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

[RoyalVizier]

I asked the waiter standing next to it (Haribe) if the puffs were edible or just for display. He smiled and handed me tongs and said, “As you please, ma’am.” So I take the tongs and try to pluck off a cream puff and it’s quite secure on there. So I tug harder, and harder still, until I look over and see that the Haribe is cracking up. It was NOT an edible cream puff tree and he was having a good laugh at my expense -- all good naturedly, of course. Stinker!

That's great!

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

GREAT trip report and full of interesting AND useful stuff! Keep going!!!!

 

[HawkeyeGal]

"I'd also like to know about formal night. I made our Palo dinner reservations on Monday night because I thought formal night was Sunday."

Don't panic! Formal night was moved because of the Super Bowl.

Her orginal post:
"Typically, formal night occurs on Sun, but because of the Super Bowl is was postponed until Mon."

HTH!

 

[LisaPisa]

Don't panic about your Palo ressies! Your formal night will be Sunday. Hawkeye's right -- the conflict with Super Bowl is the only reason they moved it to Monday.

CBJ - Wow! Braids lasting 2 weeks! Good for her! My girls were dying to show their braids off to all their friends.

So the style was the same as my girls' -- cornrows with the beads secured at the crown of the head? Maybe my kids just have crazy cowlicky hair or something! I wonder if different women do the braids on CC. Do you know?

 

[LisaPisa]

As we (from our and TM’s personal experience, as well as those of several other previous cruisers) knew Castaway Cay can oftentimes be prone to cloudy, cold or rainy weather. We’d been worried about what kind of weather we would wake up to. The room was so darkened from those security curtains that I was half afraid to undo the clothespins, but I took a deep breath and peeled them back to reveal --- blinding sunshine! Yahoooooooo!

Docking occurred late enough in the morning that I actually got to witness the approach. What a sight it was to lay eyes on the Flying Dutchman pirate ship! Quite a dramatic addition to Castaway Cay. Today, I was happy to be on starboard side!

Check this out! As we stood on our verandah one of us spotted what looked like the shape of a Mickey pooling in the water. Can you see it? (No one had had mojitos yet, BTW.)

K, so if you don’t see it I’m sure you think I’m looney tunes, but I’ll tell you something else. One night when the kids were asleep and DH and I were relaxing out on the verandah, we saw a cloud in the perfect shape of the DCL logo. (You know, the Mickey ears overlaid with the swirly wave pattern.) Being 90% true skeptic, I’m not normally one to believe in strange phenomenon. But I’m telling you it was there and it was REALLY cool! (Yes, we did have mojitos before that encounter, but I still stand by what I saw.)

**HOT TIP** If you’re mailing anything from the Castaway Cay post office, don’t forget to take cash with you. U.S. stamps don’t work and you need cold, hard cashola to buy a Bahamas stamp. I was mad at myself for not remembering that KTTW cards only go so far (can you believe Target won’t take them when you get home either?). I’d spent, like, $10 on postcards from the gift shop, taken the time to write them out and already put U.S. stamps on them. Duh! Oh well, at least when we hand-delivered them to our loved ones they were received quicker than they would have being delivered from the Bahamas.

There aren’t words anyone can use to describe Castaway Cay on a nice day. It’s something you have to experience firsthand. It’s beautiful and perfect and simply divine. A wonderful place to be with lounge chairs and alcoholic beverages and good food and people that wait on you hand and foot. It’s kind of like being on a cruise ship, except there’s sand under your feet. We spent the day on the family beach and had no problem finding lounge chairs with an umbrella.

DD6, NOT being sick on Castaway Cay beach:

There’s jet skis too. DH and DD11 did a guided tour. All the go-at-your-own-will jet skis were reserved by the time DH got there so the tour was his second choice but he wound up glad for it. Apparently, if you jet ski around a bunch of other people you can jump their waves and that’s ‘way more fun’ than going it alone (and, I’m sure, a much, much safer way to drive when you’ve got an 11-y-o on the back)!

**DINNER REVIEW** in pictures:
DH’s sushi appetizer, which he gave 5 stars, had two, and almost took another back to the room for later that night

My chicken wellington did not disappoint:

DH said this salmon wrapped in proscuitto was fair, but he wished he’d gotten the fettuccine dish that he'd debated about instead:

Not pictured (and also not recommended by any of us) is the artichoke dip the TMs and I had for appetizer. It was truly awful, tasted more like green peppers in cream sauce!? I traded it for tropical spinach salad, which was absolutely FANTASTIC! Lobster shrimp bisque was so-so. Celebration cake was very, very good (kind of like strawberry shortcake). Baked Alaska's presentation was more special than the cake itself, just cake with ice cream in the middle, the frosting wasn't quite up to par with what I've had at other fancy restaurants. Banana creme brulee with crispy chips was outstanding and sheer heaven! I think we all had seconds of the brulee.

