A bit of Disney Christmas Magic - Dec 11 - 27th

[CRSNDSNY]

We are:
Me (Melody) - 34
DH (EB) - 37
DD (Amelia) - 4
DS (Ernie) - 2

December 11-12 = BLT 1BR (magically upgraded to a 2BR) MK View

December 12-19 = Disney Magic Western Cruise (paid for CAT12GTY, assigned CAT10, we upgraded to CAT5 at Port)

December 19 - 27 = 1BR SSR


As with many of our trips, this one was planned sort of last minute (by my standards of vacation planning) around August of this year. We decided that staying at home for the holidays is pretty stressful and that like last year we wanted to escape the pressures and submerge ourselves in our happy place. December is a tough month for EB especially as he lost his father back in 2003 right before Christmas and also his Dad's bday is less than a week before that date. In addition, we didn't expect this but we lost our beloved greyhound, Starlight, to cancer about a week prior to this trip.

That is still tough for us to talk about.

We have been DVC members since 2003 and recently bought another SSR contract last year. Since getting married in 2001, we've been to WDW somewhere between 12-14 times and this is my 6 Disney Cruise. It is my husband's 5th and our children's 2nd.

This will be a very long trip report and for those of you who know my TR style, it will be jam-packed with pictures (and food pictures...) and details. I hope you can bear with me!

Day 1 is forthcoming.

Thanks for hopping aboard!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Friday, December 11th - Day 1

We had a half day of work ahead of us this Friday and the kids still did not know we were going on vacation. I had been packing in secret, sent three boxes of Christmas presents down to SSR ahead of us along with our tree, lights and decorations a couple days prior. Suitcases were in the basement as I packed. They were clueless! Deb, our Nanny, kept the kids out from early this Friday morning as we worked and finished packing. She got them home, changed them around noon and about 30 minutes afterwards we took them out to the Liberty which was packed to the max with our luggage.

We got them in their carseats and then asked Amelia that if she could go anywhere today, where would she like to go. She looked at us confused but then we asked her to pick anywhere in the world (knowing exactly where she’d pick of course – she is our child) and she said DISNEY! We said OK! LET’S GO! She started crying as she was totally confused but then the crying turned to cheering rather quickly as she began piecing it all together in her head. This was fun surprising them. They were both excited.

We flew out of Allentown this time instead of our usual Philadelphia departure now that Airtran is at the Lehigh Valley International Airport. Prices were comparable and it is an hour closer to home from us. This cuts our drive time before and after by an hour each. Flights were on time from ABE and I grabbed a Subway dinner for us to eat onboard. This was our first time at ABE and it is thus far a great airport – nice and small just like our local Scranton Airport. Kids behaved through Airtran flight. This was probably one of our best flying experiences with the kids.

Arrived at gate at 7pm. We got our car from Alamo and luggage by 7:40-ish. We’d have this car for a total of 16 nights. Funny enough, it was less expensive to get this full size car for that length of time than it was to get it for just one week post-cruise. We were on road to WDW by 8pm.

Checked in at BLT and after getting to our room, we found we were upgraded from 1BR to 2BR. EXCELLENT view of MK. I booked this room on AP discount for just the one night. I’m assuming upgrades like this usually happen only for such short stays. The room décor is beautiful and the functionality and placement of elements were a big improvement over the other DVCs. One of the most noticeable features are the huge floor to ceiling windows throughout the entire villa. It was simply breathtaking.

On our way to the room we were hungry so we stopped at Contempo Café on our way. We bought a flatbread, salad, fries.

Watched Wishes from balcony at 9:30. The kids were beyond thrilled – it was the first time Ernie ever saw fireworks. It was a very memorable moment. In retrospect, I am disappointed a bit that I didn’t realize that one of the channels plays the Wishes music on the television. This is the latest my kids have ever been awake as we were not in bed until 10:30. Way too late for us…but mostly the kids. Amelia and I slept in the master bedroom and EB and Ernie in the second bedroom.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Saturday, December 12th - Day 2

In the morning we woke up around 7:30am which surprisingly is not early for us at all but given the late night prior I wasn’t surprised we slept this late.

I ran for breakfast at Contempo Café to eat in our room. Food was ok…fresh at least. Waffles, egg sandwich, biscuits, oatmeal, OJ. The convenience of amenities at BLT is fantastic to the Main Building of the Contemporary. Just take the elevator down to 5, over the bridge and you’re in the middle of all the action.

