Dream CAME true! June 21-26, 2011 TR w/LOTS of pics! Update 8/1 Day 6, Part 4

[Shell54]

That's great news My Mom always gave great advice too (she passed away 2 years ago.. I miss her so much!!) so I totally get the "voice of reason" aspect of talking things over with her. I don't think it's weird it all. Looking forward to hearing about your 7 night Western, that will be so fun to plan for you guys.

 

[franandaj]

You guys are in the right time of your lives to start planning a family and that's great that you are planning instead of "reacting". It's good for you to take one big trip beforehand, but will you take the trip and then "start" or will you be X-months along and potentially miserable?

Either way, I'm sure you'll be happy, because it sounds like you are going to finally pursue what you want. Now that your DH has a job, you guys have a house, sounds like it's the next step. You will have the cutest kids!!!!!

Good Luck! And Best Wishes on your new life and family!

 

[Dream426]

I have been reading your TR since you started it and I am loving it. What great news you posted. I had to add that we did this last summer. We knew we wanted to start a family but wanted to do one last big trip before we started. We surprised our family (my parents and my mother-in-law) Christmas 2009 with this trip. We wanted to share it with them. We went in August 2010 to Disney World and then the Disney cruise. It was the best decision because we all enjoyed ourselves so much and it was a blessing in a way because my dad ended up passing away April of this year (total shock) so I was able to do one last trip with him.

We became pregnant a couple months after the trip and I am sitting here writing this with my 2 week old daughter in my arms. You are going to be so happy to go on one last big trip and starting a family. Now I am planning on going on the cruise out of NY for her 1 year birthday and we can't wait until she is old enough to enjoy Disney as much as us. Good luck with everything and enjoy your trip. I would love to go in December. Can't wait to read that TR as well.

 

[heathsf]

Oh my gosh that is HUGE news!!! So very exciting and I wish you the best!!!!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Alright folks, so we talked to my mom tonight and she loved our idea!

So as you all know, we ended up re-booking a cruise for next Summer. However, DH and I have been talking about having children for a while now and we'd like to get started on having a family. So we decided to move up our cruise to THIS December, take the 7 night Western Caribbean Cruise AND 'start' trying to have a family!!!


P.S. It might sound weird that we wanted to talk to my mom first, but it's because of two reasons...1) She's my boss, so I would need the time off and 2) she's the voice of reason for DH and I. She gives GREAT advice and she's SOOOOO happy we're doing this!! She totally agrees that we need to do one last big vacation before we have kids and this would be our last one.

What do you guys think?!

I KNEW IT!!!!! Seriously, I thought this had something to do with starting a family. I think that what you are doing is wonderful...and of course, you will enjoy a 7-night cruise! The Western Caribbean is very nice too...which ports are you going to?

I am the same way with my mother. She also gives terrific advice, and she is very respectful if we don't always take her advice (which is very rare anyway!). Who knows? Maybe you will bring home a "little souvenir" from your December cruise! (Been there ourselves, on our last cruise 5 years ago...then came DS4!! )

We had gone on a cruise in April 2004, and about a month later, we went to contract on our house! After we had DS6 in January 2005, we didn't go on a vacation of any kind until he was 15 months old...it was Spring break the following year and we went to Niagara Falls and Buffalo, NY (where DH went to college). Then, when he was 18 months old, we went on a cruise (our last one, summer 2006). It was difficult and he couldn't enjoy the kids' camp, so we decided we would wait until we didn't have to deal with diapers anymore to go on another cruise. The following May, DS4 was born, and we went to Lancaster, PA for 2 nights that summer, just for a quick getaway. When DS4 was 14 months old, we went on our first family WDW trip. We found it much easier than cruising with a baby in diapers. Then, we went to Hershey, PA and Lancaster, and of course last year we went to WDW for our first trip "home" as DVC members. Just under a year ago, DS4 became fully potty-trained (nights too!), so we knew it was time to book a cruise!

Your mom's advice to go on a nice vacation right before trying to start a family is wonderful advice, IMO. We did that, and it was terrific! And now, we enjoy all the family things we do on vacations with the boys!

