I'm giving up Black Friday for a Disney Cruise! A DCL PTR/TR - 1/28 NEW PTR!!!

[eandesmom]

The menu at the Enchanted Garden is something like Asian Fusion, etc... I dunno, I recall not loving that meal... DH did, though. When I am there next month, I'll take good notes! I was under the impression they still give you the deal and the perks if you change it.... their literature even says as much... you just have to still be the travel party... can't put it in someone else's name... when I booked DH's parents, we did rooms with adults and our last name, so there wasn't any concern that it wasn't "us" KWIM?

Right, that's what I understood on the booking as well. I know it wasn't an issue to change our 4 person 5 night cruise to a 5 person 4 nighter. I just wish I'd booked 2 so I could move one to the Med, if that's what happens. I did just hear that they cancelled tomorrows press conference, who knows what that means! Oh well, it's a long shot for us for 2013 much as I'd love it. If it's meant to be, it will be available at the right price in August and we will book then.

Asian Fusion. YUM! I do want to try all 3 so will pray I can get a Palo on the last night. LOL. I'm not sure I have a preference for the order but need to look at the menus for sure. The kids would would AP 2x though so maybe I just do that regardless. I recall you not loving that meal either.

 

[Happydog]

Right, that's what I understood on the booking as well. I know it wasn't an issue to change our 4 person 5 night cruise to a 5 person 4 nighter. I just wish I'd booked 2 so I could move one to the Med, if that's what happens. I did just hear that they cancelled tomorrows press conference, who knows what that means! Oh well, it's a long shot for us for 2013 much as I'd love it. If it's meant to be, it will be available at the right price in August and we will book then.

Asian Fusion. YUM! I do want to try all 3 so will pray I can get a Palo on the last night. LOL. I'm not sure I have a preference for the order but need to look at the menus for sure. The kids would would AP 2x though so maybe I just do that regardless. I recall you not loving that meal either.

Hey! Actually Animator's was good... Asian Fusion may sound more impressive than it actually is...lol! I am sure you'll figure it out!!! but do take a look at the n
Menus!

 

[eandesmom]

Fun updates! I can't wait for a sandy sunny day like that. LOVE the castle.

I need to try to do RP or EG first, it is her birthday on day 1 and AP just isn't a 16 year old girls dream...as cool as it is. So it's figuring it out beyond that.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Loved the sand castles. Looked like you were having so much fun!!

 

[manntra]

Very cool seeing the two ships passing in the day
Looks like you all had a fun sand and conch filled day. I have so many pictures of those water colored fish when I was on my quest to find the sunken Mickey.

Tracy

 

[Happydog]

Fun updates! I can't wait for a sandy sunny day like that. LOVE the castle.

I need to try to do RP or EG first, it is her birthday on day 1 and AP just isn't a 16 year old girls dream...as cool as it is. So it's figuring it out beyond that.

Thanks! Believe me we had plenty of beautiful sun filled days!

I am sure you will sort out the dining arrangements!

Loved the sand castles. Looked like you were having so much fun!!

Thanks! Guys had fun!

Very cool seeing the two ships passing in the day
Looks like you all had a fun sand and conch filled day. I have so many pictures of those water colored fish when I was on my quest to find the sunken Mickey.

Tracy

Those fish were everywhere!!!
We had great fun, waittil you see the next batch... The two ships passing was neat!

 

[eandesmom]

Thanks! Believe me we had plenty of beautiful sun filled days!

I am sure you will sort out the dining arrangements!

I went ahead and requested EG-RP-AP-AP. Which means I really really hope we can get Palo for the last night but as K hasn't been, I wanted the more girly spots first and RP for dress up night.

Question for you. After disembarking...about what time would be a realistic arrival time to assume if we were going to WDW? Debating adding that (depending on flights) and if we did only one night, again depending on flight times, if it would even be worth it to try to hit a park or just enjoy the resort. The ground transfer price is ridiculous through DCL and right now I have a car reserved but am wondering if there is another transportation option that might be less than DCL but faster than re-picking up a rental car as a bazillion people get off the ship and try to do the same! I don't really want to pay for the rental car to sit there for 4 days while we are on the ship.

 

[jenjolt]

Loved the sand castle pics!! The boys looked like they had a blast out on the beach!!!

OOOH love the white sands too!!

How cool is it that you were able to see those two ships together!! That is awesome!!

So how is school going???? Hope all is well with you guys!!!

