Disney Cruise — the end!

Hmmm, yeh, a friend pointed out I had never finished the Disney Cruise trip report here on the ole’ blog. Ooooops. Luckily, I was able to find in the archives of saved stuff.

So… if you want to get back in the Disney Cruise groove remember there is a little link over there on the right that will take you to the other posts.

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So…. after Castaway Cay….

Tori took a hot shower and promptly collapsed into a nap. The boys took warm baths and were in much better moods as well. Nana stopped by the room and offered to take the boys up to sit on her veranda. Blessed quiet in our cabin. Well, until I panicked and realized I hadn’t sent along Tommy’s epinephrine pen. ACKKKK!  So I grabbed some beers for Lalo and headed on up. We sat outside watching people board from Castaway Cay for a while. Music and Captn’ Hook. Eventually I took the wild ones back to the room.

Tim was in the agony of packing. I just tried to stay out of the way! Seriously… don’t get in the man’s way when he’s packing!!

Eventually I took the kids and headed down for some pics with Hook and Jimminy. (Sorry so dark… taken on the digicam.)

Then took the kids up to deck 9 to eat. Because we had Palo that night!

As I dropped off kids at their clubs the staff all said “We won’t page you since you are at Palo to night.” Uh… you’d better! I told them that was nice, but to please page me if needed.

We got ready and hurried out the door. Tim had a shortcut idea that didn’t work. Remember: he hates being late (and so do I actually!) We got there a few minutes late, to my dismay, but it was okay. PJ came to greet us and quickly had us seated at the ‘Captains Table’ with the other eight in our party. We had a really nice place to sit. Actually, now that I have looked I think they just used the Brunch table set up for us. But I still think it was so great PJ could get us all together. I was thrilled.

Dinner was lovely. Palo’s is…. just…. fabulous.

I cannot for the life of me recall our server’s name. Cau— Ugh, I wish I could recall!! He did an outstanding job. Love that olive dip. He went ahead and brought one of each pizza straight out. I had the grilled portabella mushroom with polenta. Oh my. I could eat that for dinner alone! We also had extra appetizers to pass around and share. There was a sherbet intermezzo. (Thank goodness for food network on my finer dining education )

I chose the lobster ravioli for my main course. So good. (I’m getting hungry thinking about it!) We all had ordered chocolate souffles (or had our server? I don’t recall!) They were perfect. I had a bit of both sauces. The server also brought out an assortment of all the other desserts… including my favorite: Tiramisu. Yummmy.

A decaff coffee and then a tasty after dinner drink that PJ brought to the table for us… (they even had made sparkling cider shot for Becca!) Don’t ask me what it was. I don’t recall. But it was super yummy!

We did have one picture taken at dinner. (I’ll try to post that in a bit…)

I had been worried that Palo on the last night wasn’t the best choice. But I actually found it to be a wonderful way to end out cruise. When we visit Disney World we end with Chef Mickey’s breakfast. So, I thinkif we ever go back, we’re doing Palo the last night again. Yummmmmmy.

We stopped by Shutters to pick up our orders. Tim went ahead to get the boys, while I got Tori. Then we waited for ‘Til We Meet Again. The kids were able to get pictures with Donald and Goofy. It was a MADHOUSE.

Later on I realized that the only ones they didn’t get autographs/pictures with were Pinocchio and Pluto. They were bummed about Pluto, but oh well!

Back to the room.  Tim got everything out in the hallway. I’m impressed. But still staying out of the way! I promised my ragingly hungry children one last room service order. So they pigged out (but not before I had my picture!)

Our towel animal of the night:

A frog! Tommy was thrilled to have his Webkinz be part of the animal towel fun.

We sent the boys off to dreamland. Becca and Rick came over and we chatted for a while. The boys did a Deck 9 run and we had a drink. Eventually we all collapsed. In the morning I knew they would kick us out. I was sad. 

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Last Day…

I know you see that Mickey Head. It was actually PERFECT but by the time I pulled out the camera the clouds had shifted… sigh. Tim said Disney had to pull a lot of strings to get Mickey Heads up in the clouds. Silly boy.

So… the last morning. Got up way too early. As in waaaaay too early it seemed. I tried to convince Albert to let me hide on his cart until the next sailing. He giggled.

We had a nice, albeit, rushed feeling breakfast. By the time we were doing the rounds giving hugs goodbye I was not happy. And by the time I got to my Becca I started crying.  Yep, it’s true. I was the sappy crying mommy as we left. By the time we got into the crazy long line to disembark… they started kicking off, er, allowing everyone to leave. About then my Tori announced she needed the restroom. We told her to hold it.

Uh, if your kid needs to go, go BEFORE you start to leave. Trust me on this one. It all went really fast and really smooth. BUT there was no restrooms. Which really was another ‘duh’ mommy moment. Anyways, we stayed behind the line, and must have not looked TOO criminal because they let us back into the US. And suddenly the cruise was totally over.

