V's Bad Girl Guide to 15 Nights of Partying through Panama! Updated ~ 6/14!

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

“Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…” nope, not unless we get stranded - on Castaway Cay that is.

“Love, exciting and new, come aboard, we’re expecting you…” nah, too ‘80’s.

“Ze Plane, Ze Plane!” too “fantasy”-ish.

“Here, on Temptation Island.” Um, this is a Disney Cruise trip report, right? Better ax that as well…..

“Yo Ho, Yo Ho a Pirate’s Life for V!” arrr, much better! Since my creative juices have been, well, juiced, I was going to steal my old trip report title as well as introductions ~ it is mine after all, so I am not really stealing.

Just…re-using.

Yeah, that’s it.

But then, that wouldn’t be very original would it?

*trip report title in the works*

So you probably want to know who is sailing, right? I know, in the back of your mind you are thinking "for the love of God, NO, I want pictures, details, details, more pictures and most importantly food porn!"

In case you haven’t read any of my unfinished trip reports I’ll do the introductions again.

Just.

For.

You.

Charming ~ 43 ~ what can I say about this guy? He’s wickedly handsome, willing to dress in just about any get up I put in front of him, deals with Diva behavior daily, deals with Bad Girl behavior on occasion, let’s me book trip after trip to WDW even though there are other vacation destinations he would rather see, can hit a mean homerun, doesn’t mind that he never sees his paycheck – nor gets an allowance, won the Sandals beer chugging contest drinking Red Stripe, doesn’t mind the endless time I spend on the DIS or Ebay for that matter , loves his girls beyond imagination and is the best husband I could have ever conjured up for myself.

V ~ 33 ~ hmmm, Bad Girl Extraordinaire pretty much sums it up!

Princess Numero uno ~ 5 ~ D~I~V~A! Samantha - really she is, I have created a monster. I am hoping before this trip she loses no more teeth and chooses not to cut any more of her hair, or her sister’s for that matter….I *think* I have hidden all cutting instruments.

Princess Numero dos ~ 3 ~ Haley Bug, she’s the baby, the laid back one, the wants to “hold you” one, the large chunk of hair less in the back one (thanks to Samantha), the can do a 25 piece puzzle “all myself” one, the graduated from Flounder's one!

A little bit about our clan, I’ve been going to Disney since I was born, pre ~ V, Charming had only been once, ONCE, can you believe it? What kind of parents did this guy have anyway? (he sure has made up for that!) We live in Florida and are fortunate to have annual passes and go to WDW quite often. We are also fortunate enough to have been on several Disney cruises prior to this one…that no airfare thing and Florida resident rates are pretty kickin’. Aside from Disney, we are huge Gator fans, and big sports fans in general. Charming plays softball two nights a week and my hobby – I’m a closet Rock Star!

This will be the first trip report that I am going to finish….yes, you read that correctly, I did say finish.

And yes, before the August 2008 repo sets sail. Since I know there are probably some of the Captain’s sailing that wants to hear all about our Stealing of the Magic. (I know I sure went searching for the last repo trip reports and there were hardly any!)

So pour yourself a nice glass of wine, settle in with a cheese and cracker tray and start reading ~ and don’t worry if it’s 9am your time ~ be a Bad Girl! (it’s always 5 o’clock somewhere!) If wine and cheese aren’t your fancy, lord help you!

(*note – this will be long winded, full of detail, lots of pictures, off topic run on sentences and some useless trivia --- so feel free to bow out now, I won’t be offended)

On our quest to commandeer the Magic, we must begin at the beginning, as any grand adventure would.

Charming mentioned once, in passing, or maybe I dreamt it, that if DCL ever went through the Panama Canal again, we had to be on that boat – we missed the first one. Early January 2007, the 18th to be exact, Sue Ellen from Dreams Unlimited, emailed me the following:

15-Night Westbound Panama Canal Cruise

Explore sun-kissed lands brimming with beauty and steeped in history during a 15-Night westbound cruise through one of the world's most important trade routes, the Panama Canal. Travel from Port Canaveral to Los Angeles aboard the Disney Magic® and enjoy shops in picture-perfect Aruba, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Disney's very own Castaway Cay. And experience a full week at sea where delightful entertainment, delectable dining and fun-filled activities surround you at every turn -- available to book January 31, 2007!