Back at the room we all ate and I worked on classes until 9am (I work for a University and have five online courses going on – no break from this for me until the 21st).

Overall we LOVE the room. Perfect view of MK. I loved hearing the kids screaming different monorail colors out in living room. This made me smile. Once our SSR contracts are paid off I can easily see a contract here – enough for 1 week in a 1BR. That will be many years from now, though.

We were about an hour later than we wanted to be in our room as we needed to get our stuff together and get moving to Port. We still had to stop at a grocery store along the way. EB went to get our car – we mistakenly and unknowingly parked over at the Contemporary instead of moving to the parking in front of BLT. I called Baggage to come help me with our luggage to the car. We had our Owner’s Locker and a suitcase that needed to go ahead of us to SSR as we wouldn’t need it for the cruise. Twenty minutes later and a few minutes past 11am, they still did not show up. I called again and let them know we needed to get out of here. A nice older gentleman showed up less than five minutes after that call. He said he had been working for Disney for many years and he was very nice. He also is impressed with BLT. We went down to the BLT lobby and I called EB to pick us up there rather than the Contemporary pickup. Not a problem. We were packed up and off within five minutes of my call to him.

At this point the kids still have no clue we’re going on a cruise. We explained to Amelia that since this was such a long vacation and have plenty of time that we thought we’d drive to the beach today to play in the ocean and sand. She fell for it.

Upon the approach of the second bridge we told them to look out to the left and asked them both what they saw. They both said, “Mickey boat!” Then Amelia said, “Momma, can we go on Mickey boat again someday?” EB and I both snickered at each other and I gave him the go-ahead. He said, “Sweetheart, would you like to go on the Mickey boat TODAY?” She looked at us skeptically. And then I explained to her that our other special surprise would be that we’re going on the Magic for a whole week! She took a few seconds to take it all in and then started cheering and smiling and was totally beside herself. She then began telling Ernie what we were doing like a good big sister and then he began yelling, “Mickey boat!!!”

We got to Port Canaveral in good time – after 1pm. Headed to Kroger’s first and got a case of water, diapers and some other odds and ends. Before we knew it we were pulling into Port. We dropped off the luggage and Amelia and I got out of car. EB and Ernie went to park.

Amelia and I went through security and then checked us in. The lines were long everywhere and we waited about 5 minutes before being assigned to a line. I upgraded us from a 12 to a 5 for $900. They didn’t have 6s left. Originally we booked a GTY 12 and Disney assigned us to a 10. So I had to pay for the difference between the 12 and 5 rather than the 10 and 5. It was still much less expensive than booking the 5 from the start. We were in stateroom 7596 which was Starboard (I think) Aft. We were close to the Aft staircase and elevators and a few rooms down from the laundry room. It was a perfect location for us - just two decks below the drink station and four decks above restaurants. Of all our cruises this is probably my favorite location so far.

EB and Ernie finally met up with us and we all got our security photos taken. We then got into line and on ship via the big Mickey ears. We got our boarding photo taken, were welcomed aboard…it was a proud and exciting moment. The kids were over the moon to hear their name announced.

We then dropped off our strollers and bags in our room, met our room host, Derrick, and went to Topsiders for buffet. The food was so-so. Dried out, not many good selections for me as an ovo-lacto vegetarian. Good enough for now and it satisfied our hunger. We had a 5:45 dinner seating anyway so I knew we wouldn’t go hungry today.

After eating went to Rockin Bar D to make sure we had a solo table for our dinner rotation. I did not want to ruin anyone else’s dinner with my rowdy children – I knew Ernie especially would have issues sitting through dinners so we had a plan to feed him and get him to Flounders shortly afterwards. All set there, then went to Oceaneer’s Club and Flounders to check in and get a pager. At Flounders we were able to add on one hour for dinner tonight and also two hours for Key West dinner the next day. Originally I had all the allowable hours for him booked but adding on while onboard was not a problem. I thought I’d feel guilty about having him in there so much but he absolutely loved going there. We couldn’t even walk past the place during the day if he wasn’t being checked in because he’d throw a fit to go in and play. After taking care of business so to speak, we then headed back to room. We got all our luggage and unpacked everything. It was nice to get completely organized and squared away. That makes me very happy! I despise being unsettled, especially in such a small living space.