Well, after a quick run to the bathroom (go right when you walk out the doors!)

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Then we headed over to Sarasota to spend the night with the children’s beloved Aunt R and her new baby, little R!!! We loved getting in lots of snuggles with the little firecracker. We stayed up too late and had a bit too much wine. But we loved seeing them SO much. (Even if Aunt R poured her soup all over me at lunch! Hee hee… )

We headed out in the a.m. and, of course, stopped for Chipotle burritos (told you we get them when we can!) This sign cracked me up.

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This was… literally… the most amazing family vacation we’ve even been on. Thank you, Nana and Lalo, for a family trip of a lifetime. We had the BEST time.

Can you tell?!

So, if you stumbled onto this blog by Googling ‘Disney Cruise’ and you are trying to decide if you want to go for it or not… my advice? GO FOR IT!!!

But: remember: just buy the long sleeved shirt on Castaway Cay… it’s really cool.

Cruise Day Seven -part one- —–> Castaway Cay

This was the day I had been dreaming of all along. But truth be told, it was also the day I had been dreading. I had read too many reports of people not being able to dock at Disney’ private island, Castaway Cay, more often than not in January. So I was nervous we wouldn’t be able to visit. And then there is the whole last day thing.

BUT I was determined to be positive and not let anyone know my fears. The kids and I were set for the first stingray feeding of the day. And I went to sleep dreaming of warm sand and a cabana boy bringing me drinks… ahhhh….

I awoke to the phone ringing. Room service was on the way. Tim had ordered cereal for the boys, and bagels and fruit and (most importantly) coffee for us! What
a great man.

As I peered out the window I wasn’t feeling too good about our chances. It was overcast and a bit windy. Still we sun blocked up my alabaster skinned children. Tori took a shower and I plastered her hair with conditioner and then braided it up… to her disgust.

We arrived on Deck 9 as we began backing into Castaway Cay. Even with a slight drizzle it was so cool to see! The kids all kept saying “Oh wow… cool!” Then Ray, the cruise director, came on too announce that it would be an overcast day and not to forget your sunscreen none-the-less. As if I need that warning! Really, you have seen how white my kids are, right?!

But the news was good… we were going to be able to get onto the island. Hooray!

Anyways, it’s obvious things are running behind. We had a 10:00 Stingray Time and there was just no way with us taking so long to dock. But we went ahead and got into the mass of humanity waiting to rush unto Castaway Cay. It took about 15 minutes of waiting with the grumpy Tori being even more grumpy than usual. And I’m sorry, but whoever was allowing their child to scream over and over and over and over and over and over (you get the point, eh?) please bring along copious amounts of Tylenol for those around you next time. Hey, I have kids… and they are no angels. I understand. But really.. Tylenol. Thanks. (And if anyone is wondering this was giggling having fun ‘I think I’m being cute’ scream that we all got to enjoy!)

Finally about 9:55 we are let off. There was some character in front of the post office and next to no line. I wanted to stop, but Tim is a man who needs to be on time. So we didn’t. *Note to self: when you know you want a picture, just tell Tim he has to wait next time. Like the frozen lemonade snack credit from Disney 2006… I digress…really, next time just do it!

So… we power walked to the tram. Hopped on thinking we’d get all the way to the Stingray Shack.

Crud. Obviously, something got lost in translation. I had no idea you had to walk to the next tram station. And the very cheerful staff would only say ‘not too far’ when we asked just where they fricking’ frackin’ stingrays were. Really, I am starting to need a drink people. So, we began the second power walk with an increasingly agitated pre-pubescent almost 11 year old ANGEL of a daughter. I think I muttered something about if rain wasn’t going to ruin our dream vacation then her attitude sure the heck wasn’t going to either … as we continued to trudge to the durn stingrays.

We arrived at the little stingray hut and had to wait. And wait some more. We waited almost 20 minutes.

Sigh… see, I should have got that picture by the post office!

As we waited it was so cool to watch the stingrays basically stalk up and down the beach in large groups. They knew it was time to eat! I loved watching them.

Anyways, the education part was interesting. Tommy helped demonstrate how large some species of stingrays could get. Holy Moly! I think she said like 24 feet?

And then we divided into groups to feed. TJ is my more serious (at times) quiet child. He had been wanting to feed the stingrays more than anything in the world (well, minus get a picture with Sorcerer Mickey!) I could sense he was feeling a bit nervous. Add in very cold water and next to no body fat on this kid and I was starting to worry this could go south very quickly.

My wild man, Tommy was all excited and could hardly wait for his turn. As he fed the stingray (having a very difficult time holding that funky green jello stick between his itty bitty fingers) he declared the experience ‘totally awesome!’

Tori, despite her grumpy demeanor, loves all animals and was thrilled as well…

And sweet little TJ was shaking (a bit of cold and a bit scared I think) but he did it. He turned to me and all but yelled ‘this is the best day of my life!’

