Disney Wonder (Aug 27 - 30, 2009) with babies

[Carterfam]

I have searched these boards for years, but have never posted. Usual the information is already there with a quick search, or after long hours of the searching on the internet I found my answer. As I read new trip reports (which are all going to be more exciting then mine). I thought there is not many of travelling with young children, or lets say two boys of 12 weeks old. So here I am writing my first post and enjoying the memories I have already made with my precious handsome boys.

Before, I begin our adventure I should introduce ourselves and explain the reasoning for this trip. My DH and I have been friends since we were young; we were actually next door neighbors. Our families would travel to Disneyworld every year; make the 12 hour trip every summer for 14 days. It would be one of the most exciting times of our lives, playing at Mickey’s Home. Then in 1998, Mickey brought a boat to Florida and we were excited, which are families adventurously and strategically planned that adventure, always picking the special itinerary.

We started dating in High School (2001), and our annual trips to WDW continued, but less and less as a big family (he has 4 other siblings, and he is the youngest by one minute), but the big adventures on the boat continued, in hopes the family would come together for at least one adventure every year. Unfortunately with the divorce of DHs parents this also became less frequent, but we kept it as our special getaway going twice a year to WDW, and seeking foreign territories on Mickey’s boat.

We married June of 2007 and took our honeymoon on the Disney Cruise crossing the Atlantic Ocean on our first trip to Europe. We had learned from past trips that it was always better to book your next cruise onboard, so we booked the Panama Canal Repo Cruise for 2008, and on that cruise we booked the Eastern Cruise with St. Croix (which now my reservation says Tortola … I have to figure out what happening yet), but something happened along the way ….

October of 2008, I found out I was pregnant. We were ecstatic we had been trying for a while and the cruise was put out of my mine. In December we found out it was twins (we celebrated it with Mickey… our last time seeing the mouse) and in February 2009, we found out it was boys. It ended up being a high risk pregnancy with 5 months on bed rest, but it was all worth it in the end when we welcomed Ryder Nikolai Scott and Kyran Alejandro Reid on June 1, 2009.

Now, back to the reason I am writing this. We had a Disney Cruise planned for December 5, 2009. It was a big debate should we or shouldn’t we. We are high energy people and did not want to be confined to our room and miss all the adventures with the boys. We debated we did plan a March trip to WDW in 2010, should we wait to until they are teenagers like we did. Then his sister called one day to say that they had to cancel their bounce back cruise in August due to work issues, and asked us if we would like a quick getaway. I was like no, No, NO, I can’t leave my boys, so continue to debate, our end result obviously was that we are going, the travel agent (she’s been working with us since we were 5) was able to pull a few strings, and get us a good deal and we were off. The end result was that you should try anything, and it was something new for all of us experience and it was only for 3 days, this way we knew if they would be able to handle the 7 day trip.

Let the adventure begin…

 

[Carterfam]

Once we confirmed, that we were going, here comes the hard stuff the planning, and when I say planning I mean PLANNING. I am a Type-A planner, I do not think I have ever had a Disney trip where we flew off the seats of pants. I know, with cruises it is not as stressful, and actually this one besides the travel parts, this was one of the less stressful cruises I ever had to plan for why…

1. It is only 3 days, we have not done one since I was a teenager.
2. We were not planning any excursions, not with 3 month old babies.
3. It has to fit into the boys schedule, so it was planning around that.

We decided to drive the 12 hours to Port Canaveral from Nashville. We planned two days for that so we left on August 25, 2009. With driving it allowed us to stay on schedule with the boy’s routine better then flying down, and it provided more relaxation for the two of us, then trying to make a flight deadline. We planned on staying one night in Ocala, Florida at the Holiday Inn (Aug 25) and One night at the Animal Wilderness Lodge (Aug 26). This way I would not be tempted to head to the parks… (really I did not want to spend $160 for the both of us to get in, when we are so used to paying Annual Pass prices for the whole year, which we did not have this year). We thought if we did anything at Disney we would take a stroll down the boardwalk, or head to Downtown Disney.

Packing was a little crazy but one of my closest friends gave me an excellent idea. We packed day bags for the boys, so everything we needed for them on that particular day went into a bag (it included diapers, formula, wipes, change of clothes, blankets, toys, snacks for mommy and daddy). I divided it all, it sat in the back seat with them, and was so handy grab and go process. They had one for our travel days and embarkation day, and trip home). They also, had a very small suitcase for the 2 full days we would be on the trip. DH and I shared a huge suitcase for the huge trip. It created a lot more bags but it was a lot easier, with the grab and go system. I should say they we backpack size bags, when I mention bags; therefore there were 5 backpacks, and two suitcases. Yes, I even measured out the formula before we left home and divided their toys, except for two of their favourites which I packed in our suitcase. That is my insane planning for you.

