Cast: Me (40), DH (47), DD (12 1/2), DS (11 1/2). Third DCL cruise
This was our Key West Day. I was up really really early (I think it was well before 5). I grabbed my camera and headed out to take pictures of the deserted beautiful ship. I've got some really nice ones of all the decorations, and it gave me a chance to play with some of our camera's settings. I got some coffee and a pastry once the Deck 9 station opened up. Our DIS meet group had set up for daily walks around Deck 4 with two groups, one leaving at 7:30 and one leaving at 8:30. I met up with the 7:30 group outside the Walt Disney theater and we headed out. I think we had about 8 people that first morning. Don't shoot me if I miss someone, but here's what I remember: Leslie & Joe (Pin Diva and DH), Jim (of Scuba family fame), Tina (tinkfan), Mary Ann (Magiroux), and Vicki (cruisin goose). Oh yeah, me too. We did 2 miles in about 30 minutes. Many thanks to Joe for being our official lap counter. The rest of us were too busy gabbing to keep track!
I headed down to our room to find a still sleeping family. Those inside staterooms make for an easy sleep in since it's so dark! I started them moving, then headed up to Topsiders for some breakfast. If I remember right, GaRry (wdw goose) was up there with his son Gregg and I started with them. In fact, I think GaRry and I had breakfast together more than I ate with DH. I told him people were going to talk! DH joined me after a bit, and we made trays to take back down to the kids. That became the trend. I think DS only made it to breakfast outside the room on our disembarkation morning, and that was because we had to get out of the room so our host could turn it over. DD probably had 3 breakfasts with us.
The kids got ready and headed out to the lab. DH settled in with his book, and I headed off to the interdenominational Sunday service. Because this was a holiday cruise, DCL had offered a free cruise to a minister in return for his administering Sunday and Christmas services. It was a youth minister from Tennessee on his first cruise. Normally DCL uses a music minister from Celebration, but he had to back out at the last minute, so he called his friend in Tenessee 4 days before the cruise, and he and his wife got a nice Christmas gift. A nice short service, and I was out of there in about 45 minutes. I tracked down the family and we got lunch before we arrived at Key West.
It was in the low 70s with a pretty brisk wind when we docked at Key West. We had no plans for Key West. DS decided to stay in the lab, and DD came with us to wander around. DS had badly stubbed his toe while we were at WDW, and I needed to get some first aid supplies for it. The bandaids we had just wouldn't stay put. It was the very tip of his little toe, and nothing we did would work. I also couldn't find the toothpaste I had bought for the cruise portion of the vacation, and our travelling tubes were just about dry. We found a CVS and picked up toothpaste and a package of liquid bandage. Ran into the Goose family there. We then kept walking down Duval street looking for the Del Sol store. We found it, but nothing there looked worth the price, so we kept going. We then found a tacky souvenier shop where I bought our family's ornaments for the upcoming DIS ornament exchange scheduled for St. Martin. I got 3 fish ornaments that met my criteria 1) small, and 2) difficult to break. I also started my collection of magnets from each of the ports. Sadly, this magnet disappeared about 1/2 way into the cruise. We ran into TinkFan (Tina's) family there. Her DD was in heaven with all the tacky flamingo's they had. When we left, she was trying to convince her dad that the 3 foot neon flamingo would work well in her bedroom!
We headed back to the ship, and gathered up DS to hit the 5:30 showing of Incredibles on the big screen in the Walt Disney theater. We had seen this at home before we left, and after I fell asleep twice, I slipped back to the room for a nap (that 4 something wake up I had the last 3 mornings was finally catching up with me!). This was my last major noise problem with the connecting room. The family next door had left a two way radio turned on in their room, and I was treated to 45 minutes of "where are you nows" coming through the door. Our family came back from the Incredibles and DD and I quickly changed into our tropical attire (we got Tropicalifragilistic and Pirate Nights since it was 10 days). She and I went to family Karoake while DS and DH got ready. DD loves to sing, but her first choice had already been picked by someone else, so the two of us sang Blowin in the Wind.
