Kajunswty
Always waiting on the next magical vacation!
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2000
- Messages
- 892
Jan. 4, 2003
This cruise was a Christmas surprise to our 2 DDs (Bre 9 and Krissy 7) to celebrate their birthdays. The trip was originally a land / sea over the Mardi Gras holiday. We decided to change our plans and booked the Thursday before Christmas. I was tickled to see the Fed Ex guy on Christmas Eve!!! I had to tell the girls it was something I won on Ebay. Then my DH (Chad) covered for me so I could run upstairs and open the packet. I was pleasantly surprised to find that we had been upgraded from a cat 11 to a cat 10 on deck 7.
So, on to the surprise ~ I wrapped each girl a box of goodies. I had pillowcases airbrushed with Disney Magic and our sail date, I also threw in a disposable camera and a cruise brochure. They didnt get it right away, actually we had to tell them. Eventually they were thrilled!
We flew out Sat. morning on SWA and arrived at MCO a few minutes early. Our driver from yourride was there waiting. He didnt have a pink sign so I got nervous but we found each other. He was a great guy I sure wish I could remember his name. On to the next surprise the limo. That went over real well!!! I asked rabbit to have champagne and ginger ale waiting for us. We had the best time just goofing off and taking pictures. We stopped at Publix for water (wish we had bought more) and vanilla coke oh, and the restroom from all the ginger ale! We were in no hurry at that point ~ we were living it up. It was pretty cool driving up at the grocery having everyone stare and wonder who was inside!
It was probably 1:30 ish when we arrived at the port ~ we were all very excited. I was surprised at how easy the boarding process was. It is without a doubt the best boarding process of the lines we have sailed. We decided to take a picture with Pluto before we even got in line. The lines were very short and we were walking through the Mickey Ears within 20 minutes. I was very excited to have our name announced but I dont think anyone else in my family noticed! We went straight to Sessions to change our dining rotation we had PLA and wanted APL ~ no problem. Then right next door was Rockin Bar D so I made Palo brunch ressies ~ no problem again. That took all of 10 minutes. So we were off to drop off our carry ons. The cabin was great ~ I love the set up. The split bathroom allowed my DH to actually be able to get to a sink/mirror..ha ha It must be tough living with 3 girls. Another thing I liked was the curtain between the girls beds and ours. Bre likes to sleep with a night light so I could close the curtain to eliminate the light. Our luggage hadnt arrived yet and we were starving so we headed up to Parrot Cay which was closed because it was after 2. So then we went to Topsiders Buffet and had some of the wonderful peel and eat shrimp. Krissy got thirds ~ she made quite an impression! It turned out that the man serving them would be our asst. waiter (he remembered her later at dinner). After eating we walked around taking pictures and then went register the girls in the Oceaneers Lab. Our timing was off ~ the club was closing for the live boat drill so they gave us the paperwork and told us to come back after the drill. We went back to the cabin to relax but our luggage had arrived to I started unpacking. We waited for the signal of the lifeboat drill and headed up. It went very quickly ~ I was expecting them to call out cabin #s but I only heard them call out one or two and then the drill was over. They seemed to be more concerned with putting us in order of tallest to shortest ?? It was painless and over in a matter of 10 minutes.
We hurried to the cabin and dumped the jackets and made our way to the lab to register. For everyone reading this dont do this unless your kids are going to the lab that night. I spent at least 30 minutes in there and I could have easily just waited until the first time the girls actually wanted to go to the club. I was less than organized and I was in need of a drink by the time I got out of there. So we went up to deck 9 to dance and blow some bubbles. It was about half way through my drink when I realized I missed the DIS meet. I was very upset with myself for forgetting. I wished that we had set up a second meet but hindsight. As we sailed off I looked for the CMs with the Mickey gloves waving goodbye but the terminal was completely empty.
We unpacked some more and then changed for our show/dinner. The Welcome Aboard Variety Show was very good. Bre really enjoyed Gary Delenas part of the show. She surprised me by laughing at some of the jokes that I thought were over her head. It was a really funny show ~ not to be missed. Our first restaurant was Animators Palate we were at table 57 a table for 4. Our waiters were Shawn from Canada and his asst. Herman (pronounced hey-mon) from India. They were just incredible! My girls were getting very tired but the room changing colors was just enough to keep them awake. I kept track of what we tried in each restaurant. I had the lobster and shrimp wrapper and the maple glazed salmon with the strawberry shortcake for dessert. The appetizer was almost as good at the entrée. The strawberry shortcake wasnt what I was expecting it was okay. Chad had the stuffed tomato (which was very pretty I took a picture!) and the strip loin and the cheesecake for dessert. Bre had mac and cheese with cheesecake for dessert ~ very healthy choices! Krissy had steak and a whole potato with no dessert which became the norm. The waiters were taken with Krissys love of steak and Bre was taken with our waiter!! She had/has the biggest crush on Shawn ~ he impressed her with his magic tricks every night.
