02-03-07 Heavenly Eastern Trip Report, family of 5

[LisaPisa]

I’ll preface my trip report by saying I’m nowhere near as funny a gal as half of these TR writers have been. Before we cruised I read every last TR written, repeatedly refreshing my DIS screen, anxiously anticipating each writer’s next installment. I took copious notes and gathered tons of precious info from these boards. I figured I owe this TR as payback to all those who provided me with the fantastic info I could never have lived without. Hopefully, something in my TR will be helpful to one of you reading. A warning....I can be long-winded!

Our
Me (Lisa, 37, organized-aholic homemaker, avid planner, and penny pincher)
DH (Darin, 42, the sit-back-and-relax, see-where-the-day-takes-you type)
DD11 (Olivia, 11, the social butterfly)
DD8 (Beth, 8, in it mainly for the braids and character autographs)
DD6 (Ava, 6, sweet but shy and inseparable from her older sister in unfamiliar surroundings)
Category 4 stateroom with Verandah: #8558 (starboard)

Pre cruise preparations:
This was our second cruise. Our first was in mid-February 2005 when we did the Western itinerary. The first cruise was meant to be our once in a lifetime b/c the cost of sailing for a party of 5 - not cheap!! But we had such a fantastic time, were so well-fed, so pampered, so relaxed, that I managed to talk DH into a second go round. We opted this time for the Eastern itinerary and really looked forward to it because there were more days at sea. We enjoy sea days so much better than port days, to the extent that I wish Disney would nix the repo cruises and instead offer a 7-day where they’d just cruise up and down the Carribean doing island drive bys. Our cruising objective was to leave it all behind and have no worries; create special memories for our children that will never fade; spend happy, quality time together as a family; and also for DH and I to get some much needed time alone without the constant interruption of children.

We booked a full year in advance (more time to focus on racking up Disney Visa rewards, which after 2 years of charging nearly every single dime that left our pockets, we had a whopping $670) and were surprised right off the bat to find that the early dinner seating was sold out. I felt really strongly about having the early seating (more on that later), preferably the 6pm rotation, so I asked to be put on the waiting list. I called my travel agent frequently throughout the year to see if our seating had been changed, and nada. We did, BTW, book everything through our trusty local TA, got Disney transfers to/from ship, trip insurance, and booked our flight separately when it came closer to cruise time. Waiting was worth it b/c we managed to catch one of Southwest’s reduced rate specials and save a ton o’dough.

I was one of the crazy people who woke up at 2am the very minute the books opened up for CC members to reserve on board activities. Eureka! I got exactly what I wanted on the days I wanted at the times I wanted! A couples massage at the spa on Monday at 3:15, Palo brunch on Thursday at 11:30, and the St. Maarten See & Sea Island Tour at 1:15pm (which I wound up cancelling). This was going to be a great trip!

Next installment, Day 1, the journey begins.....

Oh, but first here’s the quicklist of some of my personal opinions:

Glad I packed:
- over the door shoe hanger (absolutely indispensable - and not only for shoes!)
- highlighter for navigators (family of 5, with as many itineraries, a necessity)
- pad of paper (for keeping notes and writing reminders of things we didn’t want to miss)
- sweatshirts/sweaters (it was chilly enough to need warm wear for several evenings up on Deck 9 and in the restaurants/theater)
- all 7 pairs of shoes (ladies, this is meant for you to print and show to your husbands)

Waste of space in my luggage:
- wrinkle reducer (after hanging in the closet for awhile, all the clothes unwrinkled themselves)
- alarm clock (I was the one who needed to be able to see it at night. I’m blind without my glasses. But there were no outlets near the nightstand to plug it in. We did plug it near the t.v. but the non-digital clock DCL provided on my nightstand was easily visible during daylight hours and had a cute "When You Wish Upon A Star" alarm.)
- binoculars (even though we had a verandah we only used them once, and that was for 2 secs)

Didn’t pack and wished I had:
- blow dryer (last trip I used the onboard hair dryer and it was fine; this time the hair dryer smelled awful, like b.o., which in turn made my hair stink)
- shampoo/conditioner (I heard enough people say they loved the new upgraded stuff so I didn’t pack any of our own. OMYGOSH, I absolutely hated it and so did my girls!! To me it smelled like a bad musty men’s cologne. These shampoo scent mixed with the icky blowdryer fumes made me feel hair-gnarly all week.)
- sunblock that sprays (would have been easier to spray on the girls’ braids)
- walkie talkies (mainly to give to DD11, whom we sometimes had difficulty locating, more on that later too)

Booking tips:
- I don’t know if the ship anchors in the same spot and in the same direction every trip, but we’ve now had cabins on both port and starboard sides and have come away with a huge preference for port side. We were port side for our Western cruise and when parked at Key West, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman we had the better views. The only bad view that trip was at Castaway Cay. This Eastern itinerary cruise we had the starboard room. For both the St. Maarten and St. Thomas ports our only views were of the ship docks and a few scattered houses (um, yawn!), and the only good view was at Castaway Cay.
- Get the airport to ship Disney transfer. With a family of 5 we found it totally worth it to not have to juggle our luggage around. We checked them at BWI and didn’t even see them again until they appeared in our stateroom.
- I was glad we didn’t do any Disney excursions. They’re so overpriced and you can find the same types of excursions offered by other companies who do just as good a job (sometimes better) for much, MUCH less money. I also feel that many of the Disney excursions start too ungodly early in the morning - some as early as 7am. That means you have to get up 6am or earlier in order for everyone to shower, pack, have breakfast, and make it to the meet up spot on time. I prefer enjoying an evening before a port day without feeling like I 'better get to bed' so I’m well-rested, plus early morning pressure just ain't a good way to start the day. Non-DCL sponsored excursions are much more flexible with their starting times.

