New To Cruzin' - Nov. 10-17-07~Part 3, after a long break

[buf68]

Ok, I guess we can get started. As this was my whole family's first cruise, we were totally fresh. We had high expectations (mostly from the Disboards) and they were either met or exceeded.

I thought I might start this out with our mini reviews of some things:

First, the food/waiters. AMAZING. We had the #1 rated duo on the ship (Subhash from India and Gi Gi from the Phillipenes. They were amazing. they did everything they possibly could to make sure we were happy. We actually got to talk to them quite a bit and found out that Subhash has been working with disney cruise for 9 years and Gi Gi for 5. Subhash only has till january and then he's going to finish his MBA and retire from DCL That will be a great loss to the company as he is just amazing. Gi Gi is on her vacation now and headed home the same day we did to be with her 4 year old son. She was an amazing assistant waitress and she will be back after her vacation I believe.

Staterooms: Though smaller than a hotel room, they were actually quite nice. We loved the dividing curtains (though they didn't quite close ALL the way). The TV was nice, but a bit small. The split bathrooms were quite nice to have, and thank god for the disboards b/c the over the door shoe holder was a godsend! Our stateroom Hostess was Sara from Thailand, and she was very nice too (and a little talkative ).

Kids programs: my sister loved them, and in fact, was with them a majority of the time on the ship. She was really sad to leave.

Vista Spa: I couldn't say more good things about them, and later in the trip report you will know why.

Cruise Staff: Fun and hilarious. Trent and DJ Mike were the ones we interacted with the most, but everyone of them were just amazing, i don't know how they keep going like that day after day.

Ports: St. Marteen ~ a little dingy
St. Thomas ~ Gorgeous, really beautiful
Castaway Cay ~ better than all the rest. It was simply amazing to be there. The only issue we had was that 1)serenity bay (the adult beach) wasn't very serene, it was very windy and shelly. and 2) a few people were smoking right on the family beach and it ruined the beauty of the moment a few times.

Anyways, those are just quick overviews. I plan on writing Part 1: Day 1 at CBR later tonight (yes i know, not on the ship yet, but we'll get to it )...but first i need to upload some pictures to photobucket.

 

[buf68]

To recap:

The players: Me ~ 23 years old disney fan
DH ~ 24 year old QT and new disney fan
Dmom ~45 years old (birthday on debarktion day)
Dsis ~ 11 year old tomboy
Baby Gracie (BG) ~ 14 month old puppy...with us in webkins form

Like I've said before, this was our first cruise and was a much needed getaway after losing our father six months ago. Oh, and I love pictures, so this report will probably be picture heavy...sorry

Ok now that that's out of the way, lets get on with the story....and how do those stories start again?....oh yeah...

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away....called michigan. We woke up the friday before our cruise at 4 am!!! Our flight was out of a small town airport at 7, so we had to be out the door by 5. We had a taxi van take us to the airport, which was really nice. Thank God it was a smaller airport, because that meant NO lines at security and plenty of seating to wait for our plane. Even baby gracie was excited:

Can you tell?

We saw our small plane pull up (not tiny, but smaller than some that i've been on) and got really excited.

It was a nice quiet flight. DH was excited b/c the plane had XM sattelite radio, and baby gracie was excited about getting free pop on her first flight ever!

We landed at about 9:30 or 10 (it was hard to remember). After taking that lovely monorail ride at MCO, we headed downstairs to the Magical Express. We had planned to stay at the CBR the night before and taking disney transportation to DCL the next morning. Sadly that was not MY plan (i would have preferred to be immediately transferred down there and stay at a hotel near the cruise so we could be on early, and that is what i will try to stress for our next trip if/when we can afford it).

The ride was uneventful, but as soon as I saw the sign, I felt at ease and at home:

Once we got to the CBR, of course it was early so our room was far from ready. Dsis wanted to swim, but I suggested DTD instead since it was near lunchtime and I was starving. We ended up going to Mcdonalds in DTD, then playing in the lego store (they were seriously building an 8ft tall lego R2D2, but it was just started). I totally forgot about my camera the whole time we were down there it was traumatic. They also had a festival going on where people were doing chalk art on the sidewalk and it was gorgeous! I seriously didn't know someone could do that with chalk. DH also went shopping and found a hat he ALMOST bought...

but instead he bought me a mickey visor that I wore the rest of the trip.