Watch Tori and TJ feed the stingrays: video here.

I fed one too. It was really cool, I have to admit. Then we could snorkel. That… that didn’t go so well. Tori was being Tori. She was cold but she wanted to swim out… so she got mad at me. Perfect sense, right?! Tommy was cold and wanted to go build a sandcastle. And TJ was fighting his inner demons. He had been dreaming of this day for so long. But, I kid you not, the kid is all skin and bones. And 7.5 years he weighs all of 44 pounds. The water was cold… he was shaking head to toe. But he desperately wanted to snorkel with the stingrays.

If he wanted to do it, I was going to stay with him. Eventually he did force himself to swim around some. And grinned so big when he spotted some fish and stingrays. It was so worth it.

Tim, love that he is, had secured some chairs as well as a much anticipated hammock for me. Now… ask me if I ever got in the hammock.

Nope!

Oh well, that’s okay. I was too excited to be there at any rate. All of our family eventually congregated at the same spot. Even if we weren’t all there at the same time.

I took the boys out on a raft for about 20 minutes. We were heading out to the playset, but they closed it. Eventually I took them in. Tori was hungry (and even grumpier… see a theme here?) so we headed off to Cookies.

When you go to Cookies head over to the left side far back. There is NO one in line there at all. It’s weird. Food was yummy. I did have seconds on ribs. And even a bit of the cookie dough soft serve. Ah, the magic of Disney. TJ heard that there was a dance party. So Tim took the EVEN grumpier (it was getting BAD) Tori and Tommy back our beach-base. While I took TJ to the dance party. Eventually Tommy heard the music and wanted to come back to me. They had a lot of fun dancing around. At one point I heard a mom say, “Look at those cute twins with Mickey!” I looked… they weren’t twins, they were my boys. Seriously, people, if they were twins, well, they were born 22 months apart! (I get this question often actually, very strange.) It made me giggle a bit. And the boys were thrilled to be dancing with Mickey.

I made multiple drinks of lemonade for the beach… we had some minis of Malibu to add… yum! As we headed back the wind picked up and the boys started to shiver a LOT. I found Tori on the hammock under a towel. Hey… let’s make the kids into towel animals!!

Hmmmm…. how about two slugs?!

Ok, that’s the best I can do at towel animals. Sorry!

Tim headed out to snorkel with his younger sister, Kate, and her husband, Cody. They were looking for the Mickey statue.

While I had a drink, or two, chatted with Nana and told the kids to stop fighting over the hammocks already. Oh yeh, the boys ended up flipping over and landing flat on their back at one point. Oy!

No one wanted to swim. By the time Tim returned, thrilled they had found the Mickey statue.

Cody with Mickey:

Well by now my crew was ready to revolt. I threw in the towel, realized that they were simply too cold and there was no reason to make them miserable. And we headed back. We saw Ted, Kathryn, Teddy and Rachael working hard on the scavenger hunt.

Okay, I admit it, that’s not my picture. But I thought it was so cute! But we really did see them!

And we stopped by Monstro’s Dig on the way out. Zander Becca and Rick were there.

Bought some fun stuff at the shop. The boys used some of their cash to get stuffed stingrays that they adore and Tori got a pen and a CC bracelet. I was eying a long sleeved shirt, but decided against it. Again, * Note to self: just do it next time!

And too soon, we were back on board.

Cruise Day Six —-> Thursday 1/24 Day at Sea

Today we decided, for once, to get to the pool early. I truly believe people woke up and laid claim to pool side chairs about 4:30 a.m. They were always taken!

We got kids ready to swim and headed up to breakfast at Topsiders and snagged a table that was close to the pool. Perfect for us as we are at the lovely age where the kids can swim and I can actually, gasp, talk to other people instead of staring at the youngest waiting for him to drown. Ahhhh, life it good.

Around 10 Tim headed off to Bingo with Nana. He promised his mom he join her for Bingo when she booked the trip. She was VERY excited. Shortly after the kids and I headed back to the room to get cleaned up. Albert, sweetheart that he was, had put in last night’s towel animal: a bunny. (But I forgot to take a picture!) Oh, on a side note: Tim said the desk called while I was in the shower that morning to check on the ’sick member of our party’. Tim assured them it was seasickness only, honest! As Tommy woke up demanding to know where his cheeseburger from last night was and why we didn’t wake him for Goofy’s Party. Yeh, he was FINE.

At breakfast all the kids declared they were NOT going to do DSeaU. Sigh. I was hoping they would. But saw no reason to push them.

I liked these pictures. I think I took them while we stood in line for the Princess Gathering. But I don’t know for sure and I don’t have it written down. Ack! Anyways, I think at some point this morning we took Princess pictures, but I’m not sure. Sorry!