 

[tjeagle]

Lisa
I am so sorry we never met! Lovin your report so far! Our Glad I packed/Didn't need are very similar!
Looking forward to the rest!!

 

[LisaPisa]

Hey Jackie! You were one of the people I really missed meeting too. I was there in the Atrium at 3pm but didn't come across you. Once when I was picking DD up from Ocean Quest I passed by your room and saw your door signs (adorable BTW) and was tempted to knock, but it was after 11pm and I didn't want to chance that I'd wake you or one of your kids.

I'll have to look for your trip report. I didn't see you'd been writing one!! Oooh goody! I especially want to hear about other people's impression of the same cruise I was on!

 

[suzannef]

I have 3 little girls your girls ages so I am so excited to hear your report!!

 

[LisaPisa]

Having learned from experience that excited children never sleep, DH and I had felt forced to lie or hineys off. We told our girls we weren’t leaving for DCL until Sunday morning, knowing if they got wind of the Sat departure they’d never get to sleep Fri night. I had packed several days in advance to throw them off and carried on with the regular Fri routine as if it were just another day. Like a charm, they were all in bed Fri by 9pm, at which time DH and I snuck the luggage out to the van and he took the pup at the sitter’s. Oh, the looks of delight on my girls’ groggy little faces Sat at 5:00am when we went in and whispered to each one, “Time to get up! We tricked you! We’re really leaving TODAY!”

Yes, we were up before dawn in order to make it to the airport (which is an hour away), bench the van into the long term parking area, and allow that extra 1 1/2 hours BWI recommends. To our pleasant surprise, the airport was near empty. No crowds, no lines, we breezed through check-in and security and wound up sitting at the gate with ants in our pants for over an hour. That 1 1/2 hour recommendation was way too long -- pfft!! We could have gotten an hour more sleep. Chalk up a lesson learned.

We checked our 5 large bags at the Southwest counter, decorated with the bright green transfer tags Disney provided us. Thank God we didn’t have to haul those things around any more than necessary. The transfer are a luxury you find a way to afford when you have overstuffed bags fit for five (four of us are girls, mind you), and only two able adult bodies to carry them! A stuffed animal under one arm and a coloring book under the other is apparently the max an 8-y-o can handle. We did also have two carry-ons, one of which contained swimsuits, shorts and flip-flops for each of us to change into once we got to sunny FL.

We got to the port terminal around 1:00pm and got our ship boarding passes, 22. Yes, I said 22! I envy you people who were in FL on Fri and to terminal by 10am! We had considered flying down a day early and opted against it b/c we were already freaking about taking our kids out of school a whole week. I was sorry for that decision. It sure would have been nice to be able to enjoy more of embarkment day.

Having cruised before, we had the perk of super quick check-in at the Castaway Club area, which was further sped up by having completed the registrations online. High five to Disney for that change! It was only a matter of me presenting the clerk with my actual credit card, and her handing me over our welcome back gifts: lanyard/KTTW card holders and two Disney cruise pins each. The girls were thrilled and DH and I were pleased to already have “gifts for those back home” tucked snugly under our belts.

Also new since the last time we cruised was being able to check the girls in for their clubs at the terminal. I mean, we had to sit there for 45 minutes and wait for our number to be called anyhow. It was good to be able to do something productive with the idle time. (Now, if only they’d move the Palo/spa/excursion reservations desks from Rockin’ Bar D to the port terminal, that’d be even better! )

As of cruise time, my middle daughter had just turned 8 and she and my DD6 really wanted to be in the club together, so I asked the CM if it was okay to put DD8 (who was supposed to be in w/ the 8-9 year olds but is, admittedly, a wee bit immature for her age) in with her younger sister’s group (5-7 year olds). One check with the club supervisor and we were in. Yahoo! That was simple as pie and, whew, what a relief cuz I’d really been nervous. If they’d have had to go to separate clubs I don’t think either would have gone at all. Things were really looking up for DH and I to get in a little adult time this cruise! It certainly didn’t happen last time.

When I looked down and read our KTTW I was ecstatic to see we’d finally been changed to early apple seating, i.e. is APL 5:30pm. Now, I gotta tell ya, Animator’s Palate is my least favorite restaurant and I was pouting my lower lip knowing that’s the restaurant where we’d be spending most of our meals, but beggars can’t be choosers and there were plusses. Since formal night was moved to Mon (Super Bowl) we got to spend both the formal and semiformal nights in the posh Lumiere’s. Also, our character breakfast was the next day and since the kids got a lot of character autographs right off the bat we felt less stressed about making sure we caught the characters during their sporadic appearance slots.

