Ariel484
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
- Messages
- 11,911
AKA "I About Died From The Cuteness"
February in Ohio is really starting to get to me, and I'm finding myself thinking more and more about **SPOILER ALERT** our upcoming cruise this July. But I think I'm to the point where I've planned all I can plan for now (online check-in isn't until April), so in the meantime...I'm going to go back and reminisce about last summer's cruise. And post about it here. Good? Good.
With that said...ahoy mateys! Arrrr ya ready to set sail?!
The Cast: My husband, Will (29), and me, Shannon (30). You'll find me posting more on the general Trip Reports section of this site, but even more than that, I'm usually hanging out in Events & Competition under the WISH Section of the boards. I lurk on the cruise forum daily, though.
This cruise (4-night Bahamian itinerary on the Dream) was sort of a two-part celebration, for both our anniversary (which was actually in May - 5 years!
) and for Will finishing his second semester of grad school (15 weeks of coursework for two classes crammed into an intense 5-week session - yikes! 
).
It was interesting planning this trip - this was my second-ever cruise, DCL or otherwise (my first cruise was in September 2013 with a fabulous group of ladies onboard the Disney Dream!), and Will's first. I feel like I'm to the point where I know how to plan a WDW trip pretty well, but when it comes to cruises I still think of myself as a total newbie. In September I didn't have to do much thinking - I was surrounded by cruising experts and just sort of followed them around and asked them what to do. This time, in our little group of two, I was the expert. No pressure or anything. Ack!
However, I am a chronic OCD planner and, like I said above, I am lucky to have friends that are DCL experts (including our Travel Agent) - their advice and detailed trip reports that exist on other sites were invaluable to me. So I got by.
OKAY SO...allll aboooooaaaard!
Continued In Next Post
February in Ohio is really starting to get to me, and I'm finding myself thinking more and more about **SPOILER ALERT** our upcoming cruise this July. But I think I'm to the point where I've planned all I can plan for now (online check-in isn't until April), so in the meantime...I'm going to go back and reminisce about last summer's cruise. And post about it here. Good? Good.
With that said...ahoy mateys! Arrrr ya ready to set sail?!
The Cast: My husband, Will (29), and me, Shannon (30). You'll find me posting more on the general Trip Reports section of this site, but even more than that, I'm usually hanging out in Events & Competition under the WISH Section of the boards. I lurk on the cruise forum daily, though.
This cruise (4-night Bahamian itinerary on the Dream) was sort of a two-part celebration, for both our anniversary (which was actually in May - 5 years!
) and for Will finishing his second semester of grad school (15 weeks of coursework for two classes crammed into an intense 5-week session - yikes! ).It was interesting planning this trip - this was my second-ever cruise, DCL or otherwise (my first cruise was in September 2013 with a fabulous group of ladies onboard the Disney Dream!), and Will's first. I feel like I'm to the point where I know how to plan a WDW trip pretty well, but when it comes to cruises I still think of myself as a total newbie. In September I didn't have to do much thinking - I was surrounded by cruising experts and just sort of followed them around and asked them what to do. This time, in our little group of two, I was the expert. No pressure or anything.
Ack! However, I am a chronic OCD planner and, like I said above, I am lucky to have friends that are DCL experts (including our Travel Agent) - their advice and detailed trip reports that exist on other sites were invaluable to me. So I got by.
OKAY SO...allll aboooooaaaard!
Continued In Next Post
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) and I worked as normal that entire week. We were also busy clearing out the entire upper level of our house, as we were scheduled to get our hardwoods up there refinished while we were gone (totally worth it, the floors look amazing). So between school and work during the day and moving furniture and whatnot in the evenings, we were beat. And the house was a freaking mess, which always stresses me out. To say we were ready for this vacation is an understatement.
Awwww yeah. Thanks Mike L from the Akron-Canton Southwest counter! You're legit awesome. 
we were among the first people to board and the flight attendant came around to ask for our drink orders. I may as well have had the phrase "I have never flown business class before" tattooed across my forehead. "We get a free drink? An alcoholic one?!" 
I'm classy like that! 
I swear I'm not a mean person...really. 
) and said he set it up for us for real this time. Back in line we went, and this time Tired/Sick CP did find it in the computer and printed out the ticket for us. WHEW. I’m so glad we didn't just wait for the paperwork to get dropped off! I know we could have taken a cab to the airport or whatever, but STILL. Why pay for the cab when there's DME?
I had practically the exact same meal at Sunshine Seasons in February 2014 and it was tasty, sooo...what's your deal, Artist's Palette?
the driver pointed us to the cruise line waiting area. We were there at maybe 8:50 or so and the cruise line check-in wasn't due to open for another 10 minutes. People were already lined up waiting to check in and porters were there ready to take our bags, so we handed them over. At this point we were marveling at how easy things would have been had we just stayed at the MCO hotel the night before, so that's what we're doing for this year's cruise. BUT - we're also adding a Universal day in beforehand! 