Other then my insane packing method, which took me a good whole day to plan and pack, DH thought I was crazy but he knew we were well prepared for this adventure. That was all; I actually felt like I was missing a whole bunch, that we were under prepared. I looked at my list like 500 times, checked, double checked, triple checked, DH checked, the grandparents checked. I still felt like I was forgetting something…. Thankfully, I did not forget anything major and packing system work great.

Let’s be off

 

[Carterfam]

August 25, 2009

I don’t think I slept the whole night, I tossed and turned but the excitement was getting the best of me. I knew we had a long travel day ahead but I just could not fall asleep. I finally caved in and got out of bed at 4:30 AM, walked passed the boys room where they were sleeping so quietly, and thought to myself I can’t believe we are headed back so soon. All the time, I lay in the bed those five months, I dreamed of taking my boys to meet Mickey and the Gang, but I never dreamed in a hundred years that it would be happening so soon.

I was so energized that morning that I put on a nice big pot of coffee had a shower, and finished getting ready and started packing the car. I was glad that we decided to drive instead of flying; it would have been insane with all of this plus the boys and the car seats. It was also a nice feeling knowing that most of this stuff could be left in the car while we cruised, because of the division of bags.

DH woke an hour later to see me attempt to lift our huge suitcase into the back of our SUV, he just laughed and said “excited”, “excited I said, that is just one word to describe what I am feeling” I really was a pile of emotions hoping for the best, I was excited, nervous, anxious, any word to describe travelling with young children was what I felt. DH finally stopped laughing and decided to help finish loading the car. Then he got ready. We were basically ready to leave. I planned two scenarios for the morning:

Plan A: Have the car and parents ready to go before boys wake-up in the morning. If they have a good first feeding / slash morning, we should be able to leave before their second feeding at 9:15 AM.

Plan B: We all have a lazy slow moving morning, and then we would leave after their second feeding.

We never really had a slow morning, unless we have nothing plan and this was a Disney Trip, but you do have to plan for the worse. Ryder woke up at about 6:30 AM, which is pretty much on schedule; I changed him, and fed him his bottle, before his brother woke up around 7 AM. We tried to put them on a half an hour difference schedule. They were actually breast-feeding up until Sunday, so this was only their second day with the bottle. They were adapting quite good I was impressed. This is the difference in time.

We actually pulled out of the drive way at 7:37 AM on the nose, and we were ready to start our adventure. Now, the boys are excellent in the car, they usually sleep, but they didn’t, every time I checked in the baby mirror I could see the babbling and trying to play with their car seat toys. Were they excited, did I have Disney freaks on my hand. I was talking to them the whole week before about our trip, maybe they did understand, maybe they were excited as much as their mommy and daddy on this adventure. They did finally fall asleep about 8:30 quarter to nine. They did not sleep very long those. I was hoping / praying that this trip would not throw them off their schedule.

We pulled into Kimball, TN and had breakfast and a feeding at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.

Road Adventure Continues…

 

[laura_happy]

You are adventurous! I can't wait to hear more!

 

[Carterfam]

I won’t give you a play by play of our car trip to Ocala, Florida, but what started out to be a great journey, by the time we arrived I was glad to get there.

The boys usually feed at 6:30 AM, 9:15 AM, 12:15 AM, 3:00 PM, 8:15 PM and go to bed at 8:45 PM respectively. They usually nap in the morning after their morning feeding, around 10:30 PM, but then I do not lay them down again until 4:30 PM, I have debated with this late nap time for a while, but it allows me to get out in the afternoon, run errands, visit with friends, etc. Then they go to be around 9:00 and sleep until the morning. Well, having the boys nap in their car seat all day was not ideal, they love being able to spread out on the floor and move a little (this was kind of hard in restaurants… floors tend to be so icky). So from about 2:00 until 3:00 PM I had cranky boys they had enough. We even pulled over and I moved to the back seat, which helped a little but not so much. They just wanted to be held and played with. I felt so sorry for them. I don’t know if they knew it was their play time, or they just had enough, but if you passed us on the Highway you heard quite a sound.

We pulled into Perry, Georgia around 3:00 PM, and spent a whole hour and half at a restaurant called A Leta’s on the Square, before we got back into the car we actually made sure the boys were asleep. We pull out of Perry at 4:30 PM, which was fine because the boys were content, and it was nice that they did not wake again until we were in Ocala.

From there, we checked into our hotel room, sponged bath the boys (No, I did not bring their baby tubs… I am not that insane, but did think of it). Let them play on the floor for a little bit and fed them and put them to sleep in their playpens.

