Who lets their 7 yr old read "On Board The Titanic" before a Magic-al cruise!

[purplepeg]

I've been on these boards for a while now always with the thought of someday writing a trip report. Well the day has finally come. We were on the Disney Magic Jan 26-Feb 2, 2008. This was our first Disney cruise although my husband and I have cruised before. The last cruise we were on was in Feb of 2000 and we were expecting our first baby She is now 7 yrs old and we have another daughter who is three. Her are some pictures of us.


We were originally planning 2 weeks in Disney in Jan, 08. Then my sister suggested we come to Disney with her and her daughter in Aug, 2008. We agreed but I thought "I can't wait almost 2 years before getting another Disney fix Our last Disney vacation was in November of 2006. We tossed around other vacation ideas and then my husband suggested a Disney cruise. All it took was the suggestion. I went to TA's to get booklets and brochures, I ordered the planning dvd and of course I spent alot of time on the DIS. I, who am not computer savvy or that interested in computers started spending alot of "his " (aka DH) computer time. His time was seriously depleted Poor guy, but I had my dream trip to plan After looking and talking and thinking about Dd7's school calendar we decided on the Western itinery because we've never done Western. The price sort of decided the week of Jan 26. We took a deep breath and took the plunge and booked in Sept,07. That is relatively late according to the boards. We had two cabins to choose from and we chose 8510. A category 4 deluxe family stateroom, forward. We learned we would love it
I started planning lists and spent hours reading first timers Tr's and seasoned DISsers Tr's. I spent one whole evening on the tip thread and ended up with a two page list of things to buy and bring on the cruise. I bought Birbaum's cruise book, and the Passporter cruise book, and read them cover to cover. I highlighted and made notes. I was so excited and we thought we should tell the kids. We mentioned we had booked our cruise to Dd7. She got tears in her eyes and I thought "oh she loves it as much as me!" No, her reply was "but how will it get through all the ice?" We live in Manitoba, Canada. Fairly cold in January Anyway, once we explained how it would be so much warmer I thought she would be really excited now.....No...now it was a tearful question, "now I know it's not really real but what about Kracken?" Do you know how hard it is to keep a straight face when your daughter honestly thinks this thing could eat us? I start to explain that ,yes, it's only a myth, in a Disney movie, etc, etc. We establish how large the ship is, and talk about how the ship is made of metal and would be hard to eat and Kracken is looking for meat....thinking this will put her at ease. Again....No! The reply from my beautiful daughter, tears and all...."Well we're meat " Where do you go from here? After a lot of talking and explaining she agrees that this will be a great vacation All this time I'm thinking, "do you know how much this is costing us and you don't want to go because of a fictional character"
She started enjoying Tr's as much as me and when I read them both some of the activities listed in past Navigators at the kids clubs they were really "on board". How pathetic am I when I 'm reading past navigators of the itinery we're going on and I get to the last day and I start crying because it's almost over and I'm not even on the ship yet Anyway I have to leave you all here for now, I have to go get Dd7 from school. It's been in the -30's all day with the wind here today. It better end soon. I'll post our pre-embarkation day later.

 

[alwayslisad]

keep it coming!

 

[PizzieDuster]

Yeah, a new trip report! With pictures!

 

[Isi]

Yes post pictures, I love to see the smiles on everyones faces..

 

[purplepeg]

So I was feeling pretty organized with packing, thanks to the Dis. However I just couldn't take half of what I packed and remove it The 4 of us ended up travelling with 5 suitcases, 2 carry-ons, and a backback for each girl. Considering when my hubby and I travelled on our last cruise we each had a carry-on and two suitcases. I was very proud of myself I did mix a bit of everyones clothes in each suitcase. I was so convinced our luggage would get lost so I was prepared Anyway, we went to bed at 8:30pm and the alarm went off at 2am I did manage to get a few hours of sleep, from exhaustion I think. I was pretty happy when that alarm went off because we were that much closer to our trip. The girls got up pretty quickly and we were all dressed and ready for the limo to arrive at 3:30 am. When the limo wasn't in the driveway at 3:25 I'm thinking he's late. He arrived just as that thought was entering my head. I would have pictures of us but we packed the camera in the carry-on and I forgot to take it out When we got to the airport by 4am the place was packed The line moved very quickly and we got through security quickly, in time to get our Tim's before we left. We had a great flight to Toronto and Dd3 slept for a short while just before landing(why do they do that)

Getting through customs was a breeze and when we went to collect our luggage we ran in to someone else going on the Disney cruise. The fact that her son was wearing a Captain Hook hat was a surefire giveaway. I had bought the girls disposable cameras and they were busy taking lots of pictures.