Next up was the muster drill. Ernie was impatient after a short period but we made it through the drill just fine. Before we knew it we were back in our room, grabbing our camera and heading up to deck 9 for Sail Away party. We got in front of stage. We danced, shed a tear over the excitement and had fun with kids. We just love that horn!

After some dancing (party was still going on when we left) we went back to the room to get settled, unwind, and regroup. We got ready for dinner – our first night meal rotation was in Parrot Cay. There was a good selection of food this night, so much so it was hard to choose. The kids were tired but it all worked out fine tonight. My only complaint was that the meal was very long. It took a while for us all to get our food – this pace would not work for the rest of the cruise. We kindly explained to the head server that after tonight’s meal we needed to get the kids fed right away and then we’d take them to babysitting/clubs and then return back to our table to enjoy the rest of the meal kid-free. This was the only night we had this issue as they were very aware and respectful of fulfilling this request of ours. We had two very nice servers who tended to the kids nicely and didn’t linger too long as we ate as a family, either. I know it might sound rude of me, but this is our meal time to enjoy together. I like talking and enjoying the company of others, but one of my pet peeves are servers who spend too much time talking with us. By the end of this cruise, though, we decided that when we’re onboard again we’d request our server, Simoun, on future cruises. We had an overall good experience. But I’m jumping ahead, so on with our story…

We got Ernie checked into Flounders 6:30 – 7:30. Amelia was able to head to club 7-8:30. She could have stayed longer, but we wanted everyone to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. We were all having fun but we were definitely ready for bed.

Getting Ernie to sleep was a bit of a challenge tonight but all went just fine after some time. It is very different for him and it would take a night or two for him to adjust to our sleeping arrangements. This was my biggest worry going into this cruise.

We were all asleep probably by 9pm at latest. We needed it!

PHOTOS ON NEXT POST ​

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Amelia realizing what we are about to do...

Ernie was thrilled at the view from our balcony - construction everywhere!

These are some happy kids!

Getting ready for the muster drill...

Dancing her booty off!

Two more dancing machines.

About to sail away on the beautiful Disney Magic!

I couldn't resist adding this one...isn't he adorable?

Me and my lovey boy...

Chip and Dale join the fun...

Who else but Captain Mickey!

Goofy gets in on the action:

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Day 3 - Sunday, December 13th - Key West

Amelia and I got up by 6:30am, got light sweaters on and headed up to the beverage station. I got milk for her and I had an herbal tea. Then I noticed Cove Café about ten minutes after settling at the Goofy Pool for some cartoons on the Ariel Vision Screen. We went into Cove Café and met CM Max. He set me up with a mug, frequent flyer card and latte with soy. Yum! This would end up being our morning routine the rest of the cruise.

We fed the kids breakfast at Topsiders sometime around 8am (it was gross) but we really didn’t eat much.

We went to the 9am Playhouse Disney Dance party at in the Promenade Lounge. Amelia had a great time and danced to everything. Ernie couldn’t be bothered and so EB and I took turns running around after him. At the end of the Dance Party the kids got a really nice Disney Kids magazine that has tons of activities in it. Amelia enjoyed working on hers for days afterwards.

We dropped by Amelia’s club and let Ernie play for a bit. Amelia immediately made a friend – her name was also Amelia. We let Ernie play for a little bit before dropping him off at Flounders for 10am.

EB and I had Palo Brunch at 10:30. We still had a little bit of time to kill so we dropped by the DVC Member presentation in Diversions at 10. EB went back to the room at about 20 after to get changed really quick while I stayed at the presentation. I met him outside of the Deck 3 forward elevators and we then headed up to Palo Brunch – unfortunately about 15 minutes late. I should have reminded him again what time brunch began but he claimed it was because he couldn’t find his belt.

Anyhoo, we checked in to Palo Brunch and were seated with Andrea from Brazil. She’s been on the Magic for about 2 years now and was very friendly. We enjoyed her service overall. My opinion on brunch was that it was so-so this time. There weren’t as many buffet selections for me as a vegetarian this time but for those who eat seafood it was a dream. EB was in heaven and loved everything. We each ordered flatbreads – I ordered a margherita flatbread and EB ordered a grape and blue cheese flatbread. He also ordered the vegetarian pasta dish that had squash, eggplant, onion, peppers and twisty pasta. EB skipped desserts but I enjoyed a few. I was disappointed in the stollen bread this time, as well. They changed it a bit so it’s sweeter with a sugary coating. I liked the older version better. But that didn’t stop me from eating it!

