Pre/During/POST-trip Report: Podcast Cruise 2.0 December 12-16 UPDATED 1/7

[jediobiwan]

So, here goes nothing, my first trip report, my first cruise, and my first real vacation with just the wife and I. Lets see what kind of disorder I can put this in!

First: The links. Come back right here for links to each installment as we go through the pre-trip process and the trip itself and ensuing aftermath!
1. Read the rest of this post
2. Trip Plans
3. Trip Binders and Door Magnets
4. Our first scrapbook for our first cruise!
5. The madness of packing!
6. Port Canaveral the night before the cruise!
7. Embarkation/ First Day
8. Podcast Events and Nassau Day
9. Back on the Ship
10. Sea Day
11. Castaway Cay
12. UP NEXT: Debarkation, Orlando

The Cast: I am 21 and will be married to my beautiful wife (22) for one year this December 21!

Here is the best picture I could find of us on short notice. Good thing I am getting a tripod tomorrow!

The Background: My wife has been to Disney World once when she was five (and although her mom and grandparents took many more trips since then) and then went back for her high school senior trip. I also went for my senior trip a year later. The only vacation we have been on together was when we as well as my younger sister and older brother went to Disney World for eight days in June 2009.

That was fun but we also want to do some couples only things. This cruise and post-cruise stay will be a combination of a second honeymoon as we didn't get to do anything too special for our first as well as a very much needed break from our college major, Civil Engineering. We both went to school this summer so we haven't had a break since Summer 2009 and my wife also broke two bones in her leg this summer so a little R&R is definitely on the agenda.

The Trip: As some of you may know , December 12-16 will be the DIS Unplugged Podcast Cruise 2.0 sailing on the Wonder to the Bahamas.

For those that don't know what the podcast is, the founder and owner of this site, along with some friends and employees, have a wonderful podcast about all things Disney as well as Orlando from time to time. We missed out on the first Podcast Cruise but I saw an opportunity in this cruise and took it. Added on to the trip will be a few days in Orlando for a little bit of fun, hopefully without killing the budget.

Next up: Trip Plans

 

[Hedy]

First!

 

[jediobiwan]

So, continued from the first post....

I wasn't really sure if my wife was going to go along with the cruise idea. Before I booked it she had said she was not into the cruise idea but I did it anyway. I originally tried to keep it from her but eventually just let things slip out like pictures of the Wonder while researching everything. When she broke her leg this summer and had surgery, we were afraid we would not be able to make the cruise but we have been making it work, albeit with a much reduced budget.

Here is our current itinerary:
December 10: Last final exams of the Fall 2010 semester. I finish my last one some time before 6PM.

December 11: Drive from our house to my brother's two hours away and drop him off (he will be renting a car while we steal his as we do not have a car and it is cheaper for him as he is over 25). Continue driving about 9 more hours to Radisson at the Port.

December 12-16: The actual cruise! (If anyone has seen the "Surprise" skits with Aunt Sue on SNL, you have a good idea of how excited I am)

December 16: After the cruise we are going to do Ice+Snow at Gaylord Palms, check in to Radisson Celebration for three nights, then going to MVMCP at the Magic Kingdom. My wife doesn't know about any of the plans for today as I am keeping them a surprise

December 17: Probably some resort hopping this day. The original plan was to do Harry Potter for two days but the budget nixed that. Resort Hopping followed by a California Grill dinner. Wife doesn't know about that either. Hee hee.

December 18: What we do this day depends on our energy level and budget towards the end of the trip. While I would like to go do some things like the Orlando Science Center, I am really leaving this day open to whatever happens.

December 19: Alas, we must drive back home and rejoin the rest of the world in time for visits to the various familial units.

My trip binder and door magnets will be revealed in the next post...maybe even with some done while I am writing it...

 

[jediobiwan]

By the way, if any of the 50 some odd other people that have viewed this thread want to, feel free to comment. I will find this much more fun with audience participation, especially since this is my first TR.

