gottaluvdis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2004
- Messages
- 712
Thursday, 4/29/04 Embarkation Day
My husband, daughter (age 7) and I began our very first cruise ever by leaving my in-laws home in Sebring, FL around 8:30 am. We had attached our Disney luggage tags to our bags and filled out all our documentation the day before. We had what we guessed was about a two and a half hour drive to Port Canaveral. We had rented a car for a week since we were combining the cruise with a visit to my in-laws and one day in Orlando before coming home. Since we had encountered some construction on Rt. 4 when we arrived in Florida 3 days prior, we didnt want to take any chances that we would be delayed. Our goal was to beat the Disney busses to port.
The drive to Port Canaveral couldnt have gone more smoothly. The weather was perfect low 80s, sunny. It was a beautiful day. We didnt encounter any construction and traffic was light the entire way. We drove straight to Port without stopping. We had brought our own small bottle of rum from home and stowed it in our checked luggage, and we had bought a six pack of bottled water while at my in-laws for the ship, most of which was also stowed in checked luggage. I had packed one light day bag for boarding, which included bathing suits, changes of clothes, one bottled water, sunscreen, hats, prescription medications, jewelry and trip documents.
We crossed over the last bridge to Port and were amazed at the site of the Wonder on our left. It was majestic! The exit took us right past the aft of the ship and we got a nice view of Donald hanging off the end. We arrived at the Port parking lot at 11:00 am on the dot. There were no lines of cars the parking lot was open and nearly empty and we drove right in after paying the attendant. We parked in a spot near the walkway that takes you across the street to the terminal. We had 3 large suitcases, one small suitcase, a day tote bag and a camera bag. My daughter also had a small, light duffle with her beloved stuffed animals. We were able to wheel all our luggage across the street to the terminal building ourselves. Once we arrived outside the terminal, a porter took our checked bags. We tipped him $2 per bag.
We entered the glass terminal building, went through security and headed up the escalators to the main floor. My daughter wanted to make an immediate bee-line for the cartoons playing on the many monitors, but we made her stay with us until we were semi-checked in. We decided to head to the nearest kiosk with a helpful Disney employee to check our paper work since it was the first cruise for all of us. After a quick check, he said all was in order and to proceed to the many ticket counter agents for our KTTW cards etc. The one thing we didnt need to do was to fill out the charge card information for every member of our party. I wasnt sure, so I had done this for all of us, but only one of those forms need be filled out. He ripped up the remaining charge documents into tiny pieces in front of us before we checked in at a counter, making a comment about his high-tech shredding method. The terminal was not too crowded, so we decided to look at the model of the ship and take it all in. My daughter and I also hit the rest rooms. We then proceeded to the counters and were immediately serviced. We showed our passports, gave our documents, and received our KTTW cards and a map of the ship. We had been waitlisted for early dinner seating, which the ticket agent happily confirmed had cleared. I knew to look for the dining rotation on the KTTW cards. We were assigned A-P-T rotation. Based on this, I knew that I wanted Palo reservations for Friday night (night 2). Once we checked in, we noticed Mickey himself was standing right in front of the ship model. We waited in a very short line and my daughter got the first of many photos taken by Shutters staff. At this point, we noticed a line was forming to board the ship. My husband waited in line while my daughter and I watched cartoons. The line started moving about 11:45, so we joined my husband to board. Once aboard, we were snapped again in front of the old-fashioned back drop of ship board revelers, we walked aboard and were announced in the atrium lobby. We were on the ship by 12:00 noon.