After Palo we picked up the kids for 12:30 - they did have a meal in their clubs/babysitting. They were seemingly conscientious about the kids being vegetarian.

We headed out to Key West around 1:30 and started walking up Duval Street. Let’s just say I was less than impressed with this port. I’m sure there has to be something more of Key West that I’m missing but I am definitely not a fan of beach towns that have dump shops all over the place. We got the kids ice cream on our walk, made a stop at Walgreens for some more Dramamine and then after hearing the begging and pleading from Amelia, headed back to the ship.

Back at our room we ordered room service of all hands on deck and mac and cheese. We then got changed and went up to the Mickey Pool for the first time this cruise. We all had a blast for about an hour in the pool, the ears and the fountains. Amelia ran into her new friend, Amelia, and they played for a bit, too.

Around 4:30 we came back to the room, got cleaned up for dinner. We dropped Ernie off at 5:30 for two hours at Flounders (this we were able to add on) and then tried to drop Amelia off at Oceaneer’s Club. They had the kids up at dinner, though, so we decided to keep her with us instead and then drop her off after our dinner at Lumiere’s. She was ok with that, as well.

We headed to our dinner at Lumiere’s for 5:45 and enjoyed a very nice meal. Amelia did not eat, though, as she had just eaten dinner in our room.

I had a porcini mushroom entrée and a salad for an appetizer. EB enjoyed a grilled tofu which he raved over. For dessert I enjoyed the Grand Marnier soufflé which was different than the last time I had ordered this and EB had a cheesecake which was sugar free. He didn’t care too much for it, but he’s not a dessert-eater so he wasn’t too let down.

We dropped Amelia off for 7:15 to enjoy some activities at the lab and picked Ernie up for 7:30. We came back to the room with him to get him settled for bedtime and then picked Amelia up from the Club. We got everyone ready for bed and then lights out.

Tomorrow was a day at sea and we were looking forward to it!

 

[Timon]

Hurray, a Melody trip report!!!

I can't believe you were able to keep the whole trip secret from the kids!!! I think I would be too excited, I would HAVE to tell Kira about it

Sounds like a fabulous trip so far! I can't wait to read the rest!!!

Amelia and Ernie have grown so much!!!

 

[Timon]

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the boy in this pic belongs to a DISer. He looks really familiar!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

YAY! Cass is here!!! I'm glad I have at least one reader!!! I'll go ahead and add more for you today.

(((hugs))) hugs to Kira!!!!!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Monday, Day at Sea – December 14th - DAY 4


Amelia and I did our usual drink station and Cove Café run around 6:30am followed by cartoons at Goofy Pool this morning. This is the first thing she asked for this morning when she woke up so I was happy to oblige. It was a great tradition each day. It gave us some quiet time together before the noise ensued.

We got back to the room after 7am and brought coffee back for EB and a milk back for Ernie.

We then all got dressed and decided to hit the Mickey pool early this morning before any crowds could get there. We got there around 7:45 and swam alone until about 9am. We also had some breakfast during that time as EB ran to Topsiders for a breakfast tray for us to share.

We got back to the room and everyone got showered and dressed within about 45 minutes which just might be a record for our family! In retrospect, this might have been one of the most enjoyable mornings we had together of the entire cruise.

We dropped Amelia off at her Club around 10am. We then had Ernie for a couple hours before his dropoff at Flounders for noon. We did some shopping at Mickey’s Mates and Ernie picked out a Cars toy set. Then we headed to the Castaway Club reception over at Studio Sea which we had forgotten about until we saw the line and sign for the reception! Oops! This is now only for Gold and Platinum members so it was much smaller than it had been in the past when all Castaway Club members were invited. We headed in and found a seat, got a free (alcoholic) drink, Ernie a cookie and some hors d’ oeuvres. We then lined up for a picture with Mickey Mouse which had a really neat Castaway Club background. That was cool. I’m glad we were in the right place at the right time!

Some of the officers came around and talked with us which was also very nice. They seemed genuine so we enjoyed that. They loved playing with Ernie and his cars, too.

