01-05 Apr 07 WONDERful Trip Report w/ Lots of Pics.

[SaintTaris]

Let me begin by saying I wish I was half the writer Zweihund is. For 10 years of my adult life I have worked for the Department of Defense and their writing style is BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front). I will try to include as much detail as I can.

The cast of characters are my beautiful wife, my son, my Sister-In-Law and my nephew.

We left Atlanta on Friday 30 Mar 07 at 5:00 AM. Good thing we left early, I here the spring break traffic leaving Atlanta was horrible. We arrived at my Aunt's house in Orlando before noon. The ride was great, traffic moved at a high rate of speed . We spent all day Friday visiting with family in Orlando. My wife grew up in Orlando and she is always able to score tickets to Universal Studios or one of the Disney Parks whenever we visit. This time she scored tickets for Universal Studios.

My Father-In-Law met up with us on Saturday morning and we all went to Universal Studios Island of Adventure.

Above is my wife, my son and my nephew.

This is my Sister-In-Law and my Father-In-Law.

We spent the first hour in the park waiting to ride the Spiderman ride and there is no way we were going to keep the kids interested if they had to wait an hour for each ride. Luckily we discovered the bundle. Here is how it works. Basically you pay $5 each for an express pass ticket. The pass is good for one ride. We purchased a bundle of 4 passes and went on 4 rides. We only waited about 2-3 minutes for each ride.

Here are a few pics from our day at Island of Adventure.

After we left Universal Studios we took a short ride to the Marriott Residence Inn at Cape Canaveral. The hotel was nice, nothing fancy, just nice and neat. We arranged a ride to the cruise terminal through the coco beach shuttle and we decided to leave our car parked at the Residence Inn. The shuttle was $6 per person round trip and the hotel charged us $14 for parking.

 

[SaintTaris]

Sunday morning, we took advantage of the free breakfast Buffet at the Residence Inn then waited for the Coco Beach Shuttle.

Here are my son and Nephew as they were looking for the shuttle.

The shuttle arrived at 10:30 as scheduled.


As we drove across the bridge, we saw the Wonder...

Check in went smooth, the porters met us at curbside and took care of our luggage. ~10:40 AM is a great time to arrive at the terminal. We received boarding pass #4.

At 1145 or so, the announcement for the family of the day went across the PA system, shortly after they called for boarding pass #1, #2, #3 then #4

Here we are boarding the ship.

 

[SaintTaris]

When we boarded the ship, we received greetings and High Fives from several crew members, then were led to Parrot Cay for lunch. My son loves shrimp and he ate plenty for lunch.

I took advantage of a tip I read on Disboards and packed swim suits in our carry on bag. We took the kids to the pool after lunch.

With my wife and Sister-In-Law keeping a close eye on the kids, I walked around the ship and took a few pics.

The sports area on deck 10.

Quite Cove, the Adult pool.

Signals bar

 

[SaintTaris]

The rooms were ready at ~ 1:30 and we unpacked. After unpacking and organizing the room it was time for the emergency drill. Our rally point was Animators Pallet.

The emergency drill was well organized and only lasted a few minutes. Since the room numbers are posted on the life vests crew members checked the room numbers off on the list and only called out the room numbers they did not see.

When the drill ended, we returned the vests to the room and headed up to the sail away party where WE GOT OUR BOOGIE ON.

Later that evening, the kids went to The Ocaneer's Lab and we caught the end of Match Your Mate and the 70's Disco. The Village People made a special appearance and sang YMCA.

 

[nenner1]

Great report!
Awesome pics!

Subscribing and looking forward to the rest!!!!

 

[brady961]

WOW great pics. and sounds like you were off for a WONDERful time <G> keep sharing.

 

[SaintTaris]

When we woke up on Monday morning, we were in Nassau. We booked the Atlantis Beach Day excursion. We met in Studio Sea at 9:45 and as a group, we disembarked the ship and walked to busses that took us to Atlantis.

