May 29th -June1st Parents first Cruise

[spacerangerqueen]

This time last week I was resting after a yummy Palo meal. So while I go through my 833 pics I thought I would start my trip report.


The Crew

Me- 25, Third Disney cruise, just got a new job and probably shouldn't have taken time off so soon, oh well they said yes! will eat anything chocolate and burns at the mention of the

DBF- 27, Also third Disney cruise, really wanted his parents to experience cruising, loves wearing blue shirts, gets waaay too into pirate night.

DBF's mom, henceforth to be called "mom" - Don't know how DBF came out of this tiny woman, but she's hysterical, and spent the last 30 years surrounded by boys.

DBF's dad, see above - Longtime AP holder and the reason DBF loves DBF was very excited for him to experience DCL

So here we go!

Thursday May 29th 2008:

At around 9:30am the Parents came to pick us up and dropped off some things to store at our place during the cruise. We packed up our stuff in their car and headed off to Port Canaveral. We made sure to take the right exit to get to the port and found there were no cars in line ahead of us. As we unloaded our bags the porter told us that we could park in the lot right next to where we were standing since the Magic is in California.
The guys went to park the car and mom and I headed inside to make sure we had all of our paperwork. We had twice as much paperwork than we needed lol. One signature from dad and it was off to check in. We got boarding card 3 yey!

Smooth check in, dining rotation PTA which I was excited about because we had Palo that night and we didn't want to miss Animators as it was the parents first cruise and I wanted to experience Tritons since we missed it due to Palo's in November.
After check in we went and took the obligatory pics outside with the ship. Dad spotted our luggage in one of the carts which was cool. We jammed a little to Journey, which they were blasting on the ship as they prepared for our arrival then headed back inside. We lounged around watching Donald cartoons and did some people watching as families got their pics taken with the fuzzy ones. Soon enough it was time to board the ship.

After stopping for photos and being announced we booked it towards Beach Blanket. We noted that the Cast were wearing buttons announcing that the
Golden Mickey's were tonight! We were expecting Toy Story but DBF loves Henson Benson and the Golden Mickey's, so all the better. We arrived at the buffet, stumbled over guests with all their luggage with them, yet covered in their DCL room tags....
There was tons of outside seating and we a grabbed a table where I had a great view of the Carnival Sensation waiting to set sail nearby. Lunch was yummy, didn't care for the mac and cheese much though. It was really windy and our straws flew out of our drinks into our food as we walked outside. We ate some desserts

then headed up to deck 10 to start giving the parents a ship tour. This took up all the time we needed before our rooms were ready and included DBF stepping into the Walt Disney Theater and then emerging saying they were rehearsing for the Golden Mickey's, whoops!

We went to deck 6 and headed to 6148 and 6150. They were great, huge balconies, no steamer trunks :-( The wall opposite the bed was very empty, I think this was due to the absence of the trunk, still it was strange having a framed photo of Walt and Lillian over the set of draws and then blank wall until the desk.
We relaxed in the room for a little bit and then headed out to put my disney rewards on my room account and get a snack as I decided my one plate of food at lunch was not enough. I got a turkey panini at Goofy's Galley and it had the most delicious garlic mayonnaise on it. yummmm.
We also took some pics around the ship

We then headed back to the room. My suitcase had arrived so I unpacked. I don't think we did much, just relaxed until the safety drill.

After sitting in Animator's for the drill we headed back and DBF unpacked his bag. We then all headed up to the sail away party already in progress. We noticed that everyone had metallic streamers so we sent DBF to go find us some. After a little bit he came back with more than enough.

We headed to the side of the ship and waited to wave to the CMs at the terminal. We then waved our streamers at every boat and restaurant and person we passed on our way to the open ocean.

We walked up to the bow of the ship as we sailed towards the already departed Carnival Sensation, then headed back to the room to get ready for the show.
We had Palo at 730 so we spiffied up and then headed to the Golden Mickeys.

DBF was very excited

Before the show we met out cruise director Clayton who introduced us to the "I'm on vacation dance" to be done to the tune of "It's Not Unusual" by Tom
Jones, think Fresh Prince of Bel Air. The show was fabulous as usual and got out with plenty of time to get to Palo.
Here's a few pics, my camera battery died part way through and I hadn't worked out my camera settings yet.