I am so happy for you guys...and just think, before you know it, you will be planning WDW trips with your kids! Even more fun to be had.

 

[Shell54]

WOOT!! Lesha's photos are back

 

[Leshaface]

Perfect....you are so doing the right thing!! We did the same thing and after our son was born we waited to book another DCL cruise until he was 3 so he could enjoy the kids club. My son is 7.5 and he has been on 4 DCL cruises now!! Enjoy Laurie!!

This is something i'm VERY much looking forward to! Having our children join in on the cruise/WDW fun!

EXCELLENT!! I'm looking forward to more of your report from this trip, as well as your December cruise, and any future "news" you will have!!! Very happy for you all!

Thank you so much! I'm so glad that I don't have to wait another year to do a TR! Instead I have 6 months!

That's great news My Mom always gave great advice too (she passed away 2 years ago.. I miss her so much!!) so I totally get the "voice of reason" aspect of talking things over with her. I don't think it's weird it all. Looking forward to hearing about your 7 night Western, that will be so fun to plan for you guys.

I'm so sorry about your mom. Both my mom and dad were the voice of reason. My dad passed away 4 years ago suddenly. And am very sad that he won't be able to experience his grandchildren from me or my brother But I know he's watching us and is happy for us

I'm so excited to go on this cruise coming up! So many exciting excursions that I can't WAIT to do!

You guys are in the right time of your lives to start planning a family and that's great that you are planning instead of "reacting". It's good for you to take one big trip beforehand, but will you take the trip and then "start" or will you be X-months along and potentially miserable?

Either way, I'm sure you'll be happy, because it sounds like you are going to finally pursue what you want. Now that your DH has a job, you guys have a house, sounds like it's the next step. You will have the cutest kids!!!!!

Good Luck! And Best Wishes on your new life and family!

We're not gonna 'start' trying until after the cruise...maybe even during the cruise but DEFINITELY not before! I want to be able to enjoy myself and have a few drinks, do some crazy things (although, I don't think one can get too crazy on a DCL cruise ) while on the cruise. It would be kinda cute to say we brought home a little souvie from our trip though.

I can't wait to start our journey and share it with everyone here!

I have been reading your TR since you started it and I am loving it. What great news you posted. I had to add that we did this last summer. We knew we wanted to start a family but wanted to do one last big trip before we started. We surprised our family (my parents and my mother-in-law) Christmas 2009 with this trip. We wanted to share it with them. We went in August 2010 to Disney World and then the Disney cruise. It was the best decision because we all enjoyed ourselves so much and it was a blessing in a way because my dad ended up passing away April of this year (total shock) so I was able to do one last trip with him.

We became pregnant a couple months after the trip and I am sitting here writing this with my 2 week old daughter in my arms. You are going to be so happy to go on one last big trip and starting a family. Now I am planning on going on the cruise out of NY for her 1 year birthday and we can't wait until she is old enough to enjoy Disney as much as us. Good luck with everything and enjoy your trip. I would love to go in December. Can't wait to read that TR as well.

How precious! I'm so excited to start planning trips with little ones. Our kids our definitely going to get my Disney genes for sure. I'm imagining multiple trips to Disneyland, and when they're a bit older, WDW and DCL! I know we're making the right decision in doing this and i'm super happy!

Oh my gosh that is HUGE news!!! So very exciting and I wish you the best!!!!

Thank you so much!

I KNEW IT!!!!! Seriously, I thought this had something to do with starting a family. I think that what you are doing is wonderful...and of course, you will enjoy a 7-night cruise! The Western Caribbean is very nice too...which ports are you going to?

