Dreaming with our 20m old, Cousin's Vow Renewal 10/30-11/3 (Videos added posts 2 & 3)

[ArielRae]

Points of interest about our cruise.

Cast:
Me - Rae
DH - Steve
DS - Connor
(My Parents)
Connor's Grandma
Connor's Grandpa

This will be our first Disney family vacation with DS.

We are flying out of Atlantic City International on Spirit Air with DS as a lap child. Flight is at 6am so it is going to be a lot of fun getting DS in the car at 3am without waking him so he can hopefully get more sleep in car on the ride there and not be cranky.

We are attending my cousins vow renewal they are having on the ship.
We have book nursery time for DS while we are at my cousins vow renewal.

We'll be staying one night after the cruise at Pop Century so we can take a morning flight the next day.

I have packed our own pack n play for the cruise and it measures 40 x 40. It should be more comfortable for DS to sleep in just hope it fits ok. From what I have seen and read our stateroom 8666 which is a deluxe family stateroom should be big enough to fit it comfortably. I'll let you know and even try to remember to take pictures.

I am not much of a writer but I figured I might be able to help with some info on a toddler on the Dream. So let me know if there is anything you would like me to find out about traveling with a toddler.

I can answer any questions now before we travel too!

 

[ArielRae]

Embarcation Day

Well we are back so on with the report. Just a reminder I'm not much of a writer so please forgive my errors.

Top things we miss:

DS really misses Nemos Reef.
DH misses the total relaxation he felt.
I miss not having to cook
My parents miss all the time they got with their grandson.

Our day started at 2am day of departure. We weren't sure about the weather as we had that noreaster coming thru so we were hoping for the best. DH and I got ready before we got DS up. After we were ready and had all the bags ready to go we woke DS up at 3am. Now I was really stressing about how DS would react to being woken up that early and put out into the car but he did great. We got him up trying not to wake him, changed his diaper, left him in his jammies and put him right in the car with his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ready to play as I was not sure if he would go back to sleep or stay up. He ended up staying awake so he watched his cartoon on the way to the Atlantic City airport. We were flying Spirit Air with DS as a lap child. Checking into the airport was a breeze and they had no problems with the weather so we could stop worrying about not getting to the ship on time. Our 6am flight left right on time.

The flight was good. DS only fussed during take off and landing because he couldn't watch his cartoons and we had to try and keep him occupied until he could watch them again. Check in at the airport for our cruise at the Magical Express desk was quick and once we were done we got right on the bus as they had already started boarding the donald duck group as we finished up our check in. We got a boarding number 3 for the ship.

The bus ride was quick and DS like watching the onboard video. We were wondering when DS would nap since he had been up since 3am and he finally fell asleep on the bus at around 10:30 as we were getting close to the boat. He got a good hour of sleep and finally woke up when everyone clapped for the family of the day while waiting in the cruise treminal. We didn't have to wait long as we had boarding number 3.

When we boarded we were told to go to Echanted garden but from reading on the DIS we decided to go to cabanas cause they were supposed to have more choices for young children. Well right as we walk into Cabanas DS decides to have a Diaper blowout all over DH's shirt. Now one thing I didn't like about Cabanas is that the bathrooms are on opposite sides of Nemos Reef and of course we were on the mens side so DH went into the bathroom to change while I had to make the walk to the other side with DS to get him all cleaned up and changed.

With everyone now cleaned up we finally got into Cabanas to eat. I found my self dissapointed with this first day buffet here. The following days were better but we really didn't care for the food here this day. We ended up eating at mater's quick service and got burgers and hot dogs.

After lunch we meet with family that was also on the cruise for my cousins vow renewal. After meeting with family for a while it was finally time to see our stateroom and we were very pleased with it. We had a stateroom 8666. We quickly got settled in and set up DS's pack n play once it showed up. It measures 40x40 and it fit perfectly with plently of room.

After getting settled in DH and I went and delivered all our FE gifts. I made DISer name tags for everyone. We had about 40 rooms in our FE so we walked the entire ship. Surpisingly we delivered everyones gift really quickly but we got a good workout walking all those long halls and taking all those stairs. After delivering our gifts we went to the muster drill. We had our station in Evolutions. Which was nice to be indoors. DS didn't mind the loud alarm that went off. He only didn't like that we had to keep him in one area while we waited for the all clear to leave.

