OK, I'm eating girl scout cookies (those little girls are evil by the way. Who would think that a coconut cookie (Samoa) would be my favorite. I had lost 20 pounds
prior to the cruise...and now I come back and have to eat boxes of these evil little cookies. Yes, I ordered too many (see post #1...if one is good, two is better), so am paying the price. tomorrow, I diet! Maybe.
Dw is napping upstairs...I should be working, but instead I'm writing a TR. How's that for dedication? Well, ok, I'm writing in between conference calls. But still....
So let's see...where was I. We played a little ping pong and foosball...it was not that warm as you saw in the pictures. so there was no way I was going in the pool. So we just hung out waiting for our neighbors to arrive so we could do lunch. OK, OK, I lied. I did have pizza. since you already saw a picture of me eating it. I can't pull anything over on you guys can I??
Our neighbors arrived around 1:30 or so and we took turns going to the Beach Blanket Bingo Buffet. Bingo isn't a part of the name, but every time I said it I always added bingo. Yes, I'm a little bit insane. A little bit of a lot of things but that is a discussion for another day.
Now, I read another trip report that talked about the food not being that great. I have to say I agree in general. However, this is our 4th
Disney Cruise, the first being (I think, DW can correct me if I'm wrong) in 2004. When we cruised in 2004 the food wasn't even just ok..it wasn't good. So the strides that Disney has taken over the years have been tremendous. Is the food fabulous? no. Is it disgusting? no. The buffet food is good, with some things better than others. I like shrimp and their shrimp cocktail is very good...especially since you can put as many of the little guys on your plate as you want. There are various things that are better than others...and since I probably gained 15 pounds onboard I obviously managed.
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the ship is crowded especially that first day because you can't go to your stateroom until later. When you get on they will direct you to a sit-down lunch option (Parrot Cay or Tritons). Obviously you can do the buffet like we did. I highly recommend you go right up to the 9th deck and stake out a table by which ever pool your kids will use. don't bother with a table behind the Beach Blanket Bingo Buffet because you will end up moving. Find the table by the pool, and if you are going in the next few weeks pick on in the sun
Then split up and go in groups to the buffet and bring it back to your table. This saves you time and the aggravation of having to say "who are those evil SOB's who took the tables right next to the pool" because you will be one of them. Yup, that was us on that cruise.
Which, of course, brings me to a rant. I haven't really done this yet on this TR (TR is Trip Report in case you haven't been following along). At the pool, if you have 4 people in your family, you do NOT need to get 4 lounge chairs right next to the pool unless all 4 of you will be on the chairs all the time. In our case we get 2 chairs...because DW and I spend the most time IN the chairs. From time to time the kids will want one too, but typically this works. If everyone follows this rule there are plenty of chairs. Unfortunately there are usually families who feel they need to take up as many chairs as possible and stake out their space on the ship by taking 5 chairs for 4 people (you know, 1 for each of them and 1 for their stuff). This is not a problem just on
DCL (Disney Cruise Lines
), but I have made it my goal to educate people on the right way to do lounge chairs. Consider yourselves informed.
ahem. but I digress. Now I lost my place again. Oh, so we got food and ate. Again, the food wasn't fabulous...but the shrimp was very good and I got my first of 5,435 (approximately) diet cokes.
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wow! how luck for all of you. another tip. We brought plastic tumblers onto the ship. They are larger than the cups that are provided at the drink station so that equals less trips for soda. I suggest throwing some in your luggage or picking them up at Target before you go to the port. It worked out well for three of us...DS8 never used his. DS12 figured out on the last day that the tops for the throw-away cups fit on our tumblers. that would have been nice to know the first day. Yes, the drink station says not to refill cups...but I'm sure that was just a suggestion.
What do you use the cups at the drink station for?
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Yeah! another tip! woohoo! stop dancing now...and read. This is very, VERY important. I'm talking life changing. I'm talking..what? oh, shut up and tell you what the tip is. Fine. I am always hoping to take over for Ryan Seacrest on American Idol...you know...delay...del...what? oh, sorry, I got sidetracked.
When you go to the Ice Cream station they have these little itty-bitty cups. Seriously? They are about the size of my right thumb. (no my left thumb isn't smaller, but I thought saying "right thumb" was more descriptive than saying "left thumb" and I'm no...what? oh, sorry, got off track again.
Anyway, so those cups are small. I mean seriously small. It's like those pudding cups...one spoonful and they are empty. I appreciate that they are low fat...or non-fat, but I have to eat 10 to be satisfied. Know what I'm saying? So since you are using your own tumblers for drinks...when you need ice cream, hit the drink station, grab a cup and head over to the ice cream station. I like to put some of the caramel in the bottom, then fill it about 1/2 way with swirl, add more caramel, fill it the rest of the way and then smother it with chocolate. Yes, this is why I gained 15 pounds.
The coolest thing about doing this is that everyone will walk up, look at the little itty-bitty cups and look at your cup, and then look around for the bigger cups. No one ever asked me...but EVERY time I went up I got that look. Very entertaining. At least for me.
Seriously I need to get a hold of myself. I've already bored you to death and have only really progressed about 1/2 hour in the story. Don't fret, later days will be short because eventually I will have described everything in nauseating detail and won't need to do it again.
