Our First Disney Cruise!!!! 3 Day Wonder 9/2

[amylia403]

Not sure where the best place was to thank everyone for all of their amazing tips, information, Pixie Dust and special fairy Grandma stuff....but want to send out the biggest hug and Thank you ever!!!!!!

 

[sefindlay]

Hubby and I were awake super early...we wanted to see Castaway Cay as soon as it came into view! When we looked out, the ship was coming in closer and begining to turn so that we could back in to the docking area. We woke up DS to take a peek. I'm not sure how much he saw through his sleepy eyes, but he was excited for the 3 minutes he was able to stay awake...lol. He fell back asleep for about 15 minutes while DH and I got dressed and got our beach things together! Sunscreen, camera, bottles of H2O,,,check! I thought for a brief moment of not wearing my capri knee shorts with my swimsuit, and thus allowing the pale pasty whitness of my out of shape legs to frighten all of our shipmates away from the island, leaving it only for the 3 of us....but that wouldn't be very nice of me....lol.

I decide to share the island and forgo the scare fest. I havn't worn a swim suit in a few years, so I wouldn't be comfie with out my capris anyway!...lol. DS got ready and we just about drown eachother in sunscreen. I tend to go right from pastey white to lobster red , with no lovely tan in between, so needless to say, this is SPF 50, Waterproof!

Went down for some breakfast, again...super yummy! We have already decided that we have to do this again. We have had the best time ever! I dropped off one of those cards where they will give you a quote on a future cruise and keep my fingers crossed that we'll be able to work something out! We really want to ask our whole family to try to book and make a great time of it. Especailly Pawpaw.... he needs a nice trip after losing Nanny. I'm determined to get him on the cruise next year! Couldn't convience him to go this time, but I'm pretty persistant!
We got off the boat and started snapping pictures right away. I can't believe how close the Dutchman is! Even my little camera can get a great picture! I was afraid it would be too far away to get good pics of, but this is awesome!!!! (Pirates is a big favorite of our family, so we are reeeeaaallllly excited by the dutchman!!!)

I thought the island would be a complete mad house, but its actually pretty organized! We stop off and get our snorkle gear and floats and find a couple of chairs to flop in. DS right away wants to snorkle, build a sand castle and burry himself in the sand....all at the same time...lol. This island is amazing. I don't even know if I can write and express how gorgeous it is or how much we loved it!! We took a picture with Captain Jack Sparrow, and found about a million other beautiful things and spots to photograph! We didn't even explore the whole island! I wonder if they will notice if wwe just ddon't leave the island with the ship and move in here perminantly...hmmmmmmmmm
Lunch from Cookies was super yum. We love barbque! Great tip from the Dis Boards (again) ...go around to the lines on the sides instead of the ones in front....no wait! We pigged out...again...of course...lol. And when I saw cast members and went over to ask where to put our trays and trash (didn't want to leave a mess!) It was Lindsay and Patricia! Our guest services pair that had been handling our Magical Family stuff!!! I told them how DS had snuggled up to the Goofy and fallen asleep. They thought it was just soooooo sweet. Of course I thanked them about 5 million times again!

We spent the rest of the day lounging and swiming, enjoying the great beach family day together. So much fun to have time like this to not worry about things and be together! By boarding time we are all tired, but still wishing we could move to Castaway Cay...lol. DS mentioned that he wished we could eat at Animators Palate again, since the waves were so bad the first night he hadn't got to "explore" all the pictures on the wall. Even though I hate to miss Triton's, I figured it wouldn't hurt to check with Guest Services to see if we can switch restaurants. I have to go there anyway and get our shipboard credit converted to tips for our great servers, and room steward! Besides, i looooved Animators Palate too, and anything for the DS!!!..lol. Surprisingly, no problem at all switching to AP! DS is soooo excited! I asked for Patricia and Lindsay but they were on break, so we wrote them a letter thanking them and telling them how much everything meant to us! ...nooooo cryyyiiing while writing thank you lettersssssss.....the hubby says

