"Doctor Strange said not to touch anything!" - January 2018 solo MDAS/WDW (FINISHED Sept. 4)

Joining in! What an adventure you had with your flights. That would have stressed me out so much.
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Home away from home.
I think the best moment of a cruise is when you first get on board and know you have a nice long vacation ahead of you. Their atrium's are all so impressive too.

Look forward to reading the rest!
 
I remember you posting about your plans for this cruise, so now I'm really happy to read your TR. i've sailed on Disney with friends and family, but several of my favorite trips have been solos!

I'm really glad I let the people of the Dis talk me into listening to myself and booking this cruise. This is the first really big solo trip I've done that wasn't related to work or school in some way, and I'm glad I took the plunge and went for it.

YAY!!! I know that was the exact moment that you finally felt at ease with all the travel issues.

The running theme of all my conversations at DIA was "if I can just get on the ship, this is going to be the most relaxing week of my life." It honestly didn't quite feel real when I did finally board, and in some ways I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop -- to collapse from exhaustion or something, I don't know.

Love your shirt and necklace though!

You know, I always find that so cool! To see how they deliver and take care of everything!

I got the necklace last fall and it's become my traveling necklace. I wore it every day in Disneyland last fall, I wore it every day of this last trip (except MDAS, but you'll see why), and I plan to wear it at conventions when I'm not in costume. Might skip wearing it on my European trip outside of Disneyland Paris itself, though. And yeah, I like seeing little glimpses of how things work. My mom always thought WDW must have lost its magic for me after I saw so much of the backstage areas, but honestly it just made the whole enterprise cooler for knowing how much goes into it behind the scenes. I'm happy enough not knowing all the behind the scenes details of the cruise ships, but I still find that kind of stuff interesting.

Joining in! What an adventure you had with your flights. That would have stressed me out so much.

I think the best moment of a cruise is when you first get on board and know you have a nice long vacation ahead of you. Their atrium's are all so impressive too.

Look forward to reading the rest!

I think the best moment was waking up the next morning with no alarm, but that might have been because that was the first I felt fully awake again. :goodvibes
 
January 21, 2018 (part 2)
Food, Party Time, and More Food

When last we left off, I had finally boarded the ship! As I was walking up I tried to think of something or other clever when it came my turn to be announced, but then when I got to the front of the line the crew member enthusiastically complimented my t-shirt and I forgot what I was doing and just gave him my regular name (as a solo traveler, I was announced by first name rather than "the ____ family"). I was honestly in a bit of a daze, and despite having looked over maps of the ship while planning this trip I felt very disoriented on arrival in the atrium. That was alright, though; I'd hit a second wind sometime around arriving at the port and had a bunch of false energy I used to just start sort of wandering the ship.

I have to be mindful, as I read photo timestamps on my phone, to remember the time difference -- the phone "corrected" them to my home time zone after I returned from Florida. It didn't take me long to wander my way toward the eats -- my atrium photo was taken at 12:19, and this one, in Cabanas, at 12:36. :rolleyes1

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I see a vegetable!!

It was bustling pretty good up there, so I didn't linger -- I just had a quick plate before going off to explore the top decks.

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Probably the quietest this place ever was in daytime.

Obviously that one buffet plate wasn't enough. Weirdly, this is the only time I remember getting shawarma -- I enjoyed the heck out of it and always meant to go back for more, but never seemed to get around to it.

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Can't have a Marvel cruise without shawarma.

The Quiet Cove was, well, quiet. I didn't linger here, either.

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I was impressed by how little sound traveled from the family pool area.

I was in a bit of a weird headspace, unfortunately, almost starting to question whether it made sense for me to be on this trip. Sometimes when one is alone in an entertainment environment designed for families and groups of travelers it can feel a little like you're just going through the motions, and I was starting to get that feeling a little bit -- there was all this hustle and bustle around me as people dug in at the buffet, started in on the water slides, etc., and I wondered if I was going to just feel weird the whole time about being there alone. I knew there was a tour of the ship at 1:45, and that was the only thing on my schedule before the assembly drill. I took a moment to wander deck 10 since I still had twenty minutes or so.

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I would come to love this monstrosity.