Sidenote on early vs. late seating. In retrospect after two cruises, this is why I feel early seating is perfect choice for us. Pro #1: We are east coasters who because of busy schedules eat very early at 4:30pm. Routine, routine, routine. 8pm just would have been too late for us to have a whole sit down meal. Eat, go to bed, the end. That’s how I envisioned late seating. Pro #2: DH and I felt it important to, at the very least, eat dinner together as a family each night. The kids felt it important to do “the funnest things” happening in da club, which in their opinions seemed to be between 7pm and 9:30pm. (Matter of fact, save for two nights DCL stops all planned activities for the 3-4 and 5-7 age groups just about the time a later dinner would end. “Free time” is 9ish, and movie time around 10:00. Kids get bored.) With the early seating we did eat together every night and the kids made it to their club events on time. Pro #3: Dinner service took the exact appropriate amount of time. Our meals were done by 7pm. That left a whole night of possibilities. Pro #4: We had a few hours for our food to settle to make room for mojitos!

Now, there were cons to the early seating. Con #1: character breakfast was at 8:15 (as opposed to the late seating 10:15) and disembarkment breakfast was at 6:30 (late seating is 8:00, I think). TOO EARLY, the 6:30 am on debarkment day especially! Con #2: some people say they feel like they have to rush off the islands to make it back in time to shower for dinners. Personally, we felt that 3:30pm was just about enough sun for the day and were ready to get back to our room. But many like to hang on the island and absorb it a little longer. Con #3: being those who really enjoyed whatever delicacy was being served for dinner, we didn't want to be too full to be able to enjoy it. Therefore, we usually found ourselves deliberately opting out of the Deck 9 Topsiders buffet and Goofy's Galley temptations. That was hard to do when they're so, so delicious!! (Although DDs seemed to utilize the ice cream station without any too-full-for-dinner problems!) Con #4: I felt I had no choice but to nix the martini tasting I really wanted to do b/c both days they offered it at 4pm and I knew I’d have been too sloshed to eat or enjoy my dinner.

Again, it’s all a matter of preference and what types of activities your family members most want to enjoy.

Anyhow, back to Day 1.

Although the temperature was much improved from our 20 degree MD weather, Canaveral was a 59 degrees and drizzly to the extent that the crew were all wearing heavy jackets and windbreakers. Regardless, by 2:00pm we were changed into our shorts and flip flops and up on Deck 9, digging into the Topsiders buffet. It was like a homecoming. I was immediately relaxed and enjoying myself! I almost cried from contentment. The girls’ initial plan was to swim, but the weather was chilly enough that they weren’t exactly chomping at the bit. Plus, we had plans to meet up with other DISers in the Atrium at 3:30, plus the on-deck emergency drill at 4:30, plus I wanted to get down to Rockin’ Bar D to check about another Palo ressie, plus I was dying to get our luggage and make sure all my pairs of shoes had arrived safely! Call me crazy, but I enjoy unpacking and arranging the room "just so".

Our 3:30 DIS meet was fun! Seeing all those people in one place at one time, trying to guess which face went with which screen name. It was a bit overwhelming, but really good to finally get to meet some of you DISers in person. My girls had all emailed with DIS friends beforehand and they managed to meet up with their buddies, which turned out to be a real lifesaver. The best part was that by sheer luck our dinner tablemates (TMs) ended up being fellow DISers. That was pretty cool!

Entering our room for the first time we had no bags, but we did have more free CC gifts. A canvas tote which contained two smaller mesh DCL bags, two plastic cups with flex straws, and a mini pack of antibacterial wipes. Nice touch! And unexpected. I guess shelling out eight grand total for a vacation does get you somewhere!

The emergency drill was a snap. It wasn’t until after the drill, maybe 5pm, that our bags appeared.. Anastacia (“Ana”) from Lithuania was our stateroom hostess. And she was the trueest "hostess with the mostest"! Cute as a button and sort of shy, but as sweet as could be, and quite the creative talent.

At dinner, we had a good time getting to know how much we had in common with our tablemates, Tony (TMH) and Sherrie (TMW) from Michigan. The adults hit it off immediately, as did their 7-y-o daughter (TM7) with my younger two. What a relief! Last cruise we had a whole table to ourselves and being somewhat private people we were unsure if we’d like sitting with another family. But we knew immediately this was going to work out great! Our families wound up hanging out together pretty much the whole week. Especially TM7, DD8 and DD6. Now that the cruise is over my girls still say their favorite part of the Disney Cruise was making friends w/TM7!

I did try to take notes about our meals b/c I, personally, was very interested in hearing menu tips from prior TRs, although you’ll have to forgive that I didn’t record the exact dish names and will generally just give descriptions. I had been nervous reading other TRs about the food being under par, and although I had MANY great dishes, I did think the food was better during our first cruise. Don’t misunderstand. I’m far from a food snob. I cook good meals for my family most nights and I'd trade my boring, repetitive home menu for the 4-course variety and pampering DCL restaurants offer in a snap. (I did gain 9 pounds, after all!) But save for two or three dishes, I can’t say I was absolutely blown away this time like I was the last. (I gained 12 pounds last cruise, there’s 3 lbs of proof!) DH disagrees, saying that nearly every dish he ordered was superb (altho he did often comment, like me, that many dishes were under-seasoned). Overall, I'd rate DCL dinners a solid B+ and worth the money, so take that for what it's worth. The desserts, by the way, were all A++. Simply divine. As were all the appetizer salads, iced tea, and the coffee (although if you're a Starbucks kinda person you wouldn't agree. Starbucks is way too strong for me.).

