Eastern 1/19/2008 Where is the !@#$ Ship? No seriously... where's the ship?!

[bertalander]

I enjoyed reading so many trip reports prior to our cruise that I decided to do my own. Sorry, no sharp witty humor here. But I'll put up tons of pictures. How's that?!

Our story started back in June of 2007 when my MIL asked we'd like to take a Disney Cruise. Well.... YEH! I've only dreamed of it since the days of the Big Red Ship! So, MIL, SIL and I do what any modern woman would do... we each pulled out our laptops and began researching!

By September my MIL had booked all sixteen of us for the cruise. When my MIL called with the news I was near tears excited. I think I said "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!" for about ten minutes straight.

What a wonderful gift!

So our cast included:

DH-- really organized awesome packing husband who rocks
ME--the wife/mom that spent waaaay too much time reading on the DIS boards and not enough time helping above DH pack.
DD-- T1 (11) Celebrated her birthday on the cruise was 10 going on 16 it seemed like with the attitude.
DS-- T2 (7) Mickey crazed happy child
DS-- T3 (5) Little Wild Man with peanut/tree nut allergies (more on allergies later)

And then the rest of our family on DH's side. We had four staterooms for the younger families and then my in-laws had a room up on the sixth deck.

We had a tiny trip scare in early January when my son was diagnosed with Whooping Cough. Yes, Whooping Cough. And, yes, he was immunized. At one point the state health department warned me we couldn't cruise as we had not all started antibiotics yet. Yes, I started crying. Then the hospital messed up his second sample... it just went on and on. But in the end multiple tests revealed he did not have Whooping Cough (despite the first positive test) and just had a bad asthma flare with pnemonia quickly followed by a bad cold. We were cleared by the state and pulm after another chest xray on 1/17. Talk about STRESS.

______________________________

Finally, everything was packed and ready to go. Everyone else was flying in on the 19th, but since we live up in South Alabama we opted to drive instead. We checked the kids out at 11:30 a.m. (the earliest you can check out without counting as an absence), ate a quick lunch, grabbed Starbucks (Venti White Peppermint Mochoa extra hot, non-fat for me thank you!) and hit the road.

Kids slept and played games tons. (Darn that broken DVD player!)

T3 had a firm hold on Spotty, his beloved Webkinz the WHOLE time.

Trip was uneventful. We did stop in Gainesville to get burritos for me and DH at Chipotles. (We don't have Chiptoles in our tiny town )

We arrived at the Sheraton four points in Orlando around 10 pm I think.

And promptly collapsed.

 

[bertalander]

We were out the door by about 8:00 a.m. Figured a nice slow drive to the Port.

HA!

We had NO idea how slow.

The fog was so thick you couldn't see more than ten feet perhaps. We live on the coast and we are used to bad fog... but this was horrible fog.

I called my brother who happened to be in Orlando as well with his family as my niece was in a soccer series being played at Disney. My brother said on the little 3 on 3 fields they couldn't even see the goal from one end!

Anyways, we get going. Plan to stop for breakfast along the way. Find the world MOST difficult to find McDonalds on a CLEAR day forget a foggy day. And hop back on the road.

About now we should point out that Mapquest has a it's limits. And you should ALWAYS double check your directions. Oh yeh... we went on some little wild goose chase the wrong way due to us blindly following directions. I flipped over the printed out sheet and saw what happened, we were being sent to the center of Cape Canaveral instead of the ports. Fine. A quick U-turn (and an exclamation from T3 "Hey! Why are we going back?!") and we were good to go...

Or so we thought.

We come to the bridge. The bridge that I had read over and over that you could get your first glimpse of the Magic.

We crest the bridge, and guess what? Nothing but...

FOG.

Ok, no problem.

Suddenly we are approaching signs for the Port. But nothing about which terminal is Disney. Seriously, they can't have a Mickey road sign or something? Keep in mind, thanks to the Mapquest Saga we don't have the actual terminal number easily accessible at this point. So, we take the second exit (mistake). And drive around in a panic looking for the Magic.

