7/22/06 Another Desperados Report

[roysbrew]

Here is some backround. Travelling were me (36), DH (35), DD (4), DS (4), (twins). This was our 2nd DCL cruise. We were on the 4 day Wonder in 5/05.

I flew down with DD & DS on Tues. 7/18 to visit a friend. It was only my 2nd time flying with kids alone. They were perfect. Everything went well and it was off to DF house for 2 nights.

I need to add a note. DH became obsessed with getting a trivalve snorkel set for DS. We could only find 3 sets at home in TN. We spent the weekend before on Ebay, searching stores, and going to & calling SAMS (where we bought them originally). Another Dis’er Bethipooh (what a sweetie) was looking in NC for us. Well DH had me and DF and our 4 kids going to SAMS in Orlando trying to get them. On Thursday as we headed to spend a night a a hotel by Seaworld we finally found a SAMS that said they had them and actually did have them. By this time DF bought some sets too.

The sever already ate my first post, so I will try posting this and add more in a few minutes. Also, I took no notes, so this is all flowing from memory.

 

[roysbrew]

Ok, We have the snorkel gear so we head to our hotel and swim. Then it’s off to SW around 5pm. We have fun until the Shamu show gets cancelled. Tahina the female whale won’t leave the front pool. My kids want tahina to get put in timeout. SW believes in positive reinforcement. We head to the hospitality center for dinner. The beef stew in a bowl is enough for 2. There is a/c and free beers. I’m finally relaxing a bit. Poor DF is driving and has a wheat allergy so no beer for her. We stay until 10 pm but they delay the fireworks so we head back to the hotel.

We make the mistake a going back to SW the next day to see the shamu show and go to the water area for kids. Well, we run to the show with our 4 kids, DD (4), DS (4), DF’s DS (2), and DD (9). The show is full. OK, ice cream instead (that’s their breakfast) and off to the water area. The water area is closed for renovations. We decide to call it quits and head back to the pool. My kids don’t mind the oppressive heat and beg to stay. One kiddie ride and we drag them crying out of SW.

Back at the pool we try to relax and cool off. DS continues to pout. DH calls, his flight is delayed. DS finally picks up when a sweet boy asks him to play. We swim and say goodbye to DF. We pick up some things a publix and head to airport. We finally get DH and head to Radisson at the port. DD whines that she wants to go home and doesn’t want to go on the Mickey boat. We realize we left 1 snorkel set in DF’s car. Luckily I bought an extra one and have it with us. We will get it after the cruise.

In hindsight I see it was too much for the kids to go to 3 places in 4 days. We should have stayed 1 night with DF and maybe skipped SW.

 

[Bethipooh4]

Keep the posts coming Julie,

You had me rolling on the floor already!!!!!

 

[roysbrew]

Radisson at the port.

So we finally arrive at the Radisson. Everyone is really nice. Crowded but really nice employees. They ask us if we want the 1st or 2nd floor. We pick the 1st floor (path of least resistance). We found our room (it was about as far away from the pool as possible) but still it’s only one night. Our room was ok. It was motel style which means the room opens to the outside not a hallway. We did not have sleep number beds as they advertise (in small print it says “ a small number of rooms may not have sleep number beds”). That was us, par for the course, so far. I saw what looked like a redone room through an open door. They looked really nice. Our room still worked out great for us.

DH and kids head to pool. I try to pack and tag everything. Where to squeeze in the penquins the kids had to have from Seaworld, the Disney cups from publix and all our wine and water. I do a little packing and head to scout out dinner. Again path of least resistance at this point, we decide to eat by the pool. Tables say reserved but are really reserved for people who want to eat by the pool. I tell the waiter I will order for all of us, and they will join me when the food comes. No problem he says. I get DH a local brew and a yummy strawberry colada for me. Drink in hand by MYSELF for a moment and I think it was all worth it. The craziness of the last few days is over and it will be smooth sailing and relaxing from here on out. Yes I really did think and believe this and it was truly my 1st drink.

Then come the every afternoon/evening rain clouds. “ Don’t worry I tell the sweet couple next to me, we have at least a ½ hour before the rain comes. Plenty of time to eat. I’ve been here 3 days, Every time I thought we should head in it didn’t rain at all or it took awhile”. Not this time. In my defense it was actually raining and sunny at the same time. Kids come running from the pool, we had to find a spot at the covered bar because we weren’t dressed to eat inside. No big deal we were wet already. But not relaxing at all. My DH loved the fried grouper sandwich, DS and I had yummy grilled shrimp. DD chicken fingers. The double rainbow I saw made it all worth it. It was my first one to see. The kids loved it too.

We decide to cut our losses and head for bed. I notice other people hang the privacy sign on the door. I put out ours too. Around midnight someones knocks on our door. DH looks out the window, nothing. He checks the door, sign is gone. That has never happened to us before. At least it wasn't 3 am.

I would definitely stay at the Radisson again. The people were nice the pool was great and the shuttle convenient. We even left our car seats there so we didn’t have to lug them aboard. They held them even though we weren’t staying there when we got back. 1 week no charge. No problem they told us. Just don’t forget to pick them up. Totally makes up for a non updated room in my book. BTW the strawberry colada was one on the best I've had. Perfect blend and cost about $6. Not bad. All in all we are still having fun. And the cruise hasn't started.

More later on, the laundry is calling

 

[disneymum2]

Great report - very funny !

 

[roysbrew]

Cruise Day 1 Port Canaveral

We woke up and DH returned the car to Budget and walked back to the Radisson. DH, DS, & DD ate the breakfast buffet at the hotel, I carried the bags to the lobby. (This was my choice, DH offered to do it, I was excited and not hungry). They ate at 9:15, by (9:30 it was packed). Both kids ate free (under 5), so for us it was a deal.