We decided to eat lunch as soon as we boarded. I told my husband I wanted to eat at Parrot Cay because that was the restaurant we would miss for Palos the following evening. On our way to find PC, we got sucked into the vortex that was the soda stickers and mugs. After waiting a while in line, we purchased the soda sticker for my daughter as well as the souvenir mug on a lanyard. The package with the mug is $20, or $15 for the soda sticker only. We ended up using it more than we thought we would and decided it was a good purchase for us. Once we got closer to PC, a CM was trying to usher the guests to Beach Blanket Buffet, but I expressed my desire to eat at PC and they had no problem letting us in. It was a little crowded at first, but we were led to a table in the back soon enough and were able to get settled before heading for the buffet. We were sitting with a couple from PA and a really interesting CM from Canada. It turns out the CM (I never got his first name) was a contractor hired by Disney to choreograph the Golden Mickeys show. He runs a circus in Toronto and was on our cruise to fine-tune some of the choreography. He was a very interesting, high energy guy who said he was 40 but didnt look a day over 25. It was fun eating with him! The lunch buffet was very good! My daughter said it was the best mac and cheese shes ever had (and believe me, shes had them all). My husband enjoyed the cabbage and bacon salad enough to ask for the recipe. Hes very into food and does all the cooking at our house. He also loved the lamb. I had some pasta, salad, and lamb as well. We were stuffed by the time we went for dessert, but the chocolate mousse and the opera squares were really yummy.
After lunch we headed for Wave Bands to get Palo reservations. I had heard from these boards about the famous ressie rush and was afraid wed get caught in a long line, but I was pleasantly surprised to find only one person in front of me. We had no problem getting Palo ressies for Friday at 6. I had decided before the cruise that I wasnt going to indulge in any spa services since it was only 3 days and I wanted to spend the time with my family. Instead I had a facial, manicure and pedicure 2 days prior to leaving home. I figured I saved money and time that way. The 3 days flew by as it was! Theres always next time for Vista spa
Our next mission was to get our daughter reserved in the kids programming. We located the Oceaneers club on Deck 5 and found it to be crowded, but we walked right in. We sat with a counselor (Eva) and filled out all the paperwork and got our pager. Since my daughter is 7 ½, I asked Eva her opinion on the Oceaneers Lab vs. the Club. She told me we could try her in the Lab if she wanted, but my daughter decided she liked the Club and that shed be happy there. It seemed to me that they were very flexible and that they werent enforcing the within 1 month prior to birthday rule, but then again we didnt register her for the Lab. It turned out that she got a good amount of time in the lab as well as the club anyway. The kids programming was outstanding! More about that later.
We decided to find our stateroom. I had reserved room 6592 verandah room starboard. It was about 1:30 and we found the room all ready for us with our luggage waiting outside the door. I couldnt believe how fast and smoothly everything had gone for us. It truly was text-book perfect. We were impressed with the room. My husband thought it was small at first because hes 64, and I needed to remind him we were on a ship not in a hotel. He absolutely loved the verandah with the natural light and said it made the whole room. Of course this was after we figured out how to open the verandah door! The door is very heavy glass, and it slides open. At first we tried to open it like a French door. Its a tad bit tricky. Im not sure we could go without now that weve had one. I picked this room totally at random from Travelocity when I made the reservations. It was located roughly mid-ship, a little aft. We found the location and room itself worked great for us. We were a bit closer to the mid-ship elevators, but we noticed that the aft elevators were generally less crowded. Next time, I think Id take a tip from Barb and Tony and book more aft. The only negative about the stateroom is that the next door neighbors were smokers, which somewhat ruined our enjoyment of the verandah. It would be great if Disney could devote a certain section of verandahs for non-smokers only not sure how they could do this. There was a ton of storage in the stateroom. Plenty of closet space, drawer space and the foot locker. I devoted the foot locker to all of my daughters items and my husband and I split all the drawer/closet space. We over packed big time. I had even left some items in the car before boarding the ship, but we didnt need nearly as much as we had brought. Its definitely true pack your bag and then take ½ out! Live and learn. The split bath was great as well. I didnt need an over-door shoe organizer because I was able to put my travel/cosmetics bag on the lower shelf under the sink with no problem. I brought my own hair dryer (and even an extra power strip), but I didnt need the strip. I would highly recommend bringing your own hair dryer. The dryers provided look like they come from a 1950s salon. I was able to plug my dryer into the outlet near the vanity mirror toward the front of the cabin, and I could sit on the comfy pillow-top stool and dry my hair and put on makeup with the natural light from the verandah. The power outlet in both bathrooms only looked like it could accommodate a mens electric shaver, and the polarized plug on my dryer would not fit. I had brought duct tape but didnt need it. Someone had already velcroed the closet doors for us. We had extremely smooth waters and nothing moved around or banged anyway.
