Magically Crossing the Atlantic May 12-26 2007

[NHdisneylover]

Hello DISsers.
This will be my very first trip report. I know I will not live up to the amazing examples of legends like Sleepydog and RV but I hope to provide some entertainment and/or useful info for someone (besides if I went into the kind of detail the aforementioned greats use for a 14 night cruise we would all be here until the new ships launch! ). Also, installments made on nights when my DH is home to add much needed humor and style will inevitably be more fun to read than my dry accounts—which will I am sure give this TR a split personality feel .

Okay so the cast of Characters for this little drama (comedy?) is:
Myself (Hadley) age 34
DH (David) also 34
DD (Marika) 10
DS (Rio) 8
Also a supporting cast my in-laws Hank and Jan and a variety of fabulous DISsers and CMs

Well, as soon as I heard that DCL was crossing the Atlantic I wanted to go. I have always had romantic delusions about transatlantic sailings and here was my chance. And then we priced it! Yikes , sticker shock does not even begin to describe how I felt. My hopes and dreams were dashed . There was no way this cruise was in the cards for me.

Luckily for me, lots of other people thought the cruise was not in the cards for them either . Perhaps due to the initial high cost? Or perhaps two full weeks at the end of the school year is just not a good time for DCL's core cruisers? Maybe it is a fear of the open ocean? Who knows? All I know for sure is three months out I priced it and suddenly this cruise was very affordable and doable . And, I found air for a bargain ($380 home from Barcelona and $88 down to Orlando from New Hampshire). I was so totally excited I thought I would burst when we booked the cruise on my DH’s birthday!

Well, as the time for the cruise drew nearer we all got more and more excited. For the first time I used the DIS for more than just looking up a bit of info and POSTED (and posted and posted and. . . ). We were already making friends with a group of people from the boards. And my theory that this ship would be low on kids (which MY kids prefer) seemed to be holding water. AND the price dropped an additional $1000 after we booked (all of which we got back ). This was clearly the trip that was meant to be.

May 11 (fly down day) FINALLY arrived (was the slowest 3 months of my life). We were flying Southwest from Manchester, NH to MCO (via Baltimore). My in-laws were flying direct from Denver to MCO. Technically we should all arrive within 10 minutes of one another but we all knew that would never really happen.

Well, we had smooth and easy flights or at least as smooth and easy as possible considering Southwest's carnival style seat assigments and flying to MCO with 300 children (why are there so many kids going to Orlando!?!). We even had bulkhead seats on one plane and free drinks on both (thanks to fellow DISser Juliekatie who sent us her free drink coupons, which were about to expire, bless her). Having free alcohol on Southwest is the equivalent of ordering leather seats for your Yugo.

Anyway, we arrived at MCO right on time, and could not figure out how to tell which gate my in-laws might arrive at (arrival info. isn’t really needed inside security in this post 9/11 world I guess). So we headed out and to the tram to the main terminal. As we were getting off the tram Dave’s cell rang—it was his parents walking off their plane! It worked! We were really arriving all at the same time. So, we hung out by the fountain for a few minutes until they made it on the tram. Then we all headed down for our luggage (which was out by then but not the only pieces left yet). Everything was there. After collecting that we went over to the carousel for my in-laws’ which was also all there (man this was going so smoothly).

The 6 of us and our 9 suitcases and one case of Girl Scout cookies (for CMs) headed to Avis, (to the parking garage, back to terminal 2, up to the fourth floor, back down to the second floor, oh, you mean the other side of terminal 2!?, past the Hyatt, around the fountain and back to the parking garage) picked up rental cars and drove straight ($14.50 in tolls later) to Whispering Canyon Café (you thought I was going to say the hotel didn’t ya?).

I hauled that case of cookies into the restaurant with me so the would not melt in the car. Of all the places to do that, at Whispering Canyon I took quite a ribbing. Lunch was good and we had good servers but did not see ANY of the servers we have come to know and love over the years, which was a bit unsettling.

After lunch we headed over to our hotel (Lake Buena Vista Suites) and checked in and unloaded luggage. I had planned ahead and packed one bag that had everything we needed for that one night in it. So Dave and I needed only to bring in one bag (and the case of cookies). My in-laws (who have traveled the world) seem to lack common travel sense and had to haul all 4 of their large bags in (which took a lot of room in our little suite also ). The hotel was very average. We had elected to stay there, as one $88 room would sleep all 6 of us (rather than spend $99 per room for two rooms at a Disney Value resort). It was absolutely a far cry from Disney. Next time we will cough up the extra $$$.