Then I made my way down to After Hours. These portholes outside of Fathoms ended up being one of my favorite places to sit around when I wasn't doing anything else. Usually more than half of them would be available; I think the only time I came by and they were all occupied was when a bunch of people were waiting for the last bingo session on the final day of the cruise. In general, I was surprised that things rarely felt crowded on the ship even though any given space was not all that big.

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Love a good window seat.

I don't have any photos from the ship tour since I spent that time paying attention to the crew members leading it, asking questions, and trying to remember where I'd seen various things along the way. It would take me until about midway through the cruise to be able to navigate the ship intuitively; for the first two days I'd always have to check the app for each location's deck and forward/midship/aft position. The tour was a good call even though I'd wandered a bit on my own already; I came away feeling a little more confident, plus it was my first encounter with the cruise staff (crew members who handle family entertainment), who ended up being a huge component of the good times I had on this trip as a whole. I actually spent more time around the family entertainment crew than the adult entertainment crew just by virtue of which activities I attended. They were all lovely.

After the tour I went upstairs and checked out the spa, along with two other people who'd been on the tour. As I've mentioned in another thread on this board...I don't want to diss the spa because I know a lot of people enjoy it, and I'm sure the services are all very good. That being said, my tour of Senses was the only time on this trip that I felt like I was being pressured to make an on-the-spot purchase decision; it felt really difficult to get back out of there without committing to making some kind of appointment. Get out without buying I did, though, and...well, never went back. :confused3

By 2:43 my stateroom was ready for me, though my luggage had not yet arrived.

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[insert sound of heavenly choir]

I'd come prepared with my door decorations in my carry-on like a good DISer. I was very very happy with how these turned out, and I actually got a compliment on them from my stateroom host when I first met him a little later in the afternoon.

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Booyeah.

I plan to make a new set with a different theme for each cruise. This time around it was Mickey, Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

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There were an awful lot of cute Star Wars prints at Joann Fabrics. Universe giving me a hint...?

And of course you can see my stateroom number: 6131. I'd let my travel agent select my stateroom for me without any particular input, as I didn't really know enough to have an opinion on what I'd want. 6131 is an interior stateroom very close to the aft elevator bank, which (along with the decorations) made it very easy to find. I never had any issue with noise, and overall I liked my stateroom. Deck 6 was ideal because it meant I only had three flights of stairs up or down to most places I wanted to go on the ship (I very rarely used the elevators, partly for health but frankly also because the elevators were frequently crowded). I discovered as the trip went on that I spent most of my time forward rather than aft (plus I liked swinging by the Cove on the way to breakfast for a specialty coffee), so in future I will probably pick a stateroom farther forward.

I'd made six pennant banners simply because that was how many pennants I got out of three quarter-yard pieces of fabric, but only four of them fit comfortably on the door. I played around with placement a little bit inside the room, and ultimately settled on putting them over the bed. As I make more banners for future cruises I plan to keep bringing the old ones as well, and they can just stretch further around the room each time. :rainbow:

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Whoops, messed up the covers already.

(continued below)
 


January 21, 2018 (part 2)
Food, Party Time, and More Food (continued)

That was about as much as I could do without the rest of my luggage, so I headed back out to finish seeing what I could of the ship before the assembly drill. Namely, I wanted to get a look at the kids' spaces since they hadn't been covered on the tour (everyone on the tour had been adults). The crew members at the door were very encouraging re: coming in to check out the space despite not having any children.

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NERDDDD

I actually have to say that I'm surprised the Toy Story part of the kids' area isn't more...playground-y? There's really just the one slide. Idk, when I was a kid I would have wanted more stuff to climb on. Heck, I'm an adult and I still want to climb on stuff.

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Great theming, though.

Also, I think they should have these handwashing stations outside Cabanas and the MDRs instead of handing out wipes.

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So futuristic!

Lots of signage about handwashing in every bathroom, btw, and handwipes everywhere food was offered. Not sure the handwipes actually work against norovirus, but they're trying. Didn't get sick from the ship, anyway. WDW, on the other hand.... :tilt:

Anyway. I headed to deck 4 just before 3:45 because I misread the navigator and thought that was when we were doing the mandatory assembly. Actually 3:45 was just when they shut down activities around the ship in preparation and I didn't need to be in Animator's Palate until 4:15. Looking at the paper navigator now that's perfectly clear; I'm not sure if I was having trouble because it displayed differently in the app or if I was just confused because my brain wasn't working so great after so long awake. I killed a minute or two looking at the lifeboat they had open.