It had been a long day and we were all exhausted so we went back to the cabin. Our beds had been turned (and pulled) down and boy did they look inviting! I am finally done with todays extensive report. If you have read this in one sitting you better make sure your legs arent sleeping before you try to stand up lol
This cruise was a Christmas surprise to our 2 DDs (Bre 9 and Krissy 7) to celebrate their birthdays. The trip was originally a land / sea over the Mardi Gras holiday. We decided to change our plans and booked the Thursday before Christmas. I was tickled to see the Fed Ex guy on Christmas Eve!!! I had to tell the girls it was something I won on Ebay. Then my DH (Chad) covered for me so I could run upstairs and open the packet. I was pleasantly surprised to find that we had been upgraded from a cat 11 to a cat 10 on deck 7.
So, on to the surprise ~ I wrapped each girl a box of goodies. I had pillowcases airbrushed with Disney Magic and our sail date, I also threw in a disposable camera and a cruise brochure. They didnt get it right away, actually we had to tell them. Eventually they were thrilled!
We flew out Sat. morning on SWA and arrived at MCO a few minutes early. Our driver from yourride was there waiting. He didnt have a pink sign so I got nervous but we found each other. He was a great guy I sure wish I could remember his name. On to the next surprise the limo. That went over real well!!! I asked rabbit to have champagne and ginger ale waiting for us. We had the best time just goofing off and taking pictures. We stopped at Publix for water (wish we had bought more) and vanilla coke oh, and the restroom from all the ginger ale! We were in no hurry at that point ~ we were living it up. It was pretty cool driving up at the grocery having everyone stare and wonder who was inside!
It was probably 1:30 ish when we arrived at the port ~ we were all very excited. I was surprised at how easy the boarding process was. It is without a doubt the best boarding process of the lines we have sailed. We decided to take a picture with Pluto before we even got in line. The lines were very short and we were walking through the Mickey Ears within 20 minutes. I was very excited to have our name announced but I dont think anyone else in my family noticed! We went straight to Sessions to change our dining rotation we had PLA and wanted APL ~ no problem. Then right next door was Rockin Bar D so I made Palo brunch ressies ~ no problem again. That took all of 10 minutes. So we were off to drop off our carry ons. The cabin was great ~ I love the set up. The split bathroom allowed my DH to actually be able to get to a sink/mirror..ha ha It must be tough living with 3 girls. Another thing I liked was the curtain between the girls beds and ours. Bre likes to sleep with a night light so I could close the curtain to eliminate the light. Our luggage hadnt arrived yet and we were starving so we headed up to Parrot Cay which was closed because it was after 2. So then we went to Topsiders Buffet and had some of the wonderful peel and eat shrimp. Krissy got thirds ~ she made quite an impression! It turned out that the man serving them would be our asst. waiter (he remembered her later at dinner). After eating we walked around taking pictures and then went register the girls in the Oceaneers Lab. Our timing was off ~ the club was closing for the live boat drill so they gave us the paperwork and told us to come back after the drill. We went back to the cabin to relax but our luggage had arrived to I started unpacking. We waited for the signal of the lifeboat drill and headed up. It went very quickly ~ I was expecting them to call out cabin #s but I only heard them call out one or two and then the drill was over. They seemed to be more concerned with putting us in order of tallest to shortest ?? It was painless and over in a matter of 10 minutes.
We hurried to the cabin and dumped the jackets and made our way to the lab to register. For everyone reading this dont do this unless your kids are going to the lab that night. I spent at least 30 minutes in there and I could have easily just waited until the first time the girls actually wanted to go to the club. I was less than organized and I was in need of a drink by the time I got out of there. So we went up to deck 9 to dance and blow some bubbles. It was about half way through my drink when I realized I missed the DIS meet. I was very upset with myself for forgetting. I wished that we had set up a second meet but hindsight. As we sailed off I looked for the CMs with the Mickey gloves waving goodbye but the terminal was completely empty.
We unpacked some more and then changed for our show/dinner. The Welcome Aboard Variety Show was very good. Bre really enjoyed Gary Delenas part of the show. She surprised me by laughing at some of the jokes that I thought were over her head. It was a really funny show ~ not to be missed. Our first restaurant was Animators Palate we were at table 57 a table for 4. Our waiters were Shawn from Canada and his asst. Herman (pronounced hey-mon) from India. They were just incredible! My girls were getting very tired but the room changing colors was just enough to keep them awake. I kept track of what we tried in each restaurant. I had the lobster and shrimp wrapper and the maple glazed salmon with the strawberry shortcake for dessert. The appetizer was almost as good at the entrée. The strawberry shortcake wasnt what I was expecting it was okay. Chad had the stuffed tomato (which was very pretty I took a picture!) and the strip loin and the cheesecake for dessert. Bre had mac and cheese with cheesecake for dessert ~ very healthy choices! Krissy had steak and a whole potato with no dessert which became the norm. The waiters were taken with Krissys love of steak and Bre was taken with our waiter!! She had/has the biggest crush on Shawn ~ he impressed her with his magic tricks every night.
It had been a long day and we were all exhausted so we went back to the cabin. Our beds had been turned (and pulled) down and boy did they look inviting! I am finally done with todays extensive report. If you have read this in one sitting you better make sure your legs arent sleeping before you try to stand up lol