 

[Happydog]

Question for you. After disembarking...about what time would be a realistic arrival time to assume if we were going to WDW? Debating adding that (depending on flights) and if we did only one night, again depending on flight times, if it would even be worth it to try to hit a park or just enjoy the resort. The ground transfer price is ridiculous through DCL and right now I have a car reserved but am wondering if there is another transportation option that might be less than DCL but faster than re-picking up a rental car as a bazillion people get off the ship and try to do the same! I don't really want to pay for the rental car to sit there for 4 days while we are on the ship.

The price of the transfer is really ridiculous, I agree. Honestly, the rental car wasn't all that bad, in terms of time it took to get on the shuttle and to the rental place and back... What you might want to do is establish a car rental picker-upper ... meaning that person goes ahead either before or after breakfast and just hops through customs onto the shuttle and then drives back to the terminal to pick everyone up... That is the way some people in the shuttle line were doing it. They have a customs line if you are NOT taking your luggage with you, so just people walking, and if you are early off the boat, you can time it to get to the rental place early, when they open, and get the car then drive back, by the time the rest of the crew has gone through the lines inside the ship, into the terminal, picked up luggage, gone through customs, and then gets outside to the curb... And then an overnight rental is definitely less... If you get off with the earliest crowd, considering the time they open, the car dealers, I bet you could time it out still before 10am, then if you include the hour to drive, that is probably 11am... I bet you could be at WDW by 11am... but that means a plan to get off the ship early... still, if the goal is to get to WDW, then I am sure people would be open to it... I think if it were me, I would go with just resort, maybe golf... or something else like that, not try for a park... but that is me!

Loved the sand castle pics!! The boys looked like they had a blast out on the beach!!!

OOOH love the white sands too!!

How cool is it that you were able to see those two ships together!! That is awesome!!

So how is school going???? Hope all is well with you guys!!!

Hey there! Things are going well, just busy!!! I am really excited to be back on CCay myself!!! Just a month now!!! You are going to love it!!!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

I've been reading for pages and pages and finally caught up!
What a great itinerary this cruise has! I just love your stops!
That sure has me thinking about trying something a little different in the future.....

I think we might have to pick up some of those sand toys at CC too! They make some great sandcastles!

Looking forward to the PTR for this summer!

 

[Happydog]

Well, it is a wet bleary snow-icy morning in Maryland... what better way to finish my Thanksgiving Cruise TR, than by the fire with a latte!!!!!

So we were back on Castaway Cay... WHAT I wouldn't give to be there right now!!!! BRRRR!!! LOL!!!! JUST 27 more days....

SO, yes, this beach was vacant. Well of course it was, everyone was making their way back to the boat!!! LOL!!

So we decided to take advantage of the empty space...

So I told you about the CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS, right?

Take a look....

And what is a Christmas theme, without a little reindeer...

Right down to the tail...

Of course we knew we were getting closer to the end....

MORE in the NEXT POST!!!!!!

 

[Happydog]

So a post office stop was made...

Just grabbed a bench!!!

Mock sad.

But just before we could really lose our spirits because we were leaving the island, guess what we stumbled upon??!!

Now, we saw this when we first got off the island, it was so COOL to see this waiting for us!!! but we didn't stop in the morning. SO, we stopped before boarding the ship...

Some goofy boys, clowning around ...

Everyone was swarming around the front side, so we headed around to the other side of the tree for a few poses...

TOO cool for the icebergs they are sitting on...

GOOD BYE Castaway!!!

IT'S been MAGICal

BACK on board we headed straight to the room to get cleaned up for dinner... we had oh, an hour !!! LOL!!!

I plan to finish this TR today, folks, so stay tuned...

Our final dinner, the final farewell show all coming up next!!!!!

 

[Happydog]

I've been reading for pages and pages and finally caught up!
What a great itinerary this cruise has! I just love your stops!
That sure has me thinking about trying something a little different in the future.....

I think we might have to pick up some of those sand toys at CC too! They make some great sandcastles!

Looking forward to the PTR for this summer!

Oh I am glad!!!! Really, I am spoiled after the 5 night and the 7 night, now... I don't think I will do a 4 night with the fam... I think we really got into the whole excursion part of it on the longer trip... Nassau isn't compelling enough. I CAN'T wait to try out the Fantasy, AND the new 2013 itineraries.. I am curious where they are going to be.

