Latte Lover
<font color=green> in charge of the credit cards a
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2003
- Messages
- 1,335
Saturday 22nd October 2011
Cruise day!!!
We were all up bright and early (except Daniel – Joh had to wake him up!). We packed up our things and waited for Bell Services to come and collect them, which Joh had previously organised for us. These cases will be transported to The Beach Club Villas for Tony and I, and Old Key West for the others, ready for when we get back after our cruise. (Thank you Gary and Joh for letting us stay with you - we very much enjoyed our very first over-night stay in a Disney resort).
While we were waiting for Bell Services, I went downstairs with Daniel to fill up his mug with drink and he took the opportunity to show me some of the resort.
We had some fun mixing our drinks at the drinks station:
By the time we came back, the others were ready to go (in fact, I think they may have been waiting for us!)
We checked out and made our way to Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney. Unfortunately, Tony and I were waiting for the others at the wrong one! We didn’t know there were two Wolfgang Pucks until the others didn’t show up and we had a look on a Downtown Disney map!
I don’t think any of us were particularly impressed with our breakfast. Tony had a breakfast pocket which he didn’t much like, the others all had either waffles or cornflake French toast, which we were all looking forward to trying, but was nothing special.
While we were sitting there, a lady came up to us and introduced herself. It was Higgy66 from the Dis! She had recognised us from previous trip reports!
It was lovely to meet her, and it was a shame we couldn’t stay and chat.
But we had a cruise ship to meet!
It took about an hour to get to the port. Matthew came in our car and we tried to spot alligators in the swamps on the way, but didn’t see any. I did however see a cloud shaped just like a giraffe! (An interesting one, obviously). Although Tony and Matthew insisted they hadn’t seen it, it was definitely there!
At the port, we were directed to the drop-off lane and Matthew and I got out with the bags while Tony drove off to take the car back to Dollar. Gary was doing the same. The bags were taken off by the porter and Matthew and I joined the queue to get through to the terminal. The man checking our passports was from Walsall, England and we had a bit of a chat before going through. Then we spotted Joh, Nat and Ellie and hurried over.
We made our way into the terminal, completed the various bits of paperwork required and were given our Keys to the World cards.
We then found a place to sit down while Nat and Joh took the boys off to register for the kids clubs, then got some photos taken with the characters.
By this time we realised that Tony and Gary had been gone a very long time and our slot for embarkation had passed. We were getting increasingly worried. Tony didn’t have a phone on him and we didn’t even know if the two men had met up. Joh managed to get through to Gary on his phone and he told her the queue to catch the shuttle back to the port was huge and the buses only go every 35 minutes. The best option was to get a taxi but neither man had any cash on them! The plan was then to phone Joh when the taxi arrived at the terminal and she would run down and pay. That was the plan! However the terminal was so noisy, she didn’t hear her phone ringing in her bag and it was ages before we realised they were waiting!
Finally we were all there and we could go ahead and board immediately as our embarkation number was 3 which had been called over an hour ago.
We had our pre-boarding photo taken, and then our family names were called one by one. The others all clapped as Tony and I were called on board and it was very exciting, especially after all the stress in the terminal!
We headed straight to Parrot Cay for lunch. It was buffet style and delicious. A lovely array of salads, cold pastas, seafood, breads and hot food including prime roast beef, salmon, and pork schnitzel. And plenty of desserts of course. We all enjoyed it.
After lunch, we all separated to find our staterooms. Ours was 2021, an inside cabin on deck 2. Our cases arrived shortly afterwards and we quickly unpacked and then excitedly fixed our magnetic Minnie ears to our door. Joh made them for us – aren’t they brilliant? I had no idea magnetic paper even existed!
At 3pm we joined some of our fellow Disers in the Promenade Lounge for our ”Parley-will this get me on the ship any faster” dis-meet. It was good fun. We all brought chocolate from our own countries to share.
Fire drill took place at 4pm and then we made our way up to deck 10 for the sail-away party. We watched the show, waved our streamers, and drank our cocktails!
Joh and Daniel put their considerable combined Disney knowledge to the test by entering the Mickey Mania quiz and winning it! Not just any old win either; they completely trounced the other contestants.
Here they are:
And here’s Daniel with his well-deserved trophy:
Soon it was time to get ready for dinner. As we were eating at Parrot Cay this evening, we had all decided to wear something with a tropical theme. Tony wore his new parrot shirt and I wore a very bright dress and a flower in my hair. We had chosen the late dinner sitting so met the others at the theatre first to watch the show which was entitled “All aboard, let the magic begin”.
Dinner was lovely. I had a crab and cheese dip to start with, and Tony tried the artichoke soup. I then had mixed grill and Tony had grouper. Desserts – trio of desserts for me and lemon meringue pie for Tony. I can't remember what everyone else had, but here are a few pics:
The boys were so funny at dinner – they just couldn’t wait to get to the kids club and could barely eat their meal they were so excited. Finally the counsellors arrived and took all the children off to the clubs.
After dinner, we adults joined some of Joh and Gary’s friends from a previous cruise at Rockin’ bar D and participated in Magic Quest, a sort of treasure hunt game the highlight of which was seeing the men parading on the stage wearing bras and ladies sandals. Gary nearly broke his toe trying to walk in my high-heels!
We returned to our stateroom to find Beverley, our lovely stateroom host had made us a towel swan and left us 2 Sleepy chocolates. She had also found a few more pillows for me to try as I had mentioned to her earlier that I would love a flatter pillow if there was one.
