The Epic Disney Honeymoon

[ImagineerM]

Greetings all! and welcome to my next Trip Report Update.

If I might first apologize for the unexpected hiatus, we returned from out honeymoon and quickly found a bigger apartment that we couldn't pass up. So we've been moving (yuck!) for a whole week now and I've been especially busy! I've also been fighting with Time Warner Cable to get my TV and Internet hooked up at home -- and I'm still without service! But I'm off the next two days, so I'm told I should be up by the end of the week. So I am bringing you today's update from work -- shhh...don't tell the boss!

So here we go!

We slept very well in our giant King Size bed at the AKL that night, despite knowing that the next day we'd be going on our first cruise. Now this is something I'm not especially proud to admit, but the concept of going on a cruise has always kinda scared me. I remember going on this ridiculously crummy boat ride to Freeport, Bahamas when I was a kid. My parents called it a cruise...I called it a death trap. It was one of those things you get for free just by attending some sales pitch. A "cruise ship" shuttles you to the island then you stay at some hotel for a weekend then they ship you back. It was horrible. Although my parents still contend that "it wasn't that bad." I call BS.

Nonetheless, I was apprehensive about cruising, and going on the Disney Cruise Line was my way of easing in to the cruise experience. But despite being somewhat nervous, I slept like a baby! It was WONDERFUL! Then at 7am, I woke to tapping on our door. It was bell services and they were there to pick up my luggage to take to the port. I think it is a great service, but seriosuly, do they have to pick up at 7am? I crawled back in bed and caught another hour or two of sleep.

Once we woke up, DW and I sat on the balcony overlooking the savannah and watched an ostrich and some wildebeast roam the area. It was a nice way to wake up in the morning. We then hit the showers and headed out to explore the resort for a bit.

A nice couple from Colorado took our photo outside...the first of many pictures that other people would take on our behalf this week. That's one thing about being on your honeymoon -- you need your own photographer to follow you around. You end up with a ton of closeup face pictures that you take of yourself, or you ask someone to take a picture for you.

We checked in with the DCL desk in the lobby, signing off on some papers saying we weren't sick and signed in for the transfer. We then headed to the Mara for a light breakfast/lunch snack to hold us over till we got settled in on the boat.

We then met the DCL folks in an alcove off the main lobby at Noon and then boarded a transfer bus. We were off to the port! Wahoo! DW and I sat near the front of the bus, she dove into a book and I was just enjoying the ambiance and trying not to think of the deathtrap cruise!

After a few quicky stops to pick up other cruise travelers, we were on our way and a video started on the bus to tell us all about the boarding, and the things to do once on board. I thought it was cute -- and funny that they kept pushing all of the food. The video took the edge off of my nerves, and they never really resurfaced!

Before you know it, we're there! The beautiful blue ocean on either side of the road and the majestic beauty of the Disney Wonder came into view! Wow! What a sight!

The checkin process was quick and painless...we went through security and hopped in line to check in. The whole process took maybe 30 minutes -- much quicker than I expected. We then made out way through the giant mickey ears to the boat. We took a boarding picture on the way, and we never were able to find it in Shutters. I joked that I mustve broken the camera, but that kind of suprised me that the photo never surfaced.

Once on board, we were announced and welcomed by the cruise staff -- a nice touch! We found our room....5020. A Secret Porthole room that I had booked back in October via Small World Travel. The room was beautiful! Much bigger than I had expected, and we LOVED the split bathroom! It would definitely come in handy during our 3-night sailing.

We wondered around the ship for a while, getting to know our surroundings. Headed for Deck 9 and the Beach Blanket Buffet! It was good, but we caught the tail end of the buffet and the pickin's were growing slim. I did however have a bowl of Strawberry Mint Soup -- what a delight! I really enjoyed that!

After lunch we strolled back to the room to get our life jackets and go to the mandatory safety drill. This was the most caotic moment of the trip -- I felt a little stressed with all the people milling about, not knowing exactly what to do. But 15 minutes and we were done!

next up -- the sail away party! DW and I grabbed a frozen beverage on deck 10 and tried to find a spot to view the party. The guy asked in I wanted with or without rum, and we wanted with. But I didn't pay attention to the fact that he poured the Bacardi straight on the top of the drink. So I went to take a taste from the top and got a mouth full of rum....lol. it was funny. DW laughed at me!

We enjoyed the sail away party--it was neat seeing the characters and the "When you wish upon a star" horn was FANTASTIC! A great suprise that really gave the cruise that special Disney touch.

At this point we headed to meet our DIS Cruise Meet friends across from the Jumbo-tron on Deck 10. Met some great people from all over the world! It was really neat meeting some fellow DISers! We hung out and talked for a while, before deciding to go get freshened up for the evening festivities.

