3 Generations Wonderful Cruise April 11-15!!! Updated 8/19!!

[princess22]

Hello Everyone!!! I just got back from a WONDERful Cruise with my mom and daughter! Everything was AMAZING! I plan on starting my TR ASAP and I will give you heads up, I took over 1,300 pictures!

Let me start by introducing the cast!

My mom, Carol. Has not sailed on DCL since sailing the Magic about 11 years ago. She was not impressed the first time we sailed and hasn't been back. She is however an avid cruiser, and cruises at least 4-5 times a year (mainly Princess). I was bound and determined to get her to convert to DCL!!!!

My DD2 (3 in June) Addison. This is her 3rd cruise, 2nd with DCL! She is my secret weapon to get my mom to fall in love with DCL! She loves the princesses, and refers to my mom as Daisy and herself as Minnie.

Myself: Stacey. I'm a teacher and a Disney lover. I met my husband, Ryan while working in Tomorrowland and we got married at the Shades of Green this past August. This was my fourth Disney Cruise and have taken several other cruises on different lines, but lately, my heart belongs to DCL!

Next up: I better get a boarding card #2, or else....

 

[MagicMe]

Your daughter is soooo adorable! Can't wait to see if you converted Mom to DCL!

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Signing up.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Signing on to find out if your Mom liked DCL convert or not. My MIL is a Princess fan and I don't think she cared for DCL. My DW went with her on a Princess cruise last year and was not a convert as she felt like she brought the average age down about 20 years. To each their own.

 

[princess22]

Your daughter is soooo adorable! Can't wait to see if you converted Mom to DCL!

Signing up.

Signing on to find out if your Mom liked DCL convert or not. My MIL is a Princess fan and I don't think she cared for DCL. My DW went with her on a Princess cruise last year and was not a convert as she felt like she brought the average age down about 20 years. To each their own.

YAY! I have readers! Thanks guys for joining me! I hope to get this all up while it's fresh on my mind... and it will be worth the wait to see if she converts...

 

[princess22]

Sunday April 11, 2010- Day 1 Part 1

We woke up bright and early ready to start our four days of much needed vacation!! It was cloudy and gloomy outside, but we weren’t going to let that bring us down! We planned on leaving at 8:15 and Addison and I were ready on time. However, my mom took a little longer than anticipated. We weren’t in the car and leaving until:

No, don’t worry, it’s not 10:55, but it is 8:39! 24 minutes late! Well, there goes my #2 boarding card!

Addison was so excited on the way. I could tell she wanted to sleep, but couldn’t. She took some pictures on the way, most of which looked like this:

After our normal game of “Who can spot the most DCL buses” we finally made it to the port!! Now we were really excited!

My dad dropped us off and planned on spending the day in the area to wave us off. I felt kind of bad for him because we would be having fun and he would just be waiting to watch us go by for all of 2 minutes!? Anyway, it’s a tradition and favorite past time of our family!

We make our way through security and up the escalator where I get handed my boarding card. My mom all excited asks what we got and with a roll of the eyes I say “FOUR!” Thanks mom… I honestly don’t care to be honest with you, but my mom felt really bad. After we checked in, she asked if there was anyway he could find a boarding card 2 for me because she felt bad that she made me late that morning. I told her it was fine, and I think the guy found it very amusing that I gave my mom a hard time over a difference of 2 numbers! He took our boarding card, crossed off the 4 and signed it for us! I thought that was very nice of him!!

After we checked in, we walked around and made our way out to the balcony to take a few pictures.

We came back inside and got a snack from the snack bar for Addison along with a new autograph book for her. I had a feeling Mickey would be coming out soon and I noticed a photographer standing there waiting. I went and asked him and he said he should have been out five minutes but the Coast Guard came in for a drill that even Mickey has to attend. Well, just then, guess who came marching out!?

Yup, Mickey, and we were first in line to meet the Captain himself! (Addison still thinks he drives the boat!)

It wasn’t long after meeting Mickey that they started boarding. Before I knew it we were stepping on the Mickey Boat and being introduced. This is one of my favorite parts, and secretly, I think my enjoyed it to! I mean how can you not love that special, overwhelming feeling!

We headed to Parrot Cay for lunch and my mom enjoyed her peel and eat shrimp. She was very impressed with the dessert choices. In fact, she called my aunt, who is a travel agent and cruise lover, and commented on how delicious the desserts were and how many choices they had! Score! I’m on my way to getting her hooked!!!

Mickey even joined us for lunch

After eating lunch we went to request our dining time be changed to the early seating. We were taking a gamble on this one. We never use the early seating on cruises, but we had a feeling for this one it would be better for us. We were second in line and were put on the waiting list. The gentleman said he would call between 4:00 and 5:00 to let us know if they could change it for us.

