Spring Break on the Mexican Riviera, April 8-15, Trip Report!!

[socababy]

I managed to keep this trip a secret from the kids for over a year!! We have really taken advantage of having DCL here on the west coast and have done the MR cruise in Feb 2011 and again last Thanksgiving. The kids know about our Dream trip this August so I knew they would never suspect we were going again over spring break!

I was able to get our bags packed over the course of the week before without them even noticing. Easter morning, they wake up and look through their Easter baskets. I had told them that I would do an egg hunt/scavenger hunt for them on Easter since they had so much fun doing an egg hunt at grandma’s house the week before and one on our street that week. So before going to bed Saturday night, I wrote out about 10 different riddles that were placed inside eggs and strategically placed all over the house. (I wish I would have thought of the riddles sooner than the night before. I was exhausted from getting all packed and I still had 3 Easter baskets to put together. I just wanted to go to bed but here I was about 9pm trying to think of riddles!!) After the kids looked through their Easter baskets, I said lets now do the egg hunt. They had just woken up and were a little tired but I wanted to do the egg hunt ASAP because 1) I didn’t want them to accidentally find an egg that I had hidden and 2) I wanted them to learn about their surprise! Ds7 is a whiz when it comes to scavenger type hunts, especially those involving riddles! Ds9, not so much! LOL

Here was the start to the first riddle…

It’s time for your Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt to begin!
Find all the eggs with their clues and you’ll be sure to win!

What you’ll win, I cannot tell.
You just may want to jump up and yell!


They finally got to the final egg and discovered their surprise for finding all the eggs sitting on top of new Disney t shirts.

Here is what I wrote…

Your hunt is over, I hope you had fun!
But now it’s time to have fun in the sun!

Get your backpack packed, do not fail.
We need to hurry up before the Mickey boat sets sail!

Mickey and his friends are ready to go,
Hurry up, hurry up, don’t be slow!

They were beyond ecstatic! I did record them with the camcorder and if I ever have time to sit down and learn how to post it here, I will but I’m not the most computer literate person so don’t hold your breath!

The kids then learned grandma and grandpa would also be joining us on the spring break cruise. They soon arrived and we were off to the port. The first time we went on the MR cruise, we took a shuttle. Last Nov, my ILs dropped us off. This time my FIL decided to just drive my car and leave my car at the port. Definitely would not have been my first decision. I worried about coming back and see parts missing from my car. LOL Yes I am a little paranoid. We get to the port in just about 45 minutes from south Orange County. No traffic at all this Easter morning. FIL drops us off at the curb and then goes to park the car which is literally right across from where he dropped us off. I believe it was $12 a day to park there. The porter takes our luggage and we head into the terminal without my FIL. By the time I finish filling out the health questionnaire, he is already back from parking the car. We then head over to the concierge check in where there is not one person in line. We get checked in quickly and then are escorted to the concierge waiting area. We literally sat down for 5 minutes when they were ready for us to board. Both cruises before we had gotten the kids their club/lab bracelets in the terminal but didn’t have time today. Once boarded, I headed straight to Guest Services to get Tea With Friends tickets for dd, MIL and myself only to learn that concierge had already booked them for us.

On our way to Parrot Cay for lunch, we pass by this beautiful display in the atrium.

I guess I should let you know that this trip report won’t include many food pics. Sadly I was too busy actually eating the food. I do remember having a simple turkey and cheese sandwich on a white roll that was fantastic. MIL and I both commented on how simple it was but so tasty! After lunch we head to the concierge reception in the Cadillac lounge. We are greeted by the wonderful Tawanda who was our concierge host last Nov. Such a nice man! We sat down in the lounge when the crisis of all crisises (sp?) starts to unfold…ds9 pulls out his handheld Dsi only to learn that I packed the wrong charger for it!!!! Tears start to well up in his eyes and all I can think is “you’ve got to be kidding me! We are on the Mickey boat and you want to cry over your DS??” Then it was Tawanda to the rescue. He went and found a charger but that one didn’t fit either. He then said he had a DS in the back that my ds9 could use during the duration of the trip. Crisis averted!

Tawanda goes over our itinerary and is shocked to learn that I will be getting off the ship this time. LOL He knows the previous 2 times we did this cruise we didn’t get off at all. After relaxing and chatting for awhile, he then lets us know that the rooms are now ready. I believe it was a little before 2pm. As we walk up to our room, we noticed that most of our bags are already there. We are now in front of our door. The kids are oblivious but for my inlaws and myself, our hearts are beating faster and we are feeling a little sweaty. It could be because we are out of shape and just walked up the stairs from the 3rd floor to the 8th but I think it was because we were about to open the door to our home for the next week, room 8530, The Roy O. Disney Suite!!!!

