Dixielady908
Grandma's Little Princess
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2003
- Messages
- 5,205
ummmmm RV were waiting!!!!!!!
RV's March 17th, 2007 Eastern "Sharing the Magic with the Unmagic'ed" Cruise
- Thread starter RoyalVizier
- Start date
O2BONDCL
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2007
- Messages
- 49
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2006
- Messages
- 2,855
Okay, RV, you had better get with it!
I'm getting more and more readers for my trippie thanks to yours every day! These people want their boxed set! Where are you?
I'm getting more and more readers for my trippie thanks to yours every day! These people want their boxed set! Where are you?Maybe he went on another vacation
No ....he likes to keep us in suspense!
RoyalVizier
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2006
- Messages
- 939
Why 7-21-07 is the release of Year 7 of Harry Potter
That's right! It can't come soon enough!
Working on it...
Loving it again---RV your TR from last year is one of the reasons I booked a DC.
We are going 9-27-08--You had posted on our thread that you were thinking of going--are you still thinking about it?
Glad that I had a hand in someones cruise planning! Ummm... I don't think we'll be going in September '08. We might actually branch out a bit from cruising, but it is far too early to tell. We'll have to see...
No more?????
Got to the end of page 5 and not-so-patientlywaiting
for more!!!!
Great Report!
Working on it...
Okay, RV, you had better get with it!
Well if you want the truth, I was in the shower. I needed some writing inspiration so I smashed myself up against our shower wall with my eyes closed, pretended my shower was the size of a port-a-johnny, and was sniffing my H20 shower gel that wifey took from our stateroom. It did the trick! I was there!
Maybe he went on another vacation
I wish! Working on it...
That isn't my intention... but okay!
RoyalVizier
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2006
- Messages
- 939
RV’s March 17th 7-night Eastern “Sharing the Magic with the Unmagic’ed” Cruise!
Cast of Characters:
Me – age 30
DW – age 34
DD – age 14
Father in Law (we’ll go with FIL on that one) – age 59
Mother in Law (we’ll go with MIL on that one) – age 59
Day 3 Part 1: Much Worry Over St. Maarten
On this second day at sea, we slept until 7:10am (wow!) and went immediately up top with MIL to the hot tub. It was a big dreary and rainy out, but it cleared up beautifully by 8am. DW and I ate some breakfast at Topsiders, and I was thrilled to see that they still served those ham and cheese croissants. I LOVE those things!
We went to the store as soon as it opened because today was loose gem day, and DW just had to pour over the table of tanzanite, emeralds, citrine, and other semi-precious stones. From there we swung by Shutters to check out our pictures thus far. The stack was growing. The in-laws met up with us there, and we headed up to Topsiders to have our second breakfast! When cruising, two breakfasts are allowed. 
After breakfast DW and MIL wanted to do a bit of laundry, so we gathered the surprisingly large pile of dirty clothes and headed to the nearest laundry room. We’ve never had a problem doing a bit of laundry on the ship. Washers were available, and aside from the room being hotter than a furnace, the laundry experience was completely uneventful. I do have a hot tip though… if you have items that need to air dry and you are staying in a Cat. 7 room with a Navigator’s Verandah, part of the décor is these nifty nautical canvasy ropey things up near the ceiling with rope woven in and out. Perfect for hanging a hanger on! Just don’t let your clothes get sucked out of the porthole!
After this DW and I went back up to the hot tub by ourselves. We finally voiced what we’d been thinking since we boarded… that we were very worried about how our first port day (St. Maarten) was going to go. We’d had St. Maarten day planned for a long time. We knew exactly what we wanted to do: We were going to rent a car and explore. We were gonna drive around and get lost and be adventurous and stop where we wanted to stop and shop and eat lunch and just experience the island on our own. Then, in the afternoon we wanted to end up at Orient beach so that DW and MIL could parasail, something DW has wanted to do forever! That had been the plan for at least the last six months. Now, sitting in the hot tub and after observing the in-laws so far on this vacation… everything came into question.