We arrived a bit early for Palo and sat in the lounge area at the entrance and watched the sky start to change colors as the sun made its way down. We were soon escorted to a booth next to a large group of uniformed officers, many would come and go from the restaurant during the meal, I guess Goofy was piloting the ship.
We had Agnes as a server and she was fantastic! She brought DBF two desserts, and a chocolate soufflé for everyone to share. We had all ordered different things, but we wanted to make sure the parents got to try the signature dish. I ordered the Toblerone (chocolate martini) with dessert, and boy was it strong, did not come close to finishing it. We left sufficiently stuffed and drowsy due to Limincello and chocolate martinis.

Desserts!

The parents

Me drinking the chocolate from the bottom of my Martini with a straw..

We pretty much called it a night after dinner. Though DBF and I headed to deck 9 for some drinks and a view of the Sensations xmas lights in the distance. We also stopped by Guest Services where I put in my first inquiry about my missing Castaway gift.
When we returned we were greeted by this fuzzy guy before we hit the hay

Coming up Nassau and the case of the missing parents....

 

[BrettySpaghetti]

Wow, that was so much fun! Great photos, and what a fine-looking family.

 

[wilma-bride]

Unfortunately I can't see your photos at the moment (I'm at work and our ISP doesn't allow access to Photobucket) but I will look when I get home. Meanwhile, great start to your cruise. DH and I are hoping to do Palo on our 3 night cruise next year - just need to decide which night to go for.

 

[RadioNate]

I saw you on the boat!!! We were pretty much right next to you stateroom wise, same dining rotation and even Palo. Your DBF and 'dad' look SO familiar. I think I might have taken a photo for them....hummm.

(SI, are you reading this?)

I can't wait to read more, lol.

Your show photos are excellent. Man I wish I had brought a camera to them.

 

[wilma-bride]

I have now had a chance to look at your pictures - excellent! Looking forward to reading more

 

[spacerangerqueen]

I saw you on the boat!!! We were pretty much right next to you stateroom wise, same dining rotation and even Palo. Your DBF and 'dad' look SO familiar. I think I might have taken a photo for them....hummm.

(SI, are you reading this?)

I can't wait to read more, lol.

Your show photos are excellent. Man I wish I had brought a camera to them.

Wow! I'm sure I must have seen you too! Who were your servers at dinner? We had Cesar and Kate, they were awesome! I wonder if I have a pic of you somewhere in my 833! lol
Feel free to share your cruise here too.

I have now had a chance to look at your pictures - excellent! Looking forward to reading more

Yey glad you like it!

Wow, that was so much fun! Great photos, and what a fine-looking family.

Aww thanks. I think we're a pretty good looking family too, even though I'm not a part of it yet

I've got most of day 2 written, just need to upload pics...

 

[spacerangerqueen]

May 30th 2008 - Nassau Day

I think I woke up around seven, mainly due to the light streaming in through the one foot gap our stateroom host loved to leave when drawing the curtains each night. I got up and closed the curtains and tried to go back to sleep, but really just relaxed until DBF woke up. His parents called to say they were going to breakfast and we said we do our own thing and meet up to go to Nassau. We got dressed and headed up to Beach Blanket. I was uber excited because they had chocolate Mickey waffles!

After breakfast the hunt for the missing parents began. After a little reading on the veranda and some deck 9 wandering we ran into some friends who said they were going to the Wii Olympics at 11am in diversions. We headed back to the room for 15-20 minutes then left a voice mail for the parents saying if they wanted to spend time with us we'd be with the Wii!
We arrived before the Wii did and so played a game of Jumbo Jenga! Although we had some confusion over the rules, not helped by our friends trying to set up a game of Risk nearby.

