A Young Family Cruises Through The Panama Canal 8/17/08 With Pictures!!!!!!!!!!

[natale1980]

I'm very excited to read your report!!!!

 

[nikkistevej]

Can't wait for the next installment!!

 

[LauraLap]

Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Kim in TN]

Great trip report, can't wait to read more! And the pictures are precious, your kids look so happy!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

On pins and needles to read the rest! LOL enjoying your cruise report. That super shuttle sounds AWESOME. what a way to start your adventure (I agree with you the cruise is the REAL vacation hehe)

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Love the report so far!! Thanks for the Aladdin cut as I didn't get any pictures or video of the show Do you happen to have any pictures as well that you could share?

Our trips were so identical through arriving at the port that I can't wait to find out what all you experienced on the ship itself!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

The cast:
DH age 30
DW age 30
DS1 age 10
DD1 age 8
DS2 age 5
DD2 age 2 (Turned 3 on this cruise)

After a long wait, boarding #9 was finally called. We headed on to our home for the next 15 days on deck 4 instead of the Atrium lobby. This was a little different, but our family was announced just the same, and we were directed to go to Parrot Cay for lunch. It felt good to be back on our favorite ship. We decided to go up to deck 9 and let the kids have a few turns on the Mickey slide before deciding on lunch. We found a couple sun loungers and the kids jumped right into the pool. It was a beautiful sunny day and I couldn't wait for the drink of the day !! DD2 is not yet fully potty trained. We were working on the potty before vacation but she still needed swim diapers. I knew DD2 would be trapped to the one lonely Mickey Ear, but she was not going to accept this! While fighting with DD2 and the Mickey ear, I told DH to go book Flounders for our excursions that we would not be taking DD2 on. We were only able to book part of each day, and I was worried it would fill up and we would have to cancel our excursions. While DH was gone, I must have gotten the looks from the lifeguard at the Mickey Pool three zillion times because DD2would continously try to climb out of the ear into the pool. It was even worse when the water would turn off. Usually, this would happen every 10 minutes or so and then it would take 2-3 minutes to turn back on, but today it was broken for about an hour and "they were working on fixing it." This drove DD2 crazy the whole trip!!!! Disney needs to make improvements in this department. You can't expect a practically 3 year old to sit in an empty Mickey ear with no water while there is a perfectly good pool 2 steps away with happy kids swimming, having the time of their lives!! It is hard to explain to her why she can't swim too. I wish the other ear with enough actual water for swimming was for the under 3 set as well. She would have been content with that. She is a FISH. She just wanted to swim. I have to say, over the next 15 days this was a major DOWNER to our vacation. If it was any other cruise with less sea days it wouldn't have been such an issue but with the amount of Sea days that this cruise had............let's just say there was ALOT of tears and fighting over the pool with DD2.
After the kids swam for about an hour and DH came back from Flounders we decided to get lunch. We took turns going our separate ways and ate at our loungers by the pool. DH, DS1 and myself went through the buffet at Topsiders and DD1, DD2 and DS2 got Pizza and Chicken/Fries poolside for lunch. During lunch DH dropped the news that Flonders Nursery closes between 3-5 and they were unsure if they would be able to take DD2 during our excursion in Puerto Vallarta. They said they would talk to their supervisor and get back to us in the next couple days. This was dissapointing to hear because we were looking forward to this excursion, but I had faith that everything would work out. I really didn't like the buffet at lunch but I usually never do. I don't eat any seafood and I am pretty picky otherwise. I don't like anything fancy and the plain old basics are fine for me! DH and DS love everything and had a grand old time! After lunch the kids went right back to swimming. They swam until about 2:30, and then we went down to see our rooms for the first time. We had connecting category 10 staterooms on deck 2 (2571 and 2573) We had never stayed in an inside stateroom, but I have to stay I really didn't mind it at all. The only time it bothered me was when waking up, the room was still dark, so it always felt really early in the morning even if it wasn't. When we found our rooms, we saw that many of our suitcases arrived, incluiding the case of beer intact! We hauled them into our staterooms and started to unpack a little. We had never unpacked fully before on vacation. This was a first for us. But with a 15 day cruise you don't have a choice! It was nice to be able to store all the suitcases away and have space as well! Time went by rather quickly and we ran out of time to change and get ready for the Boat drill. Before you knew it, it was time and we were late! The Boat Drill was scheduled for 3:30 along Deck 4. We threw on our jackets and ran up to deck 4. Of course we were the last to arrive. The Boat drill was finished rather quickly so we went back to our rooms to get rid of our life jackets and get ready for the Adventures Away Deck Party! I have to say I liked the old name of the Sailaway Party better! They handed out red streamers with the Panama Canal and our Sailing dates printed on them. The Band was really good!
DD2 fell asleep and the rest of the kids were not in the mood to Celebrate You know your spoiled when.......They claimed they were tired but hmmm.... is 3 Sailaway Party's in 4 years too much?? Next time I am leaving them home!! As the party winded down we headed up to deck 10 to watch us sailaway into open ocean. I sadly did not see any Dolphins.