About 2pm we were able to go to our staterooms. Time for the moment of truth. We had no idea what we were going to walk into. We had just paid a lot of money (can't you hear the mouse going Cha-Ching!), so hopefully it was worth it. The location was unbelievable. Deck 8 midship....so one flight down from the pool and there it was, room 8034. We opened the door...and OMG (that's Oh My Gosh for those of you who don't speak teenager). It was HUGE. I'll describe and then show you pictures. You walk in...and on the left is a smallish bathroom, about the size of one of the sides of the normal rooms. Toilet, sink and a stand-up shower (no tub). On the right was a closet. Straight ahead was a couch and as you rounded the corner the room really opened up. The "living room" area was about the size of two cabins. There were two chairs and a table with 4 chairs. The whole left side of the cabin was teak wood cabinets (one of which held the TV and a DVD player), also hidden within these cabinets was a Murphy bed. On the right side were windows and two doors out on the balcony. Then you went through the doorway to the bedroom which was about 1/2 the size of a normal stateroom (DW can weigh in on this...that's what it felt like to me). It had a queen size bed (which was really the only drawback of the room as I'm a large guy and need my space...and DW is a bed hog so...well I need my space. Actually she isn't that bad...and not nearly as bad as my kids...which You will learn later). There was a chair and a small table. Another door to the balcony and then the bathroom. Basically in the room was a dressing table with a mirror (not sure if dressing table is the right word...basically a place you could sit and do makeup). To the right of that was a huge walk-in closet. To the left was the bathroom (Master Bath for lack of a better term). This was two rooms in and of itself. The first room had two sinks in it (granite tops) and a full Jacuzzi tub. Yup, a tub right there in our stateroom. not a Shub (a term coined several trip reports ago by someone else whom I can't remember or I would give them credit) which means not quite a shower and not quite a tub that is in the regular stateroom. Then the second room had a full stand-up shower and the toilet. Oh and a telephone.
Why do the ritzy rooms have telephones in their bathrooms? Hotels do this too. Is it so you can be relaxing, doing your thing and talking to your neighbor at the same time? Who would want to hear you doing that? Seriously? Now, of course I answered the phone in there one time when someone called. But that's cause...well...never mind.
Here are some pictures:
DW, DS8 and DS12 pose in the living room portion of the suite
A shot from the Master Bedroom side looking into the living room area
The Master Bedroom from the dressing area
A shot from the closet into the master bathroom
The tub. I love bathtubs. Yes I'm a man and I take baths. There is nothing better than kicking back in a warm tub reading a book. Or watching TV...but that wasn't an option here believe it or not. You can make fun of me all you want...and my neighbor does...but I'm all about the bath!
Master Bedroom from the Balcony door
Master Closet
This is the balcony...very large.
Entry Closet
Sink area of second bath
Shower area of second bath (with my cooler full of beer and froo froo drinks)
So one of my other areas of responsibility lay around door magnets. So here are some pictures of what I did. Yes I did go overboard. Yes I did get made fun of, and yes I took up almost every square inch of door.
someone on the board had made a sombrero Mickey head for the door...
And this is the bottom half of the door.
Naturally we had to have FE (Fish Extender for you non acronym people like me). DW naturally did a fantastic job of sewing this one together. It did take several hours and a few words I'm not allowed to type on this board but she did a great job, don't you think:
We got to hang out in our room for a few minutes, but then needed to go down to our DIS meet. Obviously I'm not the main user of the DIS boards (DW is the planner and the reader of this), so she was the one that set this all up. I have to admit I wasn't overly excited about the meet...I'm not good in big groups like that. Hard to believe I know.
but it was really fun to get to meet with the people that DW had been chatting with, particularly Indiana Princess who spent countless hours setting up the Fish Extender gift list...along with the meet and probably 200 other things. I don't have any idea how she did all that and didn't have her head explode...but a big thank you to her. We also met several other families and enjoyed just generally chatting. It's a fun thing because you then see them around the ship and get the support during the game shows!
After hanging out there for a little while we cruised back up to our room. Most of our clothes had arrived...so it was time to unpack. Not a lot to say about that. Then...wait for it...we...had...huge...excitement...
The lifeboat drill! YES! I've been waiting 2 years to stand in my lifejacket for 1/2 hour and be bored out of my mind! I've watched Titanic...I know that when they call us to go to the lifeboats me and my family will be first!
Wait, what? I don't have to wear my lifejacket? What's up with that. You people that have only cruised recently have missed out on the excitement and pictures around having everyone dressed up in their orange lifejackets. You have no idea. The whining children, the chaffed neck. It's good stuff! Oh the wicked, wicked changes that Disney makes!
Well, I've managed to give myself a headache...time to take a break. Hope you have enjoyed today's installment.
Next up: chapter 4: Sail away Party and Dinner...unless I get carried away again. I thought I'd get farther on this one!
oh, and I'm not still eating girl scout cookies in case you were wondering.
. So what did I do? I used the paper cups they provided and poured it into my tumbler. Yes, Drew likes to take things as suggestions...just like speed limits. Go ahead and ask him!
).
(Well truthfully we didn't get off until about 10:30 or 11 so it really wasn't us. 