 

[Sereina]

How exciting, the Roy E. Disney Suite! I can't wait to read about it, along with the rest of your trip!

 

[LKFan]

We locked my son's DSi in the safe on our last cruise.

 

[marciemouse]

I loved your Thanksgiving MR trip report. It was so helpful for planning our MR cruise (our first cruise) that we took last month. We loved cruising on the Wonder, so I am excited to relive some memories through this trip report! Though my memories don't include the Roy suite! I can't wait to see your pictures!

P.S. Way to keep the surprise from your kiddos!

 

[socababy]

As soon as we opened the door, you can’t help but gasp a little at the beautiful wood work that covers the whole suite. To your immediate right, you have the guest bathroom. Proceed further down the hall and you have the master bedroom and bathroom. Straight ahead you have the living room, to the left of that was the library where the Murphy bed is located and to the right of the living room was the dining room and second bedroom and bathroom. The place was massive! The boys lost interest in the interest in the room quickly but dd kept saying things like “This is so big!” and “This is so beautiful!” Typical girl.

I just realized I don't have a pic of the living room. I'll have to get it from my MIL.

I couldn't get over these cute robes for the kids!

I feel totally irresponsible for not doing it before on our last 2 cruises but this time, in light of the recent Costa disaster, I made sure all life jackets were in our room and tried the on to make sure they fit and that I knew how to get them on.

I also got out all the items I wanted to have pressed. This has been one of the best things I have learned here on the DIS. I had my formal dress dry cleaned, two of my boy’s shirts pressed and my in-laws had 3 things pressed for a total of $11.xx. Such a good deal! I hate to iron as it is and when I do iron and the shirt just gets wrinkled anyways drives me crazy! It is so much easier to just send it out and have them press everything. We had everything back by 4 the next day.

 

[socababy]

For the first time ever, I did not board my sweet dog while on vacation and had the neighbors check in on her and let her out to go potty. I wanted to know how the first visit from the neighbors went so I sat down and figured out how to use the internet. A perk of the royal suite is free internet which turned out to be great! Neighbors reported back that all went well so I then started to relax where my doggy is concerned! It was then time for the muster drill. FIL joked that since we had the royal suite, he expected us to have our own submarine to use in case of emergency. LOL The loud horn blowing during the drill was too much for ds7. I just learned days before that he has to have tubes put back in his ears as he has a lot of fluid build up in his ears and about 50% hearing loss in his left ear because of the fluid. Loud noises make everything worse for poor ds. After the muster drill, we head up to deck 10 where I have to purchase the drink of the day which I believe was a lava flow. Yummy Yummy! It was in the low 80s so it hit the spot. We hang out up there for the sail away party but while ds9 is enjoying himself, ds7 is bothered by all the loud noises and dd is tired, hot and quite a constipated 4 year old! A problem we would battle all week long.

As the party starts to wind down, I decide to just go back to the room to watch us sail away from our balcony so that ds7 can rest his poor ears and dd can try and have a good potty session. As we start to sail away, a lot of the workers at the port are wearing their big white hands waving goodbye. Dd loved this and waved her tiny wave back to them. We also watched the coast guard pull over a small boat who thought it was a smart idea to get close to this massive ship exiting the port. It was so beautiful to sail away with the warm sun shining on you with a wonderful breeze blowing. We hung out on the balcony until it was time for dinner.

We had the PTTAPTA rotation. I had not put in a rotation request this trip but I did request this rotation last Nov which we did get so maybe they saw that I had requested it before so they gave it to me again. We arrived at Parrot Cay and were so happy to see Bonieface’s smiling face waiting for us. We had him in Feb 2011 and he is great. We had Albert as our assistant server. Very sweet guy (and nice on the eyes!) but didn’t talk a whole lot. Very efficient though. After entering, we also saw Salomie and Jorge who were our servers last Nov. The kids were happy to see them and ran and gave them hugs. I honestly at this moment can’t remember what I ate this night. LOL I do know that the mickey bars are back and ds had one. I even think he ate it in two bites because it seemed like I barely turned around and it was gone.

I should note that I brought on 2 bottles of wine and my FIL brought 3 and some hard liquor. This worked out great as we would poor ourselves a glass in the room and bring it down to dinner. This of course did not stop me from getting some fun fruity drinks too!