Our next stop was Old Key West resort to go to the Wine (and oh yeah—cheese) party being hosted by fellow DISsers Scott and Lynn. I was so excited to finally meet fellow DISsers I was about to burst. Hank and Jan (having never actually been on the DIS) were rather baffled by the whole thing but thought wine and cheese sounded good.

We had a lovely time at the party and were thrilled to start putting faces (and voices) with names. LOTS of people were there and it was pretty overwhelming. Best of all, Kelly (DISser of course) had seen me post about wishing I could go to the parks and not knowing how I could be so close and not have a sweet pretzel from Norway and actually brought me a sweet pretzel !!!! What an awesome person, eh? Kelly was/is great (she is still on the back to back as I type—I think she gets off tomorrow). So the afternoon passed quickly and we soon realized we had been at the party for far too long and had to feed kids and get them to bed (and they HAD to swim of course).

Back at the hotel we swam for a bit. The pool was pretty gross (kinda cloudy water, peeling paint, people smoking, ducks @$#ing) so we stayed the shortest possible time and then headed to the LIQUOUR STORE and Chick-Fil-A: for ALCOHOL (we always carry our own, it is much cheaper than Konch Koolers) and a quick dinner at a chain we do not have at home and then put everyone to bed. Note I said to bed, NOT to sleep. We now know that one cannot sleep over the loud fog horn type noises Jan emits throughout the night!


NEXT UP: Arriving at the MAGIC.

 

[starrzone]

Sounds like you had a great time! My family (we're from Eastern Canada) has flown Southwest from Manchester- Orlando twice and loved it- you sure are right about the "300 kids" comment! I would LOVE to go on a Disney cruise- maybe I can convince my travel buddy!

starrzone

 

[disneydance]

Enjoying this very much cant wait till day2

 

[taysmom]

post post post....waiting impatiently!

 

[NHdisneylover]

Thanks for the support I will get to day two (stuff invovling the ship which is much more fun, e?) today if I am lucky but by tomorrow otherwise.

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Tfs

 

[NHdisneylover]

Reviewing the cast of Characters for this little drama (comedy?) is:
Myself (Hadley) age 34
DH (David) also 34
DD (Marika) 10
DS (Rio) 8
Also a supporting cast my in-laws Hank and Jan and a variety of fabulous DISsers and CMs

May 12 dawned sunny and bright. Either we have been on too many DCL cruises (couldn’t be!) or else the kids were sleep deprived from the effects of there gramma’s snoring. One way or the other we actually had to wake them on sail away day

We got everyone up and dressed. I wrapped up all that recently purchased alcohol and placed it gingerly in the rolling bag we would carry on (you must take the most precious pocession with you right? ). and the in-laws repacked all four of their suitcases.

Finally we headed down to breakfast. As advertised there was a hot breakfast buffet at Lake Buena Vista Suites. It was fine, but all very average and we found we missed the buffets we have at Holiday Inn Express on our weekend trips here and there (which are bettter quality). So, with enough sustenance to hold us until our arrival in Parrot Cay , we loaded up the rental cars and drove off into the sunset (oaky, literary lisence here—it was about 9:00 a.m.). Marika wanted to ride with her grandparents so we were two carloads of three each, with us in the lead of course.

Most of you have done this drive before so you know how it goes: driving, driving, grab some quarters for toll, more driving, quarters again, drive a bit more, another toll coming up—get quarters, drive over a bridge and “There she is!” I doubt that first siting of the ship will ever loose its magic. I could dwell on this for a long time, but there are plenty of other TRs that do that and you are here for the good stuff—the unique to transatlantic stuff, the this family is so cool stuff (well okay, maybe not that last one ).

We pulled up to the closed gate at the drop off area at 10 minutes to ten. The guard told us we could not get in until 10:30 and directed us to a parking lot across the street to wait. Nada problema. Dave pulled to the curb (in-laws actaully tried to go sit in the parking lot for a few minutes and then noticed us blithely ignoring directions and followed suit), unlaoded all our gear and headed off to return the rental car. The kids, Jan and I sent our luggage along with a very nice porter and jumped in the line-up of those who just couldn’t wait for this cruise.

Right in front of us were DISsers we had chatted with online (but who had not made it to the wine party—oh yeah and there was cheese). Actually, all around us were DISsers . Long before I got my name badge/lanyard every time I said “Rio” at least one person would turn around and say “You must be Hadley.” It was eerie at first but I got used to it.