Soon the Wii arrived, as did the token child participant. Keegan learned the lesson all children should learn early (I know I did) : If you are the only child participating you get the medal/trophy/certificate/sticker/button. We played a few games of Mario and Sonic Olympics, which rocked. After the first round Keegan was given a medal and after the second he got a trophy and a round of applause! The parents had arrived to watch us play and were proud of us for beating a child at video games.
Here Jeff beats Keegan at fencing:

We headed up to Beach Blanket because mom really wanted the crab legs she heard were on the buffet. I felt like we had just been there for breakfast but I wasn't complaining.
Much discussion was to be had about what to do next. Apparently the parents had made a feeble attempt to find us by looking around Parrot Cay and when they didn't see us, since we ate at Beach Blanket, they went to Nassau alone. However Dad really wanted to go to Atlantis and Mom wanted to buy her other two sons souvenirs. DBF did not want to go at all, we have already been and they have no Poker tables. I didn't care one way or the other I would find fun things to do, stay and do the ship tour, or go and take pics of Atlantis. Win/Win.
We ended up heading out and spending a brief amount of time at the resort, seeing no more of the place than I had seen before, but getting nice pics.

yummy ice cream bench

When we decided we were ready to leave Paradise Island we headed to the taxis. We got ushered into one with another couple (we had been the only ones in the car on the way over) and proceeded to cook awhile. The other couple was on the Carnival ship and from Clearwater (I think, somewhere in FL at least) we ended up talking about different cruises and found the four of us had all sailed on the RCCL Sovereign of the Seas. Just as we were finally going to leave the driver sees another family and hops out and shoves another family in. Obviously a family from the Wonder who had been using the pool at the resort.
We survived the ride back to the port and then headed to Starbucks so DBF could get his traditional drink, still the only thing he has ever purchased in Nassau.

We headed back onboard and watched the Bee Movie in our room until time for Bingo! Mom treated us to cards and DBF was chosen to verify that all the balls were in Bingo Betty so the game could begin.

We were excited they had added a raffle in between games, but sad that your name was entered when you bought a card so we only had one chance instead of three. No worries however mom won the final round, not the big prize though. She did have to split it with another winner so really it only covered the cost of two of our cards so she was still out the cost of her own card :-( But she gave me her bingo lip gloss

We headed up to get ready for the show. It was Toy Story and I was excited! I love Buzz Lightyear and all his friends (can you tell from my screen name?)

Coming up next Toy Story and we meet our servers at Triton's.....

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Really enjoying your report - thanks for sharing! Excellent photos too!

 

[MagicMe]

Enjoying your report Can't wait for the second half!

 

[RadioNate]

is this your party?? I was going for Simba so I know it is dark.

Here is us at Animator's that night.

 

[spacerangerqueen]

yup that looks like DBF's Dad lol. Now I'll have to look through my pictures from Animator's and see if I can spot you! That night Cesar accused me of being a restaurant spy because I kept taking pictures of everything.

I have my next post typed up, just need to upload the pics. Wont be until Friday probably though, having a game night tonight and going to Epcot for the summer concert series Thursday night.

 

[wilma-bride]

Love the latest update - did you pay or anything to go over to Atlantis and look around or are you able to check out the resort without being a guest?

 

[spacerangerqueen]

We just paid $4 a person to take a cab over. You can wander around, but you can't go near the pool or into the main aquarium without paying.

 

[spacerangerqueen]

Ok I found that I had uploaded most of the pics already so here we go....

Tonight was a very special night, besides being Toy Story Night, it was also
Pirate Night! This is DBFs favorite thing. He brought along a lot of items
to prepare himself for the occasion.

However he did not bring his sword/eyepatch and thus had to buy his third set of them from Mickey's Mates in order to complete his outfit, as well as a second set of pirate necklace.
I prefer to limit my theming to the pattern of my shirt and headband.

Once we were ready and headed out the door we were pleasantly surprised to see Mom in the hallway nearly as decked out as DBF!

We headed off to the theater and snagged seats pretty close up . As we were entering one of the CMs from Bingo commented on our quick change, one could have said the same of herself, as she was now donning an entirely new outfit as well.

The show received mixed reviews from our crew. I liked the costumes and sets, but in general we all agreed that songs were pretty lacking, and it would be torture to have to listen to Sid's song again! But I got some nice shots of my favorite characters.

