Dan & Nancy's 20th anniv. trip report

[disney4dan]

I wanted to first start this off by saying that it would normally not belong on the camping boards, but as you all are planning a Fort Fiends cruise and this is the only place I typically go on the DIS, well...this is where it's gonna get posted. I hope it is at least half as good as the TCD trip reports about cruises that I read before we left.

To preface this, Nancy and I decided to go on a cruise to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Loosely translated, Nancy decided and I agreed like a good husband learns to do after 20 years . The cruise was the way to go because we went on the original Disney Cruise for our honeymoon. Back then, it was Premier Cruise Lines affiliated with Disney, the Disney MGM Studios had just opened, and Michael Eisner had really big plans for the place.

So, to kick this off, let's start with some comparisons. In 1989, hair was big and my waistline was small. Now, my hair is receding and my waistline is expanding! In 1989, we decided to do 3 nights of cruise and 3 days of Disney; for this trip we could only really swing the 3 night cruise and one day before the cruise or the kids would have disowned us.

Now to the more interesting stuff, pictures! This is a shot of the two of us at the captains reception with complimentary champagne. Is that my wife putting her hand on the captain's "stern"? Hey! No wonder why he was smiling!

This is a shot of our table and our servers. These people were great and we enjoyed getting to know new people. We still quote our server who would always announce in a really thick accent "And for dessert we have ... Rum Cake".

Did I mention the big hair from the 80's?

This is a really bad shot of our stateroom, which was one of the top categories back then, and smaller than the room we got on the DCL cruise 20 years later for less money. Hated the dark paneling and check out the TV.

Here is a shot of the Atlantic in Nassau as we were walking along the dock toward the straw market. Gotta love those big ole cars we used to drive! Also - notice that this ship did not have any veranda rooms. We had booked a room on a ship that had a private veranda and was the top category stateroom on the very first day that reservations could be made in order to celebrate our honeymoon. Three months before the sail date, we were told that a movie company had leased the ship and we got bumped to a different one with no veranda. We were not happy, but there was nothing we could do except get an upgraded room for the land portion of our vacation.

Well, hope this is the start of a great trip report; kick back, relax, get your favorite beverage and join in for the rest!

 

[BigDaddyRog]

Dan.....perfect timing....I cant WAIT to get neck deep into your TR!!! Im loving the vintage vs current theme your starting with!!

 

[Lil' Lisa]

Cool! The closest that I've ever been to a cruise is the love boat. Keep it coming!

 

[disney4dan]

Well, I just lost the entire second post! Something funky is going on posting to the boards using Firefox, so I will have to keep trying.

I just spent way too much time and creative energy posting, and had it all done, hit post and it told me I had to log in again???? WHAT>???

I only have a few creative sparks left between these ears and they are burning kind of dim lately.

Let me try this tomorrow morning when I am rested and see what I can do..

Stay tuned...

 

[disney4dan]

It appears that there are a lot of people who had the same problem, something since mid February makes you keep logging back into the boards. Here's hoping this works, 'cause I hate doing things twice!

So, like I said, flash forward 20 years and Nancy and I decided to try and take a cruise for the anniversary. We have tried to find a way to take the kids over the years, but with the medical issues of our oldest, the need to come up with the bigger deposit (I hear ya on that Rog, dropping some serious $$ so many months ahead of a vacation - that's huge), we have never been able to swing the cash for all 5 of us. So this one is just for Nancy and me. Our first solo trip since all the stress of the past three years and we were gonna make this one OURS. You got that right, time to adopt the mid-life crisis mentality and act like teenagers! By the way, did you notice the paperback novel my beautiful bride was holding while reclining in the last photo? So maybe we weren't as wild as we thought .

Our actual anniversary date was not going to work for us schedule wise, so when to go? With the hole "What will you celebrate" promotion going, we tried to tie it into a birthday to get a free pass to a park on the day before the cruise. My birthday is in August and we had sworn we won't go in August again until we are at least 20 pounds lighter. Well that wasn't going to happen so November it was to get Nancy a pass on her birthday. Sure enough, she could not get that week off from work and we had to go the week after her birthday and fork over the extra cash. Lucky for us, Rhonda was a great help through the whole deal and worked with us on many different options. She got us a great deal on "one of the other" cruise lines, but I wanted to try the DCL and see Castaway Cay. I was even planning ahead to get a nice underwater camera to get photos of the fish, whatever else I could find in the bay. We booked the cruise, started the countdown clock and started shopping for deals on flights and a one night stay at a disney resort hotel. We considered a cabin at the Fort to be able to just take the boat to the MK, but that was too much $$ for us and Nancy scored a promo code e-mail for 40% off a room only reservation. We voted for Port Orleans FQ and the planning was done. You might ask how a vote with 2 people works? Well, for those of you who have survived 20 years of marriage learn quickly that DW votes first and DH quickly agrees! Am I right?

So, as the countdown continues, we get great news from Justin's doctor in June that all tests show him to be "as cancer free as they could hope for". Full body scan with radioactive tracer dye did not find any active thyroid cells, blood work showed only marginally above the very limit of detection for signs that any thyroid cells became active when their best to "Poke the bear with the stick" test (my name for a way to try and wake up the cancer cells to find them). The two younger kids had done well in school, and camping season was just getting under way! Life was lookin' good. Summer and the living was easy. Pass that pink lemonade and let's just chill for a while...

Let me see if this post works before I start adding photos and getting too long in the tooth on my post.....

