Yup, that's what ended up being our favourite saying during our AWESOME cruise....
I'll set the stage - group of 5 - myself, DH, DD6, DD1.5 and my MIL - in 8522. Let me say first off that staying in a Cat 3 worked out great for us. DD1.5 caught some type of cold on the airplane on the way down so I spent way more time in the room than originally planned. She was so crabby and clingy one night that I ordered dinner from Parrot Cay and just stayed in - not a bad thing!!
I'm not going to give you a day-by-day trip report but I will give you my thoughts and impressions.
1. All of the planning/advice/info from the DIS boards and the Passporter really paid off - I never felt that I was missing out on anything ...
2. Stayed at the MCO Hyatt - we were all pretty tired so it worked out great for us...
3. Our servers, room steward and concierge staff were the BEST - I was very sad to say goodbye to Sam(puong), Rodel, Garry and Jenny & Jonathan.
4. My DD6 took 1 day to warm up to the Oceaneer's Club and then we had a hard time getting her out for the rest of the trip (every night she would highlight what she was going to do in the Navigator).
5. If you plan to take your infant/toddler to Flounders Nursery, do a test run before you use them for your Palo's dinner. We put DD1.5 in there for our dinner at Palo and I was paged after an hour. Thank goodness for the one-way glass in the porthole because I could see that she had settled down - I had to get another mom to check with the staff (as I didn't want DD to see/hear me) and she was fine for the rest of the evening. The next time she went to the Nursery, she was fine.
6. Only got off the ship briefly in Key West - found a CVS and got some wine and of course chocolate-covered key lime pie on a stick..
7. Did the semi-submarine from Atlantis on our own in Grand Cayman - cheaper than Disney and under 3s are free. It was GREAT and only a 2 minute walk from where we caught the tender.
8. Didn't get off the boat in Cozumel because DD1.5 was still pretty clingy and DD6 wanted to stay in the club - we enjoyed ourselves on the boat instead!!
9. Loved Castaway Cay!! Hoping to do a double dip in 2009 with more family members....
10. If you get a chance, go to a matinee show (like Twice Charmed) - you'll find that you won't be so rushed in the evenings.
11. We had APLAPLA dining rotation which worked out great for all of the different nights (formal, pirate, etc.).
I'm sorry that this wasn't as witty as sleepydog's or grumpydude's trip reports but it's all I've got.....
Here's wishing everyone who's going on a cruise safe travels and condolences to those who've just returned - I feel your pain..... my DH kept asking if there was anywhere we could hide and just stay on the boat....
Cheers everyone,
I'll set the stage - group of 5 - myself, DH, DD6, DD1.5 and my MIL - in 8522. Let me say first off that staying in a Cat 3 worked out great for us. DD1.5 caught some type of cold on the airplane on the way down so I spent way more time in the room than originally planned. She was so crabby and clingy one night that I ordered dinner from Parrot Cay and just stayed in - not a bad thing!!
I'm not going to give you a day-by-day trip report but I will give you my thoughts and impressions.
1. All of the planning/advice/info from the DIS boards and the Passporter really paid off - I never felt that I was missing out on anything ...
2. Stayed at the MCO Hyatt - we were all pretty tired so it worked out great for us...
3. Our servers, room steward and concierge staff were the BEST - I was very sad to say goodbye to Sam(puong), Rodel, Garry and Jenny & Jonathan.
4. My DD6 took 1 day to warm up to the Oceaneer's Club and then we had a hard time getting her out for the rest of the trip (every night she would highlight what she was going to do in the Navigator).
5. If you plan to take your infant/toddler to Flounders Nursery, do a test run before you use them for your Palo's dinner. We put DD1.5 in there for our dinner at Palo and I was paged after an hour. Thank goodness for the one-way glass in the porthole because I could see that she had settled down - I had to get another mom to check with the staff (as I didn't want DD to see/hear me) and she was fine for the rest of the evening. The next time she went to the Nursery, she was fine.
6. Only got off the ship briefly in Key West - found a CVS and got some wine and of course chocolate-covered key lime pie on a stick..
7. Did the semi-submarine from Atlantis on our own in Grand Cayman - cheaper than Disney and under 3s are free. It was GREAT and only a 2 minute walk from where we caught the tender.
8. Didn't get off the boat in Cozumel because DD1.5 was still pretty clingy and DD6 wanted to stay in the club - we enjoyed ourselves on the boat instead!!
9. Loved Castaway Cay!! Hoping to do a double dip in 2009 with more family members....
10. If you get a chance, go to a matinee show (like Twice Charmed) - you'll find that you won't be so rushed in the evenings.
11. We had APLAPLA dining rotation which worked out great for all of the different nights (formal, pirate, etc.).
I'm sorry that this wasn't as witty as sleepydog's or grumpydude's trip reports but it's all I've got.....
Here's wishing everyone who's going on a cruise safe travels and condolences to those who've just returned - I feel your pain..... my DH kept asking if there was anywhere we could hide and just stay on the boat....
Cheers everyone,
