Too little time to be DREAMing on this ship! 3/3/13, The Bahamas on the DREAM

[nkochrn]

Hi All! I'm just returning from my Disney vacation! The cast of this trip is my DH (Bob), DD5 (Marissa), and DS3 (Ryan).

You can see my short little Pre-Trip Review here.

The short version is: We booked for January 2013, had to cancel as my Father was dying from cancer and passed away 1/21/13. We got our full trip reimbursed through the travel agent without any problems and rebooked for March 3rd and were able to keep the same excursions (dolphin encounter and snorkeling.) Bob insisted we drive from Kansas to Port Canaveral, so that's exactly what we did!

I tried to sit on the computer every night and type a little journal entry of what we did each day so I could remember everything. I did pretty good at keeping it up, good thing too because when I was a day behind I had trouble remembering the exact order of events!

Here's a few things I would do differently next time:
-I wouldn't ever come home, haha, J/K, I can dream though. I will definitely be booking longer cruise next
time.
-Take an over the shoulder purse! I didn't want to carry around a purse, but I ended up always carrying
around stuff, like the autograph books, next time I will definitely bring a cross body purse!
-Worry less about the kids in the club, they loved it there! I'll spend more time at the adult events, the couple
of these we attended we enjoyed a LOT.
-EARLY dining, we booked late dining because we didn't want to have to hurry back on the ship and to get
ready. The kids were tired by this time, although they did really good.


Here's our story:
One trip to another Day 1 on the Road
Two More Days on the Road
Embarktion Day
Nassau
Castaway Cay
The Cherised Navigators!

 

[nkochrn]

The week before our cruise I had to go on a little business trip in Plano, TX.

On 2/28 I flew back to Kansas City, where Bob and the kids picked me up to begin road trip! Marissa was already starting to say she didn't feel good before we got out of KC, I was starting to think this was going to be a long drive if she was gonna be car sick the whole time!!! She did fine after we had a little bit to eat. PHEW!!! She gets that car sick thing from me, when I was young I couldn't spend more than a half hour in a car without puking, luckily I outgrew that or I wouldn't be getting on a ship!

We made it to the East side of St. Louis and checked into a hotel, I had signed up for the star rewards program at the ALOFT in Plano last week, so I checked out the SPG site for a place in St. Louis and found a Four Points by Sheraton for $73. Ryan fell asleep around 9:45 and now that were in the hotel he's a little wound up, he's already asked for his other race car blankie and his tractor pillow, which we didn't bring. Once I laid down with him he went to sleep quickly.

 

[iloverags2]

I'm so sorry about your father. Hopefully this trip was able to give your family a bit of a break from life and its heartbreak.

 

[couchpotato]

What movie was playing on the cruise?

 

[nkochrn]

What movie was playing on the cruise?

Movies were Wreck it Ralph & Finding Nemo in 3D, Lincoln, The Odd Life of Timothy Green.

 

[nkochrn]

On Friday morning we hit the road about 9am and stopped for lunch in Puducah, KY. We found a Chuck E Cheese and thought it would be a great place to let the kids run for awhile, they were SOOOO excited! Marissa said, "It was even more fun than I thought it was gonna be!" Ryan was scared of Chuck and this is when I began to fear that he'd be scared of Mickey! DH was right though when he said Chuck E is a rat, Mickey is a mouse, he'll be fine! LOL.

We drove through lots of mountains in Tennessee and stopped at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chatanooga and ate dinner before getting back on the road again. We found a Comfort Suites to stay at in Forsyth, GA, there was a little old lady working at the front desk and she asked if I had any discounts, which I didn't, so she said, "well tonight you're gonna be a senior citizen." We spent some time in the pool this morning and were getting all ready to get on the road again.

Saturday morning we got up and went for a swim in the indoor pool. We then headed out of Forsyth towards Florida. We got to St. Augustine, FL around 3:30, where we went to Pirate Museum and then walked around the fort. I wish I had more pictures of this, but since we weren't able to take them in the museum I didn't get any! We stayed at the Residence Inn at Cape Canaveral and got the suite since there was no difference in price! This room was very nice and breakfast was delicious the next morning although it was very crowded. I got one load of laundry done so we'd have clean clothes to wear on our way back home. This looked like a very nice place to stay for an extended amount of time!


DSC_7194 - Copy by nkochrn, on Flickr

DSC_7193 - Copy by nkochrn, on Flickr

DSC_7197 - Copy by nkochrn, on Flickr

DSC_7199 - Copy by nkochrn, on Flickr

DSC_7202 - Copy by nkochrn, on Flickr

We were excited to be getting on the ship in the morning!

 

[nkochrn]

I got all my Navigators scanned last night, I'll post them tonight when I get home and have more time to get them uploaded! I can definitely see how it's helpful to know what is gonna be going on to plan out your days!

 

[Barkell]

Subscribing. : We are going on the 3 night Dream cruise on with a 3YO DD on 5/2. I keep telling DH that I don't think 3 nights will be long enough, but he's not buying it.

I can't wait to see the Navigators!

