Pre trip report for the cruise I swore we wouldnt take.
I love reading the trip reports on this board, so I thought - this time, I swear I am going to write one. If I can get started now, maybe I will actually finish it. So here goes:
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Me (41) confirmed Disney addict, obsessive compulsive planner, and vacation hound. I work so that we can go on vacation. Enough said?
DH (44) had never been to Disney until I took him in 2000. He immediately got hooked. He is not as hooked as I am, but that is probably a good thing, since otherwise we would be broke.
DD (15) gotta love this girl shes a teenager who is not afraid to admit she loves all things Disney, and had a Disney princess party for her 13th birthday.
DS (9) little dude. Loves Disney, but particularly pirates, Buzz and Chip & Dale.
Being the confirmed addict of the bunch, I am always in the process of planning some kind of Disney vacation. My friends say I need some type of intervention, and I believe there are times that my family would agree. I say I do not need an intervention, I just need an annual pass to WDW.
So, how did this trip come to be, you ask?
BACKGROUND:
Well, we have had many a WDW trip, but we took our first Disney Cruise back in 2006. 4 night Wonder. We decided to take that cruise because we had never cruised before, and we werent sure we would like it. Ha ha. Funny, I know. We started that trip at the AKL concierge level, and the whole trip was just fabulous. So we re-booked on board, right? Nahhh silly reader you should know that I am continually trying to out fox the mouse. And yet he seems to win every time.
So, we dont rebook because we think that was fun, but we arent planning on cruising any time again soon. Well, thats all well and good, until I learn the nefarious Mouse is up to his tricks again. Oh yes, you see, DH fell in love with Castaway Cay. So in March 2007, I learn about these Double Dips. I say to DH, what do you think of a cruise that hits CC twice? I think I had it booked in seconds.
THAT was a LONG wait. We did not sail until August 2008. Yes, over a year. But I did get a good rate. Well of course, not as good as I would have gotten if we had rebooked on board, but I digress. Surely I will not make the same mistake twice. (Did you hear that sound in the background? Sounds a little like a mouse. Laughing. At me.)
So we take a fabulous trip with two stops at CC, which is only slightly impacted by Hurricane Faye, who decided to visit Florida. And really liked it. And then decided she wasnt going to leave. Other than some cancelled excursions on CC, and a rainy day in Nassau (think DSs flipflop being carried away by a river running down Nassaus main shopping street), we were fine while at sea. Well, that is until about 5:30 the night before we were to dock. When the Captiain came over the loudspeaker and said we would be docking in Port Everglades instead of Port Canaveral. Which, all in all, would not have been too bad, since they transported everyone to the airport. Except, well, the matter of the RENTAL CAR that we left in the parking lot. At Port Canveral. Oh, yea. Thats right. Back to Port Canveral where I am convinced that the car is floating. Nope, shes fine. We head out, and, oh there is a tad bit of flooding along the way. Which we probably would not have noticed as much. If we didnt have a light on in the car that said Check tire pressure. And if we hadnt gotten off an exit ramp. Oh, that happened to be flooded. Yea, that was some excitement! Laugh a minute I say! After a bit of a harrowing entrance back on to the highway (after a visual by the fire chief who said our tire looked ok to him oh yea, he was there because the road was washed out!!!), we made our way back to the airport and onto our 1:30 flight. Ask me how many times I have been tempted to answer the Can I make an 11:00 departure? threads? I have, thus far, controlled myself. But there are no guarantees.
I know, the burning question in your mind. Well, did you re-book? Um, no. Why? Because that was fun, but we really arent going to take any more cruises for a while. (Is this sounding familiar?) And we werent. I mean, we really, really werent, because we have some other vacations to go to. Not at Disney. I know sacreligous!!
Fast forward to Easter 2009. Because of the economy, there are deals abounding. We take a trip to Aruba with the family and have a great Easter. Loads of fun. Nothing planned for the summer. Thinking maybe we will hit Myrtle Beach. Or something like that. Yea, low key this year. Well, until I check my email. Where, to what do my wondering eyes appear, but an email from the Mouse. I swear to you, this Mouse has my phone bugged. And there is apparently a device that alerts him as soon as I say I am NOT going to take a Disney vacation this year. Yes, an email Kids sail free. Sure, I think, kids sail free, but the adults are double. Right. Not calling. A few days pass. Post vacation depression sets in. I may have checked the disboards once or twice, or several hundred times. And it does appear that people are getting deals. Ok, so maybe I should call. I mean, the weeks we could go are limited. So really, I mean there is probably nothing left.
So I call. I price out the July 25th Western and the July 18th Tortola. And the deals are pretty good I think. And then I talk to a friend at work who went on the 7 night CAT 8 over Easter (remember we were in Aruba?) He spent about $9000. Um, ok, so this is a REALLY good deal - half that for a Cat 6. I check out the cruise meet threads. And oh no what is this some of the disboarders that were on last years double dip are also on the Tortola? And my DD and their DD (well call her A) hit it off so well. And everyone who has a teenager knows, if the teen is happy, everyones happy. And I mention to princess, Hey would you like to sail with A again? And DH and I talk and decide, since this really is the trip that was not supposed to be, maybe we could give up the veranda, and sail Cat 8. And then I watched a travel channel show on the BVI, and that was it. Im hooked.
AND NOW HERE WE ARE:
Here we are, a week and a half before the cruise. Kids are at camp. I have an out of town wedding leaving Friday coming back Monday. Next week, we have the local carnival and are working snowballs for the boy scouts. When am I packing, you ask? No idea. Ill let you know as the week goes on.