Looking back it's funny. But, uh, it really wasn't then. We were getting stressed out!

Eventually I broke down and called my Dad back in Alabama and begged him to find the directions online for me. Remember: the fog is SO thick it's scary. So, sweet Dad calls me back. As we are talking DH takes a turn and suddenly the fog gives up the most wonderful sight ever... the Magic! Dad is giving me directions as I'm squealing "We see it, we see it!!!!"

And so, around 10:00 a.m. we finally arrive.

By the time we dropped off bags and parked (we just walked together) the had started letting people in. I left DH to check in while I went and parked in the Kids' Clubs line. Crazy long line.

Kids check in was easy. But DD T1 was started to get excited/stressed. Which means she is acting REALLY ugly. Sigh. I really am not liking these tween years.

Eventually everyone was tagged (and had clean hands!) and the boarding started not ten minutes later.

We had boarding pass number five. But it was called pretty quickly, truthfully.

And suddenly we were walking on!

I headed straight to RBD for a last ditch attempt to get the sixteen of us on the early dining. I had ZERO expectations it would work out. At check-in DH was told we were on late dining. But by the time I got to RBD and inquired we had moved up to early! How cool is that? The Palo line was crazy long. Since we already had reservations for all adults I decided to wait until later (I wanted to combined us all at one table.)

Since we were cold we decided to have lunch at Parrot Cay. Our server got the chef right away to help me out with what was safe for T3 our food allergic child. One woman we sat with mentioned her DD had the same allergies and did great with DCL. That made me happy. We would run into our tablemates again another night.

After lunch we started to explore while making calls to family to find out who was where. One family had their flight totally canceled but was rebooked in plenty of time to arrive. Thank goodness! Everyone else was in Orlando by this point and loading up on the buses. Woo hoo!

We eventually find our rooms (we were on the first deck and didn't realize we couldn't get to it certain way at that point!)

We meet our room steward, Albert, and pop into our rooms. DH, T2, T3 and myself are all in one room. In our room we find a nice memory box on our bed.

I just LOVE surprises. Turns out we all got one from DU. Wasn't that nice?

T3 was staying next door with her Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. T3 discovers a wonderful surprise in her stateroom as well. Birthday decorations!

We did quick drop in visits in the kids club areas. Then found MIL/FIL and DH's youngest sister and her husband on deck nine. We were thrilled to find each other finally. About then other SIL calls and they are boarding. So we rush down to clap and yell and cheer them on as they are announced.

We're still missing one family. But we know there are on the Disney Bus, waiting. So, we know they will arrive safe and sound. And for once it isn't BIL's fault they are late!

Time for a our muster (or as I found in my DD's journal... MUSTARD) drill. Since we are on deck 1 we get to muster in the big theater. I was excited about that... until I thought about a sinking ship. BIL calls to say they are on the way, but they are told they will be missing the muster. Thank goodness my MIL decided to use the Disney Transfer. We know they will get on board as we know the ship will wait for the bus! Anyways, we muster. It's all good.

We had agreed to all meet up on Deck 10 for the party. I brought out my bubbles. I needed bubbles for all the kids, right?!

Within five minutes my jeans are soaked as I attempt to get the durn bubbles open. No bubbles next time!!

The kids are dancing around and loving the music.

And then at the absolute last second... the bus arrives and our whole family is there. Hooray!

Party was over. We rushed to get everyone dressed and ready for dinner at AP.

We met our servers: Luis and Graham. We enjoyed them both very much. Dinner was wonderful. I have zero recollection as to what I had. But it was good! Luis was great about T3's food allergies and carefully checked on his food. Made me feel confident about him being safe!

Dinner wasn't over and the kids ALL (as in all six of them) wanted to head out to the clubs. So, we got everyone checked in. DH and I wandered around on deck nine for a while. But it was crazy windy. About the time I was ready to call it quits we got a page that T3 was ready to be picked up.