Once we were dismissed we went back to the room organized a few more things then headed up to the deck for sail away. All the decks were packed so we skipped seeing the show and went to the front of the boat on deck 13 to watch us sail away. DS loved the winds and even found a loose streamer that someone lost and loved playing with it.

Video of Connor infront of ship during sail away
http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa232/kerf_99/disney/?action=view&current=Deck2.mp4

Dinner that night was good. We ended up getting our own table with DS in a high chair. We were supposed to be seated with the rest of our family but they messed up so we had them reassign us a new table and they gave us table 53 which is a four top so we enjoyed eating with just our family which worked out well as we never stayed long cause DS isn't one to sit for very long.

The rest of the night was short as we had been up a long time and as usual the first night hits us hard with the motion so we went to bed early unfortunatly we missed our adult DISer meet at the adult pool that night.

Let me know of any questions you have. I'll continue more of the report below.

 

[ArielRae]

Nassu Day - Cousins Vow Renewal - Halloween

This day was a long day.

This was DH first time to Nassau so I took him on a quick walk to the straw market. It started raining once we got off the ship so it was a quick look see this is Nassua and back on the ship. While we were on shore my parents took DS to Nemos Reef which turned out to be his favorite place. Whenever he saw it he would try to drag us there so he could go in.

Video of Connor playing in Nemo's Reef
http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa232/kerf_99/disney/?action=view&current=Raesnemoreef.mp4

After we got back on the ship and DS was done at Nemo's Reef we got DS feed and ready for his Nursery time which was booked for 11:30 - 1:30 for DS so we could attend my cousins wedding. DS enjoyed his time there. He even tried climbing over the fence to get in once he saw all the toys. They told us he was all over the place playing with all those toys.

The wedding was small yet nice. I didn't think it was nice enough for the price Disney charges I'd rather have mine in WDW but it wasn't mine so. yea. The cake was not done very well. You can kinda see it in the picture. Whoever was incharge of putting on the fondant needs more practice cause it was very lumpy.

This night was Halloween but unfortunatly because of the rain they canceled the trick or treating and instead delivered small bags of candy to each stateroom. Glad we grabbed alot of the good chocolate candy thru out the day from the decorations and buckets at cabanas. Before you start thinking you took from the decorations. Well the castmembers helped. I was looking for TWIX and they starting grabbing lots of them right of the displays for me. You can grab anything you wanted and they just filled it right back up.

We didn't attend any of the costume contests as we weren't all dolled up but we were comfortable to be dressed up for dinner. We were dressed as Toy Story. DS was Woody, DH was Buzz and I was Jessie. Didn't get much pics this night other then a few from dinner at Animator's Palette. This was DS favorite resturant. He loved looking around at all the screens but once dinner started he only was focused on eating and the ipod I brought to help keep him entertained.

During this this trip we didn't stay out much after Dinner but this night DH and I made it to see Villans Tonight. I heard not so good things about this show but DH and I enjoyed it. We sat in the balcony to the right of the stage. They had some nice seats and it was also nice cause we walked in not much before the show started and were very happy to get these seats.

 

[ArielRae]

Castaway Cay

Today DH and I had the Hike and Kayak excursion. it started at 9:30 and wasn't supposed to end until lunch time so the Connor's grandparents got to have him for the day.

We meet our tour group at marge's barges but since we were early we went and got some pictures taken.

once all our group showed up we were off. We had to take the tram car out to the adult beach. Along the way the tour guide informed us that the winds were high that day so we were going to skip the tour during the hike and just huff it out to the kayaks so we could do that before the weather got worse. When we got to the kayaks they went over a few things about what we needed to do cause of the strong winds and then got everyone into the boats. DH wasn't sure how I would do but we did great at it considering the conditions. We did much better then a lot of the others. We kayaked around the island and stopped half way for the tour guide to tell us about the island. Then came the hard part. kayaking out was easy as the wind was behind our backs now we had to go against the wind. By the time we had got back everyone was hurting in one way or anouther. Only one boat didn't make it back to where we were supposed to meet and funny enough it was those that was part of my cousins wedding party. Now that the kayak part was over which took longer then expected cause of the conditions we had the tour on the way back. It was a nice informational tour but by the time we got back to the adult beach we all were starving. The food was fabulous that could be cause I was starving tho. The ribs were the best part in my opinion tho so many on the Dis have said the steak nope I liked the ribs.

