6/8/08 Wonder Double Dip, the "do over" cruise

[Disneylovers]

Hi all! I'm going to give this trip report writing a try, so please be kind!

I'm calling this the "do over" cruise because, back in 2002, we did a 4 day land/3 day sea trip. Unfortunately, the last night on "land" I ate something at a restaurant that no longer exists on Disney property, and got what my doctor later told me sounded a LOT like food poisoning! So I spent the entire cruiser unable to eat, drink, or even walk far without doubling over in pain! (but boy I could tell you what the carpet in our state room looked like, as well as the deck boards up on deck nine, and where every public bathroom was on that ship!).

I always said I wanted a "do over" cruise.

Fast forward to 2004, DH and I joined DVC (Disney Vacation Club). We got enough points for our every other year trip to WDW, but no where near enough for a cruise. Then, last May, MIL passed away, and DH received an inheritance. He decided to use the money for "fun" by buying more DVC points. When we bought, there was a deal where we received "bonus points" (aka developer points) which had to be used within a year. Well, gosh darn, all these points were just sitting here, why not use them for a cruise???

I wanted to go on a seven night cruise, but the Magic was going to Mexico for the summer, and DH didn't care to go to Mexico, so we settled for a four night cruise to Nassau, with a double dip at Castaway Cay.

At this point I should tell you the cast of Characters, and most people will tell you we are characters!
Me - the disney guru of the house, and your humble reporter
DH - "Mr. Gibbs"
DD - "Princess" age 20
DD - "Little Legs" about to turn 15

Since we have two daughters, we decided to get them their own state room so DH and I would have a fighting chance at the bathroom (tho' after the last cruise, the bathroom was the last place I wanted to see much of!!!). We decided to "splurge" and get two veranda rooms. All the connecting rooms were taken, but we were able to get adjoining rooms on deck 6. So we were set. Room to spread out, a veranda to sit and watch the water go by, yup, sounded good!

Originally, we booked for the 6/15 cruise and I made arrangements to celebrate Little Leg's birthday but then Princess thought she may be taking a class over the summer, and summer school started on 6/16, so I cancelled the 6/15 reservations, and rebooked on the 6/8. Then I started coming back to the cruise line boards, to see what all had changed in the 6 years since we cruised last. One thing I read about was the "Pirates IN the Caribbean" party, and I saw pictures of people in costumes. Since we're a theatrical family, I asked the gang if they were willing to dress in costumes and they said "yes",(and, honest, no arm twisting was involved!) so my task was to create costumes for us. Ever since my girls were little (thanks to my mom who guilted me about getting store bought costumes) I've made halloween costumes for them, so I'm used to sewing for them, but in 21+ years of marriage, I never made anything for hubby! Since his hair is no longer the black it was when I married him (I did mention we have two daughters, didn't I?) he thought it would be fun to be "Mr. Gibbs". After watching POTC movies multiple times (watching Johnny Depp, tough job, someone's gotta do it), I had a good idea of how to make the costume, so that kept me busy, along with checking in here daily, until we left.

Next installment, we're on our way!!!!!!

 

[sandybobandy]

Looking forward to more!

Sandy

 

[Disneylovers]

We decided to go down to Florida the day before the cruise, and stay at one of our DVC homes, SSR. That way, we wouldn't have to stress about a flight being delayed, and missing the boat. We booked ME to get us from the airport to SSR, then went back and forth about how to get to the port on Sunday. I dutifully reported all I read here on the boards about either renting a car one way, or getting a limo. But in the end, we let Disney Transportation take us (that way, they would get the suitcases to the room, DH was liking this "let Disney handle our bags", first ME, then the cruise line, (and heck, I was under the weight limit for each of our bags, it wasn't like he had to haul heavy bags!!!!).