Found our animal towel of the night: a swan.

And then we all collapsed.

Not a bad first day, I would say! But seriously, write down that terminal number. You never know: you may need it!

 

[Bethipooh4]

We had Luis and Graham too, only second seating, table 39/40(there were ONLY 10 of us)..
Weren't they FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!

Great TR so far...

 

[bertalander]

No way!! You had Luis and Graham, too?! How cool is that? We were at 40/41! We really enjoyed both of them very much. They were always on top of things.

 

[bertalander]

Mickey called to wake us up WAAAAY too early it seemed. But the kids were easy to get going as it was our Character Breakfast morning.

Now, I have read that many people don't like the way it is now. But this was the first time for us. And I know we seem to be in a minority, but we loved it. Then again, I was stinking excited to be there I don't care HOW they did it! We have done Chef Mickey's a couple of times. I think the kids had fun dancing and parading around. Pluto did stop by our table. (But the pictures turned out awful, so I am not posting it!)

Kids all opted for clubs at this point. The boys were making Flubber this morning. And T3 had some fun in Ocean Quest. She won human BINGO and later had a nice little prize and note delivered to her state room. (Some HSM2 stuff if I recall).We joined B/R and T/K for the 'Art of Entertaining' in Studio Sea. It was a nice (and yummy).

Then we snagged Mickey autograph in the atrium.

Then it was time for the pool and lunch from place of choice. I discovered panninis from Goofy's this day. I would almost always get lunch here the whole cruise. Yum. This was the kids' first time on the Mickey slide. They LOVED it! DH brought some Malibu along to add to my lemonade. Yummy!

After lunch and swim everyone got dressed. DH took the kids to see Underdog along with the snacks we brought along. And I took a blessed nap!

Then it was time to get ready for formal night.

Alas, this is the ONLY picture I have of us from formal night. I was huffy at DH that he didn't let us get portraits. Sigh. Oh well.

We got Daisy's autograph at Preludes...

And headed in for Golden Mickeys.

Loved the show. But the tentacles freaked out T1 a bit we later learned. Poor thing! FIL decided he wanted each family to have a Golden Mickey. So ours is now proudly displayed on the shelf.

After a quick run by Deck 9 for a drinks and a bit of the big game (which I had ZERO interest in) I headed back down with the kids.

Animal towel of the night... dog... or as T3 was convinced... goat?!

And we all collapsed again.

 

[bertalander]

Today was our prearranged family portrait day. And might I say that Shane, the portrait manager, is just wonderful?!

Ok, so T2 wakes up and asks me to open the curtain so he can watch the water. He was so happy just laying there. How cute is that?

We got up and headed to Topsiders for breakfast. T1 could not be woken up, so we gave up and left her with B/R and her cousin. Tired kid! At Topsiders T3 asks for turkey. As I reach for it I realize that the meat next to it has pistachios in it. Tommy will have an instant anaphylactic reaction to pistachios. I quickly ushered him down the line feeling paranoid about nuts suddenly. But all was well. (And NO I didn't let him have the turkey he opted for cereal, fruit and yogurt!) It was CRAZY windy. We sat outside behind Topsiders. We had to keep warning people not to sit by the water as their whole trays would blow off the table!

Back to the room to get ready for pictures. Remember that T1 was so tired? Well, she was so tired that she lost her black shirt that was for the family portrait. UGH! She wore it Saturday night for dinner, but now it's gone. The search is fruitless... so DH sprints down to the shops and buys her a black shirt that reads "The beatings will continue until morale improves". I found it to be appropriate! We had her wear it backwards and all is well. Sigh.

I had planned for us to be on the white background. But a family member requested we not do white. So to try for family peace and harmony I asked Shane to just do an atrium picture. I wish I had asked Shane to have BOTH done. But oh well. My fault I didn't, right?! It's great to have a picture of us all together none-the-less.