I do know that I took the kids to shops and they picked out their purchases for the day. Their Nana had a coupon (20% off) that they wanted to make good use of. Purchases safely behind the counter, we headed off to Parrot Cay for lunch. Once I got in there I realized there was no children’s buffet. Tommy is not allergic to seafood, but refuses to eat it… and I don’t force that issue. (Hello, more seafood for me!) Aunt Kathryn offers to run to Deck 9 to snag pizza for her crew and mine. (Thanks!) Later we see an ice cream sundae station. We have to inquire about the ice cream (yes, even plain vanilla or strawberry can be contaminated with tree nuts or peanuts.) So the manager pages the chef who comes to speak to me directly. It is safe! He gloves up and serves Tommy himself. (Who by then is full and doesn’t want any… ooops!) The Chef asks where we are dining that night and says to send Luis over to get a special dessert just for Tommy that evening. How nice!

Next we run down to try to decide what pictures we are going to buy from Shutters. Wow, it’s HARD to find all your pictures in there. Makes a head hurt. But there are some great ones we just love in there!

Then it’s time for “Disney Dreams…An Enchanted Classic.” I loved this show so much. Being the dorky emotional mommy I am at the end I start crying and say to Nana, “This is the best family vacation EVER!” Really, when it started to snow… it’s just all Disney, you know?

Oh… and Tori was going to see the show that evening, so she was off snoozing in her room with her adopted family: Becca, Rick and Z.

Anyways. After the show Tim drops kids off in clubs before heading back to Bingo with his mom. The jackpot had rolled over. So they were hopeful.

We (Aunt Kat, Tori and I) head over to Tea with Alice. I thought this was a such a cute little program. Loved the Mad Hatter. He was hysterical! And I was so pleased to hear a family come in and remind the staff that they needed Gluten Free cookies. They were already set up for them. Disney rocks!

I head off to check out the boys and find them in the midst of the graduation practice. At this point TJ WANTS to be in it, but only if Tommy will do it with him. Finally they both declare they will do it. So then T1 wants in too! I drop her off in the Lab and head down to find DH. And we hightail it over to the theater.

Cute program. I enjoyed it. And I’m SO glad they did it.

But WOWZERS… it was HARD to get dressed and to our 5:30 dinner on time. In fact, it was near to impossible! Sorry we were late, Luis and Graham!

We changed up our seating nightly as all 16 were spread between two tables. Tonight we had girls’ and boys’ tables.

When Tommy’s fruit arrived Tim remembered that we avoid mango for him as mango can be associated with pistachio and cashew allergies. Graham whisked it away. I felt bad for not mentioning mango. It’s not one I think about often, you know?

Tori was surprised with a birthday cake at dinner.

About this time Luis brings out the special dessert the chef had made… mango ice cream with lots of fruit. Oh crud. Graham whisked it RIGHT away and returns with a Mickey bar. I think I heard Luis mutter darkly that I didn’t tell him about mango. Oh crud. Later I thank him for being SO careful with Tommy and apologized for not mentioning the whole mango bit.

We all tipped tonight as well, since we had Palo’s the following night.

We go to see Enchanted (loved it) and ran into our table mates from that first lunch on board. We get to talking and one lady had been on over 25 Disney Cruise Line vacations, while the other had been on over 50! WOW!!! After we left I realized with that kind of dedication that probably were on DIS. But I never asked! They seemed like a lot of fun.

Loved Enchanted. Fun movie. We headed back to Shutters to do our order. Aunt Kate and I headed out to do laundry later on that night. We weren’t going to hit the dessert buffet but Graham spotted us on the elevator and was waving to us. So, it’s all Graham’s fault we gave in! I told him all I wanted was some dipped strawberries. Alas, they were all gone. I left with two plate (hey, one was for Tim, honest!) and Graham teased us that we had a bit more than strawberries! In fact… we didn’t HAVE strawberries at ALL.

Finally we called the late night quits. And passed out.

Oh, but our towel animal tonight was the peacock. He was cool!

Cruise Day Five —> Wednesday 1/23 St. Thomas

Ah… Immigration morning. I think the picture of the boys sums it up nicely, don’t you?!

We snagged Tori from next door and went to the Walt Disney Theater at our appointed time with birth certificates and photo ids in hand. It went REALLY fast. Then we headed up to Topsiders for breakfast. *Ack! Watch out for that pistachio studded meat.

We ran into Nana and Lalo and decided we would tender in to St. Thomas with them. I was nervous about the whole tendering bit. But it went really smoothly. Only one small problem. I had read that the staff would have towels available as you boarded the tender. Nope. You had to go up to Deck Nine for that. And it was too late by then. Sigh. No towels. Oh well, what can you do?

When I posted my trip report online (all family member names changed to protect the innocent ) someone posted a picture from our cruise they were pretty sure we didn’t have.

Isn’t that so cool? She had flown into St. Thomas that morning and was excited to see the Magic in port.

Okay, back to the trip report… honest.

Tendering in was an easy process. We were on board in no time and the trip over was smooth. Thank goodness.