Once we unpacked, we decided to explore a little before the lifeboat drill. My husband and daughter threw on their bathing suits and we headed for deck 9. They went into the Goofy family pool, which took some getting used to. We werent prepared for the small pools on ships. It was also pretty crowded in the pool, although there were plenty of deck chairs available. This was the only time we swam in the pools the entire time. We had just come from my in-laws, who have a beautiful private pool/hot-tub bar area at their house so we were spoiled. My daughter loves to swim, but she thought the pool was too crowded. There were signs everywhere asking that no one jump, but kids were jumping in all over the place. My husband was the only adult in the pool at the time, but he didnt care. They had a great time but got out when it got too crowded. We went over to the Mickey pool, but my daughter wasnt interested because it was all very small kids. She really wanted to go down the slide, but we found out it was closed at the time, I think because the lifeboat drill was imminent. All bars etc. on Deck 9 close from 3:30 4:30 pm for the lifeboat drill. Before the drill I had time to search out the drink of the day (Bahama Mama)! I had heard that the souvenir DCL plastic glasses were only offered during the first day, so I made sure I got 2 right away (had to get hubby a drink too). I also thought the glasses were free: with the drink. . Theyre not free hubby figured out they were charging about $3.00 more per drink if you got the glass. In any case, it was well worth it. We ended up with one glass free from a smoothie that hubby picked up for our daughter and there was no one around to pay. And you could get the glass any time all you had to do was ask. After the first day we realized we had 5, but wanted an even 6 so he asked for a drink in one of the glasses on the second day. Its a nice set to have for summer deck parties. Were not huge drinkers, but neither one of us thought the drinks packed much punch. We ended up doctoring some of our drinks in the room with the extra rum we brought. The soda sticker came in handy for this as well.
The lifeboat drill rolled around pretty quick. I had thought that they would make an announcement at 4:00 for you to leave your stateroom. Turns out, you need to be at your station no later than 4:00. They were making announcements all the time starting around 3:30. We were ready and arrived at our station (Station O), deck 4, outside at about 3:50. They started the drill promptly at 4:00. It wasnt too hot, but the life jackets are somewhat uncomfortable. My daughter complained that it hurt her neck, but we made her keep it on. The family next to us had a young girl (maybe 2) who freaked out, so the CMs told her parents that she didnt have to wear it since she was so distressed. We were lucky that clouds had rolled into Port Canaveral just prior to lifeboat drill, so we werent in the blazing sun. After about 15 minutes it was all over and we were dismissed. We wore our jackets until we returned to the cabin. It was not a big deal at all and it went by fast.
At this point, it was time for the sail away party on Deck 9. Hubby and daughter changed and we went up top to see us off. The band Sea Breeze played, they had the stage over the goofy pool, and the characters were all present. We heard the horn blast the first 7 notes of When you Wish Upon a Star and we were off. The sun came out just as we pulled away, and it was fun to watch and wave to everyone on shore. The patrons at Rustys restaurant came out with big Mickey gloves on to wave to us as we departed. We had a great time at the party.
