(also known as, from DH's eyes, "When will this cruise GET here so she will stop asking me questions!")
So!
I am creeping in the back door since I haven't been here in years. Shhhh, don't tell.
Quick rundown:
Me! 26, Disney fanatic, food nut, fairly new vegetarian. I love food. I'm a food scientist. Food food food. (Thankfully I'm healthy size 10 and it's still going down.) Mommy to two lovely cats, 15 year old Whiskey and 1 year old Pixie. OBSESSIVE planner. Must have every detail down. As of this point I have an excel chart with color coded entries of what will be happening when, and what may, for the cruise.
DH 27, fairly as much a Disney fanatic, not as much a food nut. Goes with the flow. How does this man live life so ... carefree? He's the yang to my yin (or is it the other way around? I know one of those is male and one is female....), and somehow we balance. Computer programmer. He's as much a nut about computers as I am with food.
I remember lots of names here, and I hope you remember me! Long ago and far away I used to spend my hours on the Restaurant board, was a moderator for a while, then life happened. Changed majors in college, was poor for a while, lost my job, was poor for a lot longer, ups and downs of the job hunt. Found a job! Got married to my now DH Mike at a quickie down at the Kissimmee courthouse, and had dinner with a few close family and friends at Jiko after.
Fast forward to March of 2007. We'd been married 5 months, and since I was still a temp at my job, we never had a honeymoon. Over the years and years of having annual passes at WDW, we'd had many a cast member or guest gush to us about DCL, "Oh, you simply MUST go!" And we'd cry back, "Someday!"
I honestly don't remember why we finally started looking at DCL. Maybe since I was hired full time in March 2007 (Minute Maid / Coca-Cola R&D!) and we'd never honeymooned and had a Justice of the Peace wedding? Actually, that must have been it. I, ever the planner, started poking around DCL sites. "Hmmmm, this Castaway Cay place sounds really interesting, people talk about it a lot. And look, here's a cruise with two stops at Castaway Cay AND two stops in Mexico? Score!"
(And on a side note, yes, we are celebrating our honeymoon, and calling it our honeymoon, even though it's two years after we got married. So sue us! We didn't have a wedding, didn't have a reception, the least we can do is have a honeymoon. Late. Whatever.
)
The 9/27/08 Double Dip was booked. We MUST have a verandah, of course, since it's our honeymoon! (some hit-you-over-the-head foreshadowing - this pre-trip report is NOT about the 9/27 DD, as you will see)
Since I didn't know much about Disney cruises, of course, OBSESSIVE planner that I am, I settle down to do some research. I happen upon the trip report of a lovely couple here who had a 7-day booked a ways in the future, but couldn't wait that long, so booked a shorter trip on the Wonder.
Wait a sec.
HONEY!!
Zipped on over to Orbitz, found a Cat12 GTY on a 3-day September Wonder sailing (no kids, no worry about school vacations, woohoo!) for $300/person. Sold! But...a 4-day for only $400/person, including taxes? And there's champagne brunch? Even better! We booked the 2007 Labor Day weekend 4-day Wonder sailing - our "test" cruise. And some more foreshadowing, but my-oh-my are we glad that we did.
April through September went fast. I went vegetarian sometime in there (July) and was nervous about being veg on the cruise. No worries needed! I didn't miss out on a thing. I planned and researched as much as I could. I really should have written down my tips/experiences/etc right after, but of course I didn't.
So here I am, what, 8 months later, trying to remember things. I think I'll try this in condensed form.
(I'll throw in some pictures when I can. Busy week. Having friends over, need to clean, of course need to go to Typhoon Lagoon on Saturday)
Let me start of quickly with the best part. I, the ever-punctual and OBSESSIVE planner, make sure we're at the port early. It's 10am, let us in! Check-in is a breeze. (Boarding Pass #2!!!) We had been upgraded from a Cat12 GTY to a Cat9 with two tiny portholes which I was happy enough about, but eh, two tiny portholes?
So we said what the hey, and asked when we were checking in. Sure, there's an upgrade to a Cat6 for $600. As we were trying to make this a budget cruise, that was out of the question. We take our materials, sit down, and I start poring over everything while Mike plays Nintendo. Typical Mike. Typical Kathleen.
Boarding starts, and when we get near the front, a lady says, "Mike and Kathleen? Come with me, we've been looking for you." We looked at each other with that "Ohhhhhh shoot what did we do now!" look, but followed the woman. She said that someone told her that we had blonde hair and Mike was wearing a hat? (Brunette here and Mike NEVER wears hats) But she tells us that they needed our room to link some parties together, and would it be ok to upgrade us to a Cat6 for free?
WHAT!
Um, let us think about that for...OF COURSE!! They were apologizing for having to move us! I gave the woman a hug! Grinning like fools, we were led back into the front of the line, took our photos, and we were off.
WE'RE ON A DISNEY CRUISE!!! AND WE HAVE A BALCONY!!!
(of course the first thing after this was being bombarded with the water package sales people, the wine package sales people, and the beer mug sales people. Yes, no, and yes.)
So!