After pictures we find out that my MIL and BIL had won a twist contest the night before. The prize sounded exciting for a second: an envelope for the spa. But then we found out it was a for a body analysis. Uh... no thanks!!!!! Still, wish we had been there to see them dancing. Sounds like they had fun!
Back to pool for a bit.

We let the kids eat poolside then they all wanted to head to clubs. We came back to Topsiders for the Asian buffet (not safe for Tommy). The stir fry station was yummy!

We then snagged the kids and hit Twice Charmed. LOVE the matinée option. Great show. Loved the actors. They were fabulous!

Tonight is Sorcerer Mickey pictures. T2 is so excited he's shaking like a puppy. I would not been surprised in the least to see him faint he was so excited! I LOVE how the picture turned out. (Which is what made me wish we'd done all 16 of us on the white! I digress...)

Tonight's dinner was a Lumiere's. T3 was nodding at his place. Poor kid, he was TIRED!

After dinner I let the boys look around the shops for a bit and then we headed back to the room.

Towel animal of the night was an elephant!

DH went to see National Treasure while T1 went to the High School Musical Night at Ocean Quest. And I enjoyed my book. T1 paged me about 11:40 pm. She was so ready for bed.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Awesome TR so far! Thanks for taking the time to share it with us! I look forward to more!

Edited to add:
As I was posting this original one, you had already added another post! Now that I've read it I just wanted to say that your family pics turned out really great!

 

[bertalander]

Thanks! I do so love that small family picture. It'll be matted and framed for SURE.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

They do such a nice job with these style pics onboard. We got a nice family portrait in December when we cruised. We used it for Christmas cards, too.
I have a frame but still have to get it all put together and hung up.

 

[bertalander]

Ok, my last installment for today. But I'll be back. Honest!

B/R are T3's GodParents. They asked if they could take him on a shore excursion. Anyone reading this that has kids with issues will understand our anxiety about this. I LOVE B/R... adore them. And R is actually a Paramedic in real life (or as T3 says... Uncle R is a Rescue Hero!) So I know R can give T3 adrenaline in an emergency and keep him safe. But it's still a bit hard!! IN the end I knew he'd be fine with them. So in the a.m. B/R came to snag T3 for the Land and Sea excursion and promised not to feed the little wild man anything! They had a blast. We'd meet up with them later by the pool.

We had a nice quiet morning. Ran into MIL/FIL on deck 9 and asked if they would like to wander around town with us. So about 9:15 we headed off the ship and caught the water taxi. Fun Island Music on board! And the water was so pretty.

DH had seen the "Yoda Guy Shop" and wanted to take T2 in there as he adores anything StarWars. It was cool.

Then we had a drink at the Black Pearl while T1 had her hair braided (I tried to get her to do it on board but she said no... what a strange child sometimes!)

We let the kids wander and grab shells.

Then the boys hit the liquor store. The kids were moaning and groaning something awful about sandy feet. (Really whining big time.. sigh) A kind local by the bathroom at the water taxi stop showed us fresh water for them to rinse their feet with. They were MUCH happier then! MIL found the little casino and said "see ya!" So, we headed back to the ship for lunch and swimming.

It was lovely to have the pool be so much more empty! B/R were back with T3. He had quite the adventure and LOVED it. DH and R helped T3 and Z play some ping pong.

After lunch I had the boys write in their journals and T2 had to do school work. (Only one teacher sent along work, but she sent along TONS!) Then the kids went to clubs while FIL kept the pager. DH and I rode the water taxi back to town and had a nice little walk. Before heading back to get ready for...

PIRATE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!


And really, besides the pictures... I don't have much to share about Pirate Night. We had a blast. Copious amounts of rum was involved. Kids danced. Fireworks ROCKED.

Edited to add: AP Pirate Night Dancing with (of course) Luis and Graham

As you can see our entire group dressed up to some degree. It was so much fun!

And at the end of the night...

Can anyone guess?

We collapsed.