I love reading the trip reports on this board, so I thought - this time, I swear I am going to write one. If I can get started now, maybe I will actually finish it. So here goes:
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Me (41) confirmed Disney addict, obsessive compulsive planner, and vacation hound. I work so that we can go on vacation. Enough said?
DH (44) had never been to Disney until I took him in 2000. He immediately got hooked. He is not as hooked as I am, but that is probably a good thing, since otherwise we would be broke.
DD (15) gotta love this girl shes a teenager who is not afraid to admit she loves all things Disney, and had a Disney princess party for her 13th birthday.
DS (9) little dude. Loves Disney, but particularly pirates, Buzz and Chip & Dale.
Being the confirmed addict of the bunch, I am always in the process of planning some kind of Disney vacation. My friends say I need some type of intervention, and I believe there are times that my family would agree. I say I do not need an intervention, I just need an annual pass to WDW.
So, how did this trip come to be, you ask?
BACKGROUND:
Well, we have had many a WDW trip, but we took our first Disney Cruise back in 2006. 4 night Wonder. We decided to take that cruise because we had never cruised before, and we werent sure we would like it. Ha ha. Funny, I know. We started that trip at the AKL concierge level, and the whole trip was just fabulous. So we re-booked on board, right? Nahhh silly reader you should know that I am continually trying to out fox the mouse. And yet he seems to win every time.
So, we dont rebook because we think that was fun, but we arent planning on cruising any time again soon. Well, thats all well and good, until I learn the nefarious Mouse is up to his tricks again. Oh yes, you see, DH fell in love with Castaway Cay. So in March 2007, I learn about these Double Dips. I say to DH, what do you think of a cruise that hits CC twice? I think I had it booked in seconds.
THAT was a LONG wait. We did not sail until August 2008. Yes, over a year. But I did get a good rate. Well of course, not as good as I would have gotten if we had rebooked on board, but I digress. Surely I will not make the same mistake twice. (Did you hear that sound in the background? Sounds a little like a mouse. Laughing. At me.)
So we take a fabulous trip with two stops at CC, which is only slightly impacted by Hurricane Faye, who decided to visit Florida. And really liked it. And then decided she wasnt going to leave. Other than some cancelled excursions on CC, and a rainy day in Nassau (think DSs flipflop being carried away by a river running down Nassaus main shopping street), we were fine while at sea. Well, that is until about 5:30 the night before we were to dock. When the Captiain came over the loudspeaker and said we would be docking in Port Everglades instead of Port Canaveral. Which, all in all, would not have been too bad, since they transported everyone to the airport. Except, well, the matter of the RENTAL CAR that we left in the parking lot. At Port Canveral. Oh, yea. Thats right. Back to Port Canveral where I am convinced that the car is floating. Nope, shes fine. We head out, and, oh there is a tad bit of flooding along the way. Which we probably would not have noticed as much. If we didnt have a light on in the car that said Check tire pressure. And if we hadnt gotten off an exit ramp. Oh, that happened to be flooded. Yea, that was some excitement! Laugh a minute I say! After a bit of a harrowing entrance back on to the highway (after a visual by the fire chief who said our tire looked ok to him oh yea, he was there because the road was washed out!!!), we made our way back to the airport and onto our 1:30 flight. Ask me how many times I have been tempted to answer the Can I make an 11:00 departure? threads? I have, thus far, controlled myself. But there are no guarantees.
I know, the burning question in your mind. Well, did you re-book? Um, no. Why? Because that was fun, but we really arent going to take any more cruises for a while. (Is this sounding familiar?) And we werent. I mean, we really, really werent, because we have some other vacations to go to. Not at Disney. I know sacreligous!!
Fast forward to Easter 2009. Because of the economy, there are deals abounding. We take a trip to Aruba with the family and have a great Easter. Loads of fun. Nothing planned for the summer. Thinking maybe we will hit Myrtle Beach. Or something like that. Yea, low key this year. Well, until I check my email. Where, to what do my wondering eyes appear, but an email from the Mouse. I swear to you, this Mouse has my phone bugged. And there is apparently a device that alerts him as soon as I say I am NOT going to take a Disney vacation this year. Yes, an email Kids sail free. Sure, I think, kids sail free, but the adults are double. Right. Not calling. A few days pass. Post vacation depression sets in. I may have checked the disboards once or twice, or several hundred times. And it does appear that people are getting deals. Ok, so maybe I should call. I mean, the weeks we could go are limited. So really, I mean there is probably nothing left.
So I call. I price out the July 25th Western and the July 18th Tortola. And the deals are pretty good I think. And then I talk to a friend at work who went on the 7 night CAT 8 over Easter (remember we were in Aruba?) He spent about $9000. Um, ok, so this is a REALLY good deal - half that for a Cat 6. I check out the cruise meet threads. And oh no what is this some of the disboarders that were on last years double dip are also on the Tortola? And my DD and their DD (well call her A) hit it off so well. And everyone who has a teenager knows, if the teen is happy, everyones happy. And I mention to princess, Hey would you like to sail with A again? And DH and I talk and decide, since this really is the trip that was not supposed to be, maybe we could give up the veranda, and sail Cat 8. And then I watched a travel channel show on the BVI, and that was it. Im hooked.
AND NOW HERE WE ARE:
Here we are, a week and a half before the cruise. Kids are at camp. I have an out of town wedding leaving Friday coming back Monday. Next week, we have the local carnival and are working snowballs for the boy scouts. When am I packing, you ask? No idea. Ill let you know as the week goes on.
It's ok though, gives me room to buy stuff on board!!
next week.
