FergusBC
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2010
Trip Report Part Deux (or The Sequel)
I’m titling this the Coffee Can Cruise, for reasons I will explain later. Or not. I’m fickle like that.
This will be our THIRD Disney cruise! Third is capitalized because I JUST CAN”T BELIEVE IT! I remember when I would browse the DCL site and dream about taking a cruise, never thinking we’d ever actually manage to get on ONE. And now we’re looking at our THIRD! Never give up, never surrender!
Our first cruise was a delightful little rain soaked romp on the Wonder down the West Coast from Vancouver to Los Angeles, with a scenic stop in Ensenada. And that’s all it took to hook us! Our second was an unbelievably perfect Western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston – again on the Wonder. If you don’t believe me, the link to the trip report is in my siggie
.
When we were on that second cruise, DCL had just – and I mean ‘just’ - something like 3 days before we departed! – changed their on board booking policy so that your future cruise had to be completed within 18 months of booking. Well, now that didn’t sit well with me because at best we can cruise every other year. So it was very depressing to not have something booked when we got off that ship - a future cruise to plan and obsess obsessively over.
While the second-half 2015 itineraries were anticipated and discussed on the Disboards I sullenly lurked in the background, annoyed that I didn’t have an OBB to move and sad that we couldn’t afford the new pricing trend. Then I saw the new Mexican Baja cruises on the DCL press release. For previous readers you may or may not remember that DH and I had once had our hearts set on the DCL Mexican Riviera cruises – and then of course, DCL cancelled all those cruises. Took their toys and went home to Florida, so to speak. But now…hmmm….only 5 nights but still…a west coast departure….and not insanely priced….! Now I was starting to get excited…
I’m going to interrupt this cheerfulness with a bit of background pathos. While all of the above was going on, my eldest daughter was having health issues and eventually diagnosed with a chronic disease. We were at the start of what turned out to be a very stressful year full of ups and downs and too many unknowns to count.
And with all this going on and so much uncertainty, I didn’t dare even broach the idea of another cruise to DH, fearing that he’d instantly have me committed. And of course, these Mexican cruises were scheduled during the school year so really, how could I take my kids out of school?! Especially with the eldest just starting high school. Oh…but wait…one of those cruises falls during our (Canadian) Thanksgiving week…so it would be a short school week anyway…………And omg, that’s DH’s birthday weekend!
So really, can I be blamed for seeing destiny written in the sky…er Internet!? We were meant to go on that cruise! So with all that creative rationalization, I used my DCL ninja skills and quietly, and secretly, booked a verandah room for the October 11th Mexican Baja cruise. And thus began the Year of Living Silently …
For months, I kept the secret… always with the thought in the back of my mind that ‘I’ll probably have to cancel it anyway…’
As DD’s health deteriorated, I came soooooooooooo close to including her in the secret. I desperately wanted to give her good news, anything to see her smile. But I knew it had too much potential to backfire. It was still well over a year away and my god, it would break her heart if I told her and then had to cancel!
I had some close calls too! DD was lying on the couch one day and very seriously called mommy and daddy over because she needed to ask us a question. “Are we going on a cruise because I saw some pictures on mommy’s screensaver about the Wonder and 2015?”
My inside voice reply: *$(*&(#%^#&#_)
My outside voice reply: “Oh honey no! You know how mommy just likes to play with her photoshop program…I was probably just using random dates to play with some graphics”
DH of course, still didn’t know so he so innocently backed me up in my WEB o’LIES! Talk about feeling two inches tall – lying to my husband and my sick child. I tried to tell myself it would all be good soon, but still…part of me felt like such a very bad mommy. But then there was this other part that was “Wow, how good am I at lying!?”
Then we got mail from DCL. I was at work and DH phoned to say an envelope had arrived.
Again, inside voice: $&^*^(#$)*#)($.
Outside voice: Oh, it’s probably just junk mail. I’ll open it when I get home.
I can’t remember the reason but DH and kids ended up picking me up from work that day, and they brought the envelope. “Open it, Mom! Open it!” So I tore open enough to look in – “Yeah, just as I thought…it’s a brochure for a bunch of crap we can’t afford”, I says to them…and then with a forced casualness tucked the envelope deep into my shoulder bag. Then proceeded to sweat bullets on the drive home, expecting one of the kids to ask to have a look at the brochure! Thankfully they had already forgotten about it.
And again, impressive lying skills, Mommy!
It was, of course, no junk mail but our navy blue reservation confirmation folder!
Over the next few months I watched the price of our cruise climb higher and higher; I started to realize that it wouldn’t be so simple to just cancel the cruise, now that it was starting to look like a bargain price! Eventually the price for our cabin category topped out at over two and half times what we paid!!! How could I walk away from that!?!
As the summer progressed, things got worse…then fall arrived and finally, things started getting better. DD was back in school and getting stronger everyday. We became cautiously optimistic that the worst was behind us and I was beginning to consider that hey, maybe we can do this cruise! DH’s birthday – a significant one at that – was approaching so I started to get ready to break the news to him. I wrapped up the ‘junk mail’ with a Mickey Mexican flag pin and gave it to him after the kids were in bed… I think his first reaction was somewhere in the “***?” category. Then he cut straight to the point: “Can we do this?”
I laid out my PLAN (poor DH..the women in his life always have a PLAN) for making it happen. Of course, the saving grace was we still had eight months to get our deposit back if we couldn’t swing it.
So finally – I had a fellow conspirator in the great Disney Cruise Secret!
Fun and frivolity ensued! Except for the girls. Because they still didn’t know
Yes, but what’s the deal with the Coffee Can?
I’m titling this the Coffee Can Cruise, for reasons I will explain later. Or not. I’m fickle like that.