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Not that I'd be in one of these in a disaster; my assembly station was assigned to one of the inflatable rafts.


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Hahaaa wow this would be the worst.

Then I gave up on entertaining myself on deck 4 and went back to my stateroom. I know this because I took a photo of the life vests in the closet. Really good brain worky afternoon. Very important stuff.

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Must have started unpacking; I think I have stuff on those hangers.

I kid; I took the photo because I was tickled that the model name on the vest was Kon-Tiki. Kon-Tiki was, of course, the name of the raft on which Thor Heyerdahl and his team crossed the Pacific in 1947 in order to prove that it would have been technologically possible for the people of South America to have colonised Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.

(...NEEEERRDDDDD)

I soon headed back down to deck 4, figuring I might as well wait at my station as wait in my stateroom since it was indoors and I could sit down in the restaurant anyway. My timestamp has me in place 13 minutes before the muster drill.

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Visually speaking, my favorite of the MDRs.

The drill was, as expected, pretty boring, but I stayed off my phone and paid attention and behaved myself and so on.

(continued below)
 
January 21, 2018 (part 2)
Food, Party Time, and More Food (continued)

I don't know what I did with myself between the drill and the Adventures Away party, but what I did not do was stake out a good spot from which to watch it. I ended up behind a row of people on deck 10, but I could see pretty well from up there.

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By the end of the cruise I knew at least half these crew members' names.

While the cruise staff were trying and failing to get everyone to dance, the Carnival ship that had been docked near us headed out of the port. I...couldn't help but notice that it appeared to have more in the way of water slides than the Magic.

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Also a weird pedal-coaster thing.

The Adventures Away party was pretty cute, but it would have been more fun if people had danced along with the show. I wanted to dance along, but with no one else dancing around me it just felt awkward and I stopped trying. Overall my thought on it was that I wouldn't be terribly opposed to skipping it on my next cruise unless I bring someone with me who hasn't seen it.

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You can see a little how they showed crew members dancing in other parts of the ship onscreen.

But then they sounded the horn for the first time (when you wish upon a star...) and wow, sudden feels. That one moment was when it all suddenly felt real.


Apart from how, you know, the sail away party did not involve any sailing away. Here's a photo afterward, from 5:04 PM, in which I tried and failed to convey just how dang high up I was on the top deck compared to the port below.

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I was afraid to hold my phone out over the railing.

With dinner still a few hours off, I indulged in my third lunch of the day.

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I'm aware there are other kinds of pizza beyond pepperoni, but....

And my first alcoholic drink of the trip! I should have taken screenshots of the drink of the day each day, since those were usually what I ordered. This one was supposed to be yellow on bottom and blue on top (or maybe the other way around...?) but as you can see it was just sort of green.


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Delicious, but green.


Now, I'm going to go ahead and tell you all right now that I'm not normally much of a drinker, and as this report goes on you're probably going to think I'm a liar. I'd originally budgeted for only one or two drinks per day, but since I hadn't had to pay for a hotel room on my arrival night in Miami, what with not having an arrival night in Miami, I had a bunch of extra money back in my budget and, well, I just plain bought a drink whenever I felt like having a drink. Ditto specialty coffees. On future trips I might be more mindful to stick to lower price drinks, but I think I'll have to budget for more than I'd originally anticipated this time around, as letting myself indulge really added to my enjoyment.

(continued below)
 
January 21, 2018 (part 2)
Food, Party Time, and More Food (continued)

I stopped at my stateroom again -- I don't remember at what point my bags showed up, but this stateroom stop was the start of about a day and a half of trying to unpack and tidy up the stateroom in stolen moments between other activities. I know some people manage to get unpacked before the muster drill, but for the life of me I don't know how. There was plenty of storage space for a solo, but if you had three people in that stateroom I don't know where you'd put everything.

While I was in my stateroom the ship finally did sail away. I took a scenic route on my way to the theater.

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So is this a good time to mention that being on a boat in open water usually makes me nervous?

