet was very tasty and the desserts were WONDERFUL! Someone said the white chocolate raspberry parfait is new-- it was one of my favorite things on the ship! Oh, and the strawberry soup? We found the recipe in one of the cookbooks so I can make it at home-- delicious!!! I highly recommend both!
While the 3 boys dined, I went over to make additional Palo reservations and play with our dining assignment. They accomodated everything and our setup was perfect
Brunch at Palo on Monday at 10:30, dinner on Tuesday at 8 (it had been 9). I went back to the room to hang up our FE and decorate to surprise the boys and found out that our night in AP was also Tuesday. Since we wanted to take the boys to that, we decided to just do brunch at Palo and hope that something else opened up later. DH rested awhile while I took the boys over to our Dis meet (SO great to see all of you!!!) and then took them over to see the Oceaneer club (they were going to burst if I didn't get them over there!!!!). After the drill and a bit of exploring, it was time for dinner in PC. As we were leaving, the stateroom host for the cabins next to ours asked our boys their names... From that point on, he made sure to say hi to them every time he saw them (several times a day-- I think he was always working!!!). By the end of the trip, if the boys saw his cart and he was inside a room, they would even make sure that they said hello to HIM on their way by and he would come out to see how their day was going. It really was a nice little touch added to our days 
Back to dinner at PC-- Our server was Jakub from Czech Republic and our assistant server was Eszter from Hungary. They were both very sweet and patient (our kids take awhile to make decisions and were very excited about everything around them!!!). They both seemed like they might have been new and Eszter seemed really nervous and quiet. Things took a little while, a couple of food orders were messed up, and drinks were forgotten along the way, but other than that the service was ok. They were both very friendly and did their best to make sure everything was what we needed in the end.
It was a rocky first night (that trip down the coastline is a little choppy I think), so after dinner we went back to the stateroom and called it a night. I forgot to mention, our wonderful stateroom hostess was Marilyn. She came in as we were surprising the boys with the decorations and said hello and welcomed us and asked if there was anything we needed. She made up the room perfectly and the boys LOVED her towel animals. She even turned around the making of the berth so my DH's head would be on the wall side. He likes to scoot up in bed, so I was afraid he was going to scoot up too far and get a rough awakening! But she turned it and even put an extra railing up there for him because I'm a nervous DM
Days 2-7 to be added... Don't worry-- they won't be as long, haha
With the weather hovering somewhere around 2 degrees at home, it was easier to leave for the airport at 5 in the morning with 2 little ones than you might imagine. With no traffic and surprisingly no snow falling (for the first time in over a week) everything went without a hitch and we took off on time and even landed about a half hour early. I had never rented a car before, so I didn't know what I was in for, but Budget was wonderful and even upgraded our car to an SUV upon seeing our enourmous pile of luggage. After a quick pick up, it was beautiful drive to sunny (but still chilly) Cocoa Beach for our stay for the night before the cruise.
PRE-CRUISE: Before I say anything about our pre-cruise hotel, I want to preface it with the fact that things got MUCH better from there! I hate to start off negative, but there's no way not to... We stayed at the Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach Resort. The resort itself from the outside is nice. The kids pool looks like a lot of fun, but it was too cold to go in. Perhaps I've been spoiled by Disney, but I was extremely disappointed in things from there. There were sizeable gaps in our door, everything was rusted (the doors, the fridge, the microwave, the fencing-- and we're not just talking a little), the bathroom grout was molded, there were bugs (maybe they snuck in through the crack in the door?) and the wireless internet they provided barely hooked up and froze from there. Now-- here's to their credit... We had pre-paid our stay because we got an internet rate. We were scheduled to return there post-cruise. However, DH went in with pictures on our camera of the above mentioned issues and said he was not asking for anything for this visit, but we did not want to return after the cruise after our experience and they had already charged my credit card. Well, not only did they refund our second stay and allow us to cancel our reservation for the following weekend, but they refunded 25% of the initial stay without it being requested. So, although the stay was less than desireable, their customer service in the end was acceptable...
DAY 1- Saturday: Now-- on to the MAGIC!!! We returned the rental car (again, great service-- shuttle guy saw me on crutches and helped DH completely with the luggage-- even offered to keep our carseats at the rental place so we wouldn't have to worry about them in our stateroom) and we were on a shuttle in a matter of minutes. We were with a family who had not told their boys where they were going. It was their two DS's (4) and my two DS's (4 and 6). Whether they knew where they were going or not, the reaction to seeing the boat was priceless (we're going on THAT?!?!? OH YEAH!!!!). We were the third family to get checked in and in the first boarding group announced (group 2-- right after the "chosen" family). After hanging out in the terminal for a couple of hours (which seemed like nothing due to ID pictures (people said the line for this got very long, but we didn't have to wait at all), checking into kids clubs, and pictures with characters), we were making our way across the gangway. To walk into that atrium and hear our name announced... It was the start of a magical week!
We had planned to stake out our spot at the Mickey Pool and one of us would go grab lunch to bring back and then I would go back and decorate the stateroom while DH and DS's played. Well, since it was so chilly, we decided to head over to Parrot Cay. So glad we did! The buffet was very tasty and the desserts were WONDERFUL! Someone said the white chocolate raspberry parfait is new-- it was one of my favorite things on the ship! Oh, and the strawberry soup? We found the recipe in one of the cookbooks so I can make it at home-- delicious!!! I highly recommend both!
While the 3 boys dined, I went over to make additional Palo reservations and play with our dining assignment. They accomodated everything and our setup was perfect
Brunch at Palo on Monday at 10:30, dinner on Tuesday at 8 (it had been 9). I went back to the room to hang up our FE and decorate to surprise the boys and found out that our night in AP was also Tuesday. Since we wanted to take the boys to that, we decided to just do brunch at Palo and hope that something else opened up later. DH rested awhile while I took the boys over to our Dis meet (SO great to see all of you!!!) and then took them over to see the Oceaneer club (they were going to burst if I didn't get them over there!!!!). After the drill and a bit of exploring, it was time for dinner in PC. As we were leaving, the stateroom host for the cabins next to ours asked our boys their names... From that point on, he made sure to say hi to them every time he saw them (several times a day-- I think he was always working!!!). By the end of the trip, if the boys saw his cart and he was inside a room, they would even make sure that they said hello to HIM on their way by and he would come out to see how their day was going. It really was a nice little touch added to our days Back to dinner at PC-- Our server was Jakub from Czech Republic and our assistant server was Eszter from Hungary. They were both very sweet and patient (our kids take awhile to make decisions and were very excited about everything around them!!!). They both seemed like they might have been new and Eszter seemed really nervous and quiet. Things took a little while, a couple of food orders were messed up, and drinks were forgotten along the way, but other than that the service was ok. They were both very friendly and did their best to make sure everything was what we needed in the end.It was a rocky first night (that trip down the coastline is a little choppy I think), so after dinner we went back to the stateroom and called it a night. I forgot to mention, our wonderful stateroom hostess was Marilyn. She came in as we were surprising the boys with the decorations and said hello and welcomed us and asked if there was anything we needed. She made up the room perfectly and the boys LOVED her towel animals. She even turned around the making of the berth so my DH's head would be on the wall side. He likes to scoot up in bed, so I was afraid he was going to scoot up too far and get a rough awakening! But she turned it and even put an extra railing up there for him because I'm a nervous DM
Days 2-7 to be added... Don't worry-- they won't be as long, haha
