Hi all -
We just got back from a marvelous DCL trip in the Mexican Riviera. Below is a trip blog I wrote and posted on my Facebook page. I'd like to share it here as well.....I'd like to post pictures but I'm not exactly sure how to insert a picture here...any tips? In the meantime, here's the link to my blog in Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&¬e_id=10150115000072659
In any case...here goes.
Well, instead of day-to-day blog, I chose to write highlights of our Disney adventures. Some of these were written during my down time while onboard the Disney Wonder, while some were written after the cruise so here goes:
Pre-Disney Wonder Cruise
We booked our trip over 8 months ago (July 2010). Although we have gone on cruises in the past, we've never been on a Disney Cruise. This vacation was planned along with 3 other close family friends. Theres so much hype about Disney cruises and I was really wondering if our cruise will live up to the hype. You be the judge!
I just couldn't believe that 8 months have now passed and it's now time to get on the cruise. Nancy did most of the pre-packing. But on the eve of the cruise, we were both up, frantically preparing our items that we needed (or we thought we needed for the cruise). You have to remember that we are now a party of 6 (2 adults and 4 little kids). Plus, my 2 sisters-in-law were also part of our party, making it a party of 8 and when you add the 3 other families, we have a total party of 20.
Because I've been so busy with work and school, I didn't really get a chance to do research on Disney cruise-related activities. It wasn't until the end of February that I came across a newsgroup called disboards.com. From this newsgroup, I learned many ins and outs about the cruise.
Door Magnets - One of the things I learned is about door magnet decorations. Basically, the stateroom cabin door is made out of metal and guests have the option of personalizing their doors. I found cool Disney-related designs that I printed, laminated, and magnetized. Ssshhhh this was a surprise for the kids. I spent a lot of time preparing this at home. I had the printouts laminated at Staples for a more finished look.
Ok, back to the cruise. We packed to our hearts content. I finished packing around 2am early Sunday morning, while Nancy finished at 4 am. We loaded 6 luggage plus carry-on items on to the Odyssey. It's a good thing I had new roof racks installed. We were able to load 2 other luggage on top of the Odyssey.
Heigh Ho Heigh Ho .we're off to Mexico!!!
We left the house around 10 am, and within 1 hour and 15 minutes, we made it to the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. The check-in process was a breeze. I was used to long lines having experienced other cruises, but Disney made this check-in process something worth talking about. It was purely Disney-efficient. We met up with our other friends (Reuben, Joahna, Ross, Vhen, Bong, Judy + all their kids). It was a delight to see all of our kids play and take pictures with Captain Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse before boarding the ship.
BOARDING TIME - We finally boarded the ship around 1:30pm, and as we were about to enter the main lobby, we were greeted by one of the of Cast Members, she asked for our last name and talked to us for a bit, and then she grabbed her microphone, and announced in the PA system, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Disney Cruise Line welcomes the Francisco Family" (clap, clap, clap). That was special.
OFF TO WORK I GO - Once we got on board, the rest of the party went directly to one of the restaurants onboard called Parrot Cay for a lunch buffet. I, on other hand, went to work. Although we weren't allowed to go to our cabin yet, I quietly snuck onto our floor. I went to our cabin stateroom, and pulled out my magnetic decor. I must have had 20-30 different magnetic pin-ups. My creation seemed to fit perfectly it was exactly the way I envisioned it would be. I decorated 2 of our doors, and I was done within 15 minutes. No one knew what I was doing (except for Nancy). I really wanted it to be a surprise. After doing my door magnet duties, I headed to Parrot Cay where our families were all having lunch . By the way, my pre-cruise weight was 167.4 lbs. Let's see how good or bad I get.
MANDATORY DRILL after our lunch buffet, there was the mandatory drill for the entire ship where the guests were given tips on how to use the life vests. Madison, my 7 year old,was right next to me during the drill, and she asked me, Daddy, is the ship going to sink now? HA!!!!
ADVENTURES AWAY The party finally started on Deck 9. The pool was covered and turned to a wooden deck. The Disney Cast mates led the crowd in many song and dance routines, finally, the latecomers came onboard .Mickey, Minnie, and the rest of the Disney Pals. This was just a hint of what was about to happen over the next 7 days.
SEASICK - So I learned with my previous cruise experience to take Dramamine (or something similar) to help prevent motion sickness. The advise was to take the meds an hour or 2 prior to boat leaving. But, I must have forgotten the advise because I ended up taking the meds right when the boat started to sail. Hence, you can already imagine the inevitable. I got seasick. But I tried and fought the seasickness. I was fine during our first dinner. But after dinner, we decided to watch the "Welcome Aboard" show, I was totally out of it .I couldn't pay attention, and found myself dozing off during the show. Nancy and I decided it was time to head back and catch some much needed zzz's. Looking back, not only did I sleep at 2am the night before, but just in general, no matter how early or late I sleep, my body seem to always wake up at 5am. So now that I'm on vacation, I'm playing catch-up on some much needed rest.
These are just the highlights from our pre-cruise and Day 1....my next entries will include my highlights on Disney Dining, Disney Entertainment, Disney's Impeccable Service, and Days in Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. I'll most likely put together a slideshow.....stay tuned. For now...thanks for reading!