I am creeping in the back door since I haven't been here in years. Shhhh, don't tell.
Quick rundown:
Me! 26, Disney fanatic, food nut, fairly new vegetarian. I love food. I'm a food scientist. Food food food. (Thankfully I'm healthy size 10 and it's still going down.) Mommy to two lovely cats, 15 year old Whiskey and 1 year old Pixie. OBSESSIVE planner. Must have every detail down. As of this point I have an excel chart with color coded entries of what will be happening when, and what may, for the cruise. DH 27, fairly as much a Disney fanatic, not as much a food nut. Goes with the flow. How does this man live life so ... carefree? He's the yang to my yin (or is it the other way around? I know one of those is male and one is female....), and somehow we balance. Computer programmer. He's as much a nut about computers as I am with food.I remember lots of names here, and I hope you remember me! Long ago and far away I used to spend my hours on the Restaurant board, was a moderator for a while, then life happened. Changed majors in college, was poor for a while, lost my job, was poor for a lot longer, ups and downs of the job hunt. Found a job! Got married to my now DH Mike at a quickie down at the Kissimmee courthouse, and had dinner with a few close family and friends at Jiko after.
Fast forward to March of 2007. We'd been married 5 months, and since I was still a temp at my job, we never had a honeymoon. Over the years and years of having annual passes at WDW, we'd had many a cast member or guest gush to us about DCL, "Oh, you simply MUST go!" And we'd cry back, "Someday!"
I honestly don't remember why we finally started looking at DCL. Maybe since I was hired full time in March 2007 (Minute Maid / Coca-Cola R&D!) and we'd never honeymooned and had a Justice of the Peace wedding? Actually, that must have been it. I, ever the planner, started poking around DCL sites. "Hmmmm, this Castaway Cay place sounds really interesting, people talk about it a lot. And look, here's a cruise with two stops at Castaway Cay AND two stops in Mexico? Score!"
(And on a side note, yes, we are celebrating our honeymoon, and calling it our honeymoon, even though it's two years after we got married. So sue us! We didn't have a wedding, didn't have a reception, the least we can do is have a honeymoon. Late. Whatever.
)The 9/27/08 Double Dip was booked. We MUST have a verandah, of course, since it's our honeymoon! (some hit-you-over-the-head foreshadowing - this pre-trip report is NOT about the 9/27 DD, as you will see)
Since I didn't know much about Disney cruises, of course, OBSESSIVE planner that I am, I settle down to do some research. I happen upon the trip report of a lovely couple here who had a 7-day booked a ways in the future, but couldn't wait that long, so booked a shorter trip on the Wonder.
Wait a sec.
HONEY!!
Zipped on over to Orbitz, found a Cat12 GTY on a 3-day September Wonder sailing (no kids, no worry about school vacations, woohoo!) for $300/person. Sold! But...a 4-day for only $400/person, including taxes? And there's champagne brunch? Even better! We booked the 2007 Labor Day weekend 4-day Wonder sailing - our "test" cruise. And some more foreshadowing, but my-oh-my are we glad that we did.
April through September went fast. I went vegetarian sometime in there (July) and was nervous about being veg on the cruise. No worries needed! I didn't miss out on a thing. I planned and researched as much as I could. I really should have written down my tips/experiences/etc right after, but of course I didn't.
So here I am, what, 8 months later, trying to remember things. I think I'll try this in condensed form.
(I'll throw in some pictures when I can. Busy week. Having friends over, need to clean, of course need to go to Typhoon Lagoon on Saturday)
Let me start of quickly with the best part. I, the ever-punctual and OBSESSIVE planner, make sure we're at the port early. It's 10am, let us in! Check-in is a breeze. (Boarding Pass #2!!!) We had been upgraded from a Cat12 GTY to a Cat9 with two tiny portholes which I was happy enough about, but eh, two tiny portholes?
So we said what the hey, and asked when we were checking in. Sure, there's an upgrade to a Cat6 for $600. As we were trying to make this a budget cruise, that was out of the question. We take our materials, sit down, and I start poring over everything while Mike plays Nintendo. Typical Mike. Typical Kathleen. Boarding starts, and when we get near the front, a lady says, "Mike and Kathleen? Come with me, we've been looking for you." We looked at each other with that "Ohhhhhh shoot what did we do now!" look, but followed the woman. She said that someone told her that we had blonde hair and Mike was wearing a hat? (Brunette here and Mike NEVER wears hats) But she tells us that they needed our room to link some parties together, and would it be ok to upgrade us to a Cat6 for free?
WHAT!
Um, let us think about that for...OF COURSE!! They were apologizing for having to move us! I gave the woman a hug! Grinning like fools, we were led back into the front of the line, took our photos, and we were off.
WE'RE ON A DISNEY CRUISE!!! AND WE HAVE A BALCONY!!!
(of course the first thing after this was being bombarded with the water package sales people, the wine package sales people, and the beer mug sales people. Yes, no, and yes.)
We'll all be in the same line paying our drink bills!! 
But, you're on your HONEYMOON 
, so you better be careful how many people you invite over 
Especially ones you share a glass of wine with!