Our servers was Gabor from Hungary and our assistant server, David from Peru. I think David was new and although he was very smiley and polite, he barely spoke at all and none of us ever felt a real connection with him. On first impression, Gabor was soft-spoken and oftentimes very difficult to understand. The first night we were worried that our luck had run out and we weren’t privvy to having waitstaff that went “over and above” the call of duty like we’d experienced in the past. Thankfully, first impressions aren’t everything!

** DINNER REVIEW ** I had the mushroom in puff pastry appetizer. The pastry was nice and crispy and the mushroom concoction inside was good but serioulsy lacked seasoning. I also had butternut squash soup, sweet and delicious! DH had the salmon appy and loved it. Main course we both had encrusted veal which DH liked well enough but I found to be average. Granted, I’m more a scallopine veal kind of girl and found that big a chunk a bit too heavy. For dessert I had cheesecake with a sugar glaze - yummy! and DH had strawberry shortcake which he devoured in 2 seconds flat.

After dinner, DD11 had plans to meet her new DIS friend in the club. TMH and TMW had Palo reservations so we all went together to drop off DD8, DD6 and TM7. The first night in the club the parents are encouraged to stay, so DH and I did. The club CMs did cute little introduction skits for the kids, who were cracking up and really enjoying themselves. We checked our girls out of the club to make it to the 8:30pm show of All Aboard, Let the Magic Begin, which was a variety show with Phillip Huger, a puppeteer (missable), and Rich Purpura, who made me laugh so hard in his opening segment that I nearly spit my drink onto the poor fella in front of me! He was worth seeing.

This night ended the earliest of the lot, 10pm. The organizer in me could hold out no longer and I just had to get back to the room to unpack and find places for all our stuff. Not to mention we had to set our clocks ahead one hour that very first night. Doh!! One less hour already!

Ana had provided our first towel animal, a tiny little baby chick and a mama too. I knew there was a reason to like Ana when I saw how firmly she packed her towel animals. She packed that check so tight that DD6 actually carried baby chick around with her to both ports and the thing did not fall apart. Which brings me to confession #1, we stole a towel. GASP! That baby chick now has a new permanent home atop DD6's bed pillow.

So at this point we are very happy with our stateroom. I knew we could have saved a little bit of money by getting two smaller adjoining rooms, but I really like being on the 8th floor with one floor’s walk up to Deck 9 where we spend so much time (not having to rely on elevators too heavily is a good thing). DH and I loved the calm serenity of sitting out on the verandah at night, feeling the warm ocean air, listening to the rustle of waves below. Ah, so romantic, right?

Except there was one wee problem with this particular room. As I settled down for sleep I started to hear this beeping sound. Not a pager. Not a phone. Not anything I can put a finger on. It was definitely not coming from inside our room, but then again I couldn’t pinpoint which direction it was coming from. It wasn’t super loud, but loud enough to distract me from sleep. I spent a good hour trying to find a rhythm to the beeps, but there was none. Sometimes a succession of 4, two minutes pause, 8 more, seven minutes pause, 6 more. I considered calling the front desk but didn’t want to wake the rest of my family. So I pulled the extra pillow over my head and eventually drifted off. I thought I was crazy until the next morning DD11 woke up and first thing she says is, “What was that beeping noise last night?” The saga of the mysterious beeps starts.

Next up, Day 2, day at sea, character breakfast, and Super Bowl...[/COLOR]

 

[pierresgirl]

Wow, great report so far, very detailed!

 

[pwgs]

Subbing By the time our first cruise arrives our DD will be 11 and 8. I am curious about how they reacted to the clubs. Great report so far keep it comming

 

[LisaPisa]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys!

This time around all 3 DDs loved the clubs! Our first cruise they were 4, 6, and 9 and none of them ever really liked going.

All the CMs (except for one, which I’ll tell you about in a minute) were fantastic! Very friendly and welcoming. DD6 would really WANT to go to the club, but sometimes once we got there she'd be a little teary-eyed and scared to leave me. The CMs were understanding and would hug/comfort her and lead her right into the mix of fun - the tears never lasted more than a minute. Club CM Ally, and Lab CMs Monica and Mario really stood out as favorites. These people really had a knack for relating to kids and showing them a good time! They seemed to really enjoy their job.

DD6, Ally (CM extraordinnaire), DD8, and TM7:

Favorite activities for DD6/DD8 in the 5-7 club: Stitch’s Great Adventures (Sun 8:15pm), You Want To Be A Pirate? (Tues 7:15pm), Goofy’s Giggle PJ Party (Wed 7:45pm). They really wanted to do Nestle Chef and Flubber also, but got sidetracked by other things.

For DD11: learning phrases in Spanish from Mario, playing games with the counselors, and watching movies with her new friends on the couches at Ocean Quest. Most of her favorite organized activities occurred later at night: dodgeball up on Sports Deck, Scavenger Hunt and then Girls Chill (Sun 10pm), Camp Out (Wed 9:45pm), and the Pool Party (Thurs 10pm) which was in the Mickey pool instead of the Goofy pool, which is where you'd normally think they'd hold that type of thing. She and her friends thought it way cool for all the kids her age to have the whole slide and Mickey pool to themselves, a place they were usually banned for being too OLD!

The addition of Ocean Quest for ‘tween kids was perfect! The area was decorated more as a hang out pad with fluffy couches and lots of computers, not to mention several really awesome video games the boys were simply glued to. DD11 spent equal amounts of time in both Quest and the Lab.