Well....this seems like a good stopping point. I'll be back soon with more...hopefully on Wednesday!

Next time: The Golden Mickeys, Fish Extenders, Parrot Cay, Wavebands, and a late night dip in the pool!

Thanks again for your patience and I look forward to sharing more of our Disney honeymoon with you all! Now...back to work!

Cheers,
Josh

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Sounds great-even x 3!

 

[Goofyluver]

Well, I'm hopping aboard. And I do love that you posted your last update a few times for us!

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

You are just trying to get us all excited that you had 3 updates. Did fool us....you posted the same one 3 times! We are ready for the next installment! Don't make us wait too long!

 

[SunnieRN]

Wow! The cruise is off to a great start...lunch, a party and a meet with other dis'ers and it isn't even dinner time yet!!!
Looking forward to more!!

 

[tigger813]

just joining in on the fun!

 

[DisneyJoo2008]

Joining in - looking forward to reading more!

 

[disneydiva16]

You got me hooked...I cant wait for next report

My first Disney cruise will be October of 2009 Western

 

[tinkerbellmom1]

Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Belle_373]

Subscribing

 

[KristinAnne]

Joining in...I love the honeymoon reports!

 

[ImagineerM]

hello all!

sorry fpr the post x3...my computer locked up as I was posting and looks like it just went a little nutso on me.

I'll be back on Saturday with at least one more installment!

See you then!

Cheers,
Josh

 

[ImagineerM]

We returned to our room to freshen up, both hitting the shower after all the hustle and bustle of traveling to port.

While DW was in the shower, I hung our Fish Extender outside of our door. For those who aren't familiar, a fish extender is a hanging cloth pocket that extends the DCL Fish Mail slot outside of your door. DIS members started this a while back as a way to make the cruise more special for DISboard members. On our cruise meets forum, we shared our stateroom numbers and each DIS member brought treats to hand out to other DIS members during the cruise. It was a lot of fun coming home to our room and finding little treats in our extender! DW and my mother had worked to hand make our fish extender -- which turned out very well!

After we go dressed, DW and I headed to the Walt Disney Theatre for the early performance of "The Golden Mickeys!" We found a seat in the back half of the theatre, about mid row. Excellent seats! Shortly after settling in, the wonderful show was underway! The music, dancing, and singing were excellent and just a taste of things to come on this WONDERful cruise!

After the 45min show, we wondered around the ship, exploring the adults only section. We familiarized ourselves with this area, then found Shutters and a nice little lounge. We then wondered toward the back of the ship to Parrot Cay.

We were seated at table 37, another couple was already there. Their names were Doug and Shiloh, from Missouri. A nice couple who were married 6 months ago. College students on their first Disney vacation -- we hit it off with them almost right way and looked forward to dining with them each night.

Arriving 15-20 min late for dinner were our other tablemates -- two ladies from Spain. They spoke no English, drank a LOT of wine, and proceeded to talk about the rest of us throughout the meal, making fun of our weight and conversation (I can understand some Spanish, but my conversation is not good at all....so I caught some of their discussion. Personally, the four of us found this rather funny, and it became a topic of our own conversations).

For dinner, I had Mango Soup, a garden salad and the Mixed Grill -- or, what I named "The Carnivore's Paradise." It was basically the following meats on a pile of mashed potatoes: 1) Shrimp, 2) Lamb Chop, 3) Steak, 4) Sausage wrapped in bacon....yes you read that correctly, sausage WRAPPED in bacon! Can't you feel your arteries hardening just thinking of that?? Nonetheless it was tasty! For dessert, I tried to be good, opting for the Sugar-Free Ice Cream.

After dinner, DW and I headed for Wavebands and grabbed a table near the stage to see the Newlywed Game....I personally wanted to play, but DW doesn't do well in front of crowds, so we opted to just watch. It was a pretty good show, featuring three couples in a Disney-fied, but still fun version of the TV classic.

After the show we stuck around for the One hit wonders dance party, and after a bungled attempt at dancing (we both completely lack rhythm necessary for dancing without hurting other people!) we decided to head back to the room and change into our swimsuits for one of our favorite vacation passtimes: the late night swim! This has long been a favorite for me, because I love lounging in the pool, but I burn like newspaper in the fireplace!

We slipped into the Quiet Cove Pool for what was almost a private dip, as there weren't many others out and about at this time. After a while we hopped into the hot tub for a while then another quick dip in the pool. We then decided to take advantage of the quick service food, grabbing some pizza at Pinnochios and heading back to the room for the evening.