This will be our THIRD Disney cruise! Third is capitalized because I JUST CAN”T BELIEVE IT! I remember when I would browse the DCL site and dream about taking a cruise, never thinking we’d ever actually manage to get on ONE. And now we’re looking at our THIRD! Never give up, never surrender!
Our first cruise was a delightful little rain soaked romp on the Wonder down the West Coast from Vancouver to Los Angeles, with a scenic stop in Ensenada. And that’s all it took to hook us! Our second was an unbelievably perfect Western Caribbean cruise out of Galveston – again on the Wonder. If you don’t believe me, the link to the trip report is in my siggie
.When we were on that second cruise, DCL had just – and I mean ‘just’ - something like 3 days before we departed! – changed their on board booking policy so that your future cruise had to be completed within 18 months of booking. Well, now that didn’t sit well with me because at best we can cruise every other year. So it was very depressing to not have something booked when we got off that ship - a future cruise to plan and obsess obsessively over.
While the second-half 2015 itineraries were anticipated and discussed on the Disboards I sullenly lurked in the background, annoyed that I didn’t have an OBB to move and sad that we couldn’t afford the new pricing trend. Then I saw the new Mexican Baja cruises on the DCL press release. For previous readers you may or may not remember that DH and I had once had our hearts set on the DCL Mexican Riviera cruises – and then of course, DCL cancelled all those cruises. Took their toys and went home to Florida, so to speak. But now…hmmm….only 5 nights but still…a west coast departure….and not insanely priced….! Now I was starting to get excited…
I’m going to interrupt this cheerfulness with a bit of background pathos. While all of the above was going on, my eldest daughter was having health issues and eventually diagnosed with a chronic disease. We were at the start of what turned out to be a very stressful year full of ups and downs and too many unknowns to count.
And with all this going on and so much uncertainty, I didn’t dare even broach the idea of another cruise to DH, fearing that he’d instantly have me committed. And of course, these Mexican cruises were scheduled during the school year so really, how could I take my kids out of school?! Especially with the eldest just starting high school. Oh…but wait…one of those cruises falls during our (Canadian) Thanksgiving week…so it would be a short school week anyway…………And omg, that’s DH’s birthday weekend!
So really, can I be blamed for seeing destiny written in the sky…er Internet!? We were meant to go on that cruise! So with all that creative rationalization, I used my DCL ninja skills and quietly, and secretly, booked a verandah room for the October 11th Mexican Baja cruise. And thus began the Year of Living Silently …
For months, I kept the secret… always with the thought in the back of my mind that ‘I’ll probably have to cancel it anyway…’
As DD’s health deteriorated, I came soooooooooooo close to including her in the secret. I desperately wanted to give her good news, anything to see her smile. But I knew it had too much potential to backfire. It was still well over a year away and my god, it would break her heart if I told her and then had to cancel!
I had some close calls too! DD was lying on the couch one day and very seriously called mommy and daddy over because she needed to ask us a question. “Are we going on a cruise because I saw some pictures on mommy’s screensaver about the Wonder and 2015?”
My inside voice reply: *$(*&(#%^#&#_)
My outside voice reply: “Oh honey no! You know how mommy just likes to play with her photoshop program…I was probably just using random dates to play with some graphics”
DH of course, still didn’t know so he so innocently backed me up in my WEB o’LIES! Talk about feeling two inches tall – lying to my husband and my sick child. I tried to tell myself it would all be good soon, but still…part of me felt like such a very bad mommy. But then there was this other part that was “Wow, how good am I at lying!?”
Then we got mail from DCL. I was at work and DH phoned to say an envelope had arrived.
Again, inside voice: $&^*^(#$)*#)($.
Outside voice: Oh, it’s probably just junk mail. I’ll open it when I get home.
I can’t remember the reason but DH and kids ended up picking me up from work that day, and they brought the envelope. “Open it, Mom! Open it!” So I tore open enough to look in – “Yeah, just as I thought…it’s a brochure for a bunch of crap we can’t afford”, I says to them…and then with a forced casualness tucked the envelope deep into my shoulder bag. Then proceeded to sweat bullets on the drive home, expecting one of the kids to ask to have a look at the brochure! Thankfully they had already forgotten about it.
And again, impressive lying skills, Mommy!
It was, of course, no junk mail but our navy blue reservation confirmation folder!
Over the next few months I watched the price of our cruise climb higher and higher; I started to realize that it wouldn’t be so simple to just cancel the cruise, now that it was starting to look like a bargain price! Eventually the price for our cabin category topped out at over two and half times what we paid!!! How could I walk away from that!?!
As the summer progressed, things got worse…then fall arrived and finally, things started getting better. DD was back in school and getting stronger everyday. We became cautiously optimistic that the worst was behind us and I was beginning to consider that hey, maybe we can do this cruise! DH’s birthday – a significant one at that – was approaching so I started to get ready to break the news to him. I wrapped up the ‘junk mail’ with a Mickey Mexican flag pin and gave it to him after the kids were in bed… I think his first reaction was somewhere in the “***?” category. Then he cut straight to the point: “Can we do this?”
I laid out my PLAN (poor DH..the women in his life always have a PLAN) for making it happen. Of course, the saving grace was we still had eight months to get our deposit back if we couldn’t swing it.
So finally – I had a fellow conspirator in the great Disney Cruise Secret!
Fun and frivolity ensued! Except for the girls. Because they still didn’t know
Yes, but what’s the deal with the Coffee Can?
.
You tried so hard to hide it from them, too! Darn! I remember I posted on our cruise group meet thread and you asked me to delete so no one in the family would see it! Can't wait to hear more details!
.
But yay, now you're finally in San Diego at least ;-)