We had early dinner seating and first stop on the dining rotation was Animators Palate. My daughter was excited for this restaurant, as she knew about the color changes etc. The ship was going at a pretty good clip now and there was some rocking, so it was interesting trying to walk around in the restaurant. Many people had on the patches behind the ear, but we didnt feel we needed anything. We had table 32 and our server was Egi. He was a great guy lots of fun, reminding all of us of his mantra Youre on va-ca-tion. We sat with a Korean family from NJ. Mom, Dad, Grandparents and 2 kids (boy and girl). The girl and my daughter were the same age only 2 days apart! The grandparents didnt speak English very well, so the wife spent most of her time talking with them. We talked with the Dad mostly and he was pleasant and soft-spoken. Were pretty outgoing, but not in your face. We adjust to the situation. That first dinner their daughter was sick from the motion and both kids were tired because the family had come from the parks and hadnt boarded the ship until about 3:00 via Disney busses. They also werent hungry at 6:00 because they ate lunch so late after boarding the ship. The son managed to eat 3 plates of Mickey pasta though, which we all laughed about! They were a pleasant family, just not overly talkative. My husband and I had the crusted veal chop which was divine. We also got a visit from Paul from Scot as Egi described him, the head waiter for the entire dining room. Very pleasant guy. My daughter was thrilled with all the color changes and wall-watching, but she managed to eat her Mickey pasta. Egi automatically brought all 3 kids a Mickey ice cream bar with marshmallows, chocolate sauce and sprinkles on the side to decorate it as they pleased. We made sure to let Egi and the other family know that we wouldnt be dining with them at PC the next night because we had reservations at Palo, but that wed see them at Tritons on Sat night. Overall great experience we were duly impressed.
After dinner it was time to explore a little. We went to Shutters to see our first 2 photos. Its a little crazy in there all the photos are displayed on huge shelves and you have to pick through to find yours. I bought a card that allowed me to pick 10 photos for around $84. (These are the 6 x 8 photos). If I didnt find 10 I liked, they would refund me for any I didnt chose, or I could pick stock photos of the ship (which I ended up doing). This way, I just got the card marked each time I found a photo I wanted to keep. I chose the 1st 2 they took to keep and brought them back to the room where we got ready for the first show, Hercules the Muse-ical. Our show time was 8:30. We got to the theater at about 8:15. There are 2 bars on either side of the elevators (2 entrances to the theater), where they sell mostly candy in addition to drinks. I didnt see any popcorn. There were also servers in the theater with pre-made drinks for sale at your seat. Many people were having trouble negotiating the stairs of the theater due to some ship rocking. We definitely felt it, but none of us were sick. This was the worst night for motion, if you could call it bad. We didnt have any problems and it was smooth sailing after the first night, although my daughter complained slightly at bed time. We had her wear Sea Bands to bed and gave her ½ a Dramamine the first night and she was fine. After we sat down for the show, my husband had a sneezing fit. He had started sneezing at my in-laws a few days prior, and we thought he had allergies to something in Florida because he felt fine otherwise. Turns out, he ended up with a head cold that moved to his chest for the remainder of the cruise. We had all been taking Airborne for a few days prior to leaving home and prior to the cruise, and while it didnt prevent his cold, it might have made it better than it would have been and my daughter and I didnt catch it. He was OK during the cruise, but was super tired by the last night. Before the show, our cruise director Jacqui came out and introduced herself and Captain John. The show was hilarious and full of contemporary one-liners that you had to be quick to catch. There was some Martha Stewart humor, etc. which is right up hubbys alley. He liked this show the best, although he didnt see Disney Dreams except for a small portion on TV. I thought my daughter would be tired, but she loved every minute of all of the shows. I didnt realize that one group of actors/singers did all 3 shows. A very talented bunch, and it was fun trying to figure out who was playing what character in each show.
After the show, we did some shopping since the stores are conveniently located outside the theater. I didnt realize until later that the shops are not open all the time, and in fact are usually only open at night when the ship is sailing and not in port (with the exception of some of the evening when docked in Nassau). The nice thing about this is that the items are tax free out at sea. Luckily my daughter and I picked up a lot of items that night because I didnt want to save all the shopping for the last night figuring the crowds would be heavy.
Once we returned to the stateroom, it had been made up by Roy, our cabin attendant. We had met Roy briefly in the hallway upon finding our room. He had turned our couch into my daughters bed, folded down the covers, left chocolates and a towel animal bunny donning my daughters sunglasses. She was thrilled but tired, as we all were. We sank into bed, which was a pleasantly large Queen (although a little shorter than standard hubbys feet hung off the end), but plenty wide and firm. We slept like babies to the gentle rocking of the ship.
