Heart4dis Dec. trip Part 6

[heart4dis]

My long-delayed trip report! Parts 1-4 are on the Disney Theme Parks Trip Reports Forum. Part 5 is in the Universal Trip Reports Forum. And finally, I come to the Cruise!
Characters: DH40, DW40 (me), DD11, DS10, DS8, DS7
When: December 8-12 WDW; Dec. 13 Univ/IOS
Disney Wonder Dec. 14-18.
We were theme-parked-out and ready for the cruise. We had had great weather at the parks. It rained the day we drove to the port, but we didn't care. We were driving then boarding! I knew we were in for a great trip because just as we were leaving the hotel, I caught a CNN report that Saddam Hussein had been captured!
We found the port with no problem. The service was lovely and went quickly. We upgraded to a verandah (Deck 7) for a low price. We loved it.
I ran into CRSNDSNY and DISJAZZ! We chatted. It was nice to meet fellow Dis-ers. My DS10 ended up hanging out quite a bit with DISJAZZ's son and his friend.
Our gifts from Shirley were in the cabin and they were a nice surprise for the kids and DH.
Buffet...luggage...Life boat drill...check kids at Oceaneer Lab/Club...we were exhausted and irritable just from all the checking in and organizing. We went back to the room to dress for dinner. The kids were chomping at the bit to get away from us, but we wanted them at dinner (Triton's). We had a TAPT rotation. Nikola (Croatia) and Stephanie (Englan) were our servers. They were wonderful. The food was great. DH was ready to chill in the room, so he did. The kids did the Oceaneeer things and I saw Hercules the Muse-ical. It was funny and well-done.
Instead of a blow-by-blow of the cruise, I'll just say that the shows were excellent. The kids had a great time. DD11 and DS10 had sign-out privileges and handled the responsibility well. DD11 loved the karyoke club and the deck parties. She was always in the middle of it all. DS10 loved seeing movies! We all went to see Haunted Mansion. We did the beach thing at Freeport. The water was cold, but we got used to it. Castaway Cay was amazing. Just perfect. The water was getting rough as the day went on--very hard to snorkel. Eventually a storm moved in, but it was late enough that it was time to go anyway. We had a very rough night at sea the last night--I was glad I brought duct tape for the banging doors!
I loved the shows--Golden Mickeys, the Juggler, Disney Dreams, Hercules...they were all great. DH and I REALLY enjoyed our night at Palo's. Mario was our waiter and he was wonderful.
We had a great time. The kids did, too.
Castaway Cay was a highlight for me.
People had told me the characters would be more available on the cruise than in the parks, but I'm glad we didn't wait for the cruise to get autographs and pictures. We didn't wait in long lines at the parks for characters (compared to the lines on the cruise).
The decor at Christmastime was beautiful. It was a wonderful time. As usual, Disney's attention to detail was stunning.

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[DISJAZZ]

Hi heart4dis! I was wondering when we were going to see your trip report. That trip sure was a lot of fun! The two boys here told me to say hi to your DS10. I am really ready to take another Disney cruise. I have been selling my blood to try to have enough money for another cruise, but I think I have to stop. I cut myself the other day and the only thing that came out was a "poof" of air. I'm going to go and look at the rest of your trip reports. I hope that things are going great for all of you! DISJAZZ