We met up with DS and DH and went to Animator's Pallate for our light show. This was the only night that we kept both kids through the entire dinner. They really enjoy the show. DD kept saying to the table next to us (who were first time cruisers) "There's a surprise coming and it's really cool!"
Insert rant here, so if you don't like rants, skip ahead. I'll start by saying that I've never really gotten into the dinner attire debates. I usually post the recommended guidelines, then say what most people wear and leave it at that. But I now have sympathy for this debate. Our AP rotation had a large table immediately behind us. It was a family of probably 6 kids with two adults. Through the course of the entire cruise, this family came to dinner EVERY night in torn sweatpants/sweatshirts or cut off shorts and t-shirts (this included both formal nights, and our semi-formal night). One night, the dad had a tropical shirt over a t-shirt. This first AP dinner, I looked at them the entire dinner (they were between me and the "show"), so I couldn't help but be affected. The other times we were seated right next to them, I took the seat with my back to them, but then I was treated to a dinner listening to the kids fighting, demanding that the server bring them many things that weren't on the menu, the mom threatening that if they weren't good they were going to be sent into the club, etc. One night, I was bumped on the arm. I looked up to see a 4 year old boy right at my chair and he kept tapping me. I said "Can I help you?" He screamed "SUGAR!!!!" I said "Excuse me, you want some sugar?" He nodded. I said "well, you won't be getting it from me." Yes, everyone has a right to their cruise, but it absolutely affected my dining experience. Rant over!
Again, the food was good. DD had salmon, DS had plain pasta, I probably had some sort of fish. I think this was the night I had a really good ice cream sundae for dessert. After dinner, DS and DH went back to the room, while DD and I went to the tropical deck party. She had a great time dancing away, and I even embarrased her when something from my era came on. There was a dessert buffet set up, and we took a few things back down to the room, and called it a night.
This was our Key West Day. I was up really really early (I think it was well before 5). I grabbed my camera and headed out to take pictures of the deserted beautiful ship. I've got some really nice ones of all the decorations, and it gave me a chance to play with some of our camera's settings. I got some coffee and a pastry once the Deck 9 station opened up. Our DIS meet group had set up for daily walks around Deck 4 with two groups, one leaving at 7:30 and one leaving at 8:30. I met up with the 7:30 group outside the Walt Disney theater and we headed out. I think we had about 8 people that first morning. Don't shoot me if I miss someone, but here's what I remember: Leslie & Joe (Pin Diva and DH), Jim (of Scuba family fame), Tina (tinkfan), Mary Ann (Magiroux), and Vicki (cruisin goose). Oh yeah, me too. We did 2 miles in about 30 minutes. Many thanks to Joe for being our official lap counter. The rest of us were too busy gabbing to keep track!
I headed down to our room to find a still sleeping family. Those inside staterooms make for an easy sleep in since it's so dark! I started them moving, then headed up to Topsiders for some breakfast. If I remember right, GaRry (wdw goose) was up there with his son Gregg and I started with them. In fact, I think GaRry and I had breakfast together more than I ate with DH. I told him people were going to talk! DH joined me after a bit, and we made trays to take back down to the kids. That became the trend. I think DS only made it to breakfast outside the room on our disembarkation morning, and that was because we had to get out of the room so our host could turn it over. DD probably had 3 breakfasts with us.
The kids got ready and headed out to the lab. DH settled in with his book, and I headed off to the interdenominational Sunday service. Because this was a holiday cruise, DCL had offered a free cruise to a minister in return for his administering Sunday and Christmas services. It was a youth minister from Tennessee on his first cruise. Normally DCL uses a music minister from Celebration, but he had to back out at the last minute, so he called his friend in Tenessee 4 days before the cruise, and he and his wife got a nice Christmas gift. A nice short service, and I was out of there in about 45 minutes. I tracked down the family and we got lunch before we arrived at Key West.
