Hobbitmomma
Frodo Lives
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2006
- Messages
- 373
Well, we (me, husband, son-7, daughter-5) just returned today from an absolutely fabulous vacation. Our vacation started on the 24th with three days in WDW staying at the Polynesian. If you would like to hear about that portion, I will be posting something later on the other trip reports forum.
For our sea portion of the trip, we were picked up at Animal Kingdom at 12:30pm on Thursday the 27th. I highly recommend this if you are doing the land/sea combination. Since your luggage needs to be ready at 8am, but you don't get picked up until almost noon, we didn't see the point in just hanging around the hotel all morning when we could be having one last visit to a park. It worked out very well. We got to AK at 9am and got VIP passes to Festival of the Lion King. It is an absolute must see. What a wonderful production. We also got to Kali River Rapids one more time and the kids got some fun time in Dinoland.Anyway, we got to the port around 1:30, checked the kids into Oceaneers and pretty much walked right onto the ship. Booking the package was great, we didn't have to check in at the port since we did it at our resort. Getting announced is so cool, and the ship is beautiful. This was our first cruise ever and we were thrilled. We immediately went to our stateroom since it was ready and got the kids changed so they could get some pool time in. I went down to guest services to book a Martini tasting and give them our pillowcases for autographs. Then I went to the Promenade lounge to meet some Disboard folks. I met gichicdoc, Mrs. Scooby, Newbie Cruisers, SS Oceanlover and BD Moose. I know I'm forgetting someone, please forgive me. It was great to put faces to names and gichicdoc and her hubby as well as Glinda were at the same martini tasting as us and we had a blast. My husband had ordered champagne for our stateroom and a fruit and cheese plate. We only had a little time to indulge though as the kids were dying to get to the pool. The sail away party was fun and I loved watching the ship leave the port. Who are those people on the dock with the Mickey Mouse hands waving to the ship?? We had early seating (5:45) so we had to get right to the room and change for dinner. Our rotation was APPT. We met our servers, Rowena and Isac and the kids were thrilled at the decor of Animators Palette. I have to say though, that of the three restaurants this was our least favorite. Maybe it was because we were exhausted from the day. I had the swordfish and my husband had the Beef Wellington. It was all very good, we were just too tired to really appreciate it. I think Rowena was disappointed that we didn't drink, but after the champagne, and a drink up on deck at the party, we were done. We also met our head server, Daniele and we really enjoyed watching the colors change. We took the kids over to Oceaneers to have a look then went to get pictures taken with some characters. My son was beside himself to meet Capt. Jack Sparrow. My daughter got to meet Belle, Snow White, Donald and Daisy and they both took pictures with Peter Pan and Wendy. That was a lot of characters in one evening. By the way, I just loved the Peter Pan! He was so full of energy! We didn't go to the show as we were spent. We just went to the room and crashed! Actually, the kids crashed. Hubby and I sat out on our veranda (room 8076) and enjoyed looking at the ocean for a little while, then turned in.
The stateroom was great and I was surprised at the amount of space there was to store things. I brought an over-the-door shoe holder on the advice of these boards, but didn't end up using it. There was plenty of room in the bathroom for our things and the luggage fit neatly under the bed.