When we usually go down to WDW, I book us on the second flight out in the morning. Why the second flight? Because the first flight is just TOO DARN EARLY (and it means getting up at "it's not really morning yet" time which my gang has a problem with). But for this trip, I booked us an afternoon flight, which just messed the whole day for me! We took the dogs to the PetHotel in the morning, loaded the suitcases in my car, and arrived at the airport parking deck in 40 minutes. Even with a line to check bags, we were heading to security in 10 minutes! Grabbed lunch (but no Potbellies breakfast sandwiches. We love the PotBellies breakfast sandwiches which we only can get at the airport, because the stores near our house don't open until 11:00 for lunch - another reason to fly in the morning!). Our Southwest flight was on time, and we landed in Orlando at 6:15 p.m.. We were at the ME desk by 6:40 (Little Legs gets her name for a reason!), and on a CRUISE bus by 6:45. When the bus was full, we headed out at 7:04. By 7:30, we were standing at check in. We confirmed with bell services that they would pick up our luggage in the morning. One of Princess' high school friends is doing an internship at Sea World this summer, so they got together for the evening, the rest of us headed to DTD for a quick supper, a quick look in WOD, then back to the resort to sleep.

Next installment "So this is what it's like to be on the ship and not doubled over in pain!!"

 

[Disneylovers]

Sunday, June 8th. The phone rang at 7:45 a.m. I didn't set a wake up call!!! It was the cruise desk of the resort, letting us know we had to check in at 12:15, and our bags had to be packed and ready for pick up at 8:00. Yes, we have dutifully packed our day bags, our suitcases are staged at the front door, we're ready! At 7:55 the phone rings again, this time, it's bell services, reminding us to have our bags packed and by the front door, they will be here at 8:00. And at 8:00, there was the knock at the door (boy, they are prompt!). Check out isn't until 11, but at 8:45, here's mousekeeping knocking at the door, asking when we'll be out. So, we grab our "day bags", walk down to the main area, have breakfast in Artist's Palette, then sit by the pool. We packed our swimsuits, so DH, Little Legs and I go swimming, while Princess sits with our stuff and reads one of the 6 books she brought with her! DH finally gets to check the under water housing he bought for his new camera which he's going to use when he goes diving in Nassau. (he never had time to check it at home before we left). At 12:15, we go check in at the Disney Cruise desk in the lobby, and at 12:40 the bus arrives, so we board (it's a packed bus we're at the back of the bus) and we're heading to Port Canaveral. Here was one of our first views of the boat (I hope, I've never posted a picture before I hope this works!!!!)

We arrived at 2:00. Now I know there are many of you here on this board who are probably shuddering at the thought of arriving at the port this late, but I gotta tell you, there weren't any lines for security, we headed right up the escalator, walked right up to the Castaway Club check in desk, and right onto the ship!!! Of course, we didn't see any of the characters, but my kids are old enough to not care about the characters!

Since we had two rooms, and Princess is only 20, I had to be the "responsible party" for one room (ha, little did they know!). We thought they could move us around at check in (to put me and DH in one room, and the girls in the other), but no, they couldn't. So our first stop was to Guest Services, where Princess and I got additional keys for the rooms we were going to sleep in (so the two of us had to carry around two keys, one to get into our room, the other with our charging privileges. We then headed up to our rooms 6126 and 6128, dropped our stuff, then up to Beach Blanket Buffet and my first drink, a Bahama Mama! The life boat drill had us in Animator's Palette, so at least we weren't out in the heat. Then, we headed up to deck nine for the sail away party which was fun. (but, for some reason, at some point our "sticks" - the streamers we're holding on to, were taken away from us when they were in our rooms. Not sure when this happened, but we realized it when we got home that they were gone. Notice how aware of our surroundings we were? It took coming home to realize they were gone!)

And this cruise I'm sure I heard the horn! (on our last cruise, I wasn't sure if it was the sail away music or the horn...this time they blew the horn three times, I KNOW I heard it this trip!).