MIL was constantly worried about how far things were from each other, on the ship and off. We took elevators everywhere, even up or down a single floor (which was fine, I’m not complaining), and she just questioned everything and was constantly bringing up the fact that FIL couldn’t go very far. Plus she didn’t want to leave him on the ship alone if she went with us by herself. So DW and I just couldn’t see how we would be able to stick to the original game plan tomorrow and still include them. We’d be stopping to shop (which FIL wouldn’t have put up with anyway) and we’d be traipsing all over St. Maarten.
So DW and I decided that the plan needed to be scrapped, much to our disappointment, but again… we wanted this vacation to be enjoyable for them.
They were the focus. So we went down the shore excursion desk to see what kinds of things they had available for St. Maarten. After much discussion, we decided on the Under Two Flags Island Tour. So it was booked, and we needed ice cream! It’s the only thing that makes us feel better!
DW and I attended the matinee performance of Twice Charmed. Then we headed back down to the shore excursion desk to see if any availability had opened up for the bottom fishing excursion on Castaway Cay. This is the only thing relating to the cruise that FIL had shown any interest in. DW and I had made the mistake of really hyping it up and getting him all excited about it before we left, but then when he finally agreed to do it, there wasn’t any availability.
I don’t know what we were thinking, so we had to tell him that we couldn’t do it. So here we were at the desk again checking and there was availability… one slot! One… single… slot! DW wanted to do it with him. We certainly weren’t going to send him off on that by himself and he never would have gone for that anyway so… we’d keep checking back.
While the guy was checking availability for us, we were chatting a bit. I don’t remember how the subject came up, but he ended up telling us that it is very likely that one of the new ships would cruise out of the Mediterranean. So… something to look forward to hearing more about!
Up Next: Some Bed Action (and yes, the Earth moved!)
Cast of Characters:
Me – age 30
DW – age 34
DD – age 14
Father in Law (we’ll go with FIL on that one) – age 59
Mother in Law (we’ll go with MIL on that one) – age 59
Day 3 Part 1: Much Worry Over St. Maarten
On this second day at sea, we slept until 7:10am (wow!) and went immediately up top with MIL to the hot tub. It was a big dreary and rainy out, but it cleared up beautifully by 8am. DW and I ate some breakfast at Topsiders, and I was thrilled to see that they still served those ham and cheese croissants. I LOVE those things!
We went to the store as soon as it opened because today was loose gem day, and DW just had to pour over the table of tanzanite, emeralds, citrine, and other semi-precious stones. From there we swung by Shutters to check out our pictures thus far. The stack was growing. The in-laws met up with us there, and we headed up to Topsiders to have our second breakfast! When cruising, two breakfasts are allowed. After breakfast DW and MIL wanted to do a bit of laundry, so we gathered the surprisingly large pile of dirty clothes and headed to the nearest laundry room. We’ve never had a problem doing a bit of laundry on the ship. Washers were available, and aside from the room being hotter than a furnace, the laundry experience was completely uneventful. I do have a hot tip though… if you have items that need to air dry and you are staying in a Cat. 7 room with a Navigator’s Verandah, part of the décor is these nifty nautical canvasy ropey things up near the ceiling with rope woven in and out. Perfect for hanging a hanger on! Just don’t let your clothes get sucked out of the porthole!
After this DW and I went back up to the hot tub by ourselves. We finally voiced what we’d been thinking since we boarded… that we were very worried about how our first port day (St. Maarten) was going to go. We’d had St. Maarten day planned for a long time. We knew exactly what we wanted to do: We were going to rent a car and explore. We were gonna drive around and get lost and be adventurous and stop where we wanted to stop and shop and eat lunch and just experience the island on our own. Then, in the afternoon we wanted to end up at Orient beach so that DW and MIL could parasail, something DW has wanted to do forever! That had been the plan for at least the last six months. Now, sitting in the hot tub and after observing the in-laws so far on this vacation… everything came into question.