Previously, I talked about the actual trip plans.

Now, for my trip binder. I began putting this together a few weeks ago because I wanted to go ahead and start printing things out and didn't want to lose them. The fact that I work in a copy shop means I probably print more than I should...

So far I have pretty much all paperwork in the binder other than Passports, which are still locked away, for now at least. Here is the cover to the binder:

Here is the Cruise Documents from DCL as well as some Disney Gift Cards and print outs of google directions just in case something happens to my iPhone GPS.

I also have tickets for ICE+Snow and MVMCP in page protectors so they are easy to take out when needed after returning to land.

In the back cover of the binder, I have made a little trip journal with Photoshop and some creative Google Image Searching to encourage myself to write about different events on the trip.

Here are a few of the inside pages:

And last in my binder are the door magnets I have made so far. Since I work at a copy shop, I printed the magnets on regular cardstock, laminated them, and grabbed some of the strip magnets from Wally-World.

I have some more to print but those are what I have so far!


In addition to the pictures above, I also have the pre and post cruise stay hotel confirmations, the DCL Online Check-in signature pages printed and signed, a one-page deck plan sheet I made that has all the decks on one convenient page (probably unnecessary but I was bored anyway), Dinsey World maps, dining confirmation for California Grill, and color-copies of our passports.

In the next post, I guess I will show off the scrapbook stuff we bought tonight to start our first scrapbook for our first cruise

If anyone has any ideas for what else I can post about in the next two weeks to help keep my sanity, let me know!

 

[Becx N Gav]

Great start, don't worry more people will post. I love all the effort you've gone to and the scrap book sounds great, I love to scrap book but I need to make more time for it. The magnets are fab too

How about a packing list, list of must-do's or top 5 things. Oh and don't forget to add pics of what you're taking and the packing progress (I'm sure you'll start sooner rather than later )

Can't wait to meet you and your wife

 

[jediobiwan]

Thanks Becx for the great suggestions! It will give me something to do while procrastinating tomorrow!

 

[jediobiwan]

Previously, I talked about my trip binder. Now to talk about the beginnings of our very first scrapbook for our very first cruise/vacation for the two of us.

My wife and I made a mistake! We went to Michael's with an idea of just looking to get ideas. Oops. $70 and a few hours later and we have probably broken every rule of scrapbooking, but hey, what is life for if not to break rules? Instead of waiting until we have even been on the trip, much less printed pictures and laid things out roughly, we already added some dimensional things we picked up to several days worth of pages. The rest of this post will be a look at what we have so far.

First up, the paper's we picked out. My wife found the Tahiti stack which has some really cool papers, and they are nice and thick as well. We also got one pack of Disney paper, but we will be using those twelve sheets more sparingly than the other paper in all likelihood.

Now, for the pages we have already added stickers and embellishments to:

First up, the first page/overview page:

Next, we have one for the first driving day, mostly of course centered around Florida-y things.

Following the drive is embarkation and sail-away day.

We have a page for the cocktail tasting that one of the PCCers, georgemoe, has graciously put together. Can't wait for that

We really liked this page for the sand look for Castaway Cay day. Of course we will likely have many more Castaway pages, but for now just one.

Pirate Party:

Sea day (DW thought it would be funny to add the shuffleboard even though I am sure we would have no need to resort to such measures to entertain ourselves):

That is all the pages we have made so far. Here is what remains of the things we bought tonight (minus the paper of course):

We are going to take the advice that others had on the scrapbooking forum as well as the main DCL forum and wait and try and snag an album we like on the boat. We looked around today but couldn't find anything we liked enough to not wait. I guess now I need to buy some sheet protectors to supplement the one 12x12 portfolio scrapbooking holder thingy-bob. It fits everything for now, but I don't think that is going to last very long...

Next post may take a little longer, depending on how much I procrastinate with respect to homework and such. But look for it to include the beginnings of the madness that is packing and trying to separate things so that we don't take everything for the week and a half on the boat with us.