My husband, daughter (age 7) and I began our very first cruise ever by leaving my in-laws home in Sebring, FL around 8:30 am. We had attached our Disney luggage tags to our bags and filled out all our documentation the day before. We had what we guessed was about a two and a half hour drive to Port Canaveral. We had rented a car for a week since we were combining the cruise with a visit to my in-laws and one day in Orlando before coming home. Since we had encountered some construction on Rt. 4 when we arrived in Florida 3 days prior, we didnt want to take any chances that we would be delayed. Our goal was to beat the Disney busses to port.
The drive to Port Canaveral couldnt have gone more smoothly. The weather was perfect low 80s, sunny. It was a beautiful day. We didnt encounter any construction and traffic was light the entire way. We drove straight to Port without stopping. We had brought our own small bottle of rum from home and stowed it in our checked luggage, and we had bought a six pack of bottled water while at my in-laws for the ship, most of which was also stowed in checked luggage. I had packed one light day bag for boarding, which included bathing suits, changes of clothes, one bottled water, sunscreen, hats, prescription medications, jewelry and trip documents.
We crossed over the last bridge to Port and were amazed at the site of the Wonder on our left. It was majestic! The exit took us right past the aft of the ship and we got a nice view of Donald hanging off the end. We arrived at the Port parking lot at 11:00 am on the dot. There were no lines of cars the parking lot was open and nearly empty and we drove right in after paying the attendant. We parked in a spot near the walkway that takes you across the street to the terminal. We had 3 large suitcases, one small suitcase, a day tote bag and a camera bag. My daughter also had a small, light duffle with her beloved stuffed animals. We were able to wheel all our luggage across the street to the terminal building ourselves. Once we arrived outside the terminal, a porter took our checked bags. We tipped him $2 per bag.
We entered the glass terminal building, went through security and headed up the escalators to the main floor. My daughter wanted to make an immediate bee-line for the cartoons playing on the many monitors, but we made her stay with us until we were semi-checked in. We decided to head to the nearest kiosk with a helpful Disney employee to check our paper work since it was the first cruise for all of us. After a quick check, he said all was in order and to proceed to the many ticket counter agents for our KTTW cards etc. The one thing we didnt need to do was to fill out the charge card information for every member of our party. I wasnt sure, so I had done this for all of us, but only one of those forms need be filled out. He ripped up the remaining charge documents into tiny pieces in front of us before we checked in at a counter, making a comment about his high-tech shredding method. The terminal was not too crowded, so we decided to look at the model of the ship and take it all in. My daughter and I also hit the rest rooms. We then proceeded to the counters and were immediately serviced. We showed our passports, gave our documents, and received our KTTW cards and a map of the ship. We had been waitlisted for early dinner seating, which the ticket agent happily confirmed had cleared. I knew to look for the dining rotation on the KTTW cards. We were assigned A-P-T rotation. Based on this, I knew that I wanted Palo reservations for Friday night (night 2). Once we checked in, we noticed Mickey himself was standing right in front of the ship model. We waited in a very short line and my daughter got the first of many photos taken by Shutters staff. At this point, we noticed a line was forming to board the ship. My husband waited in line while my daughter and I watched cartoons. The line started moving about 11:45, so we joined my husband to board. Once aboard, we were snapped again in front of the old-fashioned back drop of ship board revelers, we walked aboard and were announced in the atrium lobby. We were on the ship by 12:00 noon.
