Vacation We'd "Dream"ed About ~ Our First Cruise (May 2015)

[RooRach0906]

As the title says this was our first cruise and we had been dreaming about it. First thing is first let's talk details.



Cast

Me ~ Rachel or Mom, stay at home mom, I love God, my family, and Roo is my favorite character

My husband ~ James or Dad, he works very hard to provide for our family, great Dad to our little girl, and

Our daughter ~ Princess or Cinderella, fun loving, funny, and adorable (but I am biased) little girl she was 4 at the time of the trip and Cinderella is her favorite character.


Cruise Ship ~ The Disney Dream ~
Room # 9168 ~ 6A ~ Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Verandah
Main Seating Dining


Itinerary

May 4 ~ Day 1 ~ Port Canaveral, FL Embark
May 5 ~ Day 2 ~ Nassau
May 6 ~ Day 3 ~ Castaway Cay
May 7 ~ Day 4 ~ At Sea
May 8 ~ Day 5 ~ Port Canaveral, FL Disembark

Sorry I am late on starting this but late is better than never right?!?!

If you are interested I have our cruise PTR link in my signature.

Up Next ~ Day One

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

I'm joining! I'm going through cruise withdrawal after my March 2015 Dream Cruise! I'm finishing my TR as well as joining others still I have a booked cruise to celebrate haha. Can't wait to read more!

 

[RooRach0906]

Aww thanks for joining in!!! Sorry it has been a little while, I came down with a bad cold and Cinderella has been out school since Friday due to snow. She is still home today. I will post more of the report as soon as she goes back to school.

 

[RooRach0906]

Hey everyone sorry it has been a little while but I am having a few problems with getting pictures ready to post so I decided I may just do a a written trip report and then will come back and post pictures later.

I said this and then decided I will do it that way but it will probably be the day of.

I plan on doing a day of the report each week or maybe a little more.

 

[RooRach0906]

Day Before Embarkation Day

We actually started the trip the night before the day before. We left at 8:30 pm May 2 from our home.



Cinderella did not attempt to go to sleep until 10 pm and then was in and out crying that she was uncomfortable which was unusual for her as she normally slept well in the car. I moved to the back with her to comfort her and so I could sleep some when she slept around 3 am. I was in and out of sleep until about 6 am and then decided to just stay up.

At about 7:30 am I called my parents to let them know we were about an hour away and where we should go to get a room key and parking tag at their resort for the day and night. They said they would just stay until we got there and then they would head to the parks with my niece after.

We arrived at the resort little after 8:30 am. My parents got us in and settle then left for the parks. We hung out and ate some breakfast and just relaxed for a little while.

Around 10 am, we decided to go to Downtown Disney; it was a quick 10 minute drive from the resort. We parked over on the side of the west side because we somehow missed how to get in the parking garage. We walked around and explored and discussed the changes around Downtown Disney. We went shopping in World of Disney, TrenD, and the Marketplace Co-Op. We took some pictures and watched the new Amphicars.





It was lunch time and we decided to eat at the new food trucks. The food was yummy but we hated sitting in the blazing hot sun especially since the table was HOT!! We then decided headed back to the room.

Once back in the room, Cinderella was watching some Disney Jr. James decided to relax on the couch and ended up falling asleep on the couch. Cinderella was getting restless and I had noticed a playground in front of the room at the resort. I wrote James a note letting him know where we went, grabbed my phone, drinks, and headed down. Cinderella had a blast playing on the playground.



It was in a circle shape so I walked around it getting some exercise while she played. I also made a couple calls to family at home letting them know we were there and just to past sometime. After an hour we headed back up to the room. We watched a little more TV and then James woke up. We went up to the other playground which was at the resort check in/pool area. I saw this awesome water fountain it had where you could drink out of it like a regular fountain and another place to fill water bottles the water was ice cold and filter.



I think Disney needs some all over there property.

We decided to again head to Downtown Disney because we had promised Cinderella the Duffy sailor outfit and Cinderella crown. This time we found our way to the parking garage and were amazed at the cool lights that mark what spots are open. We went and made our purchases and then called my parents to see if they were done at the parks and wanted to meet for dinner. Well they were already at a restaurant for dinner so we told them we would just find something. We ended up getting some Arbys.

We arrived back at the resort and to our surprise had beat my parents back. They arrived about 15 minutes later. We all decided to go to the playground at the resort area and then headed back to the room for an early bedtime. The kids were asleep at 8 pm, the rest of us were in bed at 9 pm, and asleep shortly after it had been a LONG day.

 

[RooRach0906]

Day 1 (Embarkation Day)

We woke up the next morning excited for our adventure. We got Cinderella some breakfast while we got dressed and ready for the day then we dressed her. We said Goodbye to my parents and they headed off to the parks while we were headed to the port!



We arrived at the port terminal dropped off our bags, parked, and standing in line for security (i think) when they give you your medical release form and we noticed a nicely dressed man behind us who was chatting it up (like they knew each other) with the cast member that handed out the release forms. We were inside the terminal at 10:25 am. First thing we did was go to the DVC booth and to get our lanyards for being DVC members and we meet James a super nice DVC cast member. Next we checked in and got a boarding # 4.



It was 10:45 and he told us we had 30 minutes until boarding would start. We took Cinderella over to register for the kids club which took about 20 - 25 minutes then about 5 minutes later they started calling boarding numbers.

Next thing we knew we were headed through the Mickey ears, having our picture taken and having our name called. We were in awe of the Dream it was so beautiful but we were on a mission. We headed straight to the Port Adventure Desk to get Cinderella meet and greet tickets.



We were able to get both meet the Princesses and meet Anna and Elsa for times that worked perfectly for us. (I wish I would have taken a picture of the tickets but I forgot).