Stopped by the futer cruise desk. I had heard on the Dis Boards that we could book the future cruise with only one persons name and add others later when we had the money for the other deposits, plus the deposit was reduced to half. I gave them just my name, and we were pretty sure we had either just under or just over $100 on our one and only credit card. Unfortunatly we were wrong...lol. Not enough to make the $100 deposit, but thats ok! DS asks if that means we can't come back again next year...Heck no! We are still super excited and will find a way to go again next year!
AP was amazing again!!! I must steal the recipe for that risotto. I think it its my new favorite food!!!! Took a gajillion pics of the pictues on the walls...no rocking this time! So fun!!! We have to make a stop off at Tritons to say good night and thank you to our servers and dining staff and to drop off their envelopes Can I take these guys home to wait on me? The chef too...I gotta get me one of those!!!

When we got back to the cabin, There is a stuffed Mickey Mouse on the bed for DS...who looooves it sooooooooooooooooooo much! Time to get the suitcases out and get them packed up... so sad that its coming to a close but crazy happy that we got to spend this once in a life time experience together! This has been just the most amazing time, and I am so greatful that I got to share it with my DH and wonderful DS, who says he's had the best time of his whole life!...all 10 years of it!...lol.

................. post cruise good news..... a few days after being home, we are looking at the DCL site, and somehow even though the $100 deposit wasn't able to go through, we are still showing as having a reservation for next year??? A payment posted to our credit card account giving us just enough for the deposit, so I have our DU TA run the payment again and now we have a reservation for next year!!!!!! September 29th!!!!! Yayyyyyy!!!!!! Keep your fingers crossed for us! Not telling the DS until we know for sure we can pay the balance off by then and go for sure, but I am so excited that we might be able to go again!!!!!!........

What an amazing story!! You actually captured the spirit of Disney and you thought you weren't a great writer. There is no telling how many people you brought to tears sharing your story! Your story of medical issues and family loss struck a cord, which is why we both deserve to go on a Disney Cruise! I am so glad to hear about a family that deserved so much happiness and someone taking care of you with your special surprises! We are leaving in 4 weeks for our 3n/4d and I will think of you and your family and smile and will so enjoy mine. Thanks again for sharing!

 

[amylia403]

What an amazing story!! You actually captured the spirit of Disney and you thought you weren't a great writer. There is no telling how many people you brought to tears sharing your story! Your story of medical issues and family loss struck a cord, which is why we both deserve to go on a Disney Cruise! I am so glad to hear about a family that deserved so much happiness and someone taking care of you with your special surprises! We are leaving in 4 weeks for our 3n/4d and I will think of you and your family and smile and will so enjoy mine. Thanks again for sharing!

Oh I am so excited for you!!!! I hope you post a trip report when you get home and that you have an amazing time! We had the most amazing time on our cruise! We really needed these couple days to just be together and only have to think about eachother and having a nice time for a bit It was so wonderful to see how relaxed and happy our little boy was! I can't wait to hear about how wonderful your trip is!!!

 

[AmandaRG]

Amy, girl, you are a writer! Being able to move people with words is an amazing gift. Thank you so much for sharing your story. We will be taking our first cruise in just under six months.

This isn't something I have shared elsewhere, but we had years of fertility issues and became parents through the miracle of adoption. Whenever we experience things with our girls that we thought we never would as parents, I cry so I really get the tears part! Good grief, I teared up at being able to buy school supplies this year!

I can't wait to share this with our sweet girls!

 

[amylia403]

Amy, girl, you are a writer! Being able to move people with words is an amazing gift. Thank you so much for sharing your story. We will be taking our first cruise in just under six months.

This isn't something I have shared elsewhere, but we had years of fertility issues and became parents through the miracle of adoption. Whenever we experience things with our girls that we thought we never would as parents, I cry so I really get the tears part! Good grief, I teared up at being able to buy school supplies this year!

I can't wait to share this with our sweet girls!

