mormadsmom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2007
- Messages
- 164
This is my first Trip Report for a First cruise ever, so I will do my best! Maybe even add some photos once I figure out how to do so. We just got back yesterday and already I am dreaming of the definite next cruise. Not booked yet, but will be soon.
Okay, here is the Cast. Myself, Michelle (32) Mike my husband (36) and our two girls Morgan (11) and Maddie(5), our youngest and spoiled rotten. Wait til you see her photos!
First of all, we booked this Cruise this past February and even then, it was sooo hard waiting those 2 months. We live just west of Fort Lauderdale so we drove up Friday afternoon and stayed at the Radisson. Not bad at all, just uneventful. Checked in and got to sleep early enough. I did make sure we were on the list to hitch a ride on the shuttle to the port. We did not do the special "cruise rate" for the room. I paid the $100 a night and asked the desk where can we park our vehicle for the week. I was told where and given a pass to hang in the window and that was that. The next morning, I was up very early. I was very excited and could not wait for the day to begin. I knew there was embarkation photos, so I did everything possible to try to look somewhat nice. The shuttle came at 10 am, right on time. I also saw a few other families standing there with the identical green Disney Cruise line luggage tags. Got loaded up and off we go to the port. Less than 5 minutes later, There She Was! Beautiful and majestic. All the oohs and ahhhs and then we were unloading. The luggage porters work really fast, because the next thing we knew we were walking into the port, getting checked in and thank goodness I brought my "real" birth certificate. What I had brought was the announcement for crying out loud. I just happened to also have the "real" one. No worries though and we were given a Number 2 boarding pass and the off the the kids club to get the pager. My dd 11 had charging priveleges which she did very well on and she also had "free range" of the ship. Little Maddie had to wear her bracelet with her name and number on it. She was to wear this for the rest of the cruise and this is what they used when we checked her in and out of the kids club. After that, got some coffee and snacks at the little cafe and staked out some seat and all we had to do was wait! All this took less and an hour and a half.
Then the terminal started to really fill up. People were everywhere. I took some photos, and then a couple of characters came out. The first of lines to take photos started. I have to say though, in every line I waited in for characters and family portraits, the wait was never really long. Even though the characters took a moment with each child to exchange a few word, sign an autograph and pose it was not long at all. It was great.
Around noon, or maybe a quarter after, boarding passes number one embarked and then 5 minutes later, boarding number 2 was called. That's us! We walked and started the first of many hand sanitizing, showed our key to the world cards and problem!!!! My key to the world card name didn't exactly match my driver's license. My driver's license has my maiden name on it and my kttw card did not. So my family had to move on without me and I had to stay behind to fix that. No worries though, withing 5 minutes I had to show my birth certificate and was just advised to keep it with me in the ports just in case. Never was asked for it later though. I caught up with my family just before the embakation photo op. My 5 yr old refused!!! Sooo, we have our embarkation photo with little miss priss with a big frown and arms crossed standing to the side. Ugly! I will insert it later once I have it scanned. Come on kid!, we are on a DISNEY CRUISE! Talk about hard to impress. But that's Maddie. Typical!!
Okay, here is the Cast. Myself, Michelle (32) Mike my husband (36) and our two girls Morgan (11) and Maddie(5), our youngest and spoiled rotten. Wait til you see her photos!
First of all, we booked this Cruise this past February and even then, it was sooo hard waiting those 2 months. We live just west of Fort Lauderdale so we drove up Friday afternoon and stayed at the Radisson. Not bad at all, just uneventful. Checked in and got to sleep early enough. I did make sure we were on the list to hitch a ride on the shuttle to the port. We did not do the special "cruise rate" for the room. I paid the $100 a night and asked the desk where can we park our vehicle for the week. I was told where and given a pass to hang in the window and that was that. The next morning, I was up very early. I was very excited and could not wait for the day to begin. I knew there was embarkation photos, so I did everything possible to try to look somewhat nice. The shuttle came at 10 am, right on time. I also saw a few other families standing there with the identical green Disney Cruise line luggage tags. Got loaded up and off we go to the port. Less than 5 minutes later, There She Was! Beautiful and majestic. All the oohs and ahhhs and then we were unloading. The luggage porters work really fast, because the next thing we knew we were walking into the port, getting checked in and thank goodness I brought my "real" birth certificate. What I had brought was the announcement for crying out loud. I just happened to also have the "real" one. No worries though and we were given a Number 2 boarding pass and the off the the kids club to get the pager. My dd 11 had charging priveleges which she did very well on and she also had "free range" of the ship. Little Maddie had to wear her bracelet with her name and number on it. She was to wear this for the rest of the cruise and this is what they used when we checked her in and out of the kids club. After that, got some coffee and snacks at the little cafe and staked out some seat and all we had to do was wait! All this took less and an hour and a half.
Then the terminal started to really fill up. People were everywhere. I took some photos, and then a couple of characters came out. The first of lines to take photos started. I have to say though, in every line I waited in for characters and family portraits, the wait was never really long. Even though the characters took a moment with each child to exchange a few word, sign an autograph and pose it was not long at all. It was great.
Around noon, or maybe a quarter after, boarding passes number one embarked and then 5 minutes later, boarding number 2 was called. That's us! We walked and started the first of many hand sanitizing, showed our key to the world cards and problem!!!! My key to the world card name didn't exactly match my driver's license. My driver's license has my maiden name on it and my kttw card did not. So my family had to move on without me and I had to stay behind to fix that. No worries though, withing 5 minutes I had to show my birth certificate and was just advised to keep it with me in the ports just in case. Never was asked for it later though. I caught up with my family just before the embakation photo op. My 5 yr old refused!!! Sooo, we have our embarkation photo with little miss priss with a big frown and arms crossed standing to the side. Ugly! I will insert it later once I have it scanned. Come on kid!, we are on a DISNEY CRUISE! Talk about hard to impress. But that's Maddie. Typical!!