I am the same way with my mother. She also gives terrific advice, and she is very respectful if we don't always take her advice (which is very rare anyway!). Who knows? Maybe you will bring home a "little souvenir" from your December cruise! (Been there ourselves, on our last cruise 5 years ago...then came DS4!! )

We had gone on a cruise in April 2004, and about a month later, we went to contract on our house! After we had DS6 in January 2005, we didn't go on a vacation of any kind until he was 15 months old...it was Spring break the following year and we went to Niagara Falls and Buffalo, NY (where DH went to college). Then, when he was 18 months old, we went on a cruise (our last one, summer 2006). It was difficult and he couldn't enjoy the kids' camp, so we decided we would wait until we didn't have to deal with diapers anymore to go on another cruise. The following May, DS4 was born, and we went to Lancaster, PA for 2 nights that summer, just for a quick getaway. When DS4 was 14 months old, we went on our first family WDW trip. We found it much easier than cruising with a baby in diapers. Then, we went to Hershey, PA and Lancaster, and of course last year we went to WDW for our first trip "home" as DVC members. Just under a year ago, DS4 became fully potty-trained (nights too!), so we knew it was time to book a cruise!

Your mom's advice to go on a nice vacation right before trying to start a family is wonderful advice, IMO. We did that, and it was terrific! And now, we enjoy all the family things we do on vacations with the boys!

I am so happy for you guys...and just think, before you know it, you will be planning WDW trips with your kids! Even more fun to be had.

For some reason Bonnie, I knew you knew what it was going to be about! And I thought Alison might have had an inkling too, since you guys have been there basically from the beginning

So the 7 night Western Caribbean will be on the Magic and the itinerary looks like this:

Day 1 - Port Canaveral
Day 2 - Key West
Day 3 - At Sea
Day 4 - Grand Cayman
Day 5 - Cozumel
Day 6 - At Sea
Day 7 - Castaway Cay
Day 8 - Port Canaveral

I'm very much looking forward to the Ports AND getting to experience Castaway Cay again!

And @ the bolded - this is EXACTLY what I would like to happen! It would be very ideal and would love that I could be able to tell people how it happened...well not 'how' it happened but you get what i'm saying

 

[Leshaface]

Thank you all so much for being patient and sticking around for my photos to show up! Now that they're finally up, let's get back to this report and finish it, so I can start a new PTR for our next cruise!

 

[Leshaface]

Friday, June 24, 2011


Nassau Day!


Navigator Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Also included with the Navigator was a map/brochure talking about where to go for jewelry, alcohol, etc in Nassau. It was very informative and this woman who made up the map, KNOWS her jewelry and where to shop for it. In fact, there's a whole channel DEVOTED to the shops in Nassau and she talks about where to get the best deals in town for diamonds, gems, etc.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

I woke up pretty early around 7:15am and went to the gym and worked out for about 30-40 minutes. DH met met me about 5 minutes later. And afterwards we went to grab some breakfast up at Cabanas before we headed out.

I was totally looking forward to this day! Especially now since DH changed our excursion to the Blue Lagoon Beach day! More sun and beach please!

Our view from our balcony..

On our ticket for our excursion, it said that we needed to meet at the Buena Vista Theater at 9am so that the CM’s could go over some things with us. You MUST bring all your excursion tickets, ID’s, and KTTW cards for all participating in getting off at Nassau. The CM’s even double check that you bring all the proper documentation down to the theater with you. And depending on which excursion you do, they’ll call you down to grab your wristband, meal tickets, etc. Then we walked down with our group to the deck and got off the ship.

Here you can see the back of the line that we are in. And you must stay in that line and can’t stray.

And some more shots of the gorgeous Dream!

They load up everyone onto big shuttle type boats to transport us to the Blue Lagoon Island.

The ride itself is about 20-25 minutes long, but it is a gorgeous ride!

Continued in next post

 

[Leshaface]

cont..

I’m surprised how far away this island is from everything else. It’s very secluded and to get here, we had to go through some choppy waters, but it was well worth it.

As soon as we got off the boat, we went in search of some lounge chairs right near the water and put all our stuff down and went in the water. With your Blue Lagoon excursion, you are given 2 free raft rentals, so DH grabbed me a lounger mat and he got an inner tube raft.

The water was so relaxing and warm, with hardly any waves, since there was a big rock formation on the other side to stop any waves/ocean creatures from making their way into the beach area.