Around 10:15 we all satrted to file into the terminal. One new thing for me was that you did not get a boarding card at the escalators. These were being handed out once you were in line for check-in and of course you must have all your forms in order to get in line. I thought that part would be a piece of cake . We had filled in everything online right after we booked. We had our Bahamian Immigration forms all filled out and had printed out that nifty little form to sign about the cruise contract. But no, I was missing a new piece . Sometime after I filled in my forms and printed what they told me to print a new form had been added. This one is somehting all the adults have to sign which says we will not sue DCL if we get hurt on an excursion or on our own on land. Jeepers! They want Dave to sign this before I can even get a boarding card, and Dave is not here (returning that rental car—remember?). Well, I pretty quickly realized no one was watching all that closely, scrawled his name myself and got in line. I eneded up with boarding card 4 (you can stop reading now if you want--not getting a 2 a may not be worthy of your further time and attention). If I had waited for David to arrive I would have had something well into the double digits as it took forever (spent ages sitting on the *&@# Avis shuttle waiting for it to be full so they would bring him back to the port) for Dave and Hank to make it back to the terminal (well over an hour).


I checked in. I took the kids to the kids club check in, waited for that to open and got a pager, wrist band for Rio and sticker on Marika’s card. About 20 minutes later Jan checked in (it took her longer to decide to sign Hank’s name, but she eventually saw the light). We looked at our KTTW cards and uh-oh . Time to satrt paying for our smooth trips yesterday. We are not dining at the same table. We are not even on the same rotation! EEK! DCL reservations has gotten their shoe boxes mixed up again (our meet thread had so many reservations nightmares we all decided they keep everything in shoeboxes back there). So, back in line we went. The short answer was we can’t do anything, fix it on board plus some “your travel agent never linked you” thrown in. Really? Odd, not only do I know how awesome our travel agent is, but my in-laws popped up as part of our travel party and do I want the kids to be able to be picked up by them at online check in two months ago. How is this possible if we aren’t linked? Checked with many of our new disborad friends (we were meeting more and more all the time). Yes, the four of us were in the same rotation as some of them (as we had requeseted to be) so we knew we wanted to move my in-laws into our rotation and not the other way around. Wished everyone luck sorting out various problems (seemed like a lot—SHOE BOXES I tell you).

For a while there we just wandered and met awesome people. Rio hooked up with his online buddy Owen and the two were like peas in a pod. Marika found her online, and cheese party friend Hannah, and I was constantly finding more DISsers.

Eventually I decided to quit waiting for Dave to get here and got in the Guest Services line (to check for an upgrade) without him. We were in a cat 11 and were thinking a cat 10 would be much nicer given the length of the crusie and the size of the growing kids’ clothing. I ended up in line right behind Ted (Owen’s dad) and we passed the time pleasantly chatting and keeping an eye on the boys (who were checking out that awesome ship model in the terminal). Before I made it to the front of the line Dave finally returned and joined me. We asked Hank and Jan if they wanted to check into an upgrade (also cat 11) and they said no.

When we made it to the font we found out that moving from a cat 11 to cat 10 was a $1550 upgrade! That seemed like a huge amount of $$$ to still be in an inside stateroom. Technically this was guest services (not upgrade line) so we also asked about our messed up dining. Dave (politely--we do not believe in berating someone who did not personally cause our problem) went into some detail with all the various hassles we had had with reservation issues this trip (all DCLs fault) and in the end we were offered an upgrade to a cat 5 for $850 (and Hank and Jan could do it too if they would only get over to GS quick) and told we would be persoanlly escorted on board to be sure the dining got cleared up. So once again, in the end, DCL made it right.

Up next, we finally board!

 

[disneydance]

enjoying every moment cant wait to read more

 

[Babs417]

Im ready to read more also

 

[travelgirl06]

Great job so far, can't wait to read more

 

[anewmac]

sounds great so far! cant wait to read more!

 

[NHdisneylover]

Review of cast:
Me--Hadley (34)
DH--Dave (34)
DD--Marika (10)
DS--Rio (8)
DMiL--Jan (64)
DFiL--Hank (69)
assorted awesome DIS folks and fantastic CMs

By the time 12:30 rolled around our outfits were newly acessorized with handy-dandy custom lanyards and nametags, and custom cruise bracelletes. Rio had his kids' club wrist band and Marika had her sticker and we all had new KTTW cards for our Veranda stateroom (7020).

The lovely Amber from guest services escorted us on board to clear up the dining debacle. "Disney Magic welcomes the NHDisneylover family." Oh, that entry gets me every time. We were all so busy looking for CM Keyon (he was the highlight of our previous two cruises), that a tiny piece of the magic of the moment may have been lost, but over all it felt GOOD to be back on board.