Once we boarded that plane for Orlando I was so excited I could hardly stand it. Thankfully the girls both slept a bit and I tried to sleep. I think I slept a bit too. We arrived in Orlando to better weather than when we left but cool for Florida cloudy 60's. After waiting for what seemed like forever for our last suitcase we made our way over to the Magical Express area. This was our first ever experience with ME and I thought it was great!
Here's the family enroute to baggage claim at MCO and then waiting for ME. The little one was getting pretty grumpy by then so didn't want her picture taken.

BY the time we got to the POR it was about 3:30pm and we were supposed to be meeting a friend at DD at 4 pm. The lineup must have been 20 deep so I made a quick call to her and we checked in. We were in the Alligator Bayou section which felt like a million miles from the lobby when you're carting all this luggage. Anyway when we arrived we loved the room and then our friend called and said she would pick us up. We shopped a bit and had ADR's at Raglan Road. We checked in and were given one of those beeper things. After 30 min and the kids getting cranky we checked again and they said they paged us! Needless to say it was broken. The meal was great, server was fabulous By now it's close to 8 pm and I'm exhausted! When we got back I needed to get postcards and stamps for mailing from the airport. I agreed to mail 2 postcards for the pay it forward postcard thread. Trying to get ready for bed that night was not easy. I did not totally think through the packing in that I couldn't remember where the toothbrushes and toothpaste were, pj's, etc,etc. I was so tired and so grumpy by the time I went to bed!

 

[purplepeg]

I love trip reports with lots of pictures as well. I hope I don't post too many! Thanks for the kind comments!

 

[purplepeg]

I managed to mail 2 postcards the first night at the hotel. Dd7 sent one to her class even though I knew it wouldn't get there until after we were back. We set the alarm for 6:30 because the luggage had to be ready by 9 am and I wanted to check-in at the cruise desk at 8 am. We were pretty excited (in case I haven't mentioned this before) I got so much exercise travelling back and forth to the gift shop area for things I forgot or couldn't find in my luggage like my toothbrush I figured I would be in a calorie defecit by the time I got on board I could have dessert I had pre done all the forms on line and printed everything off. So I arrive at the check-in desk, slightly eager....I'm the only one there I had everything all done, got a gold star from the CM It certainly makes things smooth when you have everything ready. I had to check -in again at 11-1130 and was quite surprised at the amount of people who didn't have their paperwork done. It sure pays to do your research thanks Dis. We had ADR's at Boatwrights at 0920. Someone told me to do this as it passes the time. I had the sweet potato cakes (pancakes) with maple pecan butter. The server told me to try them without syrup first and I'm so glad I listened to her. They were so yummy. I would highly reccommend them. As we were sitting at breakfast I remembered we hadn't taken any pictures of the room so Dh offered to go back and take some. Thank you sweetie. While we were waiting for Dh I said yes when Dd7 asked to get a hair wrap. 18 inches of hair at $2 an inch The girl was great and even made a bracelet for Dd3. She recieved a nice tip. Before we knew it it was time to meet for the bus. I quickly did 2 more postcards and was mailing them when my husband beeped me(we took two way radios) to say we were boarding. I caught up to them. We boarded the bus by 1200 and were at the port around 1 pm. It was cool and misty/rainy but I didn't care I could see the Magic!

 

[naner]

Great start can't wait to read more!

 

[purplepeg]

Last night photobucket wasn't cooperating so that's why no photos.
Here we are in the lobby of POR. The kid are getting pretty tired.

These are some pictures of our room and one of the dining hall from outside.

This is Dd7 getting a hair wrap. It only took about 5-10 min.

Here are the kids in the POR lobby beside a model of the Magic.

I have to tell you all night at the hotel I was hoping the bus to pick us up would be a DCL bus. I had heard sometimes people have been transported to the terminal in ME buses or plain Mears buses. I was so excited when we walked out and there was a DCL bus.

