Our adventure started on Christmas Day. Since we were expecting snow in the Northeast we quickly rescheduled our flight from 7:00pm to 2:00 from Providence, RI. After quickly throwing Christmas gifts at our families and unplugging our tree we rushed off (not exactly the calm Christmas that we had planned). The airport was a breeze (first time flying Southwest - what a funny airline!) and we were checked into the Hyatt in Orlando in no time. Now, the Orlando Hyatt is in the airport and is one of the loudest hotels I have ever stayed in. But the convenience can't be beat - DCL meets you right in the lobby and picks up luggage from outside your room. A trade-off to be sure.
Buses to Port Canaveral left at 10:00. Very orderly. Arrived at terminal around 11:00. Easy, easy, easy. Security check is now outside the terminal so once inside, you just have to check-in and get your KTW card. They did hand out a notice that no one should board if they have been sick. Everyone was buzzing about the Bush's being on our cruise so there was even more excitement than usual. While waiting to board, we watched all the security measures (dive teams, lots of police, dogs, etc.). Boarding began around 12:15.
Christmas decorations were beautiful, everything looked great. We all went off to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. I settled the family in and went down to WaveBands for Palo reservations. They did not start until 1:30 and there was quite a line waiting to make reservations and to change dinner seating times. Thanks to all the info I got from these boards I knew to go right away and I was so glad to be first in line. Our dining rotation was TAP so I wanted to go to Palo's on our Parot Cay night (Saturday). Since I was there first, they said that Saturday was wide open and I had my choice of times! (Remember this little fact for later on in my trip report!) Great - 6:00 on Castaway Cay day, hoping to catch a little bit of sunset as we were leaving paradise. Sounded perfect.
Checked out our room (2520 - on "noisy list" but found it to be fine - of course, we did partake of the wine package so that may have helped
!). Kids already had bathing suits on so they hit the pools. Temp was around 57 degrees out but we're from Massachusetts and when in Florida you must swim. Several people walked by us with scarves and heavy jackets and just laughed at the only two fools in the water! We were soon joined by other hardy fools until safety drill time. They were still doing soda mug program so we got 2 (have to say, I don't think we got our money's worth plus they are such a pain to carry around, we kept forgetting them in the room. The kids drank way too much soda resulting in way too many bathroom trips and they were constantly splashing soda on themselves as they carried the mugs around the boat - next time we won't get them). While we were at the safety drill the last of our luggage arrived. As we got ready for Hercules show, we watched out our porthole for the Bush Family. Tons of security around and DCL officials waiting but no Bushes! By the time we left for the sail away party, they still were out there waiting.
Sail away party was great but windy and cool. It was called the sail away party but we did not sail away, we waited on the dock. They announced that we were delayed because luggage was held up due to the storms in the Northeast. While that may have been true, we could still see the DCL officials down on the dock waiting for the Bushes. Rumors did go around that we were waiting for George W's twins but I can't confirm. I heard that they jumped on and we immediately left dock. I was bummed because I love to see us leave port but we had to go in for the Hercules show. We felt the engines rev up as the show was starting. Hercules is a really cute show, worth seeing. I've seen it twice now and it's still funny. I don't think I need to see it again, but would if the kids wanted to.
Next went to Dueling Pianos for families. Fun show, high energy. Went again the next night - pretty much the same show but still fun.
Next to Tritons for Dinner. The Bushes had the same rotation as us but they were early seating, we were late. The doors didn't open until after 8:30 (guess why?) and our servers seemed very frazzled. They were awesome and always rushing around but we never got our entrees until after 10:00! This was very tough on our girls (8 & 9) which made the meals a little less enjoyable than they should have been. But all in all, we had excellent food with great service and really enjoyed ourselves.
Kids were pooped so we headed back to our room. When we got there we noticed the message light blinking. It was a message from Ivan, the Palo's manager, asking to call him back. (Remember the reservation remark?) Anyhow, while I was waiting to be connected, there was a message that all Palo reservations were full for the entire cruise which made me nervous. When I spoke to him he said there was a mix up and that we couldn't have our reservation!!! He was apologetic and offered us any other (!!???) time during the cruise EXCEPT 6:00 on Saturday. Hhhmmm, now I thought there were no other reservations available? So, despite my being first in line, leaving my family for over an hour to wait on that line, we did not get our first choice (any guesses why?). So, we settled for 6:30, no sunset, on Sat. night. Ah well, such is the life of the unimportant people. They did offer us free drinks as compensation which was nice. Day 2 to come........
