The first order of business is to stake out some chairs at the Mickey pool. We actually picked out tables under the shade being the responsible adults that we are.
As soon as the kids see the slide all they care about is getting their swimsuits on and getting busy. Ok, we can start that but we also want to think about some lunch because the adults are getting hungry. DW and I think that a burger from Plutos sounds good while the kids all want hot dogs. After we get all the kids fed and swimming, DNH and DNW head up to Topsiders to load up their plates and also get some tidbits (read shrimp) for everyone else. Here is a picture of DNS2 cruising down the slide.
Around 2 pm DW and DNW go to see how the rooms are coming and since the pool and slide are getting fairly busy, DNH and I take the kids over to the Goofy pool. It was much less crowded, but that water was COLDER than I expected. The ladies return and report that a few of the bags had shown up and that the gift baskets were very nice. DW and I had booked the Romantic Escape and we had also called Shirley at The Perfect Gift for a basket for DD. Many people have discussions on whether or not the Romantic Escape is worth the money or not. For first time cruisers I think it is because of all the cool gifts and perks that you get, including booking things online at 105 days out. For repeat cruise we probably wont do it again. Of course Shirley and her crew were awesome as expected.
Now most sane people would have spent a little more time at the pool and then headed for their stateroom to relax and unpack a little before the lifeboat drill. Not us, we stayed playing until well after 3 pm.
So now we have to hurry down and get ready for the drill. Oh look, all of the bags are now here, so lets do a little unpacking also until they force us to the muster station. We were assigned to Animators Palate so things were over fairly quick and painless.
Back down to the room to get ready for the Adventures Away party and more unpacking. Along the way we met our cabin steward Iketut (Ike) from Indonesia. He was always super friendly, happy, and went the extra mile to get things for us even when we didnt ask. Here are a couple of pictures of the door to cabin 7624.
We had a navigators veranda which I havent completely decided if I need on the next cruise. It was nice having the extra room, hanging in your private outdoor space, etc. I just dont know if it was necessary for the extra expense since we didnt spend an overabundance of time there.
So instead of unpacking only a few things and then heading to the party, we decide we need to unpack everything and stow it all including suitcases out of the way. I dont know what we were caught up in, I guess the fear of being late to the first dinner polluted our minds. Needless to say, we missed most of the party which is kind of a bummer for the first cruise. I guess that is part of the reason you do a second, to catch up on the things you missed the first time around. So my tip to all is either dont stay out playing so long before unpacking or leave it for after the party or maybe even after dinner. We did get to watch as we pulled out of the port, including seeing the waving Mickey hands, people waving from the beach, a tug pulling a large ship, and a casino boat Im not sure I would want to ride on.
As we started heading out to sea, we decided it was time to get ready for dinner.
Our dining rotation was LAP which put us at Lumieres at 6 pm for this first night. I know that it is not the coveted APL rotation, but it was not bad. Plus we had table 28 which has some awesome window views so you cant complain too much. This is where we were first introduced to our AWESOME server team, Ricardo the server from South Africa and Carlos the assistant server from Peru. These two guys are amazing.
They are always having a good time, right on top of everything, and great with the kids from playing tickle tag to Mickey shaped catsup to cutting up dinners so the parents dont have to. I cant say enough about these guys. The head server was Stefane from France. He was actually fairly nice and made more stops at the table than I had expected.
After the first of many outstanding meals, we waddle out to the lobby to see whats going on. Actually we knew what was happening, imagine that. The first Pin Station is set up so DW does some shopping because she needs a starter set for trading. We had bought a few from EBay before hand but wanted to make sure there were enough trader types. She also picked me up a really cool pirate one. I may not have mentioned, but I think pirates are really cool. I might even post a picture of me on Pirates Night.
So while she is shopping, the rest of us go ahead and get in line for pictures with Minnie. This is followed by pictures with Goofy. I have heard different opinions about the way pictures and autographs were handled on the boat, but I always felt they were very efficient and the wait not too bad, especially if you were in line a few minutes early before the hordes showed up. Seriously, the CMs always made sure you knew what line you were in and all of the characters (except the princesses) seemed to stay until everyone in line had their turn. Of course I am sure there are bad experiences as will always happen. Another note is to make sure to check for updates during the day as they WILL make changes.