 

[frdeb1999]

Great TR .... looking forward to hearing more! You have a beautiful family!

 

[Evette]

Enjoying your trip report very much. I especially liked all you pictures and I can't wait to see more!

 

[Lil' Grumpy]

wow..."the all~american disney family"..comes to mind.

thankyou..for sharing.


...we were wiped out from the time changes...& doing disneyland
comando style...so we slept...most of the first 3-days. * we
did not participated..in the sail-away, or any deck parties. none.
we did not attend the mid-night buffet. [ got in & out of the long
line] . however, this cruise..exceeded our expectations 10 fold!

...everyone. , , , ,


guess which one is me?

 

[sejejoemmiev]

After watching the Magic Sailaway from the Port of LA, we went back to our staterooms to finish unpacking and get ready for the show and dinner. I became so involved in unpacking that I left little time to get myself and kids ready for dinner. We decided to go to the show as we were, and come back to our rooms after, to shower and change for dinner. The show for the evening was, All ABOARD! Let the Magic Begin! at 6:15pm-7:15pm. DD2 loved the characters and the rest of us really enjoyed John Charles and Ron Pearson. They were hilarious! After the show we headed back to our staterooms. We were a little dissapointed to have to get ready for dinner, because we really wanted to go to Mickey Mania instead. We felt better knowing we had two more weeks to get the chance, so we showered and dressed for our 8:15 pm dinner seating at Animators Palate. They did not do the show tonight at Animators, but that was probably a good thing because most of the kids fell asllep before dinner even arrived! We met our serving team for the first time, We had Melroy from India and Ozen from Turkey. The Head Server was Arnold from Trinidad and Tabago. They seemed nice but being the first night it was all business and their personality's were not showing yet. Dinner was okay but we were not blown away by it. The menu was Let the Magic Begin. DD1 and DS2 fell asleep, and DD2 was cranky and dozing off at times. I knew this would improve after tonight. It was along day and everybody was tired. We usually eat late at home due to the kids afterschool activities and work schedules. Our head server offered to try and fit us in to the early dinner seating but we declined for now and decided to see how it went. We were at Table # 25 and had a large table to ourselves. We were concerned about the menu options for DD2. She has a feeding tube and before this trip was pretty close to not needing it anymore. She had been weaned down to 2 cans of pediasure at night while she sleeps and no feedings during the day. She had been doing well all summer like this and we were close to weaning it down even more. She has alot of sensory issues and will only eat a small variety of food choices. We ordered Macaroni and Cheese/french fries and applesauce for her. These are all foods she has eaten before but because they were not exactly the same (example:Kraft Mac and Cheese) she refused to eat any of it. This got me worried because she had eaten next to nothing the whole day. We headed back to our staterooms to find our beds turned down by our room attendant, Donovan from Jamaica, and our towel animal for the evening. We read our Navigator for the next day, turned our clocks ahead one hour and went to bed!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