Prior to this cruise, I saw plenty of pictures of Atlantis. I was still amazed at the size of this place. Imagine a Vegas hotel/resort in the middle of Paradise Island.

With the Atlantis Beach Day excursion, we had use of their beaches and lunch was also included. The first beach we went to, the surf was a little rough so we headed to the swimming lagoon where I took the boys snorkeling.

We left Atlantis at ~ 3:00 PM and headed back to the ship. After showering and removing sand from every orifice in our bodies I dropped the kids off at the Ocaneer's club/lab and headed to the Cove Cafe to enjoy a few Cuban Montecristo #2's.

Here is my drink/feet pic only I will spare you guys the image of my ugly feet. I was a jock as a kid and spent allot of time wearing cleats. I also spent 8 years wearing combat boots.

 

[SaintTaris]

There was a cruises ship from The Netherlands parked next to us in Nassau.

When they moved, I went up to Deck 10 and took a few pics of Nassau as seen from the ship.

After a few Mojitos the wife and I got all snazzied up and had dinner at Palo. Enough has been written about Palo and all I can add is every positive comment I read about Palo was true.

The service was great, the food was delicious, then came desert. I ordered the Tiramisu

My wife ordered Cheesecake.

Our server returned with 3 deserts the third being the Chocolate Soufflé.

 

[Babs417]

Great Pics

 

[SaintTaris]

After Palo we were stuffed and went to bed.

We woke up on Tuesday morning and were in paradise, Castaway Cay.

Conk Cooler anyone?

I had to put the camera down while on Castaway cay. The boys were excited to get into the water. We spent lots of time snorkeling, swimming and floating around. The BBQ we had for lunch was delicious. The ribs, fish and chicken were all great.

We tried not to eat too much because this was the first night we were to eat at our assigned restaurant. On Sunday night, we were full from lunch and eating snacks while hanging around the pool so we skipped dinner at Triton's. Our head server Simone came to our state room to check on us because we missed dinner. He offered to prepare food from the dining room and deliver it to us if we wanted On Monday night we had dinner at Palo and missed Animator's Palate.
Tuesday Night was our second assigned night at Animator's Palate and we met our server Anastasia, and assistant server Felix for the first time. My wife made the mistake of ordering "Nothing" for desert and this is what she got.

Once again, I had the Cheesecake.

This was also Pirate night. I should've insisted that the kids join us for dinner but they really wanted to eat dinner their new friends at the Oceaneer's Lab/Club. I made sure to keep his Bandana for the pirate night festivities that were scheduled for later. Here is a pic of our Server Anastasia and the limbo that went on in the dining room.

Later that night was in the Caribbean.

 

[SaintTaris]

After dinner, we checked my son and nephew out of their clubs, presented them with their pirate garb and headed up to snatch some prime real estate.

After jumping around, swabbing the deck, waving our hands and dancing, the kids wanted to return to the Oceaneer's Club/Lab. Good thing to because we were tired.

On the way back to our state room we walked by the HUGE buffet.

Looking at all of that food made me feel more full than I already was and I was more than ready for bed. We missed the fireworks and Mickey doing his flying act. My son went to the Oceaneer's Lab and I went to bed. Good thing my wife stayed up to do laundry because she was awake to pick him up at around midnight.

The next morning was our day at sea, brunch at Palo and our spa treatment.

 

[nenner1]

Thanks for the great pics of the PITC deck party dessert buffet! We missed it!
The kids & I were too tired and full, though my husband walked by and said the desserts looked to die for (he was too full to get anything also).

Why can't they do the PITC deck party in the afternoon when we all need a midday snack! (Or at least put the food out then!)

FANTASTIC PICTURES! Really enjoying it!

 

[SaintTaris]

We woke up Wednesday morning and had breakfast at Tritons. I did not eat much because I wanted save room for brunch at Palo. IMHO brunch was better than dinner. Brunch consisted of a buffet that featured stone crab, Alaskan king crab, deserts, fruit, salads, cheese, you name it they had it. Again, enough has been written about Palo. I do not have the words to describe my experience at Palo.

