franandaj
I'm so happy, I could BOUNCE!
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
Hi folks! We're back on another DCL adventure. It's been far too long since our last cruise which was back in April of 2013. Here we are on that cruise.
Back when I was starting my TR for the Southwest Road Trip, I struggled to find pictures of the two of us that were not taken while eating or were not taken at Disney. This past summer, Fran's health has been better than ever and we embarked on quite a few new and exciting adventures.
Here we are at a Car Club get together that I did a short post for it on my last TR
This is us at the Star Trek Convention in July, Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4
And here we are on a Midwestern road trip last August which included a variety of fun none of which was Disney related. Post 1, Post 2, Post 3
It's time for us to get back to good old Disney fun. We have planned a 5 night Western Caribbean Cruise out of Miami on the Wonder followed by 5 nights in Ft. Lauderdale with about 200 friends. For those who have followed along before you know that I like to start out the TR as live as it can get, posting a few updates while were on the trip, and wrapping it up once were back home. Im going to try and do that again, but well be pretty busy so youll have to see how that works out for me!
We booked this cruise over a year and a half ago when we were on the Magic, coincidentally a cruise with the same itinerary except that it came out of Galveston. Fran, being the brilliant schemer that she is, figured that we had to fly to Ft. Lauderdale for the band conference anyways, why not get in another cruise towards our platinum status while we're at it? Miami is right next door. So this cruise gets us back to town the day before we need to be there for our band commitment. We'll have a day to wind down, do laundry and get ready for the next activity. This is the plan.
Wed. Oct. 29 - 11AM flight to DFW, 4PM flight to FTL with an 11PM arrival
Thurs. Oct 30 - Extended Stay America, acclimate and purchase cruise beverages
Fri. Oct. 31 - Board Disney Wonder
Sat. Nov. 1 - At sea, FB Mixology class, Palo dinner
Sun. Nov 2 - Grand Cayman, Island Tour
Mon. Nov 3 - Cozumel, Chankanaab, Pirate night
Tues. Nov. 4 - At Sea, Palo Brunch
Wed. Nov. 5 - Get off the ship. Embassy Suites, laundry
Thurs. Nov. 6 - relax, evening band rehearsal
Fri. Nov. 7 - Morning meeting, early afternoon band rehearsal plus late afternoon band rehearsal, evening free
Sat. Nov 8 - Morning meeting, afternoon technical rehearsal with band, Fiesta Caliente Concert
Sun. Nov 9 - free time!
Mon. Nov 10 - afternoon flight home
Were in single digits for this trip, so I thought that it was high time to start the TR and get the excitement going! Here are our plans in a little bit more detail.
Wed. Oct 29
The first night our plane arrives, we dont even get to the airport until 11PM between the time that it takes to get our luggage and ground transportation it will be about 1AM before we get to the hotel. The good news is that our bodies will only think its 10PM. The bad news is we will be starving. If you followed our last cruise were doing better this time, we didnt get to the hotel until something like 3:30AM, so were at least two hours better!
So if you followed our last cruise you know I resorted to Velveeta Shells and Cheese cups in the room in the microwave for our 4AM dinner. This time I can do one better. We are staying at an Extended Stay America so I can actually cook us Mac and Cheese on the stove and add kielbasa cooked in the skillet for our dinner. I think this is a real winner and hearty go to bed dinner. After a good Mac n Cheese dinner, Im sure well sleep well.
Thurs. Oct 30 We have three goals for this day.
1) Get our instruments to one of the conference hosts so we dont have to take them on the ship
2) Buy beverages for the cruise
3) Arrange for a taxi to take us to the port
Other than that everything is icing on the cake. Our hotel does not come with a breakfast, so I better plan for that in bringing stuff for toast, cereal or some other easy breakfast before we leave the room. Other than that, I think well sleep, catch up online and generally just be lazy.
Fri. Oct 31 Embarkation Day
Our taxi should be ready to take us to the port at around 10:00AM. We have a boarding time of 11:30AM so I want to make sure we are there in plenty of time. Its about a 45 minute drive from our hotel to the port.
Once onboard, I plan on booking us into a chocolate tasting first off before we have lunch or anything. Then well head to Parrot Cay for some lunch and then hopefully to our stateroom to relax.
Heres Fran at our last embarkation lunch on the Wonder.