We still had 25 minutes until the rooms would open so we went upstairs to look at the Mickey Pool. As soon as Addison saw the splash area, she started taking her clothes off, right there in front of everyone! She was ready! Luckily, I packed her bathing suit. We let her play in the splash area for 20 minutes or so.

Just after 1:30 we decided to head to our stateroom to check it out and give Addison a nap. One of our suitcases was there already so we went ahead and unpacked it. My mom decided to join Addison in a nap and let me go off and explore the ship, but not before I decorated our door!

I would like to take this moment to thank all of the Creative DISigners who are kind enough to make the designs for us! I really appreciate all of you guys! Addison and my mom really enjoyed our magnets on this cruise and I had tons of compliments!

Up Next: Will we get our dining time changed!?

 

[princess22]

Day 1 Part 2:

While Addison and my mom napped, I walked around the ship and took some pictures. Oh, and I almost lost my cell phone over board! I dropped it and it went sliding across under the railing. Close call…

After walking around for a while I went back to the room to start waking up the ladies for the life boat drill.

As soon as the lifeboat drill was over, I took our jackets back to the room while my mom and Addison headed upstairs to stake out our spot for the Sail Away Party!

Here is Addison waiting for the party to start

People slowly started to join us

The party finally started:

Pluto is doing a cartwheel in the background

I love the excitement you feel when we are counting down and hear the horn at the end! It is so magical, and I had a tear in my eye. I think my mom shed a tear or two also (or is it because she is stuck on a Disney cruise for 4 nights!?)

 

[princess22]

Day 1 Part 3

After partying up on Deck 10, we made our way down to Deck 4 to look out for my dad! I love coming on this deck while we are sailing out, it’s so peaceful. We grabbed some potato chips on our way down and Addison was introduced to a new addiction. All of a sudden, my fruit eating daughter turned in to a chip-aholic!

My dad is over there, in front of a red car in a dark outfit…

A Costa ship was in port for the day (closer to Jetty Park)

Some birds flying around

My mom and Addison relaxed in the sun loungers…

And we slowly headed out to sea…

We realized we should go back to the room and see if our dining time got changed. We got to the room around 5:30 and had no messages, so we started getting ready for the show. Around 5:45 I noticed the message light had started flashing so I listened to the messages and there was a message from the head waiter Karina (loved her!) that she left at 4:40. She told us our dining time had changed and to meet her at Animator’s Palate at 5:45. It’s 5:45 NOW! We hurry up to finish getting ready and run upstairs two decks to meet her. I’m so glad they were able to change our dining time as it really worked well for us on this cruise! We sat with a nice family from Tampa. They had a 3 year old daughter named Madison, she was a cutie!

At diner I had a nice surprise! We just happened to get the same server I had on my cruise in July! What a coincidence! Here is my shout out to Herbert! He is great and he makes sure you are happy!!

After dinner we slowly made our way to the Golden Mickey’s! I LOVE THIS SHOW! I think it is a great show! Here are some pictures (No flash of course!)

So, what did my mom think of the show!? She loved it! Another plus for DCL and another step closer to converting!

After the show we went upstairs and got some hot chocolate and sat at a table enjoying our vacation. We went back to our room to find this guy…

Addison laid in bed (eating chips, a special treat) and watched some Donald cartoons while I read the Navigator for the following day. We eventually turned off the lights and all fell asleep dreaming about what might come our way the next day!

Up Next: Nassau… get off or lay around the pool? Hmm, the Tag Fairy might have that answer!

 

[not_Joanna_eggs]

You started already. I'm in!

I so need to go on a Disney Cruise!! (darn RCCL for sending me all those deals )

The boarding group story is just hilarious. I can so see my mom doing that too...

I love the muster drill photo - how you're blocking your mom not wearing the life vest

Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!

 

[PizzieDuster]

Fantastic report so far! I love all the pictures! I really enjoyed your pic of the Freedom of the Seas at the beginning. I found our cabin, can see the people watching the Flowrider (is what we did when we first boarded) and found the "laying out" spot I loved so much.

Keep posting the pictures!

 

[Cheryl726]

Enjoying your TR and pics, looks like a great girl trip!

 

[pls3399]

That's me and my DW sitting to the far left of this pic!

 

[princess22]

You started already. I'm in!

I so need to go on a Disney Cruise!! (darn RCCL for sending me all those deals )

The boarding group story is just hilarious. I can so see my mom doing that too...

I love the muster drill photo - how you're blocking your mom not wearing the life vest

Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!