I know what you mean! My Jacob was a "miracle baby". I wasn't supposed to be able to ever get prego, then my doc told me there was nooooo way the test was right when it showed up positive, and then he told me not to "get attatched" because I'd be "losing him anyway". Ugg... got a new, more optimistic doc after that...lol. Spent lots and lots of days in the hospital when I was prego, very hard times with all the medical issues, but I would soooooooo never trade it for the world! Jacob is just the best thing that has ever happened to me! We are so blessed to have him, I can't even put it into words!!!! He's ten now, and we have some motor skills things that we work on everyday, but he is healthy and happy and kind and caring and...... well it would take me 500 pages to tell you how wonderful he is!...lol. I think you are so wonderful for adopting! When things work out for us down the road and we are in a better and stable place financially I would love to adopt a child. I can't have anymore biologically, and think that opening your heart and home to children who need a family is just the best thing ever I hope that you will post a trip report after your cruise! i just love reading about how much fun everyone has!!!

 

[amylia403]

Okee dokee, fingers crossed everone! One year from today we are hoping to cruise with the DIsney line again !!!!

 

[missj1975]

Nice report. Thanks for sharing.

 

[amylia403]

Thanks

 

[Orlando Disney Guy]

Thirty four years old and I am in tears sitting at my desk reading your trip report. I am so happy that you had a WONDERful time on your cruise. I remember the fisrt time I surprized my Mom, Sister and Nephew for their first cruise. Memories and moments that will last a lifetime. Best wishes for many more cruises to come!

Happy sailing!

 

[mainstreetmagic]

Amy, I am sitting here blubbering with happiness from reading such an amazing trip report. We are planning our first cruise, and you completely captured the essence of how excited I am! Your son is a very lucky boy to have such wonderful parents who care about him and his happiness so much. I completely understand that; as that is exactly how I feel about my baby girl! (Well, she is 18 now, but still a baby girl to me! )

I see your cruise countdown ticker is still on your profile, so things are still a go for next September, right?

 

[anna08]

I think your DH would be telling me "no crying while reading trip reports!"

 

[amylia403]

Awww you guys are all so sweet I'm just happy that I could share our experience with everyone. It was so amazing, and something I wasn't sure we would ever get to do. After a really hard year it was wonderful to be able to take our son on the cruise. He's been through so much this past year, and he's such a trooper

... As for next years cruise... we are leaving the ticker up and being optimistic I just finished school for my Medical Office Asssitant degree, but unfortunatly now there is 2 months of unpaid internship before I can go to work lol. Thats ok though! I know we will make it through and things will start to work out for us soon!

 

[MrsZ]

I cried my eyes out reading your entire TR!

the amount of pixie dust that came your way was very much deserved and its stories like these that make me believe that disney truely is magical!

I am so glad you all had a great time! I hope everything works out for your cruise next year! If it does start a PTR! I'd be following along ever step of the way!

xoxo

 

[It'sWDW4me]

I just have to tell you - yours is the first DCL TR that I've read. I've been seriouslytoying with the idea of a cruise for a few weeks now and I do believe I'm sold! I'm so glad you had a fantastic time. Your happy tears came through loud and clear from your report!

Yeah, I now think that I simply have to, have to, HAVE to book that 8/18/12 Western Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy!

 

[amylia403]

I just have to tell you - yours is the first DCL TR that I've read. I've been seriouslytoying with the idea of a cruise for a few weeks now and I do believe I'm sold! I'm so glad you had a fantastic time. Your happy tears came through loud and clear from your report!

Yeah, I now think that I simply have to, have to, HAVE to book that 8/18/12 Western Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy!

Oh I know you will have so much fun!!! Make sure you write a trip report too! I can't wait to hear from everyone about the new ships. I bet they are going to be just beautiful! my son keeps reminding me that he saw the "Aquaduck" from the Dream on the DCL website...lol. He sait he just has to try it out

 

[macm525]