Tawanda, our concierge, really spoiled us last Nov by offering to take us through the back stage area to get good seats for the show so I had asked if he’d mind doing that again. He said of course not so each night we met him at the Cadillac Lounge at 7:55 where he would take us through the back way and let us in down at the bottom of the theatre at the same time people are being let in at the top of the theatre. The All Aboard show was great as usual.

After dinner it was finally time to go get those very important lab/club bracelets for the kids. We did that at the Lab with no line at all. Left the boys there for a little bit while dd and I went back to the room. I also have to note that the Open House hours for the week did not interrupt our plans at all. FIL picked up the boys a short time later and we all got ready for bed. Before heading to bed, we put out the all important room service door hanger to order our coffee for the morning. I was wondering though if I’d survive a week without my Keurig seeing as I have used it everyday since I got it in December???

 

[luvslikepi]

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[marciemouse]

Off to a great start! How many people does the Roy suite sleep? From the various beds in your pictures, it looks like 8.

 

[socababy]

Off to a great start! How many people does the Roy suite sleep? From the various beds in your pictures, it looks like 8.

You could definitely sleep 8 but can only book it for 7.

 

[MandyMommytoReaghan]

Great start to your TR!! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[socababy]

Day 2- At Sea

We requested the 7-7:30 time slot for the coffee to be delivered. I think he was standing outside the door at 6:59 because the door bell rang at precisely 7. That was common all week long. I am a new coffee drinker ever since I got my Kuerig. I always take my flavored coffee with flavored creamer. My favorite creamer of all time is pumpkin spice. I had one unopened bottle left from Christmas time that I saved just for this trip. So I got to enjoy my coffee with my favorite creamer most mornings sitting on the balcony. I only got to enjoy one cup though because I was about to be laying on a table in pure bliss for the next hour or so and didn’t want to have to use the restroom! LOL My 8am Swedish massage was wonderful! She asked if I like a lot of pressure and told her yes. It was one of those massages that hurt so good! Loved every minute of it! The inlaws took the kids for breakfast at the buffet. I went and got breakfast at the buffet after my massage and brought it back to the room where the kids were already back. The boys got dropped off at the lab but dd didn’t want to go. She has been quite constipated for a couple weeks now and her tummy was bothering her. She stayed back with me while I showered. We all met for lunch at Tritons.

Leaving Tritons we ran into this beauty. Character interaction on DCL far surpasses Disneyland or WDW!

It wasn’t until after lunch that I realized I had forgotten about the DIS meet at 11am. I was bummed about that. Dd and I went and delivered some of our FEs while the boys went back to the lab. Dd and I hung out in the room until it was time to get ready for dinner. I like to be downstairs in the atrium in line for pics by 5pm. I try to have as many pics taken as possible to make buying the cd worth it. I did end up purchasing the cd for $250 and had about 90 pics on it. The pics turned out great, well worth hearing the complaints from my kids! I always get in line for the white background pics first but they never seem to have that one available on formal night.

Pictures went by fast tonight since we didn't have the white background pics. We killed time before dinner by listening to music in the Promenade Lounge.

After dinner, we met Tawanda at our usual spot and got great seats for the Golden Mickeys. After the show, we are walking by the shops when ds7 says he sees a teacher from his school. I ask him if he is sure and he says yes. We walk up to her and I ask if that is indeed her name and she says yes and that she knew who ds7 was. Once I started talking with her, she looked more familiar to me. What a small world! All the adults were tired so the kids did not go back to the lab that night because none of us wanted to stay awake to get them! We placed our coffee order and hung it outside and then we were all off to bed.

 

[Sereina]

Looks like a fun first day at sea!

 

[kimmypie1]

Day 2- At Sea



After dinner, we met Tawanda at our usual spot and got great seats for the Golden Mickeys. After the show, we are walking by the shops when ds7 says he sees a teacher from his school. I ask him if he is sure and he says yes. We walk up to her and I ask if that is indeed her name and she says yes and that she knew who ds7 was. Once I started talking with her, she looked more familiar to me. What a small world! All the adults were tired so the kids did not go back to the lab that night because none of us wanted to stay awake to get them! We placed our coffee order and hung it outside and then we were all off to bed.

Don't you just love Tawanda? We had Marcos, but Tawanda helped out a lot. It is because of your previous TR that we requested to meet Tawanda backstage to get good seats for Toy Story, so thank you!!

 

[dthogue]

Great report! Can't wait to read more!

 

[LindaBabe]

Loving your report. Can't wait to meet you!

 

[bugsgrandma]

Loved reading the report. The pics of the kids are just too cute. Sounds like Tawanda gave A+ service. I know that always makes a vacation a lot more enjoyable .