For parents of tweeners, start thinking now about whether or not you’ll allow them to check themselves in and out. This was a big deal for us. Once your kid is 11, you, as a parent, have the option to allow them total freedom (letting them have free reign to check in or out without knowing where they'll wind up) or no freedom at all (staying with the group regardless of whether their friends are headed to another location). We're very cautious parents but not overprotective and although we felt the ship a very safe place, the thought of allowing DD11 leaved where we dropped her and being able to go anywhere she wanted (i.e. walking down the secluded, long hall corridors to our stateroom) made us very nervous. The first few days we wouldn't allow her to sign herself in/out even though it seemed all her other cruise friends had permission to do so. But after much begging and, frankly, us getting tired of the beeper going off every half hour so DD11 could flit from the Quest to the Lab or vice versa, we caved in. We gave DD11 firm instructions that there were three places she was allowed to be without us: Ocean Quest, the Lab, and Sports Deck. No wandering the ship, no swimming, no going down stateroom corridors to our or any of her friends’ rooms without speaking to us first -- and any time she was going to change locations she had to have a CM page us and specify the location she was moving to. Sounds simple, right? Um-hm. Well, it worked -- sometimes.

Problem is CMs only know the completely strict or completely lenient rule, no in between. We told them our request was to just page us and tell us where she was headed, but we'd get a page saying DD11 "is headed to Ocean Quest" and we'd go there to pick her up, she wouldn't always be there at Quest.

One particular time DH and I wound up in a frenzy b/c we got a page to bring her shorts to the Sports Deck so she could play dodgeball with her club, but when I went up there with her shorts they told me they couldn’t or hadn’t even checked her in at Sports Deck to start with because she was wearing a dress which is against the rules for dodgeball. Huh? I went down to Quest b/c that’s where the page originated from, but DD11 was not there. I looked at the Lab and then up again at Sports Deck, no DD11. Starting to panic, I popped back in and told DH I couldn't find DD11 and we both started searching....from Quest to Lab to Sports Deck and everywhere in between (all at very distant deck ship levels). LOL now, thinking about what idiots we must have looked, huffing up and down steps, 10th floor, 2nd floor, 5th floor, 2nd floor, 10th floor, repeat. (Waiting idly for a busy elevator in a panic is not an option when you can't find your kid).

At some point I stopped at Quest and asked the operating CM (I sure wish I had gotten her name - she was blonde w/a tight ponytail) to please call up to Sports Deck and the Lab and tell them if DD11 showed up there, to make her stay put and send a page. This CM looked at me and sighed heavily, acting as though I’d asked for her first born or something! Not at all helpful! There was another mom who’d been standing there for awhile, apparently in a similar predicament and unable to locate her child, wanting the same simple request as me. We wound up banding together and being downright rude to this CM, just to get her to push her darn walkie talkie button and make the request to keep these kids still.

Finally, a nice CM heard us two moms being exasperated and came to our aid with her walkie. When I finally found DD11 I was so upset I yelled at the poor girl -- who was already crying b/c she was frustrated with that SAME rude Ocean Quest CM. Apparently, DD11's club had started out in Quest and when it became time to transition up to Sports Deck one of the CMs told her to play dodgeball she needed shorts and not a dress. So DD11 asked rude CM to page me to bring her clothes. DD11 said as she stood there waiting for me in the entrance to Quest, rude CM told her she was not allowed to just stand there, that she had to go up to Sports Deck and wait with the rest of her club, where THEY in turn told her she could not check in since she didn’t have appropriate clothes. DD11, DH and I had probably been heading up or down staircases, going different directions on opposite ends of the ship and missing each other the whole time.

I guess my point is that if you choose to allow your child to check themselves in/out, be sure you are okay with the fact that it’s very possible you will not be able to determine their whereabouts at any given time. The CMs are great but not necessarily trained on how to follow through with any kind of in-between option. In retrospect, we should have designate some sort of “plan B” public meeting spot so we could all have met up in a case like this. I just really didn't want DD11 wandering those corridor halls alone!

 

[plutospup]

Thanks for the club check-in/out tips! DD will be 11 on our next cruise. Hopefully, from what I learn here, there won't be any problems.
Great TR! I'm looking forward to the next installment!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

This is great, Lisa! We were on the Magic that week too! I love to hear other aspects of our cruise. We went to the 3:00 lobby meet and met so many people I just couldn't remember names except Jackie, (TJEagle).
I love your baby chick story too. lol! It's so funny to hear about little girls experiences. (I have 2 boys.)

 

[princesstrio]

Lisa,

We are so greatful that Alex had the chance to meet Olivia.
It made it so much easier for her to feel comfortable going to Ocean Quest. The day we left port Alex cried for twenty minutes because she missed her friends at home. Tonight she was crying because she missed her friends from the cruise.

Thanks to you and Olivia!
And a huge hello from Alex

 

[HawkeyeGal]

I really want to know what the beeping was!

 

[LisaPisa]

Mornin'! Glad people are enjoying.

Princesstrio - Olivia feels the same way about Alex! Her and my other two making real friends made this cruise an even better one than the last. I have a great photo of Olivia and Alex taken at Studio Sea the night Alex won Mousketeer. I'll email it to you!

 

[scottishwee35]

LisaPisa

Hi

I enjoyed to reading your Heavenly Eastern Trip Report and hope there is more?


