Laura & Gary Wedding Trip Report - FINISHED!!

[arieljasmine]

A lovely day and great pictures. I would really like to do this tour next year as I would also love to see that warehouse. Please could you let me know how long the tour lasts? Thanks very much

Laur's

 

[Laurafoster]

A lovely day and great pictures. I would really like to do this tour next year as I would also love to see that warehouse. Please could you let me know how long the tour lasts? Thanks very much

Laur's

The tour was very much worth it just to see those bits! I think we just didnt get as good tour guides!

We started at around 9ish and were back at Epcot just before 1pm so its around 4 hours! Not too much walking though which is great!!

 

[jns]

Tour sounds great
waiting hard on hearing all about the cruise

just downloading the video now
most put on the kettle

 

[jns]

Just watched the Video
You most be very happy with the whole one
Woh it is wonderful
they done a great job
you both look so happy
Congratulations again

 

[arieljasmine]

The tour was very much worth it just to see those bits! I think we just didnt get as good tour guides!

We started at around 9ish and were back at Epcot just before 1pm so its around 4 hours! Not too much walking though which is great!!

Thanks very much for sharing that with me, Laura, I definitely fancy it.

Laur's

 

[Laurafoster]

Thursday 14th December;

We got up pretty early again this morning so that we could finish off our packing. And by we i mean i was packing whilst Gary was watching some sort of sporting event on the seemingly endless channels in the hotel room whilst making helpful comments about how i should pack the shoes.

Once we had finished off the packing we tied the DCL tag to the case and put it by our front door just in time for the bell boy to pick it up. We dropped the other suitcase off in my parents room and headed downstairs for breakfast. We had a leisurely breakfast and then took a stroll around the boardwalk to the Dolphin to say goodbye to my grandparents, Aunt,Uncle and cousins. They were enjoying a last morning beside the pool before heading off to the airport to fly home. My 9 year old cousin Andrew had some money left at the end of his holiday and he brough me and Gary the plush bride and groom mickey and minnie. I thought that was really sweet.

We said our goodbyes and headed back to the Yacht Club to say our goodbyes to my parents - who were rather envious of us going on the cruise! We sat and had a drink with them before we needed to head over to the Beach Club to wait for our coach to the Port.

We werent kept waiting long and soon we were on the coach on our way to Port Canaveral - it took just over an hour to get there and soon we were heading over a big bridge and got our first glimpse of the Wonder!!

There was a large queue to go through the metal detectors but it didnt take too long, Check in was really quick and we were soon walking through those Mickey ears onto the ship! When you go through they announce you onto the boat which is kinda cheesy but you've gotta love it! We decided to head straight for the restaurant to get some lunch. We headed to Parrot Cay which was serving a buffet lunch there was such a huge choice of food and it all looked wonderful!! We had our lunch and headed to our stateroom to drop off our hand luggage. My parents had paid for our cruise as our wedding present - they had been really generous and got us a room with the verandah. I was surprised at how spacious the room was and the added extra of the balcony was fab!! We dropped all our stuff off and headed out to the sail away party.

We headed down in the lift and started to explore the ship! I was so excited - it was like the first time being at Disney when you just want to rush off and do everything!! First thing we did was head to the bar and get a couple of those Bahama Mamas - start as i mean to go on!!!

The sailaway was fab! its so exciting when you see the water starting to move slowly!! Its great when you hear the ships horn for the first time!!We went up to the front of the ship to watch us head out towards the sea - we stayed ther for quite a while until it got a bit too blowy and headed back down to our stateroom to get ready for dinner! We were eating in Parrot Cay again that night, we we allocated to a table of 6 so i was anxious to see who i would be dining with! We were on a newlyweds table! There was another young american couple who had just gotten married that weekend before - they seemed really nice! Then there was another couple who were quite a bit older but a really sweet couple too - we quickly realised that they were quite religious with saying grace before each meal etc. We met our waiter, head waiter etc and they all seemed fun! The food was fabulous!! again! I had a baked crab starter which was crab in a cheesy sauce - it was so light and creamy it was great! We then had a tomato soup which was again lovely but so thick! it was so filling! For our main course we had a steak which was beautifully cooked but i hardly had room for it! Then came desserts which were again fabulous! It was a little rocky in the ship tonight - i think i just wasnt used to it. We decided to skip the shop tonight and go explor the ship a bit more. We ended up going for a swim and having a couple of drinks in the Adults only area before heading back to the room exahusted! But really looking forward to the next day in the Bahamas!!

Our first Bahama Mamas!!

I do have some more pictures of the cruise but i havent uploaded them yet! I will try and do it this weekend!

 

[arieljasmine]

What a perfect day, Laura, it brings back lovely memories for me of our cruise. How sweet of your nephew to buy you the Minnie and Mickey, you must have been really touched.

I couldn't believe how big the rooms were either, I had really imagined us falling over each other due to lack of space!

At our sailaway party, I was so excited (and slighty tipsy from the strawberry pina colada I was drinking!) that Andy had to point out to me that the boat was actually moving!!