This morning we woke up and went to Lumiere's for breakfast. On our last cruise in 2007, we never made it to any other breakfast than Topsiders so we wanted to make sure to try out something new this time. We had the SLOWEST waiter in the history of any meal this morning. He was half asleep himself. He got everything wrong and it took him forever to do anything. We were not impressed. Our food came out Cold and nothing was very good. Because of this, we had to rush out to get the kids to the clubs in time for what they wanted to do. There should have been more than enough time. DS2 was excited to make Flubber and DS1 was excited to get up to the sports deck. DH went to drop off the kids and I brought DD2 to meet Snow White and register to play Mr. Toad's Wild Race in the Lobby atrium. I had not intended to do this with her but while meeting Snow White they were setting up and I asked if DD2 would be too young. They assured me she would not and that it was rather easy. I decided to sign her up because it looked like it was going to be fun. I wish the other kids were around to play because they would have loved it. DD2 was kind of young to play. Although you only have to move the string up and down to get the Frog to move she was not really strong enough to do it effectively. Her Frog did not move! She had fun though and got a participation ribbon for playing. We decided to then go to the Mickey Pool to let DD2 swim and let Mommy get some sun. After awhile of enjoying the sun, we decided the kids should be enjoying this too. DH went to gather the kids up at the clubs and met us back at the Mickey Pool. We spent the afternoon there and had alot of fun. We had lunch Poolside and at 3:00pm DH and DS1 went to the Buena Vista Theatre to see Jay Harris from ESPN talk. (They are huge Sports fans) The other kids and I stayed at the Pool and we decided to meet back at the room at 4pm to get ready for Formal Night. DH and DS1 really enjoyed the Jay Harris talk. Not many people went and it was quite nice that way. After his talk, DH and DS went up to talk with him and get a picture.

We all met back in the room and started the huge task of getting six people ready for Formal Night. We showered and got dressed. DH rented his tux and DS1 and DS2 got their's on ebay for a really great price. After we were all ready we went up to the lobby for the Captain's Reception for free Cocktails and lots of Formal Portraits. The Lobby was packed and it was hard to move. After we were done with pictures we headed to the Golden Mickey's at 6:15pm. I love the Golden Mickey's. I love strolling down the Red Carpet with the fake Parparazzi taking photo's. It is so well done. We arrived with the last child being interviewed by Rona Rivers. This was dissapointing because I was hoping the kids would do it again this cruise. Oh well! That's what you get for strolling in late! We rushed in to find some seats and enjoyed the show. I knew DD2 would enjoy this show due to the many characters. I was right. She was mesmerized! DS2 fell asleep during the show. That's what a day at the kid's club and swimming at the Mickey Pool will do for you! After the Golden Mickey's we headed to Rockin' Bar D for John Charles: Cabaret. The kids ordered some Sprites and the Adults a nice Cocktail. We really enjoyed John Charles (except for DD2 who was restless and too young to enjoy) and had a good time. We then went to our 8:15 dinner at Parrot Cay. The Dinner Menu was The Golden Mickey's tonight. We started off letting our serving team know that we would have a special request the rest of this cruise. We requested that DD2 be served a PB+J Sandwich or Uncrustables every night and that her meal be brought out right away so she would stay awake to eat. (Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches are DD2's favorite food) I knew that she would eat this if all else failed. We would mix it up the rest of the cruise by ordering her a PB+J and the pasta etc. so she would get a variety and not get bored but she lost about 3 pounds on this trip. She did not eat much of anything. She lived on Chocolate milk, Uncrustables, Soft Serve icecream from Goofy's Galley, and the occasional Chocolate Chip Cookie. She only had a few bites of each though. Dinner tonight at Parrot Cay was not very good. I did not care for this menu from what I ordered. After Dinner we went to Shutters and bought our Embarkation Photo and Photo Package for the trip. ( This would be Upgraded many times!! ) We headed back to our staterooms and the kids got ready for bed. DS1 an I decided to go up to the Hot Tub for a little while. It was freezing on Deck! The Water was nice but the air was Cold. We kept putting off going back to the room because we were afraid to get out! We grabbed some pizza and went back to our rooms. The walk back to the room was FREEZING. It was even worse now that we were wet. Once back at our rooms, we got ready for bed, ate our pizza and read our Navigators. Then it was Lights Out!!

 

[pppiglet]

I better subscribe...you got me hooked!