We went back to CBR and our room still wasn't ready. Dmom and Dsis forgot to pack a bathing suit in their carryons, but i didn't! So Dh and I went swimming in the main CBR pool:

After swimming for awhile, we called and our room was finally ready. Dmom didn't like CBR very much, mostly because our room was kinda smelly and humid! The outside wasn't humid at all so it was really odd. Here's some pictures of our room for those that haven't stayed there:

OH! and our first towel animal.....which baby gracie HAD to get a picture with:

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. We got our luggage, and then DH and I changed. We went back to DTD and had earl of sandwich for dinner (totally worth the price!) and then headed over to walk around at the poly. We had planned to watch the fireworks from over there, but it was really quite cold and DH and I were tired, so we went back to the hotel and went to bed. Like I said, not totally eventful in ANY way. The rest will be better

Coming Up Next: Day 2 ~ We're off to port canaveral and setting sail!

 

[nkkilala]

Great start to your trip report!!!

Was that the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek airport you left from??? If so it is literally 1.3 miles from my house! You would have flown right over it...... IF it was AZO!!

I can't wait to hear more!! DH and I are heading for our first DCL trip on Feb 14!

 

[buf68]

we actually flew out of Flint.

It's normal for us to drive all the way to detroit, but thankfully flint is about 1/2 the distance, cheaper, and WAY less crowded (like seriously, when we got in last night there was one other flight and like no one in the airport).

It would be a bit further of a drive to head over to Kzoo

I'm glad you like it so far. I need to upload photos from Day 2 to get them on here and that takes some time. I see you got married in WDW...i would have loved to do that, but it was so expensive! We did get our honeymoon there though (that trip report is linked in my siggy).

You'll have a lot of fun on DCL, we had a great time. And from what i heard from people who were on carnival that week, i would only do DCL for cruising unless it were free

 

[luv2boys]

subscribing

 

[buf68]

Hey everyone....life has kinda got in the way the past few days but i'm going to work on an update for tonight it'll finally be embarktion day yay!

 

[LITTLEKID58]

Tfs

 

[buf68]

lol i totally don't know what that means littlekid i'm sorry

 

[Disney owl]

great start

 

[buf68]

Thanks owl

 

[disneyfaninaz]

lol i totally don't know what that means littlekid i'm sorry

tfs = Thanks for sharing

 

[buf68]

Thanks disneyfaninaz....going to start here in a minute, gotta get those day 2 (embarktion day) photos online

 

[buf68]

So, day 2 dawns. We were told to have our luggage ready for pickup by 8am. A castmember was there about 8:10 to pick them up. We sat around for awhile, finally got dressed and went over to Old Port Royale where we basically sat around for 3 or so hours. Like I said before, this was NOT my idea. I had hoped we would immediate wake up and get on a bus and be at the port by the time people were starting to get on the ship. Sadly the bus wasn't ready till noon!

Anyways, we sat around at old port royale, had breakfast etc. DH got bored so he started video taping:

Dmom, Dsis and I all got tatoos:

Here's mine up close

well, noon finally rolls around and we meet at shutters (the restuarnt, talk about confusing). A few other families are there too. DH chilled with baby gracie while Dmom got our bus passes and KTTW cards:

We finally get on the bus and we're off, the movie was cute

and as you can see DH is thrilled:

after awhile I start geting anxious. Every hill we go over I keep thinking "are we there yet?!"....finally, i see it....

I actually saw it out of the front of our bus before anyone else. I was just giddy we were finally there! even baby gracie couldn't believe it

We finally pulled into port and I was practically wanting to run off the bus.

We get out and get into the line for security. I totally forgot that I had 2 batteries in my pocket so of course I get beeeeped at security...i couldn't figure out what was wrong so the guy wanded me and we found the batteries. I saw the "discover uncharted magic" sign and wanted to take a picture....well as I took it was i yelled at b/c apparently you can't take pictures in security areas *sigh*

We get up the escalator and i'm exstatic...CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!!!

I was totally praying they'd be up on the ship too so that we could get the picture in front of the tree that i wanted so badly.

we got the obligatory picture by the model (which sadly is on Dmom's camera still) and since we pre-checked in at the hotel the day before (did i forget to mention that?) we could get right on board. Here's baby gracie starting to head through:

I started getting butterflies in my tummy...we were finally there! We start across the gangway, and well, Dmom and Dsis were a bit ahead of us.

We start across and then here "welcome the ____ Family!" (with my maiden name!!) I start blushing a ton i'm sure and I shook my head, i said "it's irwin!"....apparently my sister told the dude that we were ____'s too oh well.

We headed immediately to the excursion desk. I HAD to squeeze us into the extreme getaway package on castaway cay! Turns out they could squeeze the two of us in, but would have to deliver our tickets later. So we headed down to our room to drop off my laptop and check it out. Dmom and Dsis are already there. Luckily, Dmom gave DH and I the big bed we plop the laptop down and head up to topsiders for lunch. It was great, we sat outside and we could see NASA!

