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

[amylia403]

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.

 

[CherylA]

Sounds like you had a great time, can't wait to hear more...

 

[Nikki'sMommy]

Can't wait to hear more...Bring it on!!!

 

[amylia403]

Whew.... I keep remembering little details that I forgot to put in...lol. We had a signature photo mat left from when my husband and I had to cancel our wedding ceremony earlier this year (No worries a good friend of mine is a notery and signed off on our licence so we are Leagal...hahahaha) sooooo I brought some sharpies along (another awesome idea from the boards) and turned them in with the mat to guest services. All of the characters signed the mat and left it in our room on the last night for our son!! Such a great souvenier!!!!!
...okay...back to day one.... When it was time for the Sail away Party, we found a spot on deck 10 where we could look down on the stage and see all the action You know just thinking about the ships horn...(when you wish upon a staaaarrrr...) just makes me get goosebumps still!!! There were loads of characters, and dancing and excitement going on, it was great!

As the ship started out, we had an announcement from the captain, letting us know that even though Huirricaine Earl was very far away and heading further away, we were going to have rough seas until about 10:30pm. It did indeed get pretty wavy!...lol. It was kind of funny to see people swaying back and forth across the hallways as they walked down them. Looked like a ship full of drunken pirates! Thank goodness for BONINE!
......as a side note (DISCLAIMER: DONT READ THE NEXT SENTANCE IF YOU ARE GROSSED OUT EASILY>>>>) we passed by 6 different incidents of someone either puking or cleaning up after the spew fest just on our way to dinner...hee hee, not to mention the kid at the table across from us. Thank goodness for the space between tables!
We were not about to let the 15 foot waves take away from our first real family vacation! We went to see the Golden Mickey's in the theater. So much fun!!!!!!! What great entertainment at sea!! (And we found Hidden Mickeys on the walls of the theater!! BONUS!!!)
On our way out the door to head to the show, we met up with Linsay and Patricia from Guest services. They were bringing us a letter letting us know that we were chosen as one of the magical families for the cruise!!!! I wasn't sure what it meant at first, but turned out to be reaaaallllly amazing! I'll let you know later about all the goodies! But again....my husband had to remind me that there is no crying on the Disney cruise...even if its happy crying...lol!
We had every intention of going to the movie theater after dinner and the show, but our little man was exhausted. He said he was ready for a movie, but he was starting to drift off, so we headed back to the room Beauty and the Beast was playing on one of the channels so i turned it on and ordered some snacks from room service. DS fell asleep way before the snacks got there, and he was deeeeeeeep alseep. So much excitement for one day! DH and I stay up watching TV and highlighting Navigator for day two! We have decided to stay on the ship while its in Nassau the next day to take advantage of the empty ship. DS had fallen asleep on the main bed and was so cute and comfortable we didnt want to wake him. DH slept on the other bed and I slept snuggled with my DS. Love that kid sooooo much!!!

 

[LindaBabe]

Oh how wonderful and exciting for you! - I have tears in my eyes just reading about it.

 

[wink13]

Sounds like a great trip can't wait to hear more.

 

[ScottishMummyof2]

Oh how wonderful and exciting for you! - I have tears in my eyes just reading about it.

Me too!! Brilliant TR, cant wait to read more

Counting down to Wonder 17 October

 

[Lisa]

Sounds like you had a magical time.

 

[amylia403]

Appologizing for all the spelling issues...I get overexcited when I am writting about all the fun we had!!!
Though we are not at all morning people, we were up bright and early on day 2. DS was super excited that this was the night he would get to make flubber. He's heard about that on the DCL web site, and he couldn't wait! We started off by going to a lovely breakfast buffet, where again, we ate about 5 times our own weight in food. And they had unlimited coffee!!! The DH and I were thrilled about that! Food tastes so much better when your on vacation and not the one cooking it!

The captain soon gave the all clear for everyone to head off the boat into Nassau. We hadn't been able to book a shore excursion, and really wanted to explore the ship with our son, so we didn't go into the Bahamas. We had such a nice, relaxed day. We took our time eating and hunting for hidden mickey's, and taking oodles of pictures! After breakfast we went to the room so DS could put on his swimming trunks. When we got there, we had an envelope inviting us to a cocktail event prior to dinner! Sounded like lots of fun We went out to the pool where DS went sliding and swiming and playing for quite a while! We lounged in the shade and watched Peter Pan on the big movie screen at the Donald pool. So much fun