I was exhausted by 9:00 when Kyran was put down to sleep. I showered and laid down fell right to sleep, that I have no idea what time DH followed but I think it was soon after.

 

[Carterfam]

Well, the first day of our trip was adventurous, but we made it, with everyone in one piece. Today, we planned to take the Plan B approach the lazy / sluggish approach, we were only 1 hr. away from Orlando, but wanted to discover some of the treasures outside of Orlando.

I think that outside of Walt Disney World has so much wonders that we do not give ourselves enough time to enjoy it, with everything we have to accomplish at WDW.

We decided to stay at the Holiday Inn conference Center, we were not looking for anything fancy, it just had to be clean. Well this hotel / area is amazing. It was a very easy hotel to find, just 10 minute drive into town off of I-75, had very friendly and helpful staff. We actually had to ask if it was possible to get a microwave in our room for the boys bottles, and they had one in our room within an hour. AMAZING!!. The rooms are a good size (we could fit to playpens in the room and still have room to walk). The beds were extremely comfortable. The town itself has lots of parks, amazing clear springs and some very lovely countryside within a short drive. I recommended it to anyone. You also get a very delicious breakfast in the morning.

So we woke up to screaming boys this morning, not just one but two. They are usually very good in the morning (they share a room), they quietly wake-up that you have to put the monitor to your ear to hear them, but who needs a monitor on this trip when the boys can scream bloody murder (who knew they had lungs like that). I jumped literally out of bed, I mean literally to see what was happening, but they were both still in the middle on their backs, basically had not moved since we laid them down. As soon, as we picked them up they started quieting down. We were finally able to change and feed them. I think they realized they were not at home anymore.
Well, we let them play on our bed until they fell asleep again. We did not put them back in their playpens, we took turns getting ready while the other watched TV / boys while they slept. DH ran down to the breakfast and brought it back to the room, which included bacon, eggs, fruit and juice, absolutely delicious.

The boys woke up again around 9:30 AM, and were fed again. At this point, we decided to go ask the front desk if we could spend an extra hour in the room, to let the boys nap again, before we set out on our adventure again. Like I said before, they were absolutely amazing. I was hoping for a peaceful afternoon today, which was looking on the bright side.

We finally departed the hotel around 1:00 PM, and thought we would check out some of the parks in the area. Well, we did not end up at a park; we ended up at a drag racing museum. I guess, during DH breakfast venture he ended up talking to some tourists and about this museum. Start talking about cars with my DH you will have him hooked for hours, I am actually surprised I got breakfast now. While, we some how past it on the highway, and thought we should check it out. It is called Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, the two large buildings house many drag race cars, tons of racing items and several old vehicles. It is really is for the car fanatic at heart. I even did some shopping at the gift store, and bought the boys a memorabilia t-shirt. It is ten times to big for them now, so at least it last them a year or two.

Then it was lunch time, and off to Mickey’s house.

 

[OurOhana]

What a great story about you and your husband. And I'm excited to hear about your cruise with two little ones. I hope you'll be able to post pictures of at least the boys, if you get a chance. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Carterfam]

My pictures won’t seem to load … maybe I am doing something wrong???

_________________________________________________________________

So we are on our way to Mickey’s House… not really with all the temptation we were trying to avoid really hard. At least I booked my favorite hotel. Who could resist waking up with the animals every morning?

Our first stop was Wal-Mart, took pick-up some essentials. We had bought all the stuff we needed for the boys (I did not want to pay extra for all their essentials), but I did want to pick up some snacks for us. For some reason we decided to browse the whole store, I don’t know why?? Maybe it was a time killer, but we ended up in the Electronic Section and found the movie Cars, I bought with out hesitate (I am an impulsive buyer). My reasoning, the boys loved the Drag Racing Museum (they basically stayed a wake for the whole thing). I thought it was a perfect fit.

By 3:00 PM, with I Just Can’t Wait to be King playing in the Car and DH singing very loudly (the boys were definately awake), we drove through the gates of WDW, and onward to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We were hoping that our hotel room was ready, and that we could order some room service.

I could not have asked for a better day, the boys were happy, just a little whining, and we were ready for a little glimpse of Disney. Our room was ready, and we got the room that we requested which we were excited about. So after, we hauled most of our luggage in (just three bags and their stroller) and fed the boys, we order lunched. We always stay on the 2nd Floor, and try our best to get room number 2578, on the Zebra Trail. It is right near the feeding area, so if you sit on your balcony you have a good chance to see the animals.

The boys were napping nicely on our bed. I was actually terrified to put them in their cribs, from the hollering this morning. We enjoyed our lunch / dinner. We order a lot we shared the Chilled Shrimp Cocktail, DH had the Angus Chuck Cheeseburger and I had the Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich (it came with Goat cheese one of my favourite kinds of cheese). It was a great meal, from all the road stop diners we had been snacking at. I also loved it because we are trying to eat healthier since the boys came along, and they actually came on a Kaiser bun and you could get a fruit cup with it. OK, enough of my healthy food story.