Once on dry land we were directed to a taxi cab and were on our way. I think Disney should offer our taxi ride to and from Coral World as a thrill ride. Seriously. I think we cut through backyards and narrowly escaped death numerous times. On the way to Coral World we listened to talk radio about cock fighting and property taxes. Good stuff.

We arrived alive (amazingly)and found Becca, Rick, Zander, Kate and Cody right away.

The park was not huge by any means. But I thought it was the perfect way to spend a morning yet not over-do it.

Tori asked to feed the birds some nectar. I was surprised she didn’t wig and splash nectar everywhere.

We spent some time giggling at a poor tortoise that evidently flipped over often as he seemed WAY too experienced in the attempt to flip back over. (Poor thing.)

The underwater observatory was so cool. You could even watch the people SNUBA. But it was quite warm down there. After a quick discussion we all decided to head on back to the ship for lunch. Remember I had planned a beach day next door. But it seems a bit too rough for my swimmers.

We decided food we knew was safe and the Mickey Pool would be more to their liking. Besides, due to my flub up, no towels unless we bought some at this point.

So back to the ship.

What a trip. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride had NOTHING on this one. We fit the twelve of us PLUS our fun driver into a minivan. Why did we do this? I have no idea. Was it safe? Uh… NO! But we all laughed all the way down the mountain… as we smelled burning break pads. The driver heard me say I wanted a shot of the ships in port and would pull over and say ‘You get it? You get it now? You fast, so fast!!!’ And we would just laugh hysterically at our silliness.

I’ll have to straighten the pic out in Photoshop, but it was a gorgeous view. Bet the shot is crooked due to my giggling. The driver must have thought we were insane. I meant to get a shot of our party with him by the cab… but I didn’t. Bummer.

So… back to the boat. Ran into Ted on the pier as he waited for his excursion party to go snorkeling. (He later said it was great!) And then we were back on the tender. We headed back to the Mickey pool for some lunch and swim time. They kids had REALLY wanted to snorkel at the beach that day. So I let them take their new snorkel stuff to the pool. Quite a few people stopped us to tell us how cute the kids all looked trying to learn the whole snorkel bit. It was cracking me up.

After lunch and a swim we got everyone all cleaned up. Tori went to see National Treasure with her grandparents. While the boys headed to the club. And since everyone else was busy… nap for mom! (Hey, I was tired from all the fun!)

Kate snagged this sunset picture before dinner. Isn’t it great?

Dinner was in Parrot Cay tonight. As we were pulling out of port the ship REALLY seemed to be rocking. I was taking meds every 12 hours for fear of getting sea sick. Now… ask me if I ever thought to give it to my kids.

Sigh. Nope.

Before dinner TH said he didn’t feel well. As he had NEVER gotten motion sickness before I thought it was too much fun, too little sleep and hunger. (His blood sugar drops FAST!) So we had him have a Sprite and some bread and he felt tons better right away.

However, as the ship sways to and fro… Tommy is turning whiter and whiter. About the time I’m thinking “Hmmmm, I should take him back to the room!” It happens. Sick Tommy. Ewwwwww.

Becca tells me at this time she hears the waiters telling each other our stateroom number to pass along to the powers that be.

So Tommy and I did the stagger/run back to the stateroom finding bathrooms along the way. Shane (Shutters manager) saw me and suggested green apples and a lie down. Luis sent along crackers. Albert was in the hallway when I arrived with a not so happy Tommy. Since the medical bay was around the corner (literally) I left the little guy on my bed and ran to get their advice. How much med to give for his weight etc? I bought a pack of chewable non-drowsy Dramamine and was back in the room in less than 5 minutes.

Tommy opened his eyes, announced he was better and requested a cheeseburger. Took his ‘orange pill’ to feel all better. And promptly passed out.

Albert helped me get clean towels and such. About this time Tim shows and says Luis is waiting to serve me dinner and to back up there. (He just asked that I please bring dessert back!) So I hustled off and had a tasty dinner. Kate delivered Tim’s dessert and the other kids back to our rooms, while I went up to Palo. Luis had asked Giovanni (sp?) to talk to PJ (manager of Palo) about our group Palo dinner. I had secured three tables 4 for 6:30, 4 for 7:00 and 2 for 7:30. PJ was just as helpful as could be when I arrived. And had us set up to all eat together at 7:30 on Friday in no time at all. Wonderful!

So, I spent the night in with the still conked out Tommy while TJ went to Goofy’s PJ party and Tor enjoyed Ocean Quest, the tween area of the ship. And Tim went off to see the comedian with the rest of the family.

Sorry, no towel animals tonight. I assured Albert I could turn down my bed.

And thus ends our fifth day of the cruise!

Cruise Day four —-> Tuesday 1/22 St. Maarten

We woke up to gorgeous blue skies and water that took my breath away. We were finally at St. Marrten! Becca, Rick and Zander were taking Tommy (their God Son) on a fun Land and Sea Tour. He was so terribly excited to go with them!