MIL was constantly worried about how far things were from each other, on the ship and off. We took elevators everywhere, even up or down a single floor (which was fine, I’m not complaining), and she just questioned everything and was constantly bringing up the fact that FIL couldn’t go very far. Plus she didn’t want to leave him on the ship alone if she went with us by herself. So DW and I just couldn’t see how we would be able to stick to the original game plan tomorrow and still include them. We’d be stopping to shop (which FIL wouldn’t have put up with anyway) and we’d be traipsing all over St. Maarten. So DW and I decided that the plan needed to be scrapped, much to our disappointment, but again… we wanted this vacation to be enjoyable for them.
They were the focus. So we went down the shore excursion desk to see what kinds of things they had available for St. Maarten. After much discussion, we decided on the Under Two Flags Island Tour. So it was booked, and we needed ice cream! It’s the only thing that makes us feel better! DW and I attended the matinee performance of Twice Charmed. Then we headed back down to the shore excursion desk to see if any availability had opened up for the bottom fishing excursion on Castaway Cay. This is the only thing relating to the cruise that FIL had shown any interest in. DW and I had made the mistake of really hyping it up and getting him all excited about it before we left, but then when he finally agreed to do it, there wasn’t any availability.
I don’t know what we were thinking, so we had to tell him that we couldn’t do it. So here we were at the desk again checking and there was availability… one slot! One… single… slot! DW wanted to do it with him. We certainly weren’t going to send him off on that by himself and he never would have gone for that anyway so… we’d keep checking back. While the guy was checking availability for us, we were chatting a bit. I don’t remember how the subject came up, but he ended up telling us that it is very likely that one of the new ships would cruise out of the Mediterranean. So… something to look forward to hearing more about!
Up Next: Some Bed Action (and yes, the Earth moved!)
RV...don't be too upset about your day of adventuring in St M being scrapped. That's what we did and it was not the best use of our time. It was our first visit there with our kids (3 and 8) so we rented a car to just "see the island." We drove around the whole thing in a couple of hours. The island is poor and at times scary to drive on. 
I kept looking for a beach sign or restaurant sign (or a STOP SIGN for that matter) and was disappointed. We ended up at the Butterfly Farm, which was nice and the owner made it very interesting---to us adults---and then to the small beach right down the road. I was a nervous wreck anytime we were in the car because they would pass you on a curve and I just knew we were going to be smashed at any second. 
My kids were in the back seat yelling, "Faster, Daddy, faster!" and I was praying that we'd make it back to the ship. Next time I would definitely do something more organized. What we saw was not very beautiful, at least not in comparison to St Thomas/St John which are GORGEOUS...I'd much rather have taken a snorkeling excursion (but 3 yr old wasn't old enough). But I hate the inlaws cramped your style. We're taking my folks on our next cruise (Double Dip 11/22/08) and I hope the same thing doesn't happen to us!!!) Great TR...you're awesome!
Sima
I kept looking for a beach sign or restaurant sign (or a STOP SIGN for that matter) and was disappointed. We ended up at the Butterfly Farm, which was nice and the owner made it very interesting---to us adults---and then to the small beach right down the road. I was a nervous wreck anytime we were in the car because they would pass you on a curve and I just knew we were going to be smashed at any second. My kids were in the back seat yelling, "Faster, Daddy, faster!" and I was praying that we'd make it back to the ship. Next time I would definitely do something more organized. What we saw was not very beautiful, at least not in comparison to St Thomas/St John which are GORGEOUS...I'd much rather have taken a snorkeling excursion (but 3 yr old wasn't old enough). But I hate the inlaws cramped your style. We're taking my folks on our next cruise (Double Dip 11/22/08) and I hope the same thing doesn't happen to us!!!) Great TR...you're awesome! Sima
RoyalVizier
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2006
- Messages
- 939
Funny you should say that about stop signs... I'll be talking about that!
Working on the next part now... should be coming up shortly.
RoyalVizier
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2006
- Messages
- 939
RVs March 17th 7-night Eastern Sharing the Magic with the Unmagiced Cruise!