I may see what specials they are offering that day in the spa and book a massage. Ive requested Tritons for dinner that night, well see if I get my requested dining rotation.
Its also Halloween night so I may or may not have a costume lined up! Youll have to wait for the pictures!
Sat. Nov. 1 Day at Sea
This may all be subject to change based on the Navigator, but as I sit at home, I plan to put out the room service tag before going to bed the previous night. Ill order coffee, a bagel and cream cheese, and a box of cereal to be delivered around 7:30-8:00AM. This will alleviate the need to get up and get an early breakfast, and we can just take our time. After all were on vacation. Well enjoy the Disney movies on the TV or just have coffee on the Verandah.
I want to have lunch at Tritons so I dont want to be full from a big breakfast. This may be a great time to drop off our FE gifts as well, or see if there is Trivia or Bingo happening. Ive only had lunch at Tritons once before and this was the menu the last time I ate there.
After lunch at Tritons we have a private Mixology class booked for our Facebook Group at 2:00PM. Im sure well want to sleep a bit after the class, or not! Its formal night and we have Palo reservations at 7PM. I intend to leave there in a food coma. Especially after one of these!
Sun. Nov. 2 Grand Cayman
I intend to wake up every morning to room service delivered coffee and a snack, however this day we will also visit BBB or Tritons for Breakfast, we need a hearty meal for this morning. Weve booked an Island Tour for our excursion this day and that meets on shore at 12:15. Well need to be in the tendering stations by about 11:00AM to ensure we arent late. Id also like to pick up some Rum Cakes across the street from the dock before our excursion. We visit places like Hell and the Turtle Farm before arriving back to the port around 2:45PM. All aboard is at 3:30 so we want to beat the crowds.
Well grab lunch at either Goofys, Plutos or Room Service and rest up for dinner. If my rotation request is filled, well be at Animators Palate and its Casual night. Chances are we go right to bed after dinner.
Mon. Nov. 3 Cozumel
For this day I took a cue from Corinna, on her last visit to Cozumel she caught a taxi to Chankanaab and made her own excursion. Ive read numerous reports of folks who brought sandwiches from Goofys for lunch, and made an affordable day out of it. They have snorkeling, a little museum, snacks, aquariums, and tequila tasting, sounds just perfect! Ive heard that a cab is only about $10 each way, and we can come back when weve had enough and just want to come back to the ship. All aboard is 5:45PM, but I suspect we will be on the ship well before then.
Its Pirate night this night, and I do have a pirate outfit and so does Fran. We hope to be dining in Parrot Cay this night.
Tues. Nov. 4 At Sea
The last day of the cruise. Bittersweet. But at least we have more fun to look forward to in the coming days. This morning begins with Palo Brunch! Where I plan to have some Strawberry Soup:
And definitely Chicken Parmesan
Im sure Ill sample the buffet
And have some dessert
Im not exactly sure what else we will do on our last day of the cruise.
Wed. Nov. 5 Disembark & Reacclimate
Were going to take our sweet time getting off of the ship. We will linger at breakfast, and once we finally get off the ship well pick up our rental car. Our next chapter in this trip takes us to the Embassy Suites Ft. Lauderdale, just a hop skip and a jump from the Extended Stay America where we started the trip. This is the day that many of our folks from the Band Conference will begin arriving. We plan to take the time to do laundry and decompress from the cruise. Dinner will be wherever we want.
Thurs. Nov. 6 Conference begins
With our stay at the Embassy Suites we get a complimentary hot breakfast. We dont have any obligations during the day so we may go out and sightsee, or maybe practice some of our music in the room! Most everyone will have arrived by the afternoon and there is a rehearsal from 7:00-9:00PM this evening.
Fri. Nov. 7 Conference continues
In addition to the fun of playing a concert there is business that needs to be taken care of. After our complimentary breakfast, we need to be at a delegates meeting from 9-11AM. Since no one from our band other than ourselves seems to feel that it is important to attend these conferences, even though we are no longer on the board of the local band, we are still the delegates for the International Association.
There is a rehearsal from 11:30-1:30, lunch break until 3:30PM and there is another rehearsal until 7:00PM. At which point we are free to go for dinner. This will be a long day.