You have an adorable family.

 

[jenseib]

Joining in to hear about your fun. I liked that you took your time driving. I bet it made it more bearable to do it that way.
We stay at that Residence Inn as well, but I wonder if they remodeled since Nov. because your furniture looks nicer.

 

[nkochrn]

Subscribing. : We are going on the 3 night Dream cruise on with a 3YO DD on 5/2. I keep telling DH that I don't think 3 nights will be long enough, but he's not buying it.

I can't wait to see the Navigators!

You have an adorable family.

We decided on 4 nights b/c we thought 3 wouldn't be enough and didn't want to be stuck on a boat if we didn't like it or got seasick, especially the kids. Turns out they were fine even during the really rocky night. Looking back it seems like we didn't have near enough time for everything! I would definitely be pushing for the 4 night!

 

[dramaqueenemj22]

Hi! I subbing, I'm actually going through a little bit of cruise withdrawls, I won't be able to go on another cruise for a few years. Can't wait to hear about your trip.

 

[nkochrn]

Sunday morning we woke up excited to get on the ship! We had a good breakfast at the Residence Inn, although the breakfast area was VERY crowded. We took the shuttle to the port and arrived around 11:30, the shuttle service took care of our checked luggage from that point and we headed inside. We avoided the huge line for Mickey Mouse since we knew we'd have plenty of photo opportunities on-board. We got the kids bracelets for the kid's club and by the time we were out of there it was time for us to board the ship! We saw Pluto on the Deck 4 balcony.

First thing we did when we got on the boat was head up to deck 11 for some food and drinks too of course! This fruity tropical drink was delicious, it was called a Paradise Cocktail.

Marissa was ANXIOUS to get in the pool, so her and I jumped in and FROZE when we got out! It was about time we could get in to our room so we headed to deck 9 to check out our Inside Stateroom, 9667. I forgot to take pictures before the chaos of the 3 and 5 y/o invaded!

Kids were excited to see Lightening McQueen on the virtual porthole right
away, but I missed getting a picture of it!

We then checked out the kids club, which they both LOVED. I'm not sure WHY I didn't have my good camera out when I was in here!

After the muster drill we went to the Sail Away Party on deck. The kids had a blast here!

Ryan was getting REALLY tired by now, so after the party him and Bob headed to the room for a little nap. He never fell asleep but he got some rest. Meanwhile Marissa and I did some exploring around the ship, we ran into Snow White as she was passing through deck 4 and then we got in the SHORT line to see Mickey!

We went to the Golden Mickey's show at 6:15, which was AMAZING, Marissa was VERY excited when Rupunzel stopped right in front of us to tell her Hi! Marissa had been BEGGING all afternoon to go back to the kids club, so we dropped them both off, they walked in without ever looking back or saying bye! So Bob and I did our own exploring of the ship before picking them back up for dinner at the Royal Palace. Dinner was good but kind of long. After Dinner we headed back to our room to try to put the kids to bed, since Ryan was about to fall asleep at supper. The dessert he had started to kick in about that time though so he was VERY wound up! I also had a Major headache all of a sudden. He did eventually fall asleep in our bed. I'd been having so much fun I forgot to take a ton of pictures of everything.

 

[princessnpirate]

Looking forward to your trip report!

 

[nkochrn]

WOW, writing this trip review is proving to be a lot more work than I thought! LOL. Good thing I have lots of good notes about what we did to help me remember, just got to get the right pictures to add to them

This morning I was awake early and anxious to see Nassau, I took a little stroll around the upper decks and could see Atlantis in the distance. I did take a few pictures on the deck, not too many since I know there a lot of those here already

I headed back to the room and we got the kids up and ready for our outing. We were to meet at 9:30 for our Dolphin excursion. It was 9:15 before we made our way up to the breakfast buffet, so we grabbed some yogurt and milk for the kids to eat quickly. When we got off the ship we got onto a water taxi and took a 35 minute ride to the Blue Lagoon Island where we did the Dolphin Encounter. Marissa was very excited for this, we all got in the water together for a family picture first. We then had to get out of the water. This was when Marissa began to throw a HUGE fit!!! She said her legs were burning, I think it had something to do with the salt water on her dry skin and being cold. We had a really hard time getting her back in the water and had to hold her, even though she was plenty tall to stand on her own. She whined pretty much the entire time we were in the water. Ryan loved the dolphins.

We then walked over to the side of the island with the beach, for some reason the water over there didn't bother Marissa at all.... hmmm.... We took the 2:00 pm water taxi back to Nassau, Ryan fell asleep on the way back, so we went straight back to the ship. He did wake up in the mean time, but him and Bob went back to the room for a little rest while Marissa and I went to check out the aquaduck line, the line wasn't too long so we went, it was pretty awesome and Marissa LOVED it, she's been begging to go back ever since, but it was really COLD. We are planning to try it again tomorrow morning before we get off the ship for Castaway Cay.