When the boys woke up around 6 PM, we thought we take a walk around the resort. It was such a lovely evening; we got lots of pictures of the animals, resort and of course the boys. We even actually got a really cute one of the boys together, that I might cancel their 3 month professional photos (I didn’t but it was a really good picture). We stopped at Mara on the way back to our room, and got some cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies. Yummy, Yummy, in my tummy. Then it was time for the boys’ bath, bottle and bed. I really prolonged the bed thing, I was hoping for a good morning / night. That for the first hour I literally hovered over them to make sure they were at peace. That DH literally picked me up and carried me to the balcony to enjoy our cheesecake with the door open of course and baby monitor in hand. We finally caved in for the evening, which was really hard with all the beautiful scenery, but it was the first day of our cruise tomorrow, so I hoped I could sleep.

 

[OurOhana]

My pictures won’t seem to load … maybe I am doing something wrong???

It took me a while to figure out how to post pictures. I finally decided to upload mine to photobucket. That seems to make it easier for me since it gives links for all kinds of things. I just copy the "img" code and plop it into my text. Not sure if that helps, or if it's a different kind of problem.

Either way, still enjoying reading your report. Looking forward to more.

 

[Carterfam]

It took me a while to figure out how to post pictures. I finally decided to upload mine to photobucket. That seems to make it easier for me since it gives links for all kinds of things. I just copy the "img" code and plop it into my text. Not sure if that helps, or if it's a different kind of problem. QUOTE]

Thank you, that makes a big difference. I was just using the computer file name, and really getting no where. I will definately try that approach, thank you!!!!

 

[Carterfam]

Woke up around 6:00 AM, I couldn't sleep since I was so excited. When I woke up those someone was missing. . . it was DH. I thought where could he be at this time in the morning, so I got up and there on the dresser was a note that said gone to get Mickey Waffles, I will be back soon, love ya. I decided that I would pack some things, and wake up Ryder for his morning bottle, by the time it was Kieran turn for his bottle DH had returned with a Mickey Waffle and bacon for me. He fed Kieran and I joked that he was more excited about getting on the ship then I was. He would never admit it but he really was.

I went for a shower while DH finished dressing the boys. When I was done I was surprised to see two giggling Mickey’s waiting for me to go. They looked so adorable, the Mickey ears did not last long but at least I got a few pictures. We wanted to leave before the boys fell back to sleep, so for me that meant it was a ponytail day, because of the rush. Our goal was to make it to the port before their next bottle, so it would be after their morning nap. So wish us luck.

We did manage to get the boys, car and ourselves ready by 8:15 AM, and we were off to the port. While, the boys fell asleep about 15 minutes after we left the resort, we did not make it to the terminal before their next feeding. We were about an hour on the road, when Ryder started crying (it sounds more like a holler). Now, we are not the type to make the boys cry and wait for their food, changing, comforting etc., they are just still too young. That we pulled over to the next gas stop (lucky it was not too far away), I comforted my poor child, while DH got the bottles warmed-up and I fed Ryder, and DH woke Kyran up and fed him. When everyone was content again, we were off. We did not make bad time; at all we got to the terminal around 10:30 AM. (I think DH was speeding a little).

DH dropped us off, while he went to park the car. We decided to leave the stroller behind, and just bring their carriers (just in case we decided to go into Nassau), and car seats (I need to build arm muscle). He arrived about 15 minutes later, and we were ready to check-in the terminal was about half full, and we could see that Goofy and Mickey had already made appearance, and that we were going to miss them before boarding (awwww), but I was ok with it as long as my boys were happy.

I should mention that are boys were asleep through this whole process, even with the noise that was starting to build. It must have been from all that crying (my poor little one). Anyways, after checking in we just sat back a relaxed (that’s what this trip is about right), and waited for them to start boarding. We did not have to wait too long; they started boarding around 11:35 AM. We had a little bit of a wait but we were on the boat by about 12:15 PM. The boys were finally starting wake-up. I should mention that the picture at beginning is probably the worst family photo to date. The boys were a little fussy, I look like I had not slept in ages, and DH looked like his quirky self (I should note that we did not buy it).

We headed straight to Parrot Cay, in hopes that they would heat up a couple of bottles for us, which they did (I knew they would why was I hoping). We fed the boys (their first lunch on the boat). Had a lovely meal ourselves, and headed to Deck 9 to check-out the pools. We knew we would not be spending a lot of time there (and no time actually in the pool), but we wanted to check out how busy it was and take the boys for tour.