 

[sejejoemmiev]

This morning we woke up Bright and early with a wake up call from Mickey.
We got dressed in our pool gear and cover ups and headed up to Topsiders for breakfast. I wanted to make sure to leave enough time to watch us pull into Cabo. We enjoyed a good breakfast with the made to order omelets always being the highlight. After eating, we headed out on deck to watch us pull into Cabo San Lucas. This is a Beautiful Port to watch the scenery out on deck. While watching, we saw a whale, Dolphin pod, Sea Turtle and Flying Fish! The kids were really enjoying this! We then had to leave to meet our excursion group at 9:30 a.m. in the Promenade Lounge. This would be our first DCL shore excursion in our 3 cruises. We had always ventured out on our own in the past. We booked the Cabo Resort Pool and Beach Getaway at the Finisterra Resort, basically because it allowed all ages and was child friendly. After our excursion group was gathered, we collected towels and boarded our tender. After tendering ashore, we boarded an Airconditioned Bus to the resort. The ride was quick. It was less than 10 minutes. The resort pool was really nice and the weather was PERFECT! It was Hot and Sunny, and Swimming in a large pool that my DD2 could enjoy as well was wonderful! DD1 took a break from swimming, to paint a ceramic for a little while, and then headed back to the pool. After swimming for awhile, we decided to take a walk on the beach. Swimming in the ocean was not permitted due to the strong current, but I wanted to see the ocean. We walked down to the waters edge and the Water was really rough. I put my toes into the ocean and you could really feel the current pulling you out. It was kind of scary. After our walk on the beach we headed up to the mexican buffet they had set up for lunch. Lunch included two drinks (soda or beer), but I really wanted a Margarita so I bought one. It wasn't that good. Lunch was kind of Gross if you ask me, but my husband kind of liked it. After lunch, they had a Pinata for the kids, then we headed back to the pool for more swimming. By the time it was time to head to the bus we were ready to go. It was 90 degrees and we all got sunburned despite sunblock. When we got back to the port area we decided to look around at the shops for awhile. I was hoping to find a handpainted tile of the Magic. I read here on the Dis-boards that you can sometimes find them here. I didn't have any luck finding it so my husband decided to ask a shady looking local. He said he would show us and started walking quite aways into a less touristy area. I felt really uncomfortable and told my DH forget it. He tipped the guy $5 and thanked him for his trouble. I think all we would have gotten was trouble if we kept after him. I don't know what DH was thinking! We stopped in a tourist trap selling mexican crafts and cheap jewelry. DD1 saw a bracelet she wanted and DS1 a neckalace that we bargained down to 2 for $10. We then headed back to the ship. We were all exhausted and had enough. While entering the cruise port area, a mexican officer rubbed DS2's belly and said Mui Gordo! and chuckled! I couldn't believe he was calling DS2 fat! DS2 asked what he said and we told him. That was a BIG mistake because his sibling's took to nicknaming him Gordo for the rest of the trip. It bothered him at first, but then he realized it was a joke and laughed about it from then on. We were all too tired to have a long dinner in the dining room tonight. Our dinner was in Lumiere's and it was the French Menu. This menu did not appeal to us at all. We decided to skip dinner and order room service. The phone's were down, and we were unable to order, so we checked the kids into the clubs for dinner. We headed back to the room to rest. The phones went back on so DH, DD2 and I ordered room service for dinner. The kids were so mad! We ate dinner and then went to the 6:30 p.m show for Ron Pearson. After the show, we brought DD2 to see the characters in the lobby and got her portraits done. At 8:15 we took DD2 with us to see Iron Man in the Buena Vista Theatre. I knew she would fall asleep and we would be allright. Within 5 minutes of the movie starting she was out cold and stayed that way through the whole thing. This was a really good movie and we both enjoyed it. When the movie ended we went to pick up the kids from the kids clubs. We ran into DS1 in the halls. He had checked himself out and got worried when we weren't in the room. We apologized for his concern but told him he should not be checking himself out unless we discuss it before hand. We returned to our rooms to get ready for bed. We had to set our clocks ahead one hour as well.

 

[lUVTOGO]

The Formal Pictures are amazing!!!!!! I especially love the one of the boys in their Tux's on deck!!! What a great trip report! Very enjoyable!!