We decided to eat lunch as soon as we boarded. I told my husband I wanted to eat at Parrot Cay because that was the restaurant we would miss for Palos the following evening. On our way to find PC, we got sucked into the vortex that was the soda stickers and mugs. After waiting a while in line, we purchased the soda sticker for my daughter as well as the souvenir mug on a lanyard. The package with the mug is $20, or $15 for the soda sticker only. We ended up using it more than we thought we would and decided it was a good purchase for us. Once we got closer to PC, a CM was trying to usher the guests to Beach Blanket Buffet, but I expressed my desire to eat at PC and they had no problem letting us in. It was a little crowded at first, but we were led to a table in the back soon enough and were able to get settled before heading for the buffet. We were sitting with a couple from PA and a really interesting CM from Canada. It turns out the CM (I never got his first name) was a contractor hired by Disney to choreograph the Golden Mickeys show. He runs a circus in Toronto and was on our cruise to fine-tune some of the choreography. He was a very interesting, high energy guy who said he was 40 but didnt look a day over 25. It was fun eating with him! The lunch buffet was very good! My daughter said it was the best mac and cheese shes ever had (and believe me, shes had them all). My husband enjoyed the cabbage and bacon salad enough to ask for the recipe. Hes very into food and does all the cooking at our house. He also loved the lamb. I had some pasta, salad, and lamb as well. We were stuffed by the time we went for dessert, but the chocolate mousse and the opera squares were really yummy.
After lunch we headed for Wave Bands to get Palo reservations. I had heard from these boards about the famous ressie rush and was afraid wed get caught in a long line, but I was pleasantly surprised to find only one person in front of me. We had no problem getting Palo ressies for Friday at 6. I had decided before the cruise that I wasnt going to indulge in any spa services since it was only 3 days and I wanted to spend the time with my family. Instead I had a facial, manicure and pedicure 2 days prior to leaving home. I figured I saved money and time that way. The 3 days flew by as it was! Theres always next time for Vista spa
Our next mission was to get our daughter reserved in the kids programming. We located the Oceaneers club on Deck 5 and found it to be crowded, but we walked right in. We sat with a counselor (Eva) and filled out all the paperwork and got our pager. Since my daughter is 7 ½, I asked Eva her opinion on the Oceaneers Lab vs. the Club. She told me we could try her in the Lab if she wanted, but my daughter decided she liked the Club and that shed be happy there. It seemed to me that they were very flexible and that they werent enforcing the within 1 month prior to birthday rule, but then again we didnt register her for the Lab. It turned out that she got a good amount of time in the lab as well as the club anyway. The kids programming was outstanding! More about that later.
We decided to find our stateroom. I had reserved room 6592 verandah room starboard. It was about 1:30 and we found the room all ready for us with our luggage waiting outside the door. I couldnt believe how fast and smoothly everything had gone for us. It truly was text-book perfect. We were impressed with the room. My husband thought it was small at first because hes 64, and I needed to remind him we were on a ship not in a hotel. He absolutely loved the verandah with the natural light and said it made the whole room. Of course this was after we figured out how to open the verandah door! The door is very heavy glass, and it slides open. At first we tried to open it like a French door. Its a tad bit tricky. Im not sure we could go without now that weve had one. I picked this room totally at random from Travelocity when I made the reservations. It was located roughly mid-ship, a little aft. We found the location and room itself worked great for us. We were a bit closer to the mid-ship elevators, but we noticed that the aft elevators were generally less crowded. Next time, I think Id take a tip from Barb and Tony and book more aft. The only negative about the stateroom is that the next door neighbors were smokers, which somewhat ruined our enjoyment of the verandah. It would be great if Disney could devote a certain section of verandahs for non-smokers only not sure how they could do this. There was a ton of storage in the stateroom. Plenty of closet space, drawer space and the foot locker. I devoted the foot locker to all of my daughters items and my husband and I split all the drawer/closet space. We over packed big time. I had even left some items in the car before boarding the ship, but we didnt need nearly as much as we had brought. Its definitely true pack your bag and then take ½ out! Live and learn. The split bath was great as well. I didnt need an over-door shoe organizer because I was able to put my travel/cosmetics bag on the lower shelf under the sink with no problem. I brought my own hair dryer (and even an extra power strip), but I didnt need the strip. I would highly recommend bringing your own hair dryer. The dryers provided look like they come from a 1950s salon. I was able to plug my dryer into the outlet near the vanity mirror toward the front of the cabin, and I could sit on the comfy pillow-top stool and dry my hair and put on makeup with the natural light from the verandah. The power outlet in both bathrooms only looked like it could accommodate a mens electric shaver, and the polarized plug on my dryer would not fit. I had brought duct tape but didnt need it. Someone had already velcroed the closet doors for us. We had extremely smooth waters and nothing moved around or banged anyway.