We decided to just relax poolside and listen to some poolside Jams. The boys were quite content. That DH said he wanted to go check something out. He returned fifteen minutes later, with a Bahama Mama for me. It was actually my first drink in over a year, since I was pregnant and breastfed the boys. He said it was a perfect way to start off this trip, and the drink had the perfect name for me. He is such a sweetie!!!!

 

[Carterfam]

It was about 3:00 PM, when we decided that it would be best if we went to check to see if our room was ready, and sure it was, and on a happier note our luggage had arrived also. Well DH fed the boys, I started unpacking our luggage. Then it was time to prep the boys for the Mandatory Boat Drill at 4:00 PM.

Well, this ended up being a chore and a half. The boys get these jacket type vests (sleeves and all to wear). Well they did not like the jacket one little bit. We got Kyran’s on him, starts crying bloody murder, and he is the easier to please child out of the two. Then it was Ryder’s turn. Oh my god…. I feel sorry who ever was in the room next to us. They must have thought we were strangling our children. Well DH, who is the better calm one in these situations, decided that it would be better to take them off the boys, then to carry two screaming children down the hall. We did not want to ruin the magic for everyone now. We brought their life jackets with us.

Our cast member that greeted us was fantastic. She understood our frustrations, and just asked us if we knew how to put their life jackets on. She was sooooo amazing. She really helped calm the mommy’s nerves, of perfection, and also, a thank you, to my wonderful husband who puts up with my needs of perfection.

We decided to skip the Adventures Away Party, and test the boys with a nap in their Pack n’ Play. We had seen the Adventures Away Party so many times; it was not a big deal. Sleep was more important and we could watch us sail away from our verandah. The boys fell asleep by 4:45 PM, which was nice. DH ran and got us some drinks (soda), and I opened a bag of gummy worms that I bought a Wal-Mart, and we watched us sail away from Port Canaveral at 5:00 PM. I secretly hoped for smooth sailing from here on in, without these random outburst, that I was soooo not familiar with.

Well the boys woke up around 5:30 PM. I was a little concerned that they did not sleep for more than a hour, like they are custom too, during this Nap time, but they seemed happy and content. We decided to do some risky business from here. We had late dinner seating, so we thought we would take them to their first Disney Show. The Golden Mickey’s.

Now let me say this, we have not been on a 3 day cruise in probably 7 years, it was weird not getting all dressed up to see the show. It was great none the less, and amazingly enough the boys stayed up for the whole show. I think Kieran was even trying to applaud when Tarzan came on; they were such a delight to watch. I think I watched them more then I watch the show. They even laughed (or it was gas) when Terk came on.

A friend of ours who travelled a year a ago, actually taped the Golden Mickeys, we watch it now and then (so I know the boys will be ready on their next cruise). It is on youtube in 5 parts. Here is the links for your enjoyment.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH27NurxuSY
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wvmC3spMc8
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO-PBvUjqJM
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrZn5zqeODM
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdih3oL6TW8

 

[DMMarla07860]

great report so far. I was on this cruise as well

 

[Carterfam]

The show finished around 7 PM, which was perfect timing. We headed back to our room to get the boys ready for bed. We had late dining, and we debated a lot whether we would be attending. We knew that we could use Flounder’s all three days that we were there (on the 3 day cruise you can make reservations after 6 PM on embarkation dy). We came to the decision that since we had late dining we would reserve Flounder’s from 7:45 PM to 9:45 PM, each night. Therefore, we could bathe the boys in our room, and then head over to Flounder’s for their bottle and put them to sleep in one of the cribs, and then pick them up when dinner was done. It was our compromise, since other then us, grandparents, aunts and uncles have never put them to sleep, this way it calmed the mommy anxiety, but we would still have a little bit of alone time.

We got back to the room, bathed the boys, got their bottles ready, and headed over to the Nursery. Just to let everyone know that if you have bottles that you like to warm up, you either have to get a cast member to warm it up or you can take it over Flounder’s and use the bottle heaters. We got to Flounder’s around 7:30 PM, met the wonderful staff there and introduced the boys. DH dealt with getting the pager set up, while we laid the boys down on a blanket to look around and heat up the bottles. They have a quiet area in the back of the Nursery with cribs and rocking chairs . While DH explained that the boys usually go to sleep around 8:30 PM, we were hoping they would fall asleep before we leave, and that if they did wake up for any reason, to call us. If you could tell we were trying to put them asleep a little bit earlier.

Ryder fell asleep after 2 ounces of his bottle; it was all the excitement I guess. Kyran after 5 ounces, he was still restless. DH walked around with him for a little bit, until he almost passed out, then we laid him down and he would wake up. We left him in the crib, he was not really fussy. Went to look around a little bit of the Nursery, and when we came back he was sleeping. Whoooooo!!! Off we went to Animator’s Palate, and the whole while I debated again with DH about leaving them there.