We were starting to get extremely hungry (it’s from all the strenuous activity we were indulging in LOL!) And they have a little BBQ type counter set up where you get either BBQ chicken, hamburger or hot dog, with fries, an apple, and a drink. Definitely not much choices, when you’re so used to having everything imaginable on board the Dream. But we didn’t care, obviously, since there was nothing left on our plates afterwards.


Now there are only 2 shuttle times (1pm and 2:30pm?) that you can take to get back to the Dream, and we were originally going to do the later one, but decided that we still wanted to walk around the town and we REALLY wanted to watch Cars 2!

So we decided to just take the early one back so we can get more stuff done.

Now, this was our first time ever on a cruise ship, but when we got a look at the other ship, we were AMAZED at how big our ship was and how new and modern it looked compared to the dinker parked next to us!

Okay, I took no more pictures when we got off at Nassau, cus DH has this strange obsession with looking like a tourist? I’m not sure if it’s because he doesn’t want to look like we don’t know what we’re doing or because by taking pictures, he’s letting people know that we probably have cash on us or whatever, but he didn’t want me lugging the camera out.

Here is another Lesha Tip! To the ladies that have long hair, wrap it up in a bun, and put a towel over your head. Not kidding. When we were lining up to get off the boat, there were at least 5 women saying, “Hey sexy lady, want your hair braided?” And they just kept bugging every woman in front of me! So as soon as I heard all this shenanigans, I wrapped my hair up real quick and put my beach towel over my head to conceal my hair, and not ONCE in that entire marketplace, did I get asked to have my hair braided! I saw all these poor tourists just get bombarded with women asking and getting angry that they didn’t want to get their hair braided

Anyways, DH bought some ‘cigars’ and we walked around a few blocks and ended up finding the Tortuga Rum Cake store. I’ve heard about these magnificent little cakes before and I was dying to try some! Luckily, they gave out samples and I was HOOKED! So I bought a 6 pack for $30! And boy, those things are STRONG! I believe someone could get a definite buzz off those little guys for sure!

I REALLY wanted to watch Cars 2 today so we decided to go back to the ship, shower up, and catch the 5:00pm showing in the Walt Disney Theater. They had it in 3-D and it was such a cute movie! This movie was mostly about Towmater (which is fine, because I loved his character in the first movie) so if you haven’t seen it yet, I definitely recommend going right now! My TR will still be here by the time you get back

 

[Leshaface]

So as you probably saw from the Navigator, tonight was Pirate Night, aargh!

Your stateroom hosts give you 1 pirate bandana per guest in the stateroom and leave it on your bed with any other documentations for that day (don’t know why I didn’t take a picture of it). But we got ready and DB and Dsil came to our room so we could all walk to dinner together. Dsil put some eyemake up my brother to make him look the pirate part since he didn’t have any official clothes, and I just HAD to do the same with DH. Here’s the results:

Let’s get onto dinner! Note: All restaurants on Pirate Night are served from the exact same menu.

Le menu

Couldn't tell which looked better, so I posted both

For apps, I ordered: Black Beards Jumbo Crab Cake with a golden-raisin carrot and coconut slaw served with a spicy Calypso Dressing.

Excellent! Honestly, probably the best thing I had at dinner (besides dessert of course). The dressing was definitely not spicy, at least according to my Mexican mouth, but had a great zing to it.

DH ordered the Pirates Golden “Pot Stickers”. Oriental Pork Dumplings deep fried and served with a tamarind-ginger soy sauce and pickled vegetables.

He loved his pot stickers! In college, I remember he always had some type of pot stickers in his freezer, so I think this kind of took him back to the old college days of no food in the houe!

For my main, I chose the Captain Hook’s Macadamia Nut-Dusted Mahi Mahi with Jasmine rice and sautéed Pineapple on a mild curry sauce

This is EXACTLY what I had at Coral Reef in Epcot back in 2008. Except, this was very dry and not that good, which was a total disappointment. I didn’t even halfway finish it.