The first night's show was Twice Charmed, and I got a bit spoiled by how few people showed up for it -- it seemed that the audience got larger each night of the cruise, so while showing up "early" fifteen minutes ahead of the show on the first two nights got me seats down in front, later on I had a harder time getting a good spot. It's a shame the audience was smaller on the first night, as Twice Charmed was my favorite of the musicals on the cruise. It's "Cinderella with a twist" which I think might have turned some people off because that basic concept has been done so many times, but it was a good twist on the story. I don't normally like Cinderella much in general, but Twice Charmed was an interesting take on it. Also, I loved that the performers made such extensive use of the house. I sat in the third row, on the aisle, and I swear the prince landed right next to me when he took a flying leap off the stage (seriously, third row; it was a good leap).

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Lots of projection and light effects in the shows.

Another indulgence? I immediately bought the MDAS popcorn bucket as soon as I saw it. I shouldn't eat popcorn at all because of my corn sensitivity, but I've discovered that it's one of the forms of corn I can get away with eating with only minor stomach upset. Thankfully the popcorn buckets aren't huge, so that helped keep it reasonable, and eating a real dinner afterward each night also helped mitigate the effects of my bad choices.

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I always liked how these things come with good lids.

After the show, I discovered a crab in my room.

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I usually ended up eating the turndown mints the next morning while I was getting ready to go to breakfast.

I thought the hour or so between the show and dinner would be time enough to go up top and try out the waterslides, and changed into my swimsuit accordingly, but it was a bust. It was cold and windy up there by that point, I didn't have a watch to keep track of the time and was nervous that I'd overrun and be late to dinner, and...well, I went over to look at the AquaDunk and immediately psyched myself out and didn't do it. Instead I got in one of the family hot tubs, since it was empty, and watched the first fifteen minutes or so of Inside Out on Funnelvision. Then I came back, showered, and changed for dinner with a mental note to not bother trying to swim between the show and dinner time again. I always left my phone in my room whenever I went to deck 9/10 in my swimsuit, so no photos of that little interlude.

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Hope you guys enjoy mirror selfies because there are a lot of them coming up.

I hadn't particularly planned to dress up for most dinners, but I'd brought a couple non-logo'd shirts just in case I didn't want to be in a t-shirt, and I figured...why not?

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Sometimes I wonder how many people know who Jose Carioca even is....


I'm glad I got to experience this restaurant before it goes away -- I don't get why people give it flack on this board. I really enjoyed the rotational menu here. And, too, I just have a soft spot for the Three Caballeros in general (they'd continue to be a minor theme later in the trip, too).

I'd been nervous about the question of tablemates in the time leading up to this trip, and had seriously considered putting in a request for a private table. It turned out I had one tablemate, a solo cruiser who was visiting a loved one who worked onboard. I've argued with myself how much to say in this trip report, and I think that's about the extent of what I'll share -- I don't think it's appropriate to include too much information about someone who wasn't informed that I'd be posting about this on a public forum. Both my tablemate and the crew member I met via my tablemate were absolutely lovely, and I feel very fortunate to have met them. I'm afraid I'll be leaving out details regarding our dinner conversations throughout the cruise, but suffice to say I was surprised by how many things we had in common and I was very glad I had not requested a table to myself.

Because I thought it would be a bit uncouth to take photos of my food when sharing the table and generally trying to display good manners, too, I don't have many photos from the MDRs and can't tell you precisely what I ate each night. I do remember that I had the "Jose Carioca's" this first night, which was rice with three or four kinds of meat, and I thought it was delicious.

I did sneak one selfie after my server, James, made me a napkin hat.

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So flattering.

In what would become a pattern for the rest of the cruise, we lingered over dinner and were among the later people to leave the dining room (which was ironic, considering part of why I'd thought about a private table was to avoid feeling "stuck" staying long at dinner -- but I kept wanting to hang around each night!). My tablemate went off to some activity afterward, but I headed up to my stateroom. I had a vague idea that I might freshen up and go out again, but once I was in my stateroom I realized that I was very, very ready to go to bed. It was about 10:15 by that point, which was only 8:15 in my native mountain time, but I had been awake for 37 hours with only one or two cat naps in the middle. My mind honestly boggles at it now.