And with that, our last DCL dinner was over. Heavy, heavy sigh. Back to meatloaf and potatoes for us.

Normally, departing with money is a difficult thing for me. But I have to say it felt really good inside to give out big, fat tip envelopes to our supporting CMs. First cruise I’d only brought the exact amount of money for each CM as recommended by DCL and was sorry I hadn’t brought more to add as bonuses. This cruise I came prepared with extra, hoping to have CMs that would go above and beyond and who would be worthy of receiving that extra. In the end, we gave Ana and Gabor almost double what was recommended and it was worth every single penny!

Confession #3 is that we completely skipped the supposedly mandatory disembarkment presentation in the theater upon returning from CC beach. We’d been through it all before and knew that we could catch the whole thing on our cabin TV. It runs on a repeating schedule throughout the day so I watched it while I packed, which only took about an hour. Funny how simple post-vacation packing can be. Preparation packing was a 2-day ordeal and then some. But now, I didn’t fold. I didn’t categorize. I didn’t organize in any respect whatsoever. Matter of fact, I was shameless to the extent that I took down the over-the-door shoe hanger which still contained various shoes, sunglasses, binoculars -- everything -- folded it in half, and shoved the whole thing into my biggest suitcase.

**HOT TIP** Don’t miss the Til We Meet Again Party (in the Atrium the last night around 10pm)! First, it’s the only time you’ll see so many characters in one place at one time. Second, because if your kid missed autographs or photos with any of their favorite characters (like mine missed the princesses while we were at Palo brunch), this is a last time, hole-in-one chance to get that wrapped up. Actually, some really good characters are there that don’t normally do scheduled appearances (at our party, Cinderella’s stepsisters, Finocchio, the Mad Hatter). Warning: it will make you teary-eyed!

View from the balcony between the elevators (I thought it was the best spot in the house), there are more characters you can't see going up both staircases and up on the balcony:

I’d actually had a little hope the kids would do the clubs one last time after the Til We Meet party so’s us adults could join the fun New Yorkers at “Pub Night” (which they said it not to be missed - something about bartenders dancing??). But the kids really wanted to stay together and hang out with their families for their last night. DD6 and DD8 were getting sad knowing they were going to have to say goodbye to their new best friend, TM7. The group moral, as a whole, was sort of subdued. Nobody wanted this great week to end!

As a parent, turning in that club beeper was one of the more difficult moments of the week. That’s when the reality sunk for me that, yes, from this point on I will be wholly responsible for entertaining my children. The characters were going to retire from view. Ana wasn’t going to do the toilet scrubbing for me and fancy up the dolls for DDs. Gabor wasn’t going to magically appear at dinner with the latest version of art on a plate. Nobody was going to crush the mint in my mojito glass. And there would be no verandah holding summer-like temperatures to walk onto.

Reality bites!

Next, doom and gloom. Disembarkment day. And a few extra tips/recommendations.

 

[weloveDCL]

Love the trip report.. our party of 6 4 adults and 2 children did the Sunny Liston Tour.. we rode with Sunny and had already said, via email we wanted coki beach and that is where we went.. we left at 10:00 for 2 hours shopping.. scored some "designer" purses.. did grab snacks and the great banana daquaris at mountain top.. My dil and i both bought Sunny's cd's for 5.00 each too.. I listen to it all the time.. and pretend.. i'm back in the mtns of St. Thomas... this is a trip i'd take everytime I visited St. Thomas.. see the sites, the beauty, shopping and the beach.. best $25.00 I've ever spent.

 

[Jillpie]

I just wanted to thank you so much for this report, I really loved it. We are a family of five also, but have 3 boys instead! I must have spent over an hour the other night, just reading and reading your every word, it was like a great book I didn't want to put down. I've been waiting patiently for todays report, and it didn't disappoint! Loved it, thanks for taking me back to the Magic.