You do need to go on a Disney Cruise!!! I'm telling you, once you go you won't want to go back Yeah, my mom eventually put her life vest on, but they didn't make Addison (she was a bit fussy)

Fantastic report so far! I love all the pictures! I really enjoyed your pic of the Freedom of the Seas at the beginning. I found our cabin, can see the people watching the Flowrider (is what we did when we first boarded) and found the "laying out" spot I loved so much.

Keep posting the pictures!

Thanks! I have tons of pictures so there won't be any lack of those! Thanks for reading!

Enjoying your TR and pics, looks like a great girl trip!

It was a great girl trip! Thanks for reading!

That's me and my DW sitting to the far left of this pic!

That is so funny!!! Maybe I should post it again on that other thread about finding yourself in the crowd!

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Wow, that's a lot of great pics from your first day. Enjoyed the port shots and got a good idea just how many people attend the sail away party. (yeah, I figured it was really popular, but it's another thing to see the crowds on both decks.). Good stuff!

 

[Bookwood]

Thanks for the report- so far- I've enjoyed going along on your cruise with you- your photos are fab!

 

[princess22]

Wow, that's a lot of great pics from your first day. Enjoyed the port shots and got a good idea just how many people attend the sail away party. (yeah, I figured it was really popular, but it's another thing to see the crowds on both decks.). Good stuff!

Thanks for the report- so far- I've enjoyed going along on your cruise with you- your photos are fab!

Thank you guys! Glad people are reading and enjoying it! I'll work on starting Day 2 today!

 

[lisalisalisa]

Great report. Looking forward to the rest.

 

[iloverags2]

Enjoying your report! I took my mom on a Disney Cruise last October...she didn't know what to expect, but was a converted DCL lover by the end of our trip! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[princess22]

Great report. Looking forward to the rest.

Thank you! Next installment is coming up now!

Enjoying your report! I took my mom on a Disney Cruise last October...she didn't know what to expect, but was a converted DCL lover by the end of our trip! Looking forward to reading more!

I'm glad your mom enjoyed it!! Thanks for reading!

 

[princess22]

Monday April 12, 2010
Day 2- Nassau

We woke up around 7:30 so we could quickly get dressed and run upstairs to meet the princesses! As mentioned before, Addison is a huge princess fan, her favorite being Cinderella. We got upstairs not too long after 8:00 and the line was already around the corner! Here is Addison patiently waiting in line!

My mom and I were impressed because while we were waiting some servers came by with coffee and a plate of danishes/donuts! What a nice touch! It was finally our turn to see the princesses!

First up, Snow White!

Next Up: Belle!

Then it was time for Tiana. Now, we haven’t seen this movie yet, but somehow Addison knew she had something to do with a frog because she asked me if she had her frog with her! She was also scared of her! She made me go and meet her. I can’t figure out why she was scared, but oh well, nonetheless, I went to meet Tiana with her. I’m going to put my two sense in here, keep in mind I haven’t seen the movie. Tiana was not friendly at all! Compared to the other three princesses she barely said anything and seemed like she was bored and not happy to be there. Maybe that is her character in the movie?? I don’t know, but we weren’t impressed, her dress was gorgeous though!

And finally, last but not least, Addison’s favorite, Cinderella!

The straight on shot wasn’t that great today, but I did manage to get one later on in the cruise!

After meeting the Princesses we went to Triton’s for breakfast.

Oddly enough, on all of our other cruises, we have tons of pictures in the dining rooms, not this cruise. I didn’t take any pictures of food, which I had every intention of doing for this TR. Oh well, I can tell you I had the mermaid breakfast that was waffles with caramel and cream, it is DELICIOUS! By far, the best breakfast I had this cruise!


After breakfast we walked around deck 3 and went up to the Route 66 area. Now, I forgot to mention this before, but as soon as we got on the boat, Addison kept talking about how she wanted to dance! That is what she remembers from our cruise in July is all the dancing she did. This girl is a dancing party animal! When we walked by Wavebands, I believe that is the name, she wanted to go in and dance. So, we went in and let her dance on the stage. There was a guy there who was set up to sell water so I assumed a tour was going to be meeting here soon. He was very nice and let Addison sing on the microphone, she belted out “Twinkle Twinkle little star” to an empty room. Very cute!

We decided to head back to the room to put on our bathing suits and hit the Mickey Pool. On our way, we had to stop at every window to look outside (this became common throughout the cruise)

We also had to stop and take a picture with the Ariel statue. Addison has to take a picture every time she goes by it, she did the same thing in July!

We also ran in to Donald on the way back…

It was a long walk back to the room…

Coming up: our afternoon on the Mickey Boat!