Cast of Characters:
Me age 30
DW age 34
DD age 14
Father in Law (well go with FIL on that one) age 59
Mother in Law (well go with MIL on that one) age 59
Day 3 Part 2: Some Bed Action (and yes, the Earth moved)
So after spending the entire day thus far worrying about shore excursions and how to make this a do-able experience for the in-laws, we needed some relaxation time away from the attempt at relaxation. Did that make sense? So we went up top for awhile and ate, one of the most relaxing activities we know. We got pizza and ice cream. How many ice creams is that for today? Not enough, Im sure
we walked around deck 10 for a bit, but it was crazy windy, so we went back to the room to rest.
Now Im a flopper. When Im tired or no longer want to be standing, I flop unceremoniously into the nearest chair/sofa/bed. Sitting demurely or languidly crawling into bed is for the birds. Flop, I say! So all of my worry over the course of the morning about shore excursion this and shore excursion that had drained me emotionally leaving me a withered shell of myself and I was pretty beat.
So upon entry into our stateroom, I did this fancy smancy sort of complicated pirouette movement that found my shoes being kicked off in midair, a quarter turn, arms up, and ended with me landing (with a great sort of sigh/groan concoction) on my back in bed. Upon impact, the bed gave a bit of a sign/groan itself and the bottom right corner of the bed collapsed right to the floor leaving me a bit askew. A bit disoriented ( 
), I wondered if perhaps we had hit an iceberg, but the sight of DWs face (contorted with such hysterics as I have ever seen ) brought me back to reality. Uh, I think I damaged DCL property! As I was already on the floor, I rolled off the mattress to the carpet and peeked underneath the mattress. Seems that the leg had broken off, screws ripped right out of the frame. Who knew I could be so destructive! 
So I gave Guest Services a ring and told the nice young lady that I uh, sorta, uh, kinda broke the bed. She asked me if I was jumping on the bed. I said that I was not technically jumping on the bed I just kinda leapt upon the bed. She said she would send maintenance right up. So maintenance arrived and removed half of our bed. Those things just split right in two! And you know what? I didnt even think to take a picture! The room was practically empty! We now had a room with a dance floor!
Up Next: A Drunken Hot Tub Bash (Disneypoor, was it you?)
Cast of Characters:
Me age 30
DW age 34
DD age 14
Father in Law (well go with FIL on that one) age 59
Mother in Law (well go with MIL on that one) age 59
Day 3 Part 2: Some Bed Action (and yes, the Earth moved)
So after spending the entire day thus far worrying about shore excursions and how to make this a do-able experience for the in-laws, we needed some relaxation time away from the attempt at relaxation. Did that make sense?
So we went up top for awhile and ate, one of the most relaxing activities we know. We got pizza and ice cream. How many ice creams is that for today? Not enough, Im sure
we walked around deck 10 for a bit, but it was crazy windy, so we went back to the room to rest. Now Im a flopper. When Im tired or no longer want to be standing, I flop unceremoniously into the nearest chair/sofa/bed. Sitting demurely or languidly crawling into bed is for the birds. Flop, I say! So all of my worry over the course of the morning about shore excursion this and shore excursion that had drained me emotionally leaving me a withered shell of myself and I was pretty beat.
So upon entry into our stateroom, I did this fancy smancy sort of complicated pirouette movement that found my shoes being kicked off in midair, a quarter turn, arms up, and ended with me landing (with a great sort of sigh/groan concoction) on my back in bed. Upon impact, the bed gave a bit of a sign/groan itself and the bottom right corner of the bed collapsed right to the floor leaving me a bit askew. A bit disoriented ( ), I wondered if perhaps we had hit an iceberg, but the sight of DWs face (contorted with such hysterics as I have ever seen ) brought me back to reality. Uh, I think I damaged DCL property! As I was already on the floor, I rolled off the mattress to the carpet and peeked underneath the mattress. Seems that the leg had broken off, screws ripped right out of the frame. Who knew I could be so destructive! So I gave Guest Services a ring and told the nice young lady that I uh, sorta, uh, kinda broke the bed. She asked me if I was jumping on the bed. I said that I was not technically jumping on the bed I just kinda leapt upon the bed. She said she would send maintenance right up. So maintenance arrived and removed half of our bed. Those things just split right in two! And you know what? I didnt even think to take a picture! The room was practically empty! We now had a room with a dance floor!