We had our Mickey wake-up call at 7am, though I was up at 6:30. I suddenly woke up not knowing where I was! How disconcerting! It took me a minute to remember I was on a ship. I went to the veranda and took about a million pictures of the sunrise. We went and had breakfast at Beach Blanket Buffet and ate out on deck. You know, I could get used to this!! Today was Nassau and our Dolphin Encounter. We met at Wavebands and followed the line to the boat that took us to Blue Lagoon. It took about 45 minutes with a stop to pick up a few more folks. It was a beautiful ride with clear skies and crystal water. After receiving instructions, we went to sit on the floating dock to await our encounter. The dolphins were already swimming around and popping their heads out of the water as if to check us out. The trainer was really funny and the dolphins were beautiful. When it was our turn to get into the water to get a kiss, my daughter got terrified. She remained afraid of the dolphin until near the very end. The trainer helped her feed the dolphin and we both held her hand so she could pet it. He was very positive and patient with her. I don't know why she was so scared. We got to "dance", pet, kiss and hug the dolphin. They truly are beautiful animals. When we got back to the ship, we checked the kids into Oceaneers and we took a very quick walk to the shops. I was nervous about leaving the ship with the kids in the club, but all was well. We really only went to about 4 shops and took a quick look at the straw market then came back. My son didn't even want to leave. That evening we ate at Parrot Cay and the kids were so excited to see Rowena and Isac. We had a new menu that they are trying out for the 10 and 11 night cruises. I had the pork and it was wonderful. My daughter didn't want dessert (still can't believe that!) so Rowena brought her a plate with "Nothing" written on it in chocolate. We nearly died laughing. We had a nice chat with Daniele about Italy. (He is from Tuscany. My grandparents are from Italy as well.) He also told us a little about being on the ship and how often he sees his family, etc. We took a walk around the ship after dinner and enjoyed the sunset. We wanted to take the kids to the Hercules show, but they wanted to go back to the club, so we dropped them there. Let me tell you, that Hercules show is a riot! I loved it and what pipes on the lead muse!! I would put her up there with Patti LaBelle. And that is no small compliment coming from me since I have two degrees in voice and am very critical when I see a show. So, after the show, we got the kids, put them to bed and sat out on the veranda for a bit before turning in ourselves.
Well, since I am still exhausted from the trip, and by the way I still feel like things are moving, I think that I will call it a night. I will post more tomorrow and hopefully have some pictures for you as well. Oh, in case you were wondering, Ernesto didn't impact us too much. We experienced some outer bands of wind and rain towards the end of the day at Castaway Cay, and we had some rough seas Wednesday, but all in all, the captain managed to find us clear skies and we didn't have to alter plans really. (Some things were cancelled on CC because he thought we might have to leave early.) They thought that we might have had to dock at Miami, but as it turned out, we were able to dock at PC. Good night all, and I will have more for you tomorrow.
For our sea portion of the trip, we were picked up at Animal Kingdom at 12:30pm on Thursday the 27th. I highly recommend this if you are doing the land/sea combination. Since your luggage needs to be ready at 8am, but you don't get picked up until almost noon, we didn't see the point in just hanging around the hotel all morning when we could be having one last visit to a park. It worked out very well. We got to AK at 9am and got VIP passes to Festival of the Lion King. It is an absolute must see. What a wonderful production. We also got to Kali River Rapids one more time and the kids got some fun time in Dinoland.Anyway, we got to the port around 1:30, checked the kids into Oceaneers and pretty much walked right onto the ship. Booking the package was great, we didn't have to check in at the port since we did it at our resort. Getting announced is so cool, and the ship is beautiful. This was our first cruise ever and we were thrilled. We immediately went to our stateroom since it was ready and got the kids changed so they could get some pool time in. I went down to guest services to book a Martini tasting and give them our pillowcases for autographs. Then I went to the Promenade lounge to meet some Disboard folks. I met gichicdoc, Mrs. Scooby, Newbie Cruisers, SS Oceanlover and BD Moose. I know I'm forgetting someone, please forgive me. It was great to put faces to names and gichicdoc and her hubby as well as Glinda were at the same martini tasting as us and we had a blast. My husband had ordered champagne for our stateroom and a fruit and cheese plate. We only had a little time to indulge though as the kids were dying to get to the pool. The sail away party was fun and I loved watching the ship leave the port. Who are those people on the dock with the Mickey Mouse hands waving to the ship?? We had early seating (5:45) so we had to get right to the room and change for dinner. Our rotation was APPT. We met our servers, Rowena and Isac and the kids were thrilled at the decor of Animators Palette. I have to say though, that of the three restaurants this was our least favorite. Maybe it was because we were exhausted from the day. I had the swordfish and my husband had the Beef Wellington. It was all very good, we were just too tired to really appreciate it. I think Rowena was disappointed that we didn't drink, but after the champagne, and a drink up on deck at the party, we were done. We also met our head server, Daniele and we really enjoyed watching the colors change. We took the kids over to Oceaneers to have a look then went to get pictures taken with some characters. My son was beside himself to meet Capt. Jack Sparrow. My daughter got to meet Belle, Snow White, Donald and Daisy and they both took pictures with Peter Pan and Wendy. That was a lot of characters in one evening. By the way, I just loved the Peter Pan! He was so full of energy! We didn't go to the show as we were spent. We just went to the room and crashed! Actually, the kids crashed. Hubby and I sat out on our veranda (room 8076) and enjoyed looking at the ocean for a little while, then turned in.