We were only about 15 minutes into the presentation when Ernie became too loud and wouldn’t settle so we unfortunately we had to leave. Turns out we only missed about half of it so that might also be a record for us! Overall, it was very nice.

We then went for a walk around Deck 4 and stopped at Lumiere’s when it first opened for lunch. We thought we’d try to get a meal into Ernie before dropping him off at Flounders. That was rough but we did bribe him with a promise of Flounders to get him to eat just a little bit. Poor guy just didn’t want to wait…he wanted Flounders NOW!

I enjoyed a mushroom risotto and a great Breocche (peanut butter). We checked Ernie into Flounders during the meal.

We ate until about 12:30 and then headed back to our room to grab our phones. Unfortunately EB had some business to tend to for about a half hour and then we dropped our phones off with guest services to charge for us. I left half our Blackberry charger at our BLT villa. There always seems to be an issue with our phone chargers while down here (and I always seem to be the cause...)! Yikes!

Between 1 and 2 I think I did some laundry, we walked down to Shutters to view our photos and probably walked Deck 4 a bit again.

We picked Ernie up at 2pm and then headed into Oceaneer’s Club. We let him play there for about an hour before taking them both out around 3pm.

Afterwards we headed to the shops so Amelia could pick out a toy. We also did some other shopping as we had a $25 credit if we spent $100 or more. We decided to get our shopping done then, so it worked out nicely. That’s a great credit for Gold Club members, actually!

We headed back to the room and snacked a bit. As you probably are already thinking, YES we ate a lot during this cruise!

We then all got ready in our formal wear and headed down for pictures in the atrium at 5pm. When EB was getting dressed he couldn’t find his dress shirts, though! He ended up back at the store to buy a dress shirt. All was well with that, though, as he got a dress shirt we’ve constantly looked to buy him for the past many trips.

We got in line to have our photo taken in front of the Christmas Tree and everyone cooperated just fine. Ernie could have smiled a bit more for the picture but it was just fine.

We played in the Port Holes on Deck 3 forward for a bit before heading to dinner at 5:45. Dinner tonight was Animator’s Palette. The kids each ordered cod and ate decently. They did need to rush through dinner, though, as Ernie had a Flounders drop off at 6:30pm. Our servers did great with this. Amelia was so tired it looked like she was falling asleep at the table at different times!

I dropped him off for 6:30pm and then made my way quickly back to our dinner to enjoy the rest of the meal.

I had a great cold asparagus appetizer with almonds, oranges and grapefruit. EB had a seafood appetizer and a cheese soufflé which he said were both outstanding. We all had little bites of his cheese soufflé! I also had a very nice salad with pears. EB had a broccoli soup, as well. We both very much enjoyed a tofu and brown rice, sweet and sour entrée. It was excellent. EB ordered a trio of desserts and Amelia didn’t want a kids dessert. But while talking to me during dessert, EB looked down to notice that Amelia had helped herself to his entire cheesecake dessert! It was gone! Pricelessly funny moment there especially since she had insisted she didn't want dessert. I enjoyed a strawberry ice cream sundae-type dessert. It had dulce con leche on it and it was so creamy and good. This was one of the better desserts of the cruise.

We changed Amelia into her pajamas after dinner and headed to the Walt Disney Theatre for 8pm to get ourselves seats for the Golden Mickeys. We held our seats and I picked Ernie up a bit early at 8:15 so he could also see the show. We bought pretzels outside the theatre then headed in to join Amelia and EB again. We settled into our seats to enjoy the show. During the pre-show when Rona was interviewing someone, something quite interesting happened! She interviewed a gentleman who said he was onboard with his girlfriend and then proceeded to propose to her! The audience cheered wildly as the girl stood up in the audience. It was really neat to see!

The kids really loved the show and Ernie sat through the whole thing all the while drinking his water and eating pretzels – that was very surprising to us.

We went back to our stateroom and all fell asleep by 10pm. Ernie woke up around 1:30am, though, throwing up. He made a bit of a mess and we cleaned it up the best we could at 1:30am. We changed him and laid him down on a towel in bed with me and Amelia since we were in the larger bed of the room. He slept just fine through the rest of the night and was just fine the next day. We think it was from eating the pretzels so late at night and then laying down soon afterwards to bed.