Sat. Nov. 8 Conference continues
Yet one more meeting from 9AM-11AM to wrap up the business covered in the previous meeting. The first is presentations, the second is voting on said presentations, then we are done with the business for the weekend. Unless elected to the board, they still have one more meeting. We arent running, so were safe.
There is a technical rehearsal from 2:00-5:00PM. This is where they test out all the projectors, and other funny props that they plan to use during the concert. If they work we are done on time, if not, well that cuts into our dinner break.
Im sure glad we have a car. There is a shuttle bus to take folks from the hotel to the Performing Arts Center. The materials say that shuttles start before the rehearsal and they resume after the concert. That tells me people are stranded at the concert hall from 2PM until after the concert (about 10PM). The schedule says that dinner is at 5PM so I guess that means they are serving some kind of dinner. Like I said, Im glad we have a car, we can go get some fast food, or have something in the car ready to go along with out clothes so that we dont have to wait in long lines for food that we may or may not like. I hate being at the mercy of other folks and banquet staff when we dont know what our options are. Sometimes they are good, but sometimes they arent.
After the concert its back to the hotel and probably out for some food and drinks. But well see, this is also going to be a long day.
Sun. Nov. 9 Free Day!
When we book our airfare for these conferences, we never know the schedule until the event gets close, and by then all the good frequent flyer mile flights are gone. We booked this back in December before they had released the actual itinerary, and there was a possibility that there could have been meetings or something this day so we booked our flights home on Monday. That means that we have nothing scheduled for this day.
It turns out that as part of our conference package, they were able to score admission to a local classic car museum. Well fancy that! Guess what we will probably do on this free day!
A lot of our friends will have already left on their flights home or taken off to drive home, so by this time, it will probably be just the two of us again enjoying dinner out somewhere local, before returning to the hotel to crash.
Mon. Nov. 10 Fly Home
By this time, Im sure we will be missing our kitties and will be more than ready to come home. Well have a little time to kill once we check out of the hotel before we need to be at the airport. I hear that there is a great mall nearby with a Disney outlet and everything. If we havent already hit this one, Im sure thats where we will spend our free time before checking in at the airport and going home.
So thats the rub! I hope youll join in and enjoy the ride!
Back when I was starting my TR for the Southwest Road Trip, I struggled to find pictures of the two of us that were not taken while eating or were not taken at Disney. This past summer, Fran's health has been better than ever and we embarked on quite a few new and exciting adventures.
Here we are at a Car Club get together that I did a short post for it on my last TR
This is us at the Star Trek Convention in July, Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4
And here we are on a Midwestern road trip last August which included a variety of fun none of which was Disney related. Post 1, Post 2, Post 3
It's time for us to get back to good old Disney fun. We have planned a 5 night Western Caribbean Cruise out of Miami on the Wonder followed by 5 nights in Ft. Lauderdale with about 200 friends. For those who have followed along before you know that I like to start out the TR as live as it can get, posting a few updates while were on the trip, and wrapping it up once were back home. Im going to try and do that again, but well be pretty busy so youll have to see how that works out for me!
We booked this cruise over a year and a half ago when we were on the Magic, coincidentally a cruise with the same itinerary except that it came out of Galveston. Fran, being the brilliant schemer that she is, figured that we had to fly to Ft. Lauderdale for the band conference anyways, why not get in another cruise towards our platinum status while we're at it? Miami is right next door. So this cruise gets us back to town the day before we need to be there for our band commitment. We'll have a day to wind down, do laundry and get ready for the next activity. This is the plan.
Wed. Oct. 29 - 11AM flight to DFW, 4PM flight to FTL with an 11PM arrival
Thurs. Oct 30 - Extended Stay America, acclimate and purchase cruise beverages
Fri. Oct. 31 - Board Disney Wonder
Sat. Nov. 1 - At sea, FB Mixology class, Palo dinner
Sun. Nov 2 - Grand Cayman, Island Tour
Mon. Nov 3 - Cozumel, Chankanaab, Pirate night
Tues. Nov. 4 - At Sea, Palo Brunch
Wed. Nov. 5 - Get off the ship. Embassy Suites, laundry
Thurs. Nov. 6 - relax, evening band rehearsal
Fri. Nov. 7 - Morning meeting, early afternoon band rehearsal plus late afternoon band rehearsal, evening free
Sat. Nov 8 - Morning meeting, afternoon technical rehearsal with band, Fiesta Caliente Concert
Sun. Nov 9 - free time!
