So I'm not a great writer.....here's my brief summary. I still have to get my pictures (all 3000) uploaded to my computer.
We used Super shuttle to and from the airport at LAX, Sunray Transportation to and from airport at MCO and from port to WL. We flew Delta there and American back. (AA charges for snacks) Both nonstop flights. We stayed at the airport Hyatt the night before the cruise and ate at Mc Coys Grill. Very good! I would do everything the same the next time we go to Florida.
We arrived at the port early (9:45am), boarding pass #2 and met a few of the Disers that would be at our cruise meet on the ship at 3:15pm. Boarded at 12pm and had lunch at PC.
Our Dis meet turned out well. Lots of kids and exchanges of stuff to get to know one another. 2 of the ladies are scrappers, so they gave me some titles with our theme "Cinco Dis Mayo". Really cool! It was so fun to run into these people all over the ship and in the ports.
Sail away was late...still fueling, so we missed sailing away due to our dinner being at 6pm. We had the LAP rotation and our servers were just ok.
Our room steward was excellent though. We had been upgraded to a Cat 4 and the extra room where a twin bed would have been was nice to have. ( I think the steamer trunk was wider too than our Cat 5 last time). They did a lot of maintenance to our room, not while we were in it, but we'd come back and there was painting done on the verandah or
curtains missing. No big deal...just weird! Great towel animals Ike made us everynight. (a huge turkey one night made out of the spare blanket)
Our tablemates were from MI, PA, and HI. Very nice. We found with the early seating we had time for pizza or ice cream around 9pm and then late night snacks on board were from 11-12pm. Delicious! In fact all the food we had was excellent! Especially Palo...the filet just melted in our mouths. We also did Palo brunch. Didn't overly stuff ourselves this time because it was on the morning of our Key West day. Zita was our server both times. She remembered us from our LA cruise 2 years ago. She's leaving the ship in August.
We walked around in Key West, went to the Hemingway House and saw all the cats, went to the Blonde Giraffe and had frozen key lime pie dipped in chocolate, stopped at the pirate store, and then back to the shipped. It was very humid!
On our first sea day we had the character breakfast which they changed starting with our cruise. The characters no longer come to your table to take pictures at all. Seems I started a heated discussion over on cruise line forum board. It's 5 pages long already! We would have slept in if we had known this.
We saw the Gary Delana show. He was very funny! Didn't do much of the other shows though as we were always doing something else!
One day we went to the pool area to have ice cream and HS Musical was on the Jumbo screen, so got hooked on that and watched til the end.
The next day we went to Grand Cayman and did the island tour and butterfly farm. ( you know..the turtle farm and trip to Hell tour) Well the turtle farm we really found interesting and the butterfly farm was kinda boring. On the bus on the way back we could see a water spout coming from the clouds. The bus dropped us off and we had lunch at Senor Frogs...yes I know...a tourist trap, but it was so good! ($100 for mexican food!)
For some reason they put Pirate night on Tuesday instead of the usual Wednesday, so we dressed and after dinner went up for the show. Found an excellent spot to sit just opposit the Jumbo screen on deck 10. Perfect for pictures and Mickey swooping down later and for viewing the fireworks. (and the waiters come by and take your drink orders there too) We got there 45 minutes before the show started.
The next day was Cozumel. We loved it here! Did the jeep excursion. Saw crocodiles, vultures, a lighthouse, a ruin, and had a buffet lunch on a private beach and swam for a bit in the ocean that was like bath water! The water was so blue here. The tour was 4-1/2 hours and my DH drove the whole time since it was a stick. We were in an 11 jeep caravan. The last stop was a place called the PeePee station for souvenirs and to go PeePee!
We missed our rotation dinner, so went to Topsiders since they serve the same items just in buffet style. It was so unorganized, but we did get out of there within an hour.
We went back out to Cozumel since we were there til 1am. Walked around, bought stuff, took pictures of the ship at night, and then came back about 10pm and I did laundry until we pulled out of port at 1am.
The next sea day we didn't do much. Just relaxed. It was semi formal night, but we didn't feel like dressing up much, so looked nice, but not dressy.
Castaway Cay day we did the Eco tour on the jet skis. Now...I had never been on one before (the kind you sit on) and they told us that it was real choppy and lots of other excursions that day were cancelled. I really thought I wasn't going to be able to do it. The ski was just bouncing up and down on these huge waves and slamming down hard and my bathing suit (note...wear shorts next time) kept creeping up you know where. The waves were going over my head and I was spitting out water left and right, but I made it to the 1-1/2 marker and we stopped on a sand bar for some brief info about the area and then back on the bikes to go back to the beach area. This excursion was only an hour, but it was so fun and I would definately do it again. (I must say my body ached, my arms ached for 2 days afterwards).
We came back and went to the adult beach and had lunch and hung out. DS found a starfish in the water. Stopped at the bar and had Konk Koolers before heading back to the ship. It was a nice day. A little windy!
Went to Diversions for pub night and the crew does this little skit. It is so funny! Finished packing and getting excited about our WDW trip coming up the next day!
If you have any questions about the cruise, fire away!