Up next – Grand Cayman

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Tuesday, December 15th -Grand Cayman - Day 5

We all woke up around 6:30 and Mia and I did our usual Cove Café/cartoons at Goofy pool. We just love it. I’ll usually get a soy latte and Amelia looks forward to a small treat from the Café’s pastry case. They put out a free spread each morning.

Back at our room, Ernie was already up and the view outside was gorgeous! We were docked at Grand Cayman a short while later and port was quite pretty. There were cruise ships all around.

Since we were very disappointed with Topsider’s for breakfast, we decided to eat at Lumiere’s for breakfast. Unfortunately, Ernie would not sit through this meal, so EB and I took turns with Ernie out in the atrium while the other person was able to eat. I believe EB had eggs benedict without meat and I had really great French toast. Amelia was just fine and sat well to eat her breakfast.

I believe we played a bit in our room with the kids before getting ready for our Grand Cayman excursion. We enjoyed the verandah during this time as well as the kids enjoyed seeing all the ships in the water. In retrospect, we should have forced ourselves to eat a big snack before disembarking for this excursion since by the end of it we were starving. But I’ll talk a little more about that later. While in the room we were able to watch as we approached Grand Cayman and eventually stop in the middle of the water, surrounded by several other cruise ships. Tenders were everywhere, going back and forth between the ships and dock.

Our excursion group was small but we met at the Promenade Lounge at 10:45, got our stickers and were underway in no time. They provided towels and we took several with us, tucking them into our strollers.

Ern was very cranky…at that point we weren’t quite sure why. He slept well through the night and shouldn’t have been ready for a nap just yet. But, Ern ended up falling asleep on the bus ride which we were on after our tender to the dock. It took about 15 minutes on the bus to get over to the beach and he slept on me at the beach for about 15 more minutes.

We made some friends with a couple from California who had two young girls. They kept Amelia quite entertained for the next several hours as they all played in the sand at Seven Mile Beach.

It was hot and beautiful. The water was gorgeous. The excursion, however, was about an hour too long. We could have used a lunch break somewhere in between there followed up by more beach but it was just solid beach for three hours. They did have a bar/restaurant some ways down the beach, but with wet, sandy kids, one of which was libel to be cranky again at any moment, the thought was not enticing to us.

By the time we made it back to the tender the kids were worn out and tired from a day of playing and sun. Totally cranky – in fact, I think us adults were a bit on the cranky side as well. I know I was!

We all took turns showering back at the room and then took the kids to Oceaneer’s Club. Mia played with her age group in an activity while Ernie played in the back room with the costumes, coloring pages and dump trucks.

Dinner tonight was Animator’s Palate. Amelia stayed at the club through dinner. They take the kids to Topsider’s for dinner as a group, so she was able to eat with them. Ernie had fish nuggets and ate decently. EB had some sort of salmon appetizer and we both enjoyed the gazpacho soup. In fact, EB ended up having three bowls! I had one of the gazpacho and one of the butternut squash. They were both delish! Ernie ended his meal with a brownie sundae but took only three or four bites before announcing, “ALL DONE! FLOUNDERS!” He loved it there and knew that as soon as dinner was over it was time to head upstairs to his favorite place on the ship.

I took him up to be checked in and he stayed until 8:30. Every night this was the routine and the staff always greeted him in a friendly way. Their friendliness certainly made it easier for me to leave him there without too much guilt.

After coming back to Animator’s, I ate my entrée and then ordered a trio dish of desserts. One of them was very good but the others were just so-so. I had only bites of those. I do not believe EB ordered dessert that night. I am sure he was just stuffed from all the soup he inhaled.

We picked Ernie up for 8:30pm at Flounders and got him ready for bed. EB then went to the Club to pick Amelia up and she was ready for bed. In fact, each night during the week that we’d pick her up she never ever put up a fuss about leaving. Our kids are typically in bed by 7pm each night so I think she was not used to staying up late. She was tired and never argued with us.

Tonight we set our clocks back one hour. Tomorrow is Cozumel!

 

[DMMarla07860]

love the trip report

 

[strawberryblonde]

So fun to see photos of your kids!! I remember your kind comments back on my trip report 6 years ago before you had kids of your own. You are such a lovely family . Always a pleasure to read about another veggie's point of view .

 

[Kay1]

Wonderful trip reprt; cute pictures. The tofu looks fantastic. It's nice to read a veg-friendly report. Thanks!