Love it.

PS Ooops, forgot: towel animal was the beloved monkey!

 

[sftnslky]

I LOVE your report so much. Thank you for taking the time to not only write it but post such lovely photos as well. And I know you wish you would have had the white background... but atrium one ROCKED. Can't wait till your next installment.

 

[CruisinEars]

subbing too! What a great report so far and I loved that your whole family went. We are going with my parents and I think it will be so much more fun to have family to share it with. I loved your portraits. Now I gotta talk to my mom about matching outfits.

 

[bertalander]

Ah... Immigration morning. I think the picture of the boys sums it up nicely, don't you?!

All but one family had decided to take taxis to Coral World this morning. We got our times a bit mixed up. But hey, we're on vacation right? Just go with the flow. After breakfast at Topsiders (watch out for the pistachio studded meat) we agreed to meet F/MIL in the tender line. The line went super fast (as in we got in line and were seated in the theater not 2 minutes later). As soon as we sat (and got really involved in Higgley Town Heroes ) we were out the door and our way to the tender. I was impressed with how quickly this went.

Only ONE snag. I was under the impression we could grab towels as we boarded. Not so. And we had beach plans. Crud. Oh well.

Tendering in was fast and easy.

Once on dry land we were directed to a taxi cab and were on our way. I think Disney should offer our taxi ride to and from Coral World as a thrill ride. Seriously. I think we cut through backyards and narrowly escaped death numerous times. On the way to CW we were bored to tears with talk radio about **** fighting and taxes. UGH. I should have asked him to changed the station but I was too busy saying the rosary about our impending death.

We arrived alive and found the rest of our family that had planned to join us right away. The big question SIL had... who was the Higgley Town Hero that day. Alas, I didn't stay long enough to find out!

CW is no Sea World, true. But we all found it fun. And it was small and totally do-able for our party.

How cute is T3 taking his own pictures?!

We spent some time giggling at a poor tortoise that evidently flipped over often as he seemed WAY too experienced in the attempt to flip over. (Poor thing.)

T1 asked to feed the birds some nectar. I was surprised she didn't wig and splash nectar everywhere.

My smallest T was SO excited to show me a 'surprise' in the aquarium section. BABY SEA TURTLES. Oh, I loved it. Yes, the pictures stinks, but when I look at it I think of T3 proudly dragging me over to the tank to show me. Love it!

The adult Seat Turtles were really cool. But I found myself wishing they were free. They kept trying and trying...

The underwater observatory was so cool. You could even watch the people SNUBA. But it was quite warm down there. After a quick discussion we all decided to head on back to the ship for lunch. Remember I had planned a beach day next door. But it seems a bit too rough for my swimmers. Thought the Mickey Pool would be more to their liking. Besides... no towels unless we bought some at this point.

So back to the ship.

What a trip. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride had NOTHING on this one. We fit the twelve of us PLUS our fun driver into a minivan. Why did we do this? I have no idea. Was it safe. Uh... NO! But we all laughed all the way down the mountain... as we smelled burning break pads. The driver heard me say I wanted a shot of the ships in port and would pull over and say 'You get it? You get it now? You fast, so fast!!!' And we would just laugh hysterically at our silliness.

I'll have to straighten the pic out in Photoshop, but it was a gorgeous view. Bet the shot is crooked due to my giggling. The driver must have thought we were insane. I meant to get a shot of our party with him by the cab... but I didn't. Bummer.

So... back to the boat. Ran into BIL on the pier as he waited for his excursion party to go snorkeling. (He later said it was great!) And then we were back on the tender. Since we didn't get to let the kids snorkel at the beach, we headed back to the Mickey pool for some lunch and swim time. Quite a few people stopped us to tell us how cute the kids all looked trying to snorkel. It was cracking me up.

After lunch and a swim we got everyone all cleaned up. T3 went to see National Treasure with her grandparents. While the boys headed to the club. And since everyone else was busy... nap for mom! (Hey, I was tired from all the fun!)