 

[nikkistevej]

I love the formal pics as well, you guys look great!! The beach ones of your boys was cute, the water looks so pretty, and I like the princess ones with your little one. Can't wait to see more.

 

[sejejoemmiev]

We set our Mickey wake up call for 7 a.m. this morning. This was a really slow wake up because we were all still exhausted. We got ready for our excursion in swimming suits and cover ups. We went up to Topsiders for another breakfast of made to order omelets, and the kiddos had Bagels. We then had to drop DD2 off at Flounders for a long day of "school." We told her it was "Mickey School" and she got really excited to go! We were really happy that Flounders had agreed to take her, despite the usual time the nursery closes between 3:00-5:30 p.m. We were also pretty nervous, because it would be a long day that we would be gone. The excursion was listed as 7 hours. When we dropped off DD2, we explained that she had a feeding tube and they didn't get at all freaked out by it. They were pretty cool about it saying, they get children with them all the time. On our last cruise, the counseler seemed nervous and a little freaked out by it, but she got over it pretty quickly. On staff this cruise were two men, and they were Awesome! The whole nursery staff was GREAT! After dropping off DD2, we headed down to Diversions to meet our excursion group for Yelapa and Majahuitas @ 9:45 a.m. Once everyone was all checked in, we gathered towels and headed out to board a Catamaran. We took a pretty long boat ride along the coastline of Banderas Bay and stopped at the cove of Majahuitas to snorkel. This was the first time any of us had snorkeled off a boat in deep water. We had only snorkeled off the beach like at Castaway Cay before. We were all a tiny bit nervous but DD1 was freaking out! She was afraid to get in the water. She was afraid of sharks. We all finally got in the ocean and started snorkeling. DD1 progressively got more paranoid and then started freaking out. DH assisted her back on the boat to wait for us while we snorkeled. DS2 did GREAT! This was the first time he ever snorkeled and he took right to it. He wasn't nervous at all and he had a BALL! The ocean water right off the boat, where it was deep, was dark and cloudy. We swam over to the coves edge, over the rocks, where the water became more shallow and clear. The snorkeling was much better here, but the water was rough because of the waves crashing into the rocks. Just as I was starting to enjoy myself and get into the groove of snorkeling, DH informed me he and DS1 were going back to the boat. DH was starting to get seasick from the motion of the ocean while swimming. DS1 claimed he was "tired" from swimming. DH said DS2 and myself should continue to snorkel on our own. This idea of being in the ocean without him freaked me out. I decided we should then all go back to the boat, but I wasn't happy about it! Once we got back on the boat, they started serving lunch. The line was long and the boat got crowded. DH did not want to eat because he felt lousy. He took a Dramamine and lay down. I did not feel like eating because I was soaking wet and sticky from the salt water. The kiddos got in line to eat but didn't really care for the food they were serving. They tried it anyways but didn't eat much. I needed to use the restroom and had difficulty removing and replacing my soaking wet bathing suit. A woman knocked impatiently as soon as I entered the bathroom. I said, "I will be a couple minutes." Within 60 seconds she started banging on the door yelling about "how long does it take to use the restroom?". I had never come across anyone so blatantly rude before! Our catamaran soon left our snorkeling spot and set sail for a small old fishing village called Yelepa. As soon as we set sail, they started serving alcoholic drinks. This was exactly what I needed.

 

[Hypermommy]

All it took was that first picture of your beautiful baby and I knew this is a trippie I had to sub to. Looking forward to reading!

 

[Hypermommy]

A leash is surely better than losing your child. I think everyone that has a problem with one should be forced to care for a "scary friendly" child like mine or a wandering child like yours. They'd shut up then.

@ "lovingly suggested he get up and help me right away".... that sounds like a conversation we'd have in my house.

That pic on post 31 of the kids sleeping at AP is so precious!!! Oh, and I love the picture of the girls looking out the porthole in their formal gowns. And those boys in their tuxes! Just priceless. What a fine looking family you have!

I got as far as post34 this morning (Cabo San Lucas) but I have to get to work so I'll have to sneak in the rest of it from there. Can't wait!!

 

[nikkistevej]

The picture of you and the kids in the pool is definately "frame-able", it's really nice. I really like the lifestyle portrait of your youngest- too cute.