 

[Timon]

Priceless!!! What a great moment captured on camera!

You have the cutest kids!!!

And I love your morning tradition with your girl!

So did Amelia like the kids club? I would love some more info about the club. How comfortable were you when she was in there?

We are doing an Alaskan cruise on the Wonder next May and it will be Kira's first time in the club so I have a billion questions LOL!

And btw, looking at the number of views, you have way more readers than you think, just not everyone posts comments

 

[CRSNDSNY]

love the trip report

That's so nice of you! Thanks!

So fun to see photos of your kids!! I remember your kind comments back on my trip report 6 years ago before you had kids of your own. You are such a lovely family . Always a pleasure to read about another veggie's point of view .

Yes, I remember that TR, actually! Reading your European one recently motivated me to get mine posted so thank you!

Wonderful trip reprt; cute pictures. The tofu looks fantastic. It's nice to read a veg-friendly report. Thanks!

Thanks so much! It was just nice to eat something other than curry....I was a bit worried about the food going into the Magic cruise because of this. But it turned out to be just fine. Besides, we love eating!

Priceless!!! What a great moment captured on camera!

You have the cutest kids!!!

And I love your morning tradition with your girl!

So did Amelia like the kids club? I would love some more info about the club. How comfortable were you when she was in there?

We are doing an Alaskan cruise on the Wonder next May and it will be Kira's first time in the club so I have a billion questions LOL!

And btw, looking at the number of views, you have way more readers than you think, just not everyone posts comments

Cass, you are so sweet!
Being a slightly overprotective parent, we were a bit nervous about leaving her in the club. Not that we didn't think she'd make friends or anything, but she is s o o o t i n y we were afraid she'd get hurt. She did fine, though. Plus we were there quite often letting Ernie play anyway so we'd peek in on her. If she was doing an art project, I'd sneak over and help her. Sometimes she did the "Mom you're embarassing me thing and want to be more independent." I guess she's growing up.

I know how you're feeling, though, at having Kira there because we felt the same way. Having been through it once now with Amelia I think our next cruise I won't have a problem allowing Ernie in since he'll be three soon. In fact, our Nanny is starting nursing school so I've started taking Ernie to daycare/preschool this week! I have been a mess about leaving him but he LOVES it so far. So I guess it's a good thing, right? Amelia goes to a summer camp at her old preschool starting next week. I'm going to be very very lonely in my house!

The Alaskan cruises look like they're going to be amazing! What does she think about going on Mickey boat again?

 

[strawberryblonde]

Well, hooray !....glad to have been the nudge needed for you to start on this fab TP

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Wednesday, December 16, Cozumel – Day 6

Today Amelia and I did our usual routine – Cove Café, free drink station, treats and cartoons at the Goofy Pool. Actually, since the clocks were set back we were up a bit earlier and so I had to convince her to lay in bed for a while until I knew it was about 6:30am.

We were going to stay onboard today and not leave the ship, although, the port looked absolutely gorgeous after we docked. This looks like the kind of place we’d like to come to solely on vacation. In fact, Grand Cayman was like that as well. Both were gorgeous ports and we were very surprised. We didn’t choose this cruise for the ports we chose it because of the price and the fact that it was Disney. We have never had an interest in the Mexican ports but we are happy we were on this cruise.

For breakfast we ate at Parrot Cay. It was a buffet and it was excellent! We all ate very well and the kids behaved.

Back at the room we took our time showering and basically just lounged around. Amelia did a photo session with all her dolls. She loves playing with the camera and actually frames things quite nicely.

I had about two or three hours of work to do today so I went to it while the kids played and watched cartoons. During this time EB also took them out for some playing before coming back to the room. This went on for a total of about three hours.

Ernie was exhausted, though, and was being moody and difficult. Poor guy. We think about this point of the vacation the odd sleeping schedule and activities has caught up to him. He eventually crawled up on my lap as I worked and fell asleep. That was too cute.

We layed him down and he ended up sleeping away most of the afternoon – about two and a half hours total.

We ordered some room service and also got veggie burgers from Deck 9 for lunch in our stateroom. Food was very good (fries are amazing on this ship) and we loved relaxing in our stateroom.