I'm not a writer by any means...lol. But we had such an amazing time on our cruise, we wanted to share with everyone (especially our fairy grandma) just to introduce our family.....we are Patrick DH, Amy (me), and Jacob DS ... We live in Orlando, but havn't been able to budget for Disney park passes for a few years, so we were jonsing for our Disney fix by the time this cruise came around!!!! We had a very hard year dealing with medical issues and 2 very close family members passing away. Through everything our son has been an angel. We wanted to do something wonderful for him, so we saved and made tiny payments over about a year and a half, and took our first Disney cruise!!!
Day One....
Around 6:30 am I am woken up by a little nose almost pressed against mine asking " hey... hey mommy... its the day of the cruise, so you wanna get up and get going? " I'm not a morning person until after the coffee, but we are all so excited that the DH and I both hop out of bed to start getting dressed and ready for the day! DS is too excited to eat, but I made him at least scarf down a piece of toast on our way out the door We got on the road early in the hopes we'd be able to get on board early and begin taking a bajillion pictures We got to the port around 10:30, and while I was expecting looooooong lines, there were not any! We moseyed right up, got our Room keys and daily Navigator and started exploring. I took lots of pics in the port and even got to see Mickey and Minnie while we were waiting! The ship started to board around 11:45 and our group was called and on board by 12:10! Yayyyyyy!!!!!
We told our son that this cruise was all for him, and that he could have our family introduced any way he wanted.... he told the gentleman at the microphone that we were ANDY'S TOYS...and thats how we were introduced!!!! By this point I'm so excited and happy to see how much my DS is loving every minute, so I'm already having to wipe tears away...but no crying on a disney cruise my DH says
We headed down the corodor, taking photos the whole way and looking for hidden Mickey's (one of our favorite things to do!) and my son found someone to trade pins with in the first 2 minutes on board! (DS has a motor skills disability. He uses pegs, clay, and other hand coordination tools daily. I asked the doc about taking the pin backs on and off and he said that was a great activity for DS, so thats how we got into the whole pin trading fun!) PS...Thanks again Fairy Grandma!
It was still early and there were not a lot of people on the boat yet. We walked right in and were seated at Parrot Cay for lunch...mmmmmmmmmm. I think we ate 5 times our weight that day...lol. It's been a while since we've gone out to eat, so we are enjoying every bite! About half way through lunch, Goofy and Pluto stopped by the dining room and said hello...well waved and gestured hello...lol. I told the DH and DS I was going to the restroom while they hung out with Goofy, but I really went back and decorated our room! After lunch we all went to the room to get our things settled...DH and DS are super excited by the secorated room and can't wait to sit and plan our day, so we spend some time going over the navigator with a highlighter....( a tip I learne dhere on the DIS boards!) so we wouldn't miss anything! Soon it's lifeboat drill time. I was a bit worried about my son, he has trouble in tight spaces with big crowds, but since he's the shortest he is right up front. Lots of room to breath and he's happy. We are at muster station L, so our crew member shows us how to do the Muster Station L salute...its the pointer finger and thumb held in the shape of an L on your forehead....hmmmmm doesn't that mean "loser"...lol? My son is cracking up and I have the best picture of it, I just cant figure out how to post a picture in a thread!!! Help!!! lol, I'm computer challenged! There is so much more to write! I'll pick up tomorrow with the sail away party, but I've got to go get ready for school and work thins evening...sigh.

We've been sailing with Disney since 2000, and seriously it just gets better and better!!!:

 

[amylia403]

Things have slowly but surely getting better We had a little medical set back, but things seem stable now. We are sailing on the Dream in just a few weeks and the kids have no idea! We are going to tell them that we are going to get our family photos taken and we are really driving to the port...lol. My awesome step-kids are now with us and we are so excited to share this experience with all 3 of our kids! I'll post an all new trip report after we sail!

 

[Karenann*]

Have a wonderful trip...all of you! I enjoyed reading about your first cruise. I am in the very first stages of even thinking about a cruise. My son has been on a persistent campaign for three years now. I don't know how he has even thought about a Disney Cruise...we don't even have TV! Anyway, loved your trip report and look forward to another one.

 

[amylia403]

Have a wonderful trip...all of you! I enjoyed reading about your first cruise. I am in the very first stages of even thinking about a cruise. My son has been on a persistent campaign for three years now. I don't know how he has even thought about a Disney Cruise...we don't even have TV! Anyway, loved your trip report and look forward to another one.

Thank you We are soooooo excited I just can't wait to see the kids faces when we get over the bridge where the ships first come into sight!