We were on the 10 am shuttle. Kids made some new friends while waiting, all in all very smooth. We get to the port and finally see the magic for the first time. We get our luggage squared away and our carry-ons thru security and a lady hands my husband a boarding card. #2 , DH doesn’t quite understand my excitement. There is no wait to check in on the Castaway Club line, we breeze thru and get 4 lanyards and 4 sets of pins (one for each of us). We park the kids in front of the TV screen and I head to check them into the club. No line there either, But I need the kids. I get them and they get their bands. I check my KTTW card and see we got the late seating 8:00pm APL like I requested. Things couldn’t be going better. Someone tells us boarding will begin at 11:45 am (earlier than I thought). We see Minnie and kids ask to take a photo. While in line I get to meet DBinMV and Bethipooh. I spot a Chickfila cow and I’m sure it’s Lisataylor but I don’t catch up to her (yet).

DH call on cell and says come on back #2 is boarding. We take our photo, bump into MAX coming off as we get on and then they call our name. Kids are so tickled to hear our name and I think it doesn’t get better than this.

We head to the Mickey pool, and I run around double checking our table for 4, switching our sub excursion, meet lisataylor, getting duty free liquor info and then we take turns eating from topsiders. It was good but to be honest didn’t blow me away. (The pork was very good).
After, 1:30 we check out our room, kids are surprised to find “Mickey” aka me left a sign on the door, meet Air our hostess and head to our Dis meet. (there are some tears over leaving the pool and the kids weren’t into the meet until they saw the bags.) It was great finally putting faces to the nice people who helped make the time pass before the trip. Iggeebees made great pins, Bethipooh fun door signs, and we got Bethipooh’s awesome bag from NC. Thanks Bethipooh, my kids chose well. The Stanley cup puck will sit on a shelf next to the souvenir Stanley cup we got at a predators game.

We head to the room and boat drill (fast and painless) and unpack after skipping the big sail away party. It was too crowded for us last year. We go to deck 10 forward instead, up to the front looking for dolphins. No dolphins but we think we saw the NASA launch pad with our binoculars. We skip the show and head to dinner at AP.

We meet Hermant (from India) & Mizar (from the Philipines). We brought a bottle of wine, we’ve never done this before, Mizar suggests we save it for our room and save the corkage fee. We say we’ll pay the fee and he opens its. We tip on the fee and he seems happier. We also bought drinks and wine in Palo later in the week. Dinner was much better than in the past. DH says the veal and chocolate peanut butter pie were possibly the best food he had all week. My steak was good but could have used a good sauce. We are tired so we all head to bed.

Oh last but not least we also met our connecting roommates professorandmom. Barb and her kids are the best. Better neighbors there cannot be.

 

[AAOSAM2]

Great report so far can't wait for more. Also could you please give me more information on the sub excursion?

Thanks

 

[curlybop]

Great report so far!

 

[roysbrew]

Cruise Day 2 CC

We woke up and had breakfast in PC. We filled our rolling cooler with juice boxes and water, got our snorkel gear and headed for shore. DH had an 9:45 ecotour. At 9:25 we hit a snag while trying to get off. No photo id, no getting off. DH runs back to get our ids. Uh oh, I realize my KTTW opens the safe. We finally get it all straight and don’t make that mistake again.

DD, DS & I get off. We all loved seeing the Flying Dutchman. The kids really loved the tram. On it they talk to a woman who works at SW. She asks if they saw Shamu. They tell her about Tahina the naughty whale, and she laughs and agrees Tahina can be naughty. Then we stop to shop. I let them spend $30 on sand toys since we are making 2 stops at CC. We also buy their shirts and postcards (which we never mailed). The shirts we left to have delivered to the ship (you pick up at the liquor store). I had bought a lot of little toys for a gift bag at the $1 store and decided to let the kids pick sand toys from CC. We always bring toys, floats from home and this was a big treat. Plus it was a treat for me not to hear them begging to buy something.

Next we get some chairs and head off to pick our floats. TAKE NOTE: if you sit near the fort, there is a float stand near the volleyball courts that is closer than the 1st float rental. Just look at your map. Unfortunately, when we get back the fort is closed due to low tide. Kids aren’t happy. We head out to meet dad, by now it’s almost 11 am. He loved the ecotour. Not too fast not too slow. Just enough info. He said you go way out. He can reply to any questions anyone has.

We eat at cookies ( just OK, IMO , serenity bay food is better). To make up for the food I have 3 ice creams, that cookie dough softserve is to die for. We hit the fresh fruit cart (also great) and backe to the beach we go. We try to snorkel but the salt water bother DD eyes. We all manage to see the treasure chest and are all happy. We take the 4 pm tram back to the ship.
Kids go to club & I went to DVC meet. I got some free things, stayed about 15 minutes, then left to get showered. We all tried to see the wild, but DS wants to leave. We head to see Rich Papura. DS likes him enough but we leave before it’s over. DD and DH also leave the wild & catch the magic show. We all meet up and we send kids to club & head to dinner alone at PC. I love the food here. We order the crab appetizer, Hermant brings us wings too (so good). I love the banana bread. We both get the Grouper and Hermant send ribs too. All great. For dessert DH mentions he wishes he could get another slice of choc peanut butter from AP. Soon it appears. I get a bread pudding that is tasty. We pick up the kids and head to bed.

We are normally night owls, but we took dramamine at night and bonnine during the day. Add wine to that and it’s no wonder we fell asleep every night by 10:30. All in all it was a great day with the family.

BTW, we barely drank anything from our cooler on CC, for us it was a waste to bring it ashore.