Paintballbusters
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2000
- Messages
- 68
We had a magical trip. I'm ready now to tackle the Western. Those included in our little vacation are: Myself (38), DH (39), Mom (56), Sister (37), Niece (15), DS (15), DD (12) and Niece (10). We stayed in Cat 3 (#8046) and sis stayed in Cat 6. Concierge was fantastic!!!!
Our day started off by me missing the alarm clock going off @ 2 am to catch our 5:20 am flight out of OKC. Thanks to SIL we caught the plane. AA's computer went down the moment we got in line (another scare), but after about 20 minutes it was up and running. Made our way to the Gate and I had to be searched because my underwire bar set off the alarms (BEWARE ladies). They made it a pleasant and not-so-embarrassing experience for me. My family was loving every minute of it. Thanks to LDB1030 our seats were great and our flight experience was wonderful. The plane had a short delay in St. Louis, MO to baggage reorganization and arrived in Orlando at 11:05 am. DCL members met us in main terminal and took us straight to the buses. While on the bus you are shown a film to help make the trip go faster. It also gives you a chance to get all your docs in order for arrival. We made it to the terminal by 12:30 pm. Since we were Concierge, we were able to bypass the hundreds of people standing in lines for check-in. Went smoothly and were squeezed in the front of the line for boarding the ship. Walking on the ship was a magical experience and Disney does a great job introducing your family!!! You can't help but smile and feel tingly all over.
After boarding I sent family up to Topsiders for lunch as I went to Sessions to meet Concierge and make Spa, Palo & Club ressies. Went smoothly. Even made hair braiding appts on Castaway Cay. Got everything done. They're great! However, since my sister was in a different room, she could not make her Spa reservations there. She had to go directly to the Spa herself to make that ressie. She also had to sign her daughter in at the Club, as I did not have to. Met mom at Topsiders for a quick bite and then took our carry-on luggage to our rooms. We actually received all of our luggage from DCL by 5 pm. Del Roy was our room steward and wonderful -- always had a smile on his face and we saw him at least 2 or 3 times daily. We were shy 1 life jacket so DH was chosen to be the one to drown. LOL! Mandatory Boat Drill went quickly. Not too bad. Little ones, though, don't like it. Heard a lot of crying.
Rec'd DCL beach towel and 2 pins as this was our 2nd cruise. DH claimed towel right away. Concierge left a tray of fresh fruit and a few cans of soft drinks and 2 bottles of water for us to enjoy.
Sail Away Party is not to be missed. Mom purchased InterNet pkg for $89.99 for 7 days. The only thing they didn't bother to tell us was if you e-mail it costs $3.95 per e-mail you send. But she found a way around that fee, thank goodness. Welcome Aboard Variety Show was fantastic --- very funny!!! There was a magician and a juggler on this trip and their shows are not to be missed. The adult shows are a lot like the family shows and still very funny. Dinner first night at Parrot Cay. Leo & Heman from India were our servers. Alen from South Africa was our Head Server. We saw Alen every night of the cruise and he took care of any special requests we made. Leo did a great job advising us on the different entrees. Heman was great with the kids, but needs a little work on serving our drinks. Our food seemed to arrive before our drinks and he even forgot about my tea a couple of nights, but he had a great personality and took care of the kids immediately. Unfortunately the first night all 4 kids ended up leaving before eating because they got seasick. Our table was right next to a window and the seas were a little rough the first few days (8 to 10 ft swells). We thought the food was great!!!! DH & DS wore nice shorts for dinner and nothing was said to them about not having on slacks. There were plenty of people dressed in nice shorts. Never saw jean shorts or skimpy dressers in the evenings.
We really enjoyed our evening walks on the ship, but if you try to walk up front be prepared for wind. Don't venture up that way if you care what your hair looks like. For me, I was on vacation and it could have all fallen out as far as I could care. Dueling pianos was okay that evening. DH & sis enjoyed it more than me. Not enough piano playing for me. Didn't go again.
DM really loved verandah. She's a smoker so it came in very handy. She requested one of the wooden lounge chairs from Deck 4 and Del Roy brought it right up. Therefore, every day DM & DH took turns napping on the verandah.
The kids didn't stay in their clubs today. Did their own thing. Purchased video cards with their KTTW cards. I allowed them 2 $10 cards for the entire trip. The 10 yo & 12 yo tried the Club on one of their activities (the Spy game), but when they arrived for some reason they weren't playing the Spy game, so the girls left. Later that evening, they did attend the club for movie and pizza. They didn't stay long then either. There were too many kids in there for them. This was a full ship. I think that's why the 2 teens didn't stay in their clubs, because unfortunately there was a bad group of teens (approx 10) that were very intimidating and they wanted to stay away from them as much as possible.
