Rock'n Robin
Disney Queen
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2000
- Messages
- 7,810
Background: my parents celebrate 50 years of marriage on July 17--they decided to take us all on a cruise to celebrate!
Parents--Dad (74), Mom(72)
my family--me(40),DH(40), DD#1 (12_, DD#2 (9), DS (6)
sister's family--sister (45), BIL (44), niece #1 (15), niece 2 (11)
We flew Trans Meridian airlines out of Toledo on the morning of July 2. What a treat! DH and I have flown the family to WDW 6 times and have never had a direct flight, even when flying from Detroit. This is a smaller charter type airline but we will be using them from now on! They even have food service, even if it is yogurt and a large muffin!
The only problem was at Sanford airport--it took 45 minutes for luggage to come out, and they had 4 or 5 flights on the same carousel at the same time!!! We knew a couple who had used TMA before and they said this had never happened before. We were in the airport 90 minutes from getting off the plane to getting our two rental vans.
We drove to Ron Jons and our rooms were not ready. We ate lunch and they still were not ready (although the mahi-mahi sandwich is to die for). So my family, BIL and the nieces went to the pool--no locks on the lockers so we left valuables with parents and sister in the lobby. The slide and lazy river were very enjoyable. 2 rooms were ready at 4PM on the nose (no early check in here, folks) and ours was ready about 1/2 hour later. They were nice little studios, a little bigger than the DVC studios. DH and all the kids explored the resort, I took a nap, and then we all went to Rusty's for dinner. Then we went to Ron Jons real store, found the Hertz location, and went to bed.
Morning came soon and found no food on property except pop tarts and cereal in the store. My parents need to take meds so they got some cereal. There was a balloon guy in the lobby who made DS a sword, shield and helmet and he was very happy. Just before we left a Ron Jons rep happened to ask Dad how he liked Ron Jons and he let her have it about check in, security for luggage and at the pool, room noise, etc.
DH and BIL dropped us off at the port and took Dad back to Hertz to check in the cars. I got in the CC line (about 4 people ahead of me, this was about 10:10) and Mom and Sis got into the other lines. I was able to check in DH and get his KTTW card, and Sis got BIL's card--but Dad hadn't signed his cruise contract, so when they got back he had to sign it and get his own card. DD#2 was first in line last year and got in line about #5 this year, but only saved room for about 2 people, not 11! So I relieved her so she could run around, watch cartoons, etc. The boys got back about 11:10--the drawbridge had gone up on the way back in the shuttle!
Finally we all got on the ship, which started about 11:45. My sister and I and mom went right to Rockin' Bar D. Seems my sister's family's KTTW cards said table #1, and the rest of us had table #2. She was freaking out in a minor way. Alan reassured her that all would be well. In the meantime I got a brunch ressie for the adults for Monday at Palo.
We went to Parrot Cay, but they had directed the rest of the family to Topsiders so we had to go there. I had a boatload of shrimp (common theme for the week). Got mugs for sister and myself to use at the beverage station. She and I registered the kids into the clubs(DD#1 and Niece #2 in the 10-12, DD#2 in 8-9, and DS in the club) and got our pagersWe walked around a bit and got into our rooms. My family went to the Mickey pool with niece #2. DH bonded with a drink server named Susan who treated us well all week and sold him one of those huge beer mugs. As we got back to the room we had a note that DH's utility knife he keeps in his suitcase had been confiscated and we could pick it up on disembarkation. Did the lifeboat drill, no problems.
After that we headed up to the sailaway party. I got a Bon Voyage and the kids were dancing up a storm. I got all teary when I heard the horn and we were off. I then went to the WD theatre area to get a braid appt. for DD#1. All the Sunday appts. were gone and there was nothing good on Monday either--and I was about 5th in line! Darn concierge guests. I booked her for 5 PM on Tuesday since we'd be back from Cayman by then. Then we headed for first seating PLAPLAP. Our server was Ronald from the Netherlands and our asst. server was William from India--both totally awesome. I intend to put the food in a separate report.
The kids headed to the clubs (niece #1 to the Stack) after dinner. I had no intention of doing the welcome aboard variety show because ventriloquism isn't my thing, but DH and I went with my sis and BIL and it was very good--Jeff Harris was the juggler and Taylor Mason was the ventriloquist for the first half of the trip. Both were very good but I liked Taylor Mason better. AFter that we all walked around deck 4 and saw Jeff Harris jogging shirtless
. I think there are ego issues there. We stopped in rockin' bar D to watch the Charles Marshall band and have a BBC and that was about it for the evening. Dad/Mom and my family had connecting rooms so DS could sleep in there--we kept the locks out so the doors would stay open. We got him from his club about 11:30 and the girls came in shortly after and all to bed.