Laur's

 

[Chilly]

What a lovely first day on board.

 

[Cyrano]

Great video and lovely to see you both

 

[jns]

Looking forward to hearing more and lots of photos too please

 

[Laurafoster]

Friday 15th December;

We woke early this morning and I went out onto the balcony to see what the view was. We were just about coming into dick at Nassau in the Bahamas – I could see the Atlantis hotel and all the lovely yachts etc. We decided to head for breakfast and sit outside for a while. We headed to the beach blanket buffet and chose a seat outside – the weather was lovely and hot but quite overcast. We enjoyed our breakfast and by the time we had finished we had docked. We decided to head to our room and grab our things whilst we waited for customs to clear the boat. We headed down to the gangway just in time to be let off the. We had decided not to go on any of the excursions today – although there were a lot that sounded good! We took a walk through Nassau and had a look through the market and a few shops. We picked up a bottle pf rum and some rum cake to take back home. We took a walk to a beach which was really nice. Gorgeous white sand and crystal blue water! There were quite a few locals on the beach, one man with his horse in the water!! After a while we headed back to the ship.We put all our things away in the room and headed to the Adults only pool for a while and grabbed some burgers for lunch. After 2 weeks of hectic running round parks and the wedding it was nice to just chill out and do nothing for a while! Gary took a walk round to the sports deck for a while whilst I sat in the sun lounger with a bahama mama!

As it got nearer to dinner time we headed up to our room to get changed for the evening. We were eating in tritons tonight and I was really looking forward to this meal! It was pirate night tonight so we had bandanas on our plate which me and gary put straight on and so did the other young couple. We decided to get a bottle of wine between us tonight as the waiter convinced us we could take it back to our room later if we didn’t finish it! Once again the food was excellent! For Appetizers I had a shrimp cocktail and gary had a Prosciutto Cup which was filled with salad. The next course I had the Mixed Garden salad served with a red wine vinaigrette with cheese croutons and Gary had the tomato and basil soup. For the main course I had Dijon mustard roasted Beef tenderloin and Gary had the Citrus Glazed Duck. We both had the grand marnier soufflé for dessert! I couldn’t fault any of my food it was all perfectly cooked and really delicious! Just far too much for me! We had actually managed to drink all the bottle of wine so we didn’t have to get it sent up to our room in the end LOL!

The other younger couple on our table we heading to the pool after dinner so we decided to head over and meet them there. They were such a lovely couple, the guy used to work for Disney as various characters like Chip and Dale and he kept us entertained with jokes about what they taught you in “character school”. We left the pool area to head up to the Pirates of the Caribbean deck party – rum cocktail in hand! We got a seat upstairs so we could see everything that was going on, it was so much fun to see all the characters dancing away. The fireworks were pretty cool too. After the party we headed over to wavebands and the crazy karaoke – we were not brave enough (or drunk enough) to get up and sing but the other couple were! There were some really good people up singing actually! Time rolled on and we headed back to the room at around 2am. At this point we were both really hungry so we orded a pizza from room service which was scrummy! We sat out on our balcony for a while eating the pizza – its really strange not being able to see anything at all! We the went to bed as I wanted to be up early to take full advantage of our day at castaway cay!!

 

[jns]

What a wonderful day

is the beach far from the port

 

[Laurafoster]

What a wonderful day

is the beach far from the port

The one we went to was about a 15 -0 minute walk! But we did have to stop to get some rum

 

[DisneyJo]

What a lovely start to your cruise, is all food included?

 

[arieljasmine]

Another wonderful relaxing day, Laura. Nassau sounds lovely, we didn't get off the boat there. I really enjoyed being in Wavebands it was a lot of fun.

Laur's

 

[Laurafoster]

What a lovely start to your cruise, is all food included?

Yes all the food is included in the price!

 

[saratogagirl]

Laura I have just caught up, you bring back lots of memories of our cruise. We are hoping to do the tour that you did (The Yuletide one), I will get Ian to read your report. I am off to watch your video now ...

 

[Laurafoster]

Saturday 16th December:

WooHoo Castaway Cay!! I was so excited about our day at Castaway Cay – id read so many great things about it and was really looking forward to seeing what it was like for myself! I dragged Gary up bright and early which he was not pleased about after going to bed so late last night! I wandered out to our Verandah and saw that we had already docked. So as Gary was getting dressed I shoved a few essentials into my trust roxy beach bag and we headed for breakfast at the Beach Blanket Buffet!

After we had eaten we ventured out to Castaway Cay – it was another overcast day! It was warm just really cloudy. We decided to walk along to the family beach as I wanted to take some pics of the flying Dutchman! It looked so impressive! We found some loungers and spent a relaxing morning chilling out on the beach listening to the DJ and reading a book. Around midday we headed to Cookies BBQ for some lunch – I thought the food was really yummy! Especially that potato salad!