Dinner was in PC tonight. As we were pulling out of port the ship REALLY seemed to be rocking. I was taking Bonine every 12 hours for fear of getting sea sick. Now... ask me if I ever thought to give it to my kids.

Sigh. Nope.

Before dinner T2 said he didn't feel well. As he had NEVER gotten motion sickness before I thought it was too much fun, too little sleep and hunger. (His blood sugar drops FAST!) So we had him have a Sprite and some bread and he felt tons better right away.

However, as the ship sways to and fro... T3 is turning whiter and whiter. About the time I'm thinking "Hmmmm, I should take him back to the room!" It happens. My SIL tells me at this time she hears the waiters telling each other our stateroom number to pass along to the powers that be.

So we did the stagger/run back to the stateroom finding bathrooms along the way. Shane (Shutters manager) saw me and suggested green apples and a lie down. Luis sent along crackers. Albert was in the hallway when I arrived with a now passed out T3. Since the medical bay was around the corner (literally) I left the little guy on my bed and ran to get their advice. How much bonine to give etc? I bought a pack of chewable non-drowsy Dramamine and was back in the room in less than 5 minutes.

Tommy opened his eyes, announced he was better and requested a cheeseburger. Took his 'orange pill' to feel all better. And promptly passed out.

Albert helped me get clean towels and such. About this time DH shows and says Luis is waiting to serve me dinner and to back up there. (Just bring dessert back!) So I hustled off and had a tasty dinner. SIL delivered DH's dessert and the other kids back to our rooms, while I went up to Palo. Luis had asked Giovanni (sp?) to talk to PJ (manager of Palo) about our group Palo dinner. I had secured three tables 4 for 6:30, 4 for 7:00 and 2 for 7:30. PJ was just as helpful as could be when I arrived. And had us set up to all eat together at 7:30 on Friday in no time at all. Wonderful!

So, I spent the night in with the still conked out T3 while T2 went to Goofy's PJ party and T1 enjoyed OQ. And DH went off to see the comedian with the rest of the family.

Sorry, no towel animals tonight. I assured Albert I could turn down my bed.

And thus ends our day!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Ahhh poor kid! I hope he felt much better the next day!

And btw, now I cannot get the theme song to Higgly Town Heroes out of my head!!!

 

[Bethipooh4]

Luis and Graham ended up packing up dinner for one of our group too..they are fantastic!

We actually watched your family getting their pictures taken in the atrium!! And we thought our group were the only ones who dressed alike. (ok so what if ours did it 5 out of 7 nights, there was no mistaking us on the ship)

 

[chepic]

We were right in front of you for the picture of capt. Jack. I remember because my son recognized the costume...he had it last year.

It looks like a lot of us are writing about our trips....that's great. I love to hear everyone's views on what they did.

cheryl

 

[bertalander]

LOL! We wondered how many people were rolling their eyes about our family picture attire. Beth, you have to post some pics soon... I know we must have seen you at some point.

And Cheryl, I remember you in front of us. If I remember correctly T1 was being her lovely tween self. Sigh...

But they line went quickly, once Jack arrived, didn't it? And they were thrilled to get autographs too. I thought he was an awesome Jack. Great mannerisms. My boys informed me that it was 'most certainly' the REAL Capt'n Jack.

Love it.

 

[mruhaak]

Thanks for sharing! I'm enjoying your trip report, especially the photos. We cruised the eastern with our 2 boys in November and they were younger (4 1/2 and 18 months). We hope to go again and they will be closer to your boys age!!! I'm looking forward to it!

Did your boys both enjoy the clubs?

 

[Bethipooh4]

OK, here is the first warning that we are a crazy group...DCL should have been afraid!!!

 

[Bethipooh4]

And if that wasn't bad enough, here is pirate night as well as a cruise casual night. Believe it or not, there were 2 other nights when we dressed alike too..We even dressed alike when we were onshore in the islands!