At Noon we decided to eat lunch at Enchanted Gardens. It was nice to relax a little and the food was delicious. We ordered drinks of the day. I left in the middle of our lunch to see if I could get Palo brunch reservation; which I got! Horray!!! I headed back to Enchanted Gardens and finished my lunch. After lunch we explored the ship a little bit. Then headed up to deck 9 for our room to be ready.



We only waited about 5 minutes and then were allowed to go to our rooms. Our room was the last room on the right before you get to the rooms on the back end of the boat. Room # 9168. I loved the location but James did not so next time we will try the front of the boat. We unpacked our carry on and put it away and headed out to check out the kids clubs.





Cinderella was scared of the hand washer at the kids club at first but the cast members were sweet about it. She loved everything in there and was excited to be going in there later without mom and dad. It was time for the DVC members only gathering so we headed to that to see what it was all about. We arrived and James recognized us and said hey and we entered the lounge area. Once inside the first thing we did was say hi to Stitch.



They were giving us free drinks of the day (both types) and bottles of water so we each got something before sitting. They then started the presentation to DVC guides introduced themselves and one of them (Jason) was the nicely dressed man who was standing behind us in line earlier in the day! We played games and talked about DVC resorts and they did plug buying points at the new locations. We all had a blast!! As we left we got our free DVC cups and hats.

We headed back to the room and our luggage was at the door so I decided to get organized. I had most all of Cinderella's things and mine put away when it was time for the Muster drill. Off to the Muster drill we went, we didn't think it was as bad as some people say. We headed back to the room to finish unpacking and decided we wanted to sail away on our verandah and just relax before dinner. During this time we meet our neighbors and our stateroom host. I also started to feel a little queasy. (Should have paid attention to that then)

We headed down to Royal Palace about 15 minutes before dinner and were let in after sanitizing our hands. We loved how beautiful this dining room was. Our table mates arrived shortly after us and they were awesome! A family of 5 from New York (Mom, Dad, 2 boys who were older then Cinderella and a daughter who was younger) it was the first cruise for all of us. We really enjoyed talking to our table mates. I had ordered a ginger ale to go with my food because I was still feeling queasy.





After dinner we decided to do some look shopping but it was just too crowded for us. We went back to the room and Cinderella wanted to go to the kids club and not see the show so we took her, she like the hand wash things this time and off she went. We went to the shops again to buy me some sea bands and this time looked around because it was nice and quiet. We then headed to the skyline lounge. We got a few drinks and had a lovely conversation with the cast member and couple that were at the bar. We want to go to another bar but had no luck finding one that really fit us. We went off to explore the ship more; we ended up on Deck 12 at the front of the ship and it was so windy we felt like we were gonna blow away but it was still so much fun and we ended up laughing at the how crazy we both looked (A tropical storm was passing somewhere nearby) We could tell tho that the boat was rocking some. The sea bands seemed to be helping so we went to get eye scream. We picked up Cinderella and asked her if she wanted eye scream and surprisingly she didn't; she wanted to play the detective game we saw earlier when exploring with her. She loved it!!!! We went up to pool deck to get drinks and then headed back to the room both Cinderella and James were hungry so we ordered room service warm cookies and milk and chicken fingers. We ate and watched Sofia the first. I journal-ed a little then off to bed.

Next up Day 2 ~ Do I feel better in the morning??

 

[RooRach0906]

Day 2 (Nassau Day)

I tossed and turned all night long. At one point I even woke up and tried to watch some TV and forget how awful I felt. It was such a weird mix and I do not want to feel like that every again. (I am still not sure if it was seasickness, the alcohol, or the new food I had tried.) Finally at 5 am, I gave up trying to sleep and went out on the veranda and read a little and that helped some. James woke up at 6:30 and we hung out until Cinderella woke up at 8.

We got ready and headed up to the Cabanas for breakfast. James and Cinderella ate a good breakfast; I on the other hand ate very little. We were eating breakfast while the boat was docking which was awesome! It was a bummer that it was raining as we docked.

After breakfast we headed down to the Princess gathering 9:15 am. They were all great but I do not remember much of this because I still felt nausea, maybe you can tell by my fake looking smile

We then did part of the mystery game before headed off to the Frozen meet and greet at 10 am.

After the meet and greet, we finished up the mystery game. We went to try to see Cinderella but Cinderella did not really want to go then. We decided to head to the room and since the weather was yucky and I was still feeling quite sick. As soon as we got to the room tho I was feeling worse so I tried to lay down and take a nap and it just wasn't happening. I had a mini melt down it was that bad. I decided to go and get some seasickness medicine and see if that would help. James decided he would take Cinderella to the pool deck to get some food while I was there.

I grabbed some seasickness medicine it was on the door thankfully and headed up to the pool deck. James was eating pizza and Annabelle was eating chicken tenders. I got some sprite and took one of the pills. It was about 2 pm at this time and the rain has stopped so we decided to play some mini golf. Cinderella loved the mini golf so we did it again then did ping-pong, and Foosball.

Cinderella then wanted to play in the splash area so we changed her into her swimsuit and let her do just that and the Mickey slide.

When she was done we headed to the room and got ready for dinner and I took the other pill. At dinner I started to feel much better just dizzy. We had put that we were celebrating Cinderella's birthday so they snug Happy Birthday to her on this night.

After dinner since we were all dressed up went ahead and took pictures. Then we went and saw the Villains show. We had some more formal pictures taken. We listened to the music and Cinderella danced.

We headed back to the room so we could get Cinderella to sleep by a good time. We ordered room service again ceasar salad, fruit bowl, wings, and a Mickey bar. While I waited for room service James went and got us drinks. We ate then we headed to bed as well.