Scottishwee35

 

[LisaPisa]

We woke via a Mickey phone call to much, much warmer weather. Probably mid-70's. Our character breakfast was set for 8:15 in Parrot Cay. The kids were beside themselves with excitement, literally bouncing on their beds! We started warming up to Gabor when he made DD6 a pair of Goofy ears out of the colorful cloth napkins, and Minnie ears for DD8.

DD6 as Goofy:

Immediately after breakfast the kids got on their swimsuits. DH took the girls and met up with the TMs, who had scored front row Mickey pool lounge chairs b/c there’d been a passing sprinkle and many people vacated. I headed to Studio Sea to learn how to make Crab Martinique which was on that night’s dinner menu. The presentation was cool, with the chef under spotlights, mirrors reflecting his activity over a huge portable stove, and closeups of the action on TVs. Everybody got samples of the crab and a recommended wine to go with it. It was relatively short, maybe 20 minutes, which is just about as long as any activity takes.

I headed to the front desk to ask about tickets for some of the events we really wanted to partake in. **HOT TIP** I learned from these boards that things like Tea With Wendy and the Galley Tour are still offered but no longer listed in the Navigators, so if you want to do these things you need go to the front desk and specifically ask what activities are ticketed. Things sell out quickly! Luckily, we’d already seen Tea with Wendy last cruise, but I did snag galley tour tix for Thursday, and after much contemplation decided to pass on the martini tasting b/c of the conflict with dinner.

Then I brought up the topic of the mysterious night beeps. The very polite customer service girl seemed concerned and asked me all kinds of questions trying to get to the root of the problem. Was I sure it wasn’t coming from my club pager? Yes. Was I sure it wasn’t DH’s watch alarm? Yes. Could I pinpoint the location? No, other than it’s muffled and is definitely coming from somewhere outside my room. She apologized profusely, said she’d have someone look into it right away, gave me several packs of earplugs and told me if I heard it again to call her. My hope had been that upon telling her she’d recognize the problem and immediately know the quick fix, “Oh, that blady-blah beep alarm in the mechanical room is going off again. I’ll have maintenance go turn that off so it doesn’t bother you.” But she seemed as mystified as me and actually round about accused that it was coming FROM me. Oh well! It wasn’t that big a deal, especially now that I had the little orange ear stoppers, which was a satisfying resolution. Did I just say resolution?

I got back to the Mickey pool just in time for DH to head to the Dumbotron to catch the bridge tour which he found interesting. The other thing DH was most looking forward to was the Behind The Scenes series we’d heard so much about. He’s a big history and mechanics-of-things buff and wanted to know more about how Disney launched the mini empire that is DCL. This week’s special guest was not from Disney but the VP of Media for ESPN. We’re fans of lots of sports, but none of the topics sounded interesting at all, so he never did go. We’ve since wondered if he missed out on something great. (anybody?)

Lunch was Pinnochio’s pizza for the girls and DH and I grabbed some veggie wraps and shrimp Caesar wraps from Goofy’s Galley. Let me say right now, every last thing we ate from Goofy’s was excellent to the extent that we often chose Goofy's over Topsiders. The wraps were packed full and had the perfect amount of dressing for moisty flavor, but not so much as to make them soggy. I also liked the little two-bite portion size they were served in cuz it allowed me to try a bigger variety. The cucumber salad stuff, simply scrumptious! And, as always, I loaded up on fresh fruit - every single day. Where on earth do they find that pineapple anyhow? Nectar of the Gods. I ate twice my weight in pineapple. The only drawback to having Goofy’s there is that it replaced what used to be Scoops. They do have a small area where you can get self-serve soft cones, but it’s not real ice cream and the only toppings available are caramel and fudge (not exactly Smuckers quality either). A few sprinkles would have been nice. **HOT TIP** After a couple days of overfilling the tiny cups provided we started getting regular drink cups from the soda station, which worked nicely for bigger portions and cut down on sticky drip messes from the quickly melting ice cream and overflowing caramel.

By 1pm everybody tired of the pools. DD11 opted to hook up with her friends in her club (Nod to Princesstrio). I didn’t see her at all until I dragged her out at 5pm to get dressed for dinner. The rest of us cleaned up to catch the 2pm showing of Twice Charmed since we wanted to catch the Super Bowl that night. WOW! What a fantastic show Twice Charmed was!! The storyline was fantastic and the costumes were simply stunning. DS8, DS6, and TM7 were so captivated they barely moved the entire show. Both my younger girls are now aspiring DCL stage actresses. Isn’t that wonderful?!

Getting back to the room to dress for dinner we had messages from polite front desk girl, who had apparently tried to call twice and missed us. She wanted to know if we’d yet discovered the source? No. Had we heard it at any time other than night? No. Did I have an epiphany that it was my kids club pager after all? Like I sad, No! She was very sorry. No one else had complained or heard beeps. She hopes it’s resolved since I haven't contacted her again. Will I please, please call her tonight if I hear it so she can send somebody to investigate?

**DINNER REVIEW** I had the crab marinique I’d already sampled at Studio Sea. Good, sort of like a cheesy crab imperial. DH had the cold papaya soup which was like a thick yogurt. He liked it b/c it was different. I had onion cream soup which, again, lacked seasoning. Main course I had the “mixed plate”, which was a pork blade (mediocre), spicy sausage (very good but a little dry), and beef (perfectly cooked and tender, great!). DH had one of his favorite things he ate the entire cruise and highly recommends, pan-seared grouper (very light and fresh). Dessert DH had TWO chocolate coffee walnut cakes. I had banana bread pudding w/coconut ice cream. I would have had two if I weren’t so full! Gabor entertained us with a few tricks. One where he turned a red foam ball into a bunny and a few brainteaser types where we had to move crayons to solve a riddle. Every time Gabor came near our table the girls begged for more tricks. They were totally sold!