 

[DaveInTN]

You might ask how a vote with 2 people works? Well, for those of you who have survived 20 years of marriage learn quickly that DW votes first and DH quickly agrees! Am I right?

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Ok, now keep the report coming...

 

[BigDaddyRog]

 

[3gr8kids]

Great start Dan!!! DH and I did the Disney cruise for our honeymoon in 1988. We set sail on the Oceanic and had a fantastic time. Looking at your pics, it brings me back to those wonderful days!
Can't wait to hear more!!!

 

[disney4dan]

Great start Dan!!! DH and I did the Disney cruise for our honeymoon in 1988. We set sail on the Oceanic and had a fantastic time. Looking at your pics, it brings me back to those wonderful days!
Can't wait to hear more!!!

I think it was the Oceanic that we were supposed to be on at first! Did the Oceanic have staterooms with private verandas?

I have read that someone bought the Atlantic from Premier and it is still sailing for a different cruise line. How'd ya like the food! I loved the hard boiled eggs with little sombrero's on them and olive slices for eyes.

I think I'll try and get some of those "then and now" trivia items to compare the dates. I do remember that the major news stories of the day were posted on a bulletin board outside the concierge desk (or is that Pursers desk on a ship) and they had that now famous photo of the lone man standing in front of a tank in Tianeman Square while we cruised in 1989. That left an impression.

Anyway, back to the trip report if I can get it to work. Same problem again tonight, 20 minutes of typing and it would not post. Told me to log in again.

 

[disney4dan]

These updates will have to be more brief, can't keep having my problems with log-in not working and my posts disappearing.

So, the magical day arrives and we have to leave for the airport at 3:00 am. Not easy to do, but worth the early flight to get more time in a park on the day before our cruise. Here we are, all worn out and trying to de-stress by listening to DISUnplugged podcasts about the Disney Cruise Lines. I love the podcasts, and the fact that we can download archived shows.

And here is a photo of the room at Port Orleans, showing the way they theme the French Quarter rooms (or at least the vanity area).

When we checked in, they gave Nancy one of the celebration pins and a handful of the pens that they use to check you in at the resort. Funny, Nancy loves those pens so much that she usually keeps them everytime we check in, and I had wondered if they made a note of that on our "profile". They know everything else about us, they probably have that jotted down somewhere as well.

So off we go to our favorite park as a couple and get the usual MySpace style couple shot in front of Spaceship Earth.

And here is one with Nancy and the pin. I like this shot because of her smile. She hates it and said she would not let me post it. Oh well. I would have been in trouble for something else by the time she sees this, so what the heck...

Let me try posting this and I'll continue on if this works right...

 

[Lil' Lisa]

20 minutes of typing and it would not post. Told me to log in again.

Websites like this have something called a "session" that they use to make one page flow to the next like they are one big application. They also generally have a timeout limit where it expires after a certain amount of time (that is why it wants you to log in again). I bet that they have their session timeout on the site set to about 15 or 20 minutes. As long as you don't take too long between when you start your post and when you submit it you should be OK.

Either try posting in smaller blocks (keeping an eye on the clock) or you could type all of your text in then (just in case) copy it and paste it in a text editor (like Word or notepad) before you click the submit button. If you lose it, then you can just start a new post, paste it in from the text editor and submit it.

Looking forward to the rest of your trip report!

 

[disney4dan]

Hey, not bad, only took a couple of tries and most of the night, but I finally got the update to take!

So we rode a few of our favorite rides and enjoyed the nice humid, but comfortable weather. We took a spin on Soarin, Test Track, Spaceship Earth and then decided to head on over to share an order of Fish 'n Chips at the UK pavilion...

and then a Chicken Shwarma platter in Morocco...

and our favorite desserts in Norway...

Just look at that. We are so wild, that is not decaf coffee in that cup Kind of seems tame compared to the BATWIT tour photos, but we had been up since 3:00 am with almost no sleep and I would have been face down if I had a single beer that day!

 

[LONE-STAR]

 

[BigDaddyRog]

What is that Norway desert? That thing looks TASTEY!!!

 

[Lil' Lisa]

I need details on Chicken Shwarma please! It looks nummy!

 

[Born 2 Fish]

The man is telling us about his wonderful anniversary trip and you guys want to know about food?




What's the red and white stuff in the cup?

Loving the report Dan.

Dang this is Denise, for some reason the Dis won't let you guys log in and if 2 people share the computer, it only wants 1 of you logging in. Dang technology.lol

 

[2goofycampers]

The man is telling us about his wonderful anniversary trip and you guys want to know about food?




What's the red and white stuff in the cup?

Loving the report Dan.

Dang this is Denise, for some reason the Dis won't let you guys log in and if 2 people share the computer, it only wants 1 of you logging in. Dang technology.lol

Ta Da !

 

[Lil' Lisa]

Ta Da !

Denise, you've changed somehow!

 

[clkelley]

That stuff in the cup is Rice Cream with Strawberry Topping!! My favorite all-time snack at WDW. The other one is a Cloud Horn. (I visit the Norway bakery a lot

 

[3gr8kids]

Dan, you are right - I believe the Oceanic did have verandas.
As far as the food? It was so good, I gained 5 pounds just from the "sea" portion of our "land/sea" trip!!! Our waiter was not happy if we didn't clean our plates. It was almost as if thought we didn't like the food, so he would keep bringing us plates of different things and insist that we tried them.