It was in the low 70s with a pretty brisk wind when we docked at Key West. We had no plans for Key West. DS decided to stay in the lab, and DD came with us to wander around. DS had badly stubbed his toe while we were at WDW, and I needed to get some first aid supplies for it. The bandaids we had just wouldn't stay put. It was the very tip of his little toe, and nothing we did would work. I also couldn't find the toothpaste I had bought for the cruise portion of the vacation, and our travelling tubes were just about dry. We found a CVS and picked up toothpaste and a package of liquid bandage. Ran into the Goose family there. We then kept walking down Duval street looking for the Del Sol store. We found it, but nothing there looked worth the price, so we kept going. We then found a tacky souvenier shop where I bought our family's ornaments for the upcoming DIS ornament exchange scheduled for St. Martin. I got 3 fish ornaments that met my criteria 1) small, and 2) difficult to break. I also started my collection of magnets from each of the ports. Sadly, this magnet disappeared about 1/2 way into the cruise. We ran into TinkFan (Tina's) family there. Her DD was in heaven with all the tacky flamingo's they had. When we left, she was trying to convince her dad that the 3 foot neon flamingo would work well in her bedroom!
We headed back to the ship, and gathered up DS to hit the 5:30 showing of Incredibles on the big screen in the Walt Disney theater. We had seen this at home before we left, and after I fell asleep twice, I slipped back to the room for a nap (that 4 something wake up I had the last 3 mornings was finally catching up with me!). This was my last major noise problem with the connecting room. The family next door had left a two way radio turned on in their room, and I was treated to 45 minutes of "where are you nows" coming through the door. Our family came back from the Incredibles and DD and I quickly changed into our tropical attire (we got Tropicalifragilistic and Pirate Nights since it was 10 days). She and I went to family Karoake while DS and DH got ready. DD loves to sing, but her first choice had already been picked by someone else, so the two of us sang Blowin in the Wind.
We met up with DS and DH and went to Animator's Pallate for our light show. This was the only night that we kept both kids through the entire dinner. They really enjoy the show. DD kept saying to the table next to us (who were first time cruisers) "There's a surprise coming and it's really cool!"
Insert rant here, so if you don't like rants, skip ahead. I'll start by saying that I've never really gotten into the dinner attire debates. I usually post the recommended guidelines, then say what most people wear and leave it at that. But I now have sympathy for this debate. Our AP rotation had a large table immediately behind us. It was a family of probably 6 kids with two adults. Through the course of the entire cruise, this family came to dinner EVERY night in torn sweatpants/sweatshirts or cut off shorts and t-shirts (this included both formal nights, and our semi-formal night). One night, the dad had a tropical shirt over a t-shirt. This first AP dinner, I looked at them the entire dinner (they were between me and the "show"), so I couldn't help but be affected. The other times we were seated right next to them, I took the seat with my back to them, but then I was treated to a dinner listening to the kids fighting, demanding that the server bring them many things that weren't on the menu, the mom threatening that if they weren't good they were going to be sent into the club, etc. One night, I was bumped on the arm. I looked up to see a 4 year old boy right at my chair and he kept tapping me. I said "Can I help you?" He screamed "SUGAR!!!!" I said "Excuse me, you want some sugar?" He nodded. I said "well, you won't be getting it from me." Yes, everyone has a right to their cruise, but it absolutely affected my dining experience. Rant over!
Again, the food was good. DD had salmon, DS had plain pasta, I probably had some sort of fish. I think this was the night I had a really good ice cream sundae for dessert. After dinner, DS and DH went back to the room, while DD and I went to the tropical deck party. She had a great time dancing away, and I even embarrased her when something from my era came on. There was a dessert buffet set up, and we took a few things back down to the room, and called it a night.