We had requested early dinner on our initial cruise, but for this one, we had been assigned late so we were on the waiting list for early. When we got to the rooms, we saw we had early seating, and there was only one dinner time, 5:45, so we had to hustle to get to Parrot Cay for our first night's dinner. When we were seated, we had one of the best tables, complete with a window!

I was able to sample one of the specialty drinks, eat all my food and not have to leave the table. So THIS is what being a cruise feels like. AWESOME!! After supper, our waiter brought out a cake for Little Legs' birthday!!!!

It totally surprised us! I guess when I cancelled the original reservation, they held onto all our requests and information, including the birthday celebration!

After dinner, we watched the Golden Mickeys, checked out the shops, met our cruise director Clayton, (who was a riot......every one do the "I'm on vacation dance"), checked out our embarkation pictures, which looked good, so we bought a package. Checked out the family karaoke, (we weren't brave enough to go up and sing, even with another cocktail!), then headed to the rooms. Sat out on our veranda, ah, this is the life!, listening to the boat pushing through the water. This is SO nice!

Next up, our first dip at Castaway Cay!

 

[mousemom11]

I'm so glad that you got your do-over. How disappointed you must have been after the first cruise.

Looking forward to reading more

 

[msteddom]

Sounds like you're off to a much better start this trip!

I'm curious,was your Pirate Night on night 2 or 3? I'm on the Double Dip at the end of August! Thanks!


Melissa

 

[lovmy2girls]

oh...I feel your pain.......I was looking so foward to going on this last 3 day cruise in May and got sick......My heart is still broken.

 

[princessdaisy]

Great start! can't wait to read more

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Tried posting here last night and my computer locked up. Try #2

Is that a cruise ship birthday cake? I am sure DD was excited about the birthday surprise even though it was not her actual birthday.

I am so sorry to hear about your illness. I felt so bad for you. You needed a do-over for sure.

 

[Disneylovers]

Sounds like you're off to a much better start this trip!

I'm curious,was your Pirate Night on night 2 or 3? I'm on the Double Dip at the end of August! Thanks!


Melissa

Our Pirate night was the second night. We had a late night in Nassau (didn't leave until 2 a.m. Wednesday morning.

 

[Disneylovers]

Tried posting here last night and my computer locked up. Try #2

Is that a cruise ship birthday cake? I am sure DD was excited about the birthday surprise even though it was not her actual birthday.

I am so sorry to hear about your illness. I felt so bad for you. You needed a do-over for sure.

I sympathize with your computer issues, my hard drive died last night so I won't be able to continue this report for a couple of days while I wait for it's return

Yes, that is a cruise ship birthday "cake". (it was more like a "mousse" but still very yummy!). The ship was made of chocolate, also very yummy! DD was THRILLED! (heck we all were!). She received a birthday button also, so when the actual birthday happened (last Friday), she pulled it out and wore it all day!

 

[wvdislover]

Subbing--sounds like a lot of fun!

 

[MandyMommytoReaghan]

Have enjoyed reading you TR so far, can't wait to hear more. Sorry to hear about your PC

 

[Disneylovers]

My computer is back!!! Boy, you don't realize how much you rely on one, until you don't have one for a week! Things I learned this past week
1. The family desktop computer, while a very good machine, just isn't as user friendly as my trusty lap top! (and it's way too heavy to put on my lap, or take out onto the deck!!)
2. There are just too many places that you need a user name and password! (and my brain apparently has turned to mush, because I couldn't remember any of my passwords. Thank heavens my laptop remembers them for me!). I had to change a few passwords this past week, just because I locked myself out trying different combinations of letters and numbers. Now, the not as memory challenged as I am computer gets to learn the new combinations (and yes, I have written them down so I don't forget!).
3. Hard drives are nasty, they give no warning before they decide to die! Thank heavens I'm married to a computer guru who insists that we back up our computers on a daily basis. He was able to restore all my information up to about 20 minutes before this thing crashed. (one of the many reasons I married him!!!!)
But, now it sits here happily humming in my lap as I get back to the matter at hand, the trip report!!!!!