DH ordered the Treasure of the Seas Grilled Shrimp and Seared Scallops
Served on strings of Pasta and fresh creamy tomato sauce.

DH wasn’t happy with his dish either. He said the shrimp was a little rubbery and the sauce was very bland.

LUCKILY, desserts made up for it!

And YES, we ordered 3 desserts!

Rum soaked Chocolate Cake with raspberry glaze and whipped cream

Fruit Cobbler with vanilla icecream

and the Sweet Temptations - a trio of fruit cobbler, floating island and chocolate cake

Looking back now, I don’t know why I got the trio, when we ordered 2 of the 3 things that were already on the trio! I should have ordered the banana chocolate crepe of the angel food cake or something. Oh well, it doesn’t really matter, since I ate ALL OF IT! Come on, we were starving! Our main dishes weren’t that great at all.

So we decided that for our next cruise, we’re going to try to book Palo for dinner on Pirate night, since we know we won’t be missing much.

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi Lesha - what a great update! (I need to go back now and read all again with pictures )

I'm so impressed you got to the gym most days - I go nearly every day at home and brough workout clothes with me so I could use it on the ship, but never made it there!

You got some great pictures of the Dream next to the Carnival Sensation ship - it made us realise too how grand & amazing our ship was!

Lol my DH wore eye-liner (or 'guy liner' ) for pirate night too.. we actually brought full pirate costumes with us - then realised that not many people dress up for POTC night


And CONGRATULATIONS on your news!!



Emma x

 

[MommaMouse411]

lesha too bad..I'm doing the 7day western in october.....and congrats on wanting to start a family...trust me this will not be your last cruise...I thought the same way when I got pregnant with my 3yr old..i went on carnival cruise when I was 13wks pregnant..and said well this is my last cruise for a very very long time...LOL....Miguel was 2 and my baby boy was 8months...and we had soooo much fun on the cruise..I still talk about that cruise!!

 

[Leshaface]

Hi Lesha - what a great update! (I need to go back now and read all again with pictures )

I'm so impressed you got to the gym most days - I go nearly every day at home and brough workout clothes with me so I could use it on the ship, but never made it there!

You got some great pictures of the Dream next to the Carnival Sensation ship - it made us realise too how grand & amazing our ship was!

Lol my DH wore eye-liner (or 'guy liner' ) for pirate night too.. we actually brought full pirate costumes with us - then realised that not many people dress up for POTC night


And CONGRATULATIONS on your news!!



Emma x

Thanks Emma!

Yeah my DH and I were DETERMINED to get to the gym a few days while we were on the cruise! Especially because we knew we would be over-eating AND in bathing suits!

And @ the guy-liner! I'm actually surprised at how easy it was to convince DH to wear it...and I must say, he looked pretty hot! Oh Yay! I hope you took pics of you guys in your pirate costumes! There were some couples that were completely decked out and I was extremely jealous that we couldn't do it.

lesha too bad..I'm doing the 7day western in october.....and congrats on wanting to start a family...trust me this will not be your last cruise...I thought the same way when I got pregnant with my 3yr old..i went on carnival cruise when I was 13wks pregnant..and said well this is my last cruise for a very very long time...LOL....Miguel was 2 and my baby boy was 8months...and we had soooo much fun on the cruise..I still talk about that cruise!!

Oh man! We're gonna miss you by a few months! You're just gonna have to give me some tips about that cruise when you get back then! Like when Pirate night is, so I can try to make ressies for Palo DH is a teacher, so the only times we'll ever be able to vacation is during Summer and Winter. HOWEVER, he'll always get the second week of in October for some reason, but he coaches JV football at a different school, so we have to be there for that (even though that would be the most IDEAL time to visit WDW considering there would be no crowds and great weather )

I'm pretty sure what's going to happen is, after this upcoming cruise, DH is gonna be like, "Well, let's just book another cruise and try for a kid on that one!"

 

[Leshaface]

We all went back to our rooms really quick, since the boys wanted to grab some of their cigars that they bought while on Nassau and smoke them while watching the fireworks. Found this cute guy waiting for us on our bed.