The stateroom was great and I was surprised at the amount of space there was to store things. I brought an over-the-door shoe holder on the advice of these boards, but didn't end up using it. There was plenty of room in the bathroom for our things and the luggage fit neatly under the bed.
We had our Mickey wake-up call at 7am, though I was up at 6:30. I suddenly woke up not knowing where I was! How disconcerting! It took me a minute to remember I was on a ship. I went to the veranda and took about a million pictures of the sunrise. We went and had breakfast at Beach Blanket Buffet and ate out on deck. You know, I could get used to this!! Today was Nassau and our Dolphin Encounter. We met at Wavebands and followed the line to the boat that took us to Blue Lagoon. It took about 45 minutes with a stop to pick up a few more folks. It was a beautiful ride with clear skies and crystal water. After receiving instructions, we went to sit on the floating dock to await our encounter. The dolphins were already swimming around and popping their heads out of the water as if to check us out. The trainer was really funny and the dolphins were beautiful. When it was our turn to get into the water to get a kiss, my daughter got terrified. She remained afraid of the dolphin until near the very end. The trainer helped her feed the dolphin and we both held her hand so she could pet it. He was very positive and patient with her. I don't know why she was so scared. We got to "dance", pet, kiss and hug the dolphin. They truly are beautiful animals. When we got back to the ship, we checked the kids into Oceaneers and we took a very quick walk to the shops. I was nervous about leaving the ship with the kids in the club, but all was well. We really only went to about 4 shops and took a quick look at the straw market then came back. My son didn't even want to leave. That evening we ate at Parrot Cay and the kids were so excited to see Rowena and Isac. We had a new menu that they are trying out for the 10 and 11 night cruises. I had the pork and it was wonderful. My daughter didn't want dessert (still can't believe that!) so Rowena brought her a plate with "Nothing" written on it in chocolate. We nearly died laughing. We had a nice chat with Daniele about Italy. (He is from Tuscany. My grandparents are from Italy as well.) He also told us a little about being on the ship and how often he sees his family, etc. We took a walk around the ship after dinner and enjoyed the sunset. We wanted to take the kids to the Hercules show, but they wanted to go back to the club, so we dropped them there. Let me tell you, that Hercules show is a riot! I loved it and what pipes on the lead muse!! I would put her up there with Patti LaBelle. And that is no small compliment coming from me since I have two degrees in voice and am very critical when I see a show. So, after the show, we got the kids, put them to bed and sat out on the veranda for a bit before turning in ourselves.
Well, since I am still exhausted from the trip, and by the way I still feel like things are moving, I think that I will call it a night. I will post more tomorrow and hopefully have some pictures for you as well. Oh, in case you were wondering, Ernesto didn't impact us too much. We experienced some outer bands of wind and rain towards the end of the day at Castaway Cay, and we had some rough seas Wednesday, but all in all, the captain managed to find us clear skies and we didn't have to alter plans really. (Some things were cancelled on CC because he thought we might have to leave early.) They thought that we might have had to dock at Miami, but as it turned out, we were able to dock at PC. Good night all, and I will have more for you tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing.
Kelly