Up Next: A Drunken Hot Tub Bash (Disneypoor, was it you?)
NHdisneylover
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2007
- Messages
- 18,122
Reaction to the last installment Too funny. Can't wait to read about the drunken hot tub bash.
Too funny. Can't wait to read about the drunken hot tub bash.
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2006
- Messages
- 2,855
RV--The whole explanation of you cramming yourself against the wall in your shower with your disney soaps to get yourself back on the ship so you could write your TR is hilarious! I also "stole" all of the soaps/lotion from my stateroom , so I think I might try your trick to help me finish my own TR.
I'm thoroughly enjoying your TR, and I can't wait to read about this drunken hot tub bash. Maybe I was there. Maybe my DH was there. He did seem to disappear at times, and he did like that refillable beer mug.
, so I think I might try your trick to help me finish my own TR. I'm thoroughly enjoying your TR, and I can't wait to read about this drunken hot tub bash. Maybe I was there.
Maybe my DH was there. He did seem to disappear at times, and he did like that refillable beer mug.
RoyalVizier
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2006
- Messages
- 939
RVs March 17th 7-night Eastern Sharing the Magic with the Unmagiced Cruise!
Cast of Characters:
Me age 30
DW age 34
DD age 14
Father in Law (well go with FIL on that one) age 59
Mother in Law (well go with MIL on that one) age 59
Day 3 Part 3: A Drunken Hot Tub Bash
Theres something about crashing to the floor and having half of your bed removed to give you a second wind. DW and I went back up to the pool (you can see how this day went pool, room, pool, room but hey, isnt that what a sea day is for?) and hung out there for awhile. The Quiet Cove pool is surprisingly quiet. Its amazing how the noise of the Mickey and Goofy pools stays over in those areas. We spent some time in the pool, and couldnt help but notice that one of the two hot tubs was filled to the brim with a rather rambunctious group of men ages ranging between lets say early twenties to mid forties. This group was having quite a fun time by the looks of things. They had at least three buckets of beer bottles (that I could see) and the crew servers kept bringing specialty drinks.
Ive always wondered about this situation. In the spa/hot tub rules posted by the pool, it states that there should be no drinks in the spa (or something like that). I dont know if that means the entire hot tub area, like along the ledges, or if it means you cant have a drink while you are lounging in the spa, or if it means that you cant physically pour liquid INTO the hot tub. I dont know how to take it really, but the cast members sure dont mind if you have drinks in there or not. These people were so loud and they were screaming what sounded like these frat chants or cheers or something. Every time they took a drink they all (and there were like 6 8 of them) banged their glasses/bottles together and gave each other high fives. There were a couple of times where they were pouring and spilling alcohol into the hot tub. There were never crew members far, but they did nothing and they had to have noticed. These people were causing quite a ruckus. They sure were having a heckofa good time!
Wed had enough noise so we went back to the room and whatdoyaknow!!! Our bed was back! Like nothing had ever happened. Fast work, yay for maintenance! So we lay down (no flopping this time) and watched the shore excursion channel for awhile which made us feel much better about the Under Two Flags tour wed booked for the next day. By this time it was about 7pm and time to start getting ready for dinner.
Dinner was in Animators Palette this evening. I had sautéed mushrooms in a pastry bowl:
Not a very good picture, sorry.
And a Caesar salad, stuffed cannelloni, and for dessert, the peanut butter chocolate cake:
SO GOOD!! FIL took a bite and said, Thats some paralyzing &%$# there!
Well, at least it was a reaction, I suppose!