Once we unpacked, we decided to explore a little before the lifeboat drill. My husband and daughter threw on their bathing suits and we headed for deck 9. They went into the Goofy family pool, which took some getting used to. We werent prepared for the small pools on ships. It was also pretty crowded in the pool, although there were plenty of deck chairs available. This was the only time we swam in the pools the entire time. We had just come from my in-laws, who have a beautiful private pool/hot-tub bar area at their house so we were spoiled. My daughter loves to swim, but she thought the pool was too crowded. There were signs everywhere asking that no one jump, but kids were jumping in all over the place. My husband was the only adult in the pool at the time, but he didnt care. They had a great time but got out when it got too crowded. We went over to the Mickey pool, but my daughter wasnt interested because it was all very small kids. She really wanted to go down the slide, but we found out it was closed at the time, I think because the lifeboat drill was imminent. All bars etc. on Deck 9 close from 3:30 4:30 pm for the lifeboat drill. Before the drill I had time to search out the drink of the day (Bahama Mama)! I had heard that the souvenir DCL plastic glasses were only offered during the first day, so I made sure I got 2 right away (had to get hubby a drink too). I also thought the glasses were free: with the drink. . Theyre not free hubby figured out they were charging about $3.00 more per drink if you got the glass. In any case, it was well worth it. We ended up with one glass free from a smoothie that hubby picked up for our daughter and there was no one around to pay. And you could get the glass any time all you had to do was ask. After the first day we realized we had 5, but wanted an even 6 so he asked for a drink in one of the glasses on the second day. Its a nice set to have for summer deck parties. Were not huge drinkers, but neither one of us thought the drinks packed much punch. We ended up doctoring some of our drinks in the room with the extra rum we brought. The soda sticker came in handy for this as well.
The lifeboat drill rolled around pretty quick. I had thought that they would make an announcement at 4:00 for you to leave your stateroom. Turns out, you need to be at your station no later than 4:00. They were making announcements all the time starting around 3:30. We were ready and arrived at our station (Station O), deck 4, outside at about 3:50. They started the drill promptly at 4:00. It wasnt too hot, but the life jackets are somewhat uncomfortable. My daughter complained that it hurt her neck, but we made her keep it on. The family next to us had a young girl (maybe 2) who freaked out, so the CMs told her parents that she didnt have to wear it since she was so distressed. We were lucky that clouds had rolled into Port Canaveral just prior to lifeboat drill, so we werent in the blazing sun. After about 15 minutes it was all over and we were dismissed. We wore our jackets until we returned to the cabin. It was not a big deal at all and it went by fast.
At this point, it was time for the sail away party on Deck 9. Hubby and daughter changed and we went up top to see us off. The band Sea Breeze played, they had the stage over the goofy pool, and the characters were all present. We heard the horn blast the first 7 notes of When you Wish Upon a Star and we were off. The sun came out just as we pulled away, and it was fun to watch and wave to everyone on shore. The patrons at Rustys restaurant came out with big Mickey gloves on to wave to us as we departed. We had a great time at the party.
