June 12 Eastern Pre-emb -Day 3

[musicgirl]

Cast: Dh-41, ds-13 and myself, dw-40

This is our third cruise on DCL. We have done 2 Wonder trips.

This was the most awesome trip that we have ever taken. We had perfect weather the entire time. And I have an awesome tan!!!

I have done a seperate thread with details on topics like transportation, servers etc.

We flew in the day before and stayed at the Hampton. Since our flight was late, we didn't have much time to enjoy the waves. It also seemed that many of the disers were staying at the Radisson. Next time, I think we might try it.

We didn't visit Ron Jon's this time. Is it just me, or is this store way over priced!

We had arranged for a taxi to go to the port. We were dropped off around 10:45. The traffic was very light. Our driver indicated that DCL drop off system is alot easier than the other lines because it has its own area. Through security and the first part of the check in by 10:55. We immediately sent ds to wait in line while dh & I checked in. The CC club line was so much shorter than the regular line. We were done around 11:10. Off to my dis meet!!



We were trying to meet around 11:15 for the early birds. But I could only find Chinamom3 (I saw her alot on board and chatted about the cruise ) I also met RClarkofNC. It seems that many others had delays and couldn't make it. We started to board at about 11:40. We were about 50 back so it went fast. With 2 lines for pictures, it really helped. It was so nice to be back on board!

We went to Parrot for lunch. I had expected the line to be long since everyone was boarding, but there was no line at the buffet at all. We didn't need ressie for anything since I would only be using the rainforest. However, just as we sat down to eat, we decided to make a ressie at Palo for brunch. Ds wanted to explore the stack. This was prbably the most time we would all share together, LOL.

I went to get the ressie. Beware there are 2 lines for Palo. One is for dinner and the other is for the brunch. Of course, the cm directing everyone misunderstood me and I was in the wrong line! Good thing it wasn't long. I got to the right line and the person ahead of me was clueless. He didn't know when to go and that Palo was adult only!!! AHHHHH! It amazes me how uninformed people were on the ship.:space: When I got there, there were plenty of times!!!! This was around 12:45. I happened to notice that my tablemates, Mom2belle&peter (Barbara) were scheduled at the same time!!!

I later went back to check if Barbara's and mine table were linked as planned. There were still plenty of Dinner ressie's left. This was later in the pm. For those of you interested in switching dinner times, it seemed that they had a pretty good system going. If you want to switch, go at this time even if you were originally wait-listed.

We went to wait for our rooms to be opened. They let us in at 1:30. I was so happy to get rid of our carry ons. I put my watch and important stuff in the safe. I was officially free!!!!!!

Now, I mentioned the disappearing ds-13. This is not an exaggeration!! Many might think, "but it is a family vacation". Trust me, we all get plenty of time together. Dh and I teach music at a total of 5 schools k-12. ds attends the school adjacent to the HS. He is in our class. He has been a "part" of the band scene since he was 6 weeks old being dragged to every afterschool practice, concert,football game etc. Afterschool, he walks over to the HS and stays with dh until his day is over. He now plays in the HS Marching and Concert bands and plays in the 2 HS Jazz bands. We see way too much of each other, LOL
The kid needs a break from us!!!

To the adult pool!!!! Yahoo, we haven't been here before. 3 drinks later, we are off to the drill. The pool would become our hang out!!!

Our luggage came piece by piece by before 5. I had been to the deck party and really wanted to get everything put away. No problem, there was plenty of space after putting the vest under the beds and pulling out the extra pillow and blanket on the couch.

I had to be on deck for the horn and the departure!! This was very, very windy so hang on to your hats!!!

At dinner, I finally met Barbara and her family. We also had another family at our table. They had a dd-9 the same as Barbara. Barbara and I had the ds-13. Barbara and I had posted so often on the meet board, I felt like I knew her already! Her dh (Brian) was a lurker so he knew how we had planned!

We went to the juggler and ventriloquest show. DS attended, wow This was the only one he did. He had seen Hercules and Disney Dreams twice.

 

[musicgirl]

Day 2-at Sea

I was up pretty early, so I found my blue deck 7 chair and vicariously worked out as I watched the runners and started writing my report.

We started out with the Chip it golf. I was the 3rd signed up. I went and checked out the stores while we waited to start. We had already shopped the night before. But there is always time to shop!

When I got back, the lobby was filled with guys and a few gals. There were tons of people on the floors above watching!! I'm not very good!! A 12-yr old boy won with 18 points. The highest was 20 according to the CM running it.

I went to the appetizer making course. It was ok, it was a little slow and I had schelduled another dismeet. I did learn that there are 65 varieties of shimp and the best are from Africa.

Lots of time at the pool and the rainforest. It was so much fun meeting and chatting with so many adults. We met 2 young couples (20's) who live about 30 mins. from us!! We would talk with them alot. We met many couples our own age, and again we chatted all through the cruise. The rainforest was nice after a long day at the pool. Such a hard day I had! I recommend watershoes in the Rainforest if you don't like to walk on wet tiles like myself.