 

[PoohCorner57]

Cant wait to hear more...I've been living vicariously through these tr's for months!!! We leave Sat for our 4 night cruise 7/13-17. Your report sounded great and I hope to read more before we leave!!! I have two buring questions...what night was Pirate night?? It used to be 3rd night, now I believe its the 2nd??? Also what time did you have to be on the ship after a day in Nassau?? Thanks a million

 

[Disneylovers]

I made it through the night without feeling ill, (I was still a little "nervous" that things would go south for me - but they didn't). My gang likes to sleep in on vacations, but not me. There's too much out there waiting for us! Well, there's that, and the fact that my bladder has shrunk to the size of a pea, so I have to get up early to take care of business. So, I was the first one up. I opened our curtains, to see Castaway Cay getting closer and closer! I knew it was Castaway Cay, because I could see the Flying Dutchman! I grabbed the video camera, and couldn't figure out why everything looked so foggy (because it's so humid out here, the lense is fogging over!!!!). After about 5 wipe downs, it finally stayed clear. By this time, DH is up, and we're calling the girls to wake them up.

Breakfast was at Parrot Cay (we originally headed up to Beach Blanket, but the lines were long, and the CM handing out wipes suggested going down to Parrot Cay, which was closer to getting off the ship!). We were seated at our table, and realized Little Legs was nowhere to be found!! We spread out, and finally found her with her plate of food, standing in the middle of the restaurant looking for us. We guided her back to our table and explained it would be better to see where we're sitting first, THEN go grab food! (guess she was too hungry).

We got off the ship and started the walk to the beach. Last time, we took the tram, since I was in no condition to walk, so I don't remember how long the walk is! But, it's pretty, with lots of sights to see, including the Flying Dutchman

This is just one in a series of pictures we took of that ship! Four people, with four cameras equals LOTS of pictures!

Anyways, we got to the beach, found a spot with an umbrella, a couple of chairs and a couple of lounge chairs, near the gazeebo, which meant near the bar, and the food, so we were good! DH and Little Legs went into the water, with me following behind. Boy the water was chilly, (or was it I was just so hot!). Princess sat in a chair, reading, until she got too hot and joined us in the water. After about an hour and a half, that pea size bladder issue reared it's ugly head, so I got out. We realized in our excitement to get off the boat this morning, we forgot to grab towels, so DH volunteered to head back and get us towels (and it gave him an opportunity to take more shots of the Flying Dutchman). I made a stop on the way back from the bathrooms to get a couple of Konk Koolers since I didn't get a chance to try them last time. All I can say is they were worth the wait! While waiting for DH to come back with those towels, it started to rain, which really upset Little Legs, she didn't want to get wet, (even tho' she spent the last hour and a half in the water). When he did return, we moved our stuff to "higher ground" so it wouldn't get wet, and went for lunch at Cookies. They had Mahi sandwiches which were delicious!!!! I wished I had grabbed more than one. When we headed back to our stuff, they announced that due to "statically charged clouds in the area" the beach was closed. It was about 1:30, so we figured we'd just head back to the ship and relax, since we had a DVC Member mixer at 4:00 and a Castaway Club Member party at 4:45 (why they did both things at almost the same time I don't understand.) The line to get back on the ship was LONG, so they opened up the other gangplank at the front of the ship, but we waited patiently to get on in the back, we were in no hurry.

We got up to our rooms, showered, and by the time we were done, the sun was shining brightly, and Clayton came on the intercom to say the beach was back open. We decided we'll be back in a couple of days, so instead of heading out, we sat on our veranda, DH ran and got us a couple of drinks, and we listened to the music that's piped in on the island, and just enjoyed the view!