I'll write more later. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer.
Our day started off by me missing the alarm clock going off @ 2 am to catch our 5:20 am flight out of OKC. Thanks to SIL we caught the plane. AA's computer went down the moment we got in line (another scare), but after about 20 minutes it was up and running. Made our way to the Gate and I had to be searched because my underwire bar set off the alarms (BEWARE ladies). They made it a pleasant and not-so-embarrassing experience for me. My family was loving every minute of it. Thanks to LDB1030 our seats were great and our flight experience was wonderful. The plane had a short delay in St. Louis, MO to baggage reorganization and arrived in Orlando at 11:05 am. DCL members met us in main terminal and took us straight to the buses. While on the bus you are shown a film to help make the trip go faster. It also gives you a chance to get all your docs in order for arrival. We made it to the terminal by 12:30 pm. Since we were Concierge, we were able to bypass the hundreds of people standing in lines for check-in. Went smoothly and were squeezed in the front of the line for boarding the ship. Walking on the ship was a magical experience and Disney does a great job introducing your family!!! You can't help but smile and feel tingly all over.
After boarding I sent family up to Topsiders for lunch as I went to Sessions to meet Concierge and make Spa, Palo & Club ressies. Went smoothly. Even made hair braiding appts on Castaway Cay. Got everything done. They're great! However, since my sister was in a different room, she could not make her Spa reservations there. She had to go directly to the Spa herself to make that ressie. She also had to sign her daughter in at the Club, as I did not have to. Met mom at Topsiders for a quick bite and then took our carry-on luggage to our rooms. We actually received all of our luggage from DCL by 5 pm. Del Roy was our room steward and wonderful -- always had a smile on his face and we saw him at least 2 or 3 times daily. We were shy 1 life jacket so DH was chosen to be the one to drown. LOL! Mandatory Boat Drill went quickly. Not too bad. Little ones, though, don't like it. Heard a lot of crying.
Rec'd DCL beach towel and 2 pins as this was our 2nd cruise. DH claimed towel right away. Concierge left a tray of fresh fruit and a few cans of soft drinks and 2 bottles of water for us to enjoy.
Sail Away Party is not to be missed. Mom purchased InterNet pkg for $89.99 for 7 days. The only thing they didn't bother to tell us was if you e-mail it costs $3.95 per e-mail you send. But she found a way around that fee, thank goodness. Welcome Aboard Variety Show was fantastic --- very funny!!! There was a magician and a juggler on this trip and their shows are not to be missed. The adult shows are a lot like the family shows and still very funny. Dinner first night at Parrot Cay. Leo & Heman from India were our servers. Alen from South Africa was our Head Server. We saw Alen every night of the cruise and he took care of any special requests we made. Leo did a great job advising us on the different entrees. Heman was great with the kids, but needs a little work on serving our drinks. Our food seemed to arrive before our drinks and he even forgot about my tea a couple of nights, but he had a great personality and took care of the kids immediately. Unfortunately the first night all 4 kids ended up leaving before eating because they got seasick. Our table was right next to a window and the seas were a little rough the first few days (8 to 10 ft swells). We thought the food was great!!!! DH & DS wore nice shorts for dinner and nothing was said to them about not having on slacks. There were plenty of people dressed in nice shorts. Never saw jean shorts or skimpy dressers in the evenings.
We really enjoyed our evening walks on the ship, but if you try to walk up front be prepared for wind. Don't venture up that way if you care what your hair looks like. For me, I was on vacation and it could have all fallen out as far as I could care. Dueling pianos was okay that evening. DH & sis enjoyed it more than me. Not enough piano playing for me. Didn't go again.
DM really loved verandah. She's a smoker so it came in very handy. She requested one of the wooden lounge chairs from Deck 4 and Del Roy brought it right up. Therefore, every day DM & DH took turns napping on the verandah.
The kids didn't stay in their clubs today. Did their own thing. Purchased video cards with their KTTW cards. I allowed them 2 $10 cards for the entire trip. The 10 yo & 12 yo tried the Club on one of their activities (the Spy game), but when they arrived for some reason they weren't playing the Spy game, so the girls left. Later that evening, they did attend the club for movie and pizza. They didn't stay long then either. There were too many kids in there for them. This was a full ship. I think that's why the 2 teens didn't stay in their clubs, because unfortunately there was a bad group of teens (approx 10) that were very intimidating and they wanted to stay away from them as much as possible.
I'll write more later. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer.