We kicked back, relaxed and enjoyed our late night snack while watching disney movies on the TV. We finally hit the hay around 1230 -- we were exhausted from a long day! Tomorrow we'd be heading to Nassau and we wanted to be well rested.

Alright folks...thats it for now...I am so sorry for the delay between postings, hopefully you'll understand and still appreciate the TR. Enjoy and feel free to discuss!

Tune in soon (I hope!) for the next installment -- Adventures in Nassau, the comfort of the Disney Wonder, Toy Story the Musical!!!!!, Tritons, and Pirate night!

Cheers,
Josh

 

[CPer'sMom]

Great report so far, Josh! But where are the pictures? I'm sure you must have *a few*!! Please share ...

 

[Goofyluver]

great so far! Can't wait for more!

 

[tinkerbellmom1]

Great job so far, Josh! I enjoy your writing and your stories are making me look forward to our next cruise! Thanks for sharing!

 

[ImagineerM]

We woke up the next morning to find ourselves docked at Nassau Bahamas. DW had been here once before, several years ago while on a RCL vacation with her family, but they had taken a tour and returned to the boat.

While planning our Honeymoon Extravaganza, we decided that we wanted to see more of Nassau on our own time. We didn't want to be pigeon-holed into an over-priced tour or site-seeing trip. So we booked no excursions on Nassau and planned to explore at our own pace. But first--we were starving!

We dressed for the day and headed down to Parrot Cay for the breakfast buffet. It was a nice spread, wonderful selection of fruit and pastries, pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc. We ate well -- which is true for the entire cruise!

After dining, we headed to the gangway and disembarked for Nassau. An experience that we...well...we just weren't quite prepared for. We strolled down the dock toward the city entrance. we followed a large group of people, assuming we'd be better off following the flow of people. Only to be turned down at the door -- not realizing that we were actually in a line of people for a guided tour....oops!

We walked through a crowed, noisy, tourist trap of an enclosed shopping center that marked the entrance to Nassau. We admired some of the overpriced goodies, and then headed into the city. Then the.....um....adventure begins.

As soon as we walk out of the building we are immediately approached by a crazy taxi cab driver wearing a large bright and fuzzy crown (not to mention he reaked of booze) trying to hard sell us on a ride over to Atlantis. He continually ignores our declining his offers, talking over us and following us as we walk. When he finished his spiel he looks at us like "how can you say no?" -- and when we say no thank you, he gets ticked off, shouts, and turns away from us, making somewhat of a scene. If only we'd taken this as a sign of things to come.

We walked toward the shopping areas, wondering in and quickyly out of several over crowded stores with pushy shopkeeps and no room to move around. Outside of one shop two ladies run up and try to put necklaces around our necks, once again ignoring our no thank yous....then "asking" for donations. We declined -- having just realized we'd left our cash locked in the safe back in our stateroom -- this more than upsetting the women who chastize and shout at us as they rip the necklace off of DW and cuss/mumble at us as they storm off down the street. Then we made the mistake of visitng the straw market. We entered the giant black tent filled with at least 400 billion people all selling the same tacky tourist gifts and straw goods, shouting at you, trying to shove goods into your hands -- there was barely room to move as you walked down the aisles. We made it down one aisle before seeing an opening in the back flap of the tent (not and exit, just an opening) and escaped the tent!

As we ventured farther into the city, we noticed signs hanging in several stores saying that 'due to the death of (insert name here) a VP at (insert company name I can't remember here) we will be closing at 1pm'. I glanced at my watch and realized that most of these shops were in the process of closing (we had a late start to our morning). We continued to walk around, visited the Torrtuga Rum Store, then wondered around the overtly loud Senior Frogs, and stopped to admire the crystal blue seas.

With most of the shops closed, we started to make our way inland hoping there would be more to see. But alas, there was not. And things grew a little less appealing with more suspicious looking individuals eyeing us, and insane traffic making traversing the streets dangerous. We took some photos of some historic buildings, and decided that maybe we should head back toward the docks. I'd been thinking it for almost an hour, but attributed it to me being an apprehensive type of person. Turns out DW was thinking the same thing -- neither one of us wanting to rush the other back to the friendly confines of the Wonder. Once we realized this, we beelined it back to the dock, up the gangway, and straight to deck 9 for some comfort food (yeah for free pizza and hamburgers!!!!!!) We took our newly acquired grub abck to the room and ate, before taking a shower to wash the Nassau experience off! We both agreed that should we return to Nassau, we would probably just stay on the ship.

We then took our gifts for fish extenders and distributed them throughout the ship. Unfortunately, we forgot the list of people on board, so we wondered up and down the halls of the ship stopping at each FE. We didn't have a whole bunch of time or $$ after the wedding & before the cruise, so we didn't have much to distribute. We passed out Findining Nemo stickers, crayons, and assorted candies in Disney Ziploc baggies. Hopefully everyone enjoyed them.