 

[Mindyjoy]

I'm in! I may be stealing your journal idea .... I want to journal every day on my cruise and that may give me motivation.

I also want to make a scrapbook but I will probably wait until after the holidays to start, since my cruise isn't until April! But you are giving me some great ideas.

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[parrotheadlois]

By the way, if any of the 50 some odd other people that have viewed this thread want to, feel free to comment. I will find this much more fun with audience participation, especially since this is my first TR.

Previously, I talked about the actual trip plans.

Now, for my trip binder. I began putting this together a few weeks ago because I wanted to go ahead and start printing things out and didn't want to lose them. The fact that I work in a copy shop means I probably print more than I should...

So far I have pretty much all paperwork in the binder other than Passports, which are still locked away, for now at least. Here is the cover to the binder:

Here is the Cruise Documents from DCL as well as some Disney Gift Cards and print outs of google directions just in case something happens to my iPhone GPS.

I also have tickets for ICE+Snow and MVMCP in page protectors so they are easy to take out when needed after returning to land.

In the back cover of the binder, I have made a little trip journal with Photoshop and some creative Google Image Searching to encourage myself to write about different events on the trip.

Here are a few of the inside pages:

And last in my binder are the door magnets I have made so far. Since I work at a copy shop, I printed the magnets on regular cardstock, laminated them, and grabbed some of the strip magnets from Wally-World.

I have some more to print but those are what I have so far!


In addition to the pictures above, I also have the pre and post cruise stay hotel confirmations, the DCL Online Check-in signature pages printed and signed, a one-page deck plan sheet I made that has all the decks on one convenient page (probably unnecessary but I was bored anyway), Dinsey World maps, dining confirmation for California Grill, and color-copies of our passports.

In the next post, I guess I will show off the scrapbook stuff we bought tonight to start our first scrapbook for our first cruise

If anyone has any ideas for what else I can post about in the next two weeks to help keep my sanity, let me know!

I love your binder! We just got a new printer so maybe now I'll make a couple of magnets, don't have much time to go! How'd did you make your binder cover??? I don't scrap, but I love looking at what other creative people can do!

 

[jediobiwan]

I'm in! I may be stealing your journal idea .... I want to journal every day on my cruise and that may give me motivation.

I also want to make a scrapbook but I will probably wait until after the holidays to start, since my cruise isn't until April! But you are giving me some great ideas.

Can't wait to read more!!

Thanks! Although we did go ahead and buy the scrapbooking stuff yesterday, I am glad we at least waited until two weeks out or we probably would go bonkers!

 

[jediobiwan]

I love your binder! We just got a new printer so maybe now I'll make a couple of magnets, don't have much time to go! How'd did you make your binder cover??? I don't scrap, but I love looking at what other creative people can do!

The binder cover was made by myself and my wife in Photoshop. We obviously had the logo from our cruise, used a Disney font, and the stars was a cool thing DW found. After that I just printed it and stuck it in the clear cover. If you wanted something similar, PM me and we would be happy to make one for you and then send a PDF back to print

 

[nolacindy]

I'm in! Your scrap book pages and binder are great. I wish my DH would get in the spirit of planning and organizing for the cruise, his idea is throw some clothes in a bag, get on the boat and have drinks.
If it wasn't for me he wouldn't have shoes or pants to wear!

Just think 2 weeks from today we will be on the boat!

 

[jediobiwan]

I'm in! Your scrap book pages and binder are great. I wish my DH would get in the spirit of planning and organizing for the cruise, his idea is throw some clothes in a bag, get on the boat and have drinks.
If it wasn't for me he wouldn't have shoes or pants to wear!

Just think 2 weeks from today we will be on the boat!

The funny thing is that I am the planner, not my wife. Both for this trip and our last trip to WDW, I have planned pretty much everything. I nearly drove them all nuts before our WDW trip but they changed their tune when we did all we wanted to and avoided lines over 30 minutes too. Hee hee. Speaking of packing, I need to start that this evening. Should be a nice break from some tedious Excel survey work I am doing for DW...