I was initially apprehensive about my ability to sleep because since we had set sail the motion of the ship had been making me mildly uneasy -- it was a little like the one time I've been in an earthquake, where I kept having the thought that it felt unnatural and I'd rather like it to stop, and then I'd get anxious because of course there was no end to the motion in sight (ah, the trouble with growing up in a landlocked state, unaccustomed to travel by water...). And, since the bed was perpendicular to the length of the ship, it would rock me head-to-toe instead of side-to-side, and I thought it would feel weird. I was so tired, though, that I just passed right out within minutes of turning out the light, and slept soundly through the night.

Next up: Bingo, Bongos, and Booze
 
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I see a vegetable!!
LOL, I am always so bad at eating healthy on vacation. Very impression to have a vegetable on the plate.

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Can't have a Marvel cruise without shawarma.
My fiance loved that shawarma, when we were on the Magic he had it almost every day. I never tried it, but it looks good.

I don't have any photos from the ship tour since I spent that time paying attention to the crew members leading it, asking questions, and trying to remember where I'd seen various things along the way.
I really liked this tour. It was a great way to get familiar with the ship and learn some interesting facts.

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I'm aware there are other kinds of pizza beyond pepperoni, but....
I love the pizza on Disney cruises, it's my go to when hungry wandering the ship.

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Delicious, but green.
I never got the drink of the day, but when I was on Royal Caribbean I did and they had a souvenir glass you could keep with each one. Does Disney do that?
 
LOL, I am always so bad at eating healthy on vacation. Very impression to have a vegetable on the plate.

Before the trip I was telling myself that I'd eat healthy breakfasts and lunches and only let myself go at dinner. That went out the window the moment I was actually traveling, and I just...didn't, haha. Definitely gained some weight, but a week doesn't make or break in the grand scheme of things. The pizza ended up being my go-to, too; I don't eat a lot of burgers on vacation (we have a really good burger place in town, so I'm spoiled when it comes to burgers).

I really liked this tour. It was a great way to get familiar with the ship and learn some interesting facts.

It definitely helped me feel a little more grounded. I suppose I wouldn't need the tour again if my next cruise is on one of the classics again, but I'd want to keep my eyes open for other tours on the navigator, the ones where you learn a little more about how things work.

I never got the drink of the day, but when I was on Royal Caribbean I did and they had a souvenir glass you could keep with each one. Does Disney do that?

From what I've heard on the boards here, they just have a single souvenir glass you can get refilled but it doesn't come with much of a discount. I didn't really look into it. If you just ask for a drink of the day they give it to you in the normal plastic cup without trying to upsell you on any kind of souvenir cup.
 
I was in a bit of a weird headspace, unfortunately, almost starting to question whether it made sense for me to be on this trip. Sometimes when one is alone in an entertainment environment designed for families and groups of travelers it can feel a little like you're just going through the motions, and I was starting to get that feeling a little bit -- there was all this hustle and bustle around me as people dug in at the buffet, started in on the water slides, etc., and I wondered if I was going to just feel weird the whole time about being there alone.
I totally get this! I am used to doing solo trips (Disney or otherwise), but usually there is a moment or two of feeling like I made a mistake. But then I realize, if I had to wait for someone else to agree to go, I'd never get to do anything! And at least it seems you made a tablemate friend!

I'd come prepared with my door decorations in my carry-on like a good DISer. I was very very happy with how these turned out, and I actually got a compliment on them from my stateroom host when I first met him a little later in the afternoon.

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I love these, simple but effective! I may have to copy that when I do my own cruise!

As I make more banners for future cruises I plan to keep bringing the old ones as well, and they can just stretch further around the room each time. :rainbow:
That would be AWESOME!! Think of all the memories you will have every time you take a cruise!

I kid; I took the photo because I was tickled that the model name on the vest was Kon-Tiki. Kon-Tiki was, of course, the name of the raft on which Thor Heyerdahl and his team crossed the Pacific in 1947 in order to prove that it would have been technologically possible for the people of South America to have colonised Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.

(...NEEEERRDDDDD)
I think that's super cool to hear about! Don't feel like you have to stop giving random facts; I like it!
 
I totally get this! I am used to doing solo trips (Disney or otherwise), but usually there is a moment or two of feeling like I made a mistake. But then I realize, if I had to wait for someone else to agree to go, I'd never get to do anything! And at least it seems you made a tablemate friend!