 

[purplepeg]

I was just reviewing the photos and in the lobby photo it looks like there is only a few people standing in line. That line was for tickets, etc. The hotel check-in line was to the right as you look at the photo. I didn't take a photo of that line.
The kids were pretty excited to get on the bus and I loved the item they show enroute to get you more excited. The time passed really quickly. Our driver said when we got to the top of the bridge you can usually see the Magic but is was too misty that day so we had to wait until we were almost at the port to see her.
We passed through security and there was a CM at the top of the escalators to direct you to where you were going. Dh went to check in and I took the kids to the kids club registration area. Minnie was in front of the model so we stopped for photos. There was hardly anyone there. By this time it was close to 1:30.

I got the kids regstered but the wristband machine was down so they told us when we went to the club for the first time they would generate them there and put them on.
We took a few photos of the model of the Magic and then the kids were repeating "lets go, lets go!" so away we went through the" Magic portal".
We stood for a minute waiting for our embarkation photo which turned out pretty good. The girls have on DCL tshirts but they were a gift from someone who had been on a cruise before, just in case anyone was wondering. I have to scan all our professional photos so I will do that one day soon so you can see them. They announced our name and we were onboard and the first CM we met was from Canada She directed us to the elevators because our room was ready. As we are waiting Dd7 gets yet another nosebleed. I'll explain. Dd7 got a cold just before we left and she often gets nosebleeds with a cold. She had 2 the day before when we were flying. I thought she was done but no. Luckily I had brought tissue but trying to get them out in a hurry! She did get spots on her shirt but it was mostly on the decal so you couldn't really tell. We made our way up to deck 8 forward and found our room easily. We met Ike our room host. He noticed the bloody kleenex and asked if she was ok and we said yes. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and there was Ike with an ice pack for Dd7 I was so impressed, he had all the luggage to get to rooms and he gets us ice. He was awesome.
When we walked into the room Dd3 started yelling "we have presents!, we have presents!" The Perfect Gift was awesome sending small sandbuckets from Princess Aurora and Snow White. The princesses also sent a bottle of wine and glasses for mommy and daddy

Those last two photos are from our veranda.
We were on board about 1:45pm. After the nosebleed stopped and we explored the veranda we headed up to Topsiders for a quick bite to eat. We had the APLAPLA rotation and first seating at 5:30. We had the late seating when we booked and on the waiting list for the early seating. We didn't have to do anything it was all changed when we boarded. Originally we thought we would just leave the seating we got and work with the kid for naps etc. but when we found out we had early seating that was a bonus I can't remember what we had for lunch but it was good and I was so impressed with the handwipe people at every meal. Sure cuts down on the germ issue. Topsiders was packed and I was feeling overwhelmed. I had so many tips about getting a navigator right away and checking at Rockin' Bar D for Palo brunch ressie's. I did none of it You know at some point you just have to say go with the flow. We had Palo dinner ressies so I was happy we had them and we would just try and do brunch if we ever do another cruise. I think we were all excited and trying to recover from the long travel day the day before and then there was the nosebleed, being hungry, needing to unpack....the list is endless Anyway we headed back to the room because I think it was about 3 pm and we thought we'd start unpacking and check about the safety drill at 4 pm.
This is where, I'm sure you've been wondering, I mention the book "On Board The Titanic". The Monday before we left my Dd7 brings home her home reading book. The title is "On Board The Titanic" A parent volunteer was usually the one that puts the books in the kids packs. I say "who would do this when we're leaving on a cruise?" That's when Dd7 says she picked it out because one of the boys in her class said it was a really good book I said " ok, but you do know what happens right?" "yes the ship sinks" So after the whole Kracken thing I feel it necessary to explain about how long ago it was, the iceberg(we won't be seeing any of those), not enough lifeboats, etc. She seems ok until we put the tv on to listen to the safety drill information. Now there are tears and wanting to put the lifevest on now to be ready. Dh and I are trying to unpack and she is crying. Dd3 is going "A is crying, it's ok" and rubbing her sisters arm. We were all ready for the drill when the whistle blew.

She did well during the drill and we were back in our room to quickly drop off the lifevests and head to the sailaway party. If you think the Tiatnic is behind us think again!

 

[pillow]

I must admit, I always have Titanic like thoughts while cruising (usually after climbing into bed at night while feeling the rocking of the ship) . I realize this is very non-Disney of me!! Both of my kids have read that book, but have never mentioned it while cruising. Thank God!