We had a nice quiet morning. Ran into Nana and Lalo at breakfast and asked if they would like to wander around town with us. So about 9:15 we headed off the ship and caught the water taxi. Fun Island Music on board! And the water was so pretty. (I mentioned that, right?!)

We simply wandered around for a bit. It was nice and not at all crowded in the little downtown area where we were. Tim had seen the “Yoda Guy Shop” and wanted to take TJ in there as he adores anything StarWars. It was cool. The owner of the shop helped co-create Yoda.

Then we had a drink at the Black Pearl while Tori had her hair braided (I tried to get her to do it on board but she said no… what a strange child sometimes!) In the future I think we’ll do the braids on the ship. But it was a fun girly thing to do. (Thank you Tim!)

We let the kids wander and grab shells for a while. Lalo picked up his cool hat. What a bargain.

Then the boys hit the liquor store. The kids were moaning and groaning something awful about sandy feet. (Really whining big time.. sigh) A kind local by the bathroom at the water taxi stop showed us fresh water for them to rinse their feet with. They were MUCH happier then! Nana found the little casino and said “see ya!” So, we headed back to the ship for lunch and swimming.

It was lovely to have the pool be so much more empty! Becca, Rick, Z and Tommy were back. He had quite the adventure and LOVED it, can you tell?

Tim/Tommy faced off Rick/Z in Ping Pong after lunch.

And the kids swam for a while.

After lunch I had the boys write in their journals. TJ also had to do school work. (Only one teacher sent along work, but she sent along TONS!) Then the kids went to clubs while Lalo kept the pager. (Nana was still MIA at the casino!) DH and I rode the water taxi back to town and had a nice little walk. Before heading back to get ready for…

PIRATE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

Clip from the dining room that night. Yo Ho, Yo Ho!!!

And really, besides the pictures… I don’t have much to share about Pirate Night. We had a blast. Copious amounts of rum was involved. Kids danced. Capt’n Jack was great. He nailed the mannerisms. The boys were convinced it was the REAL Capt’n Jack. Fireworks over the water simply ROCKED.

By far my favorite Pirate Night Picture, Rick. Love it!


Good call getting all the grandkids in on one shot, Uncle Ted!

And at the end of the night…

Can anyone guess?

We collapsed.

Love it.

PS Ooops, forgot: towel animal was the beloved monkey!

Cruise Day Three —> Monday 1/21 Day at Sea

Today was our prearranged family portrait day. And might I say that Shane, the portrait manager, is just wonderful?!

Ok, so TJ wakes up and asks me to open the curtain so he can watch the water. He was so happy just laying there. How cute is that?

We got up and headed to Topsiders for breakfast. Tori could not be woken up, so we gave up and left her with her adopted family for the trip. Tired kid! At Topsiders Tommy asks for turkey. As I reach for it I realize that the meat next to it has pistachios in it. Tommy will have an instant anaphylactic reaction to pistachios. I quickly ushered him down the line feeling paranoid about nuts suddenly. But all was well. (And NO I didn’t let him have the turkey he opted for cereal, fruit and yogurt!) It was CRAZY windy. We sat outside behind Topsiders. We had to keep warning people not to sit by the water as their whole trays would blow off the table!

Back to the room to get ready for pictures. Remember that Tori was so tired? Well, she was so tired that she lost her black shirt that was for the family portrait. UGH! She wore it Saturday night for dinner, but now it’s gone. The search is fruitless… so Tim sprints down to the shops and buys her a black shirt that reads “The beatings will continue until morale improves”. I found it to be appropriate! We had her wear it backwards and all is well. Sigh. Yes, I was frustrated.

Shane and the photographer met us all in the lobby and we got an great family group shot.

Thanks Nana and Lalo for the great picture. We love it!

After pictures we find out that Nana and Ted had won a twist contest the night before. The prize sounded exciting for a second: an envelope for the spa. But then we found out it was a for a body analysis. Uh… no thanks!!!!! Still, wish we had been there to see them dancing. Sounds like they had fun!
Back to pool for a bit.

We let the kids eat poolside then they all wanted to head to clubs. We came back to Topsiders for the Asian buffet (not safe for Tommy). The stir fry station was yummy!

We then snagged the kids and hit Twice Charmed. LOVE the matinée option. Great show. Loved the actors. They were fabulous!

Tonight is Sorcerer Mickey pictures. TJ is so excited he’s shaking like a puppy. I would not been surprised in the least to see him faint he was so excited! I LOVE how the picture turned out.

Tonight’s dinner was a Lumiere’s. Tori had her heart set on a picture with Princess Minnie. So, we jumped up during the meal to snag it.

TJ was nodding at his place. Poor kid, he was TIRED! After dinner I let the boys look around the shops for a bit and then we headed back to the room.

Towel animal of the night was an elephant!

Our First day at sea

Mickey called to wake us up WAAAAY too early it seemed. But the kids were easy to get going as it was our Character Breakfast morning.