Right! I realized after I posted this segment that I never really said in my narrative at what point I stopped feeling that way, and it's hard to pinpoint in hindsight, but it was probably around the time I settled in for the stage musical. I didn't want to leave it out entirely, same as I'm not going to leave out other moments when I felt a little low, because I think recognizing that a trip wasn't 100% perfect every second of every day but was still a blast overall is important in terms of setting expectations for other trips that follow. If we expect our experiences to wow us and feel perfectly "right" at every single moment we're setting ourselves up for disappointment -- that's what I think, anyway.

I love these, simple but effective! I may have to copy that when I do my own cruise!

That would be AWESOME!! Think of all the memories you will have every time you take a cruise!

They're pretty easy to make; I was lazy and just slopped fraycheck onto the edges and used fabric glue to attach them to the cords instead of getting out the sewing machine, and they held up perfectly fine to being folded, packed, unfolded, hung up, etc. They're currently stowed away in my closet along with the countdown blocks pictured in my first post...this year we're using the KonMari method to clear a bunch of old stuff out of our house, but something that's really struck me about it is that it's not just about getting rid of things you don't need/want, but about recognizing the things that do spark joy in your life. The thought of having themed sets of banners to remind me of my old cruises as I'm making memories on a new one is definitely a joyful thought; it's going to be really special when I get to take them back out of storage and use them again.

I think that's super cool to hear about! Don't feel like you have to stop giving random facts; I like it!

I don't know how many more I'll have, but I'll take that to heart!
 
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Hahaaa wow this would be the worst.

I always wondered what the inside of a lifeboat looked like! :D Now I know.


Both my tablemate and the crew member I met via my tablemate were absolutely lovely, and I feel very fortunate to have met them. I'm afraid I'll be leaving out details regarding our dinner conversations throughout the cruise, but suffice to say I was surprised by how many things we had in common and I was very glad I had not requested a table to myself.

Yay! I'm glad you had good tablemates. This is actually one of my biggest worries. There is nothing worse than awkward silence or having a tablemate that scolds you. (I had an old lady scold my behavior once)
 
I really am enjoying your trip report and love your door decorations! :)

I agree about what you said about it being nice if those handwashing stations were also outside Cabanas and the MDRs.

So that's what the inside of a life boat looks like. Thanks for taking that pic. I never knew. Now, I think I will just not think about them anymore. ;) Oh, and there are the life vests too!
:scared: Ok. ;)

On a brighter note, yes, once that horn blows, I swear, that is one of the most exciting feelings there is!
Your green drink looks refreshing.

I absolutely LOVED that photo you took with the caption "So is this a good time to mention that being on a boat in open water usually makes me nervous?" Actually, the water does look rather deep and unforgiving in that shot. It's a beautiful pic. Sometimes I love scary things.

Adorable crab towel animal. Love the mint eyes. My mints never lasted til morning. Good restraint on your part! Hehe.

Nice to see pizza slices are a little larger these days. The ones we had on DCL some years back were these small squares. They only put one small square on a plate for you.
I'm glad your table mate situation was so positive. I know the anticipation of what lies ahead in the tablemate department can be stressful, especially when you're solo. While I have never cruised solo, I did take a land/sea trip with my grandson when he was little. It was just me and him. The cruise was only three days. They put us at a table with a couple and their little girl who was a tad older than my grandson. Overall, it was a positive experience. They were very nice, but I sort of wished there were more people at the table. They probably did too. 8-)
There were times when my grandson went to the kid's clubs and I was alone on the ship, but it was never for very long before I got the message to come and pick him up, lol.
So that was my only experience of "solo" on a cruise. I'm really glad we did it.
Thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to reading more.
 
I always wondered what the inside of a lifeboat looked like! :D Now I know.

Yay! I'm glad you had good tablemates. This is actually one of my biggest worries. There is nothing worse than awkward silence or having a tablemate that scolds you. (I had an old lady scold my behavior once)

I'd seen photos elsewhere on this board and someone said that each black mark is where someone's supposed to sit -- it's kind of fascinating to think that it was some engineer's job to figure out how to tetris as many human beings as possible into that space. And kind of horrifying to think of being one of those human beings, but it's better than drowning, soooo....

And yeah, I was very nervous about the tablemate situation going in, and I'm glad I got such a good result on this trip because it'll make it easier to convince myself to take the gamble on future cruises. I think I'll just go in prepared, as I did this time, to ask to be reseated if the first night goes very badly -- and also prepared to keep an open mind and enjoy my tablemates' company as much as I can.