Since we didnt' get to port till like 1:45 (BOOOO!!!!!! ) we didn't have long before we'd have to be ready for the muster drill. So we head back to the room after walking around a little and find almost all of DH and my luggage! So I start unpacking like a madwoman. Through the whole thing we keep getting littel knocks at the door and finally all 7 pieces are accounted for (yes, 7 for 4 people ). I got out our door magnets I made and put them up on our door.

 

[buf68]

Then, we hear the announcement that our drill will take place in 5 minutes. Of course, Dmom and Dsis take this to mean get your vest on and go....and i'm like NOOOOOOOO i dont' wanna stand in the sun till i HAVE to!....DH finaally pressures me into getting it on and we head up.
again, DH is thrilled....

and so is Dsis (whiney butt)

Trent, our lovely host for most of the cruise stuff, was our assembly leader. After a few minutes we were finally down and DH and I race back down to the room, grab my backpack and the cameras, and then head up to deck 10 to get a spot for the sailaway party. We were one of the few up there already so we were happy I, of course, got myself a sailaway party drink

and so it began:

and then it happened.....WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR!....I seriously had tears in my eyes. I couldn't believe we were actually there!

We raced to the OTHER side of deck 10 (basically 2 steps from the inside to the outside) because I wanted a picture of the castmembers waving

DH and I stayed up there for quite awhile. He noticed dolphins following us out which was adorable! We were nervous, but so excited too! Oh, forgot to mention, we DID take bonine that morning, but DH refused to take it the rest of the trip and i only took it one other time and we were FINE. So it was wonderful.

Anyways, we headed back to the stateroom to clean up before our show (late late seating = 6:15pm show). Baby gracie watched out the window as we sailed out of port.

We went ahead and got dressed for dinner and then headed to the walt disney theater to watch the All Aboard Variety Show. We had the story of Jeremy the wannabee sailor boy and the musical comedy of John Charles (ABSOLUTELY hilarious, he can play the guitar, almost any song, and mock the singer, it was so funny) and the "Greatest magician in the world......almost" Rich Purpura who was also quite funny. Then and there DH decided that whenever THEIR shows were we'd be there. After the show we walked down and checked out beat street for awhile. We walked into sessions and no one was in there. But the minute we walked in the piano music started....and ended 30 seconds later. This was to be our running joke with the piano man He was really nice. We also headed over to diversions to try to find out who won the UM vs. Wisconsin game (i'm a UM alumnus).....but sadly we missed the score every time we went in there for like 3 days!

Anyways, we headed to dinner at Lumiere's that night. I totally forgot about my camera. But we met Subhash and Gigi our amazing servers and had some really good food. It wasn't my favorite set of offerings, i think i just got the chicken from the lighter fare. After dinner, DH and I changed and then headed back to diversions to try again...we noticed noise coming from Rockin Bar D so we headed over. A game called Magic Quest was about to start, so we joined in. We had number 11. The goal was to bring up your number and another object...and to be creative. Trent was the host (as usual) and it was quite funny. We didn't win, but we were running around and being basically hilarious. We stuck around for Match your Mate just after Magic Quest. Seriously, if you can get picked to be a part of this DO IT. It may be some embarassment (one question was "where was the most interesting place you and your mate "discovered the magic" with an answer being a teeter totter and a church amongst other things) but the prizes are totally worth it. The couple that won was married 35 years and they got a free spa villa alone time! The other couples also got spa treatments for the wives, so seriously, try to participate! They apparently only do this once on the cruise, so DO IT.

We went back to the room and found our towel animal:

I was so happy. We were at sea and without a care in the world.


Coming up next: Part 3: Day 3 At sea, Exotic Ras...ut oh.....

 

[nkkilala]

Great addition!! I can't wait to hear more!!!

 

[buf68]

thanks, that one was hard lots of pictures. I am a photo freak, i love picture full trip reports

 

[ybells]

thanks, that one was hard lots of pictures. I am a photo freak, i love picture full trip reports

Lovin your report so far! We were on that trip also. I think we saw you and your DH at Who wants to be a Mouseketeer on night 5. My DD was the first one up to play!

 

[buf68]

yeah we went to that one night...can't remember which though....maybe semiformal?

if she was the first one up that means she won until the last question right?

 

[smeecanada]

thanks, that one was hard lots of pictures. I am a photo freak, i love picture full trip reports

Love your pics. I was comparing some similar ones from our trip in August. What type of camera are you using? We're thinking of getting a new one.

 

[buf68]

Ours is a kodak easyshare z740. Pretty much just a point and shoot kinda model. It works for what it's worth. I don't even remember how much it cost, DH had it when we started dating.

Anyways, Thanks for the compliments on the pics Which ones are similiar?