Buses to Port Canaveral left at 10:00. Very orderly. Arrived at terminal around 11:00. Easy, easy, easy. Security check is now outside the terminal so once inside, you just have to check-in and get your KTW card. They did hand out a notice that no one should board if they have been sick. Everyone was buzzing about the Bush's being on our cruise so there was even more excitement than usual. While waiting to board, we watched all the security measures (dive teams, lots of police, dogs, etc.). Boarding began around 12:15.
Christmas decorations were beautiful, everything looked great. We all went off to Beach Blanket Buffet for lunch. I settled the family in and went down to WaveBands for Palo reservations. They did not start until 1:30 and there was quite a line waiting to make reservations and to change dinner seating times. Thanks to all the info I got from these boards I knew to go right away and I was so glad to be first in line. Our dining rotation was TAP so I wanted to go to Palo's on our Parot Cay night (Saturday). Since I was there first, they said that Saturday was wide open and I had my choice of times! (Remember this little fact for later on in my trip report!) Great - 6:00 on Castaway Cay day, hoping to catch a little bit of sunset as we were leaving paradise. Sounded perfect.
Checked out our room (2520 - on "noisy list" but found it to be fine - of course, we did partake of the wine package so that may have helped
!). Kids already had bathing suits on so they hit the pools. Temp was around 57 degrees out but we're from Massachusetts and when in Florida you must swim. Several people walked by us with scarves and heavy jackets and just laughed at the only two fools in the water! We were soon joined by other hardy fools until safety drill time. They were still doing soda mug program so we got 2 (have to say, I don't think we got our money's worth plus they are such a pain to carry around, we kept forgetting them in the room. The kids drank way too much soda resulting in way too many bathroom trips and they were constantly splashing soda on themselves as they carried the mugs around the boat - next time we won't get them). While we were at the safety drill the last of our luggage arrived. As we got ready for Hercules show, we watched out our porthole for the Bush Family. Tons of security around and DCL officials waiting but no Bushes! By the time we left for the sail away party, they still were out there waiting. Sail away party was great but windy and cool. It was called the sail away party but we did not sail away, we waited on the dock. They announced that we were delayed because luggage was held up due to the storms in the Northeast. While that may have been true, we could still see the DCL officials down on the dock waiting for the Bushes. Rumors did go around that we were waiting for George W's twins but I can't confirm. I heard that they jumped on and we immediately left dock. I was bummed because I love to see us leave port but we had to go in for the Hercules show. We felt the engines rev up as the show was starting. Hercules is a really cute show, worth seeing. I've seen it twice now and it's still funny. I don't think I need to see it again, but would if the kids wanted to.
Next went to Dueling Pianos for families. Fun show, high energy. Went again the next night - pretty much the same show but still fun.
Next to Tritons for Dinner. The Bushes had the same rotation as us but they were early seating, we were late. The doors didn't open until after 8:30 (guess why?) and our servers seemed very frazzled. They were awesome and always rushing around but we never got our entrees until after 10:00! This was very tough on our girls (8 & 9) which made the meals a little less enjoyable than they should have been. But all in all, we had excellent food with great service and really enjoyed ourselves.
Kids were pooped so we headed back to our room. When we got there we noticed the message light blinking. It was a message from Ivan, the Palo's manager, asking to call him back. (Remember the reservation remark?) Anyhow, while I was waiting to be connected, there was a message that all Palo reservations were full for the entire cruise which made me nervous. When I spoke to him he said there was a mix up and that we couldn't have our reservation!!! He was apologetic and offered us any other (!!???) time during the cruise EXCEPT 6:00 on Saturday. Hhhmmm, now I thought there were no other reservations available? So, despite my being first in line, leaving my family for over an hour to wait on that line, we did not get our first choice (any guesses why?). So, we settled for 6:30, no sunset, on Sat. night. Ah well, such is the life of the unimportant people. They did offer us free drinks as compensation which was nice. Day 2 to come........
Looking foward to day 2!