Typically, formal night occurs on Sun, but because of the Super Bowl is was postponed until Mon. In perfect timing, after dinner the 5-7 kids club was having Stitch’s Gerat Adventures, so we and our TM friends checked the girls into the club and headed to Promenade Lounge. As expected, DCL did it up nice for Super Bowl. They ran specials on Miller Light, a raffle to win a new TV, and did past Super Bowl trivia during the commercial breaks with cool prizes (t-shirts, towels, flags, mugs, etc). The satellite link beaming to the ship originated from a foreign country so all the commercial breaks were in Spanish and not the big budget ones people talk about for years after. (I can’t buh-lieve DCL made me miss K-fed! The nerve!) Thank God the play-by-play was the regular broadcast, b/c my Spanish only goes as far as what Dora the Explorer has taught me.

Super Bowl night was also the night we had our first ever taste of mojitos (the first of many, I might add). Oh, man, them things are good! Bacardi’s found a sucker in me! We partied until paged, a nice 11:00 or so.

When we got back to the room we found our Disney chocomints nicely arranged around Ana’s towel elephant, but she’d also incorporated DDs’ stuffed animals and dolls into a mini circus scene as well. This was part of Ana's nightly turndown. One night was a rodeo. Another night the pals were dressed in our pirate attire (eyepatches and all). But our favorite was three of the dolls lined up in front of the TV (which we'd turned off when we left but was now tuned to That’s So Raven). Too cute. Ana's creations quickly became the highlight of DDs night such that the minute dinner ended they wanted to go up to the room to see what the Ana'd done with the dolls. Even our TMs were in on the excitement.

Hannah-doll, chihuahua pup and previously mentioned baby chick being couch potatoes:

Everybody drifted into sweet slumber the minute their heads hit the pillow. (Well, actually, DH drifted into loud snoring, no doubt the result of his 5 mojitos). All is calm and quiet. I break open my journal to start writing and what do I hear? Not actually silence, but beeping! Okay! Where did I put those darn earplugs? I scavenged for those little orange saviors. Stuffed one in each ear. Voila, problem solved.

Up next another day at sea, braids, massages, formal night, and a beeping revelation!

 

[tjeagle]

Lisa
Excellent report! Love your writing style!! Looking forward to the rest!!
Jackie

 

[vic32]

Lisa- loving the report. It takes me back to the ship! We miss it terribly.

 

[Gina]

Awesome report, Lisa -- more, more!!

 

[disneyfan551]

Thank you SO much for sharing your report with us!! It is GREAT!!!

 

[LisaPisa]

Following another late night, we again slept in until 10:00. You see the pattern emerging? I’m an admitted night owl but I never get to sleep this late b/c the kids are usually up with the sun and have no real concept of what an ‘inside voice’ is. Every day on the cruise, though, I was actually the first one up and had to wake DDs. Our stateroom being nice and dark (thanks to insulated curtains and a few strategically placed clothespins) helped a lot. It was getting even warmer at 80-something. The ship seemed to be going at super speed, but the ride was still super smooth. Whatta captain!!

I hung back in the room a little while DH took the kids up to the pool to grab Topsiders breakfast and meet the TMs, who have yet again snagged great Mickey pool chairs. I’m just about ready to head out when there’s a knock at the door. It’s a white uniformed woman officer, come to investigate the beeping. The exact minute my mouth opens to explain what I’ve heard, the phone rings. Guess who? Why, polite front desk girl, of course! Good gosh, I’m getting double team help now. Front desk girl asks if I heard the beeping again last night? Still, yes. Could I determine it’s origination? Still, no. Why didn’t I call her last night when I heard it? Well, everyone was asleep and I didn’t want strange men traipsing through my room at midnight. Meanwhile, white uniformed officer woman is standing there listening to the call. She hears me thank front desk girl for her concern but that, really and truly, the earplugs have done the trick and the beeps aren’t much of an issue for me anymore, TYVM. I hang up, and white uniformed officer says g’day. Now, I know their intent is to try to solve the problem for me, but at this point having to talk about the beeps all the time is becoming more annoying than the beeps themselves.

The girls had braid appts. Each of them opted for what seemed to be the most popular style, half-head cornrows with beads at the crown of their heads. This style was also the cheapest (yay for me), only $1 per braid, took only 20 minutes, and was super convenient being poolside. But I must confess I was disappointed in the quality of the braids. Well, it was either the quality or the style chosen, verdict is still out. They looked great the first couple of days, but by day three the little ponytails at the ends of each cornrow started sticking straight out from their heads, making them look like they had lion manes. I tried my best to tuck them back in or tie them together but they never stayed tucked.

Last cruise, we were shopping at a little mall at the port in Grand Cayman and came across a hair salon and had their braids done there. It was more or less the same half-head cornrow style, but the braids continued to the tips of their hair and then beaded. Yes, it was more expensive (I think about $25), and took longer (30 mins), but the braids definitely held up better. So, I don’t know if it was just the style my girls chose or if it was quality of braids, but in the end I was sorry we didn’t just wait until we got to the St. Maarten port where I saw at least three hair shops. Oh, and before you get your girls the braids think about how much beach time will follow. Having three beach days AFTER braids made for lots of sand picking-outing.