Our first glimpse of the Disney entertainment came tonight with All Aboard: Let the Magic Begin. It is a good first glimpse of all that is going on including snippets of the acts that will have full shows later in the week. It had some hilarious acts by Jeff Civilico and Michael Harrison. We are still repeating the catch phrases of the night: I like dollies, my feet stink, and smoochy smoochy. I know, its not as funny if you werent there, but I suggest seeing these guys if you get the chance.
Returning back to the room we get our first towel animal, a frog.
You would think that after all of the excitement of the past couple of days we would be exhausted and ready for bed. Well most were, but not me. Nope I am still bouncing off the walls milking this vacation for all it is worth.
I check out the Navigator and review my notes for the plans tomorrow on board and in Key West, hang out on the veranda (here is one of those times it was worth it), and watch the ocean and this floating Christmas tree that we pass (Oh that is the Carnival Glory). Actually that is a pretty impressive ship, especially at night looking through binoculars. Finally at around 1:30 am, I decide to call it a night.
As soon as the kids see the slide all they care about is getting their swimsuits on and getting busy. Ok, we can start that but we also want to think about some lunch because the adults are getting hungry. DW and I think that a burger from Plutos sounds good while the kids all want hot dogs. After we get all the kids fed and swimming, DNH and DNW head up to Topsiders to load up their plates and also get some tidbits (read shrimp) for everyone else. Here is a picture of DNS2 cruising down the slide.
Around 2 pm DW and DNW go to see how the rooms are coming and since the pool and slide are getting fairly busy, DNH and I take the kids over to the Goofy pool. It was much less crowded, but that water was COLDER than I expected. The ladies return and report that a few of the bags had shown up and that the gift baskets were very nice. DW and I had booked the Romantic Escape and we had also called Shirley at The Perfect Gift for a basket for DD. Many people have discussions on whether or not the Romantic Escape is worth the money or not. For first time cruisers I think it is because of all the cool gifts and perks that you get, including booking things online at 105 days out. For repeat cruise we probably wont do it again. Of course Shirley and her crew were awesome as expected.
Now most sane people would have spent a little more time at the pool and then headed for their stateroom to relax and unpack a little before the lifeboat drill. Not us, we stayed playing until well after 3 pm.
So now we have to hurry down and get ready for the drill. Oh look, all of the bags are now here, so lets do a little unpacking also until they force us to the muster station. We were assigned to Animators Palate so things were over fairly quick and painless.Back down to the room to get ready for the Adventures Away party and more unpacking. Along the way we met our cabin steward Iketut (Ike) from Indonesia. He was always super friendly, happy, and went the extra mile to get things for us even when we didnt ask. Here are a couple of pictures of the door to cabin 7624.
We had a navigators veranda which I havent completely decided if I need on the next cruise. It was nice having the extra room, hanging in your private outdoor space, etc. I just dont know if it was necessary for the extra expense since we didnt spend an overabundance of time there.
So instead of unpacking only a few things and then heading to the party, we decide we need to unpack everything and stow it all including suitcases out of the way. I dont know what we were caught up in, I guess the fear of being late to the first dinner polluted our minds. Needless to say, we missed most of the party which is kind of a bummer for the first cruise. I guess that is part of the reason you do a second, to catch up on the things you missed the first time around. So my tip to all is either dont stay out playing so long before unpacking or leave it for after the party or maybe even after dinner. We did get to watch as we pulled out of the port, including seeing the waving Mickey hands, people waving from the beach, a tug pulling a large ship, and a casino boat Im not sure I would want to ride on.
As we started heading out to sea, we decided it was time to get ready for dinner.Our dining rotation was LAP which put us at Lumieres at 6 pm for this first night. I know that it is not the coveted APL rotation, but it was not bad. Plus we had table 28 which has some awesome window views so you cant complain too much. This is where we were first introduced to our AWESOME server team, Ricardo the server from South Africa and Carlos the assistant server from Peru. These two guys are amazing.