We headed back to our loungers and decided to venture into the sea! It was FREEZING!! But we swan all the way out to the rope and we warmed up by the time we got there! We swan around for a while before heading abck to the loungers. It was starting to get a bit chilly so we headed back towards the shops to pick up a few pressies for those back home. We chilled out in the hot tub with a nice cocktail before heading back to get ready for Dinner. We had booked Palo tonight as I had heard great things about it. Sure enough it didn’t disappoint! We had a fab table right by the window and the waiter had noticed on our reservation that it was our honeymoon so he had put confetti over the table and a card saying congratulations.

The first course they bring over is “pane casalingo” which is a selection of freshly baked breads with 3 homemade dips some olives, melon balls, Proscuitto and a few other bits. For Appetizer I had Grilled Portobello Mushroom and polenta with a roasted shallot sauce and parmesan cheese. It was sooo delicious! Gary had the Tuscan minestrone soup which he said was lovely too. For main we both had Grilled Filet Mignon with a port wine reduction a gorgonzola cheese sauce. It was great – really tender! We both had the chocolate soufflé for dessert which was scrummy – cant beat a choccy dessert!! We were both totally full! The waiter brought over this complimentary champagne cocktail which was made from champagne and lemon sherbert! It was a bit too sweet for my liking! But it would have been rude not to finish it! We left the restaurant and went for a walk around the deck before heading back to our room to finish our packing and put the suitcase outside the door to be collected. Once we had done that we headed back out to wavebands for a few drinks. We stayed there till about 11:30 before heading back to the room to bed. We had that awful early start in the morning!

Because we had a Disney Wedding and had used so many room nights at a Disney Hotel we were given a free nights accommodation at any hotel of our choice – So we chose the Grand Floridian! Why not!!

 

[arieljasmine]

A wonderful day, Laura. I thought Castaway Cay was just like paradise, and the meal we had at Palo is the best thing I have ever eaten!

Laur's

 

[Laurafoster]

Sunday 17th December;

Woke up really early this morning – about 5:30am!! I got up and had a shower and got dressed and sat out on the verandah waiting for Gary to get ready. We had to be in the theatre at 6am for Immigration! Thankfully there were not many people there and we were out of the theatre pretty quick! We headed up to the Beach Blanket Buffet for our final breakfast and headed towards the atrium. There was already quite a queue building up so we went to pay of our room bill in cash as opposed to them charging my card. No sooner had we done that and everyone had started to disembark!

We found our luggage in about 15 minutes and headed out to get onto the coach to go back to Disney. We were surprised that we were actually in a mears shuttle and we only had one other couple left to wait for! They turned up really quickly and we were on our way. We were going to meet my parents this morning and have lunch with them as they were heading off to the airport this afternoon to fly home!

The taxi driver was really nice and kept us entertained the whole way home – we were the first drop off too so that was good. We headed through the lobby and saw that another wedding was going on – they were busy taking pictures. This wedding was far bigger than mine – they had 8 groomsmen and 8 bridesmaids! That’s over half of my total guests LOL! As we walked through the hotel we saw our wedding planner Karen, she came over to thank us for our gift and asked us how our cruise went.

We headed over to the front desk and gave them the reservation number, they lady serving us asked us to take a seat and someone would be with us shortly?! I was really confused but there was a huge queue behind us so I didn’t argue. Anyway this other man came over and said that we had been upgraded to a concierge honeymoon room! I was so excited!! He gave us our room keys, took our luggage off us and said to come back around 2pm and our room would be ready!

We left the hotel and headed straight over to the Yacht Club to see my parents – we had more good news when we got there – the photographer had been super busy when we were on our cruise and he had dropped off our wedding photos!! We had 2 huge albums each with about 300 6x4 pictures in and then we had 3 CD’s with the pictures on so we can print the rest at home! We had a quick look through before my parents had to check out of the room. They were taking my case home with them aswell as the photos which was great! They left their luggage with bell services and we took one last walk around the boardwalk area and one last look in the shop. After that we headed back to Hurricane Hannas for some lunch and a few drinks! Time flew by and it was soon time for my parents to get the Magical Express to the airport!

We headed back to the Grand Floridian to check in to our room. We were given a honeymoon room in one of the turrets – we walked in and I couldn’t belive the size of the room! It was huge!! Our suitcase was inside the walk in wardrobe and there was a box of chocolates and a bottle of Champagne on the dresser. The bathroom was huge too!! With a full size bath which is unusual for US hotel rooms. We had complimentary bathrobes and slippers too. There was a CD player in the room which had speakers in the bathroom too which was cool! We headed down to the pool for an hour or so – but after Stormalong Bay it was nothing special! We headed back to the room and I had a lovely bath with music! We got ready to head out to dinner.

We were eating in CRT tonight – id heard all the negative reviews but I still wanted to eat in the castle! I actually really enjoyed my meal – we had a seat in the middle of the window – and again they had decorated our table with confetti. The food was lovely –although nothing special. When the characters came out we were given some free champagne glasses – another lovely souvenir! After we finished dinner we walked out around Main street and watched wishes before heading back to the hotel to enjoy our champagne!

Here are some pics of our room –

Behind those doors is the “kitchen” a sink and fridge and cupboard.