After braids was couples massage time. Ohhhhh babyyyyy! I’ve had a few massages in my lifetime and know how glorious they are, but DH never had. Matter of fact, I had to twist his arm to get him to go with me, all along reassuring him he’d really like it (even if there was no ‘happy ending’). My masseuse was named Amy and DH had a middle eastern looking woman whom we didn’t catch the name of. The room was dark and quiet. The towels draped over us were warm. Neither of us said a peep for the entire hour. It was sheer, absolute BLISS! Afterwards we were so relaxed our legs felt like jelly and we spent a good 15 minutes chiding each other about who’s masseuse did a better job. “Did yours do that pokey thing to your foot?” “No, but mind did some gentle spine stretch thing that sent tingles through me.” It was expensive but worth every penny, that hour was! Here’s the funny...being the DIS-educated one, I’d forgotten to warn DH about the Elemis product pitch that was sure to follow. Fuzzy-brained and woozy-eyed at the time, DH vacantly nodded yes when they asked if we were interested in any of the products. He said he wanted some of the eucalyptis gel. I gulped, cuz I’d been warned about the prices. When he turned over his KTTW card and they came back with the $58 receipt he signed it thinking it was the cost of the massage itself. Paaaaa! It wasn’t until they came with the actual massage receipt that he realized his mistake. Oh, well. Maybe using the eucalyptis gel at home will come with a happy ending for him. Hope I can make it worth his hard-earned $58!

Onto formal night. ** HOT TIP ** This is the night that before and after dinner they serve free drinks in the Atrium. (You gotta have something to do with your hands while you wait in the long line for photos!) If you’re early seating you can time it correctly and grab two free drinks from the tray to take with you to dinner....and then after you eat head back through the Atrium and snag a couple more drinks, no doubt intended for late seaters. Yeah, I’m cheap. I know. But it shaved at least $20 off my liquor bill. Can’t blame a girl for that, now can ya?

At tonight’s dinner, Gabor wowed us with what I thought was his best trick of the week He poured a pack of sugar into his hand, did some bibbidy-bobbidy, then opened his hands to show the sugar was gone. Then he cupped his hands together again, did more bibbidy-bobbidy, then turned his hand to pour out the reappeared sugar. K, you prolly have to see it for yourself, but Holy Cow! Even I don’t know how he did that one. Actually, it drove me bananas not to know. We forced him to repeat the trick several times throughout the course of the week in feeble attempts to figure out how he did it.

** DINNER REVIEW ** For appy I had proscuitto cup w/green leaves, good. DH had mixed greens w/goat cheese croutons. The croutons were actually toasted bread points with a goat cheese concoction spread on them and they were so good we asked for a whole plate of just the croutons! Main course I had the tenderloin, which was by far my best meal of the week! So tender, cooked just perfectly medium as I’d asked, the sauce was divine. DH tried the duck and loved that as well. Both of our side potatoes were tasty but also on the dry side as if they’d sat under a heat lamp too long (actually, all the potatoes served seemed dry). Dessert was my favorite - creme brulee. I could eat 20 of them when they’re done right, and they were! The formal night dinners were definitely the best from start to finish.

Golden Mickeys we’d seen before. I could have skipped it this second time but the girls really wanted to go. (I wish Disney would get more new shows for us repeat cruisers.) So I took them while DH headed out to see The Prestige, one of the onboard movies. (There were some other good, recent movies on board that we’d wanted to see but never did find time to go.) It’s cute the way they do the fake red carpet. My girls and TM7 were all interviewed in Preludes and broadcast into the theater as part of the preshow.

They felt like little stars!

I was so glad I had the videocam with me at the time! This is my kids’ favorite show cuz it has lots of good characters: Snow White, Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tarzan, Sleeping Beauty, and Cruella DeVille. I was partial to Tarzan myself. TMW and I almost died laughing when my DD11 insisted that Tarzan was wearing a bodysuit and that could NOT have possibly been his real body! (If that was a suit, I’d like to know where I can get one in DH’s size!)

Afterwards we went to Studio Sea for the after party. The adults enjoyed more mojitos. The kids enjoyed line dancing with Goofy and Minnie. Then it was straight to family karaoke. The girls sang a High School Musical song (what else?). Our TM sang too, and was quite impressive I might add. My only talent is holding my liquor well, so I just kept doing what I do best, sipping away.

It was another 11:00+ night. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the girls were holding up with the late, near Cinderella pumpkin changing hours. Quick PJ change, teeth brushing, they were are settling in. DD11 asked me for a pair of the earplugs so the beeps don’t bother her. DH laughs and mocks both of us b/c he thinks we’re both hearing things. This particular night, however, he was up late with me. I went into the bathroom to do the makeup removal ritual and when I reemerge I find DH standing at the edge of the bed looking up with an well-I’ll-be-darn look on his face. HE hears the beeping and thinks it’s coming from above us on Deck 9. I don’t know why I got excited cuz it really wasn’t a good for him to have a beepy sleep. I guess maybe it was just good to have reasssurance from another adult that I wasn’t losing my mind. I smiled knowingly, and simply handed him a pair of orange glories.

Next installment, Day 4, St. Maarten escapades, the pirate extravaganza, and hits the ship...