DS was watching the clock to make sure he didn't miss flubber! We went to the room after the pool, lunch and the movie on the big screen to get changed. We took DS to make Flubber and DH and I went to Palo. (We didn't get to have our ceremony and honeymoon as planned back in February, so we decided to make this our honeymoon dinner!) Sooooo yummy! We had to refrain from pigging out and eating everything! We had really wanted to try Palo, but we didn't want to miss a dinner with our son, so we were good and ate just enough...well, maybe a little more than we should have....but I knew we'd be ready for the "feed" again by dinner time at 8:15...lol. I wanted to share the palo experience with our son, but since he's too young, we brought him a chocolate soufle...mmmmmmmmmmmm! We picked up our son who informed us that Flubber was the greatest thing ever, and that it was like snot, but not quite so gross and more bouncy. Hmmm, sound cool I suppose...If you're into snot...lol. We went over to the cocktail party and turns out that was a special invite because of being chosen as one of the magical families for the cruise! We even got to see Goofy! DH had to run down to the room cause I left my camera, and when he came back he said I was going to freak out when we went back to the room. I was thinking maybe a rouge flock of pooping seagulls had somehow gotten in, but he said it would be a good freak out, no poop involved.....

While we were there, the Disney Guest services team that had brought us the letter the first night came by and gave us an envelope. (Lindsay and Patricia....I love them.... I think I ended up crying everytime I spoke to them...lol. ) As a magical family gift, they had given us the castaway package shore excursion!!!!! I was beyond excited, especialy since we hadn't been able to budget for renting snorkle gear or floats and theis got us both!!!! Again with the crying here..... My hubby and I don't drink, but since the cocktail party had free beverages we decided to have a fruity something something. We both only took about 2 sips, but at least we can say we had a cocktail on the WOnder! DS had his first SHirley Temple too, ....actually his first 3 shirley temples. We moseyed back to the room to get ready for dinner...Parrot Cay tonight....slurp....mmmmmm!!!
We decided to play the Family bingo game. They were giving away 3 free cards for game 3 out of four, so it worked out good. We didn't win on our 3 free cards, but they were passing out Pirates tatoos for all the kids in the room and we had a great time!
Well, DH was soooooooo correct about me freaking out. Lindsay and Patricia had sent a DCL bag to our room with a photo frame, a little photo album, a Castaway Cay towel and a stuffed Goofy!!!!!!! must....not....cry....... especially when DS took the tags off Goofly and fell asleep snuggled with him later that evening Shhhhh, don't tell him I told....I'm sure he wouldn't want ya'll to know what a sweet softie he is even at 10...lol. I am so much more blessed with him than I can even put into words so I won't try, but he is just amazing and so understanding even with things being a little rough for us at times This bag was awesome, we hadn't planned to buy any souveniers, this waas a wonderful treat!!

I don't know what to say about Parrot Cay, other than mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. It was so good, and no waves this time, so there were no musical puking families around either!...Bonus!

Pirates IN the Carribean party was sooo much fun. DS was so excited about the fireworks! He was bouncing up and down in his pirate bandana and pirate hook....so stinkin cute!!!
Again we were planning to go see a movie in the theater, and again....to exhausted. (one of these days Im gonna get around to seeing Toy STory 3!!!) We ordered some snackies for the room and fell asleep watching Nanny McPhee

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Wow, sounds like a fun-filled first day! 15 foot waves... yikes.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[taswira]

WONDERful trip report. I love the excitement in your writing. You are definitely showing the Disney spirit and it's clear that you're having a most magical time!

 

[iloverags2]

I am absolutely loving your report! What an awesome vacation for you...and sounds much needed and deserved! Looking forward to more!

 

[Serein]

Really enjoying your enthusiastic report!

 

[LindaBabe]

Once again, Disney seems to *know* who needs Pixie Dust! Thank you for writing. Waiting IMpatiently for the next installment

 

[amylia403]

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!!!!!!........

 

[amylia403]

Just want to thank everyone for all of your kind words and encouragement and a big extra special Thank You to our Fairy Grandma ...lol! Finding this board has just been wonderful. Everyone is so kind and so ready to give great advice! It has been so helpful in planning this once in a lifetime trip for us, especially after having such a difficult year Thank you!!!

 

[schoonersky]

Amy - I really enjoyed reading your trip report. Thank you, and I really hope you get to do it all again next year!

 

[amylia403]

Amy - I really enjoyed reading your trip report. Thank you, and I really hope you get to do it all again next year!

Me too!!!! Saying lots of prayers and keeping our heads up I know things will all work out for us

 

[LindaBabe]

................. 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!!!!!!........

YEAHHHHHH! My fingers will be crossed for you!

SO glad you had a magical time!

 

[amylia403]

Thank you!!!!!!!! Now if I could just figure out how to post pictures in my posts....hmmmmm....lol