See ya in two weeks!

 

[Becx N Gav]

The funny thing is that I am the planner, not my wife. Both for this trip and our last trip to WDW, I have planned pretty much everything. I nearly drove them all nuts before our WDW trip but they changed their tune when we did all we wanted to and avoided lines over 30 minutes too. Hee hee. Speaking of packing, I need to start that this evening. Should be a nice break from some tedious Excel survey work I am doing for DW...

See ya in two weeks!

I agree with the planning - been there done that and everyone was amazed we got so much done

I love your scrapbook papers, I will have to find a Michaels near WDW. Are there any other places you recommend for scrapbook supplies?

It's so close now, I've only got one more Monday to wake up to until we go

 

[jediobiwan]

Michael's is the only place we found anything that great. Here is a link to the ones around WDW.

That said, I don't know of any other places but I am sure the scrapbooking board would have other good suggestions!

 

[LindaBabe]

Previously, I talked about my trip binder. Now to talk about the beginnings of our very first scrapbook for our very first cruise/vacation for the two of us.

My wife and I made a mistake! We went to Michael's with an idea of just looking to get ideas. Oops. $70 and a few hours later and we have probably broken every rule of scrapbooking, but hey, what is life for if not to break rules? Instead of waiting until we have even been on the trip, much less printed pictures and laid things out roughly, we already added some dimensional things we picked up to several days worth of pages. The rest of this post will be a look at what we have so far.

. . .
Next post may take a little longer, depending on how much I procrastinate with respect to homework and such. But look for it to include the beginnings of the madness that is packing and trying to separate things so that we don't take everything for the week and a half on the boat with us.

Another thing you might want to consider is adding some divided pages in between the scrapped pages for the extra photographs - they make them that hold 6 photos to a side and it sure saves a lot of work/space if you don't have to scrap every single photo.

 

[Mindyjoy]

I'm in! Your scrap book pages and binder are great. I wish my DH would get in the spirit of planning and organizing for the cruise, his idea is throw some clothes in a bag, get on the boat and have drinks.
If it wasn't for me he wouldn't have shoes or pants to wear!

That is sooooooooo my BF!

 

[jediobiwan]

Another thing you might want to consider is adding some divided pages in between the scrapped pages for the extra photographs - they make them that hold 6 photos to a side and it sure saves a lot of work/space if you don't have to scrap every single photo.

OoOo, nice idea

 

[jediobiwan]

Last time, I showed of the beginning of our vacation scrapbook.

Normally, I would not have waited so long between postings but as you will see in this post, I haven't had too much to talk about. We are somewhat in the crazy yet calm before the storm. Meaning I am going crazy, but as far as progress things are calm as there is not much left to do now.

I have continued to print out and figure out how many more magnets I need. Putting them all on my door helped me to make sure they would all stick and not fall as well.

Also, one of the magnets I designed on my own, is this one that I made in the anticipation of a few drunken fellow cruisers getting lost. Doubt any of them will end up down on deck 2, but just in case, now they will know where they are:

I have some more to print in this last week, and I also am reprinting my journal as we moved too many activities to different days and such.

Here is the start of our luggage pile:

I used to have a plastic liner that went in this cooler but it disappeared. Hopefully my cheap and tacky fix will keep it from leaking everywhere.

The first and easiest thing to pack was the toiletries and jackets for Ice & Snow. Unfortunately that is the majority of what is packed so far.

The main other thing that we have packed so far is the tech/miscellaneous bag. It has our mugs, plastic bags, books, ponchos, etc.

Unfortunately, that's about all I have packed so far. I am doing laundry now and am trying to pack what of that I can. My next update will likely be from Port Canaveral the night before the cruise this Saturday. See you all next time!

 

[jediobiwan]

One quick update before we get this show on the road! Here is pretty much the final luggage lineup mostly ready to go out the door. Still have random bits to add before we leave at 2AM (13 hours from now! So excited!)