After this exhausting tour of the ship, we ventured up to deck 10 to watch the Disney Wonder pull away from the island. There was reportedly going to be a farewell celebration of sorts -- but nothing was happening up top. It was now all-aboard and the captain came on the PA and asked for certain people to call an onboard number....three families -- presumably not making it back to the boat on time. This call went out a few times as we made found a spot to sit and relax with a view of the island.

We were watching people make their way back from Nassau toward their non-DCL boats...lots of drunk people, loud and annoying people. One particularly memorable inncident happened that would become a topic of dinner conversation that night at Tritons:

A family of 4 Yankee fans (2 adults and 2 kids) dressed in NYY shirts were making their way back to their boat. When suddenly a group of loud and obnoxious Red Sox fans came up behind them and started shouting (loud enough that we could hear their cruel words on deck 10 of our boat). The loudest and presumably most intoxicated member of the group was a young woman in a dress. The family ignored these annoying people and walked on, when the young woman then starts "playfully" shoving one of her group members, who jumps out of the way and the drunk woman went face down into the concrete. We bust out laughing at the scene! Now, I'm no fan of the Red Sox or Yankees -- in fact I dislike them both equally -- but talk about kharma. This drunk loudmouth laid face down on the concrete and rolled around moaning for a while, before finally someone helped her up and carried her back to their boat. Frankly, I think she deserved it -- their berating language and treatment of that poor family was uncalled for, and this spill into the concrete seemed like a fitting way to put these people in their place. Maybe we're bad people, but we found the scene fitting and quite amusing.

We enjoyed the veiw for a while longer, expecting the ship to start moving at any minute now. But it never does, occasionally the captain calls for only one of those family names -- we assume someone is still lost. We make our way down to the Walt Disney Theatre for tonights show: Toy Story the Musical!

What a fantastic show! I love Toy Story to begin with and I felt the show was worthy of a standing ovation! The staging was perfect, the costumes, the music, all of it was perfect! The perfect thing to take my mind off of the experience at Nassau! After the show, we wondered through the gift shops on board, admiring some of the awesome merchandise. We considered buying some pirate gear, considering it was pirate night, but decided against it. Thinking back on it, I wish we had! Looked out the window and saw that we were STILL docked at Nassau!

Dinner at Tritons was a beautiful experience. I didn't care for the menu, as French food isn't my favorite, so I stuck with a lighter option -- Roasted chicken with white rice and green beans. It was delicious! DW had some duck --which she didn't care for -- she said it was ok, but tasted like duck stroganoff! but dessert more than made up for it! I ordered the creme brulee and it was PERFECT! So good that we ordered and shared a second one -- what can I say, I have no problem admitting that I'm a fatty!

Unfortunately dinner took a long time -- maybe it was that 2nd dessert? Or it couldve been because our drunk Spanish ladies showed up extra late for dinner and the served our main courses together. :shrug: By the time we made it to deck 10 for the Pirate Party, there were no good spots to see the stage. But we enjoyed each other and the atmosphere, and the fireworks! wow....fireworks off of the ship in the middle of the ocean (apparently we left Nassau while we were dining at Tritons) TOTALLY AWESOME!

Afterwards we strolled back to our room, changed into our swimwear and hit the pool for a late night swim. It was much cooler tonight, and windy. The pool was nice a quiet, a perfect end to the day.

Afterwards we headed back to the room and watch a movie on TV. At midnight we ordered room service -- a light snack and some Mickey bars! Yummy! Before bed we made selections for our room service breakfast and finally fell asleep, dreaming of the paradise that would be Castaway Cay!

Well -- thats all for now! Hope you continue to enjoy my little story! Look forward to hearing from you all!

Cheers,
Josh

Tune in soon for the next installment: Beautiful white beaches, snorkeling, sunburn, and tragedy at Castaway Cay!

 

[OhMari]

Sounds great-even x 3!

You are just trying to get us all excited that you had 3 updates. Did fool us....you posted the same one 3 times! We are ready for the next installment! Don't make us wait too long!

This sort of made my day, I actually can read and sort of day dreamed at the same time, and by the 3rd post, I figured out I was reading it for the 3rd time.

So, that is why I went in and edited the posts and deleted them.

Your Trip Report Moderator----OHMari!!!

 

[Goofyluver]

Great update! I'm sorry about your experience in Nassau though!

Can't wait to hear more!!!

 

[matt&jakesmom]

I am enjoying your trip report. Can't wait to hear more!