I really am enjoying your trip report and love your door decorations! :)

I agree about what you said about it being nice if those handwashing stations were also outside Cabanas and the MDRs.

So that's what the inside of a life boat looks like. Thanks for taking that pic. I never knew. Now, I think I will just not think about them anymore. ;) Oh, and there are the life vests too!
:scared: Ok. ;)

On a brighter note, yes, once that horn blows, I swear, that is one of the most exciting feelings there is!
Your green drink looks refreshing.

I absolutely LOVED that photo you took with the caption "So is this a good time to mention that being on a boat in open water usually makes me nervous?" Actually, the water does look rather deep and unforgiving in that shot. It's a beautiful pic. Sometimes I love scary things.

Adorable crab towel animal. Love the mint eyes. My mints never lasted til morning. Good restraint on your part! Hehe.

Nice to see pizza slices are a little larger these days. The ones we had on DCL some years back were these small squares. They only put one small square on a plate for you.
I'm glad your table mate situation was so positive. I know the anticipation of what lies ahead in the tablemate department can be stressful, especially when you're solo. While I have never cruised solo, I did take a land/sea trip with my grandson when he was little. It was just me and him. The cruise was only three days. They put us at a table with a couple and their little girl who was a tad older than my grandson. Overall, it was a positive experience. They were very nice, but I sort of wished there were more people at the table. They probably did too. 8-)
There were times when my grandson went to the kid's clubs and I was alone on the ship, but it was never for very long before I got the message to come and pick him up, lol.
So that was my only experience of "solo" on a cruise. I'm really glad we did it.
Thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to reading more.

"Deep and unforgiving" is a really good way to put it. I did feel some of that nervousness on this trip; I found that while I enjoyed deck 4 whenever we were docked and sometimes when we were going at a lower speed at sea, when we were moving quickly the sight of the water churning past was sometimes too foreboding for me. I liked that view better from the portholes outside of Fathoms, enclosed in the interior environment of the ship. My tablemate actually commented on the same thing; saying that the view of the horizon from the stateroom's porthole was good but the water close by the ship was a little unnerving.

I think that for me, at least, it's worth the gamble in terms of allowing Disney to seat me with others. There's always the chance I'll have a less positive experience the next time, but the worst case scenario is that I'd be asking to switch tables after the first night (mildly awkward but doable), and the best case scenario is that you meet someone lovely with whom to discuss the day's events. The benefit, for me, outweighs the risk, even though I know I'll be nervous about it each and every time.
 
Loving your trip report! So happy that you got matched with a great tablemate. We have found that it can really add to the experience of the cruise to share your cruise with perfect strangers. Sounds funny, but so true! Disney has always done a great time in matching us with tablemates. I really do not know how they do it - must be some Disney magic.
 
Love love love your door decor! What size did you make each flag? How did you gauge the string length? They look absolutely perfect!
 
Love love love your door decor! What size did you make each flag? How did you gauge the string length? They look absolutely perfect!

They're 7" wide x 9" long. I bought a quarter yard of each fabric so it was already cut to the 9" length (you'd need to buy a couple inches more if you wanted to trim or hem it to make the edge straighter), and 7" wide got me 6 flags from each cut of fabric without using the edges where the printing gets weird (so they must have been 45" fabrics). I asked around on this board for the door measurements (I want to say it's 23" wide?) and marked out strip that width on the dining room table. I just played around with laying the flags across it the way I wanted them to hang on the door until I was happy with it, then measured the resulting length. Not all of my pieces of cord ended up exactly the same length because I was a little lazy and because the knots I tied in the ends to stop them from fraying out didn't always come out the same, but I made a sort of pattern out of a big piece of cardboard to make sure the flags on each banner were evenly spaced (so I had a row of outlines for placing the flags a set distance apart from each other, and I'd just lay them out face down, put a line of glue on the top edge, and press the cord on). I'll probably have to reverse engineer it when I go to make the next set since I didn't keep the pattern, but with one set already made it should be easy to replicate.

You also end up with five flags with upside-down patterns on them, and I need to commit to either doing something with those or throwing them away....
 
Enjoying your trip report. Appreciate you including the questioning and concerning moments as well--and very glad that it was a blast overall!
 

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