So we had Animator’s Palate tonight, with the Golden Mickey Show. It felt odd, really odd. I’m one of the girls that love to get dressed up, do my hair, etc. I have not had a lot time for the extra girlie stuff lately with the boys. I’m not complaining, but when you have done a cruise every year, and you get to have Golden Mickey Formal Night, with the award show to follow (we usually have early seating), this just felt really off, and that was our topic of conversation for the evening at our table.

Second of all, we are not used to having tablemates; there are usually at least six of us, sometimes even more traveling with us, so we usually fill a table. We met our tablemates that evening, they were a young couple with four year old twin daughters (I wonder if Disney did that on purpose). We actually found out that we have a lot in common, this was their third Disney cruise, and were using it as quick getaway, since the husband had been busy working all summer, and they had not had a chance to go anywhere. They were a delight, and their girls were so polite. While dinner was absolutely perfect.

DH and I never order our own meals, we pick what we like on the menu and share, and therefore we always ask our server for two extra plates, to enjoy. Our dinner looked a little like this:

My Drink: True Colors: Captain Morgan, Crème de Banana, and Orange Juice topped with Strawberry puree – absolutely delicious.

DH Drink: Renissance: Absolut Vodka, Triple Sec, Rasperry Puree, Lime Juice and Sparkling Wine – it was a little bitter for my taste, but DH loved it.

Our Dinner:
Appetizer:
Wild Mushroom Risotto and Porcini Twist (served with Parmigiano-Raggiano and Black truffle oil) – anything with Mushrooms I love.
Soup:
Creamy Butternut Squash Soup (garnished with Chives and drizzled with Sour Cream) – not a big soup person, but it was good none the less.
Feature Selection:
Spicy Potato and Pea Samoses (with Mango-Mint Chickpeas and a Tamarinal Sauce) - it was ok, DH loves spicy food, me not so much, but I loved the Mango-Mint Chickpeas with it.
Fragnant Five-Spiced Fish (Sauteed White Fish Fillets with a classic Chinese Five Spice sauce over Baby Bok Choy) – absolutely delicious cooked to perfection.
Dessert:
Animator’s Sweet Temptations: (a trio of strawberry sable, cranberry and orange cheesecake, and double-fudge Chocolate cake). – nice idea to offer a trio, when there are so many things to choose from.
Ice-Cream Sundae (Chocolate and Strawberry Ice Cream, with Date and Walnut Cake) – I am an ice cream oholic, I ate it non stop throughout my pregnancy, could not resist.

We also asked our lovely server, if we could have a Strawberry Sable (with Passion Fruit Cream) and Buckled Warm Apple Crumble to take back to our room, he was happy to obliged.

 

[Carterfam]

It was about 9:30 PM, when we finished our meals; our pager did not go off, meaning the boys did not wake up. We said good night to our table mates, and headed back to Flounder’s to pick up our precious cargo.

We found them sleeping right where we left them, and a wonderful cast member (her name escapes me at this moment), was sitting nearby in a chair. You don’t know have her so close really calmed my nerves, for the next two nights while they were there. The staff there was wonderful. Words can not describe how special they made this trip for me.

We slowly carried the boys back to our room, they did not make a peep, placed them in their cribs, I watched them for about 15 minutes, then decided I should shower and get ready for bed.

When I got out of the shower I noticed DH eating the Apple Crumble in the living room, I was so jealous, I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a fork, ran back, jumped beside him and dug in quickly before he ate it all. The Jungle Book was playing on the TV, we finished the Crumble. I made him promise to save the Sable for tomorrow. We relaxed on the couch until the Jungle Book was over at 11:30 PM, and made our way to bed, because 5:30 was going to come soon enough, and we did not want to miss a single adventure in Nassau.

 

[Carterfam]

I'm testing to see if this works. I am going to try to post more pictures if time allows, but here are the Navigator's and two pictures of the food from dinner (I actually think it is our tablemates food from the night). My pictures are so disorganized, hopefully more to come

Wild Garlic Mushroom

Double Fudge Chocolate Cake

 

[Carterfam]

The morning started at 6:00 AM, like it does most mornings, except that I am on a moving ship, and not in the comfort of my bed. The first thing I do every morning, is I check on the boys, even those I have a baby monitor next to me, they were sleeping like little angels. Then the next step, is to make the morning bottles, off to the kitchen I go, made their bottles. Then I quietly change into my sweat pants and t-shirt throw my hair up, and quietly go wake-up DH.