Amber headed right over to Rockin' Bar D and into the line we got (a much shorter line than that for Palos mind you). Within minutes Gaspare (head waiter extrodinaire) had us all starightend out and we were free to enjoy and relax. In other words, let the feeding frenzy begin! As is our tradition we headed straight for Parrot Cay. We had the pleasure of getting Susie from the DIS to join us and had a yummy lunch (I will confess here and now that we don't really take photos of food so that is one more item you will find missing from this TR).

Before the adults could even finsh eating, Marika had run off to swim and party with one of her DISboard pals. We next saw her doing the Macarena on the Goofy Pool stage. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

It was almost 1:30 when we finished eating, so Rio and I headed up to deck 7 to await the rope drop and see our stateroom (and get rid of the carry-on bag). The room was lovely--and I have to say the veranda was great for such a long trip. We were really happy with our decision to upgrade. One minor drawback with a port upgrade (which I did expect--but it still took away just a smidge of excitement) was that our CC club gift and the gift baskets I had ordered from the Perfic Gift did not make it to our room until after we did (actually it took about 6 hours and a few calls to hunt down the gift baskets--so the kids finally saw them after dinner).

Cumbersome carry-on out of the way, we headed up to the pool (where Marika was doing the Macarena). It was at this point that we first met an awesome cruise staff member, Michael. We asked him the million dollar question--is Keyon on board? NO Little did we know in our disspointment at that moment that Michael would turn out to be every bit as special to us . We chatted with Micahel about good times and places for Rio to let his inner party boy out and generally had a relaxing time. Both kids swam a bit and then we needed to head down to good ole 7020 to prepare for the lifeboat drill.

The lifeboat drill was quick and painless. Soon we were partying up a strom at the new and improved sailaway party. It is improved and we loved it. We really liked the special Mickey Hands with the sailing dates that they gave us to wave about for the feeling of nostalgia they gave us from our very first DCL in 1999. At that time the sailaway party also had mickey hands. We had an awesome time dancing up a storm and waving the Mickey hands and streamers around.

Dave, like many from our DISmeet, became a part of the Grass skirt fraternity.

The Florida contigent of the meet thread had all gotten together a few weeks before sailing to paint a giant banner which we held over the side of the ship as she sailed away.

Post party we headed back to the stateroom and unpacked. Our CC gift was also there. It's a nice, leather passport wallet which we will quite honestly probably never use. Rio also ordered the first of many Mickey Ice Cream bars from room service (he had actually tried to order some at 1:35 but they had not made it on board the ship yet ) He and Marika and their grandparents all enjoyed this treat on the verandas.

It was time to get dressed for dinner and head to the All Aboard variety show. It was fun to hear a few of the lines changed to reflect the length and destination of this special trip. Magician Mike Super chose Dave do go on stage and do some silly antics much to our family's amusement. And, we were delighted to find that John Charles was on board.

Soon it was time to continue that feeding frenzy we had begun in Parrot Cay. We had the LAP-LAP-LAP-LAP-LA dining rotation. All those many syllables just made me giddy. At Lumiere's we met our most excellent serving team of Fernando from Chile and Iketut from Indonesia. We did not begin with a rotatioanl menu, but with the Let the Magic Begin menu. And, trust me the magic already had.

Well fed, and worn out from all that partying, we took the kids back to the room for bed. Their gift buckets were waiting for them and the excitement of this new surprise required that we spend a good half hour sorting through the buckets and checking out all the yummies.

We eventually tucked the kids in and headed down to Rockin' Bar D for ice breakers. We started getting to know so many wonderufl CMs here. Michael (who we met that morning) hosted and we met Travis, DJ Mike and David and began to realize what a particularly fantabulous cruise staff we were lucky to have.

We did eventually make it back to our room and to sleep.

 

[taysmom]

more more more...excellent report.

Steph

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Love your report so far, and you have great pics. This is a fun read.

 

[scoutsmom99]

Fantastic start Hadley I can't wit to read more about your adventures

 

[NHdisneylover]

Cast review:

Me (Hadley) 34
DH (David) 34
DD (Marika) 10
DS (Rio) 8

Grandparents: Hank and Jan
Lots of great CMs and DISsers

Our previous cruise had been a Double Dip in September '07. That cruise, like this one, appealed heavily to repeat cruirsers (poeple who are in the know). So, we were well prepared based on that experience (and even to a lesser extent our "regular" cruise the previous year) to find a line down the hallway on deck two of other anxious beach goers ready to make the most of every minute on Castaway Cay. Thus, we ordered room service on the little card the night before, so we could get a quick bite in the room and join the teaming masses in our quest to find the perfect lounge chair.