The sandcastle bucket was ACTUALLY only $5.00!!! $4.95!!! I was organizing receipts and such from the past trip and my sewing/craft room which is also my DISNEY room, and I happened to see it. So IMO, they are def worth $5.00!!!!

SUMMER PTR might be live by tomorrow....

 

[Happydog]

YES, well I guess I am excited that this TR is almost done, though looking at all the photos is getting me super excited for our trip next month!! AND my summer Disney fun....

 

[Happydog]

So after we got back on the ship from an AMAZING day at Castaway Cay, I knew that we would have to hustle to get cleaned up, and we were headed to my DMIL and FIL's cabin on the ship -- to pop a bottle of sparkling wine they had on ice... Who am I to complain??!!

We all met up in their cabin ... I was able to catch a few photos of the sun setting... I really missed the opportunity to get that sunset photo! I think because it happened at our seating time!

They didn't want to take this photo... can you tell? That is because the Transformer movie was on the television... Their hair is still wet from our mad dash to get cleaned up!

The last bits of sunset...

Dinner! Dinner was a "farewell" menu -- it was again great offerings... We ended up bringing the bottle of sparkling wine into the dining room, so we did pay the corking fee... but it was a magnum... yep, you heard that right... so the corking fee was kinda a bargain... LOL!

DS9 trying his hand at napkin art...

DS6 trying his hand at bread and butter art...

Now some coloring ....

A response to the sparkling wine... DS9 declared it not drinkable at all...

So towards the end of dinner they brought around Baked Alaska dessert ...

But along with the dessert presentation was a wonderful march of all the CMs there in the dining room, carrying the flags of their nationality, so it was a very festive and neat end to our final meal in the dining room... Our servers, while new, were really quite great.

AFTER dinner, we decided to split up before the show. DH and the boys went to the arcade, and I went to the cabin to finish packing…

CONTINUED in the next post with Souvenir photos!!!!

 

[Happydog]

On my way back to our cabin, I stopped to admire these two cuties...

Down in the cabin, the room was already ready for slumber…

I guess this was a seagull?!

I packed pretty quickly, most because everything was pretty easy to transfer into the suitcases and duffels… and I had started the process the night before...

I did take photos of my souvies though… so here most of them are…. I say most, because I ended up getting a few more when I went to the store that evening... they had a bunch of merchandise on sale for 40% off!!!

Basically I bought a few ornaments, the Christmas Minnie to go with my Christmas Mickey... and a few other goodies...

And this was 40% off as well... so yes, I had to have it.

It was actually as I was taking this photo that I noticed I had accidently bought the wrong pin!!! I hadn’t wanted Hook, but Stitch, so that evening I went to swap them out. I am glad I caught my error!

These were $3.00 each on CCay -- I bought them for the boys for their summer treat bag...

The tank is for me! It was $10.99! And it is really cute, and goes well with my orange patagonia tech shorts, so I will be sporting this next month!

I wanted the Golden Mickey, and the cute flip flop magnet!!

To the Arcade I then went, and sure enough they were still having a great time!

Here is DS9 “coaching” some other kid how to play the game…. I am sure that little boy was thinking “Um, do I know you??!!”

At that point it was time to meet everyone in the theater for the show…

AND here on the stairs, my camera batteries conked out… of course I was reminding myself to get batteries in the room before I went upstairs, but I forgot..

So I have no photos of the final show, but it was a really neat ending with a little bit of everything from throughout the week, including CMs, and the guest performers, magician/comics, basically a variety show, and it was a great way to end the cruise… Though I do like how our cruises on the Dream ended with Believe…

At the end of the show, we had a little time to kill before the farewell show in the lobby. The boys were not going to be able to stay up for that one, I could tell a day of sun and fun had done them in, so we went back to the cabin, we got our suitcases outside, and the boys in their bunks and I slipped out to see the character meet and greet and farewell…

Photos coming up!

 

[eandesmom]

I am loving the castaway cay decorations!!!!!!!!!!! Very very fun. I can see how a day of sun like that would wipe them out, amazed they made it as late as they did.

7 nights is a great length, I am worried that 4 is going to feel too short. Love the car picker upper idea.

I just want a picture of whomever carried the magnum to dinner!