NOT, I jumped on the bed right next to him, and shut as loudly as I am, guess where we are. I kiss and him and he eventually gets up. I decided that I would walk to Flounder’s Warm-Up the bottles, since I had all this energy so early in the morning (I am usually not a morning person, before the boys we used to sleep till 10:00 every morning). The walk did not last very long, five steps out our door I saw our Room Service guy and he nicely heated the bottles for me.

Back in the room, the boys were stirring, and up they were. The bottles were back in the room by 6:30 AM, DH fed Ryder, while I took a shower and got ready for the day, and he did it vice versa while I fed Kyran.

The boys were done their feedings, and we were ready to start our day when Room Service arrived at 7:30 AM. Perfect timing, so while the boys had some tummy time in the living room, we ate our delicious room service (including fruit, croissants, toast, and to top it off chocolate milk.) I decided to have a caffeine free pregnancy, so this was a first in a long time, ohhh how I missed you.

After breakfast and tummy time, it was nap time again, and since they were doing so well in these pack n’ plays, they slept in there. We enjoyed some time out on the balcony. It was a nice day out, just a few a clouds in the sky. This is never a long nap for the boys, but when DH is at work in the morning, it allows me to get ready for the day. The ship was not schedule to arrive in Nassau until 10:00 AM, but it did not concern us too much, because this was a leisurely trip, and the boys were the ones to lead our schedule (at least, they have been pretty much on their home schedule).

They woke again, at 9:15 AM, in time for another bottle which DH nicely got prepared for them, and he even brought back some Mickey Waffles and Bacon. Can you see the pattern yet? I love my Mickey Waffles. The boys lay down again at 10:30 AM, and we just hung out in the room, played some cards, watched Sleeping Beauty (DH least favorite Disney Movie), and ate that delicious Sable.

By the time the boys woke up for their third bottle of the day, had decided what we were going to do today. We had decided we would get off the ship and tour Nassau for a little while. It would be the first time the boys would be out of the country, and there was not much we could do with them on the ship, so I pulled out their carriers loaded Ryder into DH and Kyran into mine, and we were off, to explore Nassau on our own.

 

[sns4063]

Wow, y'all are brave to take babies!

 

[Carterfam]

Our Nassau Adventure started right off the pier, or Prince George Wharf (that is where the ship ports), now when departing to Nassau make sure to bring Photo-ID security is tight on these wharf’s these days. Now Nassau is reasonably safe, if you have never been to Nassau before the busy streets can be really intimidating, with many locals hustling aggressively, if you walk a few streets in the streets do empty, and as long as you have a companion you will be safe. I recommend that you do bring a few extra dollars cash with you just in case you do have to ask someone for directions. There are a lot of panhandlers that may offer services as “tour guides” just be firm with them and don’t get sucked in.

The first thing we did was pick-up a free tourist map which our distributed on the Wharf. From there we left the Wharf and turned right onto Bay St. We spent some time looking at the shops up the streets; we found them to be a little overpriced and nothing that we could not buy at home. They did of course have the usual touristy souvenirs such as ash trays, glasses, t-shirts, towels and sun-wear. We did not buy anything and did not spend a lot of time in the shops (DH is not a shopper; therefore he was quite pleased to keep moving along).

At the corner of Bay St and George St. (keeping going straight on Bay St) is the famous (or infamous) Straw Market. Now if you are going to spend some time shopping this is the place to do it. The Straw Market has some lovely items including lots of t-shirts, knock off purses, kitschy tourist items and many other things a tourist would buy in the heat of the moment. There were a lot of purses there that day; I mean a lot of purses, that I was actually sucked in a bought one. There are also a lot of copy cat straw items (hence the name) but it appeared to be locally made, there were some vendors adding little cut out decorations to the front of some of the items, if that counts.

The reality of this place those, is that these vendors are trying to make a living off of the cruise ship, so therefore they are very, very pushy. You either love it or hate it. If you are not used to aggressively bargaining or dealing with outdoor type vendors, the atmosphere of the straw market, where the vendors are extremely aggressive, will make you feel very uncomfortable. You are expected to bargain, and if you don’t like doing that, you won’t enjoy the experience.

With DH being the youngest of 5, he is so into the bargaining stuff that we actually walked away with a purse, two t-shirts for the boys, and a set of straw coasters for about $40.00. Without him I would have probably spent about $150.00 on this stuff. (I am an only child). I enjoyed watching Kieran look at all the stuff that was going on that was my excitement.

Side Note for Beach lovers: If you keep following Bay St. west to the beaches of Western Esplanade and the seafood vendors of Arawak Cay.