Mon. Nov 10 - afternoon flight home
Were in single digits for this trip, so I thought that it was high time to start the TR and get the excitement going! Here are our plans in a little bit more detail.
Wed. Oct 29
The first night our plane arrives, we dont even get to the airport until 11PM between the time that it takes to get our luggage and ground transportation it will be about 1AM before we get to the hotel. The good news is that our bodies will only think its 10PM. The bad news is we will be starving. If you followed our last cruise were doing better this time, we didnt get to the hotel until something like 3:30AM, so were at least two hours better!
So if you followed our last cruise you know I resorted to Velveeta Shells and Cheese cups in the room in the microwave for our 4AM dinner. This time I can do one better. We are staying at an Extended Stay America so I can actually cook us Mac and Cheese on the stove and add kielbasa cooked in the skillet for our dinner. I think this is a real winner and hearty go to bed dinner. After a good Mac n Cheese dinner, Im sure well sleep well.
Thurs. Oct 30 We have three goals for this day.
1) Get our instruments to one of the conference hosts so we dont have to take them on the ship
2) Buy beverages for the cruise
3) Arrange for a taxi to take us to the port
Other than that everything is icing on the cake. Our hotel does not come with a breakfast, so I better plan for that in bringing stuff for toast, cereal or some other easy breakfast before we leave the room. Other than that, I think well sleep, catch up online and generally just be lazy.
Fri. Oct 31 Embarkation Day
Our taxi should be ready to take us to the port at around 10:00AM. We have a boarding time of 11:30AM so I want to make sure we are there in plenty of time. Its about a 45 minute drive from our hotel to the port.
Once onboard, I plan on booking us into a chocolate tasting first off before we have lunch or anything. Then well head to Parrot Cay for some lunch and then hopefully to our stateroom to relax.
Heres Fran at our last embarkation lunch on the Wonder.
I may see what specials they are offering that day in the spa and book a massage. Ive requested Tritons for dinner that night, well see if I get my requested dining rotation.
Its also Halloween night so I may or may not have a costume lined up! Youll have to wait for the pictures!
Sat. Nov. 1 Day at Sea
This may all be subject to change based on the Navigator, but as I sit at home, I plan to put out the room service tag before going to bed the previous night. Ill order coffee, a bagel and cream cheese, and a box of cereal to be delivered around 7:30-8:00AM. This will alleviate the need to get up and get an early breakfast, and we can just take our time. After all were on vacation. Well enjoy the Disney movies on the TV or just have coffee on the Verandah.
I want to have lunch at Tritons so I dont want to be full from a big breakfast. This may be a great time to drop off our FE gifts as well, or see if there is Trivia or Bingo happening. Ive only had lunch at Tritons once before and this was the menu the last time I ate there.
After lunch at Tritons we have a private Mixology class booked for our Facebook Group at 2:00PM. Im sure well want to sleep a bit after the class, or not! Its formal night and we have Palo reservations at 7PM. I intend to leave there in a food coma. Especially after one of these!
Sun. Nov. 2 Grand Cayman
I intend to wake up every morning to room service delivered coffee and a snack, however this day we will also visit BBB or Tritons for Breakfast, we need a hearty meal for this morning. Weve booked an Island Tour for our excursion this day and that meets on shore at 12:15. Well need to be in the tendering stations by about 11:00AM to ensure we arent late. Id also like to pick up some Rum Cakes across the street from the dock before our excursion. We visit places like Hell and the Turtle Farm before arriving back to the port around 2:45PM. All aboard is at 3:30 so we want to beat the crowds.
Well grab lunch at either Goofys, Plutos or Room Service and rest up for dinner. If my rotation request is filled, well be at Animators Palate and its Casual night. Chances are we go right to bed after dinner.
Mon. Nov. 3 Cozumel
For this day I took a cue from Corinna, on her last visit to Cozumel she caught a taxi to Chankanaab and made her own excursion. Ive read numerous reports of folks who brought sandwiches from Goofys for lunch, and made an affordable day out of it. They have snorkeling, a little museum, snacks, aquariums, and tequila tasting, sounds just perfect! Ive heard that a cab is only about $10 each way, and we can come back when weve had enough and just want to come back to the ship. All aboard is 5:45PM, but I suspect we will be on the ship well before then.