After lunch DH and I slowly walked back to the ship stopping to shop and pick up a Konk Kooler to try. Which was very good and that is from someone who hates the taste of anything with alchoal but figured I'd give it a try since I heard good things and I am on vacations so I figured if it wasn't good I'd just toss it. but it turned out very good. No alchoal taste at all.

This night was pirate night so we got cleaned up and dresses once we got back to the ship. We got lots of pictures taken this night. We had our pirate Dinner in Enchated Garden.

Again after dinner we didn't do anything but my parents did make it to the pirate party and told me they were disappointed with the fireworks. They had hoped it would have been better then what it was.

 

[ArielRae]

Sea Day

I was a little dissapointed with sea day. I was hoping they would be offering more activites but nope. So DS spend alot of time in Nemos Reef so no complaint from him. He also enjoyed the all you caneat Banana flovored ice cream

DH and I played bingo which we have been doing. I forgot to mention that. We found ourselved disapointed with the bingo. They charge you about $50 per game but the prizes they give you are only about $150 even with the room full of people playing. Next time DH and I are only going to play the last two games on the last day since that it the chance to win the big prizes. We never won a game but did win one of the raffle prizes. it was a DVC bag with a few items and a Stitch doll. DH said that was an expensice prize as we ended spending $140 in bingo and we didn't even bother going to the last game as we had lost that much already.

We did do the vegi race. sadly we didn't win that either but it was a lot of fun to do. Here is a picture of everyones cars before they were raced and destroyed. Ours is the one on the bottom right

 

[ArielRae]

Departure Day

We made sure we were up bright an early. we skipped going back to our assigned resturant and was in cabanas before they opened. We then lined up and were able to be the first few people off the ship. We had a night at Pop Century booked so we got to our bus early and was on the way. Of course Pop was great like always and I can't wait to get back there for our WDW trip.

Some other info from our trip.

A good tip is so grab extra cartons of milk and straws at breakfast and put them in your fridge so your little one can have milk in the stateroom anytime they want. Especially early in the morning before the Buffett opens up. Oh we would also grab a few bananas for the room so he had something to eat in the room to. Sometimes you need food and drink sooner then room services or going to Cabanas can get it to you when a toddler is upset and hungry when he wakes up.

Be sure if you want pictures with the characters that you line up 10-15 min before it is supposed to start so you don't have a longer wait. We had one of us wait in line while the other followed DS while he walked around and kept occupied.

We skipped using a stroller on the boat. It was just more difficult to try and use it. Couldn't catch the elevators with enough room for it and the halls are tough to get down with people and cleaning carts. Even our small umbrella stroller was a pain so we just left it in the room until port days. We just let DS walk or carried him.

Using the stairs is alot better then the elevators even when you are carrying a child. It is quicker then waiting for an elevator to have enough room to fit.

Here are a few more pics from the trip.

 

[tntstults]

I'm glad I found your thread. We are taking our DD 5 years old and DD 21 months old on a cruise. We don't go until January 2012 but my youngest DD will be 21 months at the time and I"m curiuos how it will be. We took DD (5) when she was 2.5 and she needed naps which made dinner tough and she didn't nap well. she just didn't want to! how can you blame her! Please let me know any tips you have and how it went when you return! Have a blast!

 

[ArielRae]

Yea, we are concerned on how he'll nap on the cruise too.
We have alot going on and some will throw off the nap schedule.

First day we are leaving at 3am to catch our 6am flight. Hoping we can get him from crib to carseat with him still asleep. Also staterooms aren't ready until 1:30 so he will have to sleep in his stroller or wait until then to nap.

Second day my cousin is having a vow renewal and we booked nursery time and it is from 11:30 - 1:30 which is around the time he is supposed to nap. Who knows if he will nap in there or wait untill we pick him up for him to nap.