We turned left up George St. to our next stop which was Christ Church. This beautiful Cathedral in simple Gothic style and square tower was started in 1837 and consecrated in 1845. The interior has a fine set of stained glass windows, an impressive organ (which DH was amazed by, he loves to play the piano), and a mahogany ceiling. If you check out the memorial plaques from the 1800s documenting the life histories of local residents and their death in shipwreck, of yellow fever, etc. Amazing.

Right across from the church is Pirates Museum, which if you have young kids (not as young as ours), will love it, but you will have to explain these are real pirates not disney pirates. It is a interactive museum that actually gives you factual information on Pirates of the Indies their backgrounds and lifestyles. Also if you need a break like we did by now there is good food in the cool courtyard and this is one gift shop you do not want to miss out on, we bought these boys these cute onesies… too bad they will be sleeping through the party, I actually bought like all the sizes they had available for them, they will come in handy with all our pirate adventures. The staff at the museum is outstanding, they were helpful, friendly and knowledgeable and did their best to promote the hospitality of Nassau and the Bahamas, and I am talking about all staff from the greeters to the sale assistants and especially the Managers. Here is a link to he Pirates of Nassau Website if you are interested in finding out more: http://www.pirates-of-nassau.com/museum.htm

 

[Carterfam]

After the pirate museum, we kept following George St to the end, and peer through the gates of the Government House (you can’t actually go in). Then turned left again, cross Market St., and made our way uphill on winding Peck Slope to Hill St. for a commanding view of the port. Follow Hill St to its end, turn right on East St. to Prison Lane, and follow the lane up to the Water Tower and Fort Fincastle. You will get some wonderful pictures and views from up there. We actually took the boys out of their carriers and got some nice family pictures. The View is gorgeous. Now you exit via, the remarkable Queen Staircase which is a large staircase carved from stone, built from slave labor. I would recommend if you do want to visit the Fort and Stair case that you do it during the day and with someone, even with my DH who is one of the most extraverted person I know, we felt a little skeptical and the place appears a little bit dodgy.

At the bottom of the Queen’s Staircase there is a small “straw market” where the vendors seemed a lot friendlier then the ones at the famous Straw Market. There was a man with a truck full of fresh coconuts and he would make you a very refreshing drink either with or without alcohol. I had without alcohol and DH had his with alcohol, I actually preferred it with alcohol I can’t explain it but it just tasted better.

From there is was getting time for the boys next bottle, so we decided it would be wise to head back to the ship, After the staircase, we followed Elizabeth St. down the hill. Turn left onto Shirley St., then right onto Parliament St. to view the Library (Old Jail) and the statue of Queen Victoria in Parliament Square (we walked by it, we were crunched for time). From there, it’s a short walk back to the wharf.

I could not believe the boys stayed up for the whole journey of Nassau, and that we actually made it. They were laughing and giggling, blowing bubbles, it was actually a nice experience for us. Even those, they will never remember it, we will, and I filled a whole memory card (1000 pictures) just in this day alone that I will have the memories to cherish for a life time.

On our walk back to the ship, we decided that we would give the boys their next bottle on Deck 10, the view from Deck 10 is outstanding. We stopped in to our room quickly grabbed their bottles, went to the Nursery let the boys play a little on the floor while the bottles heated up, and then headed to Deck 10. We found a spot with a nice view, of the Water Tower at the top of the hill. You can also see the towering Atlantis resort on Paradise Island and the arching bridge to Paradise Point.

I was relieved and exhausted that our day was going so well, there was no real whining, the boys were content, happy and smiling (or gas). That I was starting to wish the trip was longer. I think it was at that precise moment that I knew we were going to be perfectly fine with a 7-day trip and even longer. That I actually started discussing future trips with DH, and he agreed. After Ryder and Kyran were done their bottles, I think we sat there for another fifteen minutes taking in the panorama view, I think I actually fell asleep on DH shoulder, until he mentioned that Stitch was doing a meet & greet, and we should take advantage of it to get the boys with some of the characters, since they were in such a good mood and we had bought the $269.00 dollar Photo CD (which gives us all the proofs of the pictures that Disney takes). Our first meet & greet was with Stitch, up on Deck 5. The boys loved his blue fur, Kyran kept doing a reaching thing with his arm, for stitch hold him. Stitch was amazing with the boys, interacting with them and touching them, the photos our funny, but sweet none the less. We also, went and got pictures with Pluto, now out of all the Disney characters Pluto is my favorite. I have a picture of Pluto with every Disney trip I have been on since I was 5 yrs. Old. I could create a timeline of 20 yrs. With Pluto and I. Pluto was hilarious with the boys, trying to make them giggle. He quickly stopped those when Ryder accidentally spit on his Nose. We actually got a really good family picture with Pluto, I was pleased. I was actually quite surprised also, how well the characters actually interacted with babies, they were amazing, and I was impressed.