They are always having a good time, right on top of everything, and great with the kids from playing tickle tag to Mickey shaped catsup to cutting up dinners so the parents dont have to. I cant say enough about these guys. The head server was Stefane from France. He was actually fairly nice and made more stops at the table than I had expected.After the first of many outstanding meals, we waddle out to the lobby to see whats going on. Actually we knew what was happening, imagine that. The first Pin Station is set up so DW does some shopping because she needs a starter set for trading. We had bought a few from EBay before hand but wanted to make sure there were enough trader types. She also picked me up a really cool pirate one. I may not have mentioned, but I think pirates are really cool. I might even post a picture of me on Pirates Night.
So while she is shopping, the rest of us go ahead and get in line for pictures with Minnie. This is followed by pictures with Goofy. I have heard different opinions about the way pictures and autographs were handled on the boat, but I always felt they were very efficient and the wait not too bad, especially if you were in line a few minutes early before the hordes showed up. Seriously, the CMs always made sure you knew what line you were in and all of the characters (except the princesses) seemed to stay until everyone in line had their turn. Of course I am sure there are bad experiences as will always happen. Another note is to make sure to check for updates during the day as they WILL make changes.
Our first glimpse of the Disney entertainment came tonight with All Aboard: Let the Magic Begin. It is a good first glimpse of all that is going on including snippets of the acts that will have full shows later in the week. It had some hilarious acts by Jeff Civilico and Michael Harrison. We are still repeating the catch phrases of the night: I like dollies, my feet stink, and smoochy smoochy. I know, its not as funny if you werent there, but I suggest seeing these guys if you get the chance.
Returning back to the room we get our first towel animal, a frog.
You would think that after all of the excitement of the past couple of days we would be exhausted and ready for bed. Well most were, but not me. Nope I am still bouncing off the walls milking this vacation for all it is worth.
I check out the Navigator and review my notes for the plans tomorrow on board and in Key West, hang out on the veranda (here is one of those times it was worth it), and watch the ocean and this floating Christmas tree that we pass (Oh that is the Carnival Glory). Actually that is a pretty impressive ship, especially at night looking through binoculars. Finally at around 1:30 am, I decide to call it a night.
I thought that was kind of neat!!
Now I can see what we may have missed!
Ok, ok, I will start working on the next chapter, but it probably won't be up until tomorrow. 
It was fun and we ended up buying a hat and a few hair clips. Of course they throw in a couple of free rings and put it all in a bag that also changes colors.
Now you would have thought with all of our planning and packing of medications we would have been prepared. Nope, not a single drop of decongestant or cough syrup. While chatting with the cashier, she mentions that the previous week a ship had stopped and most of the passengers were in the store buying all of the medications. Wow, Im glad I missed that one.
It is wet and will not turn on for me. I immediately take it the battery and flash card out and then processed to take the thing apart so it can dry and hopefully work again. How am I going to tell DH we have no camera for the rest of our vacation? What will we do? So I call DH on cell phone to see where they are, maybe he can run by CVS and get us something to use. see part II.
She calls my cell phone and asks how things went. Pretty good I reply, how about you? Well, as they were going through security a water bottle was not sealed properly and soaked everything in the bag including the digital camera. She has taken everything apart so that it can dry but it doesnt look good. I try to console her that it was an old camera we had been planning to replace, but it doesnt help much. 
It turns out that the camera is kaput, but the flash card is fine so it is not as bad as it could have been. 
We start out by heading to Shutters to check out the latest pictures and, you guessed it, buy a new camera. We bought an Olympus which is turning out to be a nice little point-and-shoot, but sadly, some of the learning pictures were on the ship. Lucky for us the neighbors were along with double shots of anything we might have had trouble with. 
We and the neighbors had both scheduled spa treatments this morning at 9:15 and 9:30, and the breakfast would start at 8:15. Yikes, that is cutting things a little close, especially since the neighbors are supposed to check in early at 9. No worries says DW. We can drop the kids off since we are scheduled later and nobody informed us to check in early.
The adults had a wine tasting scheduled for 2 and it was a good thing DW scheduled a wake-up call as we all took a good nap. Unfortunately, DD was still sleeping and didnt show signs of regaining consciousness any time soon. A call to the neighbors revealed a similar situation so an executive decision needed to be made. It was decided that the ladies would go and the guys would stay with the kiddos. I had no problems with this since I was still pretty groggy.