We walked around the ship, taking yet more pictures of that Flying Dutchman ship, tried our hand at ping pong, (tried being the operative word!), then headed to the DVC Member mixer. Got the point chart for the 2009 cruises, which we've been wanting to see, since we've been talking about doing a 7 night next summer, so now we know. Never did get to the Castaway Club member event, because we had to get ready for Pirate Night!!!

Next up, Pirates Night, and Captain Jack!

 

[Disneylovers]

Cant wait to hear more...I've been living vicariously through these tr's for months!!! We leave Sat for our 4 night cruise 7/13-17. Your report sounded great and I hope to read more before we leave!!! I have two buring questions...what night was Pirate night?? It used to be 3rd night, now I believe its the 2nd??? Also what time did you have to be on the ship after a day in Nassau?? Thanks a million

I know Pirate nights were the third night (Nassau night), which is what we were planning on, but for our cruise, it was the second night, which upset DH (I'll be writing more about that later). We stayed in Nassau until 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning (I read somewhere here on the boards that the reason is they give the crew some "time off" to get off the ship in Nassau, and that was the reason we flipped Pirate night, and stayed in Nassau so late).

Enjoy your trip, I'm sure it will be fabulous!!! Then I can read your trip report, and remember all the fun!

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

WOW your pictures of Castaway Cay are gorgeous. My family likes to sleep in too. Not me. We are on vacation right now. They are sleeping, so I am Dising.

 

[Disneylovers]

We left the DVC Member event, and hurried up to our rooms to change for Pirate Night. As I said before, we are a theatrical family. DH and I met working on a community theatre production of "Man of LaMancha", (over 22 years ago) and we still work on an occasional show. The girls are used to being around the theatre too, so we were excited to dress up. I made us costumes, nothing elaborate, peasant blouses and corset type vests for Little Legs and I (Princess raided her closet and came up with "street clothes" that looked "piratey".) For Mr. Gibbs, I made a vest and pirate type of shirt, and he had a flask which he planned on filling up with rum. I say planned, because we figured Pirate Night would be after our stop in Nassau, where Mr. Gibbs was going to scuba dive. You're not supposed to drink alcohol 24 hours before a dive. Now, I'm sure there are divers out there who don't follow that rule, and Mr. Gibbs wouldn't have been that worried about it either, except for the fact he hadn't been feeling that great for a couple of weeks prior to our trip, so he figured he better "play by the rules" so his flask was filled with water which greatly upset him!

We headed to Triton's, passing the line waiting to get into Parrot Cay, and noticed one family in costume, that was it!!! When we got into the Triton line, another family, otherwise, everyone is in regular clothes! No way!!!! The staff in Triton's all commented on our costumes, and they were coming by our table joking with us. As the meal progressed, we noticed more people were getting into the spirit, and were putting on their bandanas that were provided.

After supper, we went over to where Captain Jack was posing for pictures in front of the Walt Disney Theatre. We tried to get in line, but the CM's told us the line was closed . Mr. Gibbs looked at the backdrop and thought it would be cool for us to take a family picture in front of it, so we just waited for the photo op to be finished, standing by the shops. As the line was just about finished, one of the CM's looks at me and mouths "camera?". I nod yes, then the other CM comes up to us and says "do you have your camera ready?" We hand her our camera, figuring Jack will stop on his way past and they'll just snap a picture. Well, Jack does come walking by, but he stops and talks to each of us, asking our names (telling Princess hers was his favorite, then telling Little Legs HERS was his favorite, which upset Princess and she called Jack on it. He dropped character for just an instant, then quickly recovered and told her, no, HERS WAS his favorite!) He then noticed Little Legs pirate medallion (like from the first movie) and asked where she got it. When Mr. Gibbs told him "Will Turner gave it to her" he jumped back and "brushed himself off". The CM had our camera and was snapping pictures for us!