Its Pirate night this night, and I do have a pirate outfit and so does Fran. We hope to be dining in Parrot Cay this night.
Tues. Nov. 4 At Sea
The last day of the cruise. Bittersweet. But at least we have more fun to look forward to in the coming days. This morning begins with Palo Brunch! Where I plan to have some Strawberry Soup:
And definitely Chicken Parmesan
Im sure Ill sample the buffet
And have some dessert
Im not exactly sure what else we will do on our last day of the cruise.
Wed. Nov. 5 Disembark & Reacclimate
Were going to take our sweet time getting off of the ship. We will linger at breakfast, and once we finally get off the ship well pick up our rental car. Our next chapter in this trip takes us to the Embassy Suites Ft. Lauderdale, just a hop skip and a jump from the Extended Stay America where we started the trip. This is the day that many of our folks from the Band Conference will begin arriving. We plan to take the time to do laundry and decompress from the cruise. Dinner will be wherever we want.
Thurs. Nov. 6 Conference begins
With our stay at the Embassy Suites we get a complimentary hot breakfast. We dont have any obligations during the day so we may go out and sightsee, or maybe practice some of our music in the room! Most everyone will have arrived by the afternoon and there is a rehearsal from 7:00-9:00PM this evening.
Fri. Nov. 7 Conference continues
In addition to the fun of playing a concert there is business that needs to be taken care of. After our complimentary breakfast, we need to be at a delegates meeting from 9-11AM. Since no one from our band other than ourselves seems to feel that it is important to attend these conferences, even though we are no longer on the board of the local band, we are still the delegates for the International Association.
There is a rehearsal from 11:30-1:30, lunch break until 3:30PM and there is another rehearsal until 7:00PM. At which point we are free to go for dinner. This will be a long day.
Sat. Nov. 8 Conference continues
Yet one more meeting from 9AM-11AM to wrap up the business covered in the previous meeting. The first is presentations, the second is voting on said presentations, then we are done with the business for the weekend. Unless elected to the board, they still have one more meeting. We arent running, so were safe.
There is a technical rehearsal from 2:00-5:00PM. This is where they test out all the projectors, and other funny props that they plan to use during the concert. If they work we are done on time, if not, well that cuts into our dinner break.
Im sure glad we have a car. There is a shuttle bus to take folks from the hotel to the Performing Arts Center. The materials say that shuttles start before the rehearsal and they resume after the concert. That tells me people are stranded at the concert hall from 2PM until after the concert (about 10PM). The schedule says that dinner is at 5PM so I guess that means they are serving some kind of dinner. Like I said, Im glad we have a car, we can go get some fast food, or have something in the car ready to go along with out clothes so that we dont have to wait in long lines for food that we may or may not like. I hate being at the mercy of other folks and banquet staff when we dont know what our options are. Sometimes they are good, but sometimes they arent.
After the concert its back to the hotel and probably out for some food and drinks. But well see, this is also going to be a long day.
Sun. Nov. 9 Free Day!
When we book our airfare for these conferences, we never know the schedule until the event gets close, and by then all the good frequent flyer mile flights are gone. We booked this back in December before they had released the actual itinerary, and there was a possibility that there could have been meetings or something this day so we booked our flights home on Monday. That means that we have nothing scheduled for this day.
It turns out that as part of our conference package, they were able to score admission to a local classic car museum. Well fancy that! Guess what we will probably do on this free day!
A lot of our friends will have already left on their flights home or taken off to drive home, so by this time, it will probably be just the two of us again enjoying dinner out somewhere local, before returning to the hotel to crash.
Mon. Nov. 10 Fly Home
By this time, Im sure we will be missing our kitties and will be more than ready to come home. Well have a little time to kill once we check out of the hotel before we need to be at the airport. I hear that there is a great mall nearby with a Disney outlet and everything. If we havent already hit this one, Im sure thats where we will spend our free time before checking in at the airport and going home.
So thats the rub! I hope youll join in and enjoy the ride!
We have a B2B booked out of San Diego, a two night to nowhere followed by a three night to Ensenada. I hope to be Platinum within another 2 years or so.
I take no responsibility! You liked them all on your own!