We had early dinner seating and first stop on the dining rotation was Animators Palate. My daughter was excited for this restaurant, as she knew about the color changes etc. The ship was going at a pretty good clip now and there was some rocking, so it was interesting trying to walk around in the restaurant. Many people had on the patches behind the ear, but we didnt feel we needed anything. We had table 32 and our server was Egi. He was a great guy lots of fun, reminding all of us of his mantra Youre on va-ca-tion. We sat with a Korean family from NJ. Mom, Dad, Grandparents and 2 kids (boy and girl). The girl and my daughter were the same age only 2 days apart! The grandparents didnt speak English very well, so the wife spent most of her time talking with them. We talked with the Dad mostly and he was pleasant and soft-spoken. Were pretty outgoing, but not in your face. We adjust to the situation. That first dinner their daughter was sick from the motion and both kids were tired because the family had come from the parks and hadnt boarded the ship until about 3:00 via Disney busses. They also werent hungry at 6:00 because they ate lunch so late after boarding the ship. The son managed to eat 3 plates of Mickey pasta though, which we all laughed about! They were a pleasant family, just not overly talkative. My husband and I had the crusted veal chop which was divine. We also got a visit from Paul from Scot as Egi described him, the head waiter for the entire dining room. Very pleasant guy. My daughter was thrilled with all the color changes and wall-watching, but she managed to eat her Mickey pasta. Egi automatically brought all 3 kids a Mickey ice cream bar with marshmallows, chocolate sauce and sprinkles on the side to decorate it as they pleased. We made sure to let Egi and the other family know that we wouldnt be dining with them at PC the next night because we had reservations at Palo, but that wed see them at Tritons on Sat night. Overall great experience we were duly impressed.
After dinner it was time to explore a little. We went to Shutters to see our first 2 photos. Its a little crazy in there all the photos are displayed on huge shelves and you have to pick through to find yours. I bought a card that allowed me to pick 10 photos for around $84. (These are the 6 x 8 photos). If I didnt find 10 I liked, they would refund me for any I didnt chose, or I could pick stock photos of the ship (which I ended up doing). This way, I just got the card marked each time I found a photo I wanted to keep. I chose the 1st 2 they took to keep and brought them back to the room where we got ready for the first show, Hercules the Muse-ical. Our show time was 8:30. We got to the theater at about 8:15. There are 2 bars on either side of the elevators (2 entrances to the theater), where they sell mostly candy in addition to drinks. I didnt see any popcorn. There were also servers in the theater with pre-made drinks for sale at your seat. Many people were having trouble negotiating the stairs of the theater due to some ship rocking. We definitely felt it, but none of us were sick. This was the worst night for motion, if you could call it bad. We didnt have any problems and it was smooth sailing after the first night, although my daughter complained slightly at bed time. We had her wear Sea Bands to bed and gave her ½ a Dramamine the first night and she was fine. After we sat down for the show, my husband had a sneezing fit. He had started sneezing at my in-laws a few days prior, and we thought he had allergies to something in Florida because he felt fine otherwise. Turns out, he ended up with a head cold that moved to his chest for the remainder of the cruise. We had all been taking Airborne for a few days prior to leaving home and prior to the cruise, and while it didnt prevent his cold, it might have made it better than it would have been and my daughter and I didnt catch it. He was OK during the cruise, but was super tired by the last night. Before the show, our cruise director Jacqui came out and introduced herself and Captain John. The show was hilarious and full of contemporary one-liners that you had to be quick to catch. There was some Martha Stewart humor, etc. which is right up hubbys alley. He liked this show the best, although he didnt see Disney Dreams except for a small portion on TV. I thought my daughter would be tired, but she loved every minute of all of the shows. I didnt realize that one group of actors/singers did all 3 shows. A very talented bunch, and it was fun trying to figure out who was playing what character in each show.
After the show, we did some shopping since the stores are conveniently located outside the theater. I didnt realize until later that the shops are not open all the time, and in fact are usually only open at night when the ship is sailing and not in port (with the exception of some of the evening when docked in Nassau). The nice thing about this is that the items are tax free out at sea. Luckily my daughter and I picked up a lot of items that night because I didnt want to save all the shopping for the last night figuring the crowds would be heavy.
Once we returned to the stateroom, it had been made up by Roy, our cabin attendant. We had met Roy briefly in the hallway upon finding our room. He had turned our couch into my daughters bed, folded down the covers, left chocolates and a towel animal bunny donning my daughters sunglasses. She was thrilled but tired, as we all were. We sank into bed, which was a pleasantly large Queen (although a little shorter than standard hubbys feet hung off the end), but plenty wide and firm. We slept like babies to the gentle rocking of the ship.