We were so excited about our meeting Captain Jack, we headed back to the atrium, completely forgetting about taking our picture by that backdrop! So, we had the "professional" take ours for us in the atrium. Then we headed to Shutters to see our embarkation pictures, which looked great, so we bought a picture package! Headed back to the room for a bit, then up to the party.

Maybe it's because it's too late for a lot of families, but I thought the pirate party would be more crowded. And, yes, it was cute with all the characters up there dancing, but, boy they really dug into the music archives for some of the songs (brought back memories for Mr. Gibbs and I, that's all I'm saying!). The fireworks weren't on the level of, say, Wishes, but it was cool seeing fireworks being shot off the ship.

They showed the first Pirates movie on the big screen after the party, so we stuck around for some of it. It was cool, sitting on a deck chair in the open, with the stars above, watching Johnny Depp on that HUGE screen, sigh! Oh, and there was a dessert buffet, tables laden with wicked cakes of all varieties. Does it get any better than this???

Next up, Nassau day, dolphins, rum cakes and Coach purses!

 

[Disneylovers]

I woke up early Tuesday morning, (that pea size bladder issue rearing it's ugly head!). The view outside was Nassau in the distance. I could pick out Atlantis (I remembered it vaguely from our last trip). Tried to take video again, only this time the camera objected, thinking there was too much moisture.

We had breakfast again in Parrot Cay (at least this time, Little Legs came with us to the table first, she learned her lesson!). The girls and I were going to the Dolphin Encounter, so we had to be in Studio Sea at 9:30. Mr. Gibbs didn't have to meet for his scuba encounter until 11:45, so he came with us as we turned in our tickets and waivers (and remembered our towels!).

We lined up outside, then followed the big Mickey hand through the terminal building. Mr. Gibbs went back to our room and took a few "stalker shots" of us walking.

The terminal building wasn't here last time, but the street "vendors" wanting to braid the girl's hair sure were! I remembered this walk last time, ten steps, then doubling over in pain. It was so much nicer to just keep on walking! And it didn't feel as "icky" (for lack of a better word) walking to the boat to take us to the dolphin encounter.

One thing I really wanted to do was check out the Tortuga Rum Cake Factory. On our way to the boat, I caught site of it! The boat ride to Blue Lagoon Island was about 20 minutes long, a nice trip. We got off the boat, went up to this "porch" to listen to this brief orientation (man it was HOT up there!) then went to get ready to go in the water. Our dolphin was Stormy (the dolphin from 6 years ago, Shaun, was in the next area). Last time, Little Legs freaked when she got in the water, and literally crawled up my leg and side. We talked to her about not being scared this time (she's a lot bigger, and mom's side can't take the weight), but she promised to be brave. The first thing they do is the photo op with the group getting a kiss. Little Legs got the kiss, and did fine. We then got out of the water, the first group went in, and Stormy checked out! He didn't want to work. So they had to bring in a "back up" dolphin, Salvador who did great. Unfortunately, Little Legs didn't. The first "trick" to dance, had her getting too close to the edge of this platform, and she panicked. The dolphin trainer was very good with her, but she wasn't having any of it! When it came to feed the dolphin, he gave her a fish that was at least a foot long, then she was o.k.. She got the hug, (the look on her face was priceless! unfortunately, you can't quite see her because the trainer's arm is in the way.)

We liked the pictures, so we got the package, then it was back on the boat.


Our original thought was to go back to the Wonder, eat, then go back out and explore Nassau. However, Little Legs had other ideas, mainly, go back to the boat. Period. No shopping. (I sometimes wonder if she really is my kid!). So, Princess and I revised the plan, teamed up on Little Legs. We'd check out the bakery, then go back to the ship, which she agreed to (especially when I pointed out that it was right here, so she didn't have to walk far!). When we got there, they had stopped baking for the day, so no samples. We grabbed the six pack of little rum cakes, the rum fudge, coffee, but NO RUM! (Don't ask me why, I still can't tell you and it's been a month of my thinking about it!!!!).