Tomorrow: A relaxing day at sea, and dinner at Palo.
Cruise day!!!
We were all up bright and early (except Daniel – Joh had to wake him up!). We packed up our things and waited for Bell Services to come and collect them, which Joh had previously organised for us. These cases will be transported to The Beach Club Villas for Tony and I, and Old Key West for the others, ready for when we get back after our cruise. (Thank you Gary and Joh for letting us stay with you - we very much enjoyed our very first over-night stay in a Disney resort).
While we were waiting for Bell Services, I went downstairs with Daniel to fill up his mug with drink and he took the opportunity to show me some of the resort.
We had some fun mixing our drinks at the drinks station:
By the time we came back, the others were ready to go (in fact, I think they may have been waiting for us!)
We checked out and made our way to Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney. Unfortunately, Tony and I were waiting for the others at the wrong one! We didn’t know there were two Wolfgang Pucks until the others didn’t show up and we had a look on a Downtown Disney map!
I don’t think any of us were particularly impressed with our breakfast. Tony had a breakfast pocket which he didn’t much like, the others all had either waffles or cornflake French toast, which we were all looking forward to trying, but was nothing special.
While we were sitting there, a lady came up to us and introduced herself. It was Higgy66 from the Dis! She had recognised us from previous trip reports!
It was lovely to meet her, and it was a shame we couldn’t stay and chat.
But we had a cruise ship to meet!
It took about an hour to get to the port. Matthew came in our car and we tried to spot alligators in the swamps on the way, but didn’t see any. I did however see a cloud shaped just like a giraffe! (An interesting one, obviously). Although Tony and Matthew insisted they hadn’t seen it, it was definitely there!
At the port, we were directed to the drop-off lane and Matthew and I got out with the bags while Tony drove off to take the car back to Dollar. Gary was doing the same. The bags were taken off by the porter and Matthew and I joined the queue to get through to the terminal. The man checking our passports was from Walsall, England and we had a bit of a chat before going through. Then we spotted Joh, Nat and Ellie and hurried over.
We made our way into the terminal, completed the various bits of paperwork required and were given our Keys to the World cards.
We then found a place to sit down while Nat and Joh took the boys off to register for the kids clubs, then got some photos taken with the characters.
By this time we realised that Tony and Gary had been gone a very long time and our slot for embarkation had passed. We were getting increasingly worried. Tony didn’t have a phone on him and we didn’t even know if the two men had met up. Joh managed to get through to Gary on his phone and he told her the queue to catch the shuttle back to the port was huge and the buses only go every 35 minutes. The best option was to get a taxi but neither man had any cash on them! The plan was then to phone Joh when the taxi arrived at the terminal and she would run down and pay. That was the plan! However the terminal was so noisy, she didn’t hear her phone ringing in her bag and it was ages before we realised they were waiting!
Finally we were all there and we could go ahead and board immediately as our embarkation number was 3 which had been called over an hour ago.
We had our pre-boarding photo taken, and then our family names were called one by one. The others all clapped as Tony and I were called on board and it was very exciting, especially after all the stress in the terminal!
We headed straight to Parrot Cay for lunch. It was buffet style and delicious. A lovely array of salads, cold pastas, seafood, breads and hot food including prime roast beef, salmon, and pork schnitzel. And plenty of desserts of course. We all enjoyed it.
After lunch, we all separated to find our staterooms. Ours was 2021, an inside cabin on deck 2. Our cases arrived shortly afterwards and we quickly unpacked and then excitedly fixed our magnetic Minnie ears to our door. Joh made them for us – aren’t they brilliant? I had no idea magnetic paper even existed!
At 3pm we joined some of our fellow Disers in the Promenade Lounge for our ”Parley-will this get me on the ship any faster” dis-meet. It was good fun. We all brought chocolate from our own countries to share.
Fire drill took place at 4pm and then we made our way up to deck 10 for the sail-away party. We watched the show, waved our streamers, and drank our cocktails!
Joh and Daniel put their considerable combined Disney knowledge to the test by entering the Mickey Mania quiz and winning it! Not just any old win either; they completely trounced the other contestants.
Here they are:
And here’s Daniel with his well-deserved trophy:
Soon it was time to get ready for dinner. As we were eating at Parrot Cay this evening, we had all decided to wear something with a tropical theme. Tony wore his new parrot shirt and I wore a very bright dress and a flower in my hair. We had chosen the late dinner sitting so met the others at the theatre first to watch the show which was entitled “All aboard, let the magic begin”.
Dinner was lovely. I had a crab and cheese dip to start with, and Tony tried the artichoke soup. I then had mixed grill and Tony had grouper. Desserts – trio of desserts for me and lemon meringue pie for Tony. I can't remember what everyone else had, but here are a few pics:
The boys were so funny at dinner – they just couldn’t wait to get to the kids club and could barely eat their meal they were so excited. Finally the counsellors arrived and took all the children off to the clubs.
After dinner, we adults joined some of Joh and Gary’s friends from a previous cruise at Rockin’ bar D and participated in Magic Quest, a sort of treasure hunt game the highlight of which was seeing the men parading on the stage wearing bras and ladies sandals. Gary nearly broke his toe trying to walk in my high-heels!
We returned to our stateroom to find Beverley, our lovely stateroom host had made us a towel swan and left us 2 Sleepy chocolates. She had also found a few more pillows for me to try as I had mentioned to her earlier that I would love a flatter pillow if there was one.
Tomorrow: A relaxing day at sea, and dinner at Palo.