Castaway Cay day DH and I are doing the kayak and hike excursion and grandparents will be watching him for the day so hopefully they'll take him for a nap right after lunch at 11:30(he likes to eat early). He dosen't like to nap for them.

Sea day we want to do Palo brunch so again DS will be with grandparents.

Anouther thing we are worried about is dinner he is used to eating dinner at around 4:30 (we have first seating but that isn't untill 5:45 earliest) so we are planning on getting him something at his normal dinnertime and then see if he will want to eat more later. He is also usually asleep as early as 7pm so hopfuly he makes it thru dinner. Already talked it over with my parents and they want to take him back to the room if he gets upset at dinner so we can enjoy dinner.

Lots of fun with a toddler so hopefully I am over thinking what can happen and everything is fun and runs smoothly.

 

[tntstults]

The traveling won't be fun I'm sure. But maybe pack extra treats like a baby friendly sucker or gummy snacks. I'm going to put together a little fun pack for my girls for the plane trip. I found some neat Disney stickers at the Dollar Tree and I'm going to find them little notebooks and see what else I can put together along with some snacks.

Are you packing diapers or using babiestravelite?

Regardless of what happens you'll have a great time!

 

[ArielRae]

I packed diapers and swim diaper. Only doing a short trip so don't need as many so easy to pack.

 

[ArielRae]

Well we had to take DS to the ER monday. After we got him already for bed he ran around the house and he ended up slipping on one of his board books and went head first into our TV stand.

He got a good cut on the bridge of his nose and starting bleeding out of one side. luckly at this age there is no bone for him to break. They ended up putting glue on his nose since it wasn't bad enough for stitches. Last time we had an ER visit he got two stitches in his lip. Hoping he is healed enough before the trip so we can get those cute pictures of him.

The fun of having a boy.

Picture of DS while waiting at the ER.

 

[tntstults]

Awe, poor guy! Isnt' that the way it always happens? When my older daughter was just 1, she fell on Christmas even and hit her eye, so Christmas day she had a black eye. I could've cried i was so sad about it.

I'm glad he's ok. Good thing kids are resilient! Have fun on your cruise!!! Oh wait, you're on your cruise now! I'm so jealous!

 

[ArielRae]

We are back!

I have the first day report up and will try to get the rest out as quick as possible.

Let me know of any questionas you have.

 

[ArielRae]

Well it is done. Sorry the best I can do. Never been good at writing.

Let me know of any question you might have. I'm better at answering questions.

 

[poison ivy]

Great report. Love your photos! Your son seemed to do really well travelling and I'm happy to hear Nemo's Reef was a hit!

We've been hoping for some Halloween cruisers to post as we're planning to cruise the dream 10/31/13. I know I know, it's two long years away but given Halloween on the Dream will only have two prior cruises to report in from, I'd like check them both out.

Questions:

Your cousin's ceremony seemed really quick with a champagne toast and cake. Is that all that was arranged or did it include lunch? Where was it held?

Trick or treating was rained out? That doesn't sound right. Did they deliver candy to every stateroom or just those with children?

Do you happen to have the navigator from the 31st?

We're from S. Jersey too, and I'm really trying to gauge the weather. How was it temp wise?

 

[ArielRae]

Questions:

Your cousin's ceremony seemed really quick with a champagne toast and cake. Is that all that was arranged or did it include lunch? Where was it held?
No lunch just cake and champagne. it was held on Deck 13 in the outlook lounge

Trick or treating was rained out? That doesn't sound right. Did they deliver candy to every stateroom or just those with children?
They delivered candy to staterooms with children

Do you happen to have the navigator from the 31st? No sorry didn't hang on to our navigators. We were over luggage weight as it was with all the FE gifts we got. Had over 40 in our group.

We're from S. Jersey too, and I'm really trying to gauge the weather. How was it temp wise? It was in the upper 70's to low 80's.

.

 

[ArielRae]

Just finished our shutterfly photobook. Posted a link to it on the last day post.

 

[missusa82]

Funny seeing the back of our tye-dyed shirts in the photo you have when the muster drill was going on! I'm glad I recognized you as a fellow Diser!

 

[ArielRae]

 

[ArielRae]

I finally was able to add the videos to posts 2 and 3.