I grew up in New Orleans and I know fine dining. Palo can compete with the best of them.


After brunch, we had the Exotic Rasul spa treatment............


The Disney Sea University graduation was later in the afternoon. My son and nephew participated.

After the graduation we had our last dinner onboard at Parrot Cay. Since my son’s birthday was within a month of our cruise, he received a birthday cake. This was the first dinner he ate with us as he preferred to eat with is friends in the Oceaneer's lab.

After dinner, Anastasia presented him with a birthday cake. smeared a little whipped cream on his nose and we all sang Happy Birthday to him.

At the end of dinner, our servers paraded around the dining room proudly holding the flags of their countries.

 

[livvysmom]

Your trip report is wonderful!!! I can't wait to hear about the rest of your families' vacation. It makes me so ready for our cruise in June.

What did you do with your camera on CC? It is going to be just my daughter and I. I really want to take my digital.

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

more please!

 

[SaintTaris]

Hopefully this is where my writing style will shine. In a nutshell I really enjoyed every moment of our cruise. The only hiccup we experienced was breakfast on Tuesday, Castaway Cay Day.

We arrived at Animator’s Palate at 9:30 AM and were told they had no more tables. We were told Beach Blanket Buffet was also full and were directed to Tritons. When we arrived at Tritons and were told they were full and were directed to Animator’s Palate. I explained to the gentlemen we were told to come here because Animator’s Palate was full. He found us a table for 5 and we had breakfast.
Other than that minor hiccup, the trip was wonderful. Here are a few tips/ things that I learned

The Coco beach shuttle is a great way to arrive at the terminal if you stay at one of the hotels in Cape Canaveral/Coco Beach.

Residence Inn is a nice pretrip hotel with a helpful staff. Parking here is cheaper than the cruise terminal.

Do laundry late at night, early in the morning or on a port day. If you plan on doing laundry, pack fewer clothes. I had no idea my wife had planned on doing laundry so I overpacked.

I wish I would've spent more time ashore in Nassau. We went to Atlantis and back to the boat. We did not walk through the straw market or go shopping.

It appears the rest of the Nassau tourist economy is really suffering because of Atlantis. I heard from several passengers the townspeople are really desperate for tourist dollars.

Arriving at the cruise terminal at ~10:30 AM is early enough (at least it was for our cruise)

The Cove Cafe is a great place to have a quiet drink or a specialty coffee. Christina from Germany and Carolina from Peru will take great care of you.

Right outside of the Cove Cafe is a peaceful place to have a cigar.

Don't spend too much money on a game card in the arcade. My son played plenty of video games and still had tons of credits on his card.

Send you kids to their clubs. They will have a great time.

Book a spa treatment.

Exercise at least once during your cruise. I hit the gym early in the morning before we arrived in Nassau and was able to see us pull into port.

If you would like to cut a few dollars off of the price of your cruise, downgrade your state room. We did and saved over $900. We mainly used our room to sleep, shower and get dressed.

Last but not least, relax you are on vacation.

 

[SaintTaris]

Your trip report is wonderful!!! I can't wait to hear about the rest of your families' vacation. It makes me so ready for our cruise in June.

What did you do with your camera on CC? It is going to be just my daughter and I. I really want to take my digital.

We had lounge chairs while on CC. We left the camera in a bag and sat it on a lounge chair. We were asked by another family to watch thier bag while they went into the water.

 

[pppiglet]

Great pictures and your kids are cuties!

 

[disneydance]

Sounds like you had a great time and looks like your kids could not get enough of the kids clubs, gotta love disney for all the excitments kids get

 

[Henlady]

SaintTaris,
Thanks for the wonderful report of your cruise. I thoroughly enjoyed your pictures. I love a report with lots of pics and your's "fit the bill". I really can't wait till our November 4 cruise now. Glad you had a great time.