We were certainly having a very lazy day. We had originally planned on a day of swimming at the Mickey Pool but that never happened!
Around 2:30pm, Amelia and I headed to the Walt Disney Theatre for the first showing of the cruise of The Princess and the Frog. It was wonderful! The music was outstanding and it was such a classic way of storytelling. What a great movie!

We got back and Ernie had just woken up from his long nap. EB got him some room service lunch and he was picking at it but didn’t seem all that hungry. After a short period of time, we all got cleaned up and we got Amelia in her Belle costume and headed to the lobby for some of the character appearances. The kids got their pictures taken with Pirate-clad Mickey and Minnie. Those pictures turned out very nice.

We still had about 15 minutes before we could be seated for dinner so the kids played around Beat Street and then we headed to Parrot Cay for dinner. Amelia wanted to dine with us tonight rather than with her Club so we were quite happy about that. It was Pirates in the Caribbean night and many were dressed up as Pirates. We did not bring our costumes with us as we had so much stuff to pack already for this trip. EB and Ernie do have some wonderful pirate garb, too.

I had a cold watermelon and mango soup, EB had two servings of the crab cake. I had some vegetarian dish with lots of mushrooms as an entrée. I was getting totally mushroomed out already, though, as I’m not a big mushroom eater. It seems a lot of the vegetarian dishes were mushroom-based which was a nice change from the usual curry dishes they had on the Wonder. I do not like curry at all. EB enjoyed a tofu spinach wrap dish. His looked good but overall the entrees did not appeal to me this night. I think EB ordered two entrees this night and also got a scallop and shrimp pasta dish of which he ate just the seafood. Our servers are great and do not tease EB for ordering multiples of many of the dishes. He did that often! I don’t know where he puts it.

We checked Ernie into Flounders by 6:30 and then came back to enjoy entrees and desserts. Amelia stayed with us through this meal but was obviously tired, cranky and worn out. EB had a cheesecake dessert, I had a chocolate cake dessert and Amelia passed on dessert. You can tell she was tired! She sat on EB’s lap through dessert and fell asleep with her head on his hand. It was funny!

Tonight was the Pirates in the Caribbean party on Deck 9, but none of us were up for the late night. We were all asleep by 9:30!

We turn our clocks forward one hour tonight. Tomorrow is a day at sea!

 

[miztigg]

excellent My sister often travels with me and she is a veggie girl She LOVES how she gets to try two veggie dishes at dinner

 

[Timon]

Cass, you are so sweet!
Being a slightly overprotective parent, we were a bit nervous about leaving her in the club. Not that we didn't think she'd make friends or anything, but she is s o o o t i n y we were afraid she'd get hurt. She did fine, though. Plus we were there quite often letting Ernie play anyway so we'd peek in on her. If she was doing an art project, I'd sneak over and help her. Sometimes she did the "Mom you're embarassing me thing and want to be more independent." I guess she's growing up.

I know how you're feeling, though, at having Kira there because we felt the same way. Having been through it once now with Amelia I think our next cruise I won't have a problem allowing Ernie in since he'll be three soon. In fact, our Nanny is starting nursing school so I've started taking Ernie to daycare/preschool this week! I have been a mess about leaving him but he LOVES it so far. So I guess it's a good thing, right? Amelia goes to a summer camp at her old preschool starting next week. I'm going to be very very lonely in my house!

The Alaskan cruises look like they're going to be amazing! What does she think about going on Mickey boat again?

She doesn't know a thing about the Alaska cruise. In fact, up until a few weeks ago, it was going to be an adult-only cruise (we are cruising with some friends) and she was going to stay with family. I went through a life-changing event recently and when it was over, I couldn't bare to go without her. We still have to add her to our reservation ($600 deposit for her!) but I did switch to a bigger room with a window for her. (we were booked in an 11 because it was just Rob and I)

I think we will keep this one quiet until just before the cruise.

Although she keeps saying that when she is 6 she will go back to WDW and back on the Mickey ship (we hope to be back in Disney a week after she turns 6 )

 

[Timon]

I have always loved seeing your kids sleeping in the funniest places!

Kira is a little like me, night owl and does well without the proper amount of sleep so she can stay awake very late. The only place she sleeps is in her bed

If we ever cruise to Mexico again, we will be staying on the ship too

Loved Amelia in her Belle dress! Kira has a similar one but in gold but it is too big. Maybe when we go back 2012, it might fit her