Now, I have read that many people don’t like the way it is now. But this was the first time for us. And I know we seem to be in a minority, but we loved it. Then again, I was stinking excited to be there I don’t care HOW they did it! We have done Chef Mickey’s at Disney World a couple of times now. And I truly think the kids had fun dancing and parading around. Pluto did stop by our table. (But the pictures turned out awful, so I am not posting it!)

Luis and Graham made hats for the little ones… and Nana.

Kids all opted for clubs at this point. The boys were making Flubber this morning. And Tori had some fun in Ocean Quest. She won human BINGO and later had a nice little prize and note delivered to her state room. (Some HSM2 stuff if I recall).We joined Becca and Rick and Ted and Kathryn for the ‘Art of Entertaining’ in Studio Sea. It was a nice (and yummy).

Then we snagged a picture (and autograph) with Mickey in the atrium.

Then it was time for the pool and lunch from place of choice. I discovered panninis from Goofy’s this day. I would almost always get lunch here the whole cruise. Yum. This was the kids’ first time on the Mickey slide. They LOVED it! And Tim brought some Malibu along to add to my lemonade. Oh yeh, loving that.

Note TJ’s super cool prescription sunglasses!

After lunch and swim everyone got dressed. DH took the kids to see Underdog along with the snacks we brought along. And I took a blessed nap!

Then it was time to get ready for formal night.

Alas, this is the ONLY picture I have of us from formal night. I was huffy at Tim that he didn’t let us get portraits. Sigh. Oh well.

After dinner we caught up with Daisy.

And headed in for Golden Mickeys. —->No, I didn’t take the picture, snagged it online.

Loved the show. But the tentacles freaked out Tori a bit we later learned. Poor thing! Lalo decided he wanted each family to have a Golden Mickey. So ours is now proudly displayed on the shelf along with a family picture. More on that later.

After a quick run by Deck 9 for a drinks and a bit of the big game (which I had ZERO interest in.) Tori spilled her hot chocolate all over me. And I headed back down with the kids.

Animal towel of the night… dog… or as Tommy was convinced… goat?!

And we collapsed again.

The Disney Cruise 2008 report… on our way and Day One

One of the boards I frequented prior to the cruise has a ‘trip report’ section. I read quite a few narratives about people’s cruises. Really helped give me insight into what to expect, you know? So, when we got back I started working on mine. I found I had fun reliving our trip for others.

Figured, for posterity’s sake, I should post here too. So… ready?

January 18th, 2008

Finally, everything was packed and ready to go. Tim did 99% of the packing. It’s his thing, I tell you! The rest of the family was flying in on the 19th, but since we live in South Alabama we opted to drive instead. We checked the kids out at 11:30 a.m. (the earliest you can check out without counting as an absence), ate a quick lunch, grabbed Starbucks (Venti White Peppermint Mochoa extra hot, non-fat for me thank you!) and hit the road.

Kids slept and played games tons. (Darn that broken DVD player!)

Tommy had a firm hold on Spotty, his beloved Webkinz the WHOLE time.

Trip was uneventful. Well, except for some awful traffic we hit at one point. Grrrr. We did stop in Gainesville to get burritos for Tim and me at Chipotle. We like a big buriito, and since we can’t get them in Fairhope, we always get one in Gainesville.

We arrived at the Sheraton Four Points in Orlando around 10 pm I think.

And promptly collapsed.

January 19th, 2008

When we woke up we turned on the weather channel to check on ‘the big winter storm.’ We discovered it wasn’t nearly as bad as predicted and it looked like more flights would be on time for the rest of the family. Thank goodness.

We were out the door by about 8:00 a.m. Figured a nice slow drive to the Port.

HA!

We had NO idea how slow.

The fog was so thick you couldn’t see more than ten feet perhaps. We live on the coast and we are used to bad fog… but this was horrible fog.

I called my brother who happened to be in Orlando as well with his family as my niece was in a soccer series being played at Disney. My brother said on the little 3 on 3 fields they couldn’t even see the goal from one end!

Anyways, we get going. Plan to stop for breakfast along the way. Find the world MOST difficult to find McDonalds on a CLEAR day forget a foggy day. And hop back on the road.

About now we should point out that Mapquest has a it’s limits. And you should ALWAYS double check your directions. Oh yeh… we went on some little wild goose chase the wrong way due to us blindly following directions. I flipped over the printed out sheet and saw what happened, we were being sent to the center of Cape Canaveral instead of the ports. Fine. A quick U-turn (and an exclamation from Tommy “Hey! Why are we going back?!”) and we were good to go…

Or so we thought.

We come to the bridge. The bridge that I had read over and over that you could get your first glimpse of the Magic.

We crest the bridge, and guess what? Nothing but…

FOG.

Ok, no problem.