After dinner the in-laws went to bed and we went to Sessions to listen to the piano for a bit. Very enjoyable. We really like the atmosphere of Sessions. We sat next to the window and just relaxed and listened for awhile. Then on the way out we poked our head into Rockin Bar D and noticed they were about to start Match Your Mate so we went in and took a seat. Wed never seen this game show before and found it very entertaining! Although, I didnt really need to know that one of the couples discovered the magic in one of the cruise ships elevators!
This is how the day ended:
You know what? On second thought maybe that picture is how a day began... who the heck knows? It's just a very pretty picture! Deal.
Up Next: A Blast from the Past and Under Two Flags
Cast of Characters:
Me age 30
DW age 34
DD age 14
Father in Law (well go with FIL on that one) age 59
Mother in Law (well go with MIL on that one) age 59
Day 3 Part 3: A Drunken Hot Tub Bash
Theres something about crashing to the floor and having half of your bed removed to give you a second wind. DW and I went back up to the pool (you can see how this day went pool, room, pool, room but hey, isnt that what a sea day is for?) and hung out there for awhile. The Quiet Cove pool is surprisingly quiet. Its amazing how the noise of the Mickey and Goofy pools stays over in those areas. We spent some time in the pool, and couldnt help but notice that one of the two hot tubs was filled to the brim with a rather rambunctious group of men ages ranging between lets say early twenties to mid forties. This group was having quite a fun time by the looks of things. They had at least three buckets of beer bottles (that I could see) and the crew servers kept bringing specialty drinks.
Ive always wondered about this situation. In the spa/hot tub rules posted by the pool, it states that there should be no drinks in the spa (or something like that). I dont know if that means the entire hot tub area, like along the ledges, or if it means you cant have a drink while you are lounging in the spa, or if it means that you cant physically pour liquid INTO the hot tub. I dont know how to take it really, but the cast members sure dont mind if you have drinks in there or not. These people were so loud and they were screaming what sounded like these frat chants or cheers or something. Every time they took a drink they all (and there were like 6 8 of them) banged their glasses/bottles together and gave each other high fives. There were a couple of times where they were pouring and spilling alcohol into the hot tub. There were never crew members far, but they did nothing and they had to have noticed. These people were causing quite a ruckus. They sure were having a heckofa good time!
Wed had enough noise so we went back to the room and whatdoyaknow!!! Our bed was back! Like nothing had ever happened. Fast work, yay for maintenance! So we lay down (no flopping this time) and watched the shore excursion channel for awhile which made us feel much better about the Under Two Flags tour wed booked for the next day. By this time it was about 7pm and time to start getting ready for dinner.
Dinner was in Animators Palette this evening. I had sautéed mushrooms in a pastry bowl:
Not a very good picture, sorry.
And a Caesar salad, stuffed cannelloni, and for dessert, the peanut butter chocolate cake:
SO GOOD!! FIL took a bite and said, Thats some paralyzing &%$# there!
Well, at least it was a reaction, I suppose!
After dinner the in-laws went to bed and we went to Sessions to listen to the piano for a bit. Very enjoyable. We really like the atmosphere of Sessions. We sat next to the window and just relaxed and listened for awhile. Then on the way out we poked our head into Rockin Bar D and noticed they were about to start Match Your Mate so we went in and took a seat. Wed never seen this game show before and found it very entertaining! Although, I didnt really need to know that one of the couples discovered the magic in one of the cruise ships elevators!
This is how the day ended:
You know what? On second thought maybe that picture is how a day began... who the heck knows? It's just a very pretty picture! Deal.
Up Next: A Blast from the Past and Under Two Flags
dutch_girl_scout
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2005
- Messages
- 1,028
RV--Your Palo brunch pics are great, I got that ecstasy/full/sick feeling in my stomach all over again. I'm glad you're focus was on the food and not on the two people in the background sitting by the window. You were just far enough away that the entire DIS board can't see my chipmunk cheeks and aching stomach. I think even my eyeballs were ready to pop out from being so full! Palo brunch is definately something everyone should experience at least once.
Palo brunch is definately something everyone should experience at least once.-
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