Dream 9/14/15 4 night

[Sleeping_Princess]

Hey there... Yes, we are pretty excited.. This will be our 5th Disney Cruise - but the first time my daughter has been old enough to be in the kids club.. We have had to do nursery on all other trips. We are local - live in Tampa (about an hour West of Orlando) so we are not staying at Disney before just driving to the Port that morning..

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

Hello all! We will be joining you on this cruise to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. It will be me, DH, DS 7, and DS 4. My husband and I did WDW and a cruise for our honeymoon, so this will be our second time and the first for our boys. We are all really excited and have a countdown going at home. Looking forward to getting to know you all better as we plan together. I think planning is half the fun!

- Victoria

 

[dizmom6]

Wonderful! You'll have a lot of great advice for those of us who are noobs

Victoria...glad to have another joining us. It's wonderful that you're cruising again on your anniversary. The more the merrier! We are almost 6 months out from our vacation..yes,I realize it's probably still closer to 7 months but my mind won't let me think that way. Any big plans while you're on the ship?

What is everyone doing in the Bahamas?

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

Thanks! We're looking forward to doing Palo for dinner again and we'd also like to try out the brunch. Definitely a couples massage in the spa, and maybe a mixology class if they have it on our cruise.

We didn't care for Nassau much last time so we are going to stay on the ship this time. For CC I think we are just going to do a beach day and enjoy the island.

 

[perditax]

I believe the SO and I will also skip Nassau. Various reasons, but mostly it's a short cruise and we'll be saving our island energy for CC. And yes to Palo brunch.

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

Yeah... Our last cruise was only 3 days and we wished that we had more time to explore this ship. We originally planned a 7 day cruise for this trip, but decided to switch to the 4 day so we could take the kids to WDW. I still really want to experience a 7 day eventually.

 

[Sleeping_Princess]

I totally recommend the Palo Brunch - it is WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!! This will be our 4th 4 day cruise we have done. We had the 7 day planned for October this year (only ship we haven't done is the Fantasy), but with the announcement of the Star Wars cruise - we moved the 7 day to next April and just doing another 4 day this year. We like the short but sweet cruises, but have to experience all the ships at least once.. We are debating on doing the "graycliff chocolatier tour" or the "Ardastra Gardens, Zoo" this cruise. In the past we have just stayed on the ship in Nassau and made it a movie day... It will depend on the activities and movies announced whether we stay on the ship or not.. I am still holding out that they announce this as a Halloween cruise...

 

[dizmom6]

I really hope it's a Halloween cruise also. Disney announced its Halloween dates for the parks and we will miss the party by a week during our stay. . Perhaps they'll have some of the decorations up at least?

I live in dallas and we are buried in ice and snow right now. It's really heightened my obsession for the cruise and some tropics.

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

Yeah we were really bummed by that too. We hoped they would start them earlier like last year so we could do the party.

 

[dizmom6]

For all of my fellow cruisers....there are 191 days until we sail!!! Oh yeahhhhhh.

 

[perditax]

I totally recommend the Palo Brunch - it is WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!! This will be our 4th 4 day cruise we have done. We had the 7 day planned for October this year (only ship we haven't done is the Fantasy), but with the announcement of the Star Wars cruise - we moved the 7 day to next April and just doing another 4 day this year. We like the short but sweet cruises, but have to experience all the ships at least once.. We are debating on doing the "graycliff chocolatier tour" or the "Ardastra Gardens, Zoo" this cruise. In the past we have just stayed on the ship in Nassau and made it a movie day... It will depend on the activities and movies announced whether we stay on the ship or not.. I am still holding out that they announce this as a Halloween cruise...

Oh wow, I missed this post (I was in WDW at the time), but it looks like we DO get a "Halloween" cruise, I didn't realize they went back so far:

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/holiday-cruises/halloween/

Disney Dream September 07, 2014 - October 31, 2014

EDIT: Oh dang, that's still for 2014. Well, leaving this post intact so people can click on the link.

 

[dizmom6]

Thanks for the link, perditax! At least it helps to keep my hopes up

 

[perditax]

So I spent the weekend sick on the couch reading about cruises, and agonizing over whether DCL was right for us (first time cruises, no kids, somewhat introverts, looking for quiet/relaxation). I must have read reviews of thirty or forty different cruise ships. None of the ones that had any appeal for me over DCL do short itineraries--it seems the other 'big' lines mostly use their older/smaller ship for short itineraries, at least during my travel window.

Then, after having rejected the idea several times, I checked into concierge level again. I looked on Disney's site. One of the infamous 'bump-out' verandahs on deck 12 was available.

You can guess the rest, although it took a few calls to Costco (who is now my TA).

And now, since Concierge deposits are not refundable ... I am full committed.

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

I don't think you will regret your decision at all. Our first Disney cruise we were the same as you and had an amazing time.

 

[Sleeping_Princess]

Agree.. Our first cruise back in 2009 was just me and the hubby for our 1st Anniversary and we LOVED it... 6 years later this is our 5th cruise and will only cruise Disney because of the service provided... What's nice about Disney is that there are a lot of Adult only places if you aren't all about the craziness of the kids.. The best is Serenity Bay at Castaway Cay... The year it was just hubby and me, there was a family with a young child that came onto the adult only beach (it was very windy that year on the island and Serenity Bay was oddly calm) and was asked to leave to go back to the family beach.. Disney really wants every person regardless of status in life to have a wonderful time.. You will not regret it!

 

[dizmom6]

I promised my children I would run...walk...crawl the 5k with them on CC. The new medal looks cute so I'll have that to look at while I ice my swollen knees. It's there anyone else here suicidal enough to endure the crawl with me? Have I mentioned we will be there in September? Have I mentioned that I run only when chased and even then I'd rather stand and fight? Even my rheumatologist gave me a "you can't be serious" look when I told her. I don't know what I was thinking. Talk about your brain farts!

 

[Sleeping_Princess]

My Husband is going to do the 5K again this year.. My little one is to young to go, so I may drop her off at Scuttle's Cove and brave the run (well brisk walk as I don't run!)

 

[perditax]

I've been eyeing the 5K, I don't know. My primary workout is strength training. I like lifting weights, hate cardio. But I developed an eye condition last year and I ended up spending a lot of time on the treadmill in the gym, because it was the only place my eyes didn't hurt (I have dry eye, and while I was figuring out how to manage it the cardio and the humidity in the gym helped). By the end of last summer I was working on the couch to 5k program and really getting into it, but then winter and the holidays happened and now I am UBER busy. I would like to get back into it. To be honest though, even on the C25K starter program I had a hard time running/jogging for more than about 2 minutes at a time. I can WALK on the treadmill for miles, even pretty fast, but my body doesn't seem to like jogging/running. I don't know, it's something I keep thinking about. I suppose I am a wannabe jogger. I have enough 'mental toughness' for lifting weights (and I lift heavy) but I feel like I'm going to DIE when I run.

Anyway, look into the couch to 5k program if you haven't.

 

[dizmom6]

I've heard alot of people recommend the couch to 5k. I shall look into it. Running was never my thing. Even when I was in the best shape of my life running was my enemy. I will endure! I will brave the experience! I will fight until my dying breath...shouldn't take long...about a mile or so.

It's nice to know there are others into self inflicted torture

 

[Karen6th]

This is our family's first cruise and I would like to be apart of all the MAGIC of a cruise experience so any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!! looking into fish extenders on etsy now!! So with the fish extenders how do you know who to buy for and how many items to buy?
Daddy (Chris) Mommy (Karen) Kelsey -9 Brayden-6 (turning 7 Birthday cruise ;-))