Suddenly we are approaching signs for the Port. But nothing about which terminal is Disney. Seriously, they can’t have a Mickey road sign or something? Keep in mind, thanks to the Mapquest Saga we don’t have the actual terminal number easily accessible at this point. So, we take the second exit (mistake). And drive around in a panic looking for the Magic.

Looking back it’s funny. But, uh, it really wasn’t then. We were getting stressed out!

Eventually I broke down and called my Dad back in Alabama and begged him to find the directions online for me. Remember: the fog is SO thick it’s scary. So, sweet Dad calls me back. As we are talking DH takes a turn and suddenly the fog gives up the most wonderful sight ever… the Magic! Dad is giving me directions as I’m squealing “We see it, we see it!!!!”

And so, around 10:00 a.m. we finally arrive.

By the time we dropped off bags and parked (we just walked together) they had started letting people in. I left Tim to check in while I went and parked in the Kids’ Clubs line. Crazy long line.

Kids check in was easy. But Tori was started to get excited/stressed. Which means she is acting REALLY ugly. Sigh. I really am not liking these tween years.

Eventually everyone was tagged (and had clean hands!) and the boarding started not ten minutes later.

We had boarding pass number five. But it was called pretty quickly, truthfully.

And suddenly we were boarding!

I headed straight to Rocking Bar D for a last ditch attempt to get the sixteen of us on the early dining. I had ZERO expectations it would work out. At check-in Tim was even told we were on late dining. But by the time I got to the table and inquired we had moved up to early! How cool is that? The Palo line was crazy long. Since we already had reservations for all adults I decided to wait until later (I wanted to combined us all at one table.)

Since we were cold we decided to have lunch at Parrot Cay. Our server got the chef right away to help me out with what was safe for Tommy. One woman we sat with mentioned her child had the same allergies and did great with Disney Cruise Line. That made me happy. We would run into our table mates again another night.

After lunch we started to explore while making calls to family to find out who was where. Poor Ted and family had their flight totally canceled but was re-booked in plenty of time to arrive. Thank goodness! Everyone else was in Orlando by this point and loading up on the buses. Woo hoo!

We eventually find our rooms (we were on the first deck and didn’t realize we couldn’t get to it certain way at that point!)

We meet our room steward, Albert, and pop into our rooms. Tim, Tommy, TJ and I are all in one room. In our room we find a nice memory box on our bed.

I just LOVE surprises. Turns out we all got one from Dreams Unlimited, the travel agency Nana used.

Tori was staying next door with her adopted family for the cruise: The Smiths. AKA: Becca Rick and Zman. Tori discovers a wonderful surprise in her stateroom as well. Birthday decorations!

We did quick drop in visits in the kids club areas. Then found Nana, Lalo, Kate and Cody on deck nine. We were thrilled to find each other finally. About then other Becca calls and they are boarding. So we rush down to clap and yell and cheer them on as they are announced.

We’re still missing Ted and family. Poor guys. The boarded a bus right after Becca and company, but had the luck of being the very last bus. So they have to wait for a LONG time. But we know they will arrive safe and sound.

Time for a our muster (or as I found in my Tori’s journal… MUSTARD) drill. Since we are on deck 1 we get to muster in the big Walt Disney theater. I was excited about that… until I thought about a sinking ship. Ted calls to say they are finally on the way, but they are told they will be missing the muster. Thank goodness Nana decided to use the Disney Transfer. We know they will get on board as we know the ship will wait for the bus! Anyways, we muster. It’s all good.

We had agreed to all meet up on Deck 10 for the party. I brought out my bubbles. I needed bubbles for all the kids, right?!

Within five minutes my jeans are soaked as I attempt to get the durn bubbles open. No bubbles next time!! Ted and Kathryn and the kids arrive in time for the fun. And we are finally all on board.

The kids are dancing around and loving the music.

Party was over. We rushed to get everyone dressed and ready for dinner at Animator’s Palette.

We met our servers: Luis and Graham. We find later on that Luis and Graham have quite the faithful following on the DIS boards. It’s fun to have some ‘popular servers.’ We enjoyed them both very much. Dinner was wonderful. I have zero recollection as to what I had. But it was good! They were great about Tommy’s food allergies and carefully checked on his food. Made me feel confident about him being safe!

Dinner wasn’t over and the kids ALL (as in all six of them) wanted to head out to the clubs. So, we got everyone checked in. Tim and I wandered around on deck nine for a while. But it was crazy windy. About the time I was ready to call it quits we got a page that Tommy was ready to be picked up.

Found our animal towel of the night: a swan.

And then we all collapsed.

Not a bad first day, I would say! But seriously, write down that terminal number if your cruise Disney. You never know: you may need it!

Disney Cruise Slideshow

This silly thing took me way too much time. Be warned it’s almost eight minutes long and has music with it! The sounds levels got messed up a tad. Sorry about that. And it bugs me that I have a couple out of order. I’ll have to fix it LATER!

I’ll give a blow by blow trip report later this week.

Enjoy. We did. (Can you tell?)