 

[LisaPisa]

WeLuv - DH swears that every last person got off at Sapphire Beach. I never did email Sunny in advance and pick the beach, but we'd decided to sitch to Sapphire over Coki anyhow when ppl started posting about all the ships being docked. I was really sorry to miss Sunny myself - and the shopping sounds fantastic!! Were you happy with Coki then?

Oh, and my daughter wants to know if that CD has some song about the days of the week on it? I have no clue what she's talking about but both my daughters sang that song over and over and said it was b/c Sunny's wife kept singing along to it while she drove.

Jill - Thanks so much for the kind words! I'm glad ppl are enjoying the TR. I'm actually taking myself back to DCL, just remembering. Sounds like you have a fun mom and son trip coming up! Best wishes!

 

[vic32]

My dd sings that song also, I wish we had bought that cd! EVeryday of the week!! Sunday oow ow !

 

[LisaPisa]

Back on U.S. land. How fitting was it that we woke up Saturday morning to find gray skies and chilly temperatures? I love my country with all my heart, but I really didn’t want to be back! Breakfast was at 6:30am so there was no time for fooling around.

It used to be that you could dine in Lumiere’s disembarkment morning. The one last thing I was looking forward to was gobbling down some of that divine eggs benedict for The Last Breakfast! Disney changed it up though and now on disembarkment morning you have to eat at your homebase restaurant. That meant Animator’s Palate again. Sigh. To make it even more depressing, there was no eggs benedict on the menu. Double sigh. The only good thing about it was being able to see our servers and tablemates one last time.

We bid our tablemates and now very good friends a teary-eyed goodbye. The girls took it especially hard and were trying their best to secure a firm date from us parents for a reuniting jaunt between Maryland and Michigan.

Walking back through the gangway under the sign that says Til We Meet Again brought more choked back tears. I was trying my best to keep the kids perked up, “It’ll be good to be home and tell everybody about our trip. Hey, at least we’ll get to see the dog! I bet he really missed you guys!” It wasn’t really working though.

I’m not sure if we did something wrong. DH insists we did. We paid for the Disney transfers back to MCO from the ship thinking we’d get our bags hauled everywhere for us, but that didn’t happen. As we got to the barnyard (i.e., the big room where they shove all your bags in categorized areas) we saw that our luggage was sitting there waiting to be lugged by us. DH repeated over and over: we missed something, I think DCL is supposed to be taking our bags to the airport for us! Well, he may have been right b/c once we got outside (after having to take 5 rests from the heavy suitcases) and boarded the bus we saw those same white trucks that the DCL porters used to transport our bags TO the ship were being loaded with yet more bags. If we did this wrong, I’m going to shoot myself b/c I’ll feel like we paid for nothing but a bus ride (which, BTW, was nowhere near as exciting as the ride on Day 1). At least it was a plus to have the kids entertained with cartoons on the drive.

Gary DeLena, the ship comedian, was on the bus with us. He said some stuff I thought interesting. He said he loves working for Disney and they take fantastic care of their employees. He said the food is very good and the healthcare was great and it really puts his wife at ease to know he’s well taken care of since he’s away from home so much. He also said, which made my kids’ eyes bug out, that his own children have been on the cruise so many times they don’t even want to go anymore. Can you even imagine feeling like that??!!

What a harsh dose of reality it was to arrive at the crazy mob scene that was MCO. We were off the ship by 8:30am and to the airport by 9:30am. Check-in lines for AirTran and Southwest Air (the only two I was near) were literally hundreds of people long, no exaggeration! I saw a lot of DCL folks and people coming from Disney resort hotels who had to be checked out of their rooms by 10am. It was just insane chaos! Things cleared substantially as it got later in the day and by the time we left for our gate it looked more like a typical airport on any other day. MCO does have a lot of shopping and restaurants to kill time in, but it was still boring waiting around for 4+ hours, during one of which we had to tote our luggage around since we couldn’t check-in until 3 hours before our flight.

On the other hand, our TMs did it right. They booked an evening flight, rented a car for the day, and spent it touring around Downtown Disney. Not only did they avoid the morning airport insanity, but they were able to extend their trip by at least a little bit. The minute we stepped off the ship we had Disney withdraw and it would have been nice to do a little extra something Disney-related.

So the **HOT TIP** is, either book a later flight and rent a car for the day so you can putz around the FL sights. Or if you can afford it, just get a hotel room for the night and sit by the pool for the day. Anything to avoid that Saturday morning MCO battle! Oh, also check the Canaveral shuttle launch dates. Both trips we missed a scheduled launch by a few days but they do sometimes go off on Saturdays and I know some cruisers have stayed the extra day just to catch that once in a lifetime opportunity.