Jodie

 

[purplepeg]

I must admit, I always have Titanic like thoughts while cruising (usually after climbing into bed at night while feeling the rocking of the ship) . I realize this is very non-Disney of me!! Both of my kids have read that book, but have never mentioned it while cruising. Thank God!

Jodie

That is so funny

 

[purplepeg]

After dropping off the lifevests we headed up to deck 10 for the sailaway party. Needless to say the place was packed The kids club CM's were handing out streamers to wave. They gave each girl 2. There was a lovely man with lots of frozen bevvies (Bon Voyage drink)near us so I went over and got 2 for Dh and I. He asked if I wanted rum in them Was he kidding?...of course I did They were great 1/2 strawberry,1/2pina colada mix, add a large splash of rum and it was heaven. Dd3 was having a blast waving her streamers and dancing, she was in her own little world. Dd7 was by the railing and disappointed when they invited all the kids on stage and I wouldn't let her go. I did lighten up later in the cruise.

The photo of Dd3 on a chair, she was put up there by a kids club CM. I didn't get her name but she was fabulous
If your kids like HSM they will get their fill of songs on board.
I think we stayed until just after 5 pm because our dinner was at Animators Palate at 5:30 pm. We were greeted by the handi-wipe person and were directed to our table. We met our server Rodel from the Phillipines and Asst server Angie from Venezuela. They were very quiet so I wasn't sure what to think. I was hoping we weren't going to be disappointed. Your serving team can make or break a vacation on a cruise. An asst. server from a neighboring table was interacting with and teasing Dd3. We enjoyed that.alot. Our table was against the wall so it was hard to see the transformation. I think I must have been tired and grouchy because I don't remember the "finale" everyone talks about. I tried to get some photos of the restaurant in general. The kids were kind of grumpy and tired at dinner. they had Mac and cheese, I had the squash soup,garlic mushrooms and a fabulous veal chop. For dessert the peanut butter-chocolate pie, yum yum.

The last picture was my Dh's chocolate cake, he said it was good.
The kids could hardly wait to get to the Oceaneer Club so after dinner we went to the"open house". It was open to look around and play or you could check your kids in. Ours wanted to stay without us so we obliged and went back to the room to finish unpacking. Dh put up the over the door shoe organizer and said how did you know about this? This is great Thanks again DIS. I felt much better after we were all unpacked and the suitcases put away. We had to lift up the bed but they did get under the bed nicely. I sent out practically everything that needed ironed out for pressing. Ike told us if we sent it out that night it would be back by 2 pm the next day. There was 2 laundry bags full and it cost about $70. I know that seems like a lot but for my sanity and relaxation it was worth it I sent out shorts and kids dresses as well as the formal stuff. I asked Ike where the laundry room was to iron our own clothes and it was all the way aft and down a floor. I thought for the time I saved it was well worth it. The kids were in the club for 2 hrs til 9:30 pm. As I was folding clothes and putting them away in the large trunk with shelves it is by the veranda window and I guess the ship sailing along out the corner of my eye made me nauseated. I thought no, this is mind over matter anyway I took a Bonine and convinced myself I would feel better after a good night sleep. We got the kids from the club, neither of who wanted to go. It was nice to know that they were happy there. We were all in bed by 10:30 pm. Tomorrow Key West and Palo.

 

[CruisinEars]

Great trippie so far. I love seeing lots of pictures too. Can't wait to read more.

 

[purplepeg]

I'm working on the next installment. It was my dad's birthday yesterday so we were out for dinner. Busy day today and the Biggest Loser is on tonight but I'll get a new post out soon. Thanks for being patient

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

I am really enjoying your TR so far. Keep um comin'!

 

[RLccweems]

I love the matching outfits that girls have on...to cute.

 

[matt&jakesmom]

Enjoy reading your report. Pics are great too!!

 

[bobbi565]

Hey purplepeg! My postcard buddy! Subscribing. Great TR so far...love the pics! Still holding your postcard, and plan on springing it on DS in early April. Looking forward to your next installment.

 

[purplepeg]

Hey purplepeg! My postcard buddy! Subscribing. Great TR so far...love the pics! Still holding your postcard, and plan on springing it on DS in early April. Looking forward to your next installment.

Welcome, glad you're on board Can't wait to hear how it goes with your son