After the show we wandered through the shops a bit. Mom and Dad then headed back to their room and DBF and I got a bunch of photos taken. DBF really wanted to do a jumping shot with a sword on the white background while in pirate gear. So while others lined up to get shots with pirate Mickey and Minnie we jump and snarled and thought we took some pretty horrible
pictures, we are not models and do not take direction well lol. In the end
though they turned out great and we bought a few.

As we were waiting to go into Triton's Mom and I grabbed a picture with Captain Henry.

Once we entered Triton's we were escorted to table 75 which was right in the
middle off the main isle to the left. I really loved the restaurant, especially how the light changed to a lovely blue during the meal. I think I could move into that room!

Once we were seated we met our assistant server Kate from Australia. She was so nice, I wish we'd had more time with her! We met our server Cesar from Brazil. He was very funny, though Dad didn't seem to like him much. He reminded me of the guy who played Franco on the Magic last March, they had similar gray hair. When we ordered I did not get an appetizer, just soup, as there was nothing that particularly thrilled me and soup and a main course is more than enough for me, especially with dessert AND a pirate party buffet. DBF convinced me that I "wanted" the shrimp appetizer and Cesar added it on with a smirk to "my" order. DBF had ordered the ratatouille for his appetizer,

but managed to eat most of the shrimp as well.

Here's my yummy tomato soup

I had steak for my main course

and was rather disappointed that there was nothing chocolate on the menu for dessert. I was going to get crepe suzette but then changed my mind and got creme brulee. Cesar brought Jeff the crepe suzette instead of whatever it was he had ordered, oh well, there was a dessert buffet waiting for us on deck 9 anyway!

When dinner was done we parted ways, can't remember why, and told the
parents we would meet them on Deck 10. When we got up to deck 10 Mom was dancing to the music near the railing and I managed to squeeze in near the front as well to try and snap some pics. After several songs and a swap out of pirate crew members it was time for Mickey to zip along down and start
the fireworks show.

Enjoyed watching some simple fireworks to an old disco tune (I can see Wishes from my living room, so the show doesn't impress me much beyond the novelty of being at sea) then headed to the dessert buffet to collect as many chocolate desserts as I could find, amazingly I think my favorite dessert was the little merangue one!

We took our desserts and our large cups of milk from the drink station back to our room and called it a night.

Next up parasailing! and get those tourists away from the Flying Dutchman!

 

[Brena]

Great pics! Your food photos are some of the clearest I've seen.

 

[CapnJackGroupie]

Great TR!! I remember your last TR that you and your DBF did, w/ all his blue shirts!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[spacerangerqueen]

Great TR!! I remember your last TR that you and your DBF did, w/ all his blue shirts!! Thanks for sharing!!

LOL He actually ran into someone from here on the ship, while he was wearing a blue shirt, and they commented on it!

 

[spacerangerqueen]

May 31st- Castaway Cay!

We actually had to set the propeller clock alarm for today. We didn't want to miss our 10am para sailing. I was uber excited for it. I had actually been thinking about the excursion before DBF suggested it and he was very surprised when I immediately agreed to it! We brought a waterproof camera with us to the excursion and left our digitals behind in our stateroom. We grabbed a quick breakfast at beach blanket, DBF kept telling me to eat faster and that we had very little time. We had 45minutes and I could see where we needed to be from our table! geesh!

We arrived at Marge's barges with plenty of time to slather on sunscreen and gaze out at the water. Mom came wandering by to tell us where they had snagged some chairs as well. Soon is was time to get a brief overview of what we would be doing and then divide up into two boats worth of people. We happily were switched to the second boat to even out the parent child ratio. Once we were seated and zipping off to sea (a wee bit fast for me) we discovered that we had a boy who was terrified to go up, as well as a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary that day! They were uber cute and ended up being the first to go up. They left their digital camera behind so we could take pics of them. Everyone on the boat ended up going tandem even though it wasn't required. It was the best experience ever! Sooo peaceful up in the air and a great time to share with DBF. The guys on the boat were great too! Patrick and Niko, wonderful people. Niko piloted the boat a lot slower when Ryan, the boy who was scared, was going so that they were not up as high. They told us all about the island they live on and had fun dunking us in the water and pretending to land us on another boat! haha The hour flew by!

self portraits

our shadow in the water

The other boat after they pretended to try to land us on it

After we were done I wanted to head back to the room and change and grab my camera. We decided to stop by the drink station at Cookies and spotted Mom and Dad at the buffet so we wrangled up some food and chowed down. It was yummy and as always the cookie dough ice cream was delicious. We also saw our assistant server Kate and chatted a bit while we ate.