2008 Departure Date: May 10.

Rates: From 1,699 USD per person* (pricing subject to change)

Ports of Call:
Port Canaveral, Castaway Cay, Aruba, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, Los Angeles

Notes: Itinerary information (days, times and ports of call) subject to change.
* Please contact us for the more pricing information starting January 31, 2007.
** Last tender leaves shoreside at 4:00 p.m.

Cruise Itinerary
Day Port Ashore Onboard
Saturday Port Canaveral 4:00 PM
Sunday Castaway Cay 9:30 AM 4:30 PM
Monday At Sea
Tuesday At Sea
Wednesday Aruba 7:30 AM 4:30 PM
Thursday At Sea
Friday Panama Canal Crossing
Saturday At Sea
Sunday At Sea
Monday Acapulco 11:30 AM 7:30 PM
Tuesday At Sea
Wednesday Puerto Vallarta 7:30 AM 5:30 PM
Thursday Cabo San Lucas 7:00 AM 4:00 PM**
Friday At Sea
Saturday At Sea
Sunday Los Angeles 8:15 AM


YES, we hit the booty!

Now, we had an existing reservation for a December 2007 sailing. I struggled with the best course of action to take…try and book myself, or hand over our fate to Sue Ellen with Dreams Unlimited? Being the indecisive person I am, I questioned it on the DIS boards, consulted my trusty Pirate magic eight ball, flipped a coin, made it through all the green lights on the way home, lifted my feet going over railroad tracks and kissed the ceiling through yellow lights (yes, I am crazy like that!) before I officially emailed Sue Ellen to tell her the news.

Then - the wait was on.

Arrr…. a Ship of Thieves thread had already started and come 1/31/07, it was crazy. The phones to DCL were backed up, pricing was going up with each breath, I sat at work, on the DIS boards of course, not knowing if we had a reservation or not. And, if we did, I wondered if I would drop dead at the sight of the price.

so I waited and waited and waited, until a fellow Geek told me to simply look on the DCL site with my existing reservation number….GENIUS! (why didn’t I think of that?) So I frantically pulled it up and BAM, we hit the booty again! Category 10, cabin 2573, but I still didn’t know the price. But hey, for a second I did the Pirate Polka around my office, who cares who was watching, I am going through the Canal baby, with DCL and a mighty fine crew!

Finally Sue Ellen emailed me the particulars to log into the DU site, and there it was, officially, we were booked. Now for two adults, two children ages 5 and 3 at the time of sailing, our cost was $4956.96 for a category 10. I am not sure if this is a first tier price or not, but I could live with it and hopefully donate enough plasma between now and then to actually pay it off. For this sailing DCL was increasing the deposit to $500 per person. We had $1000 down already from rebooking onboard (or maybe it was $750) so we had to come up with the rest.

People on the boards – both West and East bound - were going nuts, some TA’s had messed up, some were on hold so long only to see the cost rise significantly and some crashed as they frantically tried to book on the website. I am very fortunate and thanks to Sue Ellen, did not have to suffer through anything other than a wait. I do hope DCL will try and figure out a better way to book these specialty cruises, I am not sure what it would be, but come on, they can Imagineer something up, can’t they?

So, as of 1/31/07, we were booked and now had 14 months for the planning and stressing and paying for the trip of a lifetime.

I started my cruise box that day, “a cruise box”, you say? Well, that is where my packing begins. And yes, I am freaky like that to start 14 months ahead of time. Hand sanitizers, nightlights, costumes, sewing repair kit, air freshener, clothespins, masking tape, binoculars, laundry detergent and softener, sunscreen, lotion, suction cups, aloe, band-aids, Bonine, corkscrew, glow necklaces, fish extender, Passporter, journal, pens, post it’s, quarters, beach toys and oh, the kitchen sink. Who knows what you'll need...I mean we could get stranded like Gilligan did!

and thus, it begins!

I'm having EB withdrawals and from the first post of your thread- I think I'm in for the long haul of reading about your trip! So far the first post is very entertaining... I think I like you.

 

[lillygator]

I found my journal from the trip! amazing, just re-read.....great times!!!!

 

[youalleverybody]

Such a fun trip report to read. Thank you!!

We just booked the EBPC on the Wonder in sept. 2013 and this makes me even more excited.