 

[gallmcduck]

No jack sparrow WHAT that is certainly a crime - isn't that the big hit for everyone on priates night . St Thomas beach looks bliss. Yey to your summer plans looking forward to reading about your ADRs oh and your three cruises . What a way to meet stich, cool for the boys not sure I would have been gaga myself over stich . Way to go on getting onto castaway cay early through the busy deck. Pelican plunge seems a great addition, did your boys spend time at this area? What a beautiful sight seeing both ships together, a sight many will not see.

 

[Charleston Princess]

How neat to see the two ships passing each other and to hear their little repertoire of music! Great shots of them!

Connor would love to have someone help him build his sand creations -- he had the devil of a time at Tybee trying to convince Chelsea to help him!

Love all the Castaway Cay Christmas decorations -- Disney certainly knows how to do themed Christmases better than anyone else!

DS6 and his bread and butter art!

Yeay for souvenir pics! You know I adore everything you bought -- especially the magnet and the Dooney and Bourke! Good job on the shopping!

 

[Happydog]

I am loving the castaway cay decorations!!!!!!!!!!! Very very fun. I can see how a day of sun like that would wipe them out, amazed they made it as late as they did.

7 nights is a great length, I am worried that 4 is going to feel too short. Love the car picker upper idea.

I just want a picture of whomever carried the magnum to dinner!

Really they were just too too cute. It was so neat. Always attentive to the details, that is what I love about Disney!

Well that show did them in, and because they didn't do the farewell with character right away, meaning right after the show (because it was still finishing 2nd seating, it really was too late for them. So 10:00 they were out!
On the dream, they did the farewell show twice... I don't think they did on the Magic, but I'd have to go check I seem to think it was just once...

Well the car rental can work quite quickly. It has worked great for us twice now at the port. That is on departure though. However we did rent a car for all of us to get back to the airport and the shuttle worked well on departure, but we were not rushing to get to WDW!!!

My DFIL and DMIL bought it and some other booze at World Market there in Cocoa Beach before boarding... it was a prosecco I believe, I was leary about it to be honest, but it was actually quite nice. And our assistant server knew it was coming, and had an ice bucket ready for us! We did get a few stares, it was funny, but we drank almost all of it. The four of us... really... scary, right?!

No jack sparrow WHAT that is certainly a crime - isn't that the big hit for everyone on priates night . St Thomas beach looks bliss. Yey to your summer plans looking forward to reading about your ADRs oh and your three cruises . What a way to meet stich, cool for the boys not sure I would have been gaga myself over stich . Way to go on getting onto castaway cay early through the busy deck. Pelican plunge seems a great addition, did your boys spend time at this area? What a beautiful sight seeing both ships together, a sight many will not see.

I KNOW!!! I was really disappointed, and surprised that they didn't even acknowledge his absence... they could have come up with something I think!

I am excited to get my summer PTR started.. I have some great ADRs I think, was fortunate to score some good ones! I will wrap this TR up today!!

We had a wonderful time on the cruise, you are going to have a great time on YOUR upcoming trip too!!!

How neat to see the two ships passing each other and to hear their little repertoire of music! Great shots of them!

Connor would love to have someone help him build his sand creations -- he had the devil of a time at Tybee trying to convince Chelsea to help him!

Love all the Castaway Cay Christmas decorations -- Disney certainly knows how to do themed Christmases better than anyone else!

DS6 and his bread and butter art!

Yeay for souvenir pics! You know I adore everything you bought -- especially the magnet and the Dooney and Bourke! Good job on the shopping!

It was really really neat to see both ships together... and yes, fun to hear them play their horns!!!

YOU said it best -- Disney just knows how to DO Christmas!!!!

I have a few more I bought, I thought I took the photos, but I can't seem to find them I got some 2011 merchandise 40% off!!! My little Dooney I grabbed one that did NOT have 2011 on it... so it is the pattern, but not the year. I didn't need it, but I like the wristlets on the cruise and at the parks, when we go to dinner, etc. SO I will use it I bought another ornament, and a scrap book kit, with the retro mickey look, and I bought a dozen of these postcards, the one you see in my souvie pics, I grabbed a bunch more, b/c I think they will make GREAT magnets to give as FE gifts on our next cruise... (when I add magnet paper behind them)... the picture moves, Mickey waves, when you tilt it.... There were a $1.20 or something like that, each after the discount. I also bought a little mini hanging picture frame/ornament to put a picture in (a 2x2 size) ... again, with the extra discount I figured it was a good deal!!!

Oh, and Griffin and Nolyn LOVE sandcastling... This older kid must have wanted an excuse, which was neat, because he really was helping him for about an hour