We used Super shuttle to and from the airport at LAX, Sunray Transportation to and from airport at MCO and from port to WL. We flew Delta there and American back. (AA charges for snacks) Both nonstop flights. We stayed at the airport Hyatt the night before the cruise and ate at Mc Coys Grill. Very good! I would do everything the same the next time we go to Florida.
We arrived at the port early (9:45am), boarding pass #2 and met a few of the Disers that would be at our cruise meet on the ship at 3:15pm. Boarded at 12pm and had lunch at PC.
Our Dis meet turned out well. Lots of kids and exchanges of stuff to get to know one another. 2 of the ladies are scrappers, so they gave me some titles with our theme "Cinco Dis Mayo". Really cool! It was so fun to run into these people all over the ship and in the ports.
Sail away was late...still fueling, so we missed sailing away due to our dinner being at 6pm. We had the LAP rotation and our servers were just ok.
Our room steward was excellent though. We had been upgraded to a Cat 4 and the extra room where a twin bed would have been was nice to have. ( I think the steamer trunk was wider too than our Cat 5 last time). They did a lot of maintenance to our room, not while we were in it, but we'd come back and there was painting done on the verandah or
curtains missing. No big deal...just weird! Great towel animals Ike made us everynight. (a huge turkey one night made out of the spare blanket)
Our tablemates were from MI, PA, and HI. Very nice. We found with the early seating we had time for pizza or ice cream around 9pm and then late night snacks on board were from 11-12pm. Delicious! In fact all the food we had was excellent! Especially Palo...the filet just melted in our mouths. We also did Palo brunch. Didn't overly stuff ourselves this time because it was on the morning of our Key West day. Zita was our server both times. She remembered us from our LA cruise 2 years ago. She's leaving the ship in August.
We walked around in Key West, went to the Hemingway House and saw all the cats, went to the Blonde Giraffe and had frozen key lime pie dipped in chocolate, stopped at the pirate store, and then back to the shipped. It was very humid!
On our first sea day we had the character breakfast which they changed starting with our cruise. The characters no longer come to your table to take pictures at all. Seems I started a heated discussion over on cruise line forum board. It's 5 pages long already! We would have slept in if we had known this.
We saw the Gary Delana show. He was very funny! Didn't do much of the other shows though as we were always doing something else!
One day we went to the pool area to have ice cream and HS Musical was on the Jumbo screen, so got hooked on that and watched til the end.
The next day we went to Grand Cayman and did the island tour and butterfly farm. ( you know..the turtle farm and trip to Hell tour) Well the turtle farm we really found interesting and the butterfly farm was kinda boring. On the bus on the way back we could see a water spout coming from the clouds. The bus dropped us off and we had lunch at Senor Frogs...yes I know...a tourist trap, but it was so good! ($100 for mexican food!)
For some reason they put Pirate night on Tuesday instead of the usual Wednesday, so we dressed and after dinner went up for the show. Found an excellent spot to sit just opposit the Jumbo screen on deck 10. Perfect for pictures and Mickey swooping down later and for viewing the fireworks. (and the waiters come by and take your drink orders there too) We got there 45 minutes before the show started.
The next day was Cozumel. We loved it here! Did the jeep excursion. Saw crocodiles, vultures, a lighthouse, a ruin, and had a buffet lunch on a private beach and swam for a bit in the ocean that was like bath water! The water was so blue here. The tour was 4-1/2 hours and my DH drove the whole time since it was a stick. We were in an 11 jeep caravan. The last stop was a place called the PeePee station for souvenirs and to go PeePee!
We missed our rotation dinner, so went to Topsiders since they serve the same items just in buffet style. It was so unorganized, but we did get out of there within an hour.
We went back out to Cozumel since we were there til 1am. Walked around, bought stuff, took pictures of the ship at night, and then came back about 10pm and I did laundry until we pulled out of port at 1am.
The next sea day we didn't do much. Just relaxed. It was semi formal night, but we didn't feel like dressing up much, so looked nice, but not dressy.
Castaway Cay day we did the Eco tour on the jet skis. Now...I had never been on one before (the kind you sit on) and they told us that it was real choppy and lots of other excursions that day were cancelled. I really thought I wasn't going to be able to do it. The ski was just bouncing up and down on these huge waves and slamming down hard and my bathing suit (note...wear shorts next time) kept creeping up you know where. The waves were going over my head and I was spitting out water left and right, but I made it to the 1-1/2 marker and we stopped on a sand bar for some brief info about the area and then back on the bikes to go back to the beach area. This excursion was only an hour, but it was so fun and I would definately do it again. (I must say my body ached, my arms ached for 2 days afterwards).
We came back and went to the adult beach and had lunch and hung out. DS found a starfish in the water. Stopped at the bar and had Konk Koolers before heading back to the ship. It was a nice day. A little windy!
Went to Diversions for pub night and the crew does this little skit. It is so funny! Finished packing and getting excited about our WDW trip coming up the next day!
If you have any questions about the cruise, fire away!
glad you enjoyed the upgrade though. and i am soo jealous of the jeep excursion..we wanted to do that but miss amber was too young. 