After getting more drinks we headed to where Mom and Dad had staked out a spot. DBF headed off to snorkel and i decided to take a dip in the water. I was there for a few minutes when I spotted DBF walking towards me. I had mentioned that I hadn't ever tried a Conch Cooler so he had gotten me one! I drank some of it while wading in the water and some of the people around me commented on it being a picture perfect moment, alas I did not get a pic though.

I read a book and enjoyed my drink while mom and Dad floated on the water. As I was walking back to the water Mom was leaving and handed me her raft. The raft was sooo enjoyable, wish I'd rented one before! After a few minutes of floating I realized I was right by the snorkelers so I tried to spot DBF. After a bit I turned around and saw him paddling towards me with the other raft! We lounged for a bit and then headed back for dry land.

I really enjoyed the family beach! I had only ever been to Serenity Bay. Mom said they had gone there first but she found it to be too quiet. I think I have to agree now. The family beach wasn't that crowded, there weren't any rocks at the bottom, and there were fish! I also enjoyed hearing the music from the DJ, floating while listening to Hawaiian Roller Coaster ride, heaven.

We decided to head back to the ship. I stopped to take a few photos along the way,

::cough:: Kevin Yee ::cough::

Mom and the Flying Dutchman
Unlike some other people we saw earlier, we did not walk out to the boat and take pics while leaning on it, yes it's true.

See the Hidden Mickey?

Back on board looking out at the Island.

Back on the ship we changed and checked our Navigators for what to do next.....

 

[CapnJackGroupie]

Great update & pictures!!

 

[spacerangerqueen]

Once back on the ship we got ready for the show and dinner. DBF really wanted to play chip it golf and so did Dad. Mom and I sat on the sofa and watched. Dad ended up winning and getting a hat and coffee mug!

So Mom and Dad both won something on the cruise! Great first impression I'd say.

Afterwards we took some pics around the ship

Then DBF and I went to Wildcat Bingo! We got a bunch of free HSM stuff and listened to a short loop of music while we waited for the game.

I was sooo excited that I was the first stander for the last game of the session, sadly though, the second stander got their number first and I lost out to a teenage boy from the UK. It was still great fun though.

From there we had to scramble to get to the show. We sat pretty far back so I didn't get a lot of close ups here are my two favorite.

Tonight was Animator's Palate and we were very excited.
I snapped a ton of pictures during dinner.

While zooming in on my meal he said I must be a restaurant spy because I was taking so many pictures.

For dinner I had the mushroom risotto which was delicious

I decided to get the pasta since I had gotten steak the previous two nights.

It was very good, but very filling and I didn't eat most of it.
They had just changed the menu a month or so beforehand so there were many changes, the addition of the risotto being one of them, but they still had the chocolate cake for dessert so I was happy.

After dinner it a scramble to pack and make it to the Til We Meet Again show in the atrium. Dad stayed behind to pack but mom came out to enjoy it with us. We scrambled to get pics with the folks who were in the actual shows like Ensign Benson and a pirate from pirate night. Then we went two floors up and watched all the characters sing. I loved watching them talk to each other before they all got situated to perform! I particularly enjoyed watching Minnie and Cinderella talk.

How cute!

Then it was time to make sure we had all the photos we wanted from Shutters and tuck ourselves in for the night!

I finally remembered to take a picture of our door:

One of the reasons we love second seating is because you get to sleep in a little bit later on the final morning. We had to get up sooo early on our last cruise the 730am dining time was much more reasonable. We were all very sad at breakfast that the cruise was over. It's always sad to see the menu:

On our way out as the CMs were saying their goodbyes Mom told them we didn't want to leave and asked if there was anywhere we could stow away. The one CM said we could hide in his cabin lol! When we caught up to DBF and Dad we told them a nice German guy said we could live in his room and we didn't need them anymore.

Alas we didn't take him up on his offer and instead picked up our luggage and headed off to the car....