I collect key chains, so I was looking for one that said "Nassau". Yea, well, we went into 6 shops selling all sorts of kitschy stuff, and no keychain with "Nassau". Everything said "Bahamas", so I settled for that! We saw this little street, which looked more like an alley, Princess was intrigued, Little Legs was suddenly cooperating, so we walked up it, looking in at the shops. At the end of the street, we turned, then found another little street, so we walked down that. Suddenly, Princess makes a sharp turn into one of the shops. Purses (it had to either be purses, or shoes, the kid has an obsession with both). Inside, there were designer bags of all sorts. One whole display was Coach bags. For her birthday, I bought Princess a wristlet to use at school while she walks around the city. Well, here was a purse of the same design. She decided to buy it. Then Little Legs catches sight of a pink purse, no designer label, but it's pink, and she wants it. Princess also catches sight of a brown wristlet, just like her black one, so it gets added to the pile. Of course, I'm the only one with the visa card (funny how that worked out). $113.00 later, we're walking out of the store. (and I got my visa bill last week, that's what we were charged, no exchange fee or anything). Is it a real Coach bag? Well, there was a serial number in it, and Princess was able to register it, so we figure, yes, it was real. She's very proud of her "score". (the wristlet we have decided is either a knockoff, or was defective, but you have to look very close to see the defects). With our treasures in hand, we walked back to the ship.

Once on the ship, we headed to deck nine for lunch, and Little Legs was in heaven, High School Musical (one) was being shown on the big screen, so they stayed up to watch it, I went back to the room!

During this time, Mr. Gibbs was diving at Stuart's Cove. He did the dive six years ago, and his comment was this time, things were much more professionally run. They did two dives, one was a "deep water" dive, which he didn't do last time. His description of it makes it sound really neat, but I would never be able to do it!. His buddy ran out of air on the first dive, so he didn't get to see all that he wanted, but his pictures are really neat!

Yes, that's Mr. Gibbs diving!

However, he didn't get back to the ship until 5:30. Our dinner time was 5:45, which meant a really quick shower, I had his clothes laid out for him,(I went "exploring" earlier and found the laundry room on our floor, so I pressed his dress shirt, and my dress) and we rushed to dinner (back at Triton's. Tonight was "dress up" night). Mid way through our dinner, our head server, Cedomir comes to our table and says "I have a surprise for you". We couldn't figure out what the surprise was! When our main course was served, he comes out with steak knives! Real ones! See, on our first night, Princess was having "issues" cutting her meat, and Cedomir literally had to cut it for her (which set her up for all sorts of teasing!). Well, at breakfast this morning, the head server came to our table and asked if there was anything that could be improved on. Princess looked at him and said "Give the grown ups real steak knives to cut their meat at dinner time!" Well, apparently, he mentioned it to our head server, who went into "storage" to dig out these real steak knives, and "presented" them to us at dinner time! Talk about service!!!! He explained that they got rid of the "real" steak knives because of all the children that are on the cruises, but Princess told him they should keep them handy for the grown ups who can be trusted with real knives (ah, but CAN we trust her with real knives.....that is the question!!!!)

After dinner, we checked out our pictures from last night, they turned out really great, so we bought more, then went and had our "dressy" pictures taken. We did our souvenir shopping, then on to "Toy Story the Musical" which was o.k., not "wow", but o.k.. I've read some negative reviews here about it, but from the technical side, it was really cool how they did some of the effects. After the show, we headed back to our room, Mr. Gibbs got us drinks (he can drink now, the dive is over with!!!) and we sat on our veranda smelling the delicious smells from the bakery (sure, now they're baking!) and discussing the logistics of booking a seven night cruise. Seems both of us went and talked to Leslie at the rebook desk while the other one was off on their excursion. I think we're really going to book another cruise while we're still on this one! How cool is that!!!!!!

Next up, our "double" dip day!