Then we went to the 13th deck where the Currents Bar is (and where smoking is allowed) and were able to watch some of the fireworks. Sorry for the blurry pics.

I’m not sure why I took a picture of the side of the deck. I guess it looked cool with all the colors glowing at night time.

And the boys “trying” to look cool….I mean what’s cooler than wearing eye make-up, wearing mickey mouse bandanas, whilst smoking a Cuban?....yeah, I guess there are MANY things cooler than this, but we’ll let them live in their moment!

After the fireworks, there is this really neat dance/music party on the main deck.

After listening to the DJ and dancing for a little bit, we went to go check out the Dessert bar in Cabanas. There was a ton of desserts here! Along with some other random foods like a small taco bar. And I’m dumb and didn’t get any pictures of the fabulous buffet of desserts.

I forgot to add this to the 2nd or 3rd night. There is an adult game in the evening around 10pm I believe, and it’s called Match Your Mate. It’s like the Newlywed game and it’s HILARIOUS! This is something you MUST check out and it only happened one night. Well, after we grabbed our food, we sat at one of the tables, and the four of us played our own ‘Match Your Mate’! It was soooo funny and there was so many things I didn’t know about my DB and DSIL! There were even some similarities between our answers! It was very fun and passed the time.

After dessert, we decided to just go back to the rooms and rest up for our last and final full day on the ship manana. WAAAAAH!

DH wanted to take a picture of me in my ‘Pirate’ dress before we hit the hay, so see, I did attempt to look like a pirate! There were some women though that went ALL OUT, and I totally regretted not buying a real costume. Maybe next time?

 

[disneybarbie]

Thanks Emma!

......
And @ the guy-liner! I'm actually surprised at how easy it was to convince DH to wear it...and I must say, he looked pretty hot! Oh Yay! I hope you took pics of you guys in your pirate costumes! There were some couples that were completely decked out and I was extremely jealous that we couldn't do it.

Yup we were definitely one of 'those couples' who were completely decked out... full costumes and hats - we'd been to Disney World in October and saw what great costumes people had for Halloween, so we assumed Pirate night on the cruise would be the same? ... you can guess how surprised we were when we got up to Deck 11 for the show and saw only about 1 in 10 people were dressed up! I'll post photos in my TR, should get to that night soon


Emma x

 

[hardingk]

Great update! Sorry the food didn't taste that great, but it looks awesome! We are getting really excited for our cruise!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Excellent updates and photos!!!

Your Western Caribbean itinerary for December looks great! You are going to a few beautiful places, and you get to enjoy a couple of days at sea! Cozumel is great by the way!

You guys looked adorable on Pirate Night! Sorry you didn't enjoy your dinner so much, but it looks like the desserts were the star of that meal for sure! LOL, sometimes I choose a restaurant just based on desserts...I see a unique one on the menu and I just have to go there and try it!

I must say...your review is getting me more excited for Saturday's cruise! Unfortunately, DS4 has a sinus infection ...but it just started, I took him to the doctor today and she put him on Zithromax...he will be finished with it Friday, the day before we leave. She gave me a prescription for DS6 just in case, and I will bring it with us, but hopefully he will not need it. She said that if he is sick and we have to bring him to the ship's doctor, we could just let them know we already have the medication so we don't have to wait for it there, and hope that they have it. She said that DS4 should be fine by tomorrow night. Thank goodness! I was so nervous.

Anyway, I enjoyed everything you updated and all the pics!

 

[Jktrush]

I love reading your trip report and seeing all of the pictures! It's definately one of the best ones I have read! Your dress for pirate night was adorable! I think I am going to try to find something like for our cruise in oct. Can't wait for the rest of your report!

 

[Shell54]

Another great update. I kind of liked the Pirate menu..the crab cake was good and I also got the seafood pasta dish and my scallops were very sweet and tender..the shrimp in it were just ok and the sauce and pasta were odd LOL. We had a lot of fun with our table mates that nite we sat with 2 other couples around our ages and got a kick out the whole pirate thing. Your dress was adorable