Marissa and I went back to the room around 4 and we ordered room service since we never really ate lunch, just had a quick snack. We all showered while we waited for our food. After the kids ate we took them to the kids club, then Bob and I wandered around the ship and had few drinks of the day. I went to pick them up around 6 so we could all go to the show 'Villians Tonight." I had to wait a few minutes for Marissa to get back from a program in the D Lounge. We were a little late getting to the show and ended up sitting in the balcony, right where there was a column blocking the center of the stage! We didn't care as much for this show as last nights. One good thing about our seats was we were some of the first people to leave, which meant we were some of the first people to get to the atrium, where there was some characters. Bob took Ryan to see Mickey and I took Marissa to see Princess Tiana.
Bob had a little difficulty with the camera! Good thing we still have more Mickey oppurtunities. I also have another SD card with pics somewhere since I'm missing the Tiana one!

We then decided to head to the gift shops and get a couple autograph books, on our way we saw Daisy Duck outside the shops, so I went in for the book while Bob and the kids got in line. As I walked out of the shop there was only 1 family in front of them, so we let one more ahead of us while we got our autograph books out of the packaging and ready.

Ryan was mesmerized by the beautiful Daisy

We went back to our room for a little bit before heading to Animators Palate for dinner, we weren't really hungry since we had a late lunch, but this was the dinner we didn't want to miss since it had an interactive show. Ryan was playing with his peas and holding them up to his eye to show our server, so the server took two of his peas and put them in his mickey shaped ketchup to look like eyes.

Our server also made Ryan a bird out of his menu and Marissa a fish.

After dinner we stopped for a picture with Minnie Mouse, Marissa and her compared there pretty high heels.

Again, Ryan is mesmerized by a beautiful character.

We then took the kids back to the room to get jammies on and then go to the kids club. Bob and I went to Evolution for the Match Your Mate game show. They chose 3 couple out of the audience, it was really funny to watch, but a few minutes in I got a call from the kid's club. It was just that Ryan needed his diaper changed, so I took care of that quickly and as I was returning him to the club I ran in to Bob on the elevator as he was going to our room to grab the 2nd wave phone. Ryan said he wanted me to come play with him, but as soon as I walked in behind him he took off to play on the interactive dance floor without a look back. Bob and I showed up at the elevator at he exact same time again and headed back to the club to see the rest of the game show. After the game show there was some 70's dancing, where they picked some random men off the dance floor, which Bob happened to be one of. They took the guys out of the room for a minute and then brought them all back in shirtless dressed as the YMCA men! This was something I REALLY wished I woulda had my camera for!

At 11:30 I got a text from the kid's club that Ryan wanted to be picked up, when Bob got there to pick him up he was about to fall asleep on the floor, but of course when he got to our room he had a burst of energy, but fell asleep pretty quickly once we laid down with him. Marissa walked in and went straight to bed, she may have even fallen asleep before her head hit the pillow.
She's in here somwhere, ignore the non-disney character blankie! LOL

Ryan was pretty fascinated by the top bunk bed, I'm thinking he needs bunk beds at home if that's what it'll take to get him to go to sleep on his own.

 

[nkochrn]

Joining in to hear about your fun. I liked that you took your time driving. I bet it made it more bearable to do it that way.
We stay at that Residence Inn as well, but I wonder if they remodeled since Nov. because your furniture looks nicer.

Driving was Bob's idea, it helped to make frequent stops and spread it out. Bob was worried about spending extra money every time we stopped, but I told him if we weren't gonna do the sight seeing during the road trip it defeated the purpose of road tripping!

The thing about driving though.... It's a LOT of time in the car with your spouse! I love my husband, but he can sure drive me crazy!!! Like when he thought he missed a turn even though I told him the Nav said he didn't, so I quit navigating altogether in the middle of Memphis and told him if he was gonna ignore my navigating I wasn't gonna waste my time on it anymore! BTW: The navigation on my Android phone is pretty awesome!

 

[jenseib]

I'm surprised they allowed Ryan in the kids club with a diaper on. They are usually pretty strict about that stuff. Maybe since it was evening they were more lax?

We did the dolphin encounter in 2011 and loved it too. Poor Marissa with the legs burning though. I bet it was the salt water.

I wished we saw the dressed up characters. Thats one thing we have missed every single time. They look so cute.

 

[NEmel]

Thanks for sharing, sounds like you had a great time! I can't wait to hear more!

 

[nunzia]

I love the picture of your family with the dolphin! What a keeper Is that a 31 Gifts wheeled duffel I see in the pre cruise room picture? I have one just like it but haven't had it on a trip yet. Is is holding up ok?

 

[wiigirl]

Great TR! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[nkochrn]

I'm surprised they allowed Ryan in the kids club with a diaper on. They are usually pretty strict about that stuff. Maybe since it was evening they were more lax?

We did the dolphin encounter in 2011 and loved it too. Poor Marissa with the legs burning though. I bet it was the salt water.

I wished we saw the dressed up characters. Thats one thing we have missed every single time. They look so cute.

When I registered him I put that he was NOT potty trained and it was marked on his Mickey band. They never said anything about it when we dropped him off, just text us when he needed changed.