Breakfast arrived on time. We found room service is much nicer when you can eat it on your veranda We enjoyed our bagels and coffee and handed a cup over the rails to Jan when she groggily poked her head out (she sees no reason to rush off to the beach--afterall she can simply hone in on our spot later on). We also handed over her Motehr's Day gift (a book she would like--remember we were limited to easy to bring home items).

Not being a coffee drinker, I headed up to deck 9 for my morning caffiene jolt (COKE). We were moving much more slowly than anticipated (the allure of that veranda) and I was worried we would be WAY back in the disembarkation line. Deck 9 was eerily quiet. I literally saw only 2 other passengers up there (and I crossed from fore to aft on the deck). OMG everyone must already be in line. No clueless folks having leisurely breakfasts here.

Coke in hand, I got back to the stateroom, helped the kids grab their buckets and we started heading along the halls to get to the aft side of the ship and then down to the gangplank. As we were heading into the stairwell the announcement came that we were clear to disembark (about 30 minutes earlier than they had estimated--we were counting on 15 minutes early). Our hearts were racing. How long would that line be when we hit deck 2? We rounded the corner, and NO LINE! Not one single other passenger was there. On down to deck one and the gangplank. Nobody. Bored staff members standing there with nothing to do! We exited the ship in a daze and looked toward the beach. There was one other family walking ahead of us. That was it. Just one other family wanting to spend all the time they could on this lovely piece of paradise. As we walked toward the family beach (we always walk--gotta work off some of that soft serve) the tram passed us. On it was our DIS friend Debbie and her mom. Just them. Their own private little tram. It was begining to sink in--WE HAD CASTAWAY CAY TO OUR SELVES! As reality truly hit us we skipped and happy danced our way towards "Our Spot."

"Our Spot" as we have so origianlly dubbed it is just that OUR spot (not yours, not Mickey's--OURS). Its location is top secret and will not be divulged in this report. Suffice to say it is conviently near restrooms and ice cream and has plenty of shade. Every visit to Castaway we have nabbed this primo local. This is ideal as the children (and Konked husbands) always know how to find home base. Grandparents who sllep in also know where to mosey to when they finally hit the beach (sleeping in? What do the ythink htis is? A vacation?) My terror about this it that some day we may not get it (someone could beat us to it--though it seems not to be highly popular) and the kids may feel so slighted it could cast a palor over the entire day.

Thus, our spot secured, is was time to explore our virtually private beach. That other family who beat us off the ship were DIS freinds. Rio found their son, Owen, and the two took off to play. Mom, Kathy, and I relaxed and chatted while the boys played. Since the beach was totally empty, the boys could wander quite a ways and we could still spot them easily. I have always said that Castaway could not be any better. Okay, I was wrong. You may want to print that last statement out--I rarely use it. Castaway CAN be improved by getting rid of the crowds.

After a bit I went out to the play structure to join Dave and Marika. We swam about and enjoyed the peace. Two sting rays were playing in and around the area and swam by us numerous times (free mini excursion right there). We chatted with the CM whose sole job at that point was making sure our own little family did not drown. He gave us some great stats. There were only 302 chidlren on board (we later heard 404--I asked and the difference was one # counted teens the other did not) as compared to the 900-1000 on a normal crusie. There were also only 1900 cruisers. There were so many empty staterooms that DCL was using them for storage.
The feeling of "man are we in for a GREAT two weeks" kept increasing as he spoke.

It did not occur to me in my deep relaxation mode to take a photo of the empty beach. Here is a photo of Rio gathering coral taken about 10:00 (we had alread been on Castaway almost 2 hours by then). If you check out the background (he is directly inland from the play structure and I was shooting looking back down the beach towards the ship) you can see it was still quiet (never did get even to half as full as normal--even less than the smaller passenger list warrented--perhaps everyone was at Serenity Beach).

Up Next--more Castaway Cay bliss

 

[ncseric]

Your cruise sounds like going to the parks in January or another off time. If 1900 is a low number, what's the normal total on the ship? I can probably find it somewhere, but it's your report.

 

[DenverVal]

I'm really enjoying your report and looking forward to more. We will bring the Magic back home in August!

 

[solgent]

Oh my gosh, this trip sounds SO amazing! I can't wait to read more and see more photos. Your family is beautiful, by the way.

 

[disneymom7851]

Normally would have close to 2700 on board. Hadley your reports are always the best.