Robin M.
Parents--Dad (74), Mom(72)
my family--me(40),DH(40), DD#1 (12_, DD#2 (9), DS (6)
sister's family--sister (45), BIL (44), niece #1 (15), niece 2 (11)
We flew Trans Meridian airlines out of Toledo on the morning of July 2. What a treat! DH and I have flown the family to WDW 6 times and have never had a direct flight, even when flying from Detroit. This is a smaller charter type airline but we will be using them from now on! They even have food service, even if it is yogurt and a large muffin!
The only problem was at Sanford airport--it took 45 minutes for luggage to come out, and they had 4 or 5 flights on the same carousel at the same time!!! We knew a couple who had used TMA before and they said this had never happened before. We were in the airport 90 minutes from getting off the plane to getting our two rental vans.
We drove to Ron Jons and our rooms were not ready. We ate lunch and they still were not ready (although the mahi-mahi sandwich is to die for). So my family, BIL and the nieces went to the pool--no locks on the lockers so we left valuables with parents and sister in the lobby. The slide and lazy river were very enjoyable. 2 rooms were ready at 4PM on the nose (no early check in here, folks) and ours was ready about 1/2 hour later. They were nice little studios, a little bigger than the DVC studios. DH and all the kids explored the resort, I took a nap, and then we all went to Rusty's for dinner. Then we went to Ron Jons real store, found the Hertz location, and went to bed.
Morning came soon and found no food on property except pop tarts and cereal in the store. My parents need to take meds so they got some cereal. There was a balloon guy in the lobby who made DS a sword, shield and helmet and he was very happy. Just before we left a Ron Jons rep happened to ask Dad how he liked Ron Jons and he let her have it about check in, security for luggage and at the pool, room noise, etc.
DH and BIL dropped us off at the port and took Dad back to Hertz to check in the cars. I got in the CC line (about 4 people ahead of me, this was about 10:10) and Mom and Sis got into the other lines. I was able to check in DH and get his KTTW card, and Sis got BIL's card--but Dad hadn't signed his cruise contract, so when they got back he had to sign it and get his own card. DD#2 was first in line last year and got in line about #5 this year, but only saved room for about 2 people, not 11! So I relieved her so she could run around, watch cartoons, etc. The boys got back about 11:10--the drawbridge had gone up on the way back in the shuttle!
Finally we all got on the ship, which started about 11:45. My sister and I and mom went right to Rockin' Bar D. Seems my sister's family's KTTW cards said table #1, and the rest of us had table #2. She was freaking out in a minor way. Alan reassured her that all would be well. In the meantime I got a brunch ressie for the adults for Monday at Palo.
We went to Parrot Cay, but they had directed the rest of the family to Topsiders so we had to go there. I had a boatload of shrimp (common theme for the week). Got mugs for sister and myself to use at the beverage station. She and I registered the kids into the clubs(DD#1 and Niece #2 in the 10-12, DD#2 in 8-9, and DS in the club) and got our pagersWe walked around a bit and got into our rooms. My family went to the Mickey pool with niece #2. DH bonded with a drink server named Susan who treated us well all week and sold him one of those huge beer mugs. As we got back to the room we had a note that DH's utility knife he keeps in his suitcase had been confiscated and we could pick it up on disembarkation. Did the lifeboat drill, no problems.
After that we headed up to the sailaway party. I got a Bon Voyage and the kids were dancing up a storm. I got all teary when I heard the horn and we were off. I then went to the WD theatre area to get a braid appt. for DD#1. All the Sunday appts. were gone and there was nothing good on Monday either--and I was about 5th in line! Darn concierge guests. I booked her for 5 PM on Tuesday since we'd be back from Cayman by then. Then we headed for first seating PLAPLAP. Our server was Ronald from the Netherlands and our asst. server was William from India--both totally awesome. I intend to put the food in a separate report.
The kids headed to the clubs (niece #1 to the Stack) after dinner. I had no intention of doing the welcome aboard variety show because ventriloquism isn't my thing, but DH and I went with my sis and BIL and it was very good--Jeff Harris was the juggler and Taylor Mason was the ventriloquist for the first half of the trip. Both were very good but I liked Taylor Mason better. AFter that we all walked around deck 4 and saw Jeff Harris jogging shirtless
. I think there are ego issues there. We stopped in rockin' bar D to watch the Charles Marshall band and have a BBC and that was about it for the evening. Dad/Mom and my family had connecting rooms so DS could sleep in there--we kept the locks out so the doors would stay open. We got him from his club about 11:30 and the girls came in shortly after and all to bed.Robin M.