We just got back from a marvelous DCL trip in the Mexican Riviera. Below is a trip blog I wrote and posted on my Facebook page. I'd like to share it here as well.....I'd like to post pictures but I'm not exactly sure how to insert a picture here...any tips? In the meantime, here's the link to my blog in Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?saved&¬e_id=10150115000072659
In any case...here goes.
Well, instead of day-to-day blog, I chose to write highlights of our Disney adventures. Some of these were written during my down time while onboard the Disney Wonder, while some were written after the cruise so here goes:
Pre-Disney Wonder Cruise
We booked our trip over 8 months ago (July 2010). Although we have gone on cruises in the past, we've never been on a Disney Cruise. This vacation was planned along with 3 other close family friends. Theres so much hype about Disney cruises and I was really wondering if our cruise will live up to the hype. You be the judge!
I just couldn't believe that 8 months have now passed and it's now time to get on the cruise. Nancy did most of the pre-packing. But on the eve of the cruise, we were both up, frantically preparing our items that we needed (or we thought we needed for the cruise). You have to remember that we are now a party of 6 (2 adults and 4 little kids). Plus, my 2 sisters-in-law were also part of our party, making it a party of 8 and when you add the 3 other families, we have a total party of 20.
Because I've been so busy with work and school, I didn't really get a chance to do research on Disney cruise-related activities. It wasn't until the end of February that I came across a newsgroup called disboards.com. From this newsgroup, I learned many ins and outs about the cruise.
Door Magnets - One of the things I learned is about door magnet decorations. Basically, the stateroom cabin door is made out of metal and guests have the option of personalizing their doors. I found cool Disney-related designs that I printed, laminated, and magnetized. Ssshhhh this was a surprise for the kids. I spent a lot of time preparing this at home. I had the printouts laminated at Staples for a more finished look.
Ok, back to the cruise. We packed to our hearts content. I finished packing around 2am early Sunday morning, while Nancy finished at 4 am. We loaded 6 luggage plus carry-on items on to the Odyssey. It's a good thing I had new roof racks installed. We were able to load 2 other luggage on top of the Odyssey.
Heigh Ho Heigh Ho .we're off to Mexico!!!
We left the house around 10 am, and within 1 hour and 15 minutes, we made it to the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. The check-in process was a breeze. I was used to long lines having experienced other cruises, but Disney made this check-in process something worth talking about. It was purely Disney-efficient. We met up with our other friends (Reuben, Joahna, Ross, Vhen, Bong, Judy + all their kids). It was a delight to see all of our kids play and take pictures with Captain Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse before boarding the ship.
BOARDING TIME - We finally boarded the ship around 1:30pm, and as we were about to enter the main lobby, we were greeted by one of the of Cast Members, she asked for our last name and talked to us for a bit, and then she grabbed her microphone, and announced in the PA system, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Disney Cruise Line welcomes the Francisco Family" (clap, clap, clap). That was special.
OFF TO WORK I GO - Once we got on board, the rest of the party went directly to one of the restaurants onboard called Parrot Cay for a lunch buffet. I, on other hand, went to work. Although we weren't allowed to go to our cabin yet, I quietly snuck onto our floor. I went to our cabin stateroom, and pulled out my magnetic decor. I must have had 20-30 different magnetic pin-ups. My creation seemed to fit perfectly it was exactly the way I envisioned it would be. I decorated 2 of our doors, and I was done within 15 minutes. No one knew what I was doing (except for Nancy). I really wanted it to be a surprise. After doing my door magnet duties, I headed to Parrot Cay where our families were all having lunch . By the way, my pre-cruise weight was 167.4 lbs. Let's see how good or bad I get.
MANDATORY DRILL after our lunch buffet, there was the mandatory drill for the entire ship where the guests were given tips on how to use the life vests. Madison, my 7 year old,was right next to me during the drill, and she asked me, Daddy, is the ship going to sink now? HA!!!!
ADVENTURES AWAY The party finally started on Deck 9. The pool was covered and turned to a wooden deck. The Disney Cast mates led the crowd in many song and dance routines, finally, the latecomers came onboard .Mickey, Minnie, and the rest of the Disney Pals. This was just a hint of what was about to happen over the next 7 days.
SEASICK - So I learned with my previous cruise experience to take Dramamine (or something similar) to help prevent motion sickness. The advise was to take the meds an hour or 2 prior to boat leaving. But, I must have forgotten the advise because I ended up taking the meds right when the boat started to sail. Hence, you can already imagine the inevitable. I got seasick. But I tried and fought the seasickness. I was fine during our first dinner. But after dinner, we decided to watch the "Welcome Aboard" show, I was totally out of it .I couldn't pay attention, and found myself dozing off during the show. Nancy and I decided it was time to head back and catch some much needed zzz's. Looking back, not only did I sleep at 2am the night before, but just in general, no matter how early or late I sleep, my body seem to always wake up at 5am. So now that I'm on vacation, I'm playing catch-up on some much needed rest.
These are just the highlights from our pre-cruise and Day 1....my next entries will include my highlights on Disney Dining, Disney Entertainment, Disney's Impeccable Service, and Days in Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. I'll most likely put together a slideshow.....stay tuned. For now...thanks for reading!