 

[BethC1952]

Your report is great so far, and your kids are adorable! I can't wait to meet you all on our Panama Canal cruise!

Beth

 

[socababy]

Coffee was set to be delivered around 8. I had been sleeping in the 2nd bedroom with the kids and when that door is closed, it is dark in there! I wake up and look at the time on the wave phone and see that it is just after 8:30! I couldn’t believe that the kids and I slept so late (so not like any of us to do that!) but then quickly realized that we lost an hour of sleep last time when the clocks were set ahead. I quietly get up and walk outside the bedroom to see the coffee already delivered and sitting on the dining room table. I didn’t see my inlaws up and was a little shocked to see that room service just let themselves in. I poor myself some coffee and go sit on the balcony. MIL comes out a few minutes later and when I mention the coffee, she said she answered the door and room service did not invite themselves into our room!

The kids get up a short time later and we hurry out the door by 9:30 to get the kids fed because the adults have brunch at Palo at 10:30!! Woohoo! We feed the kids at BBB and then drop them all off at the Lab. Brunch was fabulous, truly the best meal on the ship, IMO! Kourtney was our server and she was really sweet. She wasn’t going to let us leave until we had tried every single dessert on the table. I asked if I could take a few chocolate covered strawberries back to the room for the kids and she said sure. She then brings back a huge plateful wrapped up with all the desserts we had said we enjoyed.

After brunch, we went and picked up the kids. FIL went with the boys to Wavebands to participate in the Mickey 200. This is where you use vegetables to make and race a car. I made him go early to make sure they could participate since it said limited availability. While the boys went there, the girls went to Shutters to check out the pics from the night before. We met the boys back at Wavebands to watch the race. The boys ‘car’ won the first race but lost in the second. They had a lot of fun doing it though. I think the key to having a fast ‘car’ is to get the biggest potato and do not trim much of it. The heavier the ‘car,’ the faster they seemed to go.

The war paint on dd and ds is from the Toy Story Boot Camp they did earlier in the day at the Club. They were taught different poses the army men make and even had their pics taken with a green army man. Very cute!

After the race, we headed to the BBB to feed the kids lunch. After a quick bite to eat, we head back to the room and get changed for the pool. It was warm when it the sun but in the shade it was cool with the breeze. The kids didn’t mind at all though. I thought they’d be in just for a short time so didn’t apply any sunscreen. My mistake. Ds9 seems to burn quickly and today was no exception. Bad mommy! The pool was crowded as was expected but the kids were perfectly happy splashing around.

After the pool, we headed back to the room again to shower and get changed for dinner. Like clockwork, we were downstairs on deck 3 at 5pm getting in line for the white background first. The kids survived another night of picture taking!

We ate dinner at Tritons again. Last night my FIL and I had mentioned to Bonieface how much we enjoyed the shrimp on our dishes. Well that was enough for Bonieface to hear and he brought us out wonderfully spicy, perfectly cooked shrimp every night as an appetizer. Yummy, Yummy!

Dylan finishing his dessert.

Dylan eating my dessert.

Dyan finishing Grandpa's dessert.

After dinner, we wandered around and then met Tawanda at our usual spot. Tonight’s show was the Comedy and Hypnotism of Ricky Kalmon. The show was good and I laughed a lot! I even heard dd laughing a lot! After dinner, the boys wanted to go back to the lab (surprise, surprise!) so I dropped them off there. Dd came back to the room with me and while she entertained herself, I cracked open a book!! I can’t begin to tell you how exciting this was! The only books I have read over the last couple of years were all books that I read with my kids. I wanted to read a book of my choosing and not the kids! I got to read a couple of chapters and then went down to get the boys. Another day gone by too fast! Coffee order placed and now it was time for bed.

I was comfortable with the kids in the bunks so I decided to make a sleeping change. We had such smooth seas the first 2 nights but now we were havng some movement and the wood in the room starting creaking pretty loudly. So I went and slept on the pull down Murphy bed next to the master bedroom. There are doors that close between the two. I cracked open the door to the balcony and fell asleep listening to the sound of the waves. Truly no better sound than that!

 

[kimmypie1]

We had Bonieface (and Zinzani) too! I wish I would have had the notion to open the door to use the sound of the waves to help me sleep, the creaking was awful and I could hardly sleep even with ear plugs. We were in 8032.

Looks like you all had a great time, your kids are precious!

 

[marciemouse]

I agree that brunch at Palo was the best meal on the ship. So insanely good!