Also in the afternoon, I went to the cocktail and fruit carving class. Very nice, but again very slow.

We watched the Golden Mickeys. It was very good.

Formal Night-This was a mad chaos with everyone trying to get pictures. Not for us, we opted to not get them!
Tip: Get your family pictures done anytime but this night!! They do pictures like this with many lovely backgrounds with almost no wait!

We also had a moody teen on our hands who didn't want to dress up or go to dinner.
Gee, imagine that, a moody teen ! It seems that there was a "pump it up activity" in the spa for the teens with very few spots. Ok, this is coming from a 13 yr old boy who has never lifted weights. It was such an ordeal. Gee, life is soooooo rough for him being on a cruise and everything.

Of course, I set up the scene for him, sign up at 8:30 then come to dinner. Ask to have his dinner arrive a little early so he could escape at 9:15. He would only miss about 15 min. It was a great compromise, at least I thought so. But of course I could never come up with a great plan since I am the mom. DS and I are too much alike and we tend to "butt heads" alot of late. DH got an awesome picture of our discussion. Boy, a picture is worth a 1000 words!!

Wouldn't you know, ds suddenly is gone. Where did he go?? Why he went to sign up!!! What a brillant idea he had
DS comes back, and he isn't frowning!! Yeah, dinner will be saved!!

Day 3-at sea

I'm still going strong, up to watch runners again and write a little.

Palo brunch-This is awesome. Our waiter was disappointed that we didn't eat more!!! I was about to burst!! I'm not very big and I don't usually eat that much anyway. Add to that the dinner was over around 10:45 and it was only 12 hours later. I think I way over tipped, but I wasn't sure and hey, its only money, right?

I went to the Gem presentation. It was nice, I learned a little about what to look for and how to "haggle". Did it help me the next day? Not! I forgot everything in my excitement!!

Dh and I did the backstage ADULT entertainment series. There were at least 5 very small children here. Now, maybe these were parents on their own and really wanted to see this. This was definitely one of those, "you are going in the club for an hour" times. It was about 30-45 min. of talk and ? and answers. Because dh and I are music people and I am the music director of the spring musicals, this was very interesting for us. I asked a ton of questions, sorry about that!!!

I went to a cruise presentation on re-booking. We can not go until June 2006 due to timing in the summer. Of course, I could book and get the benefits, but who know what will even be going on then with the Magic. We'll wait and see.

More pool and rainforest time!!

More to come......

Today

 

[MamaQuack]

As another mom to a 13ds I am LOL!!!!!! Are they all cut out of the same mold or what?

Loved your report - keep them coming!!!

MamaQuack

 

[musicgirl]

Yes MamaQuack, they are so much alike!!! What really gets to me is that they all need to "express their individualities".

And of course, we adults were never young and we never did anything cool!!

Lorie

 

[chinamom3]

Lori, I'm still enjoying reading about "our" cruise! (And, I am finally finished with laundry-just in time to leave for vacation with my sisters on Thursday!!) Quick question here-are you referring to the question and answer session with cast members from the show? I did go to that one, and thoroughly enjoyed it, but didn't see you there. Course it was rather dark in that room. I loved hearing what the schedule was of those singers and dancers in the show. Thought they'd have a little more assigned duty, even though I'm sure they have plenty to do; plus, I guess, can't get tired out during the day for the shows at night. And, of course, two days are matinees. For those reading the reports, it was very interesting. Also, I attended, and enjoyed, the making of towel animals session.

 

[musicgirl]

Hey Betsey! Yes, I was there.

I wanted to do the the towel folding as well. But that was later in the week and I ran out of energy. I had just enough to sit by the pool!!!

Lorie

 

[Mom2Belle&PeterPan]

Hi Lorie,

Well, you did great with all you saw! You really made the most of your time and had R & R too! We enjoyed hearing about the classes you went to. Mostly, I laughed about your having a "moody teen" as you know I can relate big time, lol! Ah, you and Bill have the talent and experience with teens from your work, and now you have one of your own!

So, tell me, what did they say in the gem class? Was it with Clyde? He did look at my ring and say it was an excellent deal...I was sweating bullets as I thought..."what we got jipped???"

Anyway, loving your reports, thanks so much for bringing the memories back to me!

Barbara

 

[musicgirl]

In the gemology class with Clyde, he discussed what to look for. he told us that most of the time the "near perfect" gems are a great bargain. #1 because you can not tell if there are any flaws just by looking at it and #2 the price difference between the perfect ones and the class below it is a huge savings.

He also told us to walk out the door at least once before you buy.

Look at the jewelery outside in the light.

Bill keeps trying to 'bargain" here at home. It's not working!

Lorie