As we got to our gate DD11 gleefully realized she got her wish. One of her best buds from the clubs, also a Marylander, was on our same flight. The two of them got together and talked about the fun they had, the people they met, etc. And they even sat together on the plane, which made for a much easier transition.

Two hours in the air, pick-up of a snow-covered car, temperature a bone chilling 18 degrees. Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

And so, in the end, we never did find out the source of those beeps. Trust me!! Not knowing what caused drives me bananas. I wait in hope that somebody reading this has heard it too and will come post a resolution for me. Maybe somebody from a stateroom on either side of us, or somebody who stayed in our exact stateroom after us. Please, if you know, fill me in on what the heck?!

Looking back, it’s more funny now than anything. Something to talk about. And I must say that as annoyed as I got with polite front desk girl, she was really just trying to do what DCL is notorious for, and that is do whatever it takes to make it the trip of a lifetime. And it truly was!!

In the silence of night at home, I kind of miss those beeps.....and the sound of the sea waves....and the gently rocking ship lulling me to sleep.....

 

[RoyalVizier]

Perfect ending!

But...

Fantabulous awesome report! Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[Briarmom]

What a great report! Thanks for writing it.

 

[scottishwee35]

Hi

Awww, that is end of story. That was good to reading it

Scottishwee35

 

[Cajun Princess]

What an awesome trip you and your family had.
Thanks for the TR. It was great
Wished you would have found out what the beeps were. That would be driving me crazy

 

[Jillpie]

Is it really over? I just loved it, every word. Home again, jiggity jig , omg, we all know that sentiment so perfectly. Well, all good things have to end I suppose, I'm leaving with my 18DS in 11 days for DW and can't wait! But, I loved your story. Thank you so much for entertaining us this week!

 

[amesmom]

[BCheck this out! As we stood on our verandah one of us spotted what looked like the shape of a Mickey pooling in the water. Can you see it? (No one had had mojitos yet, BTW.)

K, so if you don’t see it I’m sure you think I’m looney tunes, but I’ll tell you something else. One night when the kids were asleep and DH and I were relaxing out on the verandah, we saw a cloud in the perfect shape of the DCL logo. (You know, the Mickey ears overlaid with the swirly wave pattern.) Being 90% true skeptic, I’m not normally one to believe in strange phenomenon. But I’m telling you it was there and it was REALLY cool! (Yes, we did have mojitos before that encounter, but I still stand by what I saw.)

I caught site of this photo and did an audible gasp before I even read your post. So I saw the hidden Mickey, too. Maybe we are both looney tunes. Love this photo.

 

[plutospup]

Maybe we are both looney tunes. .

"Looney tunes" on a Disney cruise

Oh yea, I saw the Mickey in the water, too!
Thanks for a great trip report.

 

[weloveDCL]

Yes the CD has the days of the week song on it.. we sang it everyday after the St. Thomas.. Let me see if I can burn it.. and redo it.. and i'll send a few out and post it then you can pm me your addy..

I miss the H and LB cruisers so much.. and that CD just takes me back.. The cd is really pretty good.... there are about 7 songs on it that we love and the rest are good too.

I keep thinking.. it'd be a great workout cd... if I worked out..

Excellent trip report and I will try to burn it today...

 

[weloveDCL]

lol still not awake.. we loved Coki beach.. there were the cutest ducks there.. the girls had a blast with them...feeding them.. i have like 20 duck feeding pictures .... it was a beautiful beach... i have a TR somewhere with some pictures..lol

Next time I go to ST Thomas.. I'd do the whole day over the exact same. In fact..we enjoyed St Thomas so much.. we may go spend a week there.. i've been researching.

 

[LisaPisa]

Thanks, everybody, for your nice comments! I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

What a relief that others saw the Mickey in the water. My dad looked at the picture and just arched an eyebrow at me! Glad I’m not crazy!!!

WeLuv - The CD sounds so great I’d even buy a copy from you! I probably would have bought it if I were there. Even though I didn’t get off the ship in St. Thomas it was so beautiful even from my verandah that I was thinking the same thing - a week there would be fantastic! My DDs jumped with joy when I told them there’s a CD out with ‘their song’ on it! LOL if you worked out. With my cruise weight gain you’d think